RANDOM THOUGHTS

What's Happening in the NFL

 

As the Green Bay Packers rest their battered bodies and prepare to return after their bye week against the Detroit Lions we take stock of the state of the NFL

The Pack hit the break at 6 -3, not a bad record at all. But it pales in comparison to last season’s pillaging and plundering and the weight of a potential unbeaten season became more of a burden than a blessing. 6 – 3 puts the Pack in not only a good position but they can now dictate their own season as the Bears laid an egg against Houston.

Speaking of which the Bears have 2 losses and the Texans only one. Houston beat the Bears in the slop in Chicago. The other losses endured by the Bears and the Texans have been epic butt kickings administered by the Packers. Call it rock, paper, scissors.

Yeah, yeah, yeah… the Packers record is really 7 – 2. It should be 8 – 1. It could have been 9 – 0. Somewhere in Seattle Pete Carroll and Golden Tate are still smiling smugly and feeling pretty cocky about stealing one away. How about a rematch, say in the playoffs?

Jay Cutler is unimpressive. He has shown the ability to shred a lousy team and to stink the joint out against a strong one. We have yet to see him perform some derring-do against a quality opponent.

Aaron Rodgers is impressive. He is putting MVP numbers back up this year even though he has been ‘inconsistent’. We would all love to be that ‘inconsistent’.

Green Bay plays 4 divisional games in the next 5 weeks with the odd game being against the Giants. They are already 1 -0 in the division and the importance of these games cannot be underscored enough.

Tampa Bay’s rookie RB Doug Martin has won the NFL’s best nickname award and it isn’t even close. After his whopping 251 yard/ 4 TD game the former Boise St. fireplug at 5’9” and 215 Martin will soon have everyone referring to him as the “Muscle Hamster”. THAT is a great nickname – even if Martin hates it.

How can the Kansas City Chiefs be so… lousy? They are not just a bad team they are a mess from the top on down. They have talent in Tamba Hali and Justin Houston and Eric Berry, but they haven’t led a game in the regular season until game #9 against Pittsburgh. It didn’t help; they gave the game away in overtime. Maybe they should think about finally drafting a real QB and not a glorified retread backup in Matt Cassell.

How can the Philadelphia Eagles be so… lousy? They have holes that a bus could fit through. Yes, injuries have decimated their offensive line. But they are so dedicated to the pass with a very shaky Michael Vick at the helm that their best weapon on offense, RB LeRon ‘Shady’ McCoy, is the forgotten man. It looks as if DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin et.al. are just mailing it in now. They vastly over paid for Nnamdi Asomugha, the defensive line is aging and slow and they just gassed their offensive line coach who was moonlighting as a defensive coordinator. Both the Eagles and Chiefs are painful to watch. Let the Nick Foles era begin.

Many Packer faithful were up in arms when the name Jordy Nelson was selected ahead of DeSean Jackson. The votes are all in now. The Eagles can keep Jackson, at least until he can fly the coop for big bucks elsewhere. All Nelson has done is to become a genuine homerun threat every time he touches the ball.

The Packers have been widely regarded as having the one of if not the best receiving group in the NFL. But if there are a better 3 than Roddy White, Julio Jones and Tony Gonzalez in Atlanta please step forward. Small wonder Matty Ice is having a career year in the Georgia Dome.

The pink slips waiting to be tacked on the coaching wall is making the NFL look like a clearance sale at Victoria’s Secret. Andy Reid (Philly), Rex Ryan (New York Jets), Romeo Crennel (KC), Jason Garrett (Dallas), Mike Munchak (Tennessee), Ron Rivera (Carolina), Ken Wisenhunt (Arizona), Chan Gailey (Buffalo),  Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati) and Norv Turner (San Diego) all hear the Turk coming down the hall. Even Detroit’s Jim Schwartz hears footsteps. Our money is on Reid, Garrett, Turner and Crennel as mortal locks for the unemployment line.

Andy Reid is a good coach. He just has a thing for athletic running QB’s that cannot win the big one. He lands on his feet somewhere and the change of scenery will do him good. We wish him well.

Someone please explain how suspended Saints coach Sean Payton gets suspended for a year and as a result has his contract extension declared null and void and he now finds himself a very attractive free agent coach. Jerry Jones is slobbering all over himself. Drew Brees cannot be happy.

There are an awful lot of former head coaches back in the assistant coach ranks now. Mike Tice, Jim Haslett, Marty Morninweg, Josh McDaniel, Dave Wannstedt, Todd Haley, Dom Capers, Mike Nolan, Cam Cameron, Jack Del Rio, proving once again what goes around gets rehired somewhere else.

In case anyone has not yet noticed the best young kicker in the game is in St. Louis in the form of rookie Greg “The Leg” Zuerlein. He has a bigger leg than the Raiders Sebastian Janikowski and that is no joke. Write this down – someday that kid will knock a 70 yarder through.

Jim Harbaugh makes a lot of noise about San Francisco being the class of the NFC. They have a terrific defense and a great running game. But to win in the playoffs every team needs a passing game. The 49ers do not have a strong enough one. Randy Moss is running on fumes and a fading reputation, free agent Mario Manningham got the big bucks but left his best game in New York and Michael Crabtree has been nothing short of inconsistent. TE Vernon Davis can’t shoulder the burden alone.

The Bills spent megamillions on defense. Mario Williams was thought to be the missing piece. Think again. Call it what it is, an Epic Fail.

The wild spending on free agency done by other teams only hammers the point home at how good a GM and draft day manager Ted Thompson really is. He went after defense on his first 6 picks and with the exception of Terrell Manning who has seen only special teams duty the other 5 – DL Jerel Worthy and Mike Daniels, OLB Nick Perry, CB Casey Hayward, and S Jerron MacMillian - have all contributed mightily.

The injury bug that has bitten the Packers is a familiar but unwelcome visitor. WR Greg Jennings is still not yet back. OLB Clay Matthews may miss some time now. RB Cedric Benson is not eliglbe until week 14.  RT Bryan Bulaga has been IR’d now with a hip injury to join rookie OLB Nick Perry who has been lost to the IR with a wrist injury. Or a knee. Maybe an ankle. It all depends on what the brass wants the other teams to believe. Maybe the injury bug could fly south and stay in say, Chicago for a while? We hear there are some nice hotels there.

Casey Hayward is on a fast track to becoming the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year. Sam Shields is getting nervous.

Andrew Luck is the Offensive Rookie of the Year. Peyton Who?? Indy is making noise and after a fire sale at the end of a 1 win season they have restocked the shelves and rearmed themselves for a long time in Luck.

No such luck in DC. RGIII is good but has little around him. Rookie RB Alfred Morris is the surprise breakout but Mike Shanahan has that “torch the barn and run off the rats” look in his eye. Look for sweeping changes in the offseason, players and coaches alike. DC Jim Haslett will be the first to find out that Shanny changes coaches as frequently as he changes underwear.

It is good to see both Peyton Manning and the Colts make out on their separation. Both the Broncos and Colts made out in the deal and Manning is a class act the game needs. The Colts are on the way back and Denver’s D makes them the team to beat in the AFC west. Of course, they win that division by default. 6 games against Kansas City, San Diego, and Oakland?

Who would have ever thought Eli Manning would have more Super Bowl rings than his big brother?

The balance of power in the NFL has swung decidedly to the NFC. The AFC has the Texans and Ravens and an awful lot of interchangeable mediocrity, the Patriots included. Count the Falcons, Bears, Packers, 49ers and Giants among the best in the biz.

As good as the Texans have become whoever the genius was that thought so little of Trindon Holliday as to cut him ought to get a good swift kick in the seat of his pants because Holliday is a Devin Hester type return nightmare for the Broncos. And he came in at just above the league minimum.

We had predicted them Packers D would be a work in progress. The results are now showing up. Last year the D was the worst in the game. This year it is 12^th with a bullet and by the end of the year Green Bay will have a Top 10 defense.

Guess who leads the NFL in sacks? Yep – Green Bay.

The Bears defense is for real. Scary good. Charles Tillman is having his best year and Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs have made rookie Shae McClellan’s first year a lot easier, and he has made their jobs easier as well.

The Bears offense is led by Cutler. He along with Michael Vick are the most overrated QB’s in the game. But Tony Romo, Philip Rivers and Mark Sanchez are in the mix.

Who saw the Vikings doing this well so far? Or the Lions tanking badly? Megatron has been held in check and the Lions continue to be their own worst enemies while Minny’s balloon is falling back to earth.

Remember Lance Easley, the part time replacement ref that screwed… oops… made the infamous erroneous call in Seattle? We do too. Color us vindictive but we hope Santa Claus takes a good, healthy dump in his stocking this year.

The replacement hangover has affected the real refs. Can anyone recall so many head scratching “WTF???” replay calls this year?

The relationship between Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy has to be one of the best in the game. Only Tom Terrific and Bill Belichick in New England are in the same breath. What we are talking about here is mutual respect and one forged not by confrontation but each man understanding and respecting the job the other has to do. Look at it another way – would Tom Coughlin most likely listen to Eli or go off like Roman candle?

Every game that passes Mike McCarthy becomes a better coach. There were serious doubts in the beginning, but there is no doubt in MM’s ability to lead, inspire, be creative and do it in an understated way. Any man who does not cave in to the venal feelings and remaining publicly composed enough to face the media immediately after having a win literally stolen away from his team earns the highest marks for class and dignity under fire. And we have also seen MM tear right into a ref who has done him wrong. Just don’t ask him to talk about it later. He won’t. Respect.

And finally, it may be petty but we really hope that during the Halloween Trick or Treat night some little hooligan set fire to a bag of doggie doo, dropped it on Lance Easley’s porch, rang the bell and then ran away.