Necessary Roughness, Week 3: Victory, Not Beauty
Howdy folks! This week I’m comin’ atcha from Amsterdam, which happens to be one of my favorite cities in all of Europe. It was a beautiful day outside, I ate copious amounts of delicious falafel, the show was awesome, and above all else the wifi at the venue was killer so I was able to watch some football! BTBAM bassist Dan Briggs and I celebrated his 31st birthday in style, not by fornicating with a prostitute in the Red Light District, but instead by watching the Carolina Panthers remain undefeated as they beat divisional foe New Orleans. Granted, the Saints were without Drew Brees, but as Luke McCown said in that Verizon ad (which is great commercial by the way), all a backup needs is a chance. Man, that 1st quarter was ugly for Carolina. McCown looked like a future Hall of Famer as he torched the Panthers defense, dominating the time of possession. Carolina was lucky to go into halftime with the score tied, setting the stage for Cam Newton in the second half. He is a one man wrecking crew on offense, and without him we’d be in serious trouble. It wasn’t a pretty win but I’ll take it. 3-0 baby!!
Elsewhere in the league Giants are relieved, if not stoked, to see Eli and company land their first win of the season. They actually looked pretty good Thursday night, starting the game with a safety on a blocked punt. Manning was solid, throwing for just under 300 yards with no turnovers and NYG was able to maintain a lead for once this year. Kirk Cousins did what Kirk Cousins normally does, which is throw for a lot of yards but have multiple costly turnovers. That, coupled with a Matt Jones fumble in the 4th quarter, spoiled any chance of Washington coming away with a victory.
The Indianapolis Colts finally won a game, but it wasn’t exactly a slam dunk. Andrew Luck still doesn’t look like himself thus far in the season, and if not for some costly turnovers by rookie QB Marcus Mariota, the Colts could easily be a winless team.
A couple other tidbits:
The 49ers are a damn mess, and Arizona might be on of the best teams in the league right now. I really love the balance in their offense, and if Carson Palmer can stay healthy, this team is in it for the long haul.
Adrian Peterson eviscerated the Chargers’ run defense, helping to hand San Diego its second loss of the young season. With Oakland playing better this year, San Diego really needs to get some momentum happening if they want to make waves in the AFC West. Quietly, and with no real QB under center, the Vikings are 2-1. I doubt they can keep up with the Packers in the North but the Lions and Bears are both 0-3. And the Bears may not win a game all damn year. I can tell you from experience, Jimmy Pickles is not the answer at quarterback. It’s going to be a long season in Chicago.
Dallas finally lost a game, but it wasn’t for lack of offense. The Cowboys defense just got annihilated by the juggernaut that is the Atlanta Falcons. Devonta Freeman had a field day, and Matt Ryan and Julio Jones looked like they were playing flag football at the YMCA. The Falcons are a really good football team, and defenses around the league better be on high alert when Matt Ryan and company come to town. This team can absolutely score points.
Thanks to a punt return by Darren Sproles, and 3 INTs by Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Eagles are officially in the win column.
Tom Brady goes into the record books…again, throwing his 400th career TD pass as the Patriots made short work of the Jags.
Big Ben is out for probably 6 weeks. Steelers are in trouble.
And finally, I’m impressed with Buffalo Bills. With two impressive wins so far, and their only loss being a relatively close game to the Patriots, I could see this team making a run at a wild card. We will see how it all plays out as the season progresses. The next 6 weeks see the Bills matched up with the Giants, Titans, Bengals, Jags, Dolphins, and Jets. All winnable games. By the midpoint of the season, these guys could easily be 7-1.
That’s it for me folks. I’m off to Hamburg.
