It's too early to tell if the Bills are for real, but they are certainly exciting. Their second straight huge comeback at home. It certainly looks like their offense is going to be strong with Harvard quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, a good running game and a big group of fast wide receivers. Their defense is questionable though, even with 4 interceptions, a couple of them were lucky. And they are still allowing a lot of points. After Cincinnati the schedule gets a little tougher. As for the Patriots, they are still a great team and I think they can still go on an historical offense roll if they can get their defense in shape is another matter.
The Lions Roar Back
The other surprising 3-0 team, the Detroit Lions, also needed a big comeback to stay unblemished. It's their first 3-0 start since 1980. And they did it was Matt Stafford to Calvin Johnson and some nasty defensive pressure from Suh and Crew. Not sure why they were so bad in the first half but it doesn't matter. Detroit became the first team to get shutout in the first half and trail by 20 points or more and come back to win since the Chicago Bears did that against Arizona Cardinals. Remember that game?
How's That Donovan McNabb experiment working out?
Through 3 games Donovan McNabb has presided over 3 Vikings collapses. Minnesota has blown 10-point halftime leads in all 3 games. And McNabb's offense has scored 6 points combined in the three second halves. This goes back to something I said last season, when the game is on the line, he just cannot make the plays needed to win games. The fact is, McNabb used to be good, but he isn't anymore. Minnesota needs to transition to Christian Ponder at some point this season.
Let's See Him Keep That Up
The first 3 catches of Torrey Smith's career were 74-yard, 41-yard and 18-yard touchdowns. All in the first quarter. A pretty good way to start a career.
A Brief Rant About the Redskins
This is the difference between winning teams and losing ones: putting games away. Just an atrocious performance at the end of that game -- in fact the whole game. Missed field goals, fumbles, bad play-calling in the red zone. And most regrettably several plays where the ball was snapped way over Tony Romo's head, and the Redskins could recover. One of those plays Romo actually flung the ball and got a completed pass -- avoiding a big loss. Now it wasn't one play that cost us the game, more like 6 or 8, but the most galling was allowing a 30 yard reception on 3rd and 21 (with the game on the line, they would have had to have gone for it on 4th down) and then tacking on a 15-yard facemask, basically giving the Cowboys the game. The Redskins schedule remains fairly easy for the next 8 games (especially if neither the Eagles nor the Bills are for real) but they have to start making those crucial plays that win -- and lose games.
Pictures of the Week
A sudden monsoon turned the first half of the Panthers-Jaguars game into a sloppy water-logged contest. At one point a replay review was made nearly impossible because the camera lenses were so wet you couldn't make out the play between the drops.
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