Week 4 — Mon Oct 5 10:10:48 PDT 2009
From: Jeff
To: mnf@doobie.com
Date: Mon Oct 5 10:10:48 PDT 2009
Subject: It's Monday...
...and the Tennessee Titans have lost more games this year than they did last season.
Yes ladies and gentlemen, the once mighty Titans are falling... hard. Last year, they started 10-0, on the way to (the best in the league) 13-3, before losing to the Ravens in the second round of the playoffs. This year, they're off to a 0-4 start, with no end in sight. This week, they got their asses handed to them in Jacksonville, 37-17 (Though it was 30-3 in the third quarter). Titans' QB Kerry Collins looks uninspired out there, and the entirety of their passing defense is on Injured Reserve. The Jaguars took this as an invitation to throw the ball (for 323 yards and three touchdowns), while holding Collins to an average day (29 of 48 for 284 yards and a touchdown... plus two interceptions). That's all it really took for the Jags to go to 2-2. Next week, Jacksonville goes to Seattle for the 1-3 Seahawks. The Titans host Indy for what will likely be a stinker of a Sunday night game.
Up until this week, Jacksonville was a running team that couldn't sell tickets. This week, they were a passing team that can't sell tickets. Jacksonville Stadium seats 85,000 people, when it's configured for (sellout) college football games. For all NFL games, overall capacity is reduced to about 67,000. This week, about 49,000 people showed up. The Jaguars don't expect to sell out their stadium for any games in the 2009 season, and their owner has publicly speculated about playing some games in Orlando -- a not so subtle hint that he's ready to take the team to a city that can actually support one. Keep on eye on Jacksonville, as they might be the first sign that the NFL's big experiment with small-market teams is coming to an end.
The St. Louis Rams came to San Francisco and got crushed 35-0 by a 49ers team that's missing its primary offensive player. The 49ers defense continues to shine, holding the Rams to 177 yards of total offense, forcing three turnovers, and not allowing a single play longer than 22 yards. Vernon Davis caught another touchdown pass. Even special teams is looking good (they scored a touchdown on punt coverage). Meanwhile, the Rams continue to fall apart. With the loss, which was their 14th in a row, the Rams go to 0-4 for the season. Next week, they host Minnesota. The 49ers go to 3-1 with this win, and 3-0 in the NFC West (the rest of the division has a combined 2-9 record). They are comfortably atop the division, and they won't play another NFC West team until week 13 - -which is a pretty sweet position to be in. Next week, they go to Atlanta.
The hapless Cleveland Browns hosted the Bengals, and at the end of four quarters, found themselves with a 20-20 tie, courtesy of two blocked kicks (one 21 yard field goal attempt, and what would've been the winning extra point, with about 2 minutes to go in regulation). Early on, this looked like it was going to be a win for Cleveland, but the Bengals found their offense in the fourth quarter, and then again in overtime, when they needed it to win 23-20. Despite the fact that both teams deserve a loss for this horribly played game, Cincinnati goes to a surprising 3-1, and is tied with Baltimore for control of the AFC North. Next week, they'll break the tie in Baltimore. The Browns fall to 0-4, and have lost their last 10 games. Next week, they'll go to Buffalo to take on the struggling 1-3 Bills.
The Chiefs hosted the New York Giants, and got blown out. The final 27-17 score doesn't really reflect the lopsided nature of this game (it was 27-3 going into the 4th quarter). Former patriot Matt Cassel is looking dreadful out there -- almost as if he doesn't know the Chiefs' playbook. Considering the money they're paying him, he'd better learn it fast. It is also notable that starting QB Eli Manning went out in the 4th quarter with a bruised heel. He is expected to play again next week, but watch out for that heel, because reliever David Carr did not impress. The Chiefs fall to 0-4 and are hosting Dallas next week. The 4-0 Giants continue the weak portion of their schedule by hosting Oakland.
The Buccaneers went to Washington and lost 16-13, mostly at the hands of the Redskins defense. Jason Campbell continued to look awful out there, throwing three interceptions, and the rest of the offense didn't look much better. There has been lots of speculation about the fate of coach Jim Zorn's job this season, but the way the first half looked, you had to wonder whether he'd have a job through the end of the game. Still, the team managed to pull together a 16 point third quarter, and the defense held on well enough to barely take home a win. Tampa Bay falls to 0-4 and goes to Philly next week. Washington is 2-2 and is going to Carolina.
Carolina didn't lose this week. They didn't play, so they remain at 0-3. Those are your six winless teams. Most of them are already playing for the draft picks. On the other side, you've got five undefeated teams (The 4-0 Broncos, Colts, Saints(!!), Giants, and the 3-0 Vikings).
Normally, I'd say "...and that brings us to tonights game", because those 3-0 Vikings are playing tonight. Because, while I wanted to only write about the games involving winless teams this week, there's another game that I don't really want to ignore.
The Patriots hosted the Baltimore Ravens, in Foxboro and came away with a 27-21 win, based on a lot of factors. The Ravens started the game by fumbling the kickoff, and went downhill from there for the remainder of the first half, going to the locker room down 17-7, thanks in no small part to some questionable calls... but more on those later. The Ravens defense came out huge in the third quarter, forcing Tom Brady to fumble the ball into the end zone, where a Raven promptly landed on it for a touchdown. The teams traded touchdowns, which kept it a three point game until a Patriots field goal with 7 minutes to go in the game. Lots of defense ensued, until the Ravens got the ball on their 20, down by six, with 3:32 on the clock. QB Joe Flacco put together a series of short fast passes that looked positively Brady-esque, and brought Baltimore within 15 yards of a winning touchdown. But it was not to be. On a 4th and 3 with thirty seconds left, a routine and darn near perfect pass bounced off of the hands of Marc Clayton, effectively ending the game. Baltimore falls to 3-1, and hosts the Bengals next week. New England is 3-1 and is Denver-bound.
So, it was a good game with an exciting ending, but why is this game so important that I'd forgo the "talk about the losers this week" stylistic decision? I can sum it up in one word: officiating.
This game had some of the worst calls made, poorest spots estimated, and blatant penalties ignored of any game in recent memory. Twice, the Patriots failed on third and long, only to have the drive extended by Roughing the Passer penalties. Instead of being forced to punt, the Patriots scored on both drives. One of these penalties was a close call -- (a relatively gentle head-pat, but still contact with a quarterback's head). Some refs would call it, some wouldn't. The other one was absurd. At the end of the play, one of the Ravens linemen was pushed into Tom Brady, hitting him near the knee. Tom never hit the ground, and proceeded to ask the referee to throw the flag. Amazingly, the referee obliged -- and Brady laughed. Even he knew it was a bullshit call. It is a contact sport, and this was an overreaction to a previous season's injury, but there's no way that you have been roughed if you're still standing on your feet at the end of the play begging for a penalty flag. This ain't soccer, and we don't give out oscars. The ball was also generously spotted several times (including on a New England fake field goal attempt -- the runner was pretty clearly short, but got a preposterous spot (and a first down). The play was taken back on a penalty, but the penalty would've been declined if the spot had been correct -- giving Baltimore the ball, and leaving it a 3 point game (and a likely overtime). Instead, one play later, New England scored to go up by six.
The officials seemed to be going out of their way to ensure a New England victory. They even threw a yellow hankie at Ravens coach John Harbaugh, who was caught in a self-fulfilling semi-recursive prophetic quotation when he shouted "That call was Bullshit!" near a live microphone, drawing a 15 yard potty-mouth penalty. Really. That's what it's come to in the NFL.
At the end of the game, Ray Lewis (DB-Baltimore) called the officiating "an embarrassment to the game of football". He is going to get fined for it, even though nobody seems to be willing to go on the record and say that Lewis is wrong. Harbaugh might get fined, too. But, the word all over the league (and certainly all over the media) is that Lewis and Harbaugh got it exactly right. For the second year in a row, in games between these teams, the officiating really was an embarrassment, full of bullshit calls (though some of those calls went against the Patriots, too). The Ravens lost the game for a lot of reasons, but it's unacceptable that one of those reasons was dressed in stripes. It might be worse that the NFL is going to penalize the Ravens for it, but not the referees.
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28354881/vp/33170888 - "Take off the skirt Tom", and agreement from Dungy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSSnQrhUKpE - A replay of the penalty itself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyXv3a1DIH4 - "It's hard to argue that Ray Lewis wasn't right"
And with that... let's move on to tonight's game. It's a big one.
The Game
Tonight, the 3-0 Minnesota Vikings host the 2-1 Green Bay Packers on the FieldTurf of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. The Metrodome hosted a baseball game yesterday, has MNF tonight, and will host a baseball game on Tuesday between the Twins and Detroit (winner makes the playoffs, loser goes home). Not bad for 72 hours -- but not so good for the turf (which is traditionally one of the worst-rated fields in the NFL, even after the 2005 upgrade from the 80s-era astroturf). The seams will likely be visible, and will be waiting to jump out and sprain players' ankles.
This game has been hyped since the beginning of the season. Not only for the long-time Packers/Vikings rivalry, oh no. This game got its hype because it's going to feature more uses of the F word than any other broadcast. Every other word out of the commentators' mouth is going to be Favre. The steaks cooking in the parking lot will be cooked over charcoal started with Favre jerseys. Wisconsinites will learn that melted plastic cheese heads plus bonfires don't make good fondue. And they'll be showing that unfortunate highlight from last week's San Francisco game... over and over and over again.
At least it should be a good game.
The Line
The Vikings are favored by 4 and a half. The over/under is 46.
Last week, the Smart Money went 1-1 (as predicted). It is now 5-2 for the season, returning 36.3% over four weeks. Over the same time, the S&P has gone up 0.28% and the U.S. Dollar has lost 0.62%.
This week, the Smart Money takes the Over and the Vikings.
The Bar
When the hype is this big, the TV should be too.
The last few weeks, we've managed to go to places that weren't playing the sound. That's unfortunate. This week, in an effort to see this game on a gigantic screen, with audio coming from speakers in the ceiling, we're going to go to a place that is unabashedly a sports bar, on a baseball-free night where there's only one game worth watching. We're going to ignore the fact that they're stingy about happy hour. Show up before six if you want anything approaching a discounted beverage.
Pete's Tavern
128 King Street, near 2nd.
Steps from the N and T trains (ballpark station) and the 10 townsend.
Two blocks from Caltrain, 30, 45, 47, and 76 busses.
Kickoff is at 5:30. See you there?