For a while Carson Palmer was able to hook up with Charles Woodson seemingly at will and threw a 37 yard touchdown pass to Woodson. Unfortunately for the Bengals, Woodson plays defense for the Packers…
With the Bengals up 10 points and 2 minutes left, they almost gave up the ghost for the second week in a row. Remember last week they gave up an 87 yard touchdown pass off a tipped pass.
Coming down the stretch the Packers took over at their own 21. Aaron Rogers hit Donald Lee for 11 yards and scrambled for 16 more. 7 plays and 1:11 led to a 45 yard field goal by Mason Crosby to get the Packers within 7 points. Green Bay successfully recovered the onsides kick at their own 43 with 44 seconds left. On 3rd and 10, Rodgers hit Jermichael Finley for 22 yards to the Cincinnati 35 with 17 seconds left. Rodgers hit Donald Driver for a 25 yard gain to the Cincy 10, with no timeouts and the clock ticking. They tried to spike the ball with one second left, but a false start led to the runoff that ended the game. Despite another almost meltdown, the Bengals survived.
Oakland Raiders @ Kansas City Chiefs – FINAL 13-10 Raiders, Raiders (1-1) Chiefs (0-2)
The end of the 1st half represented exactly how ugly this game was. The Chiefs had 1st and goal at the Oakland 9 with 14 seconds left and no timeouts. A West Coast Offense swing pass led to an inbounds tackle and the clock running out. It doesn’t get any worse than that.
The Raiders offense is absolutely dreadful but their defense is as good as their offense is bad, so they can stay in games. They made some plays on the final drive when it counted and escaped with the win from Arrowhead. The Chiefs led in total offense 409-166. They led in plays from scrimmage 79-51. They led in rushing yards 173-67. They led in possession 38.5 to 21.5. Yet when all was said and done, it was the Silver and Black that had won a shocker. For the third straight year, the Raiders won at Kansas City.
This team has many questions on offense, especially with JaMarcus Russell. Yet they won, and are 1-1. Tom Cable has this team competing hard but Russell finished the game 7 of 24 for 109 yard passing. That’s two weeks in a row now, not good. That’s got to improve or it will be hard to overcome, no matter how well the defense plays.
Everyone talks about Mark Sanchez being the toast of the town and that’s all well and good, but the story on this day was Rex Ryan and his defense. The Jets were in Tom Brady’s face all day and he was harassed all game, as New England never reached the end zone. Sanchez threw only 22 times, 17 of them after halftime. These Jets are for real (at least the defense is).
As an aside, those claiming the demise of the New England defense may be premature as the Jets didn’t do much on offensive. Also, Wes Welker did not play do to a banged up knee. You can be sure that some of those 3 and outs would have been 1st downs moving the chains so let’s not write the Pats off just yet.
Houston Texans @ Tennessee Titans – FINAL 34-31 Texans, Texans are (1-1) Titans (0-2) a surprise to all...
Chris Johnson ran wild, with 179 yards on the ground, including touchdown runs of 91 and 57 yards and Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson put on a passing clinic hooking up 10 times for 149 yards and 2 TD’s. Schaub ended up throwing for 357 yards and 4 TD’s. This was a wild one.
Kurt Warner began by completing a ridiculous 18 of his first 19 passes. Ultimately, Warner was benched because he was 24 for 26…. This one was no contest really. At current the Jaguars are a mess.
Carolina Panthers @ Atlanta Falcons – FINAL 28-20 Falcons, Falcons (2-0) Panthers (0-2)
Jake Delhomme looked much improved from the last couple of nightmarish games going 25-41 for 308 yards but Matt Ryan remained red hot and Ryan to future hall of famer Tony Gonzalez 7 times for 71 yards and a TD was ultimately too much.
New Orleans Saints @ Philadelphia Eagles – FINAL 48-22 Saints, Saints (2-0) Eagles (1-1)
Kevin Kolb started for an injured Donovan McNabb. As for Kolb, he was 31 for 51 for 391 yards and a pair of touchdowns, with 3 interceptions. Drew Brees picked up right where he left off last week, throwing for 213 first half yards.
At halftime it was 17-13 Saints but the second half was a blowout. Brees continues to be a fantasy football machine finishing 25-34 for 311 yards and 3 TD’s. Just to prove that he is human, (there were some questions going into the game) he did throw a pick.
After the game, Andy Reid made it clear that if McRib can’t go, Kolb is the starter, not Michael Vick. The Eagles are not that bad. The Saints are that good.
Minnesota Vikings @ Detroit Lions – FINAL 27-13 Vikings, Vikings (2-0) Lions (0-2)
Brett Favre set the all time NFL record for consecutive games started in a row at 271 breaking Jim Marshall’s record of 270 games. Woop-de-friggin’doo - More on that to come in another post.
Favre and Adrian Peterson proved to be too much for Matthew Stafford and the Lions as Favre was very efficient on the day, completing 23 of his first 27 passes for 155 yards. Stafford is talented no doubt, but it’s going to take time. He was 18-30 for 152 with 1 TD and 2 picks. He’s no Ryan Leaf - remember Troy Aikman had a rough go of it his 1st year too.
St. Louis Rams @ Washington Redskins – FINAL 9-7 Redskins, Redskins (1-1) Rams (0-2)
Sometimes a game between a pair of bad teams can produce a thriller. But not this time… Boring!!
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Buffalo Bills – FINAL 33-20 Bills, Bills (1-1) Bucs (0-2)
A field goal had the Bills up 17-0 after one quarter, with the game on pace to be 68-0 and 8 Byron Leftwich interceptions.
Leftwich threw a 42 yard touchdown pass to Kellen Winslow Jr. early in the second quarter. Winslow does play for Tampa, which brought the Bucs to within 17-7. With 3 1/2 minutes left in the half, Buffalo looked to turn out the lights. Trent Edwards drove the team from their own 9 to the Tampa 14. Yet the game quickly changed when Buffalo fumbled, Sabby Piscitelli picked it up at the 20, and raced 72 yards to the Buffalo 8 in front of a stunned Bills crowd. Leftwich hit Cadillac Williams with seconds left in the half for the touchdown, and instead of trailing 27-7, the Buccaneers were only down 20-14. The Bills should be 2-0.
The 49ers have something going here as Mike Singletary seems to have found a way to get through to these guys. Shaun Hill isn’t bad; very efficient at managing the game again going 19-26 for 144.
I checked this morning to see if Frank Gore has stopped running and they are unable to locate him at the moment. So for now, he’s at 16 rushed for 207 yards and 2 TD’s. I’ll let you know what he ends up at….
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Chicago Bears – FINAL 17-14 Bears, Bears (1-1) Steelers (1-1)
Both of these teams have superstar quarterbacks in Ben Roethlisberger and Jay Cutler, despite Cutler’s 4 interception debacle last week. Yet these teams, despite Brian Urlacher and Troy Polamalu not in the game, are about defense. This game was expected to be an old fashioned slugfest, and it was.
The game came down to the kickers with Jeff Reed missing a 43 yarder with 3:18 on the clock and Robbie Gould hitting his 44 yarder with 20 seconds left. This game was as good as advertised for those that like tough defense.
Cleveland Browns @ Denver Broncos – FINAL 27-6 Broncos, Broncos (2-0) Browns (0-2)
The Josh McDaniels era needed an 87 yard miracle doink reception touchdown by Brandon Stokely to avoid imploding after one week of the post Mike Shanahan and Jay Cutler era. While they did not have the luxury of playing Cincy again, there is a pair of bad teams in Ohio for Denver to practice against.
With 12 minutes left, Denver only led by 7 in a game they were dominating. Ultimately, they pulled away. A 49 pass from Kyle Orton to Jabar Gaffney followed by a 2 yard touchdown toss to Peyton Hillis had the Broncos safely in front 20-6 and off they went. The Broncos are bad, but they are 2-0 and out of awful Ohio teams to play. The Browns are even worse at 0-2, and looking forward to playing the improved Cincy rival to avoid 0-16. It has happened before. In case you were wondering, yes the Browns do play the Lions this year they play them in week # 14.
Will the people that keep claiming the Chargers have Super Bowl potential finally concede that Norv Turner will not get them there? I will say it again. They have no shot with Norv! Yes they have the players, but it doesn’t matter.
This was a good game really with playmakers making plays on both sides. With 3 minutes left and down by a touchdown the Chargers took over at their own 27 and Philip Rivers immediately fired 38 yards to Vincent Jackson at the Baltimore 35 at the 2 minute warning. On 3rd and 3 from the 28, Rivers picked up 5 to the 23. On 3rd and 2 from the 15, Rivers fired incomplete. On 4th and 2 from the 15, (Rivers had thrown for 436 yards at that point and the running game had done nothing - even Norv Turner can understand this - no, he can’t) a trap run by Darren Sproles was blown up in the backfield by Ray Lewis. Remember him? The Ravens have Super Bowl rings. The Chargers have Norv Turner.
New York Giants @ Dallas Cowboys - FINAL 33-31 Giants, Giants (2-0) Cowboys (1-1)
The Sunday night game. Jerry Jones spent 1.2 billion dollars on the stadium, and an NFL record over 105,000 people attended the game.
Firstly, in case you were wondering, no one hit the scoreboard. Eli Manning passed for 330 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Tony Romo had only 129 yards passing, but that was because the running game gashed New York for over 250 yards. This game was simply terrific. Back and forth body offensive body blows all night.
With 4 seconds left, Lawrence Tynes lined up for the field goal. This was about redeeming his earlier miss, and also the winning or losing the entire game. After the first attempt was nullified when Wade Philips called a last second timeout (thank you Mike Shanahan for screwing up the game with that,) Tynes connected perfectly down the middle.
105,000 fans went home dejected. Jerry Jones found out that a billion dollars cannot buy a championship, or even a home opening win. 8 lead changes made for a thriller. The rematch is already anticipated. – Mike Cardano
Mike Cardano is the founder of the Around The Horn (Baseball Blogs) and Extra Point (Football Blogs). Mike is also the founder of the fantasy sports games Ultimate Franchise Baseball™ and Ultimate Franchise Football™.----------
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