Week 2 — Mon, 12 Sep 2005
From: JeffTo: mnf@doobie.com
Subject: It's Monday...
...and the San Francisco 49ers are all alone in first place in the NFC West.
No kidding.
Yes, it was quite the opening week in the NFL. Lots of teams looked good. A couple looked terrible, and more than a few surpised everyone that was watching.
Lets start with The Saints. It's still unclear where they'll be playing half their season this year, though San Antonio is looking more and more likely. Many players lost homes in the flooding. And yet, despite those distractions, The Saints showed up to play in Carolina and won 23-20 on a late field goal (follwed by much jubilation in the Astrodome, currently home to 4,000 people, where the game was on the Jumbotron). I've been hearing the words "America's Team" repeated over and over. I'm sure we'll hear it a lot during next week's doubleheader.
Now let's move on to the terrible. Jets quarterback Chad Pennington is going to have to get used to the Bronx cheering section, if he keeps playing games like this one. On Sunday, Pennington and his SIX fumbles plus 1 interception managed to stink up Giants Stadium, which is doubly impressive considering it's in New Jersey. Pennington pretty much set the tone for the Jets home opener vs the Chiefs. Kansas City's defense looked much more impressive than they have in previous years, but it's unclear if that's because they are much better, or because the Jets were just that bad.
On to the suprising. The Miami Dolphins comfortably trounced the Denver Broncos 34-10, and looked darn good doing it. Former Redskin Gus Ferotte managed to run an offense that thoroughly confused the Broncos secondary, and the Dolphins seemed to be able to move the ball at will (the offense moved 426 yards overall). Nobody's talking playoffs yet in Miami, but if you compare this team to last year's 4-12 finishers, the differences are astonishing. And don't forget that Ricky Williams will start playing in October, after his four game suspension is done. Keep your eye on the fish.
The Redskins won 9-7 over the Bears. It was an ugly game; two strong defenses combined with marginal offenses do not make for very entertaining football. Inneffective QB Patrick Ramsey was tackled hard in the second quarter (and did NOT draw a penalty flag), and was replaced by Marc Brunell who proved to be only slightly more effective... setting up three field goals. But if they can't score touchdowns, they're not likely to win all that many games. At least the Redskins defense is still among the best in the league..
Unfortunatly, next week the 'skins are going to be playing Dallas. It pains me to say it, but The Cowboys are looking like quite a football team this year. They beat San Diego 28-24 this weekend in what looked like the most exciting game of the day. The Chargers are a fairly decent team, and Dallas's defense's ability to shut them down is quite unexpected. When combined with the 226 yard performance of newly-hired Drew Bledsoe, it's suprising that the game turned out as close as it did.
And then there are the 49ers. Amazingly enough, they had little trouble dispatching the St Louis Rams 28-25 in lightly-attended Candlestick Park. The Niners defense looked outstanding for 3 quarters, and still competitive for the fourth, and The Rams looked like a well-rounded, consistent football team (who are heavily favored to win the division). And somehow, the worst team of 2004 managed to outplay the favorite on virtually every level. SF linebacker Jeff Ulbrich said it best: "Just getting rid of that stench from last year, taking advantage of this fresh start, that's what this game is." This game might be the most satisfying one of the year for our hometown team, with its shiny new coaching staff.
The Bills beat the Texans 22-7, mostly by intercepting David Carr twice, using a strong rush to shut down the running game, and setting up Bills kicker Ryan Lindell. Most analysts seem to believe that this is going to be pretty typical this year, for both teams. David Carr was the first pick in the draft in 2002, but is failing to meet expectations.
Which brings us to tonight's game...
The Game:
Tonight the Philadelphia Eagles go to Atlanta's Georgia Dome to take on the Falcons. The Georgia Dome opened for the 1992 season as the largest cable-supported stadium in the world (a title that it still holds). This means that there isn't a single post, pole or column, anywhere inside the stadium. Every seat in the house has an unobstructed view of the Fieldturf-covered field. This turf was installed in 2003, replacing the Astroturf-16 that was initially installed.
Tonight's game is a rematch of the 2004 NFC championships. The game that the Eagles won last year, before getting beat in the Super Bowl... Unfortunately for the Eagles, it's been 5 seasons since a Super Bowl losing team manged to finish better than 7-9 the next season. Given the strength of the Philadelphia offense, I'd be suprised if they don't do better than that -- but it seems unlikely that they'll be in Super Bowl XL in January.
The Line:
The Eagles are favored by ONE. The Over/Under is 42.5
The Smart Money managed to open the season with a push on Thursday, so it's still effectively 0-0. Tonight, the smart money takes the over and the Eagles.
The Bar:
Screw Baseball. The essentially out-of-the-running Giants are going to let Barry "chemo-man" Bonds swing his bat this evening against San Diego, for no reason beyond record-chasing. This act of chemically-influenced hubris means that in this town at least, most eyes will be glued to that game instead of the right one.
So tonight, we're going to a bar where football is still king, and where they still cheat tourists and drunks.
Pat O'Shea's Mad Hatter
3848 Geary (@2nd avenue)
Steps from the 38, 38L, and 38BX busses.
One block from the 2 and 33.
(get off at Geary & Arguello if you get on the 38L).
Kickoff is at 6:00 (Remember, next week it's at 4:30). See you there?