One of the main reasons for the greatness of spectacle that is the National Football League is in the simple fact that the entire season is played, essentially, on 17 days.\u00a0 While other sports’ seasons play out as one long 6-month marathon, the NFL season seems to just be an aggregation of 16 three-hour wind sprints over the course of 17 weeks.\u00a0 And, this simple difference accentuates interest in the NFL because every week is so incredibly important that aside from “gameday,” even us fans need 4-5 days leading up to an NFL game to prepare ourselves\u00a0for the upcoming game,\u00a0and 2-3 days to digest what happened.\u00a0\u00a0While the daily storylines in other sports often seem incredibly over-dramatized, considering the level of true impact on a season that one game actually has, daily storylines in the NFL cannot possibly be so because each game can\u00a0be (and often is) season-changing.\u00a0 So, for each week (or each week that I get a chance), I want to run down some of the storylines that caught my interest from the week that was around the league – obviously, with some always welcome Eagle-centricism thrown in from time to time.<\/p>\n
It was Unsurprising that the Unsurprising Good Outweighed the Unsurprising Bad<\/strong> The Sunday Night Game: Two Polar Opposite QBs Doing What They Each Do Best<\/strong> How Scary Good Did They Look?<\/strong> Not to be Outdone<\/strong> Am I the Only One That Think Shanahan Knows What He’s Doing?<\/strong> Let’s Slow Down a Little Here<\/strong> One of the main reasons for the greatness of spectacle that is the National Football League is in the simple fact that the entire season is played, essentially, on 17 days.\u00a0 While other sports’ seasons play out as one long … Continue reading
\nWhy not start with our Birds (and a very confusing heading…)?\u00a0 This team is stacked – there is no question about that.\u00a0 However, if there were concerns (which there always <\/em>are in the NFL), those concerns had to be about the linebackers (and run-stopping ability) and the offensive line.\u00a0 Sunday’s game with the Rams (which I actually thought the Birds would lose) showed that we were all right in worrying about those two things.\u00a0 The Rams ran all over the Eagles D and did so mostly after losing their bellcow back, Steven Jackson.\u00a0 If you’re one of those people that went into the game terrified of Casey Matthews\u00a0& Company in the middle of the field, you certainly didn’t find any relief on Sunday.\u00a0 On the other side of the ball, the big question was the offensive line.\u00a0 While “short-armed” Todd Herramans played really well in his first game at right tackle, the O-line gave all its doubters more ammo and more reason for concern about the health of our small, sometimes reckless superstar quarterback.\u00a0 However, all of these “warts” were totally overshadowed (as many people believed they would be) by the fact that this team is absolutely loaded to the gills with talent all over the field on both sides of the ball.\u00a0 Michael Vick was dynamic; DeSean Jackson was uncoverable; the three-headed monster at secondary looked extraordinary, despite an uncharacteristic pass interference penalty on the Great Nnamdi; and, the reworked D-line got into the Rams backfield time and time again.\u00a0 While the Birds didn’t exactly beat the best the league has to offer on Sunday, they did win a game on the road against a well-coached and up-and-coming team.\u00a0 Not that this comes as a surprise, but I think one of the things to watch for most this season is the Eagles performance in the first quarter.\u00a0 This defense is completely built for playing with a lead.\u00a0 When they can turn their ears back and rush the QB, relying on a ridiculous secondary to make plays, they are going to be nightmare to attack.\u00a0 But, we are still unsure whether or not this team is (or even will be) able to dig in and make a stop against a smashmouth rushing offense working on grinding the clock to protect a lead.<\/p>\n
\nOne thing struck me as I watched the Cowboys-Jets Sunday night game.\u00a0 Despite having a similar flair for attracting the off-the-field media attention, Tony Romo and Mark Sanchez are pretty much polar opposites of each other as quarterbacks.\u00a0\u00a0Before I really thought about it, I viewed Romo as a terrific\u00a0quarterback who gets a bad rap.\u00a0 On the flip side, I definitely saw Mark Sanchez as adequate, at best<\/em>, and as receiving far too much attention for his on-the-field performance.\u00a0 But, I figured out Sunday night that that assessment really goes against pretty much everything I believe in when it comes to sports.\u00a0 Despite the pretty face and the GC photoshoots, everything that Sanchez does on the field is ugly.\u00a0 Romo, on the other hand, calmly escapes pressure and throws beautiful balls up and down the field to a variety of different receivers.\u00a0 However, while Sanchez could throw five straight bad balls, he always steps up in the under durress on third-and-nine type situations.\u00a0 What does Romo do in the fourth quarter of close games?\u00a0 He fumbles snaps and throws ghastly INTs.\u00a0 Magnify the moment with the playoffs, and you have even more evidence of this.\u00a0 Sanchez wins ugly<\/em>; Romo loses pretty<\/em>.\u00a0 Gimme the former to play on my team.<\/p>\n
\nI know this was almost a week ago now, but if you’re the fan of an NFC team that played on Sunday, how scared are you of the two quarterbacks that opened the season back on Thursday in Lambeau Field?\u00a0 Rodgers and Brees made running an NFL offense look trivial.\u00a0 Honestly, I started to think to myself “wow, did the lockout just kill all defensive tactics?”\u00a0 But, no, probably not.\u00a0 These guys are just that <\/em>good.<\/p>\n
\nSo Rodgers and Brees were terrific, right?\u00a0 And, we heard about if for four days, right?\u00a0 Well, there is one guy that is actually terrific – Tom Terrific – and he kind of made a statement last night shutting up those that actually had the audacity to think that someone else in the league may have caught him.\u00a0 Nope, the throne is still yours, Mr. Brady, I never doubted it.<\/p>\n
\nI clearly am not a fan of the Washington Redskins.\u00a0 In fact, I hate everything about them with a passion.\u00a0 But, I have been a pretty big Shanahan defender since he got there (about everything except <\/em>the Haynesworth debacle, but that’s another story).\u00a0 And, I defended his choice of quarterbacks.\u00a0 I believe that the job of a professional athlete is to win ballgames.\u00a0 And, as pretty much anyone will confess, the quarterback of a football team has more to do with a team’s season-long success than any other position in sports (considering that a starting pitcher, who admittedly may affect individual games more,\u00a0only pitches 1 out of every 5 games).\u00a0 So, why do we all love guys like Matt Schaub and Daunte Culpepper, but can’t stand the Vince Youngs and Rex Grossmans of the world?\u00a0 I don’t get it.\u00a0 Grossman is 31-17 as a starting quarterback, including a Super Bowl run.\u00a0 And, it’s not like he has been throwing to Andre Johnson, Cris Carter, or Randy Moss in any of his various stops (you know, other than the 1 game he started as Schaub’s backup last year).\u00a0 I’m not saying the Skins are headed to the Super Bowl, but Shanahan may not be the grumpy old man he was made out to be last year.<\/p>\n
\nYes, Cam Newton just broke the rookie debut passing record held by Peyton Manning.\u00a0 And, I recognize that no one in their right mind is honestly comparing him to the great Peyton.\u00a0 And, yes, Cam looked pretty darn good (and poised) on Sunday.\u00a0 But, let’s not get crazy here.\u00a0 He did it against the Arizona Cardinals defense that lost their best d-back this offseason.\u00a0 And, they didn’t even win the game.\u00a0 Let’s hold off judgement a little bit on Cam’s Canton induction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"