Tag Archives: nfl

Another winning Monday

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It’s First Monday over at the Supreme Court, and this Monday feels like a pretty good one here in ALDLAND too. Of course, half the teams that played this weekend lost, but, fortunately, the teams I was tracking were not in that half of the teams.

More on the Little Brown Jug schellacking I witnessed later. In Columbus, Michigan State gutted out (aka failed to choke away) an ugly win, and their sister Southern school, Clemson, dominated Virginia Technological Institute. Illinois had an exciting win at home against would-be in-state rival Northwestern, and Wisconsin welcomed Nebraska to the Big Ten by beating them by a lot of points while keeping them from scoring many in Camp Randall.

In baseball, the ALDS between the Yankees and Tigers got off to an awkward start due to wet Gotham weather. Detroit comes home today with a split in the Bronx and the aces back on the mound tonight. The rain suspension on Friday night means Verlander and Sabathia effectively will appear only once in this best-of-five series. It also means that A.J. Burnett probably will have to go for the Yankees, and he is not very good these days.

Back to football, the Lions overcame a 20+ point deficit on the road for the second straight week, an NFL first, handing Dallas their worst ever come-from-ahead defeat. (The twenty-four-point third-quarter deficit made it the largest road comeback in NFL history.)  Two pick-sixes and a third interception by the Detroit defense spurred Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson, and the Lions offense into action. The undefeated Lions meet the 2-2 Bears next week on Monday night.

Why don’t the Colts pick up David Garrard?

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Rotoworld reports:

Colts not going after David Garrard –

The Colts have not contacted free agent QB David Garrard. With the inept Kerry Collins being evaluated for a concussion and Peyton Manning (neck) likely out for the season, Colts fans are clamoring for an addition. But the team might be best off going with Collins and Curtis Painter, thus entering themselves in the Suck for Luck sweepstakes. The Colts have not shown any interest in Kurt Warner or Marc Bulger either, although they are both retired anyway.

I was thinking last night that Indy should make a move for Garrard, whom Jacksonville almost certainly shouldn’t have let go. They probably will have to lose every game– something of which they’re undoubtedly capable– to get Andrew Luck, but it still is amazing to think that a team like the Colts would even be in a position where flushing a season looked like the team’s best (and possibly only) option. Keep reading…

Peyton Manning is done for the year

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Pro Football Talk reports:

The Colts are 0-3, but their season is essentially over.  Peyton Manning will not be coming back to save the team.

Owner Jim Irsay announced at a breakfast meeting with Super Bowl donors Monday that Manning will miss the entire season, according to WISH-TV in Indianapolis.

Irsay may be speaking out of turn, but you can do that when you own the team.  Even if the Colts don’t make a move to injured reserve official just yet, this is a sign the Colts have no expectations Manning will return.

…

Indianapolis will surely have a high draft pick in a good year for college quarterbacks.  They may just be high enough to draft Andrew Luck first overall.

Obviously this all but ensures the accuracy of my preseason prediction that the Colts will lose every game this year. I think the Andrew Luck question is a bit less obvious. Setting aside the common, generic draft-day debate of whether a team should draft for need or always take the best player available regardless of need, would the Colts take Luck? Maybe I’m just so used to thinking of the Colts and Manning together, and also thinking that Manning was basically indestructible– not necessarily because he’s physically tough, but because he’s succeeded in avoiding a lot of damaging hits– that it’s initially hard to think of Indy taking a QB, especially when they seem to have so many other needs. If Manning’s done for good, this of course becomes a moot conversation.

It’s Monday in ALDLAND

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We’re about a month into the college and professional football seasons, so there aren’t too many unknowns anymore. The media-fueled big matchup for Saturday, LSU goes to Morgantown, wasn’t close, and the outcome wasn’t surprising. LSU has been operating a professional-grade defense for years, and Jordan Jefferson (allegedly) curb-stomping a U.S. Marine may have been the best thing that could happen to their offense outside of alum Shaq O’Neil going in at fullback.

After Michigan State’s failure to board the bus and make any appearance whatsoever last week in South Bend, I put them on a one-week suspension and channeled my attention to Clemson, the MSU of the South. Those Tigers did not disappoint on what was a big day for the South Carolina schools. (Side note: I thought Vandy had a chance to at least play SC close given a 3-0 start and the schools’ dead even history over the last four games, but having more penalty yards than total offensive yards is going to make that difficult.) I imagine I’ll be keeping my eyes on the Clemson squad until they remember who they are (the Michigan State of the South) and totally blow it due to sheer lack of discipline.

Speaking of Michigan State Keep reading…

Autumn in ALDLAND?

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Football season is in full swing, the U.S. Open is coming to a close, and hurricane season (hopefully) is wrapping up. Summer won’t quite go away, though, as evidenced by the perfect baseball weather (along with its accordant short sleeves, sweat, and sunburns) at yesterday’s Tigers and Twins game in Detroit— more on that game later today. 

There were two week-one blowouts yesterday in the NFL: the Ravens beat the Steelers 35-7 and the Peyton Manning-less Colts succumbed to an Arian Foster-less Houston team 34-7. While the scores were similar, and both outcomes were somewhat surprising, I think everyone believes the Steelers will have a successful season this year. When I saw the Houston-Indy score, though, I said that the Colts might lose every game this year, and I think we’re going to find out just how much Manning meant to that team. Beyond the obvious– his complete control of the offense– Manning also set up the Indianapolis defense. Like a dominant pitcher who can influence other games by allowing his team’s bullpen a day off, Manning kept his defense off the field, thereby allowing them to pursue a more aggressive (and energy-draining) approach when the other side did control the ball.

Who first owned the G?

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In case you were wondering which team first sported the elongated G the Green Bay Packers are wearing on their helmets tonight, the answer is the Green Bay Packers, who started using it in 1961 and, further according to the internet, trademarked the symbol and licensed it to the University of Georgia in 1964 and Grambling University after that.

The NFL kicks off in less than two hours

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Two months ago, who would’ve thought there would be a season this year? Well, probably everybody who actually thought about it. The NFL never was going to cancel this season, just like the NBA won’t miss theirs, and from the fan’s perspective (if not the media’s), the work stoppage wasn’t that big of a deal. But who would’ve thought the 2011 NFL season would look like this?

Probably not too many of you. Moreover, if told that, as work resumed and the season approached, Brett Favre was in talks with another NFL team, who would guess that the once-retired, greybearded quarterback starting in week one would be Kerry Collins?

Keep reading…

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Lion: A tale of two teams?

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The NFL’s as-yet-unabridged preseason finished up last weekend, and the Detroit Lions turned in another dominant performance, posting a 4-0 record and notching an especially impressive win over the New England Patriots. Analysts and commentators repeat the common mantra that the preseason doesn’t mean a lot, but in the same breath, many of them are pointing to this year’s Lions as a team that could be a surprise success.

While it’s hard to see any strong statistical correlations between performance in the presesason and regular season– mostly because the team has been consistently bad in the regular season and bad overall– a few observations are possible. The most obvious one is that the last time Detroit went 4-0 in the preseason was 2008, a historically bad year in which the Lions became the only team to go winless in a 16-game NFL regular season, also therefore setting the record for most losses in a single season. Moreover, they won more preseason games (10) than regular season games (8) over the last three years.

What to make of this? The Lions haven’t been above .500 since 2000, when they were 9-7 (2-2 in the preseason), and they haven’t been to the playoffs since 1999, the year after Barry Sanders abruptly retired, so it’s tough to believe the popular predictions of greatness this year. It does feel like a lot more pieces (on the field and sidelines, and in the front office) of a winning team are in place this year, but many fundamental ifs remain for a team playing in the same division as the defending world champions. Predicting which Lions team– the successful preseason version or the perennially disappointing regular-season version– will show up this year may be even more difficult than predicting which Eddie Murphy will show up to host the 2012 Oscars.

Mark 2011 as the year the Lord took on NFL player contracts

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It is said that the Lord works in mysterious ways, but this summer, He has been stepping out a bit more, seemingly bearing a new cross for those who praise Him. The Almighty has tackled public works projects before– the Great Flood, liberation of his people from bondage in Egypt, urban renewal in cities like Sodom and Gomorrah, descending to Earth in human form, etc.– but this campaign feels different, perhaps because of its apparently limited, if no less public, scope. Mark 2011 as the year the Ancient of Days took on high-profile NFL player contracts.

Yahweh’s first target was in the Arizona desert, where He helped Larry Fitzgerald secure an eight-year, $120 million deal with the Cardinals. After Fitzgerald’s new contract became public, Chris Johnson, holdout running back for the Tennessee Titans, praised the Everlasting Father for His accomplishment: “Congrats to Larry Fitzgerald. God is good.” Indeed.

Luke, the Gospel writer, tells us that there is more rejoicing in Heaven when one sinner repents than there is for ninety-nine other righteous people who need not repent, and so it should come as no surprise that the Wonderful Counselor would take the case of the once-disgraced, now-redeemed Michael Vick (f.k.a. Ron Mexico). Just this week in the City of Brotherly Love, Vick signed what his head coach called “a beautiful contract,” which may or may not be worth $100 million. In response, Vick said, “I want to thank God for the opportunity that I’ve been presented.” And so we can assume he did.

Numerically, if there’s a digit more biblically favored than four or seven, it would have to be three, and so we should expect Elohim to be involved in at least one more blockbuster deal before the season starts next week, and the smart talents are on Johnson himself. Johnson believes the Titans should compensate him on a scale comparable to the highest-paid players in the league, and not merely as the highest-paid at his position as the team has offered to do. On Wednesday, Johnson said, “I like to thank everyone who have me in their prayers thru my situation, it’s much needed.” It just might be.

Can the Holy Spirit reach this man on behalf of Chris Johnson?

Why Isn’t Mike Vanderjagt Still Kicking In The NFL? (via ThePostGame)

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He wants no attention, even though he’s still as charismatic and eloquent as any football analyst. He wants no sympathy, even though he probably deserves it. He says over and over again that he’s out of the league because he “went from outstanding to mediocre.” He’s got a nice house and a lovely former cheerleader wife and an 11-year-old son named Jay (who, by the way, recently won a Punt, Pass and Kick competition). Vanderjagt readily confesses, “I was an idiot” for saying those things about his team. He has Manning paraphernalia all over his restaurant, and he says the two are long past their dust-up. He has some powerful things to say, that’s for sure, but “Peyton did me wrong” is not one of them.

Vanderjagt has moved on.

Sorta. … Read More

via ThePostGame