What we saw yesterday

The end of that Pats-Saints game yesterday… it was like watching a James Bond movie. Who didn’t think the Saints had wrapped things up when, with a 4 point lead, they played extremely conservative on their final possession going 3 and out and after punting to the Pats, left Tom Brady and company but 1:15, no timeouts and 70 yards to drive for the win?



Big mistake. Should’ve left him with only 1:05 and maybe 75 yards as Brady connected with wide out Kenbrell Thompkins with 5 seconds left for the stunning 30-27 victory.


What were the Saints thinking? Well, they were thinking they had won if the pre-mature celebrations on the sideline were any indication. They had a chance to put Brady and the Pats away but they left them totally unnecessary daylight. They could’ve snuffed out that team with one shot to the base of the skull but they opted instead for sharks with lasers.







You know our whine: not down with the unbalanced schedule where, depending upon the week, there will be 9-10 morning games and merely 2-4 afternoon games (West Coast times). Well, we think we’ve figured it out. If the NFL can continue delivering on that one nationally-televised feature matchup in the afternoon like they’ve done the past two weeks with Broncos-Cowboys last week and Saints-Patriots yesterday, we’ll dial back on the complaining. Commissioner Goodell, you magnificent bastard, we read your book!



Don’t blame Chip Kelly or more precisely Chip Kelly’s offense for their uneven start at 3-3. They have the #1 rushing offense in the league and the #4 offense overall and are second only to the Denver Broncos in yards/play (6.7 vs. 6.6). As you would expect this conversation to be turning, they are near the bottom of the NFL (30 out of 32) in total team defense. Nick Foles, filling in for an injured Michael Vick, had 3 touchdowns while LeSean McCoy had 116 yards rushing and continues to lead the league in rushing while the Eagles handled the Buccaneers yesterday 31-20.



Memo to the Detroit Lions: keep Reggie Bush heavily involved in the offense both rushing and receiving and good things will happen. In games Reggie has played, they are 3-2. In the 3 wins, Bush has averaged 166 yards/game from scrimmage rushing and receiving combined and in the 2 losses that figure plummets to 69. And not surprisingly, the Lion offense has averaged 35 points/game in those 3 victories against 15 in the losses. A small sample size to be sure but the delta between his production in wins and losses is too great to dismiss. Lions dispatched the Browns 31-17 yesterday.



Texans fans booing an injured Matt Schaub (ankle) as he was being assisted off the field was deplorable. And just to make sure those jerks didn’t forget about Schaub, Texan back-up QB, T.J. Yeats came in and promptly threw a pick-six. Screw you, Texan fans. Oh, and you got rolled by the Rams, 38-13. Screw you.



The Redskins RG III looked about as active and dynamic as we’ve seen him this year throwing for 246 yards and rushing 9 times for 77 yards. Unfortunately, the Cowboys Dwayne Harris decided to go nuts in the return game last night returning a punt 86 yards for a touch and setting up another short TD drive for the ‘Boys with a 90 yard kick return in a 31-16 victory for Dallas. Besides Skins fans, do you know who hates Dwayne Harris? Tony Romo fantasy owners, that’s who. Sorry, Corey O.




This may be the golden age of the quarterback but we were witness to some absolutely atrocious decision-making as well from the league’s glamour spot. Matt Cassell, Chad Henne, Brandon Weeden and Tyrelle Pryor… we’re looking at you.



To riff off our boy Max, mild props to the Jacksonville Jaguars and their 35-19 loss to the Denver Broncos. The NFL is relentless and unforgiving. It’s a brutal league that features some of the biggest and fastest human beings on the face of the planet. There are no such things as moral victories in this league. Having said all that, good on the Jaguars who came in as the biggest betting underdogs (26-1/2 points) in league history and decided that they weren’t just going to roll over on the home turf of arguably the league’s best team. Hearing how the Broncos were basically going to name their score against the worst team in the league looked like it just might have struck that pride chord in the minds of men who violently throw their bodies around for 4, 6, 8..? years in order to make a living. They came in and competed and made things interesting for a hot minute in the 3rd quarter which is something we never thought we would say about a 16 point loss in the NFL. So, thank you Jaguars for not sucking to a degree we all thought you probably would.



OK, gang, that’s it for today.