Week 2

Trippie

My FF match up this week is against Eagle Eye and its going to down to wire which is a shame since both of us would beat anyone else in league. I have a 4 point advantage with Dolphins, Folk and Crayton left to play vs his Ronnie Brown and Kevin Boss so it can go either way.

Karlusss

In the quarterback subplots:

Jay Cutler found a win somewhere with no experience (or arguably talent) at wide receiver against the Steelers - but Kyle Orton passed for 260 yards and a touchdown to go 2-0 with the Broncos. Nobody's gloating yet. All it'd take for the Broncos to go to the playoffs is Philip Rivers to get hurt, especially when you consider that the Bengals team they scraped by last week torched the Packers today.

eagle eye

Karlusss wrote: »

In the quarterback subplots:

Jay Cutler found a win somewhere with no experience (or arguably talent) at wide receiver against the Steelers - but Kyle Orton passed for 260 yards and a touchdown to go 2-0 with the Broncos. Nobody's gloating yet. All it'd take for the Broncos to go to the playoffs is Philip Rivers to get hurt, especially when you consider that the Bengals team they scraped by last week torched the Packers today.

Even a fully fit Rivers throwing over 400 yards couldn't beat Baltimore today.

Karlusss

Yeah, Baltimore are one of the best teams in the league though. With Rivers, the Chargers are better than the Broncos, just because he CAN throw 400 yards against the Ravens, win or no.

themont85

Karlusss wrote: »

In the quarterback subplots:

Jay Cutler found a win somewhere with no experience (or arguably talent) at wide receiver against the Steelers - but Kyle Orton passed for 260 yards and a touchdown to go 2-0 with the Broncos. Nobody's gloating yet. All it'd take for the Broncos to go to the playoffs is Philip Rivers to get hurt, especially when you consider that the Bengals team they scraped by last week torched the Packers today.

I like the kid Knox for the bears, sensational speed and makes big catches, a little small height wise though. Hester played very well last week and Bennett is okay for 4-5 catches a game. They need Olsen and Clark to make more catches, the two have dropped a lot of catches and they are supposed to be the main catchers for Cutler. All in all they deserve to have a win for their first 2 games, looking at Forte stats though they have a serious worry at running back.

Delighted the Bills won tonight...last Monday was...awful. Trent looks far more secure at QB and with the Pats losing tonight, the Jets inexperience at QB and Dolphins having a hard ol schedule, I expect a lot of losses in the division certainly not 11-5 missing the playoffs like last year. 11-5 will win it in my opinion.

columok

Tense at the end of the Chargers game. Thought Rivers might have pulled it off. He seemed to find some gaps in what is normally a brickwall secondary. Incredible when Ray bust through on the blitz and hammered the RB for a massive loss on 4th down. Ravens for AFC North?

DonkeyPokerTour

Great win for the giants, Last second kick by Tynes to win it 33-31, having missed one from shorter distance earlier in the quarter.

rich1874

Some win by the Bengals in Greenbay. Really would be 2-0 if not for the flukiest play i've ever seen in week 1. I think the Bengals might be a good shout for challenging for a wildcard this season. If they keep Carson healthy that is.

Karlusss

The Bengals are starting to show up as a team in general. Ochocinco is looking as sharp as he's been claiming to be for the past few seasons, and the defense has pulled up its socks no doubt.

However... Ravens and Steelers in that division. If you can get a win each off them, you deserve playoffs.

Hazys

Karlusss wrote: »

There were a lot of places the Pats looked vulnerable, including O-line. Someone got a free hit on Brady about five minutes from the end, a middle linebacker on a blitz. They need to sort that stuff out if they want a quarterback who can play.

TBF the OL was very good against the Jets...probably the only bright spot of a horrible day. The receivers couldnt get free in single coverage and Brady's accuracy sucked at times.

Defense was poor, no pass rush, I'm not buying that Mark Sanchez is all that just yet, he's played 2 v bad defenses in his first 2 weeks. He had all the time in the world in the pocket to pick out his passes, the Pats D couldnt even mange to get a hand on him. He looked v average in the first half.

The Patriots are not nearly close to playing at the top of their game...if we had manged to score at least 2TDs out of our 3 redzone trips instead of 3 FGs the game would have been a much different story at half time. I'm kinda glad we have lost early instead of scrapping another win because we have a lot of problems to sort out

We most certainly have the talent in every position except pass rush so its just going to take more time to gel

eagle eye

Hazys wrote: »

TBF the OL was very good against the Jets...probably the only bright spot of a horrible day. The receivers couldnt get free in single coverage and Brady's accuracy sucked at times.

Defense was poor, no pass rush, I'm not buying that Mark Sanchez is all that just yet, he's played 2 v bad defenses in his first 2 weeks. He had all the time in the world in the pocket to pick out his passes, the Pats D couldnt even mange to get a hand on him. He looked v average in the first half.

The Patriots are not nearly close to playing at the top of their game...if we had manged to score at least 2TDs out of our 3 redzone trips instead of 3 FGs the game would have been a much different story at half time. I'm kinda glad we have lost early instead of scrapping another win because we have a lot of problems to sort out

We most certainly have the talent in every position except pass rush so its just going to take more time to gel

Eh I'm sorry but wat??????
You have it all backwards imo. The OL was horrendous yesterday, how many times had Brady got time in the pocket? Very rarely is the answer, he was constantly rushed and unable to set his feet. He got knocked on his backside about ten times at least and there was no roughing the passer calls because they got to him as he was throwing. On top of that the delay of game penalties were because the of the OL. And they didn't do a good job of opening holes for the run either.
On top of that Galloway and Edelman dropped good passes too.

On our defense, they gave up one touchdown and 16 points total. We gave up 163 yards in the air and 112 on the ground. Thats not a bad day, I was happy with their performance yesterday. Our linebackers are a bit of a problem, Jerod Mayo is a huge loss.

tallaghtoutlaws

eagle eye wrote: »

Eh I'm sorry but wat??????
You have it all backwards imo. The OL was horrendous yesterday, how many times had Brady got time in the pocket? Very rarely is the answer, he was constantly rushed and unable to set his feet. He got knocked on his backside about ten times at least and there was no roughing the passer calls because they got to him as he was throwing. On top of that the delay of game penalties were because the of the OL. And they didn't do a good job of opening holes for the run either.
On top of that Galloway and Edelman dropped good passes too.

On our defense, they gave up one touchdown and 16 points total. We gave up 163 yards in the air and 112 on the ground. Thats not a bad day, I was happy with their performance yesterday. Our linebackers are a bit of a problem, Jerod Mayo is a huge loss.

I agree with all of this except and its a big except. The fact the Jets failed to get motoring for a full quarter and most the 2nd was the reason we gave up so little in yards. People seem to think that the defense played well keeping the numbers low but in retrospect they didnt. Lets not forget our offense did get us within scoring range albeit the pressure forced us to kick twice and go up 6-0. As Hazy said we failed to pass rush and how Sanchez couldnt use the time and space more is byond me. Our 4-3 defense failed to materialise and the 2 big DT we have look lost over the guards and rather at nose especially Wilfork. Our Linebackers were poor and their coverage and tackling was weak.

The only reason the score was down was because of a poor Jets Offense and it gets me to how on earth Sanchez got any rookie of the week type praise. The only offense or defense playing any proper roll in the game yesterday was the Jets Defense they were solid. The blitzed well and put Brady on his ass alot and made it hard for the Pats to throw the ball. Had we had some sort of running game im thinking there would have been less pressure on Brady and it could have reflected differently.

eagle eye

tallaghtoutlaws wrote: »

I agree with all of this except and its a big except. The fact the Jets failed to get motoring for a full quarter and most the 2nd was the reason we gave up so little in yards. People seem to think that the defense played well keeping the numbers low but in retrospect they didnt. Lets not forget our offense did get us within scoring range albeit the pressure forced us to kick twice and go up 6-0. As Hazy said we failed to pass rush and how Sanchez couldnt use the time and space more is byond me. Our 4-3 defense failed to materialise and the 2 big DT we have look lost over the guards and rather at nose especially Wilfork. Our Linebackers were poor and their coverage and tackling was weak.

The only reason the score was down was because of a poor Jets Offense and it gets me to how on earth Sanchez got any rookie of the week type praise. The only offense or defense playing any proper roll in the game yesterday was the Jets Defense they were solid. The blitzed well and put Brady on his ass alot and made it hard for the Pats to throw the ball. Had we had some sort of running game im thinking there would have been less pressure on Brady and it could have reflected differently.

The biggest problem for us yesterday was not having Wes Welker. I really like Edelman and he is going to be a star but he is not ready yet. We did ok with the running game when we used it but Welker prevents the blitz more than any other player on our team, you just can't bring everyone and leave him free.
Our defense has never been a blitzing type of D, its all about good coverage, a prevent nearly always. We are still getting used to the 4-3 but apart from one play yesterday it worked.
If our offensive line could have gotten Brady some time we would have won that game. If Welker was there I feel we would have won it.

tallaghtoutlaws

eagle eye wrote: »

The biggest problem for us yesterday was not having Wes Welker. I really like Edelman and he is going to be a star but he is not ready yet. We did ok with the running game when we used it but Welker prevents the blitz more than any other player on our team, you just can't bring everyone and leave him free.
Our defense has never been a blitzing type of D, its all about good coverage, a prevent nearly always. We are still getting used to the 4-3 but apart from one play yesterday it worked.
If our offensive line could have gotten Brady some time we would have won that game. If Welker was there I feel we would have won it.

Yes we have never been big pass rushers but that has been part of the problem for the Patriots in my mind when we face pass heavy teams. We used to have some sort of rushing ability but yesterday we gave Sanchez too much time and offered very little pressure on him. If we use that 4-3 defences against better teams without getting pressure we will be destroyed no offense to Jets fans but they were sh1te yesterday also. Their D gave a good go at it but offensively they were sh1t.

All well and good saying not having one player killed us but lets not forget Brady had very little time to throw and edelman has 96 yards. In fact I will admit Brady over threw Edleman twice yesterday one of which would have most likely been a TD.

But not having a proper running game puts too much pressure on our passing game and yesterday it showed. Fred Taylor showed his true form yesterday and not giving him more of the ball and adjusting to more run plays consistently kills us. Even last year with a rookie QB we failed to run the ball more. A blind man can see there is no balance to the Patriots Offense right now and forcing brady to throw under pressure 40 or 50 times a game is suicide when the pass isnt working.

fisgon

It's been a great week so far, I reckon. The four or five upsets are why the NFL is so great, who would have predicted the Texans winning at Tennessee, or the Bengals at Green Bay. Some great performances, my man of the weekend so far has got to be Mario Manningham, 150 yards receiving and a touchdown, in Dallas. Not least because he basically won me my fantasy matchup this week with his 21 points after I just picked him up on waivers three days ago! Good old Mario....

And the Pats and steelers lost. What more could you want from a weekend?

Karlusss

Colts just beat the Dolphins in yet another game decided in the final series. Dolphins dominated the clock with the Wildcat and seemed to be dominating the Colts as well... but hey, Peyton Manning is Peyton Manning.

bruschi

think its nearly a good thing the Pats lost and had a tough one against the Bills. there was just too much expectation in the "19-0" season 2 years ago, and the team looked more vulnerable down the stretch than at the start. I'd only be worried if we werent picking up easy wins and not closing out games when it comes to the crunch. look at teams that have won it in the past, they have all come from average start seasons and who put in a heck of a performance in final games and playoffs.

Hazys

eagle eye wrote: »

Eh I'm sorry but wat??????
You have it all backwards imo. The OL was horrendous yesterday, how many times had Brady got time in the pocket? Very rarely is the answer, he was constantly rushed and unable to set his feet. He got knocked on his backside about ten times at least and there was no roughing the passer calls because they got to him as he was throwing. On top of that the delay of game penalties were because the of the OL. And they didn't do a good job of opening holes for the run either.
On top of that Galloway and Edelman dropped good passes too.

On our defense, they gave up one touchdown and 16 points total. We gave up 163 yards in the air and 112 on the ground. Thats not a bad day, I was happy with their performance yesterday. Our linebackers are a bit of a problem, Jerod Mayo is a huge loss.

Brady stepped back to pass 47 times!!! in the game, he was hit 7 times and not sacked once. Thats 1 hit for every 6.7 attempts. We only rushed for 83 total yards in the game so the defense knew they could blitz all the time and they did...guessing id say they blitzed 90% of the time on pass plays with at least 5 rushers each time...and i think thats a conservative guess. So that usually left Kris Jenkins 1on1 with a Pats Lineman...and he didnt get a sniff in all day.

With the defense blitzing consistently and the OL not giving up a sack and having one hit for every 6.7 attempts...thats a good performance.

Now this begs the question...how couldnt the WRs get open when in single coverage? and why couldnt Brady hit them? Well Moss would always be double covered so that left Edelman, Galloway and Watson in single coverage...it looked like Edelman was the only one who could get open.

eagle eye

Hazys wrote: »

Brady stepped back to pass 47 times!!! in the game, he was hit 7 times and not sacked once. Thats 1 hit for every 6.7 attempts. We only rushed for 83 total yards in the game so the defense knew they could blitz all the time and they did...guessing id say they blitzed 90% of the time on pass plays with at least 5 rushers each time...and i think thats a conservative guess. So that usually left Kris Jenkins 1on1 with a Pats Lineman...and he didnt get a sniff in all day.

With the defense blitzing consistently and the OL not giving up a sack and having one hit for every 6.7 attempts...thats a good performance.

Now this begs the question...how couldnt the WRs get open when in single coverage? and why couldnt Brady hit them? Well Moss would always be double covered so that left Edelman, Galloway and Watson in single coverage...it looked like Edelman was the only one who could get open.

The reason Brady didn't get sacked was because he got rid of the ball before anyone got to him. Remember Matt Cassel last season, he got sacked numerous times because he was unwilling to unload the ball unless he was set.

Personally I'd have had both Taylor and Maroney in for a lot of downs to combat the blitz. Welker is a huge loss, even though Edelman got good yardage he is not WW, he would have had huge yards after the catch on a couple of occasions. As I said I'm a huge fan of Edelman, look at my season predictions and I have him down to be our best rookie this season. He just isn't ready yet, by the middle of the season I expect to see him and Welker both on the field regularly.

The other big loss is Josh McDaniels, the play calling seemed too pass orientated and cautious.

Hynzie

Kenny Philips out for the year for the Giants. Big loss for the G Men