TMQ Is Back, And It's Still Just As Bad As Ever

TMQ has returned to mock the mock draft as he does, annoyingly, every year. However he devotes the first third of this column to the NFL labor dispute, only in the way TMQ can, basically saying both sides should have respectfully negotiated somewhere not taxpayer funded and that all these rich fucking crybaby assholes are in it for their own personal gain. Like I said, the only way TMQ can.

The NFL players and owners can't possibly be foolish enough to kill a goose that lays $10 billion worth of golden eggs each year, can they?

You would think not but somehow I think it will.

Don't answer that!

I just did.

As the historian Barbara Tuchman wrote, human history reflects a "march of folly" -- people and institutions go out of their way to do that which sabotages their own interests.

Yes, TMQ is a "march of folly". It is a person and an institution who goes out of its way to sabotage their own interests.

The previous agreement had room for improvement, of course. Health benefits for former players were poor. Bonuses for first-round draft choices were getting out of hand. But a routine negotiation could have handled such matters. There was no need for the owners and players to engage in a public meltdown that may damage both their interests.

I actually agree with this statement. Wholeheartedly, too. The problem is both sides wanted to get the fans involved and start lobbying their platform to them. What's worse is that at the onset of this the fans did not care, but both the players and the owners wanted to get them involved.

Are players and owners a bunch of spoiled crybabies, millionaires arguing with billionaires about who pays for the champagne? The simplest explanation is often correct, and this is the simplest explanation. But there is a crazed dynamic at work -- one that must end, so American taxpayers with a median household income of $53,000 can stop subsidizing federal courtroom time for wealthy crybabies to shout at each other. Here's what is happening:

This is a very cryptic way of saying, well, nothing.

That left the bossypants cohort of NFL owners smarting, wanting revenge on someone. Vying for revenge against your own players -- who are the product; not many people come to stadiums to watch the owners -- doesn't make a great deal of sense. But human history is a march of folly.

I seriously don't they wanted revenge. Perhaps they wanted to win, sure, but revenge? Sounds kind of crazy.

Believing they had "lost" the 2006 bargaining round, some NFL owners said words to the effect of, "Let's hire this [expletive] Batterman and crush the NFLPA."

Oh, hyperbole. I doubt this quote was every actually said.

Nevertheless, in 2008 the owners hired Batterman as labor counsel. He laid out a plan to create a lockout, and that's what happened. What does he care if an NFL season is canceled, and the league's popularity declines? He gets the same fee regardless.

Do you really think that the owners are that greedy that they will jeopardize their income (the team playing games, fans filling seats, selling beer, merchandise, etc) just to "win" the labor dispute. I actually don't think so but I'm sure some (Easterbrook included) do. However an outside counsel probably does not care since he'll get paid as Easterbrook said.

On the labor side: Upshaw, a former NFL player, was a gifted negotiator -- he won free agency for NFL athletes, steadily rising pay for them, and benefits for retired players. Because he'd been an NFL star, he was secure in his manhood. Because he'd played in the league, in all things he put the interests of the players first.

After Upshaw's death, DeMaurice Smith was elected head of the union. He is the second supervillain in this story. Smith never played pro sports -- for that matter, had no background in labor law or sports economics. He worked in the Justice Department, then became a litigator for Patton Boggs, a leading legal firm. The first impulse of litigators is to create conflicts; the second, to sustain them. The longer and nastier a conflict is, the more a litigator benefits, in fees and in personal importance.

I actually agree with this statement. It makes sense that the man representing the players should have, well, been a player. He gets paid regardless of what which side wins.

Actually the more and more I read in to this the more I side with the owners and not the players. According to TMQ, Smith and a few players (that were said to represent all players) filed a lawsuit that if it success would spell the end of the draft, free agency, and salary cap - scary thought.

Basically it stipulates that high salary players will continue to get paid their high salary, if not more (double their salary, perhaps), while less well-off players' salaries will decline.

I actually agree with TMQ's "The path to the solution" paragraph, but I think it's wishful thinking. I don't think the litigation will escape the courtroom.

What TMQ finds worrisome about Newton is … he played for a BCS title team. That's a major negative; see below. But first, TMQ's annual mock of mock drafts.

Only TMQ would not equate success with success. We'll see. If Newton is a bust, he's a bust. I don't see why it matters that he was a one-hit wonder or if his integrity is questioned (only by moralists like TMQ).

His next segment is what worries me about TMQ. Deadspin hit it on their rant about TMQ's rant about President Obama filling out a bracket. "This is the worst kind of sports column: irrelevant, pedantic, and completely in love with its own righteousness." That, my friends, is TMQ each week.

And then we get TMQ's short-sighted observations and pronouncements about Cam Newton.

Is there more to his recruiting scandal? It's easy to believe a starry-eyed teenager would not grasp that NCAA rules forbid cash in return for signing a college letter of intent. It's hard to believe Newton's father did not grasp this, and it's really hard to believe the full truth of the matter has come out. Any team that drafts Newton runs a risk the NCAA will at some point void Auburn's 2010 season, and Newton will return his Heisman. If this happens, a wave of negativity would wash over a franchise that's just given Newton a check for a staggering amount of money.

Only TMQ would continue to pound this into the ground because for some reason he has an axe to grind with Newton's character. There really is nothing else to say here other than TMQ I'm sure is the only person who still thinks this is an issue.

Why did he leave Florida? Newton was at three colleges in three autumns -- University of Florida, then Blinn, then Auburn. The situation at Florida seemed ideal for Newton: backing up Tim Tebow, learning from a master in Urban Meyer, with the likelihood that as a junior, he would become the face of one of college football's best-run programs. Why did he leave, and suddenly? Not for the challenge of leading Blinn to the NJCAA playoffs. Reports say Newton was about to be expelled from Florida for cheating, which the school will neither confirm nor deny. There's something not right about the whole Florida business.

Maybe because he wanted to play, perhaps? Just maybe? He knew that while Tebow was still there he wouldn't have a chance at starting. And maybe perhaps he knew that if he wanted a chance in the NFL he had to get out of Meyer stupid whatever you call it offense and get into a pro-style offense. Again, I don't know why TMQ has such an axe to grind with Newton.

He played for a BCS title team. In his one year at Auburn, Newton was surrounded by premium athletes. Newton had stars to hand off to and stars to throw to. The blocking was exceptional. Oh mighty football gods, if I am reincarnated as a quarterback, put me on a stacked team.

Of the 11 BCS title-winning quarterbacks to enter the NFL, all were hot stuff in college; nine did little in the pros: Tee Martin, Chris Weinke, Josh Heupel, Ken Dorsey, Craig Krenzel, Matt Mauck, Matt Leinart, Chris Leak, Matt Flynn. The 10th, Tebow, has been in the NFL only one season; the sole (albeit current free agent) NFL quarterback with both a BCS title and a solid pro career is Vince Young. Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Michael Vick, Matt Ryan, Josh Freeman, Philip Rivers, Joe Flacco -- none started on college title teams. They learned the hard way.

Newton sure looked great in 2010, but he looked great in a situation that would have made any quarterback look great. That's the big red flag.

Most of those quaterbacks mentioned above played at football factories or something close to it, they didnt' exactly have it the hard way. If teams were smarted, they would draft Newton to a team with either a veteran quarterback or a coach who can help and further coach Newton to NFL standards. And I wouldn't exactly say Vince Young's career is solid.

What The Hell Is Colin Cowherd Talking About?

Colin Cowherd, to me, is a very polarizing ESPN figure. People either love him to death or hate his guts. Many used to be fans of his but now are not (I fall into this category). Now, before going on, if I were to run into him somewhere, I wouldn't call him an asshole or try to fight him or anything. In fact, there was a time he did his show from Columbus and I thought about going down except the weather was horrid that day, so I didn't.

He started off today's show basically by saying that fans hold onto their team's losses for too long and that players don't really care about losses at all because, besides, it's their job. I don't know if I've ever heard a more bullshit statement in my life than that. The hell they do! Players lament about losses, especially in big games, alot, especially in the correct setting. When they can't sleep I am willing to bet they will go back and think about that interception or that missed tackle that cost them the game. I bet they do, and if they don't, I will be the first to admit that I am wrong, but still, Cowherd's statement smells of bullshit to me.

He then went on to say that the reason the Jay Cutler might have quit on the Bears storyline caught on was because players and fans were making their opinions as such on Twitter, but that their arguments don't hold water to people over 40, because people over 40 have perspective and young people don't and that people over 40 don't know how to use or don't understand Twitter. OK. Fine. I agree with the first part of the argument. People were reading too much into Cutler's demeanor and it also didn't help that anybody from the Bears or Fox provided us with the real info. (By the way, I just threw out 40 as a blanket age. 'Herd said something like "a 45-year-old guy with perspective, a 54, 64-year old business owner") What I have a problem with is his multiple generalizations and stereotypes about...everything. I don't have a Twitter account and I'm 19. Perhaps I'm an outlier but none of my friends who are around the same age as me have Twitter accounts, either. Again, we may be outliers but so-be it.

Getting back to Cowherd, here are my main beefs with him:
1.) Making fun of his listeners, emailers, and callers for calling in and emailing for so much as caring about sports - sort of kills the point of having sports talk in the first place.
3.) His cutsie cultural references and motifs to cover up no real analysis whatsoever.
4.) His claims that's he's progressive only to use stereotypes and generalizations to get his point across ("Overweight people have low self-worth, that's why they're overweight." -- referring to Mark Mangino)
5.) His asinine opinions on the NBA and market size (listen to his show now that football is winding down and you'll figure out what I'm referring to).

I realize this whole post is sort of like letting the terrorists win or letting the playground bully get the best of me, but 'Herd's open today pushed me over the limit, and I just had to write about it. 'Herd used to be cool. He introduced compelling arguments and opinions, but that was several years ago when he was not as prominent. I mean, yeah, he told a caller to shoot themselves and said that all southern white males agree with each other, but, I don't know, it was less annoying. That all changed when he got a TV show. Then I think it all went to his head and he just sort of enjoyed listening to himself talk too much, and wants to take stances just to create controversy and hoopla (perhaps management is making him do this to garner more ratings, but I don't think so).

OK. I think I've decompressed now. Thanks as always for reading.

Commentator Awards 2010 Follow-Up Post

I have a couple of follow-up thoughts about my awards. Overall, I'm pretty happy with them. Although I feel I should have switched Fouts and Eagle and Simms and Nantz. Throughout the postseason, I have not been overly-impressed with Nantz and Simms, while I actually think Buck is honing in more on his skills and not being so monotonous. Unfortunately I missed the Ravens-Steelers game that Gumbel and Dierdorf did. And obviously I did not do a review of the second NBC team that did the Saints-Seahawks Wild Card game or one for the NFL Network team of Bob Papa, Matt Millen and Joe Thiesmann, but I'll take a wild guess and say they're pretty bad because of Millen and Theismann. I'll close with this, if you tune out Siragusa, Albert and Johnston are a good team, trust me. Just mute your set when "Goose" speaks. And is Dick Stockton really that terrible?

My Reaction To TYT Calling Phil Simms Worst NFL Announcer

The Young Turks is an Internet political talk show, who now I guess have branched off into sports a bit, as I discovered this YouTube video of them proclaiming Phil Simms as surpassing Randy Cross as worst NFL announcer. Technically, Phil Simms is not a announcer but an analyst, nor is Randy Cross. Jim Nantz is an announcer. Dick Stockton is an announcer. Simms and Cross are analysts, but anyway, their reasoning for naming Simms the worst "announcer" was laughable. It was during the waning moments of the Steelers-Ravens game from Week 4. Phil deduced that the Ravens should go for it on 4th & 2 but that they should run. (In actuality they passed and converted). There are a ton of reasons why that is not an outlandish prediction, which I won't go into here, but it all boils down to why is that such a bad prediction? And because he was wrong, he's the worst announcer? Have you not watch football for about, oh, about the past 15 years? He does that all the time! And most of the time, he's right (that's what being a cerebral quarterback for 16 seasons in the NFL does to you!)

Another bullshit reason of there's about why Simms is the worst announcer is because he said "nice hold" on a penalty. Again, was this their first game with Simms that they've watched? I doubt it. I am 99% sure he was joking. Again, I don't see why this is such a big deal if they know how Simms is as an analyst. The evidence tells me they don't.

Now I'm not a viewer or listener of The Young Turks, so I don't know know why they branched off into sports talk anyway, and it seems to me by reading the comments on their videos that their viewers don't like it either.

There are probably 15 or 20 announcers worse than Phil Simms, perhaps more. Trust me, he's one of the best. You want a bad announcer? I'll even give you an analyst to be along the lines with Simms - John Lynch. Steve Tasker. Rich Gannon (this kills me because I loved him as a quarterback). There.

The Tebow Love-Fest Has To End

I'm blogging while watching Sunday's Broncos-Raiders game on NFL Game Rewind and my god, is the Tebow love rampid. So much so, it's sickening. And not just from one announcer, but from both. CBS was tracking Tebow like Fox or ESPN would do with Favre, with Gus Johnson giving us the play-by-play along the way ("There is Tebow talking with his quarterback coach about that last series." -- one that was a three and out). Hype. Hype. Hype. Storylines abound. Talk this about Tebow. Talk that. Talk about the awards. Talk about Tebow's college accomplishments and all the fluff that go with ("the most accomplished college player of his generation.") It was sick I tell you! Sick! I hate to sound like Paul Zimmerman here, but when a storyline gets in the way of the game action - especially when the player who all the talk is about is not doing well - it's just asinine!

I get it. He's a great athlete and a great person and an emotional leader and a Christian. Please end it there! I still don't think he's even a very good quarterback, which is not the same thing as being a good athlete. Where is all the love come from? It can't be one thing or another. Plenty of athletes are Christians. Plenty of athletes are capable and emotional leaders. But ever in NFL history has a single player been so hyped out of college and then hyped in the NFL before he has done a damn thing?! And even though the Rams are currently 1st place in the NFC West, it has been barely talked about how well Sam Bradford has played. What's been covered, annoyingly more, is how terrible the NFC West is and how the NFL should have a seeding system based on record. Everybody should have seen that the NFC West was going to be bad this year. Why is it such a surprise now?

Please, folks, let's stop the Tebow love - here and now.

In other NFL news, I don't know if you heard or not, but Brett Favre started against the Bears on Monday Night in a game that was played outdoors in the cold and snow in Minnesota, seperated shoulder and all. Favre knows how to grab the media's attention. He'll tell Ed Werner that he has no plans on starting and then seemingly majestically, he'll start. Is it too much to think that Favre intended on starting all along, but just kept telling the media that he won't for his own sick and twisted reason? I guess it's nice to be in a position to be able to hold the media hostage, with them biting their nails, wating on what you're going to say and do next. I don't think anybody, even the Vikings, would think that they would lose two quarterbacks to injury in the consecutive games, so I wouldn't have blamed them for starting a rookie, or getting a scab through free agency (in this case, Patrick Ramsey).

This was a wasted season for the Vikings and Favre a.) should not have came back, and b.) been benched early in the season. After the New England game at the latest. And it's a shame that Brad Chidress was sacrificed for his team's failure.

Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention this. In last week's TMQ, Gregg included an email from a reader where the reader basically told TMQ he was wrong and that his comparison was stupid and wrong.

I noted many big colleges have more staff in the athletic department than in the English department. Matt Howland of Penn State replies, "I think your comparison of ratios with employees serving the football team and the English department serving the entire student body is flawed. The proportionate amount of time needed to teach one student in one English class is tiny compared to the amount of time football players and other athletes spend time preparing to compete. I think a more fair comparison is relating the English staff to English majors, rather than to the entire student body."

One thing I have always thought about Gregg Easterbrook is that he has a relatively small ego - compared to, say, Colin Cowherd. I'm glad that TMQ was man enough to include this comment in his column.

Week 9: Brett Favre Promoted To Saint, Chidress Still A Bum, ESPN Says

We are now halfway through the NFL season, and thankfully some more storylines are emerging other than the infighting within the Vikings organization and the hapless Cowboys. I'm going to sound a bit like Colin Cowherd hear (pimping my own ego and how right I was when I made a prediction) but what did I say last week? The AFC West could be the most exciting division?! I still think I'm right. The Chargers, Raiders, and Giants are all on streaks where they look like they could dominate the latter part of the season. I'll say this again too. Teams that do well in the postseason are ones that have hot streaks in the middle of the season, allowing room to drop a few games at the beginning and the end. The Chargers have a peachpuff schedule from here on out and could easily be 6-5 going into their bout with the Raiders on December 5. Speaking of the Raiders, they have won three straight, and three of their five wins this year have come against AFC West opponents. Don't give up on the Chiefs yet though, they still lead the AFC West. Then we have the New York Giants, holders of the best record and best team in the NFC. They have won five straight and will get a sixth next week (they play the Cowboys at the Meadowlands). The Falcons too are 6-2, however they have the Ravens in the Georgia Dome next week.

My ESPN Rant of the Week: Let me make this clear. I am an ESPN hater by any means. Some of my favorite sports personalities work for the network (Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, Mike Tirico, Mike & Mike, Ron Jaworski). Jon Gruden is pretty good too, but I think his time would be better spent if he were to get back into coaching. I just don't like some of the people there (Trent Dilfer, Mark Schlereth, Colin Cowherd, Tony Kornheiser). Every Monday Trent Dilfer comes onto Colin Cowherd's show and basically they talk about how great Brett Favre is and how much of an asshole Brad Childress is. They do talk about other stuff but it usually boils down to Favre or other stuff Cowherd is comfortable talking about (I'm sorry, but he is just not a very good analyst). Well on Monday, Dilfer said that Favre's comeback on Sunday against the Cardinals was perhaps the second-best comeback in NFL history, behind "that Vinny Testaverde thing like 15 years ago". Tell if I'm wrong. Did he not say something to that effect? What about Peyton Manning against the Buccaneers in 2003? And besides, it was two freaking touchdowns! I think that happens fairly often, but not that common, but still, how short-sighted is that statement made by Dilfer? (Note: "the Vinny Testaverde thing" was in 2000, which last I checked was only 10 years ago)

Wade Phillips was fired on Monday. Who didn't see that one coming? Jason Garrett was promoted to interim head coach. Will it save the Cowboys' season? Doubtful. The Cowboys will still have to retool their entire coaching staff for next season whether there is football or not.

Stat of the Week: The Raiders are 3-0 against AFC West opponents. Divisional wins are paramount to getting to the playoffs.

Stat of the Week 2: The Browns have won their last two games by a score of 64-31.

Stat of the Week 3: Antwaan Randle El's career passer rating is 157.5, the highest for someone who has thrown more than 20 passes. A perfect passer rating is 158.3

Sweet Play of the Week: 1st and 10 at the Pats 11-yard line. Browns line up in a trick formation with Josh Cribbs and quarterback, receiver Chansi Stuckey literally right behind him, Peyton Hillis the deep back, and Colt McCoy split out wide. Quick snap, quick handoff to Stuckey, touchdown.

Amusement of the Week: Lions kicker Jason Hanson was injured, so 307-pound rookie defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh came in and made a PAT attempt. Unfortunately the try doinked off the crossbar, no good.

College Football Score From Schools You've Never Heard Of (D-I Edition): Michigan 67, Illinois 65 (3OT) in the highest-scoring game in Big Ten history.

College Football Score From Schools You've Never Heard Of: Mount Ida 69, Anna Maria 18.

College Football Score From Schools You've Never Heard Of With Pregame Meal Of Ambien And Warm Milk Score: College of New Jersey 7, Kean 0. Sole touchdown was scored in the fourth quarter.

Next Week: Sources say Brett Favre plans on shaving before the Vikings game at Chicago. ESPN will have up-to-the-minute coverage with breakdown on SportsCenter, First Take, NFL Live, and The Herd With Colin Cowherd afterwards.

Week 8; Vikings, Cowboys, Fix Your Teams in One Easy Step!

I'm watching Fox NFL Sunday for once and they're talking about Brett Favre. I never thought I'd here Terry Bradshaw say something smart, but he just has. He remarked that every time a quarterback throws, he puts most of his weight on his left foot, which Favre has two broken bones in (as well as an injury in his elbow). Yes! Jimmy Johnson agrees! He also says that's it's okay to sit a game, and that Favre's good throws have been outweighed by his bad ones. Yes! Micheal Strahan says no coach has the balls (he said cajones, or however you spell it) to bench Favre. Yes! However Troy Aikman did his share of Favre-loving, especially after Favre took a big hit in the second half.

It is so refreshing to hear some media criticism of Favre, and not everybody apologizing for his bad plays and calling Brad Childress a lame-duck coach. Lately, I have gotten so tired of ESPN's love-affair of Favre that I have all but boycotted ESPN, other than Mike and Mike and the 11:00 SportsCenter ("The Blitz" segments only. The rest of the show I fast-forward through.)

How To Fix The Cowboys: Sorry to sound like a broken record, but Wade Phillips needs to go, and so does Jerry Jones. I've never like owners like Jerry Jones or Al Davis, who consider themselves "player's coaches". Players can't coach themselves, and when they're payed millions of dollars, they develop egos. To keep their egos in check, they need a powerful coach to keep them in line (Bill Parcells). The problem, according to owners like Jones, is that they want too much power, they want in on personnel decisions and the draft, which is how Parcells was ousted from New England after the Super Bowl loss to the Packers. It's not the players. The Cowboys are way too talented of a team to be 1-6. When Bill Parcells was the coach, he had inferior talent to what the Cowboys have now, but they were disciplined. They were not penalized a lot and players were not "larger" than the team. Also, JerryWorld is not exactly a stadium where home field advantage is much of a factor. See, it's so big that the crowd noise largely unaffects the opposing team. And even worse, every Cowboys game so far this season has been nationally televised.

Cowboys TV Schedule:

Week 1: Sunday Night
Week 2: #1 game of regional weekend on Fox (if an affiliate did not have local obligations, it is recommended they show this game, unless you're WTTE)
Week 3: #1 game of regional weekend on Fox
Week 4: Bye
Week 5: second game of doubleheader on CBS, shown to majority of country
Week 6: second game of doubleheader on Fox, shown to majority of country
Week 7: Monday Night
Week 8: #1 game of regional weekend on CBS
Week 9: Sunday Night
Week 10: second game of doubleheader on Fox
Week 11: play Lions. Likely not #1 game but stranger things have happened
Week 12: Thanksgiving Game on Fox
Week 13: second game of doubleheader on Fox
Week 14: scheduled for Sunday Night, could change because of Flex Scheduling
Week 15: play at 1:00 against the Redskins, might actually not be on national TV
Week 16: play Cardinals on NFL Network, Christmas
Week 17: play Eagles at 1:00

How To Fix The Vikings (Note: this was written before Moss was cut): ESPN's golden boy quarterback is the 30th-ranked quarterback in the NFL (there are 32 teams). He didn't play horribly last night and the Vikings were largely in the game for most of it but he did get hurt and had to be carried of the field. I'll say this again, there is no way the Vikings with Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson, Randy Moss and their defense should be 2-5. No way. Favre has thrown costly interceptions in every game this season. Honestly how bad would Tarvaris Jackson be? Maybe they should reinstate the 5/8th clause? Where of every eight passes thrown, at least five should go to Randy Moss. And if you make him feel like an important part of the offense, he will catch all five passes that come his way. Favre will never want to not play unless he basically can't move, somebody (Childress) needs to take the initiative and do something. With their players, how bad would Jackson be?

So where should Moss go? How about Dallas? I haven't heard that discussed anywhere yet. That means it's either genius or stupid.

Chiefs (5-2), Raiders (4-4), Chargers (3-5), too much to say that the AFC West could actually be the most exciting division in football this season? The Chargers are making their late-season run and they have a relatively easy schedule from here on out. The Raiders have won their past two games by a combined score of 92-17, and are getting hot at the right time of the season, but so are the Chiefs, who happen to play the Raiders in Oakland next week and then the Broncos after that.

Thankfully the game in London was actually a game, which it has the perpetuity to not be. Hopefully the crowd did not know they were watching two of the worst NFL teams playing before their eyes. There was a Tim Tebow sighting, as I'm sure you know. And I'm sure you know too that he scored a touchdown. And how bad is the Broncos defense if they gave up 24 points and allowed Troy Smith (Troy Smith!) to complete 12 of 19 passes. Either that or Troy Smith is really good. Frank Gore also had 118 yards rushing.

Just for some amusment, here is a column from a local meatball, calling for the benching of Orton in favor of Tebow "to save the season" all the whille using the Tebow-as-a-Christian theme to fall the writers' cliches back on.

Then we have this lovely post from pro-football-reference. To sum it up: the Patriots are 6-1 for the fourth time in Belichick's career, but they're basically terrible; opportunistic on defense while giving up a lot of yards and who-dat talent (will they be Gregg Easterbrook's team he will gush about every week for having a few select undrafted or lowly drafted players that make plays once in awhile?)

I'll just say this as an argument against Easterbrook. Deion Branch, Patrick Chung, Brandon Spikes and Rob Gronkowski are second round picks. Jerod Mayo, Brandon Meriweather, and Devin McCourty are first round picks. Most of the defense is made up of highly drafted players, although running back Danny Woodhead, the Patriots MVP up to this point, went undrafted out of Chadron State (of Chadron, Nebraska).

College Football Scores From Teams You've Never Heard Of:

Score #1: Washington & Lee 49, Catholic U 14. Two guys beating a whole team? Impressive!

Score #2: Stonehill 41, St. Anelm 27

Next Week: The Broncos, Titans, Jaguars, Redskins, Rams, and 49ers have byes next week. A Bills upset against the Bears to get off the schnide possible? Lots of good divisional games next week (Bucs-Falcons, Chiefs-Raiders). And once again we get to see the loser Cowboys on national TV. Don't worry, there are only two weeks until flex scheduling beings, so hopefully we won't be seeing much of the Cowboys and Vikings on national TV.