New Lows: NFL Week 3

"This can't be happening". "They'll get back in the game". "Any minute now, I'm sure we're going to shatter their hopes again". These were just a few of the lines being echoed by myself and my family of Redskins fans on Sunday afternoon as we watched our beloved team get worked over by the Detroit Lions, losers of 19 straight games....

(Full Post Coming Soon!)

The Yankees Are Back In The Playoffs!

Although it was going to happen soon regardless, it does not make it any less sweet. After missing the tournament a year ago, the New York Yankees became the first team in baseball to clinch a playoff spot by beating the Angels last night!

More to come this week about the challenges they will face come October, as well as my Playoff Predictions.

Changing of the Guard: NFL Week 2

Sunday perfectly characterized why we all love the NFL so much. Filled with stunning upsets, dramatic finishes, and an audacious new stadium, Week 2 showed that the 2009-2010 NFL season will follow the same path of unpredictability and unmatched excitement that the league has become known for in recent years.

Perhaps the biggest story to come out of the weekend was the potential changing of the guard in the AFC East. After talking alot of smack during the week, the New York Jets walked the walk with a dominant 16-9 victory over the Patriots at the Meadowlands on Sunday. Having never beaten a Tom Brady-led Pats team at Giants Stadium, this win marked a huge step forward for the re energized franchise. Rookie QB Mark Sanchez showed great poise and presence, but it was the stifling defense that impressed me the most. The Jets were relentless in their pursuit of Brady, and although they failed to register a sack, they constantly pressured him into making poor throws and decisions. The Jets defensive scheme and execution in this game hearkened back to what the Giants did to the Pats in the Super Bowl a few years ago. By not allowing him to ever get comfortable, the Pats offense could never get into a good rhythm and in turn was only able to muster up 3 field goals. I have to say that I am loving what new Jets coach Rex Ryan has brought to that team. He exudes a confidence that borders on arrogance, and his team follows suit. You get the feeling that after only 2 games this team truly believes that they have what it takes to make a run at it this year. Whether or not they continue on this pace, the Jets franchise has certainly had new life breathed into it by a group of hungry players and a coach who really seems to "get" the modern NFL player. It's been quite some time since I've been able to say this, but I am now looking forward to watching Jets football and think that rest of the AFC East has been put on notice: These Jets are for real. Now onto some thoughts on each Sunday game...

Atlanta 28 Carolina 20

• The big guns showed up for the Falcons on Sunday. Matt Ryan tossed 3 scores, Michael Turner rushed for 100 yards and a TD, and new addition Tony Gonzalez grabbed his second TD in as many weeks. He's already proving to be an excellent addition.
• Jake Delhomme looked remarkably better this week than he did in week 1. I guess he had nowhere to go but up, but it is still a good sign for Panthers fans

Vikings 27 Lions 13

• This type of game will become very familiar to Lions fans this year. There will be flashes of improvement and brilliance from the team as a whole and Matthew Stafford, but reality will ultimately come around to bite them in the ass the majority of the year.
• Favre's 2 touchdown passes this year have both been short swing passes to Percy Harvin. I expect him to be much more of a game manager than he has in the past b/c he has other guys who can do the heavy lifting.

Bengals 31 Packers 24

• Wow, this was quite the surprise. Cedric Benson ran wild, Antwaan Odom went off (5 sacks!?!), and the Bungals pulled off the first big upset of the season. Coming off of last weeks heart breaker, this was a fantastic rebound for Marvin Lewis and co.
• You got a heavy sense of deja vu at the end of this one didn't you though? All I was thinking when Green Bay recovered the onside kick was how if the Bengals managed to blow that one, they'd never be able to recover
• It looks like the Pack may not be as good as the pundits believed they were going to be. Barely beating the Bears despite 4 interceptions, then losing at home to a embattled Bengals team.
  

Cardinals 31 Jaguars 17

• The Cards finally win in the eastern time zone!
• I like the guy, but Jack Del Rio is on really thin ice in Jacksonville. You can't go from being very competitive one week at Indy and then lay an egg like this in the home opener. His team have been terrible underachievers the last two seasons

Raiders 13 Chiefs 10

• It's a good thing these teams play each other b/c I'm not sure they'd win otherwise
• KC out-gained the Raiders 409-166 and lost. Pathetic. Where do you even begin if you are Todd Haley?

Saints 48 Eagles 22

• It wouldn't have really mattered if Donovan McNabb played in this game or not. You'll be hard pressed to ever win when you give up 48.
• Drew Brees is insane. At this rate he is going to put up astronomical numbers.
• Quite the interesting start for Philly. A blowout win on the road followed by a blowout loss at home. What's next? Perhaps a close game?

Redskins 9 Rams 7

• Sigh....really Washington? 5 red zone appearances and no touchdowns is just unnacceptable
• This game actually speaks volumes about how bad the Rams really are. The Redskins practically wanted to give this one away but St. Louis couldn't get the W.
• As ugly as it was, a win is a win. As a Skins fan I'll gladly take the victory and just pray we don't lose to the Lions on Sunday.

Texans 34 Titans 31

• A surprise shootout and surprise victor in this one. I wrote the Texans off after being pounded by the Jets, but I was impressed with them in this one.
• Tennessee has big issues when it comes to pass defense
• Andre Johnson will do that to you though. What a great receiver. I think his hands are doused in stick-em
• Chris Johnson shows up and goes completely off in this one. As much as a 0-2 record hurts, I think the Titans are still a good team.

Bills 33 Buccaneers 20

• Buffalo rebounds nicely after the MNF debacle at New England
• Typical T.O. effort. Drops a sure thing touchdown but catches another
• It's going to be a long ass year for Tampa Bay

49ers 23 Seahawks 10

• Frank Gore went crazy in this one with two huge TD runs. I can't believe the 49ers didn't give him the ball more in the second half. He had 203 yards rushing with over 25 minutes to play. Talk about a blown chance to potentially break a record
• Patrick Willis destroyed Matt Hasselback and may have seriously damaged any playoff hopes Seattle had.

Bears 17 Steelers 14

• Party animal kicker Jeff Reed cost Pitt this game, plain and simple. If he makes even one of those two kicks in the 4th quarter, the Steelers would be sitting pretty at 2-0
• Jay Cutler looked significantly better in this game, and Bears fans have be feeling great relief after that big win

Broncos 27 Browns 6

• Booooooring. Cleveland is awful and Denver's 2-0 record is an illusion

Ravens 31 Chargers 26

• The good for Baltimore: They all of the sudden are an offensive juggernaut
• The bad for Baltimore: The vaunted D gave up over 400 yards passing to my boy Phil Rivers
• All time great play by Ray Lewis at the end of this game. He burst through the line like a bat out of hell to blow up Darren Sproles and the Chargers hopes of winning
• Norv Turner sucks. Terrible play call on 4th down. How he ever got another job as head coach is beyond me.

Giants 33 Cowboys 31

• This game felt like more of a large showcase or a circus than it did a football battle.
• The G-Men should send Tony Romo a fruit basket as thanks for handing them this game
• It is always amazing to see Jerry Jones and Wade Phillips dissapointed. They want to be good so badly, but they're not even half the team they think they are

Colts 27 Dolphins 23

• Miami dominated this game TOP wise yet still managed to give it away
• For my money, Peyton Manning is still the best QB in football, regardless of what anyone else will tell you.
• Donald Brown is going to be a big time player for the Colts. Nice to see a UConn alum in an impact position in the NFL

That wraps up my coverage on another great week of football in the NFL. While the matchups coming up in Week 3 are less than intriguing, I'm sure some crazy, unexpected shit will happen as always. I'll try to actually remember to make my pics sometime later this week, but at the very lease I will be previewing the games on the "That's Amore" radio show. Until then, you stay classy San Diego...

The Eternal Pessimist: NFL Week 1

Well the NFL finally returned this weekend and I couldn't have been more excited. That is until the Redskins took the field at Giants Stadium. Needless to say the outcome of that game did not leave me a happy camper, although it was not completely unexpected. I've been told that as a Redskins fan I am the eternal pessimist, but I prefer to think of myself as more of a realist. Having low expectations actually cushions the blow of the (frequent) tough losses that come with being a fan of the Skins. While I'd usually throw a shit fit after the type of performance showed at the Meadowlands, I'm not getting too worked up over this one. Week 1 is a time of hope and joy as a football fan. Everybody has a clean slate and anybody can go the distance. But it also breeds a great deal of overreaction from fans and media alike when things don't happen as they were expected to. The Redskins drew one of the worst opening day match ups that you could get, yet they managed to only lose by 6 points. Granted the score was a lot closer than the actual game but it could have been much worse. A year ago, they got beat like a government mule on the season opening Thursday Night game against these same G-Men and everybody left them for dead. Low and behold 7 weeks later they were a cool 6-2 and the trendy pick to win the division. I'm just going to pretend the season ended at that point...

The point is, week 1 is your first real exposure to each team and it causes a lot of snap judgments to be made. Some concerns will turn out to be very real but many will undoubtedly be erased as the season goes along. It's a long year and you're never out of it until your mathematically finished (as witnessed by the Skins late season runs in 05 and 07), so it's not worth getting your panties in a bunch over one week of play. That being said, here are a bunch of things I took from this weekend. You'll notice I don't really follow anything I typed above...

Steelers 13 Titans 10

• Pitt is going to have a really tough time winning this division if they can't run the ball. Willie Parker looked like shit against the Titans
• Tennessee doesn't look like the miss Albert Haynesworth too much. They got great pressure on Ben all night...except when they needed it down the stretch
  

Jets 24 Texans 7

• Mark Sanchez for president.
• Fuck the Texans. I'm so sick of them being the chic pic to make the playoffs. It was wonderful to see them get their comeuppance from a hungry Jets team.
• I think Ryan's boys have a great shot when they host New England this Sunday
  

Ravens 38 Chiefs 24

• Flacco looked great throwing the ball, but this game was way closer than myself (or anybody else) thought it would be
• Baltimore gave up 24 points to the Brodie Croyle led Chiefs....yikes
  

Falcons 19 Dolphins 7

• The battle of the two teams with big resurgences last year turned out to be a dud. This game made Miami's dream season a year ago look like a fluke.
• I think both of these teams will struggle this year now that they have a target on their back.
  

Eagles 38 Panthers 10

• Jake Delhomme was in playoff form on opening day...and that's not a good thing.
• Seriously, has anybody ever had a worse two game stretch at home on a generally good team? 11 turnovers combined the last two outing. You have to wonder what Carolina is going to do with him, because they can't keep parading him out there with god awful performances like this
• What a surprise, Donovan McNabb got hurt. Just in time for Michael Vick's reinstatement and thus a signing of Jeff Garcia. There is going to be some QB chaos in Philly and I love it.
  

Broncos 12 Bengals 7

• What can you say? The Bengals just had shit luck in this one. Just when you thought they had it won, Brandon Stokley makes a miracle tip drill catch to break their hearts...Child please!
• So Kyle "Neck Beard" Orton is 1-0 while Jay "Bitch Boy" Cutler is 0-1. Maybe Denver made the right call......nah
  

Vikings 34 Browns 20

• This game showed why it was completely unnecessary for Favre to come back. All Minnesota needs to do is just hand off to AP and let him penetrate the defense like a grizzled inmate does to fresh meat.
• It doesn't matter who starts at QB for the Browns because they suck regardless. That's what you get for actually wanting Eric Mangini to coach your team.
  

Colts 14 Jaguars 12

• These games are always close, not surprising to see the Colts come out on top.
• Nice new threads for the Jags though
  

Saints 45 Lions 27

• I'm pretty confident that Drew Brees is not human. Rather he is a fantasy football machine that will have a legit chance to break either the TD record or yardage record in a season
• As bad as it is to be a Skins fan at times, it must be slit-your-wrists depressing to root for the Lions.
  

Cowboys 34 Buccaneers 21

• T.O. is gone and Romo has a career day, all is peachy in Dallas, right? No. Just another case of Mr. September coming through when it matters least
• I can't wait until the Giants give the Cowgirls a rude homecoming in their obscenely Gaudy new stadium next Monday
  

49ers 20 Cardinals 16

• Looks like the Cards may have a Super Bowl hangover that's worse than my whiskey hangovers at the Vic House bar
• I'm pretty sure Mike Singletary physically abuses his players
• Michael Crabtree are you serious? Take the goddamn money and sign you selfish baby
  

Seahawks 28 Rams 0

• There is nothing worth mentioning about this game.

Packers 21 Bears 15

• Cutler looked pathetic in the first half and most of the game, yet somehow Chicago was in position to win. That's one positive to take out of a game where you played like shit and lost your defensive leader (Brian Urlacher) for the season
• Great play call on 3rd and 1 to have Rodgers throw the bomb and win the game. I think Green Bay could be a real threat in the NFC
  

Patriots 25 Bills 24

• Is there a team more snake bitten than the Bills in NFL history? I'd really like to know because I don't think it's possible. All I can say is one thing: 4 straight Super Bowl losses...
• This was one of those games that makes you think football is rigged sometimes. The Pats had no business winning yet you somehow knew that even before the kick off to McKelvin they would pull it out of their ass somehow
  

Chargers 24 Raiders 20

• The Raiders should have won this game, but they are the Bills of the modern era.
• Jamarcus Russel may have a huge arm, but he looks fat and unintelligent to me
  
• Is LT ever going to get on the field when the Chargers need him? Sheesh, that was deja vu all over again.
• I love Philip Rivers, but his less than stellar showing caused me to lost my match up in fantasy....shit
  

Overall it was a very eventful and exciting first week. I'm just so glad that we have football back so we can fanatically overanalyze everything and drink alot of beer while doing so. Check back later this week for my Week 2 picks and then on Tuesday for my ranting and raving on the week that was. Until then remember, always stay negative...