Five Quick Hits
* If you are registered to vote in the United States, and haven't already, please make sure to vote today, Tuesday, November 4.
* How about a round of applause for the league's new head coaches? John Harbaugh (BAL), Mike Smith (ATL), Tony Sparano (MIA), and Jim Zorn (WAS) are all on the radar for Coach of the Year.
* Tennessee's wide receivers looked terrible against Green Bay. Tight end Bo Scaife looked like an all-pro.
* Mike Holmgren is bush league. Why did he call a timeout, losing by 19 points, with three seconds left in the game? That's petty and classless.
* Okay, it's time to stop saying "trickeration" instead of trickery. Funny/clever once in a while, wrong on several levels if you use it every week.
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The Pro Football Hall of Fame released its list of 2009 nominees last week, and it's full of deserving names. This year's incoming class is particularly strong, including Brian Mitchell, John Randle, Shannon Sharpe, Bruce Smith, Darren Woodson, and Rod Woodson. Sharpe, Smith, and Rod Woodson should all be locks, though it's possible that Sharpe might not get in right away.
The next step is to narrow the initial list of 133 nominees to 25. My personal choices (not predictions) to advance are: Ken Anderson, Terrell Davis, Brian Mitchell, Cris Carter, Mark Bavaro, Todd Christensen, Shannon Sharpe, Dermontti Dawson, Russ Grimm, Bob Kuechenberg, Randall McDaniel, Chris Doleman, John Randle, Bruce Smith, Robert Brazile, Kevin Greene, Steve Atwater, Kenny Easley, Lester Hayes, Rod Woodson, Steve Tasker, Don Coryell, Clark Shaughnessy, Ed Sabol, and Paul Tagliabue.
That leaves off some deserving names, but like I said, it's a strong class. Anyway, let's move on to the power rankings. Brackets show last week's rank.
1. Tennessee Titans [1] — I did not like the way Jeff Fisher coached on Sunday. Right before halftime, he knelt instead of trying a 63-yard field goal, and I think it hurt his team's confidence heading into the second half. At the end of regulation, with his offense moving the ball easily, Fisher let time run out to try a 47-yard kick, which the Titans missed. Even the winning kick in overtime represented a conservative, loser's mentality, kicking a 41-yard field goal on third-and-short when his offense was moving the ball at will.
2. New York Giants [2] — It's time to show some love for the defense: the Giants' defense ranks third in yards and fourth in points. They're second in pass defense, second in sacks, fourth in opponents' passer rating, and fifth in interceptions. The Giants' run defense ranks seventh in yards and 11th in average. This team is really hard to throw against.
3. Pittsburgh Steelers [3] — How good is Ben Roethlisberger, really? On Monday night, Pittsburgh's offense caught fire when Byron Leftwich replaced an injured Big Ben. Two years ago, Charlie Batch outperformed Roethlisberger. Do the Steelers have the best backups in the NFL, or is this about team and scheme, giving the QB the tools to succeed?
4. Carolina Panthers [4] — Had a bye this week, but I'll bet you a quarter that they're 8-2 a couple of weeks from now.
5. Philadelphia Eagles [5] — On their first defensive play, the Eagles allowed a 90-yard TD pass. I think it shows pretty impressive resilience that for the whole rest of the game, they only allowed 143 yards and forced 11 straight punts.
6. Arizona Cardinals [8] — With Kurt Warner winning in St. Louis this week, it's hard not to think back to the Greatest Show on Turf. Once again, Warner is throwing to great wide receivers and putting up MVP-type numbers, while Arizona's defense is good enough not to give the game away. The missing ingredient is Marshall Faulk, but on Sunday, the team turned in its best rushing performance of the year (30 carries, 179 yards, 6.0 average). If the Cardinals can run like that for the rest of the season — which is a big if — they will be a very real Super Bowl contender.
7. Washington Redskins [6] — Against Pittsburgh, Jason Campbell had 51 pass plays and Clinton Portis had 13 carries. That's not how this team wins. Campbell, as efficient as he has been for most of this season, hasn't produced big plays, and Washington has settled for a lot of field goals when they should have been scoring touchdowns. They need Ladell Betts back, they need to commit to the run, and they need to get Santana Moss 5-10 catches every game.
8. Green Bay Packers [12] — Got two defensive starters back from injury this week, and nearly pulled an upset on the Titans. Green Bay's defense has the best mark in the NFL for opponents' passer rating (59.9). What they need to shore up is the run defense.
9. New Orleans Saints [10] — Key game at Atlanta in Week 10. The Saints are 0-3 on the road, but they need this win to stay competitive in the NFC South. If they lose, they're two games back of everyone else in the division.
10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers [7] — Is it more impressive that they came back from a 14-point deficit to win, or more disappointing that they fell behind by 14 against Kansas City? Tampa's running game has fallen apart, going three straight games under 100 yards on the ground. They won't beat good teams with Jeff Garcia throwing 40 passes a game.
11. Atlanta Falcons [13] — Dominated the Raiders about as thoroughly as possible at the NFL level. Atlanta had a 30-3 edge in first downs and controlled time of possession for an amazing 45:15, more than 3/4 of the game.
12. Baltimore Ravens [15] — Went on a 24-0 run after falling behind 27-13. The Ravens have won three in a row heading into their re-scheduled matchup with Houston. The game is a must-win for Baltimore, because their remaining schedule includes Pittsburgh and the entire NFC East.
13. Indianapolis Colts [19] — The Colts, the Patriots, and Bill Carollo's officiating crew have my gratitude for a quick, 2:41 game on Sunday night. Bob Sanders' return makes Indianapolis a team to be reckoned with in the AFC wild card race.
14. Chicago Bears [11] — There are conflicting reports on Kyle Orton's ankle injury, but most agree that he'll miss about a month, and Chicago's playoff hopes could wither in his absence. After a home game against the 8-0 Titans in Week 10, the Bears have three straight road games. A 1-3 record in that stretch would drop the Bears to 6-6, and I don't think anyone is making the NFC playoffs at worse than 10-6.
15. Miami Dolphins [24] — Yes, I have Miami as the top team in the AFC East. After an 0-2 start, the Dolphins have gone 4-2, with wins over the Patriots, Chargers, Bills, and Broncos. In the last year, this team went 1-15, then traded away its best player (Jason Taylor), and now is 4-4 and continuing to show improvement. Much respect to Tony Sparano and Godfather Parcells.
16. Cleveland Browns [16] — Special teams kept them in the game. Josh Cribbs broke a 32-yard punt return and a 92-yard kickoff return for a TD, while Phil Dawson nailed a season-long 54-yard field goal to tie the game at halftime. Cleveland has really struggled in the running game, and Braylon Edwards is dropping an appalling number of passes. I don't know how the move to Brady Quinn will play out, but maybe it can at least get the team's attention.
17. New England Patriots [18] — Normally, I don't question Bill Belichick's coaching, but I think he was too aggressive on Sunday night. His challenge seeking a 12 men on the field penalty was particularly questionable. Not only did he lose the challenge and cost his team an important timeout, but even if the challenge had succeeded, it was a 5-yard penalty with no special consequences. Not worth it.
18. Buffalo Bills [9] — Three losses in the last four games, only one of them against a good team (Arizona, in a 41-17 blowout). I think the Bills have been overrated because they beat teams we thought were good (Seattle, Jacksonville, San Diego), but who have turned out not to be. They haven't beaten anyone with a winning record.
19. Dallas Cowboys [14] — They have lost two of the three games since Tony Romo's injury. But they also lost two of their last three games with Tony Romo. I'm not denying that Brad Johnson and Brooks Bollinger have played poorly — neither one looks like he should be directing an NFL offense right now. But the Cowboys' problems are a lot bigger than the quarterback, and they're not going to be a great team when Romo returns.
20. San Diego Chargers [20] — The AFC West is there for the taking. In fact, all serious NFL fans should pray that the Chargers get their act together and win the division so we don't have to watch the Broncos lose another playoff game by 40 points.
21. New York Jets [26] — In six trips to the red zone this week, the Jets scored only one touchdown. The team won with defense this week, netting five sacks and four turnovers. The Jets are third in the NFL in sacks this season (29), trailing only the Steelers (32) and Giants (30). They should probably be ranked higher than this. A home win over St. Louis on Sunday would make them 6-3, and that'll get them into the top half of the rankings.
22. Minnesota Vikings [23] — This is how the Vikings wanted to play this season. They had a terrific defensive game, shutting down the run as always, but also getting a fearsome pass rush led by offseason acquisition Jared Allen. On offense, they ran the ball almost twice as often as they passed, getting another big day out of Adrian Peterson. Allen's health is a question, though, and he may not play in Week 10.
23. Houston Texans [21] — Matt Schaub's torn MCL will probably sideline him for at least four games. Backup Sage Rosenfels is a capable replacement, but he'll have a daunting task this week against Baltimore. The good news is that the game is in Houston; the Texans are 0-4 on the road.
24. Jacksonville Jaguars [17] — Twelve penalties for 86 yards in their loss to Cincinnati, including the ejection of DT John Henderson in the third quarter. We all know about their disappointing defense and failure to run the ball. Teams like Jacksonville need solid defense and a great running game, but they also need to avoid mistakes, and the penalties are indicative of a larger breakdown that is occurring here.
25. Denver Broncos [22] — Allow me to present a partial list of what is wrong. Denver is a league-worst -11 in turnovers. On Sunday, they had 10 penalties and the Dolphins had two. The Broncos' leading rusher in that game had 7 yards. Seriously. And as Tom Jackson put it, Jay Cutler is "regressing." There are a lot of problems here, and right now, this is a pretty bad team.
26. St. Louis Rams [25] — Got outscored 31-0 in the second and third quarters. After they allowed 510 yards against Arizona, I think it's clear that the Rams, whatever boost they got from Jim Haslett, are still playing with the same guys who opened the season 0-4.
27. Seattle Seahawks [27] — The worst passing team in the NFL. Seattle is last in passing yards and passer rating. Yes, they're worse than the Raiders at passing.
28. Oakland Raiders [28] — On Sunday, the offense only gained 77 yards. They had twice as many punts as first downs and more penalties than completed passes. JaMarcus Russell's completion percentage has dropped to 48.6.
29. San Francisco 49ers [29] — Look, obviously Mike Singletary is a fiery guy, and some of his decisions last week were pretty interesting. But I don't think ESPN and NFL Network need 24-hour-a-day Singletary panels to debate his actions and replay his postgame rant. Let it go.
30. Kansas City Chiefs [30] — Finished +3 in turnovers and still lost. Kansas City is actually +7 this year, third-best in the NFL. They really miss injured punter Dustin Colquitt. Replacement Steve Weatherford probably cost them 60 yards of field position on Sunday. That could have been the difference in a game that went to overtime.
31. Cincinnati Bengals [32] — Picked up their first win of the season with solid defense and a good running game. The unlikely hero was Cedric Benson, who had the third 100-yard rushing game of his career. Ryan Fitzpatrick, filling in for the injured Carson Palmer, had three rushes of more than 10 yards.
32. Detroit Lions [31] — Sorry, I'm not writing about the Lions this week. I feel really sorry for this team, and I'm not going to get all sad by dwelling on it.
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