Week 6 reaction

After quite possibly the worst picks weekend in the history of anyone who puts his sporting knowledge out there like I do, I’m here to lick my wounds, say I’m sorry to anyone who had the gall to put any type of faith in me and to reclaim any semblance of knowledge and make sense of the beat down suffered by both New York teams (I don’t care what the score board says Jet fans, your team got beat down).

But before all that, let’s see how this week’s action affected the power poll. As always I’m going to try and add a little spice to the rankings by using this year’s baseball playoff teams.


THE NEW YORK YANKEE DIVISION:
1. (2) New Orleans Saints- Its tough to argue about who the best team in the NFL is. When seven different players can score touchdowns on offense and the defense can make a few stops, its tough to beat.
2. (3) Minnesota Vikings- They seem a bit more beatable than the Saints.
3. (5) Denver Broncos- Not giving up skill players like Brandon Marshall and acquiring proven leaders like Brian Dawkins seem to be two moves that have led to this impressive start.
4. (4) Indianapolis Colts- Bye.
5. (1) New York Giants- Ok, lesson learned. The Saints are better than the Raiders.


THE PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES DIVISION:
6. (8) New England Patriots- Ok, so the Patriots fully convinced me that the Titans are not a good team. Welcome back to the eff you game Patriot fans. These are the kind of games the 07 Pats used to play.
7. (10) Atlanta Falcons- Remember that humble pie they ate in New England? Yeah, neither do the Falcons.
8. (12) Pittsburgh Steelers- I realize they beat the Browns so they don’t really need that much of a jump, but you play the schedule you’re given. Add to the fact that Troy Polamalu comes back to anchor the pass defense of the Steelers and those Terrible Towel wavers can feel better.
9. (9) Baltimore Ravens- Forget the fact that the Ravens can’t seem to defend anybody’s receivers or that their Run D is no longer worthy of the vaunted title. I like Flacco and I’m really loving Ray Rice and after this past weekend’s game has entered the “must play” category in fantasy.
10. (7) Cincinatti Bengals- I’m not off the bandwagon yet, especially for losing to a team that easily could be in their position had a few calls gone their way too.

THE LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM DIVISION:
11. (6) Philadelphia Eagles- I don’t know where to begin with that Raider loss. One more like that, it could get bad in Philly.
12. (16) Green Bay Packers- Remember during the preseason when the Packers looked dominant? I think the Packers got back some of that swagger after that beatdown of the Lions. Expect a better team in Lambeau when you know who comes back in two weeks.
13. (13) Miami Dolphins- Bye.
14. (11) Chicago Bears- I’m still not sold on a team that really needs a playmaker on offense outside of Devin Hester. Or Devin Hester needs to develop quicker as a receiver. Not a good sign that the Browns don’t have a pick in the first two rounds in what many insiders are calling a very good draft.
15. (19) Arizona Cardinals- They head into a showdown against the Giants digesting game tape of the Saints beatdown and I’m sure the Cardinal receivers are smiling at each other.

THE LOS ANGELES DODGERS DIVISION:
16. (15) San Diego Chargers- Has one man benefited more from a reputation earned from a world championship team almost 20 years ago? Norv Turner you fantastic interviewer you.
17. (17) San Francisco 49ers- Bye.
18. (18) Dallas Cowboys- Bye.
19. (14) New York Jets- I know rookies are supposed to have bad games, but this one was a terrible, horrible game in the Sanchize era.
20. (21) Houston Texans- Only reason they aren’t higher than the Jets are that the Jets seem more like a known quantity than the Texans. The Texans are too much of an enigma week to week to put any higher than this.

THE BOSTON RED SOX DIVISION:
21. (22.) Carolina Panthers- Liked that they went back to a pretty simple formula: run the damn football. But it can’t be a good sign that your best player, Steve Smith, is complaining about not getting the ball enough.
22. (20) Seattle Seahawks- The positive feeling from the Seahawks I got is wearing very thin.
23. (25) Buffalo Bills- I’m strangely intrigued by a team that clearly has talent on offense, but are a virtual mystery on defense. The Bills always seem to have a good secondary so it wasn’t a surprise that they had a field day in tough weather conditions against a quarterback who admitted to not even practicing in weather like the weather the North East had this past weekend.
24. (23) Jacksonville Jaguars- How do you go down in the power rankings after a win? Barely beating the winless Rams does.
25. (24) Detroit Lions- I know, I know. But hey, if I had to put them against the next few teams, I’m sure Detroit would come away victorious (with Stafford and Calvin Johnson playing of course).

THE UMPIRES IN THE PLAYOFFS:
26. (27) K.C. Chiefs- Not that I’m overly impressed by it, but Sunday they met a team that perhaps is worse off than they are and the Chiefs are in complete rebuild mode.
27. (26) Tennessee Titans- At the end of the year, the Titans should have more wins than any other team in this bottom six, but its not without reason to think that loss was a knockout blow to a team that is solely looking to the future. Now comes the really exciting/most tense era in recent history: seeing what Vince Young has left.
28. (32) Oakland Raiders- Yeah, this is the most surprising jump in my book. After what I thought was a spirit crushing blow to any team’s psyche, the Raiders got off the mat and showed more fight than expected to beat the Eagles.
29. (29) Cleveland Browns- The Browns should’ve tried to trade Shaun Rogers for more draft picks and whoever they could give up not named Josh Cribbs.
30. (31) Tampa Bay Bucs- Based solely on the efforts of one Josh Johnson.
31. (28) Washington Redskins- This is a new low for a once proud franchise. Clearly they are trying to win the title of most dysfunctional franchise tag from the Raiders.
32. (29.) Rams- If there’s any team I’d pick to pull a Detroit this year, it would definitely be the Rams.


MVP Watch:
1. Peyton Manning- Even iduring his bye week, I’m sure he did something MVP worthy that only enhances his worthiness.
2. Drew Brees- He has a defense. That performance was scary.
3. Adrian Peterson- Impressive performance against a pretty good run D in Baltimore.

Head Coach Watch:
1. Jim Zorn- At level Def Com 5.
2. Wade Phillips- Who really thinks that Wade isn’t babysitting this team for Mike Shanahan?
3. Jeff Fisher- Interesting candidate here appearing for the first time. Especially after a 59-0 loss and the owner making comments that seemed eerily like a prelude to a firing.

• SERIOUSLY NFC East? The Giants get embarrassed in a match up of the undefeated teams in the Super Dome. The Redskins continuing their downward march to oblivion and of course the Eagles completing the weekend with an embarrassing showing against the Raiders. The Cowboys I’m sure would’ve added to the embarrassment this weekend but they were on bye. Suddenly the NFC East isn’t looking like the best division in all of football.
• SERIOUSLY Chargers? I mean, this is a good team that’s sorely lacking a coach capable of meshing it all into one good stew. All you had to do was stare at the opponent Broncos to know what a well tuned machine looks like.
• SERIOUSLY Tennessee? No need to tell you how badly a team feels after a 59-0 loss. But how can a team with a coach like Jeff Fisher and a defense that was that good last year play that poorly?
• Drew Brees SERIOUSLY had one of those Madden games where he looked like he was playing a video game.
• SERIOUSLY can’t believe I’m saying this but I agree Mr. Adam Schefter, maybe the Broncos should’ve given up 2 first round draft picks to get Kyle Orton.


Now here are my short but sweet sentiments on the Giants game:

• What more to say this week than this: The Giants got beat by a better team. Right now. What I mean to say is this: The Saints are clearly on a roll and if the Super Bowl were tomorrow I’m sure they could beat any team in the Super Bowl. But as it stands right now, half the season hasn’t been played yet, and the Saints are kind of peaking. This past week’s contest was a mix of poor game planning and overall play by the Giants and Drew Brees in the kind of zone you rarely see players in. Sometimes every throw feels like a TD throw and I’m sure Drew Brees would tell you he felt that way. Fact is, the Giants ran into a team coming off a bye, with a lot to prove to a country that still had yet to buy into them. I’m not discounting this performance because the better team won. But as we all know, its not how you start, its how you finish. The Giants got served a lesson here. What I like about this is, its early enough into the season where the Giants can learn from it, and move forward. Their cupcake schedule is over, and minus Carolina and Washington who are still capable of putting a good game together, the Giants don’t fact any team with a losing record. Like I said, things can change and some of those teams can have some killer injuries that force them to the back of the pack or just self combust like the Redskins seem prepared to do, but a shellacking like this can wake the Giants up from the auto-drive mode they’ve been in over the last month playing teams in the bottom of the power poll.
• The other clear truth confirmed here is this: the secondary is a weakness. A big one. But in all fairness let’s blame one other reason for the secondary being fed to the wolves: Bill Sheridan’s lack of blitz calls. They wanted a four man pass rush from the front four and I understand that the Saints were missing their one Pro-Bowl left tackle but they made up for that by leaving tight ends to block and bringing in extra tackles to fortify their line which made the pass rush almost impossible. Its easy to forget what we lost in Steve Spagnuolo, who left for the Rams head coaching job (although I wouldn’t exactly call that a promotion), and focus on how good the Giants had been in his absence. But let’s be real here. The fact is, the competition was pathetic and the Giants were able to not get too creative and fancy and beat them. That kind of scheming won’t work against the Eagles. Last Sunday’s pathetic showing aside, the Eagles are a formidable team and a nuisance in the Giants way of going back to the Super Bowl. This team is built to get there but clearly won’t if they are held back by a defensive coordinator unable to game plan against an opponent. The Jets laid the blueprint for teams to stop the Saints offense: pressure from all sides and all angles. Make sure Brees has no time to set his feet and throw. But for some unknown reason I didn’t see any of that pressure blitz that Giant fans are used to seeing. The Giants front four pressure wasn’t even getting to Brees until it was too late. There were times it seemed as though Brees was about to get hit, but even then, giving Brees four or five seconds to make his read and set his feet is asking for a completion everytime. That ensured the play would not be in danger of slipping.
• One thing I’m impressed with in Brees is not just his mechanics for a short guy without a gun of an arm, is his precision and his ability to move in the pocket. His footwork is amazing. By footwork I mean, the ability to shift his body while able to come to the ideal position to get as much juice on the ball. It starts all with the legs and when you can summon up the extra bit of energy from the lower regions it gives that ball the extra zip necessary to go through the hands of defenders and right into the receiver’s hands. More so than anything, Drew Brees is so sound fundamentally, it makes it impossible to stop him if you give him any kind of breathing room which the Giants did. Merely getting him off course is nothing, its about getting hands on him and blocking his lanes to throw. He’s short so putting hands up and blocking his vision forces him to move to a place where his vision is better which gives the defense an advantage because the rush can beat them at that point and then its about getting to the QB which is always a welcome challenge to any defensive end or tackle.
• And you thought only baseball umpires could get plays so egregiously wrong. Brandon Jacobs caught an amazing pass on a broken play where Eli Manning basically threw up a prayer. That play was nullified by a holding penalty that on further review was no where to be found. The reason the play was called: the ref saw Shaun O’Hara on top of Charles Grant’s leg. Terrible, terrible, terrible call. The kind of call that lets you as a fan know, nothing your team does, will work.
• For all those Pro-Bradshaw fans (like myself) who ache for Bradshaw to get more reps, I think we saw the primary reason why he doesn’t get more playing time: his blitz pick up is not anywhere near Brandon Jacobs. On a play where Manning was hurried into an interception, you saw the normally calm and stoic Eli Manning lose his cool verbally berating Bradshaw on not realizing where the blitz was coming from. It’s a critical error that forced yet another turnover that created yet another TD for Brees and the Saints. No matter how highly his running skills are regarded, in order to get more playing time, things like blitz pick up need to be corrected and handled. I’m sure coaches this week will be drilling the point home.


Now on to my Jet points which will really be brief:
• Jet fans had to see this performance coming. First game in the elements with the wind tunnel in the Meadowlands can never be understated. Mark Sanchez admitting that he had never even practiced in that kind of weather didn’t bode well for the game. No one can prepare you for Meadowlands when winter truly kicks in like it did this past weekend. What Jet fans are fortunate about is that these licks are being taken in. One interesting point that was brought to my attention this week is this: suddenly Sanchez’s large hand which was used as an advantage is now seen as affecting his velocity and other facets of his passing game. I don’t care about what they say, its just not true. Sanchez is just making poor decisions. Its as simple as that. Throwing 5 interceptions are not a result of misfortune whatsoever. I can understand two, but not five. Five is a result of poor reads and the QB just making mistake after mistake. On several interceptions, he was trying to fit it into windows and throwing it up for grabs. Those kinds of throws might have worked in USC when they were playing UC-Santa Barbara, but they won’t work even against a banged up Bills secondary.
• Losing Kris Jenkins for the year is the kind of devastating loss that can turn a season around. Jenkins was a flat out beast in the middle that took two guys which is the ideal match up that you want your nose tackle to have. The Jet blitzing worked well with him in the line up because he took up so much attention from the O-line, but I feel as though the run defense will take more of a plunge. He seemed to get through the line to stuff a run in the gut so many times every game which will be sorely missed. His presence in the middle forced teams to have at least two guys stop him in pass protection which made it difficult for other teams to protect everyone when Rex would send his all out blitzes. It will be interesting to see how the Jets enter next week’s match up and further down the road against other teams with their current line up. It will be difficult.
• I know everyone is piling on Rex Ryan right now. His style in the beginning when they were winning was about his bravado and his undying confidence of his guys. Now that they have hit a rough patch, its interesting to see his quotes. Remember, he wears his heart on his sleeve so at some point in the season if they continue to tank watch how he handles press conferences. It can turn ugly. I’m not saying he will let it but at some point, emotions can begin to bubble over and the New York media will get to him. Over the course of a lost year, the media here can wear a person down and he had better hope that doesn’t happen. He seems like a very well liked, players coach but the media’s love affair have kind of died out on him and the vultures are already approaching. If they lose to Oakland, there might be some fireworks after that game.


Now here are my thoughts on the rest of the league:
• Very optimistic of Richard Seymour to think that they will be in the playoffs but let’s be real here. On what planet would that ever happen? Their QB was still not that effective in that game and the only way they can make the playoffs is if the defense is that stout up front in every play on every down and that’s virtually impossible. The Raiders have the run game to keep teams off the field for chunks of time, which I would imagine, is their strategy: Make Russell throw it as less as possible and have the three headed monster just run the ball. But the fact of the matter is, I’m virtually certain that it will not be the case and that the Raiders will sink to the bottom as usual. I understand that Tom Cable’s case has gotten thrown out but this organization as a whole has a lot of questions surrounding it to be really functioning as a playoff team. Never say never but I’m 98% sure of this.
• Part two on the Raider situation: When Richard Seymour said what he said, I began to wonder whether it was a clever motivational ploy gained from his years in New England under Bill Belichiek. Belichiek of course was mentored by Bill Parcells who would famously use things like empty gas tanks sitting in a player’s locker to get across a subtle yet important message. Seymour may not have said something he believed in his heart if he were taking a lie detector, but he may have said something to build upon the confidence his team might have gained from Sunday’s victory over a very legitimate Eagle team. The Eagles came in sleep walking thinking they could play C- football and come away with a victory. By the time they realized that would not be the case, it was too late. One play that I loved: Louis Murphy’s blocking on Zach Miller’s TD reception. Murphy comes from Florida and its not a coincidence. On teams like Florida, you fight for playing time and in order to get a coach’s attention you do things like running out a very long pass play to help your teammate score. The kind of plays you earn with hustle and real effort, the kind of effort and winning attitude that has been lacking in Raider camp. Bringing in veterans who no longer have any reason to put in any effort, have caused the Raiders to slump. No coach has been around to get through to the players. Perhaps its time to start drafting from places like Florida, Alabama, Arkansas and legitimate programs that have legitimate head coaches who can get players to play at a high level and willing to walk through the burning fires of hell for you. Even if they come to the Raiders, some of those “take heed of what the coach says” lessons may begin to stick and spark a turnaround. Having a guy like Richard Seymour who is used to a winning environment and knowing what it looks like can also be a help to mentor some of those guys who might not know what it takes.
• Jeff Fisher’s Peyton Manning jersey wearing probably didn’t go over well with many people in the Titan family and fandom but I don’t think it was a coincidence. He might have agreed to do it long before this season but the comment after was probably fueled by recent comments by the owner of the Titans. Bud Adams after Sunday’s game said that the coaching staff would have to have a “serious looking into” which usually means there are some jobs that will be lost. Now is Fisher necessarily on the chopping block no, but let’s understand what’s working these wheels. Fisher has never been on board with the Vince Young experiment as much as Bud Adams has. He’s a Texas guy, was able to draft his stud Texas QB and everything worked out perfectly. Only problem here is: Vince’s ability to mature as a competent QB has been stunted by his own immaturity to accept a lesser role and his on going problems off the field which have clouded anyone’s confidence in him as a leader. The Titans needed a mature QB to lead them to a 13-3 record last year and Young would NOT have been that guy. This year, with everything headed the way they are and with a contract clause that could be or not picked up next year, its clear that the Titans in the midst of a lost season, should find out what they have in Young before making a decision. Only problem is, Jeff Fisher has not publicly stated that he is turning over the team to Vince Young which leads to a lot of head scratching. Giving Vince Young the reins is fueled by business as it is winning or finding out if you have a winner. Fisher is a realist and a coach who has had plenty of successful teams with veteran QB’s. His mind is made up about what Vince Young is already: he’s a bust. How can a coach who is fighting to win a game and trying to convince his team to play hard on every down, supposed to rationalize having a bust in at QB just for the sake of a contract situation. Perhaps the owner’s own personal feelings are mixed in here in this situation which of course makes it worse. Bud Adams was excited to say the least when they drafted Young as he saw it as their QB of the future. He was going to lead the team but with everything that has happened in Young’s career, it’s difficult to really say you have any confidence in him. Whatever happens, it will be interesting to see. Now, if it takes wearing a Peyton Manning jersey to remind him what it “feels like to be a winner”, then it might just end up costing him his job. I don’t think this team will go 0 for anything but if they tank the rest of the season, and Vince Young doesn’t get a majority of the snaps from here on out, yes I do believe we have seen the last of Jeff Fisher in Tennessee. That of course could make the coaching carousel a lot more interesting this offseason.
• That Jay Cutler extension was not a result of Chicago being dazzled by his head first dive into the end zone but more a smart move by his agent protecting his client from what could be a lost pay day come the 2011 season. As reported by Adam Schefter on Twitter, Cutler was supposed to get a roster bonus on Opening Day 2011 under the terms of his old contract. Only problem there is that there could be a work stoppage which would make that bonus null and void. By signing an extension to 2013, Cutler’s agent was able to work that bonus in a year early in 2010 where with the way things are going, will be played without a salary cap. Its easy to see why Chicago would try to keep him there. With a very deep draft coming up, the primary area for the Bears to look at might be receiver in the first round but oh wait, they gave up their first round draft pick and also their second. Picking in the 80’s make it difficult for the team to truly get a game breaking guy unless their scouting team workings wonders. This up-coming draft is set to be one of the best in recent memory with the amount of talent supposedly entering the field. Expect QB’s early (especially with the recent success of Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco), RB’s mid way and your spattering of run stoppers and OT’s throughout the first round. Receivers should only see love towards the end of the round which might have been where Chicago would’ve drafted but as it stands now, they won’t. The Cutler extension was a mandatory thing that had to happen considering they gave up so many first round picks for him and thus the ball was essentially in Chicago’s court to make him an offer that he couldn’t refuse thus giving Cutler and his agent all the leverage. Good job in making it work. Having all but 10 million of your contract guaranteed is a fantastic job.
• The Jets may have to increase their worry ten fold now: The Patriots look like they are back. After numerous glitches with Tom Brady, he didn’t seem to be bothered at all playing in the elements of FoxBoro in the shellacking of the Titans. Brady’s numbers were almost Madden-esque and if you hadn’t seen the game and someone told you the score and his final tally you might have thought it was a video game score. The defense did its share and they gained some huge IQ points with Junior Seau back. I love, and have always loved Shawn Springs because of his physicality and his ability to handle bigger receivers. The rest of the defense might have holes here and there but overall they are a good group, and with Adalius Thomas and Jerrod Mayo, they are pretty good up front. Uh-oh Jet fans.
• Anyone notice that Ben Roethlisberger has turned into a full fledged passer? He leads the league in passing yards and threw for over 300 yards for the third time this season. Amazingly people still associate the Steelers with a power running game but that is no longer the case. Bruce Arians has made it his mission to turn Roethliserberger into a passer and it seems as if it is working.
• Another big comeback for the Vikings. At some point that Favre guy will get challenged. One big red flag was the let down the Viking defense had when it allowed the Ravens to come back. This goes back to the sucky coach corollary. Anytime you have a well known sucky coach who you know can potentially sabotage a good team you can’t possibly expect any lead to last or any kind of false domination to really hold up. Take Andy Reid who is climbing up there. He’s always been surrounded by great minds which take the pressure off him to just eat away and nibble at any lead that his team might have. But his job this past Sunday was an absolutely atrocious job considering the level of talent they were playing and the level of talent that they have. After Brett Favre completed a long pass to Sidney Rice, the Vikings virtually played for a field goal when the play prior and their play in the first half as they were building up their lead suggested that they could pass all over the Ravens. They ran three times with the fans booing and stopped the clock at the 2 minute warning. They basically played to lose. Had the Ravens hit the field goal they would’ve won. They barely won that game and played to lose in the final quarter which will come back to haunt them when it comes to playing teams that know how to close. Give Peyton Manning two minutes to get a field goal at the least or even Tom Brady or even Roethlisberger, Rivers or even Eli, they will all get it done and there’s not a doubt in my mind that Flacco had done a good enough job to get it done. The Vikings are being held back in my mind by a coach who has no idea how to coach based on the situation and has no idea how to control the flow of a game. They barely won and with the talent they have, there’s no reason to not throw at the end. They were already in field goal range. First two downs you HAVE to throw it. HAVE TO. No excuses. This will come back to haunt them if they don’t fix it.
• Next week’s best: Minn @ Pitt (speak of the devil), ATL @ DAL, NO @ Mia, Ari @ NYG. Two games I’m looking forward to just for the fact that we might see something we’ve never seen:
Phi @ Was on Monday night. The fans might boo so loud that Dan Snyder stops his conversation with Tom Cruise to come down and ask Jim Zorn to basically sit out coaching too to let Sherm Lewis take over.
SF @ Hou in a battle of “we don’t know how we’ll play from week to week” teams.
NE @ TB- Watching Roger Goodell beg Bill Belichiek to stop running up the score for the sake of a possible future team in Europe.

ENJOY FOLKS!