Week Three in the NFL

I do have to begin where my heart begins. It almost stopped several times in the Giants/Bengals game. I was sweating this one out. The Bengals have looked bad the first two weeks of the season but I was also aware that the amount of talent they have on the Offensive side of the ball made them a serious threat. They were able to put it together very effectively against the Giants on Sunday.

The Giants have historically had a difficult time with the Bengals. Different players, different years, different teams, and the Giants have always had a tough time with the Bengals. Who’d have thought? In any case, they did. The Giants did get several sacks on Palmer, but it was from the front 4. Their blitzing was picked up by the Bengals very effectively and Palmer’s quick, short, passing worked well.

The difference of the game was Eli Manning. I may look foolish at some point, but Eli has risen into being one of the elite quarterbacks in the game. He was only the second to lead his team to victory in the final minutes of a Super Bowl. In the playoff game against Dallas, Eli led the Giants to a touchdown before half-time. The Giants got the ball with 45 seconds left. When the game was on the line yesterday, Eli rose up to the occasion and won the game. Good genes in that family.

The Colts. Sigh. Peyton was amazing, as usual. Their defense, however, did a poor job. The Jags ran, ran, and ran on them and chewed up the clock. When the game was on the line the defense folded. Ugh!

The Patriots and the Dolphins. We all knew it was coming. We all knew, at some point, the Patriots would have a meltdown game. They have been so good, so amazing, and losing Brady was devastating. They also have an older defense and injuries on the offense forced the defense to play more. They got smoked and faked out. Chad Pennington does not have a great arm, but when he’s healthy, he’s an effective quarterback. I don’t really think that the Dolphins are as good as they played yesterday and the Patriots aren’t as bad as they played.

One of the hidden treasures in the NFL this year was given up for done. Kerry Collins is now starting for the Titans and has played really well. Several teams do not have much competence at the quarterback position and Collins had been out there all along. Amazing.

The Raiders will probably fire Kiffin today. Good for Kiffin. Who would ever want to coach for Al Davis? The thing is, when the Bills were driving, Kiffin had two timeouts that he never used. The Bills drove down the field and kicked the winning field goal. What was he thinking? Scott Norwood is not longer the Bills kicker...

The Bears would be a really fine team if they had a quarterback. I think that Lovie Smith is greatly over-rated as a coach. He’s a sharp defensive guy and he gets players to play for him, no doubt, but he seems clueless as to running an offense and even more clueless as to the need for an effective quarterback. The Bears have not had someone capable in that position in a while and Smith has done nada about it. Ask Brian Billick how this works, long term?

It’s funny how Jeremy Shockey hasn’t been all-world for the Saints and is a disruption in the locker room. Hmm.

The Cowboys and the Eagles seemed to lack defense a week ago. Yesterday their defensive units went crazy. Especially the Eagles. They turned Big Ben into Uncle Ben and converted his rice!

Best division in football? The NFC East. After three weeks, the combined record of the NFC East is 10-2. The two losses were by the Eagles to the Cowboys and by the Redskins to the Giants, thus making both losses to division rivals.