I'm gonna make this short, since they isn't much to say. The team looked bad. Yeah, there was a pass interference call at the end that was missed, but it would have only led to getting the Skins within 10 points.

The picture says it all. (Image from here.)

Yeah, the Giants are good, defending champs and all that. But they didn't play their best game today. Eli looked good, not great. Jacobs looked human. Ward had a good day. The defense looked good (man, Tuck is something else) but there were dropped balls and missed chances. JC wasn't very good.

The Skins defense held the Giants to only 23. They averaged 29.9 coming in (Fox did a great job pointing out that the most the Skins have scored all year was 29.) Rogers had another bad day and Hall had another INT.

Yeah, Portis was in and out all game. He probably should've taken the end of the game off. There wasn't much running to be done after the Giants got up 2 (and then 3) scores late. But that's not his style. Especially on Sean Taylor day.

Which brings me to my final point: this was Sean Taylor day. Say what you will about his play, his passion, his skill... the guy never gave up. He never went half speed or coasted. He never gave up an extra yard without a fight. He never let a team come in to FedEx and have their way.

And I'm not saying... I'm just saying.

This team is 7-5, 3rd in the division and all the momentum they might have gained early in the season is gone. It's a dog fight just to make the playoffs from this point until the end. I just hope I still have a dog in the fight.

Another week, another Blogger Deathsport victory. That's right, I said it.

Thursday (all picked on Wednesday)

TEN (-11) @ DET

SEA @ DAL (-12.5)

ARZ @ PHI (-3)

Sunday

BAL (-7) @ CIN

IND (-5) @ CLE

CAR @ GB (-3)

NO @ TB (-3.5)

NYG (-3.5) @ WAS

SF @ BUF (-7)

ATL @ SD (-4.5)

KC @ OAK (-3)

PIT @ NE (-1)

DEN @ NYJ (-7.5)

CHI @ MIN (-3.5)

Monday

JAX @ HOU (-3)

That's it. Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend and HTTR.

You know the drill.

Thursday

CIN @ PIT (-11.5)

Sunday

SF @ DAL (-10)

PHI @ BAL (-1)

NYJ @ TEN (-5)

BUF (-3) @ KC

MIN @ JAX (-2.5)

NE @ MIA (no line = straight up even)

CHI (-7.5) @ STL

HOU @ CLE (-3)

TB (-7.5) @ DET

OAK @ DEN (-9)

WAS (-3.5) @ SEA

NYG (-3) @ ARZ

CAR @ ATL (-1)

IND @ SD (-2.5)

Monday

GB @ NO (-2.5) GB 31- NO 28

As always, let me know where you think I went wrong. (My vote is birth.)

First off, I'd like to apologize for my lack of posts. As contributor hibachi pointed out, there has been a slower-than-usual post rate around here. Funny because after Skins losses, everything around here seems so slow down. Which brings me to my next point:

FEEL FREE TO POST.

This site is all about participation. A blog community is only one when everyone posts and responds. That is all for the soap box for me. On to the fun stuff.

The loss to the Cowboys (oh, and wasn't it special to have all those Cow Sheep visit... funny, they must have been busy in week 4) marks 2 things: an more specific and interesting wildcard race and 10 games of the 16 game season down. So, who still has a legitimate shot at the playoffs? I'm gonna take a look at the NFC, division by division. Let the fun begin.

NFC West: I'm about to write the Cards in for the division title with a pen. San Fran is showing too little, too late. There is only one team making the playoffs from this division.

NFC North: The Lions are out. Everyone else has a shot at 5-5. I can't see two teams making it out.

NFC South: The Saints are trying to play their way out of it, but they haven't yet. The Falcons, Bucs and Panthers all have a shot at the division and they might be able to get a wildcard team.

Our beloved NFC East: The Giants will win and the Skins and Cowboys are making a play for a wildcard. The Eagles still have an outside shot, but they need to start winning.

So, what do we have? To me, the losers in the South and in the East are the only teams with a shot. The NFC North teams will beat each other into bad enough records that they'll miss the playoffs. So, for the sake of argument, the Cowboys, Redskins, Panthers, Bucs and Falcons are the teams I see vying for the 2 wildcard spots. Obviously, someone has to win the South... so the other 2 NFC South teams and the 2 NFC East teams are going to be in the mix. The Panthers are already 8-2 and the best thing for the Skins chances is for the Panthers to run through the division games at Atlanta (6-4) this weekend and against Tampa (7-3) in a few weeks. The Panthers already beat Atlanta at home and lost in Tampa.

The Cowboys and Skins are done with their season series... and both face common opponents (BAL, SF, SEA, NYG, and PHI) down the stretch. This is important because the wild card tie breaker is a) head-to-head games, b) division record and c) common opponents. The full break down can be found here. The 'Boys and 'Skins split of the season series means that division record is next... followed by record in games between common opponents.

Basically, the Skins need to win and win a lot. I think that it'll take at least 10 wins to make the playoffs in the NFC. That means the Skins have to go 4-2 from here on out. Seattle, San Francisco and Cincy are all bad teams that the Skins should beat, even though all 3 games are on the road. Speaking of road games, 4 of the last 6 games are on the road (@ BAL) and the only 2 home games are division games. Tough road ahead.

On the other hand, the Cowboys have 4 of the last 6 at home. They have to go to PIT and to PHI and have Seattle, San Fran, the Giants and Ravens at home. Hmm.

That's all I got for now. What's up?

No wit and wisdom. No jokes. No stories. This is Dallas week. Enough said.

Thursday

NYJ @ NE (-3.5) (Yes, this pick was in before the game Thursday.)

Sunday

DET @ CAR (-14)

DEN @ ATL (-6.5)

HOU @ IND (-8.5)

OAK @ MIA (-10.5)

MIN @ TB (-3.5)

NO (-5.5) @ KC

CHI @ GB (no line = straight up even)

PHI (-9) @ CIN

BAL @ NYG (-7)

STL @ SF (-6.5)

ARZ (-3) @ SEA

SD @ PIT (-5.5)

TEN (-3) @ JAX

DAL (-1.5) @ WAS

Monday

CLE @ BUF (-5) CLE 28 - BUF 27

and for the record, I'm taking the Browns. A quick look at the odds (as always, courtesy of Yahoo! Sports) shows that the Browns are a 3 point home favorite, which is the standard spread. Basically, if not for being a home game, the Browns would be in a pick 'em game with the Broncos. Yes, both teams are that bad.

I'll take the Browns to win because of Brady Quinn. Yes, he's only had 1 day to prepare... but so has Denver's defense and they're not too good. Champ, McCree and Williams are all out... and are all key players on an already bad defense. Jay Cutler and the Broncos offense haven't been much of anything to write home about in about a month... and I just don't see them coming out of whatever hole they fell into tonight.

I hope all of you have the NFL Network, but if your issues have been anything like mine, you probably don't. I've had 3 cable companies in the last 3 years and 2 of the 3 actually carried it, which seems to me a surprisingly high percentage. I understand why the NFL would want games on their network (umm... money?) but I don't understand why they make their fans and teams go through this, especially starting in week 10 of the NFL season. Denver has to travel on a short week and the game is no picnic for the Browns either. It'd be a lot worse if either team actually played like a playoff contender. Next week's Thursday game (Jets v. New England) will feature 2 teams in the middle of a playoff hunt. It's just a bad idea (I think) that is solely motivated by money. As if the NFL was hurting for cash.

Anyway, consider this your open thread for all things Thursday night.

The headline says it all.

(Image from here.)

That was an absolutely terrible game. I'm not going to even talk about how many Steelers fans were there. Shame on everyone who sold tickets. I take back every kind thing I said about Carlos Rogers in my mid-season report card. His missed INT was the turning point in the game, as it went from being 13-3 Skins to being 10-6 Steelers. The rest of the defense played well (4 sacks, 1 INT), but they could not get off the field on 3rd down to save their lives. Allowing the other team to go 7 for 16 on 3rd down will not cut it. Not all of that is on Rogers. As contributer hibachi put it in the open thread about Rogers:

He’s been awful tonight. He gave up the 43 yard penalty, the 50 yard pass to nate washington, the td to santonio holmes and the missed pick six.

Now all that said, give the Steelers credit. DC Dick LeBeau is the best in my opinion. His 3-4 blitz scheme has been light years ahead of everyone else... and still is. Who knew the player of the game would be the Steelers's QB... and it wouldn't be Big Ben. Leftwich made plays, moved the ball, scored points. That's what you want your backup to do (isn't that right, Dallas?) and he did it well.

QB Jason Campbell threw an INT to end his streak of "271 attempts—249 this season—before cornerback Deshea Townsend grabbed a pass tipped by Portis late in the third quarter." He had a bad game. He was throwing the ball high on almost every play, and when he didn't, he was on his back. Seven (7) sacks. Bad. Very bad. His 43 attempts is about 20 too many for this offense to have success. Yes, PIT is a good defense. One of the best. But the offense led by JC did not play well at all tonight.

Now, you're gonna hear about how Clinton Portis was "shut down" but 13 rushes for 51 yards is not shut down. That's getting down and having to throw the ball too much. A lot of that has to do with getting down and having to throw. Portis had another 73 yards receiving, giving him 124 total yards. Is that getting "shut down" by the Steelers? I'd say no.

But that's over now. This team has a BYE week coming up and they'd better get ready for the Cowboys, who are desperate for a win.If they play like they did tonight, there are very few teams they can beat, including a reeling Cowboys team. They have some winable games left (SEA, SF, CIN) but they need to win more than 9 to even have a shot at the wild card, which the loss tonight pretty much sealed as the best they can do.

Going 6-3 into the BYE week is still a good start. They need to use tonight's game as a wakeup call and get better.

Keepin' it medium works both ways.

[Update by TexSkins, 11/03/08 7:48 PM CST ] Inactives are here. No Springs or Taylor. Moss, Samuels and Griffin are in.

Consider this your open thread for tonight's game. I'll be around for most of it, as I'm sure a good number of our other writers will be. Anyway, as of this post (6:30 or so EST) most of those players expected to play are still in. Full injury report here. Springs is out. Moss is the most questionable of the questionables... I have a feeling that he'll play. He likes the spotlight.

As for the Steelers injuries, Willie Parker returns tonight after missing a few weeks. He should see some action but the Steelers are going to be careful bringing him back. Maybe 40 or so snaps. Clark and McFadden are out. Their beat up secondary could be a key for victory. BehindTheStellCurtain should have a thread up and they have some pretty good stuff as far as matchups. Go forth and check it out.

Some tidbits going into tonight, all from here. First, Big Ben:

"I’m not a big fan of playing there because it is loud, they’re really good at home, and they try to make their cheerleaders stretch in our tunnel before we come out of the locker room," Roethlisberger said. "That’s just not good."

Smart man. Now, I leave you with the wit and wisdom of Randy Thomas:

"We’re coming in 6-2; they’re 5-2. It’s going to be the day before the election," Redskins guard Randy Thomas said with a big smile. "I mean goll-ee. It’s going to be nice."

Goll-ee indeed. Anyway, here's your thread.

The season is officially halfway done, and the Skins are a surprising 6-2. Some games (the Rams) might have gotten away,

but in some others, the team was able to hold on. So, lets take a look at how the team has done thus far:

OVERALL: 6-2 is good. Wins at Dallas, at Philly and at home for New Orleans are good. Losing at the Giants is long forgotten, and the Rams game appears to be an aberration. Like I've said before, if you told me 6-2 before the season started, I would have taken it without second thought. This stretch of schedule featured some of the easier games the team had all season, but like the old saying goes: you can only beat those teams on your schedule.

Grade: B+

COACHING: Jim Zorn has been better than expected. He doesn't look like a rookie head coach based on his decisions and game management. He also looks like a veteran OC with the way he's called some of the games. Mistakes, yes. But overall much better than I expected.

On the defensive side, Blache is good at 2 things: giving quotes and calling a game. I really like the way he has worked with his personnel and really developed a pretty good defense. They've had some key injuries (Taylor, Doughty, Springs) but they've worked around it. They are 6th in yards allowed at 278.1 and 8th in scoring defense after giving up 18.1 points a game. I'd like to see more turnovers, but I always take what I can get. In the NFL, the magic number is 20: you score more than that consistently, you should win because you should be able to hold teams to that. This defense does.

Grade: A-

OFFENSE: Two words: Clinton Portis. He's been on fire all year, but especially after getting called out. Thank you, Brian Mitchell. He leads the league in rushing with 944 yards. But since he's had an extra game (no bye week yet), it might be misleading to say that the next highest rusher is Adrian Peterson with 684, or 260 yards less. So, I'll go to the 118.0 yards per game for Portis compared to Peterson's 97.7. Umm... yeah. He's been that good. Big props to the offensive line.

Almost under the radar is JC's season. He has finally lived up to the 1st round QB hype and is one of only 6 QBs with a 100+ rating and his 100.5 is good for 5th. That puts him ahead of the likes of Manning (both), Favre, and Roethlisberger. Not too shabby. Of starting QBs, he's the only one to have 0 INTs and has only 1 fumble lost all year. Talk about protecting the football. Again, big ups to the offensive line for allowing JC time and giving up only 16 sacks.

Overall, the offense is towards the bottom of the league in points (20.6) but they are towards the top in TOP (6th at 32:30), a stat I personally don't put much stock in but some of you might. A stat I like better is 1st downs (7th at 20.3 per game). Mike Leach taught me that. Well, not personally. #rd down percentage is middle of the pack at 38.8%, but the 4th down percentage is tied for 2nd best at 80% or 4 for 5. Good stuff.

Grade: B (Portis gets an A++.)

DEFENSE: This phase has carried the team thus far this year. London Fletcher is the man. Rookie Chris Horton has proven himself in place of Doughty, but the man I want to spotlight is Carlos Rogers. He, along with fellow 2005 1st rounder Jason Campbell have both come of age this year. Rogers, coming off a knee injury that ended his 2007 season, has looked like the corner the team thought they were getting when they drafted him 9th overall.

The only problem with the defense is the pass rush (10.0 is 8 games). A lot of that can be chalked up to Jason Taylor's injury, but still... they need to get to the opponent's QB. The 5 Forced fumbles and 5 INTs (3 from Horton) are good, but pressure from the front 4 makes everyone else better. The 35.6 3rd down percentage is another good thing.

Grade: A-

SPECIAL TEAMS: Yikes. Anytime you replace a punter mid-season, there have been some problems. Rookie Durant Brooks was just flat out bad. He had some good punts, but he was inconsistent... which is pretty much the one thing an NFL punter cannot be. To his credit, P Ryan Plackemeier has been pretty okay since joining the team, but the team is still dead last in punting with a 39.1 yard average. Double yikes.

The incumbent K Suisham has been pretty okay as well. Only 5 touchbacks, but the coverage teams have been there to make plays. He's also 16 for 21 on FGs, but at least one of those has been blamed on Brooks' holding. Not great but okay.

As usual, KR Rock Cartwright is near the top of the league with a 25.5 yard average and a long of 50. That's consistency. The team has a 25.1 yard average overall. The PR is middle of the pack at 9.4 yards per return, but that's largely due to Moss's return for a TD last game. ARE has been less than spectacular. They have the second most chances in the league (26, 1 behind Tampa Bay) to this point and they need to capitalize on them, which will help the offense score more points. The defense has done it's job, the returners need to make the most of it.

Grade: C-/D+

That's all I got for now. SP sent me this link to another report card, which I have not looked at for this post. So, tell me if I'm in line with things or if I'm just crazy. As always, leave it in the comments section.

- - -

Week 9 Blogger Deathsport. Because I can:

BAL @ CLE (-1.5)

TB (-8.5) @ KC

NYJ @ BUF (-5.5)

ARZ (-3) @ STL

DET @ CHI (-13)

HOU @ MIN (-4.5)

GB @ TEN (-5.5)

JAX (-8) @ CIN

MIA @ DEN (-3)

DAL @ NYG (-9)

PHI (-7) @ SEA

ATL (-3) @ OAK

NE @ IND (-5.5)

Monday

PIT @ WAS (-1.5) 24-21.

I'm out. Hit it up.

 

Resident Lions blogger Sean Yuille over at Pride of Detroit took the time out to answer some questions heading into this weekend's game. be sure to check out my answers to his questions over there. Unlike his Lions, he runs a tight ship.

[Note by TexSkins, 10/24/08 4:09 PM CDT ] You can find my answers here.

1. Matt Millen made an early exit this season. What are the chances that Marinelli doesn't make it to the end of the season and should he be allowed to finish out the year?

A lot of people think Marinelli should and will be fired in the near future, but I really don't see it that way. The coaching staff is so bad that no one could really take over as the interim coach. I know that sounds pathetic, but it is the sad truth. If Marinelli were fired, it couldn't make things any worse, but at the same time, it wouldn't make things any better. Given that, I think he will have his job until the end of the season and will be fired shortly after that.

2. Calvin Johnson's on my fantasy team, so I know a little something something about him. As somebody who watches him every week, how wicked good is this guy?

Calvin Johnson is a beast. That's all you can really say about someone like him. He's got size, speed, and the ability to make some amazing catches. He does drop the ball more than he should, but he makes up for those mistakes by making plays. In the Lions' last game he had only 2 catches, but he still scored a touchdown and racked up 154 yards (mainly because of a 96-yard TD). If Johnson can get the ball thrown accurately in his direction, he will make plays for sure.

3. Kitna is apparently out for the year and all I know about Dan Orlovsky is that he apparently doesn't see the back of the end zone as he runs past it. Does he have a chance to be a good NFL QB or is just keeping the seat warm for Kitna?

Orlovsky hasn't been all that bad in his first two starts, but he hasn't been good, either. He is someone that should be a backup and not a starter. That's why he only got his first start a couple weeks ago despite being in the league for 4 years. I expect him to be the starting QB for a few more weeks before Drew Stanton takes over. Unless Orlovsky can lead the Lions to a win, there will be too much pressure to play Stanton since the fans all want to get a look at him. Stanton is seen as the franchise's future starting QB, so it would be nice to find out if he is any good right now rather than next season.

As far as Kitna goes, I don't think he will ever play for the Lions again. His injury was not that serious, but the Lions put him on the injured reserve anyways. The Lions' thinking behind that move was to get rid of him for the time being but keep him on the team so he can be traded in the offseason. Kitna was obviously frustrated with the move but did understand why they did it. My guess is that he will be traded or cut during the next offseason.

4. The only thing I know about the Detroit defense is that Rogers and Bly aren't there any more. Who are some of the guys to keep an eye on heading into this weekend and into the future?

I would keep an eye on Dewayne White and Ernie Sims. White is a defensive end that seems to make a lot of plays. He is probably the best pass-rusher on the defensive line, so if anyone gets a sack for the Lions it will likely be White. Sims is a linebacker and is the best player on the defense. He flies around the field and always is in on plays. Sims' best attribute is his quickness, which allows him to follow the ball no matter where it goes.

5. I gotta do it. Sorry, but it'd be irresponsible question asking if I didn't. 0-16... really?

I have a feeling the Lions will screw up the ultimate imperfect season by getting a win eventually, but 0-16 could happen. This team still has far too many issues to work out before a win is even considered by the fans, so there is some talk that this group of players and coaches are mediocre enough to pull off a "defeated" season. However, like I said, I have a feeling they will be able to win at least one game.

BONUS: Blogger Deathsport picks. You know the drill.

Sunday

ATL @ PHI (-9)

KC @ NYJ (-13)

STL @ NE (-7)

BUF (1.5) @ MIA

OAK @ BAL (-7)

WAS (-7.5) @ DET

ARZ @ CAR (-4.5)

SD (-3) @ NO

TB @ DAL (-1.5)

CIN @ HOU (-9.5)

CLE @ JAX (-7.5)

NYG @ PIT (-2.5)

SEA @ SF (-5)

Monday

IND @ TEN (off the board = straight up even) 24-21 home team prevails. No 2 pointers.

Where'd I go wrong this time? Expect SP's picks soon.