The Good:
Tony Romo’s True Grit
One week after facing plenty of criticism, Tony Romo showed his true colors in the Cowboys 27-24 overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers. And it wasn’t the 345-yards passing, two touchdown passes or the 116.4 quarterback rating that showed you his true colors. It was that he simply stepped back onto the field.
Imaging barely being able to speak up, or raise your hand over your head to throw a football or even barely being able to breath. Well, that is how Tony Romo finished the game in San Francisco. Romo fractured a rib and suffered a collapsed lung early in the game, yet he came back in late in the third quarter to finish the game and lead the Cowboys and the final three scoring drives. I was glad to have been there live to witness it.
High Scoring Affairs
Scoring is up in the NFL and I love it. It is pure awesomeness! 12 out of the 16 games this past weekend had over 40 points scored, 5 of them went over 50 points and one, Oakland at Buffalo saw 73 points light up the scoreboard. The 1,502 points scored in the first two weeks of the season are the most points score in two weeks in the history of the league. Who says defense wins championships?
Cam Newton’s Encore
Maybe it’s time to start buying stock in Carolina Panthers Rookie Cam Newton. The rookie from Auburn has been impressive in his first two starts. Newton followed up his 422-yard Week 1 performance by throwing for 432-yards against the defending Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers. Yes, the Packers picked him off three times, and yes his quarterback rating was only 72, but there is no denying that the kid has talent. Once he learns from the mistakes he made against the Packers, he will lead the Panthers to victories instead of losing close games.
The Bad:
Rookie Head Coach Mistake
49ers Rookie Head Coach Jim Harbaugh made a bad decision in the 49ers loss to the Cowboys. After kicker David Akers booted a 55-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, the coach got his first big decision. The kick gave the 49ers a 24-14 lead with 11:16 left in the game, but there was a 15-yard penalty on the Cowboys Keith Brooking for leverage and the 49ers could have taken the three points off the board and had an automatic 1st down at the Cowboys 22-yard line.
Instead, Coach Harbaugh kept the three points and had the 15-yards enforced on the kick-off, in which David Akers kicked the ball out of the back of the endzone giving the ball to Dallas on the 20-yard line. Dallas quickly marched 80 yards on 9 plays to cut the lead to 24-21 with 6:55 to play. We all know what happened after that. Write this is off as 20-20 hindsight if you like, but not giving your offense a chance to score a touchdown to try and take a 14 point lead is a bad decision. At worst, your offense runs another 2 to 3 minutes off the clock before having to kick the field goal again so you take more time off the clock giving the Cowboys less time to work with to try and tie the game.
Last Year’s Division Winners Off To 0-2 Start
The Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks are all sitting at the bottom of their respective divisions looking up from the bottom at 0-2. Last year these three teams all won their divisions and made the playoffs. Being 0-2 is not all that bad within itself; it is how these teams got to 0-2 that is surprising.
The Colts can blame not having their leader, Peyton Manning, on the field is the problem, but last I checked, Peyton never played defense nor on special teams. The Colts are getting beat on all aspects of the game right now. The Chiefs have also been decimated by injuries, losing S Eric Berry, TE Tony Moeaki and RB Jamaal Charles to season ending injuries, however their offense has been dormant for three weeks. Might this be the effects of losing offensive coordinator Charlie Weiss?
The Seahawks are another story altogether. Their offense has not just been dormant, it has been non-existent. Against Pittsburgh in Week 2, the Seahawks only managed 164-yards of total offense and were shut-out for the first time since being shut-out by the same Steelers in 2007. Clearly the Seahawks need the Tavaris Jackson to step it up and take control of the offense because right now that offense is plain offensive.
One thing is clear, do not expect any of these teams to be sitting atop their division this year.
Raiders Meltdown
For a while there, Raider Nation was all abuzz about how well Oakland was doing on the East Coast in Buffalo jumping out to a 21-3 halftime lead. But remember, these are the Raiders, and they always seem to find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Eight penalties and two turnovers gave the Bills all they needed to get back into the game and finally take the lead for good with 18 seconds remaining in the game.
Yes, the Raiders look significantly better, but NO, they cannot afford to give up 18 point leads if they expect to contend for the AFC West crown.
And The Ugly:
Giants Big Flop
During the 1st quarter of the Giants 28-16 win over the St. Louis Rams, a pair of Giants defenders appeared to go down with injuries. With just under four minutes left in the first quarter, the Rams no-huddle offense was marching on the Giants defense and got inside the Giants 10-yard line. That’s when Giants S Deon Grant and LB Jacquian Williams both dropped to the ground like a couple of high-schoolers in a rave mosh pit.
Even though both players involved and Giants head coach Tom Coughlin said his players were not faking injury, this could not be seen as anything else. Not only did both players do a horrible acting job when falling to the ground, other Giants players did not even look to see what was wrong with their fallen teammates, as Justin Tuck simply walked over Grant and ignored him.
This has prompted the league to send a memo to all 32 teams Wednesday morning that stated the following:
Should the league office determine that there is reasonable cause, all those suspected in being involved in faking injuries will be summoned promptly to this office in New York to discuss the matter. Those found to be violators will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action for conduct detrimental to the game. Discipline could include fines of coaches, players and clubs, suspensions or forfeiture of draft choices.
Not sure how to police this, but this is the NFL, NO FLOPPING LEAGUE, and players guilty of flopping should be forced to sit out a game.
Luke McCown 4 INT Day
Although Luke McCown and the Jacksonville Jaguars managed a two point victory in Week 1 over the Titans, they hardly managed to get on the field in Week 2 against the Jets. McCown threw 4 interceptions on 6 of 19 passing for 59-yards and a 1.8 quarterback rating. That’s just awful.
Days before the start of the regular season, head coach Jack Del Rio cut starting quarterback David Garrard in favor of Luke McCown. It was a brutal move by a coach who had done this before to quarterback Byron Leftwich. Now McCown gets the axe as Del Rio is handing the starting job to Rookie Blaine Gabbart. Can’t say I blame him, but why not just start Gabbart Week 1?
Eagles Disappearing Defense
Nnamdi Asomugha. Dominique Rodgers-Cromarti. Jason Babin. Dream Team? NOT! Certainly not based on Sunday Night’s 35-31 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Heading into the 4th quarter, the Eagles maintained a 10-point lead and that is when your defense is supposed to step up and shine.
This dream team however could not apply any pressure on Matt Ryan when they needed it and allowed the Falcons to score 14 unanswered points in back to back drives in the 4th quarter to give the Falcons the lead and the win. Philly fans need to come to terms that this defense is not a dream team right now and that they are a work in progress. Eagles D will need to get better if the Eagles hope to accomplish their lofty goals.
