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 7, One Big Brett Favre Rant

After Sunday night's loss to the Packers, Vikings coach Brad Childress basically threw Brett Favre under the bus in the postgame conference, blaming Favre for the loss, as he should (with a little help from the officiating crew). In case you didn't see it, a Vikings touchdown was overturned, even though Visanthe Shancoe clearly had possession as he hit the ground. There was also a pass interference call on Randy Moss that smelled of b.s. (see, I'm not a total Vikings hater).

Childress blamed Favre for the loss, and rightly so. I see a coach that is frustrated with losing and being 2-4. He knows his team is more talented than 2-4, and they are. There is no way a team with Randy Moss, Adrian Peterson, their defense and even Brett Favre should be 2-4.

Granted, Adrian Peterson is quietly on his way to an 1,800 yard season, but this simply cannot go on any longer. I know Favre will never be bench, but I would seriously consider it. Favre has already thrown 10 interceptions (he threw seven all of last season).

And of course ESPN, the network of Brett Favre apologists, basically ripped Childress for ripping Favre on the basis on "Oh, that's just ol' Brett. He always throws it to the other guys but to our guys more." ESPN has never taken Brad Childress seriously; poking fun at his headset and his orthodontist dimenor. Remember they won 10 games in 2008 with Gus Frerotte as their starting quarterback, and without Randy Moss.

Meanwhile, five of top ten passers on Sunday lost their games; Carson Palmer had a 400-yard effort in a loss, Ryan Fitzpatrick threw four touchdowns in a loss, Drew Brees tossed nearly 60 passes in a shocking loss.

Most Super Bowl teams hit their groove in the middle of season, meaning, it's not the end of the world if a team drops a game or two at the beginning or end of the season. The Giants, possibly the best team in the NFC, are on a four-game winning streak. The Jets, a five-game streak. The Patriots, a four-game streak. The Titans, a three-game streak.

Close Calls: Two contests on Sunday were decided by a point, four by three points and one by four. Conversely, there were contests decided by 45, 22, and 18 points.

Location Political Correctness?: Last year, the p.a. announcer at Sun Life Stadium (previously Land Shark Stadium, Dolphins Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, Pro Player Stadium, Pro Player Park, Joe Robbie Stadium) addressed the crowd at the Super Bowl, "Welcome to South Florida!" I believe I heard that this year's Super Bowl will not be in Dallas, but in North Texas. I guess Coral Gables felt discriminated against, as will Fort Worth and Irving this year? Oy vey!

Super Bowl Spoilers: The Browns have beaten the defending Super Bowl champions in each of the past three seasons (Giants in 2008, Steelers last year, and the Saints this year).

Speaking of the Saints, as hard as it is to believe, Drew Bress leads the league in interceptions with 10 (Brett Favre does too, but that's no surprise).

College Football Scores From Schools You've Never Heard Of: Mercyhurst 31, California of Pennsylvania 21

Score #2. Maritime Bowl: Maine Maritime 28, Massachusetts Maritime 27

Bonus Score. Sominex Bowl: Indianapolis 6, Northern Michigan 5. All points scored in fourth quarter.

Patch Stat of the Week: The Raiders put up 59 points against the Broncos. Most ever for the franchise, ever, in history, even through the AFL days. They put up 52 three times; once in 2002, 2000, and then in 1963 (a 52-49 shootout against the Oilers).

Why Am I Watching This Game?: In the Columbus, Ohio market, the Seahawks-Cardinals snorefest was shown. Why? It was a regional matchup weekend on Fox. How regional are teams that are located 1,900 and 2,400 miles away? What's worse, this game was shown to countless other markets that I bet did not give two shits about this game. Buffalo? Kansas City? West Palm Beach? It was shown to 19% of Fox's affiliates! Even their so-called #1 game, Chicago-Washington was only (in the scheme of things) shown to 34% of Fox affiliates. Eagles-Titans, their #2 game, was shown to 33% of Fox's affiliates. WGRT in Dayton was the only Ohio Fox affiliate to host Redskins-Bears. None had Eagles-Titans. Am I the only one who does not understand the logic behind this?

Next Week: Luckily, Fox has the double-header next week (since Fox does not release what their broadcasting assignments are until the morning of an NFL Sunday, I can't share them). Pats-Vikings is the main 4:15 game. Jim Nantz and Phil Simms of CBS will be at Jax/North Texas, although 49ers-Broncos in London is slotted ahead of that with Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf in the booth. I'm pretty sure I have yet to see a game in London since the NFL has started that again due to local obligations (sometimes it sucks having four AFC teams that have fans in the area).

Brett Favre Sends Out Naughty Pictures Of Certain Body Parts And The Decatur Staleys Have Returned to the NFL

Before moving onto this past weekends collisions, I want to talk about something from last week. Chuck Cecil, defensive coordinator of the Titans, did not agree with a penalty against his unit in the game against the Broncos, so he gave the officials a middle finger, and CBS cameras happened to be pointed at him when he flipped the officials off. CBS's broadcast of the gesture was on YouTube for a few days before being removed for a copyright violation. CBS's broadcast team took in it stride. Kevin Harlan, who was handling the play-by-play duties for the game jokingly said something like "he fired off a Hawaiian peace sign!" And color commentator Soloman Wilcots did not even mention the gesture in his explanation of the penalty.

Cecil was fined $40,000 for the gesture and tied his middle and index fingers together for the game against Dallas on Sunday, this article explains. (Note: The comment by BobsCountryBunker made me laugh)

And now Cecil's half of a piece sign is my Blogger avatar, although for some reason it's really really small.

The Favre story to me seems really tabloidish and not that big of a deal. If you're not up to speed a female member of the Jets staff came out and said that Favre sent her inappropriate texts and pictures, including one of Favre's penis, to her when he was with the team in 2008. I think the Jets staffperson just wants the fame. I'm not saying it didn't happen, it most certainly may have. Call me a bad person that a married man would send such message but it's not a big deal to me. And why it took two years for this story to surface makes it seem more fishier.

Some recent personnel decisions by the Patriots have really puzzled me. Randy Moss gets temperamental and yes he doesn't give 100% on each and every play. He has never once in his career been cut or traded because he can't catch a football. He can. Why he was so quickly whisked away makes me think something else went on that hasn't been made public. Moss never ran his mouth (he said that he thought 2010 would be his last year with the Pats. So what? His contract was up anyway). I know it's Belichick and the Patriots, I'd like to know why Moss was simply written off on the Patriots' game plan. He was a complete non-factor. And now the Pats think they can win with 5'8" underneath guys (they have in the past), and they have traded back Deion Branch, whom they cut ties with after the '05 season.

Since Belichick came to New England, they've always been very finesse on offense. They were never a deep passing team until '07 nor were they a pound-the-rock running team, even with Corey Dillon or Antowain Smith. Seriously, watch the Pats during their Super Bowl run, lots of cutesie screens and rinky-dink stuff to the slot, Troy Brown and later Givens and Patten as well as sweeps and pitches. In '01, their only deep threat, Terry Glenn, was suspended and not awarded a Super Bowl ring and was traded to the Packers in the offseason, which paved the way for Troy Brown catch 101 passes.

In other NFL news the Decatur Staleys beat the Kewanee Walworths in a 25-7 blowout, er, I mean the Chicago Bears beat the Carolina Panthers 23-6, but their style of play was much like the Staleys of 90 years ago. Chicago had 218 yards rushing, helped by a cover-your-eyes bad performance by backup quarterback Todd Collins (6 of 16 for 32 yards and four interceptions). Chicago's defense tore up the hapless Carolina offense, giving up a mere 147 total yards. The Bears could still easily go 11-5 with many doubters, due to the weakness of their schedule.

The Falcons are 4-1 in case you haven't heard. They've beaten Cleveland, Arizona, New Orleans, and San Francisco, not exactly the best the NFL has to offer. I'm not counting them out but I'm not putting them up on a pedestal yet. Tony Gonzalez is on pace to have a huge year though.

The 1972 Dolphins did not have much time for their champagne to age. The Chiefs went down as the last undefeated team to be...defeated.

Useless Stats Section:

Stat #1: The Bears have 80 yards passing in their past two games where they have gone 1-1.

Stat #2: Yes the Browns are 1-4. Their three losses were by three, two, seven, and ten. Their sole win was by three. Expect the margin of defeat to get higher, as their next four opponents are Pittsburgh, New Orleans, New England, and the Jets.

Stat #3: All of the teams in the AFC South are 3-2.

Stat #4: The Lions have not put up more than 40 points since 2007.

Stat #5: The NFC West-leading Cardinals did not have an offensive touchdown despite putting up 30 against the Saints.

Stat #6: The Panthers have five touchdowns and 16 turnovers.

We're All Professionals Here: The first play of the Vikings-Jets collision was a reverse pass from Randy Moss to Brett Favre. Favre was flagged for ineligible receiver downfield. Next play, 1st and 15 from the Viking 35, fullback Jim Kleinsasser was flagged for a false start. On the next play, this time 1st and 20, Adrian Peterson gains four yards. Next play, false start on lineman Loadholt. It was that kind of night for the Vikings.

SNF Analysis: The 49ers, the team we all predicted would win the NFC West, are 0-5, dismal on offense, dismal on defense. Mike Singletary is mad and Alex Smith is still a bust, despite every intention of his coaches trying to make him a starter. They are in the cellar, there is no doubt about it. The end of the game came down to controversial slide by running back LeSean McCoy. It was 2nd and 13 at the Eagles' 17. He caught a short flare-out pass and scampered 11 yards before falling two yards short of the first down. He was going to be tackled anyway and it was doubtful that he would have gained two more yards, despite the I told you sos by Cris Collinsworth (he's known for doing that). On the ensuing 49ers drive, the Eagles played conventional defense, no mega blitzes, no wacky prevent, they mixed their coverages well. They did take one gamble, blitzing six, and they got to Alex Smith so fast that he didn't notice that Frank Gore was wide open with nothing but green in front of him. And then came the duck that Alex Smith threw to a wide open Travard Lidley...who plays for the Eagles...

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

Score #1: West Chester 44, Shippensburg 43

Blowout Special: Willamette 69, Pacific U 7

Brett Favre Rant of the Week: I do not care about the so-called scandal with the Jets' staffperson, whether he sent naughty photos or texts or not, I DO NOT CARE! Favre has already thrown seven interceptions, which is the same amount that he tossed last year and they are 1-3 and still looking downright ugly on offense. Fortunately for the Vikings, they may still be able to win the division with a 9-7 record, which may end up happening with the toughness of their schedule.

The Chiefs, NFL's Passively Aggressive Team: The low-voltage chiefs tried to be aggressive, but that proved to be a moot point against the Colts. They started the game with an onside kick, which failed. And after an Adam Vinateri field goal, this was followed by a 15-play drive that resulted in no points because Matt Cassel's 4th and 2 pass from the Colts' 8 clanged incomplete. Moral of the story, don't try to out-Colt the Colts.

Next Week: Browns @ Steelers, 1:00 on CBS. Kevin Harlan and Soloman Wilcots in the booth. Fox has the doubleheader for Week 6. In the Columbus market, Saints @ Bucs will be at 1:00, with Cowboys @ Vikings (the Irrelevant Bowl) at 4:15. Colts-Redskins on Sunday Night and Jags-Titans on Monday Night.

Save Yourself: The Bills, Bengals, Cardinals, and Panthers all have byes next week!

Almost Everything is Right in the NFL World and Brett Favre Still is Old and Still Needs to Retire

It must be right because the Bengals won a game like the Bengals of last year; winning a slugfest game with opportunistic defense and exclusively riding the right leg of their kicker for points.

The Jets must have the Patriots number. But instead of smothering Tom Brady and their receivers, the Jets out-offensed the Patriots' defense. LaDainian Tomlinson averaged almost seven yards a carry and Mark Sanchez threw a career high in touchdown passes. In the first quarter, Mark Sanchez looked dismal - just like in the Baltimore game. Then, Jets coached loosened up the play calling and Sanchez flourished, throwing for 220 yards.

Yes there was the catch by Moss and yes Revis was injured, but the Patriots defense is ranked 25th in league through the first two weeks of the season and is just not looking good.

Well then it must be right, because Peyton Manning, who completed 77% of his passes in a blowout win and looked like the AFC Champions they are. The Giant defense is simply not what it once was before Steve Spagnolu left for St. Louis. The Colts - the freaking Colts - had a running game on Sunday Night. Addai had 92 yards rushing and even backup Donald Brown had 69. And unfortunately, Manning Bowl II was over by the end of the first quarter.

The Steelers have only two quarterbacks left on their roster, but their 2-0, thanks to seven turnovers by the Titans and the same old Vince Young - looking great in one game and then looking horrid in the next. Granted the Raiders defense is nowhere near the level of the Steelers.
The Bears, Packers, Dolphins, Chiefs, Texans, and Bucs are 2-0, as are the Steelers without Ben Roethlisberger and the 49ers, Dolphins, Cowboys, and Panthers are 0-2.

The Saints offense has looked much more low-voltage than it did last year. This is probably attributed to both defenses the Saints have faced to playing a lot more deep zones, preventing down-the-field passes. While Saints offense still looks sharp, they're taking little shots down the field and running the football.

Let's now shift to TV coverage of the NFL, a hot button issue with me. Through the first three weeks of the year, here are the games that have been shown on WTTE-TV, the Fox affiliate in Columbus, Ohio.

#1.) Steelers-Falcons
#2.) Eagles-Packers
#3.) Broncos-Seahawks
#4.) Eagles-Jaguars (that's what on the schedule)

Only in Week 1 did Fox have the doubleheader (CBS had it this week and has it next week). And in Week 1, there was tennis after the nationally televised Bengals-Patriots game, and football only in the local markets of the teams in play at 4:05. For some reason, they have not scheduled a 1:00 game when they didn't have a doubleheader. In my opinion, the Cowboys-Bears game should have been shown. That was the best matchup. It had the Cowboys, a team with a nation-wide following. So why not schedule it? And next week, their showing another 4:05 games with two teams that have markets nowhere near Ohio.

There two 1:00 matchups that are much, much better (Cowboys-Texans, Lions-Vikings). Yes Vikings-Lions is intriging because the Vikings have a shot at getting upset by the Lions. I know I complained last year when WTTE showed a Vikings-Lions game early last season, but now the Lions seem more competative and the Vikings are slipping.

Boy, does WBNS try. They try their damndest to show a healthy balance of Steelers, Bengals, Browns from week to week, and I usually have few complaints. This week, all three teams play at 1:00 and all three of their games are on CBS. I don't rail on them too much because they are obligated to show local matchups, unlike WTTE, where there are no NFC teams for hundreds of miles.

Useless Stats Section:

Stat #1: The Chiefs lead the AFC West.

Stat #2: The Bucs are 2-0, and for most of Sunday and Monday led the NFC South.

Stat #3: The Bengals have won their past eight collisions with AFC North opponents.

Stat #4: The Broncos have won 11-straight home openers.

I'm Glad Pro-Football-Reference Looks This Up And Not Me: The final score of the Titans-Steelers game, 19-11, had only happened twice before in NFL history. The final score of the Saints-49ers game, 25-22, had only happened seven times before in NFL history. Meanwhile, 20-17, the most common final score in NFL history, has happened 231 times.

Brett Favre Rant of the Week:

A new section of this blog, and it's pretty self-explanatory. I'm sure I can find something to bitch about Favre even if they start winning. This week, they played the Dolphins at home. Brett Favre looked 41 and missed a ton of passes and threw some flat-out bad ones too. The Vikings have the second worst offense in the league and Favre has already thrown four picks (he threw seven last year). Yes, Peterson is having a good season so far, but Favre is simply not throwing to his receivers.

Watch Out Drew Bledsoe!: Last year, it was Tom Brady filling the air with footballs early in the season. This year, it's Tony Romo, who has already thrown 99 passes - a 792 pace.

Speaking of lots of passing, Donvan McNabb and Matt Schaub combined for over 900 yards of offense, mostly through the air, in the Texans' first overtime win in franchise history. The Texans came back from 17-down where they converted a 3th & 15, a 3rd & 10, and a dandy 4th & 10 touchdown pass to Andre Johnson.

Who Looks This Stuff Up?: "Manning Bowl II" was touted as the 17,225th game in NFL History in a big, flashy NBC Sports graphic.

Sweet Play That Turned Really, Really Sour: 3:38 left in the game, 3rd and 13 from the Redskins' 46. Donvan McNabb play fakes and has time to load up. He throws a beautiful pass to the end zone. Joey Galloway is there for the catch, he's open...and he drops the ball like it's a live ferret.

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

Score #1: Redlands 23, Whitworth 7

Blowout Special: Salisbury 84, Husson 7. Husson's only touchdown came in the fourth quarter.

Lehman Bros. Game of the Week: Newport News Apprentice 9, Greensboro 7

Why Can't It Be Next Week Yet?!: Steelers-Bucs at 1:00 on CBS, Cowboys-Texans at 1:00 on Fox, Colts-Broncos at 4:15 on CBS, Jets-Dolphins on Sunday Night, and Packers-Bears on Monday Night.