Displaced Cleveland Fan

These are stories from around the league that I thought were worth noting. No Browns update this week. Thankfully, they weren’t playing.

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came into this week’s game against Green Bay as the league’s only remaining winless team (0-7). Desperate times call for desperate measures. So the Bucs made a bold move to try to turn things around.

Old school uniforms.

Call me crazy, but I like the retro uniforms we’ve seen this year. Even the creamsicle jerseys.

Rookie quarterback Josh Freeman, in his first career start, led the Bucs to a 38-28 win over the Packers. He threw for 205 yards and 3 touchdowns. The win was also the first for 33 year old head coach Raheem Morris.

The loss drops Green Bay to 4-4, making their playoff chances much more difficult. They still have Dallas, Baltimore, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Arizona remaining on their schedule.
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These are stories from around the league that I thought were worth noting. You can read my recap of the Browns week 8 game here.

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Brett Favre was victorious in his highly anticipated return to Lambeau Field.

Favre’s 4 touchdown passes led the Vikings over the Packers 38-26. Minnesota is now 7-1 and has won both match-ups this season against Green Bay.

Losing like this has got to be tough to swallow for Packers fans who cheered for Favre during his 16 years as the starting quarterback in Green Bay. Surely there are many of them that are upset about the team getting rid of Favre a year and a half ago. But whether they see it now or not, the team made the right decision in choosing Aaron Rodgers over Favre for the 2008 season. Why? Two reasons:

1. Brett Favre is old. Sure, he’s still playing well. But how much longer can he continue? One or two more seasons, tops. Who knows, this season might really be his last. If the Packers still had Favre, Rodgers likely would be gone. After Favre finally really retires, what then?
2. Aaron Rodgers has proven he is a good quarterback, and he will only get better. In the loss to Minnesota, Rodgers threw for 287 yards and 3 touchdowns. After seven games thus far, he is averaging 284 yards per game, has thrown 14 touchdowns and just 2 interceptions. Compare that to Brett Favre’s 240 yards per game, 16 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. Rodgers is just about even with him.

So while it’s somewhat possible the Packers would be better this year with Favre, in the long term, they’ll be happy they have Rodgers under center.
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These are stories from around the league that I thought were worth noting. You can read my recap of the Browns week 7 game here.

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Could the Houston Texans be headed for a wild card berth?

The Texans jumped out to a 21-0 halftime lead Sunday against the 49ers. San Francisco pulled back into the game in the second half. But in the end, Houston prevailed with a 24-21 win. They are now 4-3 and in 2nd place in the AFC South.

Looking at their first seven games, two of their wins came against pathetic teams (Oakland & Tennessee) and two came against good teams (San Fran & surprisingly Cincinnati). Of their three losses, two of those games were only lost by one score. Only one had a lopsided final score (24-7 against the Jets in week 1). Not great. But not bad either.

Over their last nine games, they have three tough games (New England and Indianapolis twice) and three that look like they should be easy games (Buffalo, Tennessee, St. Louis). If they lose the tough games and win the easy games, that will make their record 7-6. Their other three games are against Jacksonville, Seattle, and Miami, which have a combined record of 7-11. Could Houston win 2 or 3 of those games. Perhaps. It will be interesting to see if they can continue or if they fizzle out at the end.

The big surprise to me, and many I believe, has been the play of quarterback Matt Schaub. This week against the 49ers he threw for 264 yards on 20 for 30 passing (66.7%) with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Through seven games he’s passing for 65.5% for almost 300 yards per game with 16 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions.
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These are stories from around the league that I thought were worth noting. You can read my recap of the Browns week 6 game here.

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In a snowy game with old school uniforms in Foxborough, the New England Patriots demolished the Tennessee Titans 59-0.

I don’t know what the bigger story is - how great the Patriots played, or how awful the Titans are.

First the Patriots (mostly Tom Brady) - They scored 35 points in the 2nd quarter to go into halftime leading 45-0. Tom Brady was 29 for 34 (85.3%) for 380 yards and 6(!) touchdowns. Even when he left the game, backup QB Brian Hoyer was 9 for 11 (81.8%) for 52 yards. Laurence Maroney rushed 16 times for 123 yards (7.7 average) and a touchdown.

For the Oilers Titans - Kerry Collins. 2 for 12 (16.7%) for -7 yards, 1 interception and a 4.9 QB rating. Seriously. They turned the ball over 5 times (3 fumbles, 2 interceptions). There were two positives though. First, they rushed for 193 yards. Not bad. Of course, that’s offset by the -7 yards passing. Second, the offensive line didn’t allow a sack. That’s good, right?
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These are stories from around the league that I thought were worth noting. You can read my recap of the Browns week 5 game here.

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What team is that with those brown and yellow uniforms?

Those are the Denver Broncos. The jerseys were part of a 50th anniversary celebration of the AFL. The Patriots also turned back the clock with their uniforms (notice the helmets with the old patriot ready to snap the football). I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again - I’m really liking these throwback uniforms being brought back this season.

Aside from the uniforms, this was a pretty interesting game. The Broncos beat the Patriots 20-17 in overtime. Rookie head coach Josh McDaniels beat his former head coach, Bill Belechick. Kyle Orton threw for 330 yards, compared to just 215 for Tom Brady. Plus, Denver improved to 5-0 (who would have predicted that?).

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The Dallas Cowboys had a scare in Kansas City. At halftime, they trailed the winless Chiefs 10-3, and they needed overtime to win the game, 26-20. The winning play was a 60-yard touchdown pass from Tony Romo to Miles Austin.

Never heard of Miles Austin? Me neither. But maybe we ought to pay attention to him. This week against Kansas City he caught 10 passes (2 for touchdowns) for 250 yards. That was the most receiving yards in a single game for the Cowboys in their history.

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In the Division:

Cincinnati and Baltimore met in an unlikely battle for first place in the AFC North. I say unlikely, not because of the Ravens, but because the Bengals came into this game tied for first place. But Cincinnati managed to win, with the help of three costly defensive penalties by the Ravens, on their final drive. That means the Cincinnati Bengals are all alone in first place. (Is this a weird season, or what?)

The Steelers traveled to Detroit and beat the Lions 28-20. Detroit has shown some more toughness the past couple weeks. They are not as easy of a win as they were last season. But Pittsburgh hung on to win, improving to 3-2 which ties them with Baltimore for second place

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Quick hits:

• After the Giants blew out the Raiders 44-7, you have to wonder - Are the Giants really this good, or are the Raiders really this bad? The answer is both. It could be worse, Browns fans. Just look at Oakland.
• Speaking of bad, the Tennessee Titans lost again, this week to the Colts 31-9. They are now 0-5 (a worse record than the Browns). Their season really is over. They might as well start planning for next year.
• Michael Vick completed his first pass of the season for the Eagles. He’s now 1 for 5 for a total of 1 yard this season. Oh yeah, Donovan McNabb returned from his broken rib injury and threw for 264 yards and 3 TD’s.

-dcf

These are stories from around the league that I thought were worth noting. You can read my recap of the Browns week 4 game here.

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Who’s the best quarterback in the NFL? Tom Brady? Drew Brees? Eli Manning?

My pick is Peyton Manning. For the past few years, he has been the best QB in the league. Yes, I realize that many will challenge that statement. But if I were able to build a team around a quarterback, any quarterback, it’d be Peyton Manning. Hands down. No question.

This week against the Seahawks, Manning through for 353 yards on 31 of 41 passing (75.6%) and 2 touchdowns. Through four games this season, he’s completed over 70% of his passes, averaged 334 yards a game, and has 9 touchdowns.

He also reached a milestone this week with his 342nd career touchdown pass. This ties his with Fran Tarkenton at third on the NFL’s all time list of most career touchdown passes.

I’m not really a Colts fan. But I do enjoy watching their offense play with Manning under center.
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These are stories from around the league that I thought were worth noting. You can read my recap of the Browns week 3 game here.

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Eric Mangini’s former team, the New York Jets, improved to 3-0 after beating the Tennessee Titans 24-17.

According to ESPN, Rookie QB Mark Sanchez (the one the Browns could have taken in the draft, had they not traded down) became the first rookie QB to start and win his first three games.

Meanwhile, the Browns have Mangini yanking Brady Quinn out of the game after the first half in favor of a 3 interception performance by backup Derek Anderson. Just for fun, let’s compare the stats from these two QB’s:
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