The Unexplainable

The New Orleans Saints lost to the Cleveland Browns. The same Browns team that is down to its third string QB and doesn’t have a very good defense. The Browns were able to intercept Drew Brees four times, returning two of them for touchdowns in the 30-17 win. This game also had one of the best fake punts that I have ever seen:

Run, Reggie, Run!

It took overtime for the Ravens to barely beat the winless Bills. The Bills jumped up early in the game and then seemingly lost it getting down by ten, but Ryan Fitzpatrick fought back to force overtime. The former Harvard quarterback has been tremendous for the Bills since taking over for Trent Edwards.

The 2009 Jay Cutler returned to the NFL this week. He threw four interceptions all to DeAngelo Hall. Hall tied the NFL record for most INTs in a single game. The Bears were very sloppy in the 17- 14 loss.

The 49ers were looking to build on their first win heading into Carolina to play the winless Panthers. Alex Smith went down with an injury and David Carr proved he is not the answer. Carr threw a costly interception that set-up a game winning field goal by John Kasay (23-20). The 49ers now have a long flight to face Denver in London this Sunday.

Denver might have an even longer flight to London after getting obliterated by the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders won by a score of 59-14. They scored all 59 points in the first three quarters, in fact they scored 21 points in the first six minutes of the game.

The Eagles were coming off a huge win over the Falcons, but they certainly laid an egg against the Titans. The Titans fought back from an early deficit to win easily, 37-19. Kevin Kolb didn’t play spectacular and it was announced that Michael Vick will return to the starting position after the team’s bye week.

The Cowboys are the best bad team in the NFL. That’s not a compliment. The team looks amazing on paper, and in a video game they would probably be 5-1 right now. The Cowboys lost to the Giants 41-35, but the game wasn’t that close. Dem Cowboys jumped out to an early 20-7 lead, but then forgot to play defense and Eli Manning shreaded the Cowboys secondary. They weren’t getting any pressure on Manning and the Giants were pounding the Cowboys offensive line. In fact, for the the third straight week, the Giants took out the starting quarterback. Tony Romo looks to be out 6-8 weeks after breaking his clavicle. Jon Kitna, who hasn’t played since 2008, was rusty at first, but the loss was by no means completely on him.

Brett Favre lost to the Packers for the first time as a Minnesota Viking. After sweeping the Packers last season, the Vikings lost 28-24. Favre almost had some leftover Lambeau magic, he threw a pass to Percy Harvin that was ruled a touchdown, but overturned by the replay assistant. Then he almost connected with Randy Moss on the last play for the win. Favre’s consecutive game streak may end after this one. He was diagnosed with two fractures in his surgically repaired ankle, but they won’t require surgery. He is listed as day-to-day.

The last unexplainable event of this weekend occurred in the Steelers – Dolphins game. With 2:37 left in the game, the Steelers trailed 22-20. Roethlisberger took a QB sneak for what was ruled a touchdown. He actually lost the football prior to breaking the plane, but the head umpire ran out and made the call way too quickly so that there was no definitive proof of who recovered the loose ball (a Dolphin player did emerge from the pile and hand the ball to a referee). The Dolphins challenged and it was ruled a fumble and the ball was given to the Steelers since their was no proof of who recovered. The Steelers kicked the field goal and won the game 23-22. Here’s the play and the ruling:

Now, the NFL was wrong for ending the play way too quickly. They should have finished the play, since it was an obvious loose ball, and then made the call. But, the Dolphins did have enough time to comeback and win the game so it can’t all be blamed on that play. On the other-hand, you can’t assume that the STEALers would have gotten the ball back and scored either.

Somewhat Explainable

The Falcons beat the Bengals, 39-32. Carson Palmer might be the most overrated quarterback in the NFL (depends on how you look at it, Alex Smith and Jay Cutler can be in that argument).

The Chiefs neutered the Jaguars, 42-20. Things aren’t looking too good for the Jaguars, but they do play Dallas next week.

The Bucs barely pulled off the win against the Rams, 18-17. The Rams and Bucs should be pretty good in the near future. Both Josh Freeman and Sam Bradford are maturing rather quickly.

The Seahawks handled the Cards in Seattle, 22-10. The NFC West winner might actually be Pete Carroll and the Seahawks. If they learn to play consistently on the road, they could be a dark horse come playoff time.

The Patriots edged a great comeback by the Chargers, 23-20. I’m still not ready to write off the Chargers. Their offense continues to play well and I realistically think they can win their final five games (OAK, KC, SF, @CIN, @DEN). If they win those five and split the other four (TEN, @HOU, @IND, DEN) they will finish 9-7 which could win the AFC West.

The Lions, Texans, Colts and Jets had their BYE week.

The NFL is certainly unexplainable this year. There are no teams with a perfect record and it seems that on any given week any team can beat any team. This makes for some exciting football!

What did you think of this week in the NFL? Comment below

[Photo Credit: NYDailyNews.com]

Now at age 33, McNabb is going to be entering the decline phase of his career. Having played an entire 16 game season only once in the past 6 years, the indicators are there. The Eagles clearly have an abundance at the QB position – McNabb, Kevin Kolb, and Michael Vick. They think that Kolb is the future of the team (although I question that) and they just picked up Vick’s option (he still has some game left) so it doesn’t look like they are moving anytime soon.

Do I think that the Eagles should look to get rid of McNabb this season? On a football field level – no, despite him being on the decline, he is still better than most QBs in the NFL. On a football management level – yes, every single season there is talks of McNabb leaving. He never gets the respect he deserves in Philadelphia and it is more of a distraction that a benefit of having him on the team.

As possible destinations for McNabb, the Minnesota Vikings keep arising as the leading destination. I must say that people have to understand this will not and should not happen. Favre is going to comeback for one more season with the Vikings, and everyone in Minnesota is going to prefer Favre to McNabb. Despite being 40 years old, Farve had a better season than McNabb last year, not to mention it might have been the best season of his hall of fame career (it was the only time he has ever finished a season with a passer rating greater than 100 [107.2]).

In the end nothing is going to happen this off-season because the Eagles are going to ask for too much, the Vikings are going to be more than happy with Favre, McNabb will not be Favre’s back-up, and the Eagles like to be in the spotlight.

Brett Favre’s last pass as a Green Bay Packer was an interception in overtime against the Giants that ended up costing the Packers the game.

Many people speculated that play was one of the reasons Favre eventually came out of retirement. Who wants to have their legacy remembered with your last pass being an interception that cost your team a chance at to get to and win the Superbowl? Not many would say I’m fine with that.

Favre went on to emotionally retire after that game, and then decide he wants back – only the Packers had already moved on. This lead to a nasty situation in Green Bay, which ended in a trade to the Jets. Favre had a great start with the Jets, but was terribly ineffective down the stretch. Favre retired again, but once again didn’t want to go out like that. He decided he wanted to play again for the Vikings. The Jets released him and he was able to join the Vikings in a long drawn out process.

He got his wish to take charge of the Vikings. He beat the Packers twice for some revenge and delivered the Vikings to the NFC Championship. In the championship game he did it again, no it was not Brett Favre magic, it was a Superbowl costing INT.

Will this be Favre’s last pass ever?

Personally, I don’t think so. He still has shown he has some game (you can argue this was his best statistical season ever), and who wants to go out the way he did?

Would love to hear your thoughts, post them below or send me a tweet @MikesPickz

• The Titans are not even close to what they were last year. They were the last unbeaten team to lose last year and they finished 13-3. How do they start this season off? 0-3, last year is looking like a distant memory. They need to get tougher on defense (never thought I’d say that) and if things don’t turn around, I expect to see some Vince Young this season.
• The Jets are good. The Jets new attitude with Rex Ryan is working to perfection, they have one of the best defenses in the league and every week that they seem prime for a let down, they thrive.
• Brett Favre still has some gas left in the tank. His 32 yard pass in the final seconds was the come from behind game winner against the 49ers. This is actually a dual point, because the 49ers are actually good this season. Many NFL fans, including 49ers fans, probably thought it would be a long game when Frank Gore got injured after one play, but no they played tough and were winning the game till the end. Hopefully, Gore’s injury is not extremely serious, but in a weak division the 49ers have a good shot at making the playoffs this season.
• The Tampa Bay Bucs, that blew the playoffs in the final 4 weeks of last season, are still here. The Bucs did not look good at all against the Giants. When your QB has 1 rush for 15 yards and leads your team in rushing- things are not good. I don’t see much hope for Bucs fans at this point.
• The Miami Dolphins are figured out. The Wild-cat offense that lead them to the win the AFC East last season, is no longer a mystery. They can not seem to get the ball rolling this season, as some by the 0-3 record. Just when you thought it was bad, Chad Pennington gets injured.
• The Super Bowl winning Steelers, that returned most of their defense from last season, are not the same. They have 0 rushing game, actually they have -5 rushing game. Roethlisberger is putting up decent numbers from a fantasy perspective, but the team is so once sided (granted in the opposite way you would think when you think classic Steelers football) that it makes the team mediocre. They won in week 1 in OT and then lost week 2 and 3 in the final seconds, that has to be disheartening.
• The Bengals, my favorite sleeper for this season, is not to be thought lightly of. Palmer is starting to look like the Palmer of old and that is resulting in some entertaining football and most importantly some Ws.
• The Redskins are not good, when my power rankings for week 4 come out tomorrow expect a sharp drop in their rankings. They couldn’t score a TD against the Rams and barely beat them 9-7. So what do they do to follow that up, they become “that team.” The team no-one wanted to be, the team that lost to the Lions for the first time since 2007. The Lions are looking much better this year than they did last year, but still the Redskins are one of the worst teams in the league. It has to do with management, they focused on defense in the off-season, but their biggest need is a solid offense. Also, the new head coach doesn’t seem to motivate the team very well. I expect him to be fired before year end if things don’t turn around.
• The Ravens are very good, for the first time in years the Ravens seem to have a completely balanced team – passing game – running game – and defense. It will be interesting how they hold up when they play a top team in the league.
• Don’t write off the Patriots- they came back strong against the Falcons, and I expect them to stay highly motivated until the week 11 re-match with the Jets (they want that one bad!).

Did I miss something that you feel was important? Let me know by posting it in the comments.

Stay tuned for the MLB Weekly Review ending 9/27 (to be published the evening of 9/28) and for the NFL Week 4 Power Rankings (to be published 9/29).

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