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Week 3 is in the books and while some teams are where we thought they would be, or in the words of Dennis Green, "They are who we thought they were!", others are surprising us. Some for the good, others...not so much. So without further ado, and in large part because I'm still feeling the effects of my binge drinking from Sunday, let's get a look at the week in review.
Over the last year, the Saints have found ways to win games even when it appeared all was lost. On Sunday, they got to feel what it was like to be on the receiving side. With the game in overtime, Drew Brees, who had completed 30 of 38 passes for 365 yards and 3 TD's, drove the Saints to what would have been a game winning 29 yard FG. But Garrett Hartley hooked it left and minutes later Matt Bryant hit a 40 FG with 1:55 remaining in OT to give the Falcons the win. It was Hartley's 3rd miss in 7 tries this season, although he did make the one to beat the 49ers, and it has put him squarely on the hot seat. "I missed a big kick last year and was able to learn from it," Hartley said. "I plan on doing the same thing." So what exactly did he learn? Not to shank it badly? I suppose he's going to start advising receivers not to drop passes thrown to them and tell defenders to tackle the ball carrier. Maybe he should even consider writting a book.
If a defense gives up a lot of yards but not a lot of points, it's called bending but not breaking. So what do you call it when an offense gets a lot of yards but doesn't score much? Drive but fall flat? That's been the Cowboys moto as they are 5th in total yards this season but only 21st in points scored. But on Sunday they were able to buck that trend. Get it. They're Cowboys, so they were able to...never mind. Roy Williams had maybe his best game ever as a Cowboy, catching 5 balls for 117 yards and 2 TD's. Meanwhile, other than break out sensation Arian Foster who carried the ball 17 times for 106 yards, the Texans weren't able to do a whole lot offensively. Their only TD came with just over 1 minute remaining in the game, but Matt Schaub wasn't feeling too bad afterwards. He told reporters, "There's a lot worse places to be after three games than 2-1." Thanks for rubbing it in Matt.
The rest of week 3 after the jump.
For the 3rd straight week Brett Favre looked like a 40 year old, completing 23 of 34 passes for 201 yards and 1 TD, but also throwing 2 interceptions. That brings him to 6 interceptions on the season which is just one short of the 7 he threw all of last season. Luckily for the Vikings they have Adrian Peterson. Peterson rushed for 160 yards and 2 TD's, including an 80 yard TD in the 3rd quarter that put the Vikings up 24-10. Part of the reason for Peterson's success was because the Lions practically dared the Vikings to run it. They saw how much the Vikings relied on Favre last year so they were determined to limit what he could do. So the Vikings adjusted. Brad Childress said afterwards, "You don't want to put round pegs in square holes." Funny. Is it just me or was he talking about the 49ers offense?
The Bills offense looked horrible in their first two games, so Trent Edwards was out and Ryan Fitzpatrick was in. I think it's safe to say the change helped. The Bills had more yards and more points in game 3 than they had in games 1 and 2 combined. C.J. Spiller also started to flash the tools that made him a top pick in this years draft, catching a 5 yard TD pass and returning a kickoff 95 yards for another. Too bad they still lost. Fitzpatrick overthrew TE David Nelson with 3 minutes remaining and the ball was intercepted. Plus, Tom Brady was almost perfect, completing 21 of 27 passes for 252 yards and 3 TD's, including 2 TD's to Randy Moss. "Two things helped us," Wes Welker said. "We were more unpredictable on offense and we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot." OK. Now I'm really starting to think these players are thinking about the 49ers when they talk. The one bit of good news is that Trent Edwards is now available for the 49ers to pick up. Alright, maybe we're not that desperate yet.
Last week the Titans completely self destructed when they turned the ball over 7 times. This week they got to watch the Giants go through similar pain. The Giants turned the ball over 3 times, committed 5 personal fouls, missed 2 FG's, and had a chop block called that resulted in a Safety. After being held to under 100 yards rushing for the first time in 13 straight games, Chris Johnson got back on track with 125 yards and 2 TD's. But after out gaining the Titans 471-271 yards offensively, it was the Giants self inflicted wounds that really did them in. "I think we outplayed them, but it doesn't matter," Giants defensive captain Justin Tuck said. "Turnovers, penalties, missed assignments. You name it and we probably did it today." Wow, this is just creepy. Now I'm convinced their thinking about the 49ers when they're quoted. In other news, a lynch mob is now forming outside Tom Coughlin's house and the Mara family has started to send gift baskets to Bill Cowher.
Steelers 38, Buccaneers 13
The Steelers are still without Ben Roethlisberger and it doesn't matter. With one game to go in Big Ben's suspension, the Steelers are 3-0. Charlie Batch did just enough, completing 12 of 17 throws for 186 yards, 3 TD's, and 2 interceptions, but the real hero for the Steelers was third year player Rashard Mendenhall. Mendenhall carried the ball 19 times for 143 yards and 1 TD. And who led the Buccaneers in rushing? Why it was undrafted rookie, and head butt champion, LeGarrette Blount. After being claimed off waivers from the Titans, Blount carried the ball 6 times for 27 yards and 1 TD. But the offensive performance was enough for second year Bucs QB, Josh Freeman, to say after the game, "They dominated us on the scoreboard, but at the same time I feel like our team's mentality walking away is that we could've played with those guys." Just keep telling yourself that. Positive affirmation at work.
Rookie Jimmy Clausen got his NFL debut on Sunday and it was about as bad as anyone could have expected. Through the first half Clausen completed only 1 pass for 6 yards, threw an interception, and finished with a QB rating of 0. No, I didn't forget to type any numbers. His first half QB rating really was 0. In fact, I think if QB ratings could be negative, he might have even managed to accomplished that. For the entire game he finished 16/33 for 188 yards, 1 interception, and 1 fumble. Fortunately, the Bengals were almost as bad. Carson Palmer was only 19 of 37 for 195 yards, 1 TD, and 2 interceptions. The Panthers even still had a chance to win in the 4th, trailing 13-7, but Jonathan Stewart fumbled and that led to Palmer's 7 yard TD pass to Cedric Benson to put the game away. So what did the Bengals think of the ugly win? "This isn't the BCS," CB Leon Hall said. "We just need a win." I don't know. I kind of like the idea that we should just skip the entire playoffs and have a computer decide who the two best teams in the NFL are, and just put them in the Super Bowl. I'm sure that would really ratchet up the excitement.
A week after having his worst game ever as a professional, Joe Flacco stepped up big time with 262 yards, 3 TD's, and no interceptions. Once again, Anquan Boldin was his main target, catching 8 passes for 142 yards and all 3 TD's. But the real surprise of the game came from the Browns and Peyton Hillis. Filling in for an injured Jerome Harrison, Hillis gouged the Ravens vaunted defense for 144 yards and a TD. The Browns even had an early 4th quarter lead, 17-14, when Seneca Wallace found Benjamin Watsen for a 1 yard TD. But for the 3rd week in a row, the Browns blew a second half lead as the Ravens finished with 10 unanswered points. The only question remaining is why the Browns are the only team in the NFL to have a football helmet as their symbol. It's not even brown, it's orange. It's almost like they're taunting the system by saying, we're going to use a generic football helmet as our symbol and we're not even going to bother to make sure it's the right color, and there's nothing you can do to stop us.
In baseball, a team can get a lot of hits but not turn them into runs, especially if they choke with runners in scoring position. That's what happened to the Redskins in this game. The Rams only had 16 more yards of total offense, but they were 9-16 on 3rd or 4th down. The Redskins, on the other hand, were an abysmal 1-10, including 0-3 in the redzone. It didn't even matter that Steven Jackson, after caring the ball 10 times for 59 yards and a TD, had to leave the game with a grion injury. Kenneth Darby filled in well, scoring the go ahead TD on a 12 yard run, and Sam Bradford was 23 of 37 for 235 yards, 1 TD, and 1 interception. What also helped the Rams was that the Redskins decided, after taking the lead on a FG early in the 3rd, they didn't need to do anything else offensively the rest of the game. It was the Rams first home win in almost 2 years so fans leaving the stadium could be forgiven for not being totaly sure how they should act.
When the Eagles traded Donovan McNabb within their division to the Redskins, they did it because they felt confident they had a younger QB who could lead them into the future. What they didn't realize was that the QB would be Michael Vick, not Kevin Kolb. You almost have to wonder if the Eagles would be 3-0 if Vick had been named the starting QB for week 1. In Jacksonville Vick threw for 291 yards, 3TD's, and rushed for another TD. That's all four of their TD's for those of you who are keeping score at home. DeSean Jackson had his typical big play TD, scoring on a 61 yard play to get the Eagles on the board, and the defense took turns knocking David Garrard around, sacking him 6 times and hitting him 11 times more. Garrard, who threw 4 interceptions last week, managed to be even worse on Sunday. He only threw 1 interception but several more were dropped by defenders. He only completed 13 of his 30 passes, and after accounting for the yards lost from sacks, he had only 54 yards passing. That's 54 total yards from 30 pass attempts, or a 1.8 yard average. Ugh. Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio wins the understatement of the week award when he said of Garrard, "He was ineffective today." I guess in an effort to keep football kid friendly, Del Rio decided not to tell us what he was really thinking.
After 3rd year pro Kenny McKinley shot himself at home, the Broncos decided to dedicate this game to his memory. Not to be insensitive, but I'm sure every Broncos fan felt a little like McKinley after the game. Kyle Orton had his best game ever, throwing for 476 yards, and the Broncos out gained the Colts by over 150 yards. But it was their ineffectiveness in the redzone that did them in. Five times the Broncos drove into the redzone and all they got from those 5 trips was 6 points. It wasn't even turnovers that hurt them. Three times they went for it on 4th down and all 3 times they failed, including one time early on when they started with a first and goal from the 1. Peyton Manning had his usual stellar game and Austin Collie is starting to become Manning's new go to guy, with 12 receptions for 171 yards and 2 TD's. Defending his choice to go for it on 4th down three times in the redzone, Josh McDaniels said, "You're going to win this game with touchdowns, not field goals." You know I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I've seen quite a few games won by field goals.
The Raiders had won the game. The Cardinals fans were headed for the doors as they were sure their team was about to lose their home opener. Then Sebastian Janikowski did something he hadn't done in four years. He missed a 32 yard FG as time expired. Before that, he had hit 19 straight from the 30-39 range. All told, Janikowski made FG's from 22, 54, and 23 yards, while missing kicks from 41, 58, and 32. The Raiders Darren McFadden, who rushed for 105 yards, told reporters after the game, "It's very shocking. I call him Automatic Seabass." That might be the best nickname in sports. Cardinals QB Derek Anderson said if Automatic Seabass had made the kick, "I was going to be sick to my stomach." Now he'll just have to wait until he's reviewing his play during the game, where he completed only 12 of 26 passes for 122 yards, before he feels sick to his stomach.
Leon Washington took the kickoff to start the second half 101 yards to give the Seahawks a 17-0 lead. But the Chargers, led by Phillip Rivers who passed for 455 yards, fought back to eventually tie the game at 20-20 with 6:39 to go in the 4th. That's when Washington struck again. He took the ensuing kickoff 99 yards to give the Seahawks the lead for good. If he played for the Chargers I'd say lighting struck again, but he plays for the Seahawks and it doesn't sound that impressive to say he pooped on them again. I think we can safely say Washington's leg is fully healed. And we have the Jets to thank for giving away the COP RB for only a 5th round pick. "I really truly appreciate the Jets for letting him go," Seattle receiver Deon Branch said. "For sending him here for pretty much nothing." Well I don't appreciate it.
Jets 31, Dolphins 23
With Miami leading 17-14 midway through the 3rd, Mark Sanchez found Braylon Edwards for a 67 yard TD that would put the Jets up for good. Edwards started the game in the doghouse after being arrested for drunk driving, but after the TD and the win, all seemed forgiven. Edwards only had 1 other reception in the game, but it was a 20 yarder on 3rd and 10 that kept the drive alive that eventually led to the Jets final TD with 1:55 remaining. "The biggest thing I can say about this week is that I really am glad that I have teammates and an organization like the Jets," Edwards said. "They've been very supportive, been there for me and they've allowed me to have a better week than maybe somewhere else." And by "somewhere else" he means the Orange Helmets.
Packers 17, Bears 20
Believe it or not, the Chicago Bears are the only undefeated team left in the NFC. It's been ugly at times, and they came a Calvin Johnson drop away from losing their home opener to the Lions, but 3-0 is 3-0. Devin Hester returned his first TD in 3 years an a 62 yard punt return early in the 4th, the Packers James Jones lost a fumble late in the 4th when he was hit by Brian Urlacher, and the Bears drove down to the 3 before Robbie Gould hit the game winner with only 4 seconds remaining. But the Packers ultimately hurt themselves. They committed 18 penalties for 152 yards. "It was a uncharacteristic game on offense for us, well, just as a team," Packers QB Aaron Rodgers said. "Way too many penalties." Pop quiz! Can anyone name the team that led the NFL in penalties last season? Answer: The Green Bay Packers. So while 18 is excessive, I'd hardly call it uncharacteristic.
49ers 10, Chiefs 31
Message to the 49ers. Can you please start winning. The more you lose the less traffic we get at Niners Nation, which means the less people there are to read my stories that I put blood, sweat, and tears into making. OK, maybe not blood and tears, but I definitely sweat a little.