NFL: Season 2005/05

[Davis Ashura]

But the best news is the Red Sox were eliminated. Yiiiiiiiippppppeeee. Now if only we can not hear about them for a couple of months.

You said it! If I have to listen to the talking head babble about the great rivalry between the Red Sox and the Yankees one more time....

ND vs. USC. My heart thinks Notre Dame can win, but my mind thinks otherwise.

My Bengals went down in defeat thanks to some kicker making a 51 and 53 yard field goal. Also, the defense just looked terrible against the run. I'm not sure what it is about Fred Taylor but he's always eaten the Bengals lunch. It didn't help that the worst announcing crew in history (Paul McGuire, Joe Theismann, and some other guy) were calling the game. Hint to those guys: superlatives should most often be used sparingly, otherwise they lose their meaning ie not every decent play is awesome, excellent, fantastic, or great.

 

[cheese]

You said it! If I have to listen to the talking head babble about the great rivalry between the Red Sox and the Yankees one more time....

ND vs. USC. My heart thinks Notre Dame can win, but my mind thinks otherwise.

My Bengals went down in defeat thanks to some kicker making a 51 and 53 yard field goal. Also, the defense just looked terrible against the run. I'm not sure what it is about Fred Taylor but he's always eaten the Bengals lunch. It didn't help that the worst announcing crew in history (Paul McGuire, Joe Theismann, and some other guy) were calling the game. Hint to those guys: superlatives should most often be used sparingly, otherwise they lose their meaning ie not every decent play is awesome, excellent, fantastic, or great.

Yeah I am happy that Boston is out. I hope the Yankees are out as well. Least favorite team in the league..lol...Yeah the Bengals defense was pretty bad. Jacksonville played excellent. Do you think the Bengals will continue to do well as they play more challenging teams?

 

[Davis Ashura]

Do I think the Bengals will do well against the better teams. I don't know. They've had such a horrible culture of losing for 15 straight years, that it's hard for me to believe that they might actually be good. We'll see how they do against Baltimore, which has always whooped them up and down the field the past decade or so.

 

[FicusFan]

Well I am just too depressed for words after the Pats game on Sunday. It is like the keystone cops on defense. We have a bye this week, and then come back for Buffalo in NE, which with our pattern we should win. Then we have the Colts in NE and if we keep to the pattern we will lose, the first time in who knows how long.

Tedy Bruschi is supposed to come back and that is good, but our problems may be too much for just one person. It will be a wicked, wicked night when he comes back (expect it for Buffalo).

Glad the Jets and Miami lost, and now we are tied with Buffalo for first. Sorry to see the the Browns lost and that ND lost at the last couple of seconds.

Just saw the Colts and Rams take turns whacking each other.

What an odd year. So many penalties in all the games, there is more time watching the refs huddle than seeing the players play.

 

[cheese]

Miama lost 27-13..sad lol...Ricky Williams is back and ran for 40 yards (something like that)... At least the seahawks destroyed houston 42-10. Shaun Alexander was amazing and had 4 TD's with 141 yards. He has 715 yards so far this season. Leading the NFL..Seahawks now 4-2 which is pretty good. Didn't see any other games on t.v as I was busy. Patriots also lost I Despise them ( no offense Ficus Fan!) for always beating Miama.

 

[FicusFan]

Miama lost 27-13..sad lol...Ricky Williams is back and ran for 40 yards (something like that)... At least the seahawks destroyed houston 42-10. Shaun Alexander was amazing and had 4 TD's with 141 yards. He has 715 yards so far this season. Leading the NFL..Seahawks now 4-2 which is pretty good. Didn't see any other games on t.v as I was busy. Patriots also lost I Despise them ( no offense Ficus Fan!) for always beating Miama.

No problem though unfortunately we don't always beat Miami. We tend to lose to them in Miami when it is still warm (September, or October). They also beat us last year in Miami in December. At the end of the game they scored 2 or 3 times when our defense couldn't stop them and Tom threw 2 interceptions. It is fun to get them up north at the end of the year (with the cold and the snow)- like this year.

 

[kater]

Man can the Bills not defend against the run, they were awful. I feel sorry for the Packers a bit, that was a tough way to lose a game they should have wrapped up. The Bengals were poor in the red zone, those two long drives in the first half for only three points gave the Steelers real hope. How about that final quarter by the Rams and the final play by Seattle? They were dead and buried. Talking of which - the 49ers, start planning for next year guys Can anyone stop the Colts? and the Bears won in a mashfest with the Raven, now there's oldskool D for you

 

[Davis Ashura]

The Bengals. How did I know they would lose to the Steelers? Because they were the national game CBS and they never seem to do well in big games on national tv. Plus, those first two drives could have really set them up later on. Instead, Palmer has to have his worst game in the last 15 outings on this day. Those two second half interceptions within 3:40 were killer.

 

[cheese]

The Bengals. How did I know they would lose to the Steelers? Because they were the national game CBS and they never seem to do well in big games on national tv. Plus, those first two drives could have really set them up later on. Instead, Palmer has to have his worst game in the last 15 outings on this day. Those two second half interceptions within 3:40 were killer.

Caught some of that game. Too bad the bengals lost..I was cheering for them!...Those first two drives should of been completed..Also caught the Seattle game...They were down 10-3 and scored a TD with 45 seconds left. The score was 10-10 they caught a interception and won the game with a fifty yard field goal..Magnificient..5-2 now..

 

[FicusFan]

Gotta love a bye-week where everybody in your division loses and you end up after it in first place. Of course the whole division sucks and so do the Pats. I hope the week off gets them some people back, and gives them time to work on the D - dear god we allow 100% of the teams who get into our red zone to score.

I am looking forward to seeing Tedy again. I almost hope they wait til the week after next when we play the Colts to let him play. I think the emotional energy from his return may be our only hope, and I would hate to waste it on the Bills (next week).

Sorry the Browns lost, but at least ND did well.

 

[FicusFan]

Well the Pats won, but they were awful. Until maybe the last 10 minutes they were just a useless doormat. It was only because Buffalo is so bad that we were only about 3 points down. I love the Pats and I am a great fan, but they are playing so badly that if they do somehow manage to win it all, they won't really deserve it. The offense did nothing, the run was off, on special teams they got a delay of game on a kick and nullified a score, and then Adam missed the next one. The defense was awful too.

Tedy started, and it seemed to be a very muted response, strange. He played a lot and did well, but one person can only do so much. He is also not in the secondary which is perhaps the worst part of the team.


But about 10 minutes from the end we finally got two turnovers after only getting one in the first game, 7 weeks ago. Perhaps our luck is changing.

Though our 3rd string replacement running back seems to have popped his hamstring in mid-stride (he lost the ball). And the O-line needs to protect Tom better, he keeps getting rushed and hammered.

Next week is Indy, and if they don't get their act together we are doomed.
Sorry to see Miami won. And the Browns lost The Giants and Denver look good. I see Philly still hasn't found its hurry-up/2.00 minute drill. You think they'd at least practice, sheesh.

 

[Archren]

Yeah, it was pretty painful to see the Pats defense out there for tens of minutes at a time, slowing Buffalo down to a crawl but not being able to force turnovers or actually get them to punt. It sure isn't the defense it used to be.

Still, glad to see Denver leading its division. It's especially great after they lost that sure win to the Giants last week. I do feel bad for the Eagles, though. I mean, I'm a Denver fan by marriage, but the Eagles looked like someone had drugged their Wheaties. The altitude must've hit them hard.

 

[FicusFan]

Philly is just badly coached and not able to do the fundamentals. Their inability to actually play is astonishing. Their behavior at the start of the game was just a continuation of their problems in the superbowl last year, and their inability to perform the 2:00 drill. It was exposed nationally and then just swept under the rug, and so has not been fixed. Until it is, they will continue to suck when the pressure is on and they need to respond quickly.


It wasn't until today and thinking about the delay of game penalty we got on the kicking squad, that happened just as Adam was kicking, and nullified a field goal -- we iced our own kicker. Oh help.

I know we are missing players due to injury, and that we have some who are substandard both as injury-replacements, and as draft-picks/FA signings who were supposed to replace guys who left the team, but what I don't know is if we also have coaching problems, or if there is just too much change too fast.

Belichick is fine, but I don't know if the new guys on offense and defense are in over their heads, or just overwhelmed with all the new jobs/people. I think the smaller stuff that they did with the players before they were promoted has been lost, either because there isn't time or their replacements aren't good enough.

I know that they haven't been able to run any of the specialized defenses that Belichick is famous for.

But the execution has been awful, and several of the new guys have been on TV and pointing fingers, and being very un-Patriot-like. Vets have been talking about the play-offs and that is a big no-no, they are only supposed to focus on one game at a time. Usually I can't wait for the season to start, but now I can't wait for it to end so they can clean house and start working on building a winning team again.

I also think that the 3rd year of horrendous injuries has to say something about the strength/conditioning/physical preparedness, and have to wonder if they need to make serious changes.

We may be repeating the 2002 season, which sucks.

 

[Davis Ashura]

Interesting tests coming up: Indy v. New England. Indy has to win to prove that they can beat this team. New England has to win to avoid their 4th loss.

Cincinnati v. Baltimore: I've just not been too impressed with Cincy the last 4 games. They are just making too many mistakes. In the Jags game, they were pinned back and their punter blasts a 65 yard punt which the Bengals downed at the 20. Only problem is that the first Bengal to touch the ball had gone out of bounds. Illegal touch and the punter had to punt again. His next punt gave the Jags the ball at about the 50. Two minute drill against Green Bay. Cincy is driving with 9 seconds left in the game. Houshmenzadeh takes it on the sideline inside the 20 and drives upfield, but doesn't try to get out of bounds. The clock runs out before the field goal unit gets out on the field since Cincy is out of time outs. Talented team but just damn stupid too often.

How did San Diego lose 4 games? I still can't figure that out. Is Denver really that good or is Philly just that bad. I think Philly is just that bad. Oh, and T.O. is just melting that team chemistry into the ground.
New York Giants: What team in the NFC looks better than them right now? Maybe Dallas or Carolina, but Carolina has had very inconsistent play at QB and Bledsoe always fades in the second half of the season.

 

[FicusFan]

Bledsoe looks good on paper and for a while on the field - but he always screws up or chokes. He will break their hearts in Dallas.

I have nothing but contempt for Philly. They were so out of condition in the Superbowl, then they either can't execute a 2:00 drill, or McNabb was so concussed that he couldn't function (in either case the buck stops with the coach, and he has declined to address it. If you don't address it, you can't fix it). They allowed that selfish behavior with TO regarding his contract and being pissed with McNabb. Now they let McNabb run around with an injury that will only get worse, and destroys his ability to be effective. Some of the athletes who have had it say he could have had surgery and been back on the field in 6 weeks. If they had dealt with it right away at the start of the season they might be in a position to do something at the end of the year. And of course they have given up on a running game.

Carolina doesn't impress me because Delhome is a loose cannon and can't really put it all together.

The Giants do look good, and Manning-the-younger seems to be surviving quite nicely. I like him better than his older brother.

I too am surprised that the Chargers haven't won more. Denver is good though, if they can avoid a late season fade, they could be very dangerous in the playoffs.

I wouldn't be too hard on Cincy. They are winning, and if they keep at it they will get better at the little stuff.

The Pats have shown nothing that indicates they will get their act together for Indy, but stranger things have happened. I just hope they can keep from being blown away.

Funny it has been about 70 degrees here this week and I keep hoping for cold, snowy, awful weather when the Pats play. If it stays this warm it will be perfect for the Colts. If it snows it means the football gods are on our side.

 

[Davis Ashura]

I honestly don't think it matters what the temperature is in Foxboro. I don't think Indy has the heart to win. I think that New England has gotten into their heads, especially that of Peyton's. It reminds of all the great Tennessee teams he lead in college who would always lose to Florida. Maybe this is his year, but somehow, I have my doubts.

 

[kater]

I think that's crazy, Indy are the only team in the league with a perfect record still and the Pats are about as beat up as it gets (Jets excluded) The Pats aren't playing poorly, they're just average at the moment and they dont' seem to be able to get the stops and big plays necessary to win ball games. I don't think Indy are going to have to be at their best to win, and if they are it could be a blow out.

 

[Hereford Eye]

OKay, kater, here's the bet: you do all my posts for one week if the Patriots win; I do all yours if Indy wins.
Speaking of most beat up teams, I think my Packers qualify for that award. 1st and 2nd string running backs; 2nd, 3d and 5th wide receivers; 2nd tight end; assorted defensive backs and line backers. They are having trouble fielding eleven contract players on either side of the ball.

 

[kater]

All your posts, explain please? And is Green Bay beat up because of that record

 

[FicusFan]

No the Pats are playing poorly. They are missing tackles, not blocking, overpursuing, getting penalties and icing their own kicker as a cherry on top.

Some of the vets are still playing their hearts out, but it just isn't working. The new people - not just injury replacements but some of the FA they hired, suck. It may be that with some of the injured players back it will help, but some are just not making the grade. Some of the new coaches may also be unable to make the move to their new positions.

In terms of Indy, actually Manning chokes under pressure. He did in college and he has done it in the pros. I don't know if he has gotten it out of his system, or if he will crumble. Of course the Pats may be so bad that they will have to fight for the right to be the biggest loser. This year even back in preseason, before all the injuries, they Pats were following a pattern: WLWLWLWLWLWLW. They haven't been able to win more than one in a row all year. Since they beat Buffalo (barely) the pattern calls for a loss against Indy, unless they can get their act together.

Odd but when I left work tonight I realized that we still have flowers growing outside our door. The first week in November and we still have flowers growing. We do better in the cold. Indy doesn't do well in the cold, and the snow and the rain and wind. Bad weather isn't needed to beat them (when the Pats are playing up to speed) cause we have beaten them in the dome. But if they come here and it starts to snow, it is a visible reminder that they may be doomed.

I am really sad that Ty Law is gone, because when the Colts and the Pats play - he is Manning's favorite receiver.

The Packers are beaten up and have a bad record because they have not moved on and put Farve out to pasture. He is only a football-like substance, and not a very convincing one anymore. When he gets in a tight spot he acts like a goof ball. I have no idea why he is still playing.