2009 Game Reviews
NFL Week 7
by Jody Jamieson
30/10/2009
 
New England Patriots 35 London Buccaneers 7 (Wembley)
 
This ended up the one sided game we all worried it would become, but for the third year in a row, the International Series can be ruled an absolute success. I don’t believe a London franchise is the way to go in the future for the NFL, but that’s another discussion for another time. The fans turned out in full force to fill Wembley and create an atmosphere Tom Brady compared to the 4 Super Bowls he had previously played in.
 
Josh Johnson is likely to give way to this year’s #17 overall pick Josh Freeman after another poor performance. Johnson has ability, but teams have figured out that blitzing outside and keeping them in the pocket makes the youngster uncomfortable. This tactic worked brilliantly well early on as Johnson felt the outside pressure and threw a pick six to Brandon Merriweather. Tampa Bay’s defense is struggling enough without Johnson turning the ball over multiple times every Sunday (he had 3 picks this week) to put them in a hole. I’m not convinced Freeman is ready to start in the NFL just yet, but Tampa Bay has nothing to lose now, and giving Freeman 9 games to acclimatise himself before the 2010 season may be a good tactic. Freeman came in and was 2/4 for 19 yards on his NFL debut.
 
Tom Brady was far from perfect as he threw 2 picks, but otherwise was 23/32 for 308 yards and three touchdowns. Wes Welker, Sam Aiken and Benjamin Watson caught the touchdown passes. Laurence Maroney rushed in from 1 yard to complete the scoring. Antonio Bryant had the lone Buccaneers TD on a 33 yard reception.
 
Packers 31 Browns 3
 
Eric Mangini clearly doesn’t plan to play offense on the goalline. On second and goal from the 2 yard line the Mangenius had no idea what to do, rotating players in and out. He ended up burning a timeout due to his indecision. Derek Anderson then fumbled the snap on the next play but luckily Cleveland recovered. On third and goal Anderson then had to realign both Brian Robiskie and the running back before nearly throwing a pick. Does Mangini do any preparation for the possibility of scoring points? Derek Anderson was pretty poor on Sunday (12/29 99 yards 1 INT 2 fumbles), but it didn’t help that the Browns consistently tried to hit deep passes to Mohammed Massaquoi off play action. If their running game was actually working then the play action may have been effective. Green Bay ignored the play fake completely and shut the rookie receiver off. Rather than adjusting and actually trying to build a drive, Cleveland’s typical drive was a 1 yard run, an incomplete deep bomb, and then they at least mixed it up on 3rd down with either a short pass or a shotgun draw. It was just completely weird.
 
I took Cleveland with the +9 line because I thought they could at least ruin a couple of Packer drives by sacking Aaron Rodgers behind that porous offensive line. Unfortunately, Cleveland’s defense was as flat as their offense and couldn’t get near Rodgers. Cleveland didn’t register a single sack in this contest despite Rodgers being by far the most sacked quarterback in the NFL this year. Cleveland took a 3-0 lead after kicking a field goal on Mangini’s horribly unprepared expedition to the goalline, but Spencer Havner, Donald Driver and James Jones caught TD passes while Ryan Grant went in from a yard out on the ground. Grant gashed Cleveland (27-148-1) on the ground while Rodgers was 15/20 for 246 yards and 3 touchdowns. Green Bay outgained the Browns 460-139 in perhaps the most one sided game of a week filled with one sided games.
 
49ers 21 Texans 24
 
Seriously, how did Texans @ Bengals end up such a boring game last week? Both teams have been the cardiac kings of the NFL, and combined for a pretty dull game last week. Houston yet again had a good finish despite the fact that for the second time in a few weeks it was 21-0 at half time. This time, unlike when they visited Arizona, they had the three touchdown lead but almost threw it away after failing to show up in the second half.
 
I didn’t expect to write anything positive about Michael Crabtree in this report. I expect to write “He was there. Had 1 catch for 3 yards” or something along those lines but Crabtree was a major factor despite missing so much time with his pointless holdout. Crabtree had 5 catches for 56 yards and even had a 20-something yard catch wiped out by a penalty. It was a very impressive performance for the rookie making his NFL debut. He actually looked comfortable running pro routes, which was one of the major concerns about him coming out of college after playing in the Texas Tech offense.
 
We all knew Shaun Hill would have a short leash in San Francisco despite his success. He doesn’t have the big arm you look for in a quarterback but had been winning games to keep him under center. Hill’s had a couple of dodgy games recently, and Mike Singletary wasn’t slow to bench him in favour of Alex Smith. Before I get to how good Alex Smith was in, I need to get my moan out first. How do you take a delay of game penalty on 4th and 5 with the game on the line? Nonsensical. While they were hardly running out of time on the drive, there was no need for it, especially with a timeout in your pocket. I know they may have needed the timeout later, but you have to walk before you can run and converting 4th and 5 is a lot easier than 4th and 10. No-one got open on the play, so Smith heaved a desperation pass over the middle and it was picked off to seal the game for Houston. He can’t be blamed for the pick, but should never have taken the delay of game penalty in the first place.
 
But despite that negative, Smith came on with a three touchdown deficit and almost led his team to overtime. Smith has been a bust to this point as an NFL quarterback, but if he ever makes a success of himself, this will be viewed as the turning point. Smith had three touchdown passes in the second half (all to Vernon Davis) and 208 passing yards. Matt Schaub continues to lead the NFL in touchdowns with 16. I don’t like the fact that Pro Bowl voting is taking place already, but if you’re punching your ballot right now and not voting for Schaub I will replace the Week 8 review with an in depth review of the awful, awful X-Factor. You have been warned.
 
Chargers 37 Chiefs 7
 
What is it about dumb coaches making dumb challenges? First it was Eric Mangini a couple of weeks ago against the Bengals, and then Norv Turner used his EA backtrack flag to try and get a do-over of an obvious non catch by Antonio Gates. That’s the only explanation as even Gates knew he didn’t catch the ball. It was one of the most pointless challenges of all time. Fortunately for Norv, San Diego put in their best performance of the season against a woeful Kansas City side who never even threatened to compete. Matt Cassel was sacked 4 times by a team who haven’t bothered to rush the passer this year, and completed less than 50% of his passes. He was 10/25 for 97 yards 1TD 3INT.
 
On the other side Philip Rivers put up reasonable numbers, but more importantly didn’t turn the ball over. 18/30 for 268 yards with 3 TDs will always get it done when the opposition offense fails to show up. Malcolm Floyd and Vincent Jackson had 1st quarter touchdowns while Darren Sproles caught a pass on a swing route and took it 58 yards for the score. Late in the game Jacob Hester blocked a Dustin Colquitt punt and recovered it himself in the endzone.
 
After this game, Larry Johnson became just the latest sportsman to do something completely idiotic on Twitter and get himself in trouble. Johnson has allegedly (I don’t have Twitter and have no intention of ever getting it, but please don’t let that put you off joining the Diner Twitter page despite my pointless prejudice!) made homosexual slurs on Twitter about Chiefs coach Todd Haley while belittling the rookie Head Coach. Two things I find interesting about this. 1) How many times are NFL players going to apologise for doing stupid things? Surely they have to know how stupid it is to slag of their coach on the internet. It’s simply stupid to think you can get away with this. And 2) Does the fact that Larry Johnson is no longer a major factor make it slightly easier to put him out to pasture? Just a thought...
 
Colts 42 Rams 6
 
Reggie Wayne had 7 catches for 83 yards and a touchdown, which seemed a little pedestrian after he was 4-64-1 on the opening drive. Truth is most of the Colts numbers were pedestrian because they were ahead big early and didn’t need to throw the ball too much. Peyton Manning was under 300 yards for the first time this season (23/34 235 yards, 3TD) but with a 21-6 half time lead against a team who can’t move the ball, there’s no need to throw and risk stopping the clock.
 
This game was never going to be in doubt, but I admired the St Louis offensive gameplan to a certain extent. Despite the fact that they were behind early, they never ever got away from the run. Steven Jackson was obviously the best offensive weapon for the Rams. The problem came when they passed to set up the run. Down 21-6, Bulger dropped back to throw and was victimised by a Jacob Lacey pick six. Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark and Austin Collie had TD receptions, while Joseph Addai and Chad Simpson scored on the ground.
 
It’s funny that St Louis will be playing the NFL’s only ever 0-16 team on Sunday. If they cannot beat Detroit at Ford Field, then they will be going 0-16 this year. At least Detroit last year occasionally played offense. St Louis is doing nothing on either side of the ball.
 
Vikings 17 Steelers 27
 
Brett Favre played relatively well in this one, but he made two big mistakes that gave Minnesota their first loss of 2009. Well make that one big mistake. He fumbled the ball on third down with the Steelers up 3 and Lamar Woodley recovered and returned it for a touchdown. Favre then finished the game with a pick six, but that was on Chester Taylor. Taylor should have caught it, but he tipped it in the air instead and Keyaron Fox took it back for the decisive score.
 
Pittsburgh had to settle for a field goal in the first quarter when Roethlisberger found Mike Wallace in the endzone, but it was brought back on a penalty. After Adrian Peterson scored on the ground to make it 7-3, Mike Wallace went in again but this time there were no flags. The teams traded field goals in the third quarter before the two Pittsburgh defensive touchdowns. Percy Harvin scored on his second kickoff return touchdown of the season after Woodley’s score, but it wasn’t enough as Fox caught the tipped pass and took it the other way to give Pittsburgh a 10 point win.
 
Favre performed well against a tough defense. He was asked to pass a whopping 51 times, but completed 34 of them for 334 yards. Unfortunately the two key turnovers undid them. Sidney Rice continues to be the weapon of choice for Favre, hauling in 11 catches for 136 yards. Ben Roethlisberger had a quiet line (14/26 175 yards 1TD), and could have been picked a few times. Big Ben’s good fortune allowed the Steelers defense to take the team over the finish line just when it looked like the Vikings were about to take the game to overtime.
 
Bills 20 Panthers 9
 
Jake Delhomme was personally responsible for this loss. He’s been turnover crazy this year and managed to get his team beaten despite Buffalo gaining less than 200 yards of offense. Rumour has it that Matt Moore is likely to take over as the starter. Who can blame John Fox for making a change? Despite giving Delhomme a big contract in the offseason, the quarterback is killing them right now. Something had to be done. Carolina’s running game is still getting it done despite Delhomme, but there’s only so much it can do. The quarterback has a whopping 13 interceptions in 6 games. And if you include his last game of last season (the playoff loss against the Cardinals) Delhomme has EIGHTEEN interceptions in his last SEVEN games. Next up for the Panthers? Arizona, who began this miserable run for Delhomme.
 
Buffalo still have major problems, but have very quietly won 2 road games in a row and have given their fans something to smile about for the first time since starting 5-1 last year. Defensively teams are running all over them, but they’ve adopted the bend but don’t break mentality and have created a boatload of turnovers. I don’t think it’s too harsh on Buffalo to say they were lucky to be playing the Jets and Panthers the last two weeks, but they’ve still got to go out and win the game. They’ve had 9 interceptions in their last two games (rookie Jairus Byrd had two in each game) but some of that can be put down to futility at the quarterback position. However you don’t get 9 picks in two games without doing something right, and if Ryan Fitzpatrick continues to play mistake free football then Buffalo can have a reasonable year.
 
Marshawn Lynch on the ground and Lee Evans through the air had Buffalo up 17-2 (Hollis Thomas stuffed Fred Jackson in the endzone for a safety) when DeAngelo Williams had a 15 yard touchdown run to make it a one score game. Carolina never got close to getting that score, and when Ryan Lindell kicked his second field goal of the game it was long over.
 
Jets 38 Raiders 0
 
Get your tickets for the Subway Series Super Bowl in February! Now that the Jets have won a game in a row, expect the hype machine to be in overdrive on New York radio stations.
 
To think Oakland stuck with Russell for so long, and then he had a good game. For whatever reason, after he reverts back to the norm and falls apart, they pull him. He’s been horrific all year but is coming off his first decent performance. Why do it now? Although the fact that Russell refused to take any of the blame for a pathetic start against the Jets is a worry. Russell had 3 early turnovers that killed the team and forced Tom Cable to go with Bruce Gradkowski. It’s one thing to bench Josh Johnson because it’s time to go with the future in Tampa Bay. It’s another thing to bench the future to go with what we know doesn’t work. Gradkowski isn’t likely to turn the ball over as often as Russell, but has very few redeeming features as an NFL passer. If Gradkowski stays under center expect the Raiders to go from being bad on offense to...well, still being pretty damn bad. Pointless prediction here, but if Russell doesn’t play again this season, look for him to be 300 pounds for the start of Training Camp next year. He sucks and he doesn’t care.
 
I don’t want it to sound like I’m defending Russell here as he completely blew this game. On the first Raider possession, he fumbled on the 4 yard line and Thomas Jones scored on 4th and goal. Russell then threw a stupid pick to Jim Leonhard who returned it to the 4 yard line. Two plays later Sanchez ran it in himself for the score. The Jets first two scoring drives went for a monstrous 8 yards. Russell then tried to go deep to Louis Murphy but Darelle Revis made a marvellous interception. Russell finished 6/11 61 yards 2INT and a lost fumble when he was benched. Shonn Greene had his first two NFL touchdowns in this one and Mark Sanchez threw a 35 yard TD to David Clowney.
 
Leon Washington suffered a horrible knee injury in the first quarter. I wouldn’t even recommend watching it. I’m no doctor, but I’m fairly sure he’s done for the year. Meanwhile, Darrius Heyward-Bey had 2 catches for 28 yards. A career day! Michael Crabtree may have put up similar production in his debut (5-56) to Heyward-Bey’s season (4-64) but Al knows best!
 
Bears 10 Bengals 45
 
What?! Cincinnati’s weird and wonderful season continues. I’ve been preaching how good the Bengals were going to be this year since the Draft, but even I didn’t see them absolutely shellacking the Bears. The Bengals offense was phenomenal in this one. They led 45-3 at one point before a late Devin Hester touchdown cut the deficit to a nail biting 35 points. Cincinnati’s offensive line is solid if unspectacular, and it kept Palmer clean all day. The line also allowed Cedric Benson to run wild against his former team. Benson tallied 189 rushing yards and a touchdown on a whopping 37 carries.
 
I was watching ESPN’s Baseball Tonight’s preview of the Phillies-Yankees matchup and despite the fact that Bobby Valentine was rambling incoherently, he did make one good point. “Man’s greatest right is the right to change his mind.” I’d like to use this right with the Bears. I had Chicago down as a first round bye team in the NFC, but they are below par in too many areas. They’re struggling to get to the quarterback. They can’t stop the run. Their offensive line is struggling. I’m not completely convinced that Green Bay are a better team than Chicago, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the Bears finish third in their division behind the Vikings and Packers. That being said, I’m running out of options in my Survivor Pool, so I’m taking Chicago at home against Cleveland. It’s a good thing Cleveland are dreadful. Jay Cutler was 26/37 for 251 yards and a touchdown, which would have been a good line if he wasn’t responsible for 3 interceptions. Cutler needs to cut down on the turnovers if he’s going to lead the Bears to where they want to be. Carson Palmer on the other side was magnificent. He had 5 touchdown passes despite only throwing 24 times. He completed 20 for 233 yards. The Artist Formerly Known As Johnson had 10 catches for 118 yards and two scores. Chris Henry, JP Foschi and Laveraneus Coles had the other scoring grabs.
 
Falcons 21 Cowboys 37
 
Tony Romo had by far his best game of the season as he absolutely shredded the Falcons secondary to lead the Cowboys to an important win.
 
What the hell happened to Atlanta in the second quarter of this game? They dominated the first quarter and held a 7-0 lead and ended up imploding. They turned the ball over twice in the 2nd and stopped playing offense. This wouldn’t have been a disaster if they had kept on playing defense, but they just stopped covering people. Atlanta can point to two major moments in this game that ultimately put them on the losing side. Right at the end of the first half, Tony Romo performed a Houdini act escaping pressure. He should have been sacked by 3 different Falcons before stepping up and firing to Patrick Crayton. Then in the 4th quarter with 4th and 2 on their own 30, Atlanta should have considered going for it, but Mike Smith decided to punt. While he can’t be completely destroyed for the decision to punt, it turned out to be a disaster as Crayton returned the punt for a score.
 
Miles Austin had another inexplicably huge game for the Cowboys, with 171 receiving yards and two touchdowns. I have no idea where this sudden surge of greatness has come from, but it’s a welcome boost for Dallas considering how last year’s midseason trade has worked out. Roy Williams looks like he has completely lost interest and is currently a hindrance. He’s dogging routes and just putting in a feeble effort. If the ball doesn’t hit him in the numbers, he’s likely to drop it, and if he’s under pressure from a defender, don’t bet on him making the catch. Williams has been a disgrace in a Cowboys uniform and isn’t coming close to justifying the lofty price paid for him. Dallas gave up first, third and sixth round picks in 2009 to pick up the former Lions receiver. It’s inexplicable that Williams looked like a better receiver with Jon Kitna, Drew Stanton, Dan Orlovsky or whatever other slop Detroit threw out there masquerading as a quarterback. Say what you like about Tony Romo, but there’s no reason that Williams shouldn’t be putting up numbers in that offense.
 
Saints 46 Dolphins 34
 
This is an early candidate for game of the year. New Orleans not only trailed for the first time this year, but they were getting drubbed 24-3 in the first half of this. Just when it looked like they were going to lose their 100% record, they came screaming back to win by 12 points. Drew Brees had a complete tale of two halves in this one. In the first half he was getting sacked constantly and turned the ball over a few times. In the second half he had a much cleaner pocket and it allowed him the time to shred the Miami secondary. Brees was picked off midway through the first quarter and the ball was returned to the 4 yard line. Ricky Williams went in on the next play for a 7-0 lead. Courtney Roby returned the ensuing kickoff to the Dolphins 15, but the Saints went backwards and settled for a field goal. Ricky Williams then scored again after ripping off a 68 yard run. After a Dan Carpenter field goal made it 17-3, Brees was intercepted again at his own 19, and Ronnie Brown scored 4 plays later on the ground. New Orleans scored with just seconds remaining in the first half on a Brees QB sneak. Miami led 24-10 at the half.
 
The second half started with a strange sequence of events. A Chad Henne pass was tipped by Ted Ginn Jr, then Tracy Porter, and was finally picked off by Darren Sharper. Sharper returned it for a touchdown, but it looked suspiciously like he fumbled before crossing the goalline. Nonetheless the score stood. Miami added another field goal after another Brees turnover deep in Saints territory, but the Saints scored 7 on their next drive when Brees hit Colston. Miami re-established their 10 point lead when Ricky Williams scored his third TD of the day after a 68 yard Brian Hartline catch and run set up the Dolphins inside the Saints 5. The first play of the 4th quarter was a 66 yard reception by Jeremy Shockey. Two plays later Reggie Bush scored on a double reverse with a marvellous leap into the corner of the endzone from the 6 yard line. The Saints then took their first lead of the game when Brees scored on another sneak, but John Carney missed the extra point. The Dolphins tried to rally, but Henne was hit as he threw and his lobbed pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Tracy Porter to wrap up the win.
 
Cardinals 24 Giants 17
 
With San Francisco faltering, Arizona has had a real chance to get back into the race for the NFC West crown. After sneaking past Houston at home they went north and walloped Seattle. On Sunday Night Football they went into the Meadowlands and picked up a huge win against the New York Giants. The Giants have now dropped two in a row while Arizona finally look like the team that came within a defensive hold of winning it all in February.
 
New York took a 7-0 lead when Brandon Jacobs went in from 4 yards. The touchdown was set up after Kurt Warner threw a pick to Terrell Thomas to set up the Giants on the plus side of the field. The Cardinals replied with 4 minutes left in the half when Beanie Wells turned the corner and raced into the endzone from 14 yards. On the next drive, New York scored a bizarre touchdown when an Eli Manning pass intended for Mario Manningham was tipped in the air by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Unfortunately for Arizona, the ball hung up long enough for Hakeem Nicks to get underneath it and race to the endzone. DRC had earlier had earlier made a marvellous interception of Manning, but wasn’t so lucky this time. It was 14-10 Giants at the half as Neil Rackers kicked a field goal to end the period.
 
Arizona took their first possession of the second half right down the field. Warner hit Larry Fitzgerald over the middle for a big gain, and 3 plays later Tim Hightower went in. Arizona then took a 24-14 lead when Jason Wright caught an inside screen from Warner and went in from 6 yards. Lawrence Tynes kicked a field goal to make it a one score game, but the Giants never got any closer. Eli led a nice drive at the end, but threw a pick to Antrel Rolle and the game was over.
 
Trust Larry Fitzgerald’s first drop in what seems like forever to be on a deep bomb off play action from the Wildcat by Antrel Rolle. Yes you read that right. Not only did Rolle take an offensive snap, but he took it from the shotgun and threw a pretty pass down the field that would make Matt Cassel jealous, but Fitz dropped a certain touchdown.
 
Eagles 27 Redskins 17
 
This was a terribly scruffy game. Top Fives makes a Monday Night appearance for 5 bizarre things that happened in this contest.
5. Antwaan Randle El fumbled after catching a pass and the Eagles recovered. The problem? The referees called Randle El down by contact and the usually Challenge Happy Andy Reid decided to fall asleep at the wheel. Washington scored a touchdown on the drive.
4. Donovan McNabb threw a crazy pass into triple coverage intended for DeSean Jackson. The problem? Aside from the obvious, if McNabb hadn’t eyeballed Jackson, he’d have noticed Jeremy Maclin standing on his own in the corner of the endzone for an easy score. I think I was doing a better job covering Maclin on the play than the Skins defensive backs, and I was sitting in my friend’s living room in Dundee.
3. The referees called Washington #35 for a personal foul on a Redskins kick return which set up Washington on their own 10. The problem? The #35 responsible for the personal foul was Eagles free safety Macho Harris. Luckily the referees noticed and rightly reversed the call. The drive then started on Philadelphia’s 45 yard line.
2. Jim Zorn decided to go for it on 4th and 4 down 17 points in comfortable field goal range. It failed. The reason it failed will be covered in a second. The problem? If Suisham had kicked the field goal, Fred Davis’ late touchdown would have made it a one score game and the Skins would have had a chance to take it to overtime if they’d recovered the onside kick.
1. The reason the 4th and 4 play didn’t work was because Casey Rabach snapped the ball to Campbell under centre. The problem? Secret Agent Campbell cunningly wandered back into the shotgun without Rabach noticing and the play was completely doomed.
Will Witherspoon could barely have had a bigger impact in his Eagles debut. First when Quintin Mikell tipped a Jason Campbell pass in the air, Witherspoon intercepted it and took it back for six. Then on the Redskins next drive, Secret Agent Campbell was flushed from the pocked, and was strip sacked by the newest Eagle. Witherspoon was the impact player on defense that DeSean Jackson was on offense. Jackson opened the scoring on a 67 yard end around and then scored on a 57 yard bomb from McNabb to make it 27-10 just before the half.
 
Other than the two big plays from Jackson, the Eagles offense was pretty poor. McNabb was given much better protection than he was last week, but threw wild and missed wide open receivers with worrying consistency. Luckily for the Eagles their defense played well, and Secret Agent Campbell padded his stats on third down by throwing 5 yard passes on 3rd and long without ever threatening to keep drives aline. Realistically, 37 offensive points (can’t possibly include the INT return for those who think I can’t count) was terribly flattering as both defense put on a good show.