An interesting week in the NFL was capped last night by the most unlikely starring performance:
Tony Romo leading the suddenly surging Cowboys to 35 straight points in a 35-14 primetime win over the suddenly sucking Panthers.
It's not crazy to use "explosive" as an adjective for the Cowboys offense (and not mean "like T.O.'s diarrhea of the mouth"). Drew Bledsoe has seen this movie before; it doesn't end well for him.
Here's my complete NFL Week 8 breakdown.
NFL Week 8 Awards:
NFL Player of Week 8: Michael Vick
NFL Tandem of Week 8: Manning/Wayne
NFL Rookie of Week 8: Marques Colston
NFL Backup of Week 8: Sage Rosenfels
FFL Player of Week 8: Larry Johnson
More from today:
BCS Rankings Update: Though I remain convinced that there will be a lot of pressure to create a BCS title game that pairs the winner of Ohio St-Michigan with... the loser of Ohio St-Michigan, I think if WVA runs the table by beating Louisville and Rutgers, they'll have the formula points to edge out a 1-loss OSU-Mich loser or a 1-loss Florida.
Reggie Bush injured: I'm not unsympathetic to his injury, but I stand by my analysis from yesterday. As a No. 2 overall pick, he's been more dud than stud and certainly hasn't lived up to the hype. But it all worked out for the Saints: Who else has Colston Fever!
Bye week for Cards: Bye-bye week for Dennis Green?
Rudi Johnson is pissed he only got 12 carries. I don't blame him.
David Carr gets benched: If the Texans knew their best offense would consist of backup QB Sage Rosenfels and 6th-round RB draft pick Wali Lundy, do you think they would have taken Reggie Bush?
World Series TV ratings: Worst Ever. More on that later today.
MLB players file for free agency: Those top pitchers are the most important names, but Barry Bonds' situation is by far the most intriguing. If I was the Angels or Dodgers, I'd sprint to sign him.
Red Auerbach funeral today: There are a ton of obituary analyses of Auerbach around the mainstream media. I've got my own contribution. More on that later today, too.
Knicks to waive Jalen Rose: Don't cry for him; they're going to buy out the rest of his contract.
Florida QB Chris Leak played the second half of the Gators' win over Georiga with a concussion: He was wrong to not tell his coaches about it, and it obviously affected his play. Think the "Tebow Effect" had anything to do with his decision-making? I do.
Rutgers wins! Ugly, pretty, it doesn't matter. The dream lives on another week.
We are truly living in a glorious era when the phrase "Florida State QB controversy" really doesn't mean squat.
-- D.S.
Posts
41 comments:
Where's the Malkin post?
He's scored 5 goals in his first 5 games. This hasn't been done since the 92-93 season.
Going for 6 on Wednesday against the LA Kings.
Joe Thorton scores his first goal of the season.
Go Sharks!
Sage for MVP!
Fuck Auburn. The Gators will win it all after beating those bastards in Atlanta.
Bobby Bowden should probably start drinkin the hemlock.
Only I read today (in the student paper, so you never know) that it wasn't a concussion--it was a headache. Or so say the doctors. You can read it here, buried at the end: http://www.alligator.org/pt2/061030follow.php.
National Championship Game: Scarlet and Gray versus the Scarlet Knights.
Is anyone else terrified about the apocalyptic ramifications of both Rutgers and Wake Forest making BCS bowls (both teams "control their destiny")
If Louisville beats West Virginia, do you think those 2 voters will vote for Louisville instead of Ohio State?
Personally, I'd rather not see a OSU-Michigan rematch in the national title game. I say this as a OSU fan (though watch me change my tune if OSU loses).
Here's why. OSU and Michigan will be ranked 1 and 2 in basically the last week of the season. If that's not a national title game, I don't know what is. Sure, you may want to throw a bowl game in there, but is it really that necessary? Whomever the two of them play is getting wailed on. Let's spread the can of whoop ass around shall we?
I'd rather see the two of them play someone new in the bowl games. Part of the fun of the bowls is that two teams that normally wouldn't play can play against each other. My top two choices, built on personal animosity towards the schools, would be USC and Notre Dame. I'd love to see OSU ream those two schools.
Sorry, Dan, but the NFL performance of the week wasn't Vick...
LaDainian Tomlinson - 240 TOTAL YARDS, and 3 TDs. The most complete player in the NFL...
And thanks to Oregon State for finally exposing USC. If the Gators win out, it should be them and OSU for it all....
Why should there be a rematch of OSU/Michigan if one team has already beaten the other? It makes no sense at all.
I'd love to see an undefeated WVU or UL against the winner of OSU/Michigan. Those two teams will have earned it. If not, look for the winner of the SEC if they have 1 loss to slide in.
It won't be Florida, not with Chris "Arod" Leak and his headache behind center.
A few of things here
1) I am a UConn Alum and found myself quietly rooting for Rutgers to keep the undefeated season as long my Huskies didn't get embarassed (which they didn't)
a) Miss a FG
b) Fumble for RU touchdown
c) Blocked punt for RU touchdown
I'd say UConn exposed a formula to beat the Scarlet Knights
2) Can we stop with the "pick-6" nonsense? I don't know who started it, but kudos to them, because it was original and funny at first, not its hackyened and upsets me at the laziness that writers/commentators have in using other peoples sayings.
3) There is no way Steve McNair will win MVP. NONE. I doubt he'll even get a few votes. He's not even in the top two quarterbacks in his division. There are at least 15 QBs I can think of off the top of my head better than McNair. I won't name them, but if you want, I will.
Why should there be a rematch of OSU/Michigan if one team has already beaten the other? It makes no sense at all.
The theory is that even with 1 loss, the loser of the OSU-Michigan game is a better team than any of the other 1 loss teams. Therefore, since the national championship is set up to have the top two teams play each other, it would make sense for a rematch if they are indeed the top 2 teams.
The interesting thing is that there are games with championship ramifications for three weeks after OSU-Mich. It's possible that BCS OSU-Michigan will happen because of how the other contenders finish their season. IIRC, that's what happened recently with the BCS rematch.
Oh, and to answer Dan's post:
Who DOESN'T Like Tony Romo?
Two answers:
1) Panthers fans
2) Drew Bledsoe
I'm pretty sure God also hates Romo because He hates the Cowboys.
Maybe God likes Romo because He knows that Romo'll eventually cost the Cowboys a playoff spot?
First I want to preface my comments by saying that I think ND is ranked appropriately at 10. That being said, can we get a little consistency in terms of whether or not an ugly win still warrants a rise in the standings. Last week it was argued that ND only won by three in the last two minutes to an inferior UCLA team (which I still contend is unfair to UCLA which is a pretty good team) and therefore should be demoted. This week Rutgers wins very ugly (with a blocked punt and fumble for two touchdowns) over UCONN (which is a terrible team) and now they are in the running to play in the national championship game (despite the fact that they haven't beaten anyone). I am certainly not saying that ND should be in championship at the end (they shouldn't; they aren't even in the top five in my opinion), but lets get some consistency in terms of hailing a team for winning ugly when you ripped ND apart for doing the same thing last week. Same thing goes for a bunch of the top 10, one-loss teams, most of which had terrible weeks against not very tough competition.
Bledsoe
Do you think that when Drew Bledsoe invites his mother over for Christmas he wonders if his Mom will suddenly say, sorry, I have to go over to Tom Brady's house. Now it might be Romo's house.
Bledsoe can be good at times with protection but obviously not top tier.
How does Michael Vick have a higher QB rating than Manning this week? Manning threw more passes, completed a higher percentage and for more total yards. Both had 3TDs and 0 INTs. Is average per pass weighted so heavily? Silly formula.
@ndyanksfan05: You're talking apples and oranges. Rutgers' schedule up to this point has nothing to do with National Championship aspirations; it's their remaining schedule that's key. If they beat WVU and Louisville, they'll have beaten two teams that were in the National Championship discussion. If they don't, well, then they'll play in a lesser bowl. It's pretty black and white for Rutgers.
Also, I think it's funny you're comparing Rutgers to Notre Dame. Rutgers beat Navy 41-0. Notre Dame won 38-14.
Finally, Rutgers has beaten three teams with a winning record, the same as Notre Dame. I think the real question is: why is Notre Dame ranked ahead of Rutgers?
My question is how does USC only fall to 8 in the BCS? They lost to an unranked team!
Texas is only one spot above at 7 and they lost to the #1 team in the nation. I realize Texas has played some cupcakes but they beat ranked Oklahoma and Nebraska teams. I believe that the only ranked team at the time of the win in USC's case was Nebraska.
Even Cal is below them at 10, thier loss came against a good Tennessee club and they play basically the same schedule as USC.
Tennessee is blow them and they play in the SEC with one loss to Florida
Hell, and I hate ND as much as the next guy, but thier only loss came to Michigan.
The real question is, how far will the OSU-Mich loser drop? Because the BCS formula is pretty poll-heavy. And remember that a team's BCS number comes by averaging those poll positions....like, #1 gets a 1.000, #2 gets a .960, #3 gets a .920 and on down to #25 gets a .040.
So each spot you drop in the polls costs you .040 in that facet of the average.
If the game's as classic as we're hoping, they *should* stay #1 and #2 (although they could swap spots, sure...). And in that case, the Big East undefeated would end up with a glass ceiling of .920. They'd need a higher computer average to get their overall points to skew toward them.
I can't wait for Charlie Weis to complain when ND is not leapfrogged over the loser of the OSU-Mich game, though!
UConn isn't as bad as most people think...they are young and inconsistent.
They did beat Indiana on the road, Indiana beat Iowa and Michigan St.
UConn was able to hold Steve Slaton to 15 rushing yards in the first half until WVU made a couple of big passing plays and they had to respect the pass and Slaton racked up second half yards. UConn outplayed Wake Forest and lost because of an INT return for a TD. THey out gained the Deacons like 3-to-1 that game.
UConn isn't good, but they aren't terrible. One could argue that UCLA is only one small step above UConn.
Anyway, UCLA is 4-4 and has only beaten Rice, Utah, Arizona and Stanford and UConn is 3-5 and has beaten crappy teams also (URI and Army) at least UConn has beaten a bowl team in Indiana (who thought we'd be saying that!)
Just don't dis my Huskies, and I hate Notre Dame, so I'll go all out to make them seem worse than they are
Good morning everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend! Week 9 Ladder Rankings have been posted. Go check them out!
Wouldn't it be just cause for a split National Championship if Ohio State/Michigan split the two games they're going to play?
WOW Dan! You sumed up my entire football season in your last line. FSU has a QB controversy, a Coach controversy, and a defense controversy. BUT....we have only 9 seniors on a team full of freshman and sophmores, and a defense that had 9 players out at one point in the season, with many of the important ones still out. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and Bowden is not and should not go ANYWHERE. Give the young'ens some time, and in two years we will be talking about a National championship. Just hope the young'ens do not get used to losing and carry that over to the next few seasons. Both QB's are the same (Lee and Weatherford), either one should not lose the game for FSU, its lack of running should lose the game.
I agree with Ludakris. Of course, I agree with anything that keeps Jenn Sterger front and center.
Dan,
Looking forward to your post on Red...it's obviously gigantic news here in Boston. Despite the fact that he was 89 years old and in failing health, I think we all just expected he'd live forever. His accomplishments are unmatchable, the trails he blazed awe-inspiring...I can't list them all here they're so amazing.
If I could ask a favor...you've written in the past that you'd like to include more links to relevant blogs and stories for readers. If you have the time and the gumption, I'd love some links to tributes from around the country to the man.
Thanks
1. If (and it's a VERY big "if") Rutgers runs the table with wins over WVU and Louisville, and doesn't go to Glendale...Rutgers should sue the BCS. If for no other reason than it would be the best thing to ever happen to college sports. Keep the dream alive!
2. I guess Denny Green changing coordinators didn't work out quite as planned. News flash: without a line, your QB, WR's and RB (who could concievably be the best group in NFL history one day) aren't worth shit.
3. I can't believe the Dolphins didn't lose yesterday.
4. Already bought my ticket for the ACC Championship game. I'll be the one wearing gold.
5. My heisman ballot would look like this:
1. Ray Rice
2. Pat White
3. Mike Hart
4. Troy Smith
5. Calvin Johnson (Bumping him up if Tech wins the ACC. There just isn't really a legit #5.)
I object to your posting of your NFL Week 8 Awards without the week 8 being fully complete. What about tonights game? I predict:
Complete NFL Week 8 Awards:
NFL Player of Week 8: Tom Brady
NFL Tandem of Week 8: Brady/Gabriel
NFL Rookie of Week 8: Lawrence Moroney
FFL Player of Week 8: Tom Brady
I think the only way the OSU/Michigan game would warrant a rematch would be if Michigan goes down there and loses a real tight game. After that it would be pretty compelling to see how them play on a neutral field. If Michigan goes down there and wins than a rematch wouldn't be necessary. If OSU can't win on their home field than they aren't going to win on a neutral one.
Everyone wants to annoint Tony Romo as the next superstar quarterback and bash Drew Bledsoe as a failure. Romo surprised a lot of people in the 35-14 thrashing of the Panthers and he showed something we hadn't seen out of him before. But let's keep in mind, he's been a four-year backup for a reason, and we saw it throughout the preseason - he could show brilliance, but then he'd regress into ineptitude, sloppy throwing (his sidearm style of throwing won't get him anywhere in the long term), and picks. Romo clearly has something, and I totally underestimated him before this game, but we need to stop ripping Bledsoe because of all the quarterbacks Bill Parcells has had since he signed with the Patriots in 1993, Bledsoe was the only one who could win anything for Parcells - Quincy Carter couldn't, Tom Tupa couldn't, Rick Mirer, Vinny Testeverde, Ray Lucas - all ultimately flopped for Parcells.
Romo showed something against the Panthers, but he needs to keep that pace up for the rest of the year to truly earn all the hype.
One thing about MAC QB's they are TOO TOUGH
Case in point: Big Ben and Byron Letfwich
Each play in a game they probably should have not while a decent #2 is waiting in the wings, each team loses to a sub-par team. That "tough guy" motto is worthless when it takes away from your game.
These guys are great QBs but they need to learn to hold a clipboard is not a disgrace.
Brett Favre brought alot to football, but that "im not hurt" and "ill just wing it" mentality is effecting QBs who do not have Favre's skills.
I remember how everyone was gushing over Grossman and I remember a commentator saying "Hes got a lil Farve in him" Next game was Card fiasco and we find out what happens when you dont play smart.
this is SECOND time Big Ben should have been inactive, and who knows how many times for Leftwich should not have been out there. Quit being the tough guy, and Coaches need to man up and pull a guy. I give it to Parcells, it wasnt all Bledsoes fault last week but he was the tough guy and yanked him and now I think 'Boys just beat a better team because of it.
Re: I'm pretty sure God also hates Romo because He hates the Cowboys.
Remember the saying 'Why does Texas Stadium have an opening on the top of the stadium?.....So God can watch the Cowboys Play!
How 'bout them Cowboys!!!
@kirby077:
Fixed your typo. Your post should've read:
Remember the saying 'Why does Texas Stadium have an opening on the top of the stadium?.....So God can watch the Cowboys Lose!'
Horatio,
Leftwich is a great QB? Really? You sure about that? I'd sooner label him a bust. Although he is tough. I still remember that Marshall bowl game when his players were carrying him to the line.
But I wouldn't call him or Ben "great".
The only QB's in the league I'd call great right now are Brady and Peyton, with Palmer and McNabb on the cusp.
Re: Where's the Malkin post?
Maybe you didn't get the memo, no one gives a flying poo about the nhl
Reggie Bush found out what real life in the NFL is like. Supposedly, he tried to cheap shot a Ravens' linebacker on an interception return and they got pissed off after that. Those are guys you dont want mad at you. They admit they hit Bush harder after that. Reggie even took a dive once to avoid Ray Lewis. Then Scott admits he gave him an extra twist on the play Bush sprained his ankle. Lesson to rookie: be careful who you piss off in this league!
Simmons got an article up on Red: Link.
Does the loser of the LSU/Tenn game drop below RU in the polls next week?
Richard -
I'm glad to see some respect for Mike Hart; in this Manninghamless stage of the season, he is carrying Blue through these games. I'd love to see him win the JWH, but I don't know if it can happen, since Michigan at full strength has so many contributors.
Thing about Michigan is, the defense is just so good when they need to be; I wish we could just give the whole D line a trophy. Barring that, somebody who should at least get some kudos every once in a while is LaMarr Woodley. He's been a powerful force on D in all of Michigan's big wins, and if he can do to Troy Smith what he did to another Heisman candidate (Prescott Burgess and a cast of several deserve props too), he totally deserves some mentions as an outstanding player. He's 3rd in sacks in Div I-A & AA, and 2nd among players not playing for Western Michigan (I'm thinking the schedule strength should matter here); also, T-4th in fumbles forced, with similar leaders in that category.
That's just my little pitch for some love going to the leader of that fantastic Michigan defense.
Now, what I don't like is the credit you give Pat White. What the hell has he done, against whom? Let's see what he can do against (can anyone believe I'm saying this?) Rutgers before we say he's so outstanding, eh?
Personally, I'm hoping Woodley & Co. ruin Troy's little romp through the season as Heisman favorite, and Rutgers can make Pat White look like a Heisman candidate joke. If Rutgers beats Louisville and WVa, go Rice!
Sure, lets see OSU/Mich in the NC Game. Why? Because, as the good fellows at collegefootballnews.com pointed out today, that would put lie to this whole "We need the BCS to keep the regular season a de-facto playoff" line that ends a teams' chances of playing in the NC game as soon as they lose one game (or, in some teams' cases, as soon as the preseason polls come out).
As a side note, how long until USC fans come out of the woodwork declaring that the BCS needs to be blown up?
as a uconn guy i was glad to see my huskies keep ray rice in check. especially after last year's debacle. i think rutgers was exposed last night. rice and leonard are legit, but shut them down and their qb can't get it done. not impressed with teel at all. remember, last year uconn was winning until hart came in, completed some passes and allowed rice to gash the defense. it's a nice story, but it will come to an end a week from thursday.
To LudaKris,
I'll take my 10 showers later for saying something positive about Bobby Bowden, but this Happy Valley faithful feels and agrees with you.
Though we're not enjoying the glory of last season this year, you nailed it with avoiding the losing attitude. After a malaise in Nittany Nation surely not felt since 1976-1980, last year was the injection of winning that the team needed...big time.
Now, I won't deny that I'm partial to FSU's current woes allowing JoePa to close the gap on getting the 1-A wins crown he deserves (see, better grad rate and record at keeping criminals off his team), but Bowden deserves the same amount of respect to retire on his terms, not the boosters'.
Off to shower #1,
eporvaznik (LA)
to the last post... i think given what he has done to FSU...
Bowden deserves to retire on HIS OWN TERMS... ala JoePa.
ps: the marine corps marathon was yesterday. aren't you from the DC area, dan?
anyway... as a runner (and finisher, i might add....) it was gorgeous day for a marathon and a great way to support the marines serving abroad.
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