Sorry about the long delay, folks: school, as you ywould think, is taking up the majority of my time, thus the lack of posts last month, and probably this month as well. I've stated a new column at B&D called Thoughts From the NFL. every Tuesday, i'm going to give my analysis from the biggest games from around the NFL, the playmakers, and the stories that are making waves in professional football. Weeks one, two and four are already up, so let me start it off with thoughts from Week Five.
* I don't know what to say, or where to start with the Chargers. This is the fourth consecutive time San Diego has started 2-3 under Norv Turner. What fustrates me as a fan is that 3 of the 5 losses came agains shit-kicker teams like the Chiefs, Seahawks, and now the Raiders. Our Special Teams unit is a mess, as they've made guys like Leon Washington (Seattle) and Dexter McCluster (Kansas City) look like the next Devon Hester and Darren Sproles by comparison. Next week is a revived St. Louis team, and their star rookie QB, Sam Bradford, again on the road. I haven't been a staunch defender of Turner, but if his team loses next Sunday, and the Bolts miss the playoffs, I can honestly say that no fan will want to go to a Charger game until Norv is removed from his post.
* If there's one thing that infuritates me more than the Chargers handing a win to Raiders, its how far the Dallas Cowboys have fallen this year. It's not just the that excessive celebration penalty that Jason Whitten got flaggged for wich cost the team yards on their kickoff in the 4th quarter, it's how badly the D played agianst Vince Young. It's the stupid and penalty-killing drives that Tony Romo's been producing. (the holding call with 03 seconds left in the season opener vs. Washington and yesterday's fiasco.) It's been costly turnovers. The talk coming out of Dallas was that this was a Super Bowl Contender, that Jerry Jones's team would be the first in NFL history to host the big game in their house. They're far from it, and, like the Chargers, they need to quickly find themselves.
* We're five weeks into the season, and they're isn't a clear favorite. Teams like Dallas, San Diego, Indy, and New Orleans are all struggling and/or dealing with injuries. Minnesota is 1-3, even with Randy Moss back with the Vikings. Kansas City is a surprising 3-1, but they have a young Secondary and an average QB that will come back to earth late in the season. The Texans, at 3-2, are the real deal but I don't see them beating the Colts twice. You could make the case that the Steelers are probably the favorites, based on a healthy Troy Polamalu and the return of Big Ben after serving a 4 game suspsension, or on the Jets, with the stellar defense, and continuing growth of Mark Sanchez. There's just hasn't been a big game where you can clearly see a favorite.
* Speaking of the Vikings, after the Jets win over the Vikings 29-20 last night, is it fair to say that Minnesota's dead, and that Farve should have stayed on his farm in Missisippi, doing whatever it is Brett does in his spare time (other than sending pics of his "junk" to women in the locker room)?
