Monday, October 27, 2008

Sunday's NFL Post-Game

First, in a non-NFL game, I saw the Ball State Cardinals play on Saturday. They are Indiana's only ranked college team and they are quite a good team. Very, very impressive performance by them.

First off, the Giants and the Steelers was a key matchup. Two 5-1 teams and questions were being asked if one was a pretender or if these were two quality teams. The answer was the latter. This was one hard fought game and the hitting was intense. I was frustrated with the Giants' offense for running so much, even uneffectively. I realized this morning, however, that Eli was barely touched and their running game kept the Steelers' pass rush at bay. The Steelers played great goal line defense, but 4 field goals do add up to points. The safety was a huge play and a reminder as to how important a long snapper is.

This was, on another level, the first time Big Ben and Easy E played each other when both were on comparable quality teams. Lots of people said that the G-Men had chosen poorly picking Eli over Ben. In a first head to head match up, Eli won and played an efficient game. Ben had four throws picked. I'm happy with the Giants' choice.

You have to love Mike Singletary's intensity and his dealing with a foolish player. He certainly got his team's attention.

Dallas played a tough D against Tampa Bay. Dallas is at Giants Stadium next week in a huge game.

Drew Brees wanted to have a big game against the Chargers and he did. But Rivers had a good game as well. The Chargers made a difficult choice and two teams have great quarterbacks.

The Browns are looking more and more like last year's quality team.

Tonight is a huge test for the Colts.

And finally, alas, the Bengals. 0-8. Dear Mr. Brown. Marvin Lewis is not going to turn your team around.

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