Black Ball Sports

I picked the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles to make the Superbowl.  I’m now ruling them both out.  The Steelers still stand a very good chance of the playoffs, but I’m officially ruling my Eagles out of the playoffs.

For the Steelers, Ben Rothelisberger just isn’t cutting it right now.  His shoulder has apparently been hurting all season.  But it is more than that, the offense isn’t performing with him on the field.  His decision making is slow, and he’s taking more hits then he should.  Maybe the offensive line isn’t very good; but he’s holding the ball forever.

Byron Leftwich came in at halftime of the Redskins game, throwing 7-10 with a TD and two scoring drives.  The Steelers are committed to winning with defense and a running game.  They have bought in for years to the Dick Lebeau defensive system, hard running and timely passing.  But right now the running game isn’t working, and Big Ben is throwing too many ints.

Unless Rothelisberger gets healthy and suddenly starts passing faster, they will be easy fodder for a teams like the Titans and Patriots who will hit the QB relentlessly.  And their upcoming schedule includes SD, Baltimore, Dallas, New England and Tennessee.

Back to my Eagles, consider that Andy Reid, Donovan McNabb and tackles John Runyan and Tra Thomas have been together for 10 years.  Brian Westbrook and LJ Smith each have been there for 6+ years.  And this is an offense which can’t gain 1 yard on the ground in crucial moments?  This is an offense which is notoriously inefficient at the 2 minute drill?  This is a QB which in the past two weeks has started a combined 0-13 passing?

I’ll get to the defense in a minute, however, the Eagles offense holds the biggest key to this team’s constant disappointments.  In each of their close losses this year, the offense had the ball with less than 10 minutes to play and an opportunity to take the lead.  They failed each time.

To make it worse, I’m stunned that Reid seems to trust his offensive line to run block in short yardage more then he trusts McNabb to pick up two yards either passing or running.  NBC showed that the Eagles are something like 3-3 passing in short yardage on 3rd or 4th down while like 3-14 running.  Huh?  A notoriously high passing team, suddenly gets running religious when they need to convert the most?  Reid and his offensive coordinator Marty Mohrneingway are clearly over thinking.  When a coach can no longer trust his QB to pick up 1st downs like this, then he needs a QB change.  I’m not saying the Eagles should do that, but the point is, why do you have the guy there if you don’t have confidence in him?  You can say you do, but your action speak otherwise.

As far as Donovan McNabb goes, I love the man.  I can say that and keep my masculinity.  I’m a Syracuse fan and I’ve basically watched him play now for about 15 years.   The reality is and has always been, he’s streaky and he has choked in the clutch.  Boy it took me a lot to admit that, since I’m a staunch defender of his.  What really bugs me about that, is not so much that is part of his traits, but that Andy Reid hasn’t found a way to ensure that these flaws don’t kill the team.  Knowing that McNabb is streaky, wouldn’t you rely more on running early in games to get the offense going with or without a hot McNabb?  No, instead they often throw a lot early, you can book it, within the first 3 plays of any game, they will play action and look for DeSean Jackson deep.  And this scenario has gone back 10 years, even in the Todd Pinkston days.

Can McNabb win the big one?  Not with Philadelphia, not with Andy Reid.   Maybe somewhere else, a perfect storm will come together for him.

Picks:

Last week: Antonio (3-3), Kali (4-2)

Overall: Kali 27-20, Antonio 25-22

Chicago at Green Bay:

Antonio: The Brett Farve lovers will point out the Packers record last year with him, and this year with Aaron Rodgers.  They’ll then point out the Jets record last year without Farve and then this year with him, and talk about how great Farve is.  And he is great, but last year, the Packers won because they were a very good team.  This year they are struggling because a) they can’t run the ball, and b) their defense isn’t nearly as good.  Rodgers has been very good for a first year starter.  The Bears need to be able to run the ball, even more so if Rex Grossman starts.
Pick: Packers

San Diego at Pittsburgh:

Kali: Big Ben is losing games for Pittsburgh this year.  I don’t know if he is hurt or what, but right now he is hurting the team.  It makes sense to let him rest a week or two to get him healthy for the playoffs.  Because the way he is playing right now they won’t go far.  But at least they aren’t the Chargers.  Who because they’re in such a terrible division could still win it and make the playoffs.
Pick:  Pittsburgh

Antonio: As good as Peyton Manning is, the Colts have a disappointing record because of their running game.  He can only carry them but so much, and he needs to be able to play action pass for the big scores they are known for.  They are the NFL’s worst rushing team, 900 yards less then the best, the Giants.  They need to turn that around to make noise.  This week they are at home, against one of the weaker rushing defenses, a good chance to get it rolling.
Pick: Indy

Kali: Does anyone in Atlanta even wear a #7 jersey anymore?  Atlanta has to be the surprise of the year, not just with the play of Matt Ryan, but the defense as well.  There is no” D” in enver this year.
Pick:  Atlanta

Antonio: Memo to Al Davis: retire.  Pull a George Steinbrenner and take a step back away from the day to day franchise concerns.  Look at Miami across the field this weekend.  They were the worst team in the NFL last year, 1-15.  They cleaned house, turned the reins over to a true football man, Bill Parcells, and stayed out of the way.  If the Raiders are to return to glory anytime soon, then Davis will just need to become a fan like mostly everyone else.
Pick: Miami

Detroit at Carolina:

Kali: Do you believe we are going to have to watch the Lions on Thanksgiving?  I love Culpepper but why would you bring him into a team that is this bad.  Play the young QB and see what you got cause you aint going nowhere this year anyway.
Pick:  Carolina

Kali: Cincy has been playing well recently.  But Philly is basically in a must-win scenario the rest of the season.  And Philly’s biggest weakness, run defense, can’t be exploited in this game.
Pick:  Philly

Antonio: I’ve stated before that the Eagles are a Bully team which can’t step up to the plate against the bigger bullies down the block.  Which of course means they’ll win this one against an NFL version of a nerd, Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Pick: Philly

Antonio: I’m continually impressed by the Giants.  They are showing NFL teams how to win games.  Why worry about installing the ultra popular Wildcat when you can just batter a team into submission running the ball?  The Giants don’t run the ball as well as they do, because they can’t pass; they run it because they believe in it, which makes it really hard to beat them, unless of course their running backs keep trying to leap over tacklers.
Pick: NY Giants

Kali: This is going to be a great match up between the Giants 3 headed running attack and the best rush defense in the NFL.  I know statistically someone may have better stats, but the Ravens haven’t allowed a 100 yard rusher in 27 games.  To me that makes them the best.  Many time I’ve picked against the Ravens because I keep expecting Flacco to play like a rookie and he has proven me wrong.  But finally this has to be the week against the Giants D.  I hope.
Pick:  NY Giants

Kali: Both teams coming off the bye week were supposed to be as healthy as they could be.  But now it looks like Clinton Portis may not play.  That is a huge loss for the Skins.  But the Skins D always plays well against Romo and Marion Barber.  I see this as a close game with the Skins somehow, some way winning it late.
Pick:  Redskins

Antonio: Dallas has managed to survive the loss of Tony Romo thanks to the bye week.  They played without him for 3 games, going 1-2 with only the St. Louis loss being a true problem.  If Romo comes out ready to play, they can win this one.  If they do, they are looking at running to 8-4 due to two upcoming patsies (49ers and Seahawks at home).  Meanwhile, a win here for Washington would create drastic separation between the Redskins and Cowboys.
Pick: Cowboys

It’s all over.  We have hoped and prayed and done everything we could.  I just don’t think there is anything that anyone can do for us now.  Let me be the first one to admit it.  NOTRE DAME IS DONE AS A BIGTIME PROGRAM.

I know it even hurts to say it out loud.  But the truth has to be told.  I know
Notre Dame has more national championships and more all-americans than everyone else.  But that is the past.  The last time Notre Dame was really relevant was all the way back in the Lou Holtz era.  The last time they were really in contention for the National Championship was 1993.  That’s not even this century.  The program is living too much in the past and in all honesty it may never ever get back to that.

Looking around the college landscape at the top teams:  USC, Texas, Florida, Alabama etc. one thing pops into my mind.  ATHLETES.  Those teams have players at skill positions that are going to be first round picks.  The only 1st round skill position player from Notre Dame in the last few years is Brady Quinn.  Obviously the good players aren’t going to Notre Dame anymore and the question has to be why?

There are a couple reasons.  Programs like Texas, Florida and Alabama get the bulk of their rosters from their state.  And these states each and every year produce the top talent in the country.  If you’re a top player in these states what is better than going to the State University.  Notre Dame is in Indiana.  I don’t get to scout many high school games, but I don’t think Indiana is one of the top football producing states.

So if the majority of your players aren’t coming from your home state what do you do?  Well, you can be like USC and have your recent reputation and location to recruit to.  USC has multiple recent Heisman trophy winners.  And every first round since Pete Carroll has been there is full of USC players.  So if you want to go to the NFL why would you go to Notre Dame over USC?  There are programs that produce NFL players on a regular basis and right Notre Dame isn’t one of them.

And honestly without the NFL pedigree and recent success what does Notre Dame have to offer.  South Bend, Indiana doesn’t seem to be a great place to recruit the star athletes.  It’s not like other schools that are rebuilding like Miami.  Miami can always say hey I know we are down, but at least you can party in Miami.  That can’t be said about South Bend.

Notre Dame’s history is long and great, but right now the future doesn’t look so
bright.  I don’t think it can all be blamed on the coaches, (even though Weis sucks) it is about the talent.  And right now Notre Dame is not getting the top players.  There are so many other top programs in better locations, with better recent history that I don’t know if Notre Dame can ever get back.

Kali:

Because overall it was such a dominating game no one really noticed that Eli had a bad game against the Cowboys last week.  If that was against a quality team they probably should’ve and would’ve lost last week.  I just don’t see it happening 2 weeks in a row and he always seems to play well against the Eagles. 

Pick:  Ny Giants

The NFL is the greatest and best run sport in the country. Don’t know enough about soccer and rugby, but I would venture to say it’s the best run sport in the World. They have trained the fans to care more about the front of the uniform than the back of the uniform. And in most major cities in the country football is the number #1 sport. But this past week the NFL and one of it’s most storied franchises made mistakes that need to be remedied midseason.

In the Pittsburgh vs. New York Giants game the Pittsburgh long snapper got injured and was unable to return to the game. Most fans can’t even name the long snapper on their team, because the only time you hear the name is when they make a mistake. But Pittsburgh leading by 2 points in the 4^th quarter had to punt. So they had no designated backup long snapper so supposedly a linebacker James Harrison volunteered for the job. What happened next could only be expected. He snapped it over the punter’s head for a safety. Which then led to great field position for the Giants and the winning touchdown. I’m not blaming James Harrison for the loss. I’m blaming the Pittsburgh coaching staff. The NFL now has mini camps, OTA’s and basically no off-season for the players. All those practices and no one else on the team is able to take a few minutes each practice to work on long snapping in case of emergency. I know the guy volunteered, but how wasn’t the first choice the starting center or the backup center. How can you only have one person on your roster that you can trust to make a long snap? Imagine if they had gone down and scored a touchdown to bring themselves within one point, but then lost because they couldn’t successfully make an extra point because of the snap. This is an outrageous lack of foresight by a coaching staff that spends 70 hours a week working and 10 months a year working on nothing but football.

The NFL needs to figure out a better way to handle replays. The Atlanta Falcons were trailing the Philadelphia Eagles by 6 in the last couple of minutes of the game. The Eagles had the ball and the Falcons were using their timeouts as they should to stop the clock before the 2 minute warning. The Eagles then punted the ball and the Falcons should’ve have gotten the ball back down 6 with a little over 2minutes left. But during the punt the Falcon returner ran up to make the catch and then backed up to let the ball bounce. The Eagles jumped on the ball because it appeared that the Falcon returner might’ve touched the ball. The replays clearly showed that the Falcon didn’t touch the ball. Yet, the Falcons coach couldn’t throw the red challenge flag because he had used all of his timeouts as he should’ve to stop the clock before the punt. So everyone in the stadium and on television knew it was a bad call that in all effect had ended the game. But because of the ridiculous rules that you can’t challenge without a timeout outside of 2 minutes caused an obvious terrible call to stand. So the Falcons coach got punished because he had made the right call in using his timeouts. The NFL needs to adopt the college rule for replay immediately. Luckily this was a regular season game. Imagine if that was a playoff game or even the Super Bowl. Truthfully speaking imagine if later in the season the Eagles get into the playoffs in a tiebreaker over the Falcons because of this win. It makes no sense that every reviewable play can’t be looked at in a game. I would still give the coaches a certain number of challenges, but their should be a ref whose only job at the stadium is to buzz down to the head official on questionable calls. People will say that it will make the game longer. I ask you all to watch NFL games this week and see how many times a game plays would need to be reviewed. If it happens 5 times a game that is probably an unusual game. And it shouldn’t be about time, it should be about getting it right. And how the greatest league in the game would want to put itself in a position where a call that could be changed and isn’t because of arbitrary rules is too big of a risk.

Last week, the NFL’s standings continued to tighten in the middle.  There are 12 teams, with records of 4-3, 3-3 or 3-4.  The Bills showed they were legit, as they trashed San Diego.  Tenneessee continued to run wild against lesser opponents and Carolina made a statement against New Orleans.

• Infectiongate - The knee injury to Tom Brady is taking a turn for the worse, and it has now been reported that he has had several “clean-up” surgeries to address infections.  Rumor is the Patriots are now in “told you so” mode after Brady bucked their doctors to use his own for the initial surgery.  If Brady does indeed need to have the surgery redone, then he’s likely to miss part of next season too, and the Patriots might finally be seeing the end of their good fortune.
• Infectiongate part 2 - “Gasp” Kellen Winslow had the audacity to voice his displeasure over the Browns handling of his “mysterious illness”.  Whether it was by his choice or the Browns choice that the initial reports of cause of his illness were not reported is of little concern.  What is of serious concern is the fact the Browns have had at least 6 cases of staph infection.  Here’s part of Winslow’s statements “They didn’t even want me going to the Cleveland Browns’ facility because they didn’t want me to get re-infected. Something is wrong up there. It needs to be fixed.”  I’m sorry if I was running the Browns, rather then getting all upset over Winslow’s comments, I’d stop sending my players to a place, even my own facility, if they were at risk for worsening conditions.  Would you send your child back to a doctors’ office, after going there for the a previous treatment, she came home with staph?
• Know your role… After hearing of Winslow’s suspension, it occurred to me that this season there especially seems to be hard stances taken on anything which “causes embarassment to the league”.  I’m not talking about the Larry Johnson spitting in a woman’s face type incidents.  I’m talking about the celebration fines, the suspensions like Winslow’s and the “we want you to play hard, but not ever hurt anyone” fines.  I’ve mentioned these things before, but I think the league is going too far.  Chris Johnson of the Titans was fined 10k for celebrating a touchdown by banging on some drums which were used by the Chiefs to motivate their fans.  Really, is this type of thing bothering anyone?
• Farve in the middle - Seems like Brett just can’t play football.  He supposedly had contact with the Vikings while “retired”.  Then he was giving Matt Millen insider info on how to beat the Packers.  And to top it off he was giving medical advice to Tony Romo.  He’d like everyone to think these are pure fabrications, but I think there is a nugget of truth in each story.  The next rumor about him may be that he was in the bathroom with Pacman and his bodyguard.  Or that he texting Matt Jones when he was getting high.  Maybe it will come out, that he was instrumental in the fall of Communism in the 80s.  Come to think of it, since he’s now Dr. Farve, maybe he did the surgery on Brady.  It would be one way to push the Jets to the top of the AFC East

Picks:

Last Week, Antonio 2-4, Kali 5-1
Overall: Antonio 15-14, Kali 15-14

San Diego at New Orleans:

Kali: How the NFL picked of all cities New Orleans to lose a home game to London is ridiculous.  The city just a few years removed from Katrina needs all revenue it can get.  This is a disgrace. Pick:  No Pick as a protest

Antonio: I’m with Kali on this one.  This is a long way for teams to travel for little benefit.  Saints lose a home game (a big advantage as a dome team) and the Chargers were scheduled like this @ Miami (East coast), vs Patriots (big rival), @ Buffalo (East coast) then off to London.  Think they are going to be charged up to play this week?  Pick: None, protesting as well

Indianapolis at Tennessee:

Kali: I keep expecting for the old Indianapolis to show up.  But as I look at them play and their battered offensive line, I’m not sure if that is possible.  And going against the physical Titans on both sides of the ball will not start their road back. Pick:  Tennessee

Buffalo at Miami:

Antonio: Miami is playing better then expected, and Buffalo has it rolling.  But they are coming off a big win at home versus San Diego, with the Jets coming up next week.  Can they possibly take Miami lightly?  Yes, but I don’t think they’ll actually lose it.  Pick: Buffalo

Arizona at Carolina:

Kali: These two teams represent more than any the difference between how teams play at home and on the road.  If either of these teams get home field advantage through the playoffs they could make it to the Super Bowl.  But that is unlikely because when either go on the road they usually play so poorly.  This game is in Carolina, nothing more needs to be said.  Pick:  Carolina

Cleveland at Jacksonville:

Antonio: The Browns suckered me with that win against the Giants.  I didn’t believe in them too much after that, but I thought maybe they’d had enough momentum to knock off Washington.  Well I’m not falling for them again.  They stink, their QB stinks, their coach stinks and their medical staff stinks.  Pick: Jacksonville

Washington at Detroit:

Kali: This is one of those games where the Redskins have to make a statement.  Right now Detroit is a bad team without a lot of top-notch talent.  The Redskins must show their mettle and dominate this game.
Pick:  Redskins by 10+. If they don’t win by that much, I’m taking it as a loss.

Antonio: Good I get to write Kali in a loss.  The Redskins just don’t blow anyone out.  However, they play a solid consistent brand of football.  They’ve relied heavily on Clinton Portis, so I fully expect him to have a big day.  Pick: Redskins

Atlanta at Philadelphia:

Antonio: The Eagles are 9-0 the week after a bye in the Andy Reid era.  They’ve always used it to get their game on track (they tend to also lose the game before a bye).  I doubt things will change this week, despite Matt Ryan.  Pick: Eagles

Kali: I guess nobody in Atlanta is missing Mike Vick anymore.  Matt Ryan has been an early surprise and the defense has exceptional.  But going to Philly off a bye week, with a rookie QB and the return of a healthy Brian Westbrook doesn’t bode well. Pick:  Philly

Tampa Bay at Dallas:

Kali: The Cowboys are in a tailspin, injuries have been the excuse given.  But even with a healthy Romo they hadn’t been playing well.  I don’t like Brad Johnson, he’ll be unable to move the ball against the Bucs defense. Pick:  Tampa Bay

Antonio: I thing in some weird way I have to give credit to Tony Romo.  I’m one of his critics, I’ll admit it.  However, they are clearly a different team with him.  They have a chance to win any game with him.  Clearly, the way they were abused last week by the Rams shows the drop off.  Pick: Tampa Bay

NY Giants at Pittsburgh:

Antonio: Ben Rothelisberger is the NFL’s most sacked QB over the past few years, and now he’s going against a team which is second in the league in sacks.  Pittsburgh will be at home, but I think they are going to have trouble against the Giants this week.  Pick: Giants

Kali: The battle of Eli and Big Ben will be the highly publicized part of this match-up.  But I’m more interested in the Pittsburgh run defense vs.  Brandon Jacobs.  Jacobs is becoming one of the most physical runners in the league.  But the return of “Fast” Willie Parker makes the difference.
Pick:  Pittsburgh

The NFL season is ridiculously dramatic.  Best part is, it is like this every season, and we never seem to get it.

• NFC East Inverted - Last week, the Eagles were buried in the NFC East because all the other teams just flat out looked better and had at least two game advantages on them.  The Redskins promptly lost at home to the Marshall Thundering Herd; the Cowboys lost in Arizona (coming out of the game with mass injuries too) and the Giants managed to completely undo everything they’d done right in their past 10 games going back to last season in a loss at Cleveland.  Meanwhile the Eagles, did everything in the fourth quarter they couldn’t do in their three previous losses.
• Cowboys hurting - Really, the only thing that happened of note was the injuries the Cowboys suffered.  Tony Romo’s pinkie injury was thought to keep him out four weeks, but now Dr. Brett Farve told him he could and should play through this.  I think that is somewhat unwise.  He may be able to pull it off, but there is apparently risk that he could be further hurt.  And last week, Trent Dilfer broke down how Romo throws and hold the ball, showing he puts a lot of pressure on that pinkie.  Romo makes the Cowboys a legitimate offensive force, but he also kills them with turnovers (leading the league in fumbles); Brad Johnson will keep the offense from losing games, but won’t make big plays for them. Felix Jones has a bad hammy, Pacman was rightfully suspended; Terrance Newmann is out for a few weeks.  The Cowboys need to somehow keep pace through this stretch.  Glad to know they have the “brilliant” Wade Philips to do that.
• NFL Trading Deadline - Comes and goes with only one deal, Roy Williams to the Cowboys.  I don’t have a clue why NFL teams are so insistent on trading only when they a) get an amazingly sweet deal, or b) totally rip the other team off.  And shockingly the Lions were the smartest team in the league on Tuesday.  They had a lethargic, temperamental, under performing young WR with value, and rather than holding out they jumped on an opportunity.  The Lions have a ton of needs, and a 1st, 3rd and 6th will help them tremendously to rebuild.  Williams wasn’t going to help them get better.  The only things I’d say about the Cowboys on this one is, I don’t know that they need a WR at this point, and I doubt Williams is worth the picks plus a rumored $45 million extension.  I’d have made him show he was worth the cash before giving it to him.  Meanwhile, Kansas City couldn’t get it done with Tony Gonzalez.   Similar to the Lions, they are a train wreck and Gonzo ain’t going to help them.  Rumor is they turned down a 3rd round pick.  Rumor also says Gonzo balked at going to Buffalo who may have offered better than the 3rd.  Whatever the reason, the Chiefs should have accept the best they could get, from a team Gonzo was willing to go to.  GM Peterson basically said that Shockey went for a 2nd and 5th why should they accept less for Gonzo.  True, but you are in no position to negotiate.  Gonzo isn’t young, this is midseason, and you stink.  Accept what you can get, and rebuild.
• NFL is fine crazy - Troy Polamantu said the NFL is now becoming a pansy league.  He’s right.  The most popular American sport now no longer allows players to hit each other, celebrate TDs or *gasp* criticize referee’s.  Should there be limits on these types of actions? Of course, there are always lines that shouldn’t be crossed.  The NFL wants players to play hard through the whistle, hit each other hard, but rather than addressing player safety through better (read more expensive) equipment, they’ll just fine players who’s head is two inches two high and hits another players head.  We are one or two seasons away from players not being able to high five each other after a TD.  A referee costs a team a game and no one can talk about it.  So the NFL now legislates free speech, physical contact in a contact sport and spontenaity in celebration.  Change the name soon to the Nazi Football League.

Picks:

Last week, Antonio (3-3) Kali (2-4).  Overall, Antonio (13-10), Kali (10-13).

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Sorry, we were both apparently on hiatus last week so there was no post and picks.  I was in Canada, and I believe Kali was attempting to write in support for blackballsports.com into the Bailout package.

The NFL is past the quarter mark, which means panic has set in regarding several teams with aspirations including Philadelphia, Green Bay, Seattle, Jacksonville, Indianapolis and San Diego.  All these teams are at or below .500 with serious questions.

• Philadelphia continues to struggle with injuries, as Brian Westbrook and Shawn Andrews have been ruled out for this weekend.  The offense has clearly not been the same since these two were hurt.  Since they were both hurt, the Eagles have scored 15, 20, and 17 points.  The big issue here, is they should be able to overcome these type losses.  Every team in the league suffers injuries, and other than QB, each team should be able to somewhat compensate for attrition.  If Westbrook doesn’t get healthy quickly, write this team off, as they are in a brutal division and won’t sniff the playoffs playing .500 ball.
• Aaron Rodgers has generally played well for the Packers, and Greg Jennings has the best WR numbers in the league, yet the team has lost 3 straight, with the last one being to Atlanta at home.  The Brett Farve lovers will unfairly point the finger at Rodgers.  But the bottom line is they haven’t stopped the run 176 yards vs. Atlanta, 178 vs Tampa and 217 against Dallas.   They’ll get this sewed up and play in a weaker division, so I expect them to bounce back. Continue Reading »
  

Eagles fans…step away from the ledge.  This is season 10 of the Andy Reid-Donovan McNabb era.  And guess what, it is generally like every other season.  The Eagles fail to play a consistent 60 minutes of football.

Why?  Because apparently Reid seems so focused on early performance that it seems to take him 8 weeks to learn how to close out games, and play for a full sixty minutes.  This season already against professional teams (excluding St. Louis who is clearly not an NFL team), they’ve managed 68 points in four games in the first half.  Second halves of games? 21.  They haven’t scored more than 7 points in any second half, and in fact only one second half touchdown.  Meanwhile, they’ve scored no less than 10 in any first half.

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The NFL is humming right along, hitting week 4, and teams are starting to get their bye weeks.  Before we get into the picks, I’ve got a few thoughts.

• Vince Young - Something about the past two years with Vince is bothering me.  He just seems like he’s really stressed about something off the field.  Almost like he’s just not comfortable in the spotlight and being who he is.  Put his recent behavior, together with the infamous drunk dancing with shirtless guys and you start wondering what is really going on.  And I won’t even bring up the fact he sells sausage. I’m not saying anything else.
• Trouble in Pittsburgh - I was a bit surprised the Philadelphia Eagles beat on the Pittsburgh Steelers the way they did.  They out physicalled and pushed around a usually bully like team.  Not to mention, they came out of the game with more injuries to Ben Roethlisberger who was beat silly, and Willie Parker may miss two weeks.  So who do they get this week?  The kings of nasty, Baltimore Ravens.  Not a good thing, considering nothing kills a season faster than injuries.
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The NFL is off to an amazing start.  The number of interesting stories, trends and moments is tremendous.  I don’t even know if I could sufficiently sum up the stories.

• The Titans are moving on without Vince Young - They’ve handled him poorly, and it is clear he’s emotionally fragile.  This doesn’t look good for the franchise or Young.  Boy, Young and Matt Leinhart must miss college.
• Vikings turn the page on Tarvaris Jackson - They needed to do this, but I think after spending all this time grooming, defending and verbally supporting the guy, isn’t it a bit late to turn to of all people Gus Ferrotte?  Nonetheless, they will play better.
• Patriots moving on without Tom Brady - The Patriots surprised me not by winning, but by quickly regrouping to commit themselves to the old Patriot ways of defense first.   Not they need to sustain it.
• Rookies hitting the mark - Despite playing for the worst managed team in professional sports, Darren McFadden is trying to become to the Raiders what Adrian Peterson was to the Vikings last year.   Not to be outdone are the mini-WRs, Eddie Royal and DeSean Jackson.  It’s only been two weeks of course, but both of them are performing well above expectations.  Can they keep it up?  Unlikely, but the fact that they both are being trusted by their quarterbacks and coaching staffs can’t be dismissed.
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