The NFL is Poop - Week 4

Mark Sanchez Stinks
The problem with Mark Sanchez has nothing to do with Tim Tebow, and everything to do with himself. The narrative over the summer was that the acquisition of Tebow was going to hurt Sanchez’s confidence and prevent him from performing at his best. That is total bullshit. The problem with Sanchez is that he is not a good quarterback. The analysis from pseudo-psychiatrists on talk radio is not accurate here. He plays bad because he is bad (purposeful grammatical error). The Jets have a real problem here. To win in this league you need a good quarterback. The Jets don’t have one. And usually the only way to get one is through the draft. I am not recommending turning the team over to Tebow because he can’t pass. But Sanchez isn’t much better. They probably need to get rid of both of them and move on. I do understand that Sanchez has some good games and I don’t want it to seem like I am over-reacting to one bad game. This is his fourth season in the league and he hasn’t shown the improvement necessary to believe he will ever be a better than average NFL quarterback.

The Packers Want the Replacement Refs Back
A week after being victimized by the worst game-deciding call in NFL history, the Packers were once again on the wrong side of officials’ calls, though they overcame and beat the Saints anyway, 28-27. The Saints first touchdown came on a play when obvious offensive pass interference on Marques Colston was ignored. Later in the game the refs missed on obvious fumble by Darren Sproles, who clearly hadn’t yet hit the ground. But the Packers couldn’t challenge. I think the greater lesson here is that even though we are happy to have the real referees back, they screw up a lot of calls too. It was easy to pick on the replacements, but not all of the problems will be fixed now.

Why Teams Play the Prevent Defense
I always say the prevent defense prevents you from winning. And it’s true. But the main reason teams play the prevent is to make sure they don’t allow one huge play, whenever the opponent doesn’t have the time for several smaller ones. The Panthers led by 1, with 59 seconds left, and had the Falcons backed up to their own 1 yard line. If ever there is a time for the prevent this is it. 60 yards to go, at least, 59 seconds to do it and no timeouts. All the Panthers needed to do was keep the Falcons in front of them, and maybe in bounds, and they would run out of time. But on the first play Roddy White gets behind safety Hiruki Nakamura for a 59-yard gain. One penalty and two short passes put them in position for the game-winning field goal.

Game of the Week
New England 52 Buffalo 28
Normally the game of the week is a closer battle but this one interests me. I was driving in the car listening to instant feedback on 3 different Sirius channels. When the Patriots got down 21-7 the hosts were considering doomsday scenarios if Patriots should fall to 1-3. And then they woke up. The Patriots scored 6 touchdowns (and a field goal) in the last 23 minutes of the game. Roughly translated into 120 points if the pace kept up for 60 minutes. 6 straight touchdown drives, none longer than 3 minutes 20 seconds. The last three all started in Bills territory thanks to a fumble, an interception and a failed onsides kick.

Game of Next Week
Philadelphia at Pittsburgh
Interesting battle for the state. The Eagles have been getting either incredibly lucky or incredibly unlucky. They won 2 of first three games by 1 point each, despite making 12 turnovers. In game 4, 0 zero turnovers, but they survived thanks to a missed field goal. Either they are not this bad and will improve, or they will stop getting lucky and struggle. Steelers also have something to prove.

Picture of the Week
Josh Cribbs has his helmet blasted off by a hard hit. He was down for several minutes but thankfully was able to walk off under his own power.

Taking Being a Tough Guy Too Far
Colts new coach Chuck Pagano is out indefinitely, probably for at least the rest of the season after being diagnosed with leukemia. He will be hospitalized for 6 to 8 weeks while undergoing chemotherapy.
Pagano’s wife pushed him to see the doctor after noticing unusual bruising on the coach’s body. He waited until the Colts’ bye week to be checked out after experiencing extreme fatigue and bruising, starting in training camp. Pagano believed he was experiencing football fatigue, but a blood test revealed the diagnosis of leukemia.
This is when the tough-guy ethos of football can really be dangerous. The guy noticed bruising in training camp and waited over a month to get checked out? Thankfully it doesn't seem like the delay hurts his prognosis.

A Brief Rant About the Redskins
Another great game by Robert Griffin III. They had been running him too much in the previous two games. Putting him in the option is not the only way to utilize his speed. They can get him to throw on the run, for the occasional QB draw and he's deadly in the red zone, which they took advantage of in this game.
Kyle Shanahan had another bad game as the play-calling was atrocious. They again got conservative trying to sit on a 4th quarter lead. The two drives preceding the final one resulted in one first down. A few first downs, even without points, would have sealed the victory.
Billy Cundiff is horrible. For years the Redskins have lost games because of missed field goals and have never adequately addressed the problem. Thank God he made the last one but we never should have been in that position in the first place.

If the Super Bowl Were Played Today
Houston Texans 31 Atlanta Falcons 17
After years of being the trendy pick the Texas finally look like they are for real. And with a really weak division it shouldn't be hard for them to win home field throughout the playoffs. The Falcons were a little shaky but they got the job done. They also have a bad division (and a 3-game lead), the others 3 teams are 2-10 with Carolina's and Tampa Bay's wins both coming against New Orleans.