The NFL Blog: Week 2 Review

What a week!

The NFL was at its best in week 2. There were a number of great games and amazing performances. And as usual, there was controversy. The Patriots moved on without Tom Brady while the Packers continued to move on without Brett Favre. The Jets found that the Patriots are tough to beat even without Brady, whether you have Favre or not. The Titans, Bills, Broncos, Panthers, and Cards became surprise 2-0 teams. The Jags, Vikings, Seahawks, Chargers, and Browns became surprise 0-2 teams. And the Cowboys and Eagles put on a hell of a show on Monday night to close out a fabulous second serving of the NFL season.

Most of the talk late Sunday and into this week centered around the Chargers-Broncos game, the call made by Ed Hochuli in the final minute, and Mike Shanahan’s gutsy call to go for 2 and the win rather than settle for overtime. First of all, the game was an absolute classic between two teams that will probably battle for the AFC West division title this season. San Diego again showed that it can still be effective offensively without LT and Antonio Gates. The Broncos were impressive offensively for a second week in a row and I have to give credit to them for pulling out the win regardless of the calls that may have helped them. I didn’t expect much from Denver this season but at this point I’m willing to say that the Broncos are for real. I think the Chargers will be fine but they’re again behind the eight ball in terms of securing homefield advantage in the playoffs.

As for Hochuli’s call, I can’t say that I’m all that outraged. He made a mistake, he admitted it on the spot, he’s continued to apologize for it in a way that no other official in my lifetime has done, and the NFL has already said that he’ll be graded down for it. What more do you want? All of the Charger fans need to realize that every team in the history of sports has been screwed by the officials; it’s just a part of life. Stop whining. SD still had a chance to keep them out of the end zone and then again had a chance to stop them on the 2-PT conversion attempt. A lot of people are calling for the rule to be changed. I’ll be honest, I don’t really understand the rule enough to comment on whether it’s good or bad. And that’s the real problem, people. In both professional and college football the rules have gotten too damn complex. The goal of instant replay was to get it right and often times we have seen the system work beautifully. But in a way, the search to get the call right has created a monster, as every play is now looked over in slow motion to discover if there was anything that could have possible been wrong with it. In my opinion, anything that isn’t an obvious incomplete pass should be played out as if it was a fumble. Then after having a few seconds to think it over and converse, the officials can rule a pass incomplete if they decide so. Then if something on the replay appears to contradict the ruling there could be a challenge. I’m not going to get into it anymore than that.

As for Shanahan’s call to go for 2, I love it. I can understand why it isn’t done very often. It takes some courage to let the entire game ride on one play. Also, at that point you have the momentum and in the case of the Broncos, they were at home. And while this may be hard to believe, coaches are leery of doing things that could get them fired. And there’s no question that if a coach goes for 2 in that situation and fails, he’ll be destroyed by the media and the fans. Shanahan can do it without fear because he’s got a job in Denver for as long as he wants. Not many coaches have that security. Of course I would only call going for 2 a good decision if you have a play in mind that you are almost certain will work. In the case of the Broncos, they had planned to go for 2 all along and they knew they had a play that would work because it was the same one they used to score on the previous play. For me, the biggest reason why it makes complete sense to go for 2 and the win rather than settling for overtime is overtime itself. I mean, at least this way you have control of the situation. Once you settle for OT you are at the mercy of the coin toss. And I don’t care about any of the statistics that smart asses like to bring up to say that there’s no advantage to having the ball first in overtime. Of course there’s an advantage. You have a better chance of scoring if you have the ball than you do playing defense, and the only goal in overtime is to score first. Even if a team thought they had a better chance of scoring by playing defense first to set up good field position, that would still mean that winning the coin flip gave them what they felt was an advantage because they could choose to kickoff. If you feel like you have a play that will probably work you should do it because this might be your best chance to win. If you go to OT and you win the toss you will have to drive down the field again to have a chance to win it. If you lose the toss you might never have the ball again.




The most surprising game of the week was San Francisco’s overtime win at Seattle. I know the Seahawks are banged up but how do you give up 33 points to the Niners at home? SF was coming off a 10 point loss to the Cardinals at home and had been 8-32 on the road since the start of the 2003 season. The Seahawks had gotten crushed in Buffalo in week 1 but they were 7 point favorites over the Niners at Qwest Field, where they had been 33-7 since the start of the 2003 season. Seattle was 2-0 against the Niners last year, outscoring them 47-3, and was 8-2 against SF over the previous 5 seasons. But this was a legitimate win for the Niners. They outgained Seattle 365-351, but it was 3 turnovers by the Seahawks that was the difference in the game.



It started out as expected, with Seattle scoring a pair of TD’s to go ahead 14-0 early, but SF was within 7 at the half with the score 20-13. The game turned about midway through the 3rd quarter. Seattle drove the ball deep into SF territory when a holding penalty on 2nd and 6 from the 17 backed them up to the 25 where they had a 2nd and 14. They went back to the air and Hasselbeck was picked off by stud linebacker Patrick Willis, who took it all the way to the house, 86 yards, for a TD to tie it up at 20-20. On the ensuing drive, Hasselbeck was picked off again, this time in his own territory, and it led to another SF TD that gave the Niners their first lead of the game. The Seahawks came back to tie it on a TD early in the 4th and then took the lead back on a FG with 7:41 to go. But SF came back to tie it 5 minutes later and had a chance to win it with 3 seconds left but a 41 yard attempt by Joe Nedney sailed wide right and the game went to OT. However, San Fran got the ball first in OT, drove right back down to where they had been before, and Nedney tried a 40 yarder and this time he was good to win it for SF, 33-30.



As great as the SD-Denver game was, the game of the week was definitely Monday night’s shootout between the Eagles and Cowboys. This game had it all: big plays, big hits, mistakes, lead changes, and high drama. The offenses ruled the first half, during which 54 points went on the board. In the second half the defenses limited scoring to 24 points. The game included a 72 yard TD pass from Romo to T.O., a 98 yard KR TD by Felix Jones, a fumble in the end zone by Romo recovered for a TD, and a 3 TD performance by Brian Westbrook.

But the most memorable play of the night was also the worst play of the night. With the Eagles trailing 21-20 in the middle of the 2nd quarter, McNabb threw a bomb to DeSean Jackson who was 10 steps ahead of the defense at the 10 yard line and had an easy touchdown. But as he went into the end zone Jackson flipped the ball behind his back in celebration and replays showed he had done so before actually crossing the goal line. The Eagles were given the ball at the 1 and they scored on the next play. Had the play come back to hurt the Eagles and cost them the game, Jackson would have heard about it the rest of his career. The most pathetic part about the whole thing is that Jackson had done something very similar in a nationally televised high school all-star game back in 2005. After catching a deep pass, Jackson was running for an easy TD when he took off into a flip from the 5 yard line and came up a yard short. He put the ball down at the 1 where it was ruled a fumble. You would think that the embarrassment would have made him extremely secure of the ball and always certain of scoring before celebrating. But apparently he wasn’t that embarrassed because it didn’t keep him from making that mistake again on Monday night. I think that’s the problem: he wasn’t embarrassed; either time. I don’t think he’s smart enough or aware enough to realize that everyone watching now thinks he’s a complete dumb ass. I expect he’ll make similar mistakes throughout the rest of his career.


The thing that was talked about most in the days heading up to the games on Sunday was Matt Cassel’s start for the Patriots against the arch rival New York Jets. Predictably it turned out to be much ado about nothing. Cassel managed the game and made no big mistakes, and the Patriots came away with a fairly easy win. The bigger story in my mind was how ineffective the Jets offense looked in their second game with Brett Favre. I’m now rethinking just how good I think they will be this year. I thought they would be a much improved team all along and then when they got Favre I thought they’d challenge for the playoffs. I still think they will be a competitive team, but after seeing the Dolphins (who the Jets barely beat in week 1) get hammered by Arizona and seeing the Jets get shutdown by the Pats, I’m not as confident that Favre will have a great time this year.




9 teams advanced to 2-0 last weekend, and of those 9 teams, 5 were rather surprising. If some saw the Denver Broncos returning to glory this season, I certainly did not. Yet two games into the season they have destroyed the Raiders on the road and beaten the San Diego Chargers at home. To this point they have looked like one of the best teams in the NFL. The Tennessee Titans have been surprisingly good over the last few years and they are doing it again so far this season. They’ve given up just 17 points so far this year, with wins over Jacksonville and at Cincinnati. The controversy surrounding Vince Young and the switch to Kerry Collins at QB didn’t seem to bother the Titans, as they whipped the Bengals 24-7 in a game affected greatly by high winds. The Titans aren’t flashy but they just keep winning. They can’t be ignored, and neither can the Bills, who are also continuing the decent play that they showed in the previous 2 seasons. It’s hard to figure how the Bills can be that good, but you can’t argue with their performance so far, blowing out the Seahawks at home in week 1 and winning in Jacksonville in week 2. People have been talking about the Cardinals finally being good for years and it has never happened. But they went 8-8 last year and because of their schedule it’s maybe not all that surprising that they started 2-0. What is surprising is the way they have done it, beating SF by 10 on the road, and hammering Miami, 31-10 at home. Another team that always seems to fail to live up to expectations is the Carolina Panthers, but they came in under the radar this season and have gotten to 2-0 despite being without their best weapon, Steve Smith. The Panthers got a last second miracle to upset the Chargers on the road in week 1 and last week they came from behind to beat the Bears in a hard fought game at home.



At the other end of the spectrum, 10 teams fell to 0-2 last week, and of those 10 teams, 5 were quite surprising. The Vikings nearly made the postseason last year and they were picked by many to get there this season but at this point that is in jeopardy. They’ve had a tough schedule so far, playing at Green Bay and then hosting Indianapolis, but what’s really hurt them has been not having a quarterback worthy of playing in the NFL. Now that they’ve made the switch to Gus Frerotte perhaps things will get better. While Frerotte is not Dan Marino, I still think it was a move the Vikings had to make and they needed to make the move now before things advanced any farther. They spent too much money and have too great a running back and defense to let it all be held back by a young QB that they never should have given the ball to. The Seahawks have been a fixture in the NFC playoffs for most of this decade but it looks as if their reign in the NFC West may be coming to an end. With injuries decimating the roster, Seattle has been blown out by the Bills and beaten in OT at home by the 49ers. Their struggles are almost as shocking as the Jaguars, who were thought by many to be a sleeper pick for AFC Champion. The Jags have been shutdown offensively and have fallen to the Titans on the road and at home to the Bills. The Browns were also a popular pick for the playoffs after going 10-6 last year but so far they don’t look like a team destined for the postseason. To be fair they have played two of the better teams in football in the Cowboys and Steelers, but they lost both games at home and they’ve scored a total of 16 points. But no 0-2 team is as much of a shocker as the Chargers. San Diego was a popular pick for Super Bowl Champion but they have yet to get into the win column so far this season. The thing that the Chargers have going for them that none of the others have, however, is that they have actually played well each week and could very easily be 2-0. I still think they are among the best in the NFL and I expect they’ll still have a great season.



Two teams made dramatic turnarounds in week 2. The Washington Redskins looked completely lost when they got beat down by the Giants in the opening game of the NFL season two weeks ago. Jim Zorn looked over his head as a coach and the Skins offense looked like they had never practiced before. But in week 2, the Redskins looked 1,000 times better, coming from behind by 9 in the 4th quarter to beat the Saints 29-24 at home. The Oakland Raiders looked worse than any team in the NFL in week 1, getting embarrassed at home on national TV, in a 41-14 loss to the Broncos. But in week 2 the Raiders went on the road to Kansas City, traditionally one of the hardest places to play, and beat the Chiefs, 23-8. Although there is still a lot of talk that Lane Kiffin will be fired at any moment, at least for now, the Raiders are at .500.

The strangest game of week 2 was the one which wasn’t played. Due to the hurricane, the game between the Ravens and Texans at Reliant Stadium was canceled, creating a change in schedule for 3 teams. The Ravens and Texans will now both essentially have no bye week this year, as each team had prepared as if they were going to play during the week leading up to the game. The game will now be played during the weekend of November 9th when the Ravens were supposed to be off and the Texans were supposed to host the Bengals. The Texans will now play the Bengals during the week of October 26th instead, when the two teams were supposed to be off. Cincinnati will now have its bye on November 9th when the Ravens and Texans are playing. The team that got most screwed is the Ravens, who now have to play 15 consecutive weeks and will play 5 road games in 6 weeks from October 12th to November 16th. The Texans will also have to play 15 weeks in a row but they have a fairly manageable schedule and will now play 5 home games in 6 weeks from October 5th to November 9th. The Bengals were not hurt as badly by the change as they will still get a true bye week; in fact Cincinnati was probably helped by the change. The Bengals will now have a week off between a home game with the Jags on November 2nd and a home game with the Eagles on the 16th instead of having to play Houston on the road on the 9th. This is big because the Bengals have to play at Pittsburgh on Thursday the 20th. So now the Bengals will have 13 days off before having to play 2 games in 5 days, and they’ll have more time to prepare for the Steelers, when before they would have had only Monday through Wednesday to get ready.