Monday Morning Quarterback

Well my predictions weren’t all that terrific.

The Cowboys won, but they didn’t quite crush the Packers like bugs. They beat them pretty well. Half a prediction correct.

The Jets crushed the Dolphins. Totally wrong on that.

The Giants slipped and slid their way against the Bears. Wrong on that.

Todd Sauerbrun, however, still has a low IQ.

The weekend in football.

It’s always a better week for me when the Giants win. They beat the Bears. It was an UGLY game, however.

There were several things of note.

Rex Grossman had a decent game. He threw the ball well and for him, Giants defenders were not able to pick off his worst throws. He got away with a few. He did hit a wide open Devin Hester who was almost 10 years behind Giants’ defenders. Grossman’s pass was right there. Hester made no adjustment and it hit is hands and shoulder pads for a drop. Giants got lucky on that one. That incompletion was on Hester, and not on Grossman.

Rex had two problems. First, he was sacked six times and hurried a lot of other times. The Bears had no running game at all and Grossman had precious little time to set up and throw. It was difficult to say if the Bears’ lack of running game was the fact that they lacked the skill to do it or the Giants’ run defense was too good, or both.

The Bears also had a dilemma in the fact that they did not stop the Giants’ running game at all. Ultimately the game boiled down to the fact that when the Giants needed short yardage they could run and get it and the Bears couldn’t.

The Giants got lucky that they survived way too many turnovers. The Bears had great field position most of the game and could only muster one touchdown.

Eli threw two picks. One to a wide open Bears’ defender and one poorly thrown pass to Burress in the end zone.

The Bears made the consummate mistake. They didn’t get the points they needed to get and they let the Giants stick around. When you do that, you often lose.

It was an ugly win, but, ultimately, a win is a win.

The Colts played tough against the Jags. The Jags are a touch, physical team and they Colts played them tough. Very tough. Everyone is saying that the Pats are a given. The Colts have a lot of injuries and most of those hurt will come back. I do not count them out.

Joe Gibbs WAS a great coach in the NFL. His return has been marked by some serious gaffes in game management. Yesterday he called successive time outs to ‘freeze’ the Bills’ kicker----but you can only call one. The second turned into a 15 yard penalty making a long field goal into one much more manageable. The Bills’ kicker may have made the long kick and the mistake might not have cost them the game. But, duh, if you let a team get a shot, you have made a major error.

Denver is a very disappointing team. Somehow one imagines that they should be better than they are.

The Eagles have played two decent games but have lost. AJ is obviously not their dream come true quarterback.

Right now one of the toughest teams in the NFC are the Vikings. They can run down your throats and they can stuff the run. Championships are made from such ability. They look better and better each week and are finding ways to win. They may be one of the most dangerous teams in the NFC at the moment.