Err, umm, ooops

by Andy | Sep 21, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

So, you know that post I wrote last week about the Packers first nationally-televised game since Brett Favre was traded, umm, oops.

I’ll blame it on being a Vikings fan and blocking out the opening night Monday night game. And on not being able to actually watch that game.

But it ranks among the dumbest mistakes I’ve made not only since co-starting Zoneblitz, but since getting into the journalism profession in the first place.

Normally I wouldn’t do a post just to bring attention to a mistake. But I deserve any and all ridicule that comes along with this one. To the league-mate that pointed out this humiliating error on our league web site – I’d say good catch, but it was such a blatantly obvious screw-up … nonetheless thanks for pointing it out and subjecting me to the ridicule that I so richly deserve.

So, this game between Green Bay and Dallas – the second prime-time, nationally-televised game since Brett Favre got traded – should provide the NBC announcing team with plenty of opportunities to get nauseatingly reminiscent … bah. Nevermind. A post like that just doesn’t carry any weight after a mistake like that.

“It’s always special when you go to Green Bay”

by Andy | Sep 14, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

I’ve got a dollar that says ESPN and the rest of the national pundits spend the next week fawning over next week’s Sunday night game.

Not that the Dallas Cowboys visit to Lambeau Field for a game against Green Bay isn’t a big game. It definitely shapes up as a key game, even at this early date.

But both Al Michaels and John Madden left me queezy as they signed off of NBC Sports’ coverage of tonight’s Sunday Steelers/Browns tilt by gushing about the “special”ness of every trip to Green Bay.

Next week will also be the first nationally-televised Packers regular season, prime-time game since Brett Favre was traded to New York. So I’ve got another dollar that says the Favre-less Packers-fest hype gets nauseating coverage as well.

Hopefully the announcers all realize that this game can stand alone on merit alone without much of the soap operatic side stuff. If Dallas beats Philly Monday both teams will be heading into the game undefeated. While it’s too early to say, it could ultimately be a game we look back at in December as having had playoff implications.

Hopefully it can do so without forcing many of us to run repeatedly to the bathroom with swooning-announcing-induced vomiting.

Denver on a roll; Vikings offense toast

by Andy | Sep 14, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

Two weeks into the season the NFL is just getting started. But I’ve drawn some preliminary conclusions based on what I’ve seen so far.

First, Denver is a lot better than I expected. The defense still needs some work, as witnessed by today’s 39-38 win over San Diego. But while last week’s 41 point explosion against Oakland could have been chalked up to simply playing a bad team, the Chargers, even sans Shawne Merriman, still harbor a legitimate defense.

Jay Cutler looks fantastic. He’s thrown for 650 yards and six touchdowns with just one interception thus far. Last week rookie wideout Eddie Royal stepped up in Brandon Marshall’s stead for a huge day. Today Marshall returned to catch the second most passes in a game in NFL history and Tony Scheffler chipped in with two touchdowns and six catches.

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Week one shows possible shift in balance of power

by Andy | Sep 10, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

Heading into last season I thought the New England Patriots were the clear, far-and-away best team in the NFL – and while we weren’t doing the blog at that point, I still have the Las Vegas betting slip I bought in July picking them to win the Super Bowl as proof.

As this season began I didn’t have as clear a feeling but I did believe that the league’s top three – maybe four – teams resided in the AFC. In addition to the Patriots, I would have included San Diego, Indianapolis and maybe Jacksonville at the top of my list in front of all of the NFC teams.
Week one shot some major holes in that theory.

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Chargers short-handed at linebacker early on

by Andy | Aug 29, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

The San Diego Chargers will start the season short-handed at linebacker, a unit that generally is looked at as a team strength.

In addition to a less than full strength Shawne Merriman, who decided that he will play despite four doctors telling him he needs surgery to reconstruct two torn ligaments, the team will miss Stephen Cooper, who will serve a four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s banned stimulants policy.

The Chargers do have some depth. Derek Smith, a 12-year veteran, will step in for Cooper, who has said he ingested a banned substance through a nutritional supplement, according to the North County Times.

San Diego also catches a break, catching Carolina and the New York Jets at home while traveling to Denver and Oakland during the first month of the season. The Chargers should emerge from that quartet of games no worse than 2-2 and probably 3-1 or undefeated. But these losses make that fast start a tougher one to get.