Wow, what an exciting week and we still have two Monday night games to go.
I think the theme for yesterday could be winning on the road, something that is very hard to do in the NFL. For me, the most impressive performance was the Eagles four TD shellacking of Carolina in Carolina. Donovan McNabb took a vicious hit at the goaline on a scramble however and sustained broken ribs. How smart does that Michael Vick signing look now?
I give the 49ers a lot of credit for going into arizona and handing the Super Bowl runnerups a stinging defeat, capped off by an 80 yard TD drive late in the fourth quarter. I admit to being skeptical when they hired Mike Singletary as their head coach. He seemed awfully old school in a league obsessed with the hottest gurus and kid coaches. Turns out the guy who anchored the greatest defense in the history of the NFL knows a little something about winning football games. His players are buying into his philosophy of toughness, accountability and respect.
How great is it this morning to be a fan of the J-E-T-S? They went into Texas and got an impressive win and they did it behind their rookie QB Mark Sanchez. Is it too early to say out loud what everybody is noticing, namely that this kid has that Montana/Brady aura about him? He just seems to have an incredible feel for what is happening around him.
Shoutouts to Dallas, Minnesota and Denver for road wins as well.
The two teams that hate the aforementioned Iggles the most, the Redskins and Giants, squared off for one of their signature street fights yesterday in the Meadowlands, reputed final resting place of one James Hoffa. That strange noise you heard with under two minutes to go in the game was the sound of tens of thousands of beer bottles being hurled into faux brick walls in hundreds of pizza parlors, bars, strip clubs and basement man caves across northern New Jersey. After thoroughly outclassing the Redskins in every phase of the game (except for defending fake FG attempts), the Giants held a 13 point lead. They went into the dreaded prevent defense and allowed the Skins to march down the field and score a meaningless TD, meaningless that is unless you were giving the 6 1/2. Ouch. coach coughlin, maybe look into getting one of those remote starters for your car. Just saying...
Now, let's take a look at my picks. What can I say, 5-0 baby. Shweeeet!!!! Ok, I got lucky in a couple(OK, three) games. Did I think NO would win a shootout against the Lions? Of course. Did I think they would let the Lions put up 28 on them. Uhh, no. Luckily, Drew Brees had a career day and the Saints scored 45.
Same deal with the Ravens. Did I like them at home against KC? You betcha. Did I think they would cover if KC somehow put up 24? No, but somehow they did.
Dallas had too much on both sides of the ball for TB and covered convincingly. Ditto Minnesota, as described above by Brownsfan.
Let's hope one good thing comes out of the GB-Chicago meeting last night. Would fans for both teams please STFU now? I have heard all preseason how great the GB offense is. I've seen better blocking in the express lane at Safeway. I've heard how Jay Cutler is the final link for chicago. Get back to me when you've got a defensive backfield, some receivers and a couple of linemen. The game itself had the sort of random quality you see in a peewee league game. Somehow GB won and covered.