NFL Week 3 Results
Week 3 had a few upsets as well as a lot of disappointments. The Falcons didn’t make much of a game in New England, while the Cardinals all but rolled over and died at home against the Colts. How did your team do? Read on…
Cleveland Browns 3, Baltimore Ravens 34 (predicted: Cleveland Browns 13, Baltimore Ravens 27)
Is “not scoring touchdowns” a theme with the Browns or something? In the last few games of 2008 they couldn’t manage to find the end zone, and now it’s been 8 quarters since their last visit. The Browns have a fairly soft schedule for the next two weeks before things start to get more difficult with the Steelers and Packers, but at this rate Mangini will be one-and-done and the Browns are going to have to start over again. Until they start winning, it’s hard not to think that Mangini was absolutely the wrong person for the job.
Tennessee Titans 17, New York Jets 24 (predicted: Tennessee Titans 20, New York Jets 21)
Mark Sanchez is the first rookie quarterback to start his career 3-0, and the Jets have beaten some decent teams to do it. The strength of the team is in their defense, they look exactly like the 2008 Baltimore Ravens when they were breaking in Joe Flacco. Even if Sanchez can finish the season 9-7 or even 8-8 he’ll be considered a success.
New York Giants 24, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 0 (predicted: New York Giants 31, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21)
The Bucs managed to set near-historic lows in total offense and generally just got dominated by the Giants in every facet of the game. It’s too bad the Bucs didn’t make it onto the Monday Night Football schedule; it’d have been entertaining to hear Jon Gruden’s smug commentary on the team that fired him and now has a very real chance to wind up in the top 5 picks in the draft.
Green Bay Packers 36, St. Louis Rams 17 (predicted: Green Bay Packers 30, St. Louis Rams 10)
The Packers righted their sinking ship with a road win against the hapless Rams. Among the good things St. Louis can take away from the game are Steven Jackson’s 117 rushing yards and… well, that’s pretty much it.
Kansas City Chiefs 14, Philadelphia Eagles 34 (predicted: Kansas City Chiefs 31, Philadelphia Eagles 27)
Looks like Kevin Kolb isn’t as bad as we thought he was. Kolb put up his second 300-yard passing game with no interceptions and no fumbles, this time leading the Eagles to a win. The Chiefs were their typical selves- not much going on the ground, big deficit early, forced to pass, give up by the fourth quarter. Matt Cassel certainly didn’t impress anyone, although he did toss 2 touchdowns. With the Giants, Redskins, Cowboys, and Chargers remaining before the bye, 0-7 is certainly within reach for Kansas City.
Jacksonville Jaguars 31, Houston Texans 24 (predicted: Jacksonville Jaguars 14, Houston Texans 34)
What a pathetic loss for the Texans. They host a bad team at home and manage to lose despite a good running back and a dominant wide receiver with a quarterback that actively tries to get him the ball? The Texans need to learn how to win the games that they should win. Most of the talk about “let down” this week was due to the Jets beating the Patriots in week two, but clearly the Texans got overconfident after beating Tennessee.
San Francisco 49ers 24, Minnesota Vikings 27 (predicted: San Francisco 49ers 20, Minnesota Vikings 27)
The 49ers had victory in their sights going into the final seconds of the game until- who knew- Brett Favre gave the Vikings reason to believe they can go deep into the playoffs. A 32-yard laser strike to Greg Lewis with 3 seconds sealed the game for Minnesota. Coach Mike Singletary was overheard in the locker room screaming at his players that they had nothing to be ashamed of (or something like that- just imagine a huge HoF linebacker towering over you screaming in your face and it doesn’t really matter what he’s saying), and it’s hard to argue with him. The 49ers didn’t light up the scoreboard, but they generally avoided mistakes and held Adrian Peterson to just 85 yards. This is after losing Frank Gore on his first carry for the rest of the game. The NFC West is still the 49ers’ division to lose.
Washington Redskins 14, Detroit Lions 19 (predicted: Washington Redskins 16, Detroit Lions 17)
The Lions finally broke their 19-game losing streak and Matt Stafford got his first win as a starter. The Redskins looked deflated the entire game- Albert Haynesworth wasn’t doing much of anything and had to be taken to the locker room although he would return later. The Redskins couldn’t get the offense firing, and other than Santana Moss’ 178 yards there isn’t much Washington can be happy with right now. Jim Zorn and Jason Campbell are definitely gone next season.
Atlanta Falcons 10, New England Patriots 26 (predicted: Atlanta Falcons 24, New England Patriots 27)
Finally Tom Brady proves me right and puts Atlanta’s crappy defense back in their place. Fred Taylor rushed for 105 yards while Brady threw for 277. Apparently Matt Ryan isn’t quite ready to play in the big leagues and was held to 199 yards with no touchdowns. Overall the Patriots’ defensive schemes worked quite well against Ryan and Michael Turner, who was held to 56 yards rushing. On a final note, it was entertaining to see Brady and Joey Galloway going at it on the sideline. Who knew that signing a washed out Buccaneer reject wouldn’t work out?
New Orleans Saints 27, Buffalo Bills 7 (predicted: New Orleans Saints 42, Buffalo Bills 34)
The Saints got the Bills on a massive fakeout campaign, but who wouldn’t expect Drew Brees to carve up a crappy pass defense? Instead he just handed the ball off to newly returned Pierre Thomas, who took advantage of the Bills’ sub packages and rushed for 126 yards. The Saints defense was also stout, and the only Bills touchdown came on a fake punt by Brian Moorman. But the real gem of this contest was the postgame Terrell Owens interview, which reminded the sports world that he’s still the same TO that got himself kicked off of three teams despite his Hall of Fame talent. Too bad the talent isn’t there anymore.
Chicago Bears 25, Seattle Seahawks 19 (predicted: Chicago Bears 20, Seattle Seahawks 23)
Apparently Jay Cutler had a case of the fumbles in Seattle, but only managed to lose one of them in addition to his interception. On the positive side, he picked Seattle’s inferior pass defense apart, completing 21 of his 27 passes for three touchdowns. The Bears have a healthy dose of positive momentum heading into next week’s visit to Detroit.
Pittsburgh Steelers 20, Cincinnati Bengals 23 (predicted: Pittsburgh Steelers 19, Cincinnati Bengals 21)
As I said in my predictions, the Steelers look awful. Their defense is not performing at 2008 levels, and the offense took a major step backward. Limas Sweed needs to be benched for dropping a sure touchdown in the end zone (apparently he aspires to be the next TO). Willie Parker is still unable to find the end zone. Jeff Reed missed another field goal that ended up being the difference between a loss and overtime. The Steelers have some serious work to do and not a lot of time to do it if they want any chance of catching the Ravens, who are now two games ahead of them in the early race for the AFC North.
Miami Dolphins 13, San Diego Chargers 23 (predicted: Miami Dolphins 20, San Diego Chargers 34)
Chad Pennington is out for the rest of the season (again) as the Dolphins enter the Chad Henne era. This is probably it for Pennington in the NFL- the injury concern in addition to his conservative, unexciting style isn’t going to appeal to most teams that will be looking for quarterbacks next season. The Dolphins are living up to my expectation as being one of the league’s biggest disappointments this season.
Denver Broncos 23, Oakland Raiders 3 (predicted: Denver Broncos 17, Oakland Raiders 13)
Jeff Garcia was just released by the Eagles again. Al Davis should seriously consider resigning him so the Raiders can at least have a fighting chance of winning a game. Meanwhile the Broncos are 3-0 and are on top of the AFC West. Luck, or McDaniels?
Indianapolis Colts 31, Arizona Cardinals 10 (predicted: Indianapolis Colts 28, Arizona Cardinals 34)
I underestimated the Colts just like Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie did. Peyton Manning slaughtered the Cardinals to the tune of 379 yards and 4 touchdowns. Kurt Warner was harassed the entire game, throwing two interceptions and fumbling. Another two fumbles by Tim Hightower made the turnover situation insurmountable for Arizona. The Cardinals go into their bye week with a lot of unanswered questions.
Carolina Panthers 7, Dallas Cowboys 21 (predicted: Carolina Panthers 27, Dallas Cowboys 35)
So how long does Jake Delhomme get to keep the starting job? Outside of the one decent drive he had to end the first half Delhomme couldn’t complete anything, and added two interceptions and a lost fumble (to end the game) to his dismally high turnover count. The Cowboys clearly game planned to stack the line and stop the rushing game and force Delhomme to throw, and it worked like a charm.
12-4 this week, bringing me to 32-16 on the season. Bye weeks begin in week four….
