Week 4 — Mon Sep 29 01:27:35 PDT 2008
From: JeffTo: mnf@doobie.com
Subject: It's Monday...
...and how about those Redskins?
Yep. The 'skins went to Dallas and stunned the (favored by 11) Cowboys in a 26-24 nail-biter, and completely upset the balance in the NFC East in the process. They quite simply outplayed the Cowboys at every position. Clinton Portis ran for 121 yards. The Cowboys ran for 44 as a team. T.O. caught the ball seven times, for 71 yards. Santana Moss caught it eight times, for 145. Tony Romo threw for 300 yards, and one interception. Jason Cambell hasn't been intercepted yet this season. And Coach Jim Zorn has never lost in Dallas. The last coach who could say that, even for one season? George Allen, in 1971. The Skins go to 3-1, and #2 in the NFC East (behind the 3-0 NY Giants). The Cowboys fall to 3-1 and #3. Next week the Cowboys host the Bengals, and the Skins go to Philly. You might be looking at the beginning of a memorable Redskins season, especially if they can do this again against the Eagles. Do you think anybody noticed?
I'll bet they did. Almost everyone in America got to see the Cowboys lose. Unless you're living in the St. Louis or San Francisco TV areas, this was the game you saw on Fox this afternoon. Because of the NFL's ridiculous blackout rules, these two markets were treated to their home game on CBS, and a movie on Fox. This was one of those weeks where the obscene cost of the NFL satellite package somehow seems justifiable.
This map shows it, in stark detail. It's as if the league was forcing SF to watch the Raiders and StL to watch the Rams, even though those games were on CBS – as if when given the choice, some teams' home markets would be watching another game, if they could. Could the teams suck that much? Oh. Wait a minute.
Rumors continue to fly about the impending firing of Rams coach Scott Linehan and Raiders coach Lane Kiffin. Is anyone taking bets on which coach will outlast the other? Both of their teams have their bye week this week, which is why both coaches are nervous. (My bet? Lane's gone before close of business Wednesday, not sure that Linehan is going to make it to the end of the day tomorrow)
Meanwhile, the Raiders played like they wanted to keep their coach... for three quarters. Yep, the San Diego Chargers came to town, and it looked like the Silver and Black's defense was going to keep the bolts contained. The Raiders were ahead 15-0 at the half, and 15-3 going into the fourth quarter. They let it slip to an 18-18 tie, that they somehow managed to hold onto until the two minute warning. Then, pulling a page from what is more traditionally the Chargers' playbook, they turned a sure victory into a demoralizing tie, then into crushing defeat in less time than it takes for the drunks in section 329 to take a leak and get a fresh brewski. The final? 28-18. The 1-3 Raiders have next week off, the 2-2 Chargers go to Miami.
This week the Arizona Cardinals went to New Jersey scored 35 points in the second half against the Jets. Unfortunately for them, the Jets had scored 34 points in the second quarter, and they tacked another 22 on top of that, in a 56-35 shootout. Will someone please wake up the defense? If your offense puts up 30+ points, and you can't even keep it close, something is very wrong. Next week, the Cardinals host the undefeated Bills, and the Jets have the week off.
Read that again. "The undefeated Bills." This week they beat the Rams, 31-14, but the final score doesn't really tell the whole story. See, the Rams were leading for most of the game, but they couldn't hold on for the full 60 minutes. The Bills somehow managed to put up 18 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, to keep their delusions alive for one more week (though, since next week they play the Cardinals, anything is possible). The Rams are 0-4 and join the Bengals, Texans, and Lions in the winless category... but there's one particular stat that establishes St. Louis as the worst team in football: 43 – The number of points that the St. Louis Rams have scored so far this season.
Also joining the Bills among the ranks of the unexpectedly undefeated: The Tennessee Titans. This week they casually rolled by the Minnesota Vikings. They opened the first quarter with 10 unanswered points, forced a total of four fumbles (recovering three of them, and scoring on all three), and looked like they were only playing at half speed. It was really never close, and the 30-17 final score doesn't properly reflect the ass kicking that happened in Nashville. Losing journeyman QB Gus Ferotte (who played for the Redskins at least two careers ago) gave a press conference after the game saying "This team has what it needs to win". Someone needs to remind him that this week, he plays for the Vikings.
For a change of pace, Detroit didn't lose this week. They had a bye. But because the Lions remain 0-3, the Vikings 1-3 record isn't quite bad enough to put them at the bottom of the NFC North... yet. Next week, Detroit goes to Chicago The Vikings go to New Orleans next Monday, and the Titans go to Baltimore.
Remember those direct-snap plays that Miami used last week, and everyone was going to study? Jacksonville put them in the playbook, and used one to score a touchdown during their 30-27 overtime defeat of the Houston Texans. They didn't use the bizarre receiver formation, but the direct-snap seems to be completely spooking defenses.
Our Niners? Lost to the Saints. Badly. J.T. O'Sullivan might end up owning a pub sooner rather than later if he keeps playing like that (O'Sullivans, in the Avenues, natch). His two interceptions in the end zone didn't just help the Saints win 31-17 in the Superdome, they virtually guaranteed it. The Niners host the Patriots next week, and we might get to see some of that hope that was flowing in Candlestick last weekend. We sure don't need any more stink.
Speaking of hope and stink, you have less than one month to register to vote in California (or elsewhere). If you don't vote, you can't complain. And if you don't feel like complaining, you aren't paying enough attention.
Which brings us to tonight's game.
If you were paying attention, you'll notice that I left out an undefeated team: the 2-0 Baltimore Ravens. While it is true, they have yet to be beaten this year, their 2-0 is not the same as 4-0. Hurricane Ike may have taken week 2 away from them, but they've got to get through a game tonight before they can claim to be undefeated for the first 1/4 of the 2008/09 season.
And the 2-1 Steelers are hoping to stand in the way.
The Game:
Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens.
Yes, tonight, we've got a battle between two hard hitting football teams, from hard hitting towns. These teams play very physical football, though that hasn't exactly been to the Steelers' advantage this season (Rothlesberger got sacked 8 times last week? Did someone drug the offensive line?). Look for a lot of blitzes from Baltimore, especially coming from the secondary on the blind side of the QB. It worked a whole lot for Philly last week, it'll work sometimes this week.
The Ravens play in M&T Bank Stadium (which is surprisingly, still standing, considering the goings on in the market over the past week – if a bank can collapse, is a stadium named for a bank a safe place to be?). The building is situated right next to Camden Yards (where the Orioles play), in a part of Baltimore that can now be called “revitalized”. The turf underfoot is SportEXE's Momentum, which is a cheap, but fast-playing fake lawn, marketed primarily at colleges, but used by two teams in the NFL (the Saints are the other one). It wears well, but tends to aggravate (if not cause) injuries. It is better than 80's era Astroturf-8 in that regard, but only barely.
The Line:
Pittsburgh is favored by 5.5. The over/under is 34.
The Smart money won last week. It is now 5-2 for the season, representing a 36.4% ROI. The S&P 500 is down 2.36% over the same timeframe. The US dollar is down about 2.4% against the Euro as well.
This week the Smart Money takes the Ravens. Their blitz is too strong for the Steelers offense. Their offense is too bad to consider the over.
The Bar:
There's been a request that we go back to this one more regularly, in the hopes of establishing a little more of a rapport with the staff. I'll admit, I find their happy hour prices charming (especially when compared to some of the other places we've hit. A $6 Guinness at 6:00pm? Please)... and while I don't think this is a place to come back to week after week, it's definitely a place to come back to.
Greens Sports Bar
2329 Polk Street near Green
Steps from the 19 polk. Within a block of the 41 Columbus, 45 Stockton/3rd, and the array of things that roll down the Van Ness corridor.
Kickoff is at 5:30. I'm going to haul my ass back from a data center in Milpitas, and try to make it in time.
See you there?