NFL Week 8

[NoCalMike 0]

And I said to myself...what a wonderful world.....

 

Packers beat the `Skins heading into a bye week where they can finally rest up all those nasty injuries right at .500 coming out the following week against a Minnesota team that got killed at home by the Giants. And the always schizophrenic Lions getting beat today by the Cowboys.

 

Hey, Green Bay beating Washington today also means (supposedly) that Kerry will win the election. Amazing too, this is the first time all year that Green Bay has turned the ball over and won a game despite the turnovers. Washington's defense is good, but apparently not good enough. Thank god their offense is horrible... Brunell really looks like he's past his prime. He was constantly off-target, overthrowing or underthrowing his receivers all day.

 

What a great day. Go Pack!

Brunell needs to be benched, NOW. I know that it was a bogus call there at the end(the stupid bogus motion call against the Skins that called back their go ahead score), but Brunell was pretty bad all game long, especially missing Cooley wide open in the endzone. There is no reason to think Ramsey couldn't have this same team at 2-5 right now. Why must the Skins keep losing like this. At least get blown out, and let me leave the sportsbar early so I can cut down on 4th quarter beer.

I was watching the game with a pretty even crowd, actually made real good friends with this Skins fan who I hadn't seen at the bar before (hell the guy even offered me a job at the golf course he works at) and we all came to the agreement that the officiating was terrible for both sides; what the hell was with that chop block call on Favre (which by the way led to Washington's first score.. I remarked at this time "Well hell, I guess they figured Washington couldn't get any offense on their own so the refs gave them some") in the 2nd quarter?

 

Another thing which I've said time and time again.. If you deserved to win, you shouldn't have let it all come down to one bad call or one bad play... And yes, that includes 4th and 26. (there were so many things I could have pointed out that they did wrong, that play in particular was just one of the lowlights) That Redskin offense was PATHETIC the whole game against a mediocre Green Bay defense.

 

I am also coming to the conclusion thanks to Clinton Portis and Olandis Gary that it's the system (not to mention the ridiculous amount of chop blocking) and not necessarily the running backs. Or is it just that Portis has that bad an o-line in front of him now?

Their best tackle, Jon Jansen was injured in the preseason, and it has been a revolving door at that position ever since, because the timing of the injury left the Skins without the ability to pick up a quality backup in time for the season.

 

Portis has been good when he gets the ball. Portis and Ahman Green both had 70 yards rushing today, though Portis got his 70 on half as many carries as Green, mind you.

 

When a team is playing from behind it is harder for a RB to get big stats, because the offense will be passing a lot more. Hell if that TD toss to Portis ends up standing, no one would be saying "OMG Portis only had 70 yds rushing" The offense is crap right now, complete crap. So it is hard for one guy just to keep doing amazing despite everyone else playing like crap.

 

The Skins just need to keep working on their offense I suppose. I mean they are not losing games badly. I think every has been within 7 points or less(including their wins).

[therealworldschampion 0]

I just saw the highlights of Packers-Redskins, Bush may lose the election on Tuesday because of JAMES FUCKING THRASH.

 

When Kerry wins a small, 3 electoral vote state on Tuesday night, maybe he can point to the sky like Thrash did for the last couple of years catching a 3 yard pass. *Eagle fans will know what I'm talking about*

[KingPK 0]

I can already hear the whining.

 

"TY LAW HURT HIMSELF! DILLON IS OUT!"

 

STFU. We lost our best defender last week, the heart and soul of our defense, and we're down to a bunch of rooks in our secondary, too. It ain't over yet by any means, but don't be making excuses if Pittsburgh ends up on top of this one.

 

And as I say that, the Pats score. Ugh.

But you can't just dismiss Dillon's absence, since it altered NE's gameplan into a "90% pass, 10% run" offense, since no one in their right mind is scared of Kevin Faulk and Cedric Cobbs, which played right into Pittsburgh's hands, since they were able to pressure the shit out of Brady without having to worry about the play action (notice the near absence of that from Brady?). And Law's injury allowed the Steelers to pick on Randall Gay, which they did the first play he came in (which was incredibly smart of the coach, Ben, the co-ordinator, whoever made the call)

 

But besides that, the Steelers simply did what ANY good team should do: force your opponents into making mistakes and then capitalize, and do it early. Not many teams are going to come back after getting into a 21-3 hole in the first quarter. The Pats fought back, at least.

 

Alas, it's but only one game. But I think by the end of next week, we're not going to have any undefeated teams anymore.

[therealworldschampion 0]

I fear next week going to Pittsburgh, but I also hold out hope of Pittsburgh having a letdown after beating the Patriots. If Westbrook isn't back next week, then I'm not that confident.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

Give the Pats some credit. They did awesome without Dillon last year, and have always risen against adversity. Bellichek would hate that any of you are making excuses. They've defeated so many other teams who've had even more serious injuries in their streak. Those teams didn't make excuses. The time the Pats or Pats fan start making excuses, si the time they start to lsoe their edge. They'll bounce back after this because they'll be hungry for a win, if they were making excuses, they'd just blame injuries and play the same way next week.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

I fear next week going to Pittsburgh, but I also hold out hope of Pittsburgh having a letdown after beating the Patriots. If Westbrook isn't back next week, then I'm not that confident.

Pittsburgh is for real. They've always had the weapons, now they have a QB to execute it. Defense is where they are a little shaky, but everyone is filling in admirably for their big injuries there.

[Guest Flyboy]

I can already hear the whining.

 

"TY LAW HURT HIMSELF! DILLON IS OUT!"

 

STFU. We lost our best defender last week, the heart and soul of our defense, and we're down to a bunch of rooks in our secondary, too. It ain't over yet by any means, but don't be making excuses if Pittsburgh ends up on top of this one.

 

And as I say that, the Pats score. Ugh.

But you can't just dismiss Dillon's absence, since it altered NE's gameplan into a "90% pass, 10% run" offense, since no one in their right mind is scared of Kevin Faulk and Cedric Cobbs, which played right into Pittsburgh's hands, since they were able to pressure the shit out of Brady without having to worry about the play action (notice the near absence of that from Brady?). And Law's injury allowed the Steelers to pick on Randall Gay, which they did the first play he came in (which was incredibly smart of the coach, Ben, the co-ordinator, whoever made the call)

I really hope NE fans don't try to use injuries in their defense of losing.. PITT is simply outplaying NE in every facet.

[KingPK 0]

But besides that, the Steelers simply did what ANY good team should do: force your opponents into making mistakes and then capitalize, and do it early. Not many teams are going to come back after getting into a 21-3 hole in the first quarter. The Pats fought back, at least.

[Der Kommissar 0]

This is somewhat big news:

 

Leftwich out at least 4 weeks with a knee injury

 

BAD break for the Jags. It could be anywhere frome 4 weeks to the rest of the season. Can Garrard pull it off or are the Jags' playoff hopes sunk? I am betting on the latter at this point.

[the pinjockey 0]

The Jags lucked out having the bye week this week, then coming back with Detroit (wildly inconsistent), Tenn (major downswing), and Minnesota (again wildly inconsistent). With their defense, IMO, they are capable of taking two of these games as long as Fred Taylor can stay on the field to give them a little offense.