Posts about Monday Night Football

Rehashing the 7th week of this NFL season

 in the middle of the afternoon by 1

I decided to take a different approach as to what I write on here. Normally i’d just recap whatever happened over the weekend, giving a few opinions here and there but that seemed to bland. That sort of thing can be found anywhere online and even though there are hundreds of thousand of sports blogs, i’d like to be as original as possible. I’m just going to go through a few main questions, trying to post about the same topics but with a slightly different view.

Performances of the week: Take into account what Chris Johnson has done prior to week 7. For him to go from THAT to this week’s performance (195 yds, 2 TDs) gives him the crown for this week. Dare we say, is CJ2K back to normal form? Let’s not too excited because he was facing the Bills who are in a close battle with the Saints for the worst defense in the league. Speaking of the Saints, they traded shots during a shootout with the Buccaneers. As a result, their QBs Freeman (420 yds, 3 TDs) and Brees (377 tds, 4 TDs) both had a great games. Yes, I know Bucs receiver Vincent Jackson, who is on my fantasy team, had an insane game (216 yds, 1 TD) but he was run down by a guy who was about 50 yards away on a 95 yard run. Let’s get a little most hustle next time Jackson. Last player I have to mention is RG3 because he’s so incredible to watch. This past Sunday Griffin almost out-Eli’d Eli Manning on the road! As a Cowboys fan it makes me very nervous looking forward to the games against the Redskins.

Who are the top 5 teams in the league? For obvious reasons the Falcons lead the way (until they get beat, they’re going to be on top) the Bears are a close second (that defense makes teams work for every single yard that they gain) with a similar team, the Texans (destroying the Ravens was a statement to prove they’re a the best in the AFC) and even though both teams are 5-2, i’m putting the Giants slightly ahead of the 49ers because of their head-to-head match up they just completed a couple of weeks ago. The Ravens (5-2) still lead their division but they look absolutely lost after the injuries they faced on their defense. I still need to see more from the Vikings (5-2) before I put them among the elite and they can do that on Thursday when they face the Buccaneers. 

The NFL is visiting Europe this Sunday: This weekend the New England Patriots will square off against the St. Louis Rams inside the historic Wembley Stadium located in London, England. Am I the only one what sees the irony in sending the Patriots to play in England? Anyways, it should be an interesting game because the Patriots are coming off a performance where they almost blew a double-digit lead at home to a divisional rival. The Rams are a frisky team that always keeps games close as seen last week against a Packers team that seems to be on fire now.

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Texans remain undefeated as they take down Jets on MNF

 after a late four martini lunch by 1

It didn’t come as easy as the Texans planned but they did get the win against a Jets team in the middle of turbulent times. Texans RB Arian Foster led the way (29 car, 152 yds, 1 TD) as they held of the New York Jets late in the 4th quarter to take the victory 23-17.  By statistical reasoning, this is the best Texans team of all time, being the the first that they have started 5-0 in franchise history. From the eye test, it looks like they’re the Super Bowl slightly over Atlanta because of their elite running game and superior defense. As the season progresses it will be seen whether or not these two undefeated teams can keep the pace. On the other hand, the Jets woes continue at the worst times. Just as the Jets were driving late in the 4th quarter, Mark Sanchez throws another interception to kill all momentum. This time it pretty much gave the Texans the win so the question remains: is it Tebow Time for the Jets?

I wasn’t able to make a post yesterday due to real life getting in the way but I still have some lingering thoughts now that week 5 of this season has settled. What are the chances the Packers aren’t very good? Crazy to think about it after their record last season but a good team doesn’t give away a 21-3 lead to a rookie quarterback. Is this Vikings team a legit contender to make the postseason? One of these surprise teams will free fall, it happens every season. It’s between the Vikings and the Cardinals, let the games begin! The Saints got their first victory of the season late Sunday but it felt more like a choke by the Chargers than a rally by the Saints. After two weeks of absolutely demolishing teams, the 49ers will get a nice test this weekend when the Giants (the ultimate road team) come to town.

My upset pick (Browns keeping it close against the Giants) showed some real life early in the game but even the Giants woke up and the Browns became the Browns. That’s what I get for bragging about the previous week.

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Bears defense capitalizes on Romo INTs to rout Cowboys

 in the middle of the afternoon by 2

Every season there are one or two games where Tony Romo makes Cowboys fans question whether or not he’s worth the headaches. To be fair, Romo also has moments where he creates plays that are so great it makes you wonder why he doesn’t play like that every single game. Last night Romo was in his worst form, throwing 5 interceptions against a stout Chicago Bears defense and the result was a 34-18 rout in favor of the Bears. I was in attendance so I personally witnessed the train wreck from start to finish, refusing to leave the game even after it was clearly evident that the Cowboys were going to lose. Tons of credit to the Bears, who took advantage of miscues but the Cowboys’ offense and it resulted in multiple turnovers (two of them ending in TDs) throughout the game. Bears QB Jay Cutler was effective (18-24, 275 tds, 2 TDs) while specifically targeting receiver Brandon Marshall (138 yds, 1 TD) who absolutely torched the Dallas secondary. The Bears move up to 3-1 and are tied atop the NFC North with the surprising Vikings.

What can Cowboys fan take from this game? There’s no need to remind fans that Romo will have a “Romocoaster” game throughout the season so looks like that’s out of the way. Sure there might be another one looming (particularly towards the end of the season) but i’m willing to bet that game won’t include him throwing FIVE interceptions. For now the Cowboys sit at 2-2 right in the thick of things in the NFC East but this loss leading into the bye week and a tough schedule after that makes it even more critical. For now the blame is squarely put on Romo’s shoulders and it’s rightfully so but the entire offense is having issues. Don’t let me start on Dez Bryant’s performance last night. It makes you wonder if he’s worth the headaches outside on and off the field. The Cowboys must use this precious time off to heal and fix their problems as much as they can or else they will be .500 when the season ends as well.

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Falcons take advantage of early turnovers by Broncos on Monday Night Football

 after a late four martini lunch by 1

Last night’s Monday night game between the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos had more story lines than most games, most of them being for negative reasons. The Falcons took advantage of early turnovers by the Broncos (headlined by Manning’s INTs) and came out with the victory 27-21 in an overall sloppy game. It wasn’t a great game to being with, all you saw during the first half were flags and interceptions being thrown while the Falcons weathered the storm to put points on the board. There was a sense after the third interception thrown by Manning that the game was over but that wasn’t the case, Denver actually played better after being down by 20 points but it was too little too late. It was too hard to for Manning to recover completely after being so terrible in the 1st quarter (i’m sure his fantasy owners felt the pain) and the Broncos relied on their running game to carry the offense in the second half. Broncos RB Willis McGahee had and excellent game (22 car, 113 yds, 2 TDs) but it’s not the style of play that’s going to get you out of such a deep and early deficit. The Falcons on the other hand weren’t great but they were effective, taking advantage of turnovers and getting 3rd downs when they needed even though it got a bit uneasy during the 4th quarter as Denver was rallying. Matt Ryan had a crisp game (24-36, 219 ys, 2TDs) and he actually set a career milestone, throwing his 100th touchdown. This was an important win for the Falcons mostly because they needed a win to take hold as the leader of the NFC South. Both Denver and Atlanta have good tests this weekend so we’ll see how they continue.

Now, on to the issue that’s been so prevalent among NFL teams, analysts and of course us fans. As the first couple of weeks have progressed in the NFL, the replacement officials have been getting worse and worse. Players and coaches have complained but they’ve also taken advantage of the situation so the end result is that every game is filled with controversial calls that leave everyone wondering just what the league is doing. I can point to certain examples but anyone that has seen a games this season knows that there is a problem. Replacement officials have been inconsistent, ineffective and sometimes they’re just downright confused during games. Ok, i’ll give one glaring example from last night. After a scuffle, the referee was announcing the penalty as “personal foul, 93 red” and everyone was confused. The replacement referees can’t even remember what the name of the teamis. I don’t know what else to say but c’mon Mr. Goodell, it’s time to get a deal done. For everyone’s sake here.

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Ravens dominate Bengals; Chargers capitalize on Raiders mistakes to open MNF

 while eating a Bastardly Certified lunch by 2

Back-to-back NFL games on a Monday night?! You can’t ask for more if you’re a hardcore football fan trying to quench your thirst of professional football. Particularly because both games involved heated division rivalries. The first game between AFC North rivals took place in Baltimore (que The Wire opening track) as the Ravens received the Cincinnati Bengals. Most people thought that this was the season the Ravens would take their team’s game, and QB Joe Flacco’s to the next level. The Ravens certainly proved to be among the AFC’s elite last night, using a huge second half to beat the Bengals 44-13. The Bengals were just outplayed in every part of the game. The Ravens were so effective on offense that they only punted twice the entire game AND didn’t commit a turnover. Joe Flacco and Ray Rice led the Ravens offense (each with 2 TDs) and with the help of their defense (returning an interception for a TD) the Ravens rolled. Nothing else needs to be said, this Ravens team is for real.

Did anyone stay up for the this game? The late start didn’t have as many fans watching but it was an interesting game. Turnovers were definitely the key in this game. The Chargers took advantage of the Raiders miscues on special teams (two blocked punts) and San Diego put up enough points to take the victory 22-14. Chargers QB Philip Rivers wasn’t great stat-wise but he didn’t commit key turnovers that doomed this team so many times last season. The Chargers can hang their hat on that and their kicker (made 5 FGs to lead the scoring) but they must find a way to have a better running game if they intend to have a more efficient offense. The Oakland Raiders also had a lack of rushing offense, which is very surprising because they have Darren McFadden who is among the best running backs in the league. Fix those pesky special team problems along with the running game and the Raiders can do some damage next time they play a division opponent.

Until Thursday! Thanks for an awesome opening weekend NFL.

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