Five Quick Hits
* I know lots of people want the Giants to be the best team in the NFL, but let's show a little respect to Tennessee. They're undefeated, they've outscored opponents by a league-best 93 points, and on Monday, they beat the Colts while missing one of their best players, DE Kyle Vanden Bosch.
* Was Vince Young wearing headphones on the sidelines? Even guys who aren't in the game should be paying attention, involved in the gameplan, and interacting with teammates. I don't think Young has a future as a Tennessee Titan.
* Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick are absolutely, without a doubt, the worst NFL announcing team I have heard this year. Brennaman has no business doing NFL broadcasts.
* Watch out for Philadelphia in the NFC East. The other three teams in that division are starting to have serious injury problems.
* If you are not directly affiliated with the Dallas Cowboys, stop saying, "How 'bout dem Cowboys!" Especially if you're posing as a professional sportscaster.
***
This week's marquee matchup was Giants (5-1) at Steelers (5-1), a closely contested game that concluded with the Giants winning 21-14. The Giants deserved to win, but the Steelers could have and probably should have won.
New York deserves plenty of credit, but in this space I'm going to focus on what Pittsburgh did wrong. First of all, I don't blame the offensive line for all those sacks and knockdowns of Ben Roethlisberger. I blame Ben. An NFL quarterback can't expect his offensive line to give him 10 seconds to throw the ball. That's especially true when (a) your offensive line has been struggling; (b) you're playing a team with a good pass-rush; and (c) your offensive scheme is designed for quick passes.
The Steelers used a lot of spread formations, with extra receivers instead of extra blockers, and they used a lot of three-step drops. Three-step drops are quick passing plays. The ball is supposed to leave the QB's hand as soon as his back foot hits on that third step. On several key plays near the end of the game, the Steelers were counting on RB Mewelde Moore, who weighs barely 200 pounds, to block oncoming pass rushers. I saw Moore take on Mathias Kiwanuka — who has six inches and 60 pounds on Moore — and do a decent job, but the quarterback has to know the situation as far as his protection is concerned, and Big Ben knew he didn't have a lot of time to throw. He just chose to take the hits instead of throwing the ball away. I don't know if he was trying to pad his passing stats by not throwing incompletions, or he just made bad decisions for some reason, but it was the worst game I've ever seen him play.
I also place a lot of blame with Pittsburgh's coaching staff. Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians should have adjusted his blocking schemes, and he should have run more than 20 times in a game that Pittsburgh led for 40 minutes. Even more than Arians and the offensive staff, though, I blame the defensive coaches. Playing against a mistake-prone quarterback, the Steelers never generated any pressure. They finished the game with no sacks and no interceptions. How do you beat the Giants? You get Eli Manning to make mistakes. Pittsburgh played a very conservative game on defense, and never got any big plays other than the goal-line stand in the first quarter.
The Giants brought pressure on third down. Four of their 5 sacks and 3 of their 4 interceptions came on third downs for Pittsburgh, who converted only one of their 10 third downs. The Steelers kept everything in front of them and didn't take any big chances. It wasn't prevent defense, but it also wasn't the aggressive scheme we're used to seeing from Dick LeBeau, and it served the Steelers very poorly on Sunday. The Giants kept getting great field position because of their aggressive defense, starting four drives in Pittsburgh territory. The Steelers started one drive in Giants territory, at the 49-yard line.
The Giants deserved to win, because their coaches and quarterback were smarter, but the Steelers have no excuse for losing that game.
Let's get to the power rankings. Brackets show previous rank.
1. Tennessee Titans [1] — Kerry Collins has only been sacked once all season. Every other quarterback with more than 1,000 passing yards has been taken down at least four times. Part of that is veteran savvy from Collins, but Tennessee's offensive line deserves a lot of credit, too. After the game on Monday night, Collins praised the line by noting that despite his season-high 37 passes, "I got hit twice."
2. New York Giants [4] — This team is really going to miss Steve Spagnuolo when he's a head coach somewhere else next year. I don't think it's a coincidence that Spags and his old mentor, Jim Johnson of Philadelphia, are the two defensive coordinators who have gotten Big Ben to swallow his helmet this year. Roethlisberger was a wreck by the end of Sunday's game, and a lot of that comes back to Spagnuolo.
3. Pittsburgh Steelers [3] — On top of the mental errors from Big Ben and the coaching staff, the Steelers can also look at injuries to explain why they lost in Week 8. The obvious one was long snapper Greg Warren, but they also lost DB Ryan Clark in the fourth quarter. Clark, having his best game of the season, made a great play to break up a long completion, but he was injured and didn't return. The Giants picked up 96 yards and 12 points in the 12 minutes after Clark's injury; they had 186 yards and 9 points in the 48 minutes before it.
4. Carolina Panthers [7] — Four wins in their last five games, but they need to prove themselves on the road. It may sound strange to praise the defense after a game in which they allowed 425 yards, but middle linebacker Jon Beason is having a very good season.
5. Philadelphia Eagles [6] — With Brian Westbrook healthy, this is a very good team. Westbrook is the most dynamic playmaker in the NFL. Even with all the time he's missed (about half of Philly's games), Westbrook is still tied for the second in the league in touchdowns.
6. Washington Redskins [5] — Showed again on Sunday what happens when Santana Moss gets the ball. Washington cannot afford to let Moss be a decoy. He has more receiving TDs than the rest of the team combined, and as good as players like Clinton Portis and Chris Cooley are, Moss is the only real big-play guy on that offense. When Moss has at least 75 receiving yards, Washington is 5-0. When he doesn't, they're 1-2.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers [2] — This division is full of homers. The NFC South is a combined 15-1 at home, but 3-11 on the road. At home, Tampa Bay is 4-0 against teams that have been terrific in the rest of their games (16-9). On the road, the Bucs are 1-3 against teams that have been okay in the rest of their games (14-12).
8. Arizona Cardinals [8] — Average more than 38 pass attempts per game, most in the NFL. I know the Cardinals average under 3.3 yards per carry (worst in NFL), but you can't just give up on the run. Why not give J.J. Arrington more carries and see if he can do anything? They've got to figure out a way to run the ball.
9. Buffalo Bills [9] — I don't bet on NFL games, but I'm always interested to see the pointspreads Vegas comes up with, and in Week 8, the Bills were only favored to beat Miami by one. That's nuts. Buffalo should have been favored by at least four or five, probably more like a touchdown. But somehow, the linesmakers knew that Miami was probably going to win. That -1 spread was a trap for the sober, rational people of the world, tempting them into a losing bet. I think this game was a fluke, and Buffalo will be fine. I suspect they'll beat the Jets by double-digits in Week 9.
10. New Orleans Saints [16] — Gave the British fans at Wembley Stadium a taste of offensive fireworks. Drew Brees had another fantastic game, but that -26 yard rush on his intentional safety is going to put a real dent in Brees' running stats.
11. Chicago Bears [13] — Kyle Orton's high level of play has to be one of the biggest surprises of the 2008 season. Orton has a better passer rating than Eli Manning or Ben Roethlisberger, and the Bears are averaging 28 points per game, second-best in the NFL.
12. Green Bay Packers [14] — Last year, Ryan Grant averaged over 100 rushing yards per game in the second half of the season, with a 5.1 average per carry. This season, Grant is averaging 66 yards per game with 3.4 per carry. I don't think Green Bay can win the NFC North if the ground game doesn't improve.
13. Atlanta Falcons [12] — John Abraham has really slowed down. After notching 6 sacks in the first three games, he has only 1 sack in the last four. Roddy White, though, just keeps getting better. He has three straight 100-yard receiving games, and ranks third in the NFL in receiving yards.
14. Dallas Cowboys [19] — Head coach Wade Phillips was more involved in the defense this week, and Dallas responded with its best defensive performance of the year. The biggest concern right now might be pass protection. The offensive line looked fantastic in the first three games, but since then, tackles Flozell Adams and Marc Colombo have not played well.
15. Baltimore Ravens [18] — Terrell Suggs is having a terrific season. With all due respect to Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, Suggs is Baltimore's best defensive player. But Suggs needs to be more careful about what he says to the media. Last week, Suggs brought up "bounties" on Pittsburgh's Rashard Mendenhall and Hines Ward, and he suggested that Troy Smith should be starting ahead of Joe Flacco at QB. That's the kind of thing you probably want to keep in-house.
16. Cleveland Browns [21] — Won three of their last four, with the loss at Washington. Nose tackle Shaun Rogers, who was plagued by inconsistency and fatness in Detroit, is still pretty fat, but has been playing at a very high level the last few weeks. Against the Jaguars, Rogers led the Browns in tackles, picked up his team-leading fourth sack, and blocked a field goal. AFC Pro Bowl DTs: Albert Haynesworth, Kris Jenkins, and Rogers.
17. Jacksonville Jaguars [10] — Inability to run the ball is killing them. Their rushing statistics don't reflect how ineffective Jacksonville has been on the ground, because David Garrard leads all QBs in rushing. This team was built to run the ball, and that's how it was successful last season. Its failure to establish a running game this year is why the Jaguars are 3-4.
18. New England Patriots [20] — I'm not impressed by their 5-2 record. Both teams they've lost to are 3-4, and both losses were blowouts (combined 68-23). The best team they've beaten is 4-3 Denver, but the Broncos are terrible on the road, and they were playing with a lot of injuries. New England's other wins were uninspiring single-digit victories over the Chiefs, Jets, 49ers, and Rams. If the Pats win their next two games (at Colts, vs. Bills), I'll take them seriously.
19. Indianapolis Colts [15] — The good news is this: the offensive line is getting better. Against Tennessee, the Colts ran the ball effectively (4.4 yards per carry) and protected Peyton Manning against the league's eighth-ranked pass rush. After 9 sacks in the first five games, the Colts have gone two straight games without getting sacked.
20. San Diego Chargers [11] — Lack of discipline really hurt them against New Orleans. The Chargers committed 14 penalties for 134 yards and 6 first downs. 134 yards and 6 first downs! That's practically giving the game away. Know what else is practically giving the game away? Having San Diego's defense.
21. Houston Texans [23] — Matt Schaub got off to a slow start this year, but the first two games were at Pittsburgh and Tennessee. Since then, he's 101-of-141 (71.6%) for 1,233 yards (308/gm), with 9 TDs and 2 INT (113.6 rating). Turns out this guy does pretty well when he 's not facing the two best defenses in the NFL.
22. Denver Broncos [17] — They've lost three of their last four, but the Broncos are ranked here mostly because of injuries. This defense was bad before Champ Bailey got hurt. Injuries have also slowed down the offense: after averaging 38 points in their first three games, the Broncos haven't scored more than 19 since.
23. Minnesota Vikings [22] — Multiple sources report that the NFL is planning to suspend eight players who used a banned water pill. This pill is taken primarily for weight loss, but it is banned because it can also serve as a masking agent to undermine steroid tests. Two of the players who tested positive in this investigation were Minnesota's Pro Bowl DTs, Pat Williams and Kevin Williams. If those guys miss four games each, the Vikings are finished.
24. Miami Dolphins [26] — Chad Pennington is having an awfully nice season. Did the Jets do the wrong thing by dumping Pennington for Brett Favre? Certainly Pennington is playing better than Favre, but maybe it was just time for a change in New York. I think it's arguable that the Packers, Jets, and Dolphins are all better because of the Favre trade.
25. St. Louis Rams [24] — Despite its weaknesses, I am a supporter of the Rooney Rule, the policy that an NFL team with a head coaching vacancy must interview at least one minority candidate for the position. What I don't like is when this well-intentioned rule forces sham interviews or negates protections for interim coaches like Jim Haslett. If Mike Singletary does a great job as interim HC, the 49ers can decide to keep him at the end of the season. If Haslett does a great job, the Rams can't keep him without interviewing a minority for the position first. Common sense dictates that the Rooney Rule should be amended, such that if a team opts to keep an interim head coach without interviewing any other candidates, it should be excused from the normal requirement. Keep the rule, but amend it to help interim coaches who earn long-term jobs.
26. New York Jets [25] — In their last three games, the Jets have faced 0-8 Cincinnati, 2-5 Oakland, and 1-6 Kansas City. They beat the Bengals without much trouble, lost to Oakland, and needed a last-minute touchdown to edge the Chiefs. This is easily the worst four-win team in the league.
27. Seattle Seahawks [29] — Let's not get too excited after one win. Look at their remaining schedule and tell me who else they're going to beat. I don't think Seattle will actually finish 2-14, but 4-12 seems realistic.
28. Oakland Raiders [27] — Teams traveling from the West Coast to the Eastern time zone have gotten slaughtered this year, and the Raiders have been hit especially hard. All four of their road games so far have taken them at least two time zones earlier, and they still have remaining trips to Miami and Tampa. The other two road games left are at Denver and San Diego. I see Oakland finishing 1-7 on the road.
29. San Francisco 49ers [28] — In his first three games, J.T. O'Sullivan had a passer rating of 104.6, and the Niners opened 2-1. Since then, the team is 0-5 and O'Sullivan's passer rating is 58.0. He leads the NFL in sacks, fumbles, and interceptions. Going to Shaun Hill is the right move.
30. Kansas City Chiefs [30] — Tamba Hali's sack of Favre was the team's first in a month. Kansas City's defense has only four sacks all season, worst in the NFL. Sadly, KC's run defense (last in NFL) is even worse than its pass defense (28th).
31. Detroit Lions [32] — Competitive in their last three games, losing by 2, 7, and 8 points. They're still bad, but the Lions may be a real NFL team again. Detroit lost its first four games by an average of more than 20 points.
32. Cincinnati Bengals [31] — For the fourth time in the last 18 seasons, they're 0-8. In comparison, during those same 18 years, the Detroit Lions have started 0-8 only once or twice (depending upon whether they lose in Week 9). The Bengals make every other franchise, including Arizona and Oakland, look well-run.
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