By Paul Casey Gotham
Unleashed
Leading off with the most convincing win of the weekend: the San Francisco 49ers’ 48-3 throttling of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Both teams entered play 3-1, but the resurgent 49ers behind first-year head coach, Jim Harbaugh, put a little separation between themselves and the Bucs.
The NFC West gave the League its first ever sub .500 playoff team a year ago. The Niners look poised to put a little luster back on the division.
The much-maligned Alex Smith completed just 11 passes on the day, but three of those were for touchdowns including a first-quarter strike to Delanie Walker as San Fran took an early 7-0 lead.
Carlos Rogers returned an interception for a touchdown in the second, and three 49er rushers – Frank Gore, Ted Ginn Jr. and Kendall Hunter had runs of 20 yards or more as the 49ers unleashed as Maximus would say:
San Fran turned the ball over just one time while intercepting two Josh Freeman passes and recovering one fumble.
The 49ers travel to Detroit next week. The Michigan alum, Harbaugh, will look to throw a few speed bumps into the path of the undefeated Lions.
Smoke, mirrors and defense
The Philadelphia Eagles outrushed the Buffalo Bills 174-143 getting 8.2 yards per carry while Buffalo gained 4.1 a rush. The Eagles gained 315 yards through the air to Buffalo’s 188. The Eagles moved the chains 24 times to Buffalo’s 21. But the only stat that matters is the big numbers on the scoreboard.
Four Buffalo interceptions led to points as the Bills improved to 4-1 with a 31-24 victory.
Buffalo’s Ryan Fitzpatrick connected on 21 of 27 passes while his counterpart Michael Vick hooked up 26 of 40 times.
The bell hop’s tears keep flowing
Philadelphia’s Andy Reid could not have envisioned a 1-4 start when he assembled this team. But that’s what he has. Post-game press conferences explaining away another game’s misfortunes must have him feeling lonely.
Andy Dalton is no Marla Singer but…
…like that sore on the roof of your mouth that would heal “if only you could stop tonguing it,” Dalton won’t go away. For the second time in as many weeks, the rookie quarterback led the Cincinnati Bengals to a late come-from-behind victory. Last week, the Bengals trailed the then-undefeated Buffalo Bills by seven with less than five minutes remaining in the game when the TCU alum orchestrated a pair of drives for the win.
This weekend, Cincinnati trailed Jacksonville 20-16 at the 2:00 warning when a late drive helped the Bengals take the lead. Dalton finished 21-33 for 179 yards and two touchdowns.
The Price You Pay
Life was so easy and carefree when Mark Sanchez was a rookie. He went under center for a team that hadn’t been to playoffs in three years. Two years and two trips to the AFC championship game bring with it the weight of responsibility and expectation. Once was a time when Sanchez made highlights. The Jet QB is still getting his time on the reels. It’s just that now his time on film consists of the highlights for opposing defenses.
One week after completing just 11 of 35 for 119 yards and committing three turnovers in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Sanchez threw for 166 yards as the Jets fell for the third consecutive time 30-12 to the New England Patriots.
Worth noting that full blame for the Jets’ 2-3 start does not fall solely on the shoulders of Sanchez. New York’s pass defense is ranked 27th in the league.
Al Davis
Sad to hear of the passing of Oakland Raider owner, Al Davis. While I have never been a fan, the Silver and Black always earned my respect. The 70s were a decade of great teams, and the Raiders were frequently used as a barometer to measure others. Though the Raiders won just one Super Bowl in the decade, they regularly played in the AFC title game. Davis deserves credit for many things. Among them was the hiring of Tom Flores – the first Mexican-American coach in the league’s history. He didn’t need the Rooney Rule – the league’s requirement for minority coaches to be interviewed when a head coaching position becomes available. Davis hired people based upon abilities. Sure, the Raiders struggled for much of the last ten years, but Davis has made the game better. For that, we owe him a debt of gratitude.
Off the schneid
After losing halftime leads in their previous four games, the Minnesota Vikings found a lead they could keep. Adrian Petersen broke the plane three times in the first quarter, and Donovan McNabb added another score as the Vikings grabbed a 28-0 lead in the first 12 minutes and went on to defeat the Arizona Cardinals 34-10.
Petersen rushed the ball 29 times for 122 yards. The numbers of rushes represents a season-high for the Vikes’ leading rusher. In losses to Detroit and San Diego, Petersen carried the ball just 17 and 16 times respectively.
A round of cold ones
These guys earned some liquid refreshment from the Pine.
Buffalo’s George Wilson for his 11 tackles.
Buffalo’s Nick Barnett two interceptions including one returned for a touchdown.
Kansas City’s Matt Cassel with QB rating of 138.9.
New England’s Benjarvus Green-Ellis for 136 rushing yards.
San Diego’s Nick Novak going a perfect 5-of-5 in field goal attempts and 2-of-2 extra points.
Got any NFL splinters? Share them here.
It has been interesting to hear about the opinions over the last 48 hours about Al Davis. Either he was a pioneer or an arrogant son of a gun. Might be a little bit of both, but the more and more I read about him – the more you have to appreciate what he did for the game of footbal..
Buffalo leads the league with 12 interceptions , yet their defense ranks in the bottom in yards and points per game. I hate to be pessimistic, but what’s going to happen to them when they don’t get a few picks in a game?
Marla Singer: I’d love to quote her right now but can’t think of a clean enough one to do so.
Rey – haha – yes, it is difficult to quote Marla without being profane.
The Bills will have to learn to win without creating turnovers.
Smitty – another example of Davis looking good in the long run. Remember how everyone thought him crazy with the handling of Lane Kiffin? Davis called out Kiffin for his dishonesty. There are a lot of people in the fine state of Tennessee who learned to agree with Davis on that one.
Good news: https://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201110101534/BUSINESS/111010029
Bringing back the 12 horse! Yes!
Rey – agree with you about the Bills’ defense and you can lump the Pats in that same category. But you still have 11 games to fix the areas of concerns. But bottom line is they are winning even as they are trying to fix problems on defense. You couldn’t say that in years past.
But I think the next couple of weeks are important for the Bills. They were 4-0 a couple of years ago and then fell flat on their face. They are no longer the surprise team and opponents will be ready for them. My guess is that the Giants will try to take Freddy Jackson out of the game. Is Fitzpatrick ready?
12 Horse in Stubbies!
The Saints won a Super Bowl turning over opponents all season. Not suggesting the Bills will go that far, but sometimes it works that way for the season.