Offensively they can be dominant, but you could see instances in the second half of what we’ll call the “Romo press.” That’s when things tighten up and he begins to force the ball to Owens, even when other options are open. The 4th quarter three and out, with three consecutive incomplete passes to Owens when down 23-17 really hurt. On the defensive side of the ball, wasn’t Wade Phillips supposed to be a defensive guru? With all its stars, this defense sure gives up a lot of big plays in meaningful games. This is why I think their Super Bowl aspirations will be for naught once the post season rolls around. Phillips sports a career 0-5 record in the playoffs; Romo is 0-2; and there just doesn’t seem to be a guy on this squad that can put the rest of the team on its back when everything is on the line and the going gets tough. TO begins complaining when the ball doesn’t come his way enough, but if he were really honest with himself, he’d know that the offense works much better when it goes through Witten, not him. Anyway, we’ll see if my prediction proves true but if Sunday is any indication of what will take place later in the season, I think I’ll be looking good.
Denver shouldn’t expect to be AFC West Champs in 2008. Their hot start got the NFL world talking, but when your defense is surrendering 30 points per game regularly it’s not going to happen. Now they have a history of playing poorly in KC, and maybe you can chalk this loss up to that, but 33 points vs. a very bad Chiefs team is unacceptable. Until they get that side of the ball figured out, 2nd place is as high as it gets in the Mile high city. Conversely, San Diego, who was down 15-0 at the half, outscored the Raiders 28-3 in the second half to get their record to 2-2. The Bolts have their own issues to sort out but they will be the AFC West Champs in ’08.
Brett Favre: the man, the myth, the legend. He should retire after this game. There’s no way he’ll duplicate that effort and no way he’ll get to face a defense as anemic as the Cards were on this one day. And that’s saying a lot because he still gets to face the rest of the NFC West. 6 TDs… Are you kidding me? Initially it had the look of another poor effort. In the 1st quarter, Favre took the ball, rolled to his right and fired back across the field only to hit the Arizona DB in the chest for a pick. The Cards ended up having its FG attempt blocked and it was all downhill from there. After that, I think the Cards employed the 9 down lineman, 2 LB formation because Coles and Cotchery were running free all day downfield. Nice east coast trip coach Whisenhunt: 0-2 and a total of 80 points given up.
The NFC South is going to be very competitive to the end. Tampa Bay played an extremely physical game vs. the Packers and showed that its defense can play with anybody. The Panthers rolled the Falcons and the Saints still have an offense to contend with; now if they can get the other side of the ball fixed they’ll be a player too. It’s too bad the league allows one playoff team from every division because it’d be better for football if we didn’t have a NFC West representative this season so we could take two teams out of this division, to go with the NFC North winner and the three teams from the NFC East.
Lastly, the Tennessee Titans. This team is very physical and beats the crap out of its opponents on defense. At 4-0, I’m still not ready to anoint them the AFC North Champs, partly because they’re being led by Kerry Collins, but they’re going to be tough because they can run the ball and play stout defense, the oldest winning formula in football.
