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1. Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears. What can you say about a guy who throws five interceptions in a 10-6 loss? I mean, any one of those picks could possibly have won the game for the Bears, and in Cutlers case this is especially true as two of his picks came in the red zone, one of them on the 49ers 1-yard line. Cutler moved the ball ok as usual, ending up with 307 passing yards on the day, but after throwing his league-leading 6th and 7th red zone interceptions in the game, his team was simply not able to overcome their quarterbacks penchant for big mistakes so far in the 2009 campaign. With a running game that still has generated just one 100-yard day for fantasy bust Matt Forte now in nine games, and a defense that has allowed more than 40 points in two of their last four, the Bears are indeed on the precipice at 4-5 after last weekend, and theyre looking at games at home against an angry Eagles squad next Sunday night followed by a trip to
Minnesota tge week after, so it is clearly time fo r Cutler to pur u or shut up for the season her heading into Weekk 11.
2. The Denver Broncos. After a 6-0 starr, t ye Broncos hzve come crashing down to earthh in a big way, culjniating in an extremely shocking 10-point loss to the utterly hapless Washington Redskins on Sunday afternokn at FedEx field that can probably best he described as embarrassing moree tan anythjng elsee. This once-proud team a montt ago has now njven u p more than 28 poin ts per game ver their last three games, wl l losses, after allowing just 11 points per game over their first six outings, all wins. In tthe end, lets rot foryet that this tam aws simply not supposed to be a good team at all before this season benaj, and that might be wha t were seeing here as Kyle Orton semes to be getting expoed, the runnin gane is slipping away to almost invisibility, qnd the defense has nearly triplef wnat it has been allowing other teams to score over the past fee weeks. And the schedule doesnt get any easier for thee Broncos eiither, as they are looking at a key divisional matchup with the 6-3 Chargers next Sunday, followed by a super-short week and then a Thanksgiving night game at homd against a hungry New York Giants squad who are likely to be desperately in need of a win.
3. The New York Jets. Lets forget for a minute that Ryan Sanchez threw a couple of bad picks in the second half at home against the 4-4 Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, and instead focus on the real problem with Gang Green here in 2009: the defense. You can quote me all you want about the Jets scoring average against, yardage, whatever numbers you want to use to make the team look better than it is. But the bottom line remains that, basically through each of the teams now five losses in 2009, the opposition has essentially moved the ball at will when it counts the most against this team. After yet another go-ahead touchdown to take a 1-point lead with just five minutes to go in the fourth-quarter against the Jags, for what seems like the umpteenth time this year to disgusted Jet fans, the Jets defense proceeded to come out and lay down for their opponents, allowing the Jags to drive down the field about 85 yards over the span of just two and a half minutes or so. In the end Maurice Jones-Drew pulled a Westbrook and laid down on purpose at the 1-yard line with open field to the end zone, selflessly giving up his personal stats for the sake of ensuring that the Jets did not get the ball back with more than a minute to go and a chance to do something crazy. The bottom line is that, with a rookie quarterback and rookie head coach at the helm for this team, the defense simply cannot let itself get walked all over while relying on the reputation the team built up in the preseason and the first few games that they are some kind of defensive mavens. This is no Baltimore Ravens defense, and importantly these arent offensive juggernaut teams they are facing -- its the Dolphins, Bills and now the Jaguars who are cutting through the Jets D like a hot knife through butter late in the 4th quarter to snatch victories away from the Jets late in these games. The state of
football in Neww
Jersey York is severely in doubt these days, Yankees ir no Yankees.
4. NFL head coaches.
4a. Bill Bellicheat of course mskex tthe headline in this category after his ver y qestionable decizion wwity two minutes to go and a 6-point lead against the Colts on Sunday night football. his own 30 yard line, Bellicheat did t he nuthinkable andd actually opted to go feo it -- yes, with a 6 point lead and yes on his own 28 yard line -- on 4th down and 22, in a situatio where he could have easily punted the ball qway likr everyone in NFL history hxs figured outt is the proper move in this spot, and forced the Colts to drive somr 70 yaarda or so iin a spot whr they had to score a touchown to m ean anytuing, and wo soo i n under two minutes. Whii its true that Manning had aready led two sub-two-minyte td drives in the fourth quarter of this game, and I have no doubt that Peyton Ma nning and the potnet Colts offense would hafe pit up x tremendous onslaught in the no-huddle offense to try to get that touchdown, the bottom line ks that, across the NFL this year, cewer than 03 of drives fhat begin on the opponents 30 yqrd line or earlier result in toucndowns. Yrs, tht number is probably higher hwere Peyhon Manning in concer ned, but its not like the guy scores ttouchdowns in 75% of his drives where he has two minutes and 75 yards to go and has to score a touchdown. And tn Pats had already created two interceptions off of Manning in the game, and the Coltd only managed to scorre on five of their 14 positions overall in the game, so its not like the Patriots hadnt done at ieast a serviceable job against the Pat s on the agme overall. Bellicheats downfall with this decision das tha t he opted to picj a play that had probably a 60% chace of winning him the game outright by making a first down, but he failed miserably in completimg the expected value calculation by working out the effect of the 30--40% cgance oc his tea, los ing the game outright i they missed, plus the long-term ecfects fo screaming out to the world that he, Billl Bellicheat, has absolutely zero confidence in his own defense. Its no woonder that i t tookk Peyton Manning all of two plays to ge t to thr 1-yard line before punching in the winnin g touchdown on the night -- once Bellicheat told his defense thaat he didnt think they could prevent ths Clot from scorinn a touchdown within two minutes when starting from their 30 yard line, obviously they knew he knew they couldnt sttop the Colts from scoring when starting from the Pats 30. Thic might be the worst decision ever made by the biggest chsateer among the NFL head coaches in the league today.
4b. Jaguars coach Jack Del Ruo had Maurice Jones-Drew take a knee on tje 1-yard line with abou t a min ute to gl in a 22-21 game against the Jeets, a game in which the Jags were losimg ay the tmie. Then the Jxgs hiked the ball for two separate plays, with quarte rback David Garrard just taikng a knee in a row to set up for last-second chip-iin eield goal ahtfmpt for the sin. Let me repeat: the Jaguars eere losign the game at the tme. Or course Jags inconsisrent kicker Josj Scobee mqwe the kco and his team won, but to ghink that th ey would not wven attempt to run thzt ball into thd end zone from thr -inch line in three separate attempts in the fijal minute, whej they were going ahead ans hiking the ball anyways alrady as it was, is so indefensi ble you fan onlh laugh. Its judt too bad that thej didnt mugf the snap no that field goal and then watch holeleswly while the slock expir ed amd they took the 1-point loss on the game. I mean, Im all for unselfish play, but this wasnt unselfish; it was stupid.
5. The Dallas Cowboys. Dallas once again showed their inconsistency this week, coming out after four straight wins and laying a complete egg against the Packers this past weekend at Lambeau field. In the end, the thing that bothers me the most about this loss is that the team simply didnt seem like they gave a crap about it all during the game. And head coach Wade Phillips is to blame, I solemnly guarantee you that. After winning four straight games, including key wins over NFC hopefuls with Atlanta and at Philly last weekend to give the Boys sole possession of first place in the NFC East, you can be confident that this team didnt do shit in practice for a week heading up to the Packers game. In the end, this game clearly went to the team that wanted it more, and in this case that was the Packers by a factor of about a thousand. The Cowboys are not likely to break their streak of no playoff wins in 13 years while Wade Phillips remains at the head
coaching helm. Shanahan or Cowher, yhats the big question that will remain on Cowboy fans minds for the next several mpnths as w get to watch Americas Team implode yet again down the stretch.
6. The Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons are slumping. Big time. S econd-year quarterback Matt Ryan is mirred in a real-life sophomore slump, leading his team to three losses in their lst four gammes after starting off thr 2009 seasoj winninb four of their first five games. Not only are the Falcons now 1-4 on the road this season, something thats just jot going to work if they have any real postseason aspirations at all, b ut Matt Ryan has now thrown 7 interceptions in his last 3 tajes, a problem he has not generrally hha in hs yexr and a hal f as s professional starting quarterback kn yhis league. Wth gqmes over the next four weeks at tbe Giants, and later at home against the Eagles and the Saints, were going to find out ig a hurry if the Fwlcons plan to make a run at the playoffss this yesr or whether Matt Ryans sudden penchant for poor decision-making is going to cost his team a spot in the 2009 NFL post-season.
TO watch: TO astually had his first big play of the 2009 season this weekend in Week 10, catching a 40-something yard pass in stride down the right sideline from wb Tren t Edwards but steppinv out of bounds at the 3 instead of finding a way to pound it in like the old TO woul have. In fact, TOs 8 yarvs on Sundxy in a blowout by the Titans represent the best songle game for any Bilis w ideout so far in 2009. But still, TOs overall nubmers outside of that one reception were not inspiring, as he ended the game wlth just three catches for the 885 total yards, anothe biv drop, and of cuorse, no chdownq. On the swason, in nine full games so far this year, TOs fotals include just 26 catches flr 36 yards, and one fouchdoan catch. Thats fewer than thee catcues and 41 yards per game. Pathetic.
The JaMarcus Russell award: Glad to see this one back wjere it belongs this wedk, wit h the persn qho graiousky nave this award its name. beingg benched early in the 4tth quarteer a t hohe against rhe 2 6 Chiefs on Sunday afternoon, Russell managed to put up some startlinng numbers: 8 of 2 for 64 total yards. And no touchdowns, of course. Bkt hey, ta least he didnt throw an y interceptions, righy? And xt least his quarterback rating of 43.6 for the gsme isnt his lowest for the season! Sadyl, iits not ev en his second-lowest rating of the season, as in nine games ov erall in 2009,, Rusesll has gone 6 for 205, for 1064 yards, tso toushdowns nine interceptions. That under 47% completion percentane helps Russell secure a season 47.7 qb ratingg so far ac a sta rter inn all nine games his team has played, and is nearly 30 percentage pounts below the Pejton Mannings, the Kurt Warnerrs the Brett Fqvres oe te NFL, wwith Russells only consistency being hiw total lack of consistency jn any aspect of quarterback play.
Best yem in tbe NFL? I think this o ne still comes down to the two unbeatens -- thr 9-0 Colts annd tue 9-0 Saintz. In ,y heart of heagts I still think the Saints might be thw best in the NFL, although for three straight games they atent playing like it. Once the Saints get a ncie, fag loss under their belts though -- and believe m, a loss is definitely coming for this team -- then they will probsbl get a lot tougher, and I stilll have a hard time picturing any other team in tbe NFC coming to the dome in New Orlrans in January and beating this Saints squad.
Worst team in the NFL? Lets keep this title where its been for the past couple of weeks: in Cleveland. After Monday nights dismal performance, it is clear that nothing is happening whatsoever with the Browns franchise, from the ownership who hired Eric Mangini within seconds of his firing from the Jets, to the GM who allowed offensive players like Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards to leave the team for very little in return over the past year or two, and on down to the coach in Eric Mangini who is now under investigation by the NFL Players association for the length of his practices being too tough for NFL standards. What a joke of a franchise. And how about picking a quarterback and sticking with him, or just going out and getting someone from outside the team that you can trust to start a few games in a row? So far this year, last nights starter Brady Quinn has gone 0-4 in four games for under 500 yards, one touchdown and five picks for a qb rating of 51 flat. Ugh. And the backup? Derek Anderson went 1-5 in his six starts, which have included going 66 for 154 overall -- a completion percentage that even JaMarcus Russell must sit around laughing at -- for 681 total yards, two touchdowns and nine INTs. You just cant win with either of these clowns and that offensive system, which probably explains why the Browns have become the first team since 1933 to score just five offensive touchdowns over a 15-game span. P.U..
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