04/24/24
September 14, 2009
SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
This is why I'm not a fan of John Fox. How do you leave the game in Jake's hands instead of in the two-headed running back monster that is Williams and Stewart?
posted by NoMich at 08:53 AM on September 14, 2009
If you were a Lions fan, would you be encouraged by the plus sides of yesterday's game, or discouraged by how badly Drew Brees dissected your defense?
posted by boredom_08 at 09:49 AM on September 14, 2009
If Drew Brees isn't the best quarterback in the league right now he is pretty close, so that isn't as concerning as it could be. I'm more concerned about how Mike Bell was able to run for around 120 yards. Needless to say, the Lions defense didn't show any indication that they're better than last year.
As for the offense, Stafford and Johnson showed some big play potential, but Stafford was also extremely inconsistent and made quite a few mistakes. Hopefully these will be things that he eliminates as he gets more experience.
Bottom line is, the Lions still suck. But they should be good enough to win a couple games this year.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 10:00 AM on September 14, 2009
Bottom line is, the Lions still suck. But they should be good enough to win a couple games this year.
At least they seem to be headed in the right direction. I thought Stafford was good. It can't be easy to start your rookie season when you aren't surrounded by talent (even when you are).
The announcers during the Bucs game kept saying that the Bucs didn't suck as bad as they expected. Umm, I guess that's good.
posted by bperk at 10:44 AM on September 14, 2009
I cannot believe Byron Leftwich has a starting job again. When I saw him line up behind center, I figured that the Bucs must've lost two starting quarterbacks in the preseason, how unlucky for them. Then I found out the truth; he's the goto guy.
Aaron Rodgers, year two, looks like he'll have enough of the Favre magic to keep Green Bay fans content this season.
posted by dfleming at 11:01 AM on September 14, 2009
The announcers for the Bucs/Cowboys game spoke so highly of Leftwich that I thought there must be another quarterback of the same name.
They kept celebrating Leftwich's legendary toughness and talking about how he's lost a lot of time to injury, but never connected the dots. He plays hurt all the time because he holds on to the ball too long and has no mobility.
I admire his grit, but he needed to smarten up in Jacksonville, and it looks like that's still a problem for him.
posted by rcade at 11:23 AM on September 14, 2009
Three more active NFL players have promised to donate their brains to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, a brain degeneration syndrome found in football players as young as 18.
posted by rumple at 11:44 AM on September 14, 2009
Three more active NFL players have promised to donate their brains to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, a brain degeneration syndrome found in football players as young as 18.
This is good news ... I'm glad to see that people are starting to pay attention to this issue.
posted by Spitztengle at 11:53 AM on September 14, 2009
This is not going to be popular here, but I was actually disappointed in the play of Tony Romo yesterday. He was off with his throws early and made some questionable decisions and now is saying he is hurt. His stats were good, based on a couple of blown coverages and a good play here and there. I worry when they play a team not in transition on defense.
posted by soocher at 11:54 AM on September 14, 2009
Bears / Packers was one butt ugly game, and it wasn't because the defences dominated. We've become accustomed to the Bear's offense sucking but the special teams also took a dump yesterday (was nice of Cutler to do a Brett Favre tribute in the Bay).
Vikings were able to keep the wraps on Favre and ride their horse to a "W" - wonder how long that can continue ..
Anyone else tired of listening to Chris "rag doll" Collinsworth ... give us some variety, dude. What the hell is this "rag doll" anyways?
posted by cixelsyd at 12:06 PM on September 14, 2009
This is not going to be popular here, but I was actually disappointed in the play of Tony Romo yesterday.
It seems that the Cowboys in the Romo era have always been bailed out by the big play. His accuracy can be off, like yesterday, for a while, but then he hits one big play and it is all erased.
posted by bperk at 12:14 PM on September 14, 2009
How can anyone fault Romo when he threw for 353 yards, including touchdowns of 42, 66 and 80 yards? His quarterback rating was 140.6!
posted by rcade at 12:43 PM on September 14, 2009
Wicked last-lap crash into a barrier from yesterday's Italian GP. That will give you a headache.
posted by dusted at 12:45 PM on September 14, 2009
How can anyone fault Romo when he threw for 353 yards, including touchdowns of 42, 66 and 80 yards? His quarterback rating was 140.6!
I was thinking the same thing. Call me a homer since I'm a huge Cowboys fan but take a good look at Romo's numbers from yesterdays game. He had 3 TD's all going for over 40 yards, what's to be "disappointed" in that?
His accuracy can be off...but then he hits one big play and it is all erased
"One big play"? Ummmm, it's safe to say that Romo had more than just "one big play". Did you even watch the game or only saw highlights of the game? If you only saw highlights, that might explain why you may have only saw one of his big plays.
posted by BornIcon at 01:00 PM on September 14, 2009
How can anyone fault Romo when he threw for 353 yards, including touchdowns of 42, 66 and 80 yards? His quarterback rating was 140.6!
Yeah, but what could he have done if he didn't miss wide open receivers so often?
And, yes, BI, I did watch the game. That is why I know Romo missed open receivers and the incompletes weren't solely the result of great coverage.
posted by bperk at 01:04 PM on September 14, 2009
Then maybe we were just watching a different game because Romo still finished the game with a QB rating of 140.6, he had over 350 yards and 3 TD's with 0 INT's and I couldn't stop smiling. The most important stat of all is the fact that the 'Boys got the W, which is all that matters.
posted by BornIcon at 01:16 PM on September 14, 2009
Yeah, but what could he have done if he didn't miss wide open receivers so often?
That criticism could be applied to every quarterback, every game. Romo hit enough passes to throw for 358 and 3 TD's. Most quarterbacks...don't do that.
posted by dfleming at 01:17 PM on September 14, 2009
Broncos won in a miracle finish after a yawner of a game, and only after Orton practically gave it away. Meanwhile Cutler was just awful in GB. I still would take JC over Orton any day, but sometimes schadenfreude is all you have.
posted by drumdance at 01:18 PM on September 14, 2009
Romo hit enough passes to throw for 358 and 3 TD's. Most quarterbacks...don't do that.
I hope I wasn't making the case that he didn't have a good day. It is obvious that he did. However, I thought it could have been much, much worse for the Bucs. Thankfully, for the Bucs, Romo missed the open receiver enough that it wasn't the humiliation it could have been. Anyway, the announcers pointed out that Romo missed an open receiver many times in the first half, so I wasn't exactly making a novel point.
posted by bperk at 01:31 PM on September 14, 2009
If people are going to nit pick about the day that Romo had even though he had a career high in yardage, I wonder what will be said about Jay Cutler's Bears debut Sunday night against the Packers?
4 INT's? Well, at least it wasn't 5.
posted by BornIcon at 01:45 PM on September 14, 2009
An interception is just a completed pass to the wrong team.
posted by rcade at 01:54 PM on September 14, 2009
An interception is just a completed pass to the wrong team.
Since you put it that way....WAY TO GO CUTLER!! HELL OF A PASS!!
posted by BornIcon at 02:07 PM on September 14, 2009
"Wicked last-lap crash into a barrier from yesterday's Italian GP. That will give you a headache."
Gave me a headache just watching it!
posted by mr_crash_davis at 02:45 PM on September 14, 2009
...I wonder what will be said about Jay Cutler's Bears debut Sunday night against the Packers?
I say that maybe, just maybe, Josh McDaniels read the situation correctly. Orton is no great shakes, but he did not lose the game for Denver. On the other hand, Cutler decided he had to take it upon himself to do something, and as a result his poor decision making cost Chicago any chance of a win. McDaniels was well-schooled by Belichick that all you need from your quarterback is consistency and a limit to the errors he makes. This is why McDaniels tried to get Cassell in the off season.
posted by Howard_T at 03:23 PM on September 14, 2009
Cutler had a pretty bad night, tbut that Costas/Leno interview was a far worse performance.
posted by Ufez Jones at 03:35 PM on September 14, 2009
Agreed. The Leno interview was terrible.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 04:49 PM on September 14, 2009
I think it was the crappy delay between the two -- I'm not sure how that doesn't get sorted out beforehand, but it didn't.
Costas really appeared to be biting his lip to keep from exploding at someone in the truck as they went to commercial.
posted by wfrazerjr at 05:35 PM on September 14, 2009
If people are going to nit pick about the day that Romo had even though he had a career high in yardage, I wonder what will be said about Jay Cutler's Bears debut Sunday night against the Packers?
I'd say what I said months ago in this forum when talking about Cutler...he's an AVERAGE QB who put up a lot of yards only because he was in an offense that threw the ball 600 times. His QB rating was mediocre, his TD/INT ratio was mediocre, his decision making is mediocre, and his 28-56 record since college, is WORSE than mediocre.
at that time I said "Roethlisberger, Manning, Rivers, Rodgers, Schaub, Romo...are just a few that are under 30 that I think are as good as, or better than him.", and was pretty much ridiculed for suggesting that.
Based on last night's performance on a team that's not throwing the ball 50 times/game, does the above seem so absurd?
posted by bdaddy at 07:02 PM on September 14, 2009
My special thanks this week goes to Stoke City fans who greeted Chelsea at the Britannia on Saturday with a bit of transposition in a riff on football's most popular song; serenading the visiting fans with "You're not signing anymore!"
posted by Mr Bismarck at 07:35 PM on September 14, 2009
Ironically, the new "Brady" quarterback rules are killing the Patriots right now.
posted by dfleming at 09:42 PM on September 14, 2009
Pats/Bills game over. 25, 24 Pats.
Moral of the story: losers will always find a way.
posted by MW12 at 10:15 PM on September 14, 2009
I thought some of those roughing the quarterback calls were pretty iffy.
All worked out for the Pats in the end though.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 10:48 PM on September 14, 2009
Buffalo is enough to make me believe in the supernatural.
posted by fabulon7 at 10:48 PM on September 14, 2009
Anyone see the Raiders/Chargers game last night? I was actually surprised by how well the Raiders played against the Chargers even though they lost. Although it was only 1 game, I can see the Raiders winning quite a few games if they continue to play the way they played last night.
posted by BornIcon at 09:39 AM on September 15, 2009
My favorite stat lines from yesterday's NFL games:
McNabb: 10-18, for 79 yards Kolb: 7-11 for 23 yards
In Philly's blow-out win over Carolina.
When you're going up against Jake "You de l'homme" Delhomme, there's always a chance that Jake will do a good part of the heavy lifting for you, and your QB won't have to torch the sky.
You can even afford to have your starter get injured and still be OK. That's how special Jake can be when he's not doing well.
Rex Grossman will start a game at some point this season, and Carolina will wonder why they didn't go get him.