Week 14 Analysis: New Orleans @ Atlanta

December 11th, 2007 1:51 am
by Big Dog

I’m not 100% sure what it means when the Monday Night Football team (Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Tony Kornheiser) spend most of the night NOT talking about the game, instead talking non-stop about Michael Vick’s 23 month sentence.

There’s no question that the news about Vick is big, and that it’s directly related to the performance of the Atlanta Falcons this season. That said, there was a game of football going on and while most of the good people of Atlanta chose to stay home, that doesn’t mean this game didn’t have anything riding on it. In particular, this game was a must win for the New Orleans Saints as they struggle to make the playoffs.

Saints QB Drew Brees had another good day, continuing to build on his solid reputation with 28 of 41 for 328 yards, 3 TD. He shared the ball around, his touchdown passes going to three different receivers, and made several good plays, scrambling when necessary and absorbing some good hits along the way. WR David Patten and WR Marques Colston came away with nine receptions each and S Roman Harper returned an interception for a TD. Overall New Orleans looked like a strong team with the right mixture of desperation and determination to make their run into the playoffs and perhaps even go a little further. Head Coach Sean Payton certainly demonstrated his aggressive style on the night and it was absolutely clear that he has this team in the right frame of mind to complete their mission. Watch out for the Saints.

It was also interesting to watch Falcons QB Chris Redman starting and running the game tonight, as Atlanta continue to experiment with their roster. Redman had a good night completing 23 of 40 for 298 yards, 2 TD and an INT. WR Michael Jenkins was his favourite target of the night with 9 receptions for 83 yards and a TD. RB Jerious Norwood had a lacklustre night with 6 carries for 21 yards. Right now the Falcons are clearly a team holding some genuine talent, but they are struggling to draw together as a team. One can only hope that with Vick’s sentence now handed down, the Falcons can finally and truly put this saga behind them and get on with being a competitive football team. The talent’s there, the team just needs to unite behind a QB and a plan, then the Falcons will get their chance to be great.

Posted in Chris Redman, Tony Kornheiser, Atlanta Falcons, Ron Jaworski, Michael Vick, Sean Payton, Jerious Norwood, Michael Jenkins, Roman Harper, David Patten, Mike Tirico, Monday Night Football, NFL on television, ESPN, Analysis, Game, New Orleans Saints, NFL Franchises/Teams, NFL Coaches, Drew Brees, NFL Players, NFL | No Comments »

Week 13 Analysis: New England @ Baltimore

December 4th, 2007 1:25 am
by Big Dog

First things first, the Baltimore Ravens defense dominated much of this game. On offense, RB Willis McGahee earned his money and then some, as he carried major responsibility for a Ravens strategy that included keeping the New England Patriots offense of the field for as long as possible.

Baltimore led this game from the early stages and were managing to stay in front as the Patriots were at best only able to equalise. Each time they did that the Ravens came back to score with confidence and QB Kyle Boller did an excellent job of making some critical passes in the face of tough pressure from the Patriots pass rush.

The Ravens have been renowned for their defense for years and tonight that squad’s skill and experience showed as they limited the Patriots and managed to apply significant pressure to New EnglandQB Tom Brady, sacking him several times. Importantly, they were twice able to hold the Patriots to field goals and maintain a lead. In the end the Ravens defense still had to spend a lot of time on the field and the toll of their workload was showing in the latter stages of the fourth quarter.

New England’s final drive was what decided the game. The Patriots took possession with a little over three minutes left on the game clock and were moving downfield. The Ravens had held the Patriots to 4th and 1 on the Baltimore 30 with just under two minutes to go. The Ravens sideline called a timeout just before the ball was snapped and as the play was whistled off, the Ravens defense stopped the play for what would have been a turnover on downs if the timeout hadn’t been called.

After the reset, the Ravens again stopped the following play for a turnover on downs, but a flag on the play called a false start on the Patriots offense for 4th and 6. Brady scrambled for the 1st down on the following play.

That series of plays was decisive. After investing nearly 60 full minutes of emotional, mental and physical energy, the Ravens defense just imploded. The rest of the drive was dogged by penalty calls against the Ravens. Every time that the Ravens defense got the upper hand, there was another call that let the Patriots off the hook. The frustration was tangible.

The Patriots snatched the lead with a passing TD to TE Benjamin Watson, that will live in infamy for Baltimore fans as Watson held the ball in the fingertips of both hands for the completion. The play was reviewed by the booth and upheld, on replay it clearly was a caught pass.

Kyle Boller and the Ravens offense made a huge effort to race back down the field in the final minute and try to either get into field goal range to tie the game or make the long play for a TD and win. The final play of the game was an awe-inspiring 52 yard shot from Boller to WR Mark Clayton who was on the 2 yard line and unable to make it to the endzone.

In the end, Baltimore’s troubled season continued and the pressures within the team once again boiled over. On the other hand, the Patriots stayed cool and committed to the end, making the plays when the plays needed to be made. This is two weeks in a row that the Patriots have been tested and both times they have passed. The Patriots aren’t without their weaknesses, but nobody has yet been able to make New England’s weaknesses overcome their strengths.

Posted in Baltimore Ravens, Monday Night Football, Willis McGahee, Kyle Boller, Mark Clayton, Benjamin Watson, Tom Brady, New England Patriots, Analysis, Game, NFL on television, NFL Franchises/Teams, NFL Players, NFL | No Comments »

Week 13 Analysis: Cincinatti @ Pittsburgh

December 3rd, 2007 1:20 am
by Big Dog

It was another wet night at Heinz Field as the Pittsburgh Steelers played host to the Cincinnati Bengals. Even with the rain, the field was in much better condition than last Monday night, and this made for a much more eventful game.

In the early stages Cincinnati QB Carson Palmer and the Bengals looked to be in excellent form, despite the conditions, as they moved down the field smoothly and opened the scoring for both teams with a touchdown. While Palmer looked like he was handling the wet comfortably, Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger looked anything but comfortable. The ball was coming out of his hand in an awkward fashion with most of his early passes being high and wobbly.

The momentum shifted early in the second quarter as Roethlisberger found his rhythm and got into the flow of the game, leading the Steelers on a 67 yard drive that ended in a six yard dive from Roethlisberger to score Pittsburgh’s first TD. From there on Pittsburgh dominated the scoring, piling on a further 17 points that included two TD passes to FL Hines Ward that saw Ward passing the Steelers’ All Time team record for TD receptions.

In the end, the Steelers held on for the win, although it looked more comfortable than it was. Turnovers were a big part of the story and the only statistic where the Bengals performed better than the Steelers. Officially the Bengals had one turnover to the Steelers’ four. This figure doesn’t include the fumble by Steelers’ HB Willie Parker that was overturned after a challenge by Head Coach Mike Tomlin. It also doesn’t include the fumble by Parker that was ruled down by contact on the field and upheld after the challenge by Bengals Head Coach Marvin Lewis. It also doesn’t count the safety scored by the Bengals that was reversed by an illegal holding penalty and it doesn’t include the turnover on downs that the Bengals would have won late in the game which was also reversed by a penalty call.

For the Bengals the biggest issue is clearly team discipline, but we’ve all known that for years. Either Cincinnati will find a way to deal with this problem, or all their players will retire. It’s just a question of which happens first.

For the Steelers, Parker’s fumbling troubles have got to be a major concern coming into the business end of the season and given the current injury concerns surrounding Parker’s replacement HB Najeh Davenport. The question is, did Parker just have a bad night in bad conditions? Or is there a bigger problem? This is bound to be something that the New England Patriots will test next week.

Posted in Pittsburgh Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger, Cincinnati Bengals, Willie Parker, Hines Ward, Marvin Lewis, Mike Tomlin, Carson Palmer, NFL Coaches, NFL on television, Analysis, Game, NFL on NBC, NFL Franchises/Teams, New England Patriots, NFL Players, NFL | No Comments »

Week 13 Analysis: NYG @ Chicago

December 2nd, 2007 9:08 pm
by Big Dog

There’s no pretty way to say this. The Ney York Giants and their battling QB Eli Manning got lucky today. In a game where Manning was continuing his recent and struggling form with two interceptions and a lost fumble, he managed an unexpected fourth quarter comeback that will finally give fans and media in New York something positive to talk about. The best feature of Manning’s game was that he didn’t allow the pressure to get to him. He stayed focused on his job and waited for things to start working. This is a character trait that I’ve long admired in Eli, he copes very well with the additional scrutiny and pressure that is applied to him as a result of his big brother’s stellar career. Eli plays his game and he clearly has the mental toughness to win.

The conditions at Chicago’s Soldier Field were troublesome for both teams. With heavy rain in the morning, and swirling winds throughout the game, it was a difficult game for anyone to get going in the air. Even so, Chicago QB Rex Grossman put in an excellent effort in difficult conditions to complete 25 of 46 passes for 296 yards and a TD. That completion number looks low, but Grossman was especially impressive with his clock management and decision making within the final two minutes of both halves. Good clock management was a real feature of his work and he certainly demonstrated that despite his difficulties earlier in the season, this young QB’s still plenty to offer the Bears. The only consistent flaw in his game today was that he kept getting sacked (6 sacks this game) for big losses by dropping back to allow plays to develop. He should have realised earlier that the best way to beat the Giants’ pass rush (which applied no real pressure on the inside) was to step up into the pocket and buy an extra couple of seconds that way. Doing so would also afforded him better vision of the field.

So, in a simple quarterback comparison, Chicago should have won. As we all know there’s a lot more to football than that. I still believe that there are serious questions to be asked, not just of Eli Manning, but the entire Giants offense and especially Head Coach Tom Coughlin. Manning and his key receivers (WR Plaxico Burress, TE Jeremy Shockey and WR Amani Toomer) have being playing together for several years now and it needs to be asked why these guys haven’t built a better playing relationship. To all appearances they get on very well together and when things work, they work really well, but by now I’d be expecting to see these guys have a better feel and knowledge of what each other is doing on the field. That said, it also needs to be asked of Coach Coughlin, when the QB of the team is struggling with an offense that runs a very vertical passing system, why aren’t there more options in the New York playbook? Where are the mid-range passing plays? Where are the options and adjustments in game?

It’s clear that there are fundamental problems with the Giants offense, but I am unconvinced that the problem is with the players. I have a feeling that it might just be that the team doesn’t know what to do with the players they have. Until the Giants resolve these issues, the best they can hope for is these unconvincing and somewhat fortunate victories.

Posted in Plaxico Burress, NFL on FOX, NFL Coaches, Rex Grossman, Jeremy Shockey, Amani Toomer, Tom Coughlin, NY Giants, Chicago Bears, Analysis, Game, NFL on television, NFL Franchises/Teams, Eli Manning, NFL Players, NFL | No Comments »

Week 12 Analysis: Philadelphia @ New England

November 26th, 2007 1:24 am
by Big Dog

God bless Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles. I’ve written previously about how watching the New England Patriots just dominate football is boring. This week the Eagles demonstrated that New England aren’t untouchable.

The Eagles came to play with a clear plan, and for the most part were able to execute it well even though QB Donovan McNabb was out with an ankle injury and backup QB A.J. Feeley(27-42, 345 yards, 3 TDs, 3 INTs) was managing the game. Feeley did a magnificent job and even though the Eagles didn’t come away with the win, due mainly to a pair of interceptions from Feeley, it’s important to remember that for most of the game Feeley had better stats than New England QB Tom Brady 34-54, 380 yards, TD).

For the Eagles’ offense it was clear from early in the game that New England weren’t going to give any room deep or on the outside. This opened up the inside pass every time. In fact, this was a feature topic of conversation for John Madden and Al Michaels mostly because it was absolutely true for the whole of the game. Even when Philadelphia took the lead and New England’s defense was clearly struggling to contain them, the inside pass was always there for Feeley. In addition, Eagles RB Brian Westbrook had his typically solid game, making good, strong runs and critical receptions.

On defense, the Eagles were able to contain Patriots WR Randy Moss(5 receptions for 43 yards) and basically eliminate his impact on the game. This did open the game up for WR Wes Welker who managed an impressive 13 receptions for 149 yards. In truth, if it hadn’t been for Welker’s speed and effective route running, New England wouldn’t have been in this game at all.

The most frustrating aspect of the game for the Eagles were Feeley’s interceptions. The first came on his second play of the game and was returned by CB Asante Samuel for a TD. The Eagles dealt with that setback promptly, with a fantastic drive for their own TD. The second interception came in the late stages of the fourth quarter, as Philadelphia was 3 points down and trying to score for the win. Feeley (against all the experience and success of the game to this point) attempted the long throw to the outside corner of the endzone and once again Samuel took the pick. In the resulting drive, New England ate a lot of the clock and forced Philadelphia to burn their final timeout.

The Eagles got the ball back with 20 seconds on the clock, needing to make about 40 yards to be within FG distance. Once again, Feeley went for the outside throw, clearly trying to preserve time and ignoring the old football adage “take what they give you”. This time Patriots’ S James Sanders came away with the ball and that was the game.

This was one of the genuinely exciting Patriots games of the season and among other things provided an excellent demonstration of why Andy Reid is considered to be one of the best coaches in the league today. The Eagles came so very close to a truly remarkable upset win today, and in so doing, they have provided a blueprint for taking on New England that is bound to haunt the Patriots through the rest of the season.

Posted in John Madden, Andy Reid, NFL Coaches, Brian Westbrook, Al Michaels, Asante Samuel, James Sanders, Wes Welker, A.J. Feeley, Randy Moss, Tom Brady, NFL on television, Analysis, Game, NFL on NBC, NFL Franchises/Teams, New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles, NFL Players, NFL | No Comments »

Week 12 Analysis: Indianapolis @ Atlanta

November 23rd, 2007 12:34 am
by Big Dog

For a few, brief minutes at the beginning of this game, I thought that I was going to see something unexpected and unusual enough to make it worth enduring the commentary of Bryant Gumbel. He might be one of the most popular television presenters in America, but I submit to you that the word “genuflect” has no place in football commentary. Gumbel grumbles aside, the Atlanta Falcons offered some genuine excitement in the early stages of their showdown with the Indianapolis Colts as they took a 10-0 lead.

Atlanta QB Joey Harrington was looking like he might have finally found the rhythm he needed with his receivers. The Falcons strung together some good plays and made clear progress on offense. On defense they were able to disrupt the Colts offensive line, LB Michael Boley was a standout with 3 sacks in the first half. The Falcons’ penetration was definitely assisted by the fact that only two of the Indianapolis linemen were starting in their usual position.

That lasted for about as long as it took for Colts QB Peyton Manning to adjust to his reconfigured offensive line and then the Colts turned it on.

In no way was this a breakout game, but it didn’t need to be. The Colts played consistently, and intelligently, making good use of the field and exploiting key matchups effectively. Perhaps the best example of this is that Manning spent the whole night throwing to whoever Falcons CB DeAngelo Hall wasn’t covering. This in turn made it a tough night for rookie CB Chris Houston who must have felt like he’d done something to get on Manning’s bad side, the way he was being picked on. Still, there’s no better way to get experience at the elite level than to have one of the NFL’s elite QBs throw your way pretty much the entire game.

In the end, although the Falcons did have some great moments, this was always the Colts’ game.

Posted in Joey Harrington, Atlanta Falcons, Michael Boley, Chris Houston, DeAngelo Hall, Peyton Manning, NFL Players, Analysis, Game, NFL on television, Indianapolis Colts, NFL Franchises/Teams, NFL | No Comments »

Week 12 Analysis: New York Jets @ Dallas

November 22nd, 2007 10:29 pm
by Big Dog

First of all, make sure you catch up with Pro Set’s analysis of Green Bay @ Detroit here. It provides great insight into not only what happened in the game today, but also gives you a glimpse of what Green Bay will need to accomplish next week against Dallas.

Which brings us to what Dallas did today. Nobody could reasonably claim to be completely surprised by the dominance of the Cowboys this week, even after the New York Jets managed a surprise victory over Pittsburgh last week.

However, the keen observer won’t be fooled by the blowout indicated by the final score. The truth is that while Dallas QB Tony Romo had a great night and led the Cowboys to a comprehensive win, this game was more about defense than offense. Simply put, both of the Jets’ lines, defensive and offensive, were dominated.

In particular, the inability of the Jets’ O-Line to contain the pass rush meant that Jets’ QB Kellen Clemens spent most of the night trying to get passes away under immense pressure. Pressure led by the ever capable Dallas LB DeMarcus Ware, who broke through on several occasions and disrupted a lot of New York’s passing game. In addition, Dallas’ coverage was just better and was summed up nicely when CB Terence Newman returned an interception 50 yards for a TD late in the 2nd Quarter.

To make matters worse, it’s tough for any team that has to try and contain Romo, WR Terrell Owens and TE Jason Witten. The Jets’ did their best with this task, trying to pay special attention to Owens and Witten in coverage, while applying pressure in the pass rush. They did actually manage to break through and sack Romo three times, but it just wasn’t enough.

It sounds simple, but it’s true, you just can’t win football games if you can’t control the line of scrimmage. The Jets couldn’t, and so they didn’t.

For those who are waiting with great anticipation for the clash between the Cowboys and Packers next week, there are some points to take out of this game. The first of these is that the Cowboys can be disrupted. Owens was much quieter today than usual and clearly the special attention paid to him had an effect. He still took several crucial catches, including a late TD pass, but his overall numbers were much lower.

Secondly, Romo can be disrupted with good pass rushing. The Jets managed to get to him several times and in the end forced the Cowboys to make use of RB Julius Jones and RB Marion Barber to great effect.

All of this gives Green Bay hope for their meeting next week. It won’t be easy by any stretch, but if they can contain Owens and Witten in coverage, their D-Line might be able to drive the pressure needed to get to Romo. If they are successful at that, they’ll then need to do a much better job of containing the Cowboys’ running backs than the Jets did. In the end, Green Bay need to keep their offense on the field as long as possible, the best way to keep Romo, Owens, Witten, Jones and Barber out of the game is simply to leave them on the sidelines.

Posted in Jason Witten, Marion Barber, Julius Jones, Terence Newman, DeMarcus Ware, Kellen Clemens, New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, NFL on television, Analysis, Game, NFL Franchises/Teams, NFL Players, Terrell Owens, Tony Romo, NFL | No Comments »

NFL Week 11 Analysis: New England @ Buffalo

November 19th, 2007 12:36 am
by Big Dog

Look, the truth is that you’re not supposed to say things like this, but I’d be a liar if I didn’t tell you this now. Watching the New England Patriots march unchallenged through their season is boring. It’s just boring.

In case you don’t already know, here’s how most of every game goes: QB Tom Brady to WR Randy Moss, TD. Brady to Moss, TD. Brady to Moss, TD. Brady to Moss, TD.

Over and over again, it’s boring. It’s not that the Buffalo Bills are bad. It’s just that New England hasn’t met a team that’s really challenged them yet. This is scary for a number of reasons. The first of which is that it has everybody talking about a perfect season. The truth is, while that’s more possible from here than it was 11 weeks ago, it’s still a tall order. The next thing is that it’s building this mythology around the Patriots that’s almost as dangerous as their defense.

I think this is why Head Coach Bill Belichick and Brady bring such an obsessive nature to what they do. It’s clear that this attitude has influenced the whole team, which is after all exactly what a good coach should do. These guys are averaging over 40 points per game this season and aren’t looking like they’ll slow down and all they do when they get back to training is look at what they did wrong!

They’re as dominant defensively as they are offensively and the Patriots are committed to this idea of a season so good that it completely washes away that nasty aftertaste of the whole spying controversy. I don’t begrudge this team any of their success, it’s obvious that they’ve worked fanatically hard to achieve it. That said, the scariest question of all that is raised by their complete dominance at the moment is, what will happen when they finally meet a team that can really challenge them?

Sure, sure. You’re already thinking of the Dallas and Indianapolis games, but that’s not my point and it’s not what I asked. The team that’s going to challenge the Patriots this season is going to be the completely unexpected one. That’s the only way to do it. To suddenly be better, play better, do new, interesting and desperate things that nobody sane would try. You need to be a team like the Miami Dolphins with nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying the crazy stuff.

When the Patriots are beating everyone else by huge margins, nobody’s going to blame the Dolphins if they lose big but lose big by trying something different. If and when that finally happens, that’ll be a Patriots game worth watching because there’ll finally be some unpredictability and uncertainty in it.

Until then, Brady to Moss, TD. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Posted in Randy Moss, Tom Brady, NFL Coaches, Buffalo Bills, Bill Belichick, New England Patriots, NFL Players, Analysis, Game, Miami Dolphins, NFL on NBC, NFL Franchises/Teams, NFL | No Comments »

NFL Week 11 Analysis: Washington @ Dallas - Final

November 18th, 2007 9:23 pm
by Big Dog

The second half of this game was every bit exciting and eventful as expected. The early stages of the 3rd quarter were slow to start but things started to turn when Dallas Cowboys Head Coach Wade Phillips successfully challenged an INT by Washington Redskins LB Rocky McIntosh.

On the very next play, the Redskins were called for pass interference which turned it into a 51 yard play for the Cowboys. Dallas QB Tony Romo then completed a 31 yard TD pass to WR Terrell Owens.

That pattern continued for pretty much the rest of the game with Owens receiving all 4 of Romo’s touchdown passes, equalling a Cowboys team record for TD receptions in a game. Owens has also climbed to 3rd all time number of receptions. Romo is additionally on his way to setting a new team record for TD passes in a season.

All of this could lead the casual observer to assume that Dallas had a pretty easy/comfortable time of it, and that would be a mistake. The true story is that while Dallas did come away with the win, they didn’t particularly impress. At the end of the day, they did what everybody expected them to do, win at home. They really only got away with it because Owens managed to make Redskins CB Shawn Springs’ day a living hell.

It almost looked personal in a way. Springs wrestled Owens to the ground on his first reception of the day, and Owens took exception to being manhandled when he’d be forced back far enough that the play should have been called dead. To be fair to Springs, the whistle hadn’t blown and it was his job to keep going until it was blown. No flags on the play, but Owens was visibly emotional for the rest of the game and managed to make big breaks, confuse the Redskins coverage and give Romo enough room to make sure they both had a great day. Springs was meant to be covering TO most of the time, and TO worked hard to make sure he didn’t.

That said, the highlight performance of the game was definitely Washington QB Jason Campbell (33-54, 348yds, 2TD, INT). Campbell showed great patience, presence and poise in the pocket, waiting for plays to develop and executing under intense pressure, particularly from Dallas LB DeMarcus Ware. Campbell was especially good when the Redskins were working their hurry-up offense and seemed more comfortable with the rhythm of that part of the game.

All in all, it was an entertaining and tight game that bodes well for the future of the Redskins. The NFC is now shaping up to be quite a contest with the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys now both 9-1 for the season.

Posted in NFL on FOX, DeMarcus Ware, Denver Broncos, Jason Campbell, Washington Redskins, Shawn Springs, Rocky McIntosh, Wade Phillips, NFL Coaches, Green Bay Packers, NFL on television, Analysis, Game, NFL Franchises/Teams, NFL Players, Terrell Owens, Tony Romo, NFL | No Comments »

NFL Week 11 Analysis: Washington @ Dallas

November 18th, 2007 6:54 pm
by Big Dog

First half thoughts:

It’s been an interesting first half, with the improving fortunes of QB Jason Campbell helping to cement the Washington Redskins as early leaders. Washington scoring a TD on their first drive with Campbell completing 3 for 3, hitting TE Chris Cooley twice.

The Dallas Cowboys have struggled in the first half, especially with C Andre Gurode struggling to control his shotgun snaps. Once he has hit QB Tony Romo in the helmet (it deflected into the hands of RB Julius Jones, resulting in a loss of 2 and bringing up 4th down). Twice Gurode has snapped the ball clean over Romo’s head, both times Romo’s scrambled to recover the ball and got passes off. The first was an unfortunate INT caused by a deflection out of WR Terrell Owens’ hands. The second time, the ball again bounced well and sat up for Romo, who turned and fired a bullet to Owens for the first down.

Washington finished the half with a fast drive to find field goal range, burning all their timouts and spiking the ball with 4 seconds left on the clock, to set up a 45 yard FG. The half has finished with Washington leading 10-7, a scoreline that is somewhat flattering to the Cowboys.

That said, the second half is traditionally the Cowboys’ half, so we’ll see how they go.

Posted in NFL on FOX, Julius Jones, Jason Campbell, Washington Redskins, Andre Gurode, Chris Cooley, Dallas Cowboys, Terrell Owens, Analysis, Game, NFL on television, NFL Franchises/Teams, Tony Romo, NFL Players, NFL | No Comments »