Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - It's a huge couple of days in the Twin Cities, with the Brett Favre brou-ha-ha on Monday night, Twins/Tigers in a one-game playoff for the AL Central title on Tuesday, and the Wild's home opener against the Ducks the same night.
And if it's an exciting time for sports in Minnesota, you know it must still be the regular season.
Some more Week 4 thoughts:
I WAS SURPRISED THAT...
...the Saints defense was the story in their 24-10 win over the Jets. For all the talk about how Rex Ryan would try to defend Drew Brees, the New Orleans defense actually outplayed its counterpart, harassing Mark Sanchez (14-of-27, 138 yards) into four turnovers (three INT, one fumble) and sacking him four times. The big blow came early, when Darren Sharper intercepted a Sanchez pass and took it 98 yards to the house to stake New Orleans to a 10-0 lead. Later in the same quarter, Sanchez fumbled on a sack in the end zone, with the ball recovered for another score by Saints defensive tackle Remi Ayodele. Ryan was able to hold Brees (20-of-32, 190 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT) relatively in check, and Gang Green did force a couple of turnovers, but the team also had some trouble slowing Pierre Thomas, who rolled up 132 total yards on 23 touches for the day.
...the Cleveland Browns had a player on their roster capable of catching eight passes for 148 yards. Cleveland lost a game it easily could have won in a 23-20 overtime decision to the Bengals, but Mohamed Massaquoi's day was a big eye-opener. Massaquoi, the second-round draft choice out of Georgia, was Derek Anderson's favorite target on a day when the Browns went for 269 through the air and ended up with nearly 400 yards of total offense. Massaquoi had just two catches for 31 yards entering the day, but figures to be a major part of the offensive game plan going forward, as does running back Jerome Harrison (29 carries, 121 yards, five receptions)
...the Titans didn't show up in Jacksonville. The opening-night loss to the Steelers was unacceptable. The Week 2 loss to the Texans was a fluky shootout. The close loss to the red-hot Jets last Sunday was understandable. But the 37-17 loss to the Jaguars, which dropped the Titans to 0-4, proved once and for all that Tennessee simply isn't a very good team. Jacksonville rolled up 442 yards of total offense on Jeff Fisher's team, making David Garrard (27- of-37, 323 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT) look like a Pro Bowler and committing three turnovers to hurt the cause on the other side. Two of those went to Kerry Collins (29-of-48, 284 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT), who could be yielding snaps to Vince Young very soon.
...Rashard Mendenhall ran as well as he did. All signs pointed to the second- year Steelers running back turning out to be a first-round bust, but the Illinois product made a case in Sunday night's 38-28 win over the Chargers for permanent inclusion in the starting lineup. Mendenhall carried 29 times for 165 yards and two touchdowns to fuel the rout-turned-nail-biter, dusting off the cobwebs of a Steelers running game that was a disappointment last year and started 2009 the same way. Willie Parker missed the Chargers game with a toe injury, and whenever he comes back, might find himself listed No. 2 on the depth chart.
...the Ravens didn't play better in New England. Baltimore was in the game until its final drive, which ended when Mark Clayton dropped a would-be first- down catch inside the 10-yard line, but Clayton's drop was emblematic of most of the Ravens' 27-21 loss. A Baltimore offense that had been terrific over the season's first two weeks could muster only two scoring drives on the day, and though the defense kept the team in the game on a Terrell Suggs sack/Dwan Edwards recovery for a touchdown in the third quarter, the Ravens generally did a poor job of keeping Tom Brady (21-of-32, 258 yards, 1 TD) off the field. New England won the time of possession battle, 34:56 to 25:04.
I WAS NOT SURPRISED THAT...
...the Dolphins got well. There was some question about how Chad Henne would look in his first game as an NFL starter, but with apologies to the steady Chad Pennington, it was never as if Henne was replacing Dan Marino. As expected, Miami went run-first in its 38-10 win over the Bills, carrying the ball 45 times for a whopping 250 yards, including a combined 200 yards and three scores from Ronnie Brown (20 carries, 115 yards, 2 TD) and Ricky Williams (16 carries, 85 yards, 1 TD). Henne (14-of-22, 115 yards, 1 TD) managed the game, much like his predecessor, although the fact that he was sacked six times was a little alarming. By the way, Terrell Owens finished with three catches for 60 yards.
...Peyton Manning was brilliant again. The Colts are 4-0 almost single- handedly because of Manning, who was a blistering 31-of-41 for 353 yards, two touchdowns and one pick in Indy's 34-17 win over the Seahawks. Here's what the Colts' first four scoring drives of the day looked like: 10 plays, 89 yards (TD); 9 plays, 90 yards (TD); 9 plays, 78 yards (TD); 12 plays, 80 yards (TD). At the conclusion of the final march, which came at the 8:02 mark of the third quarter, Manning looked up at a scoreboard that read 28-3 in favor of Indianapolis. Five different Colts had 50 or more receiving yards, but none had more than Dallas' Clark's 80. I'm not saying Manning is the best ever, but I'm not saying he isn't either.
...the Broncos outlasted the Cowboys, 17-10. Dallas was on a short week following its Monday night win over Carolina, and came into a notoriously difficult environment in Denver with Felix Jones (knee) out and Marion Barber (quadriceps) at less than 100 percent. Denver didn't up run and down the field on Dallas, but got a huge 51-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown from Brandon Marshall in the waning moments to break a 10-10 tie. Defensively, a Denver group that has now allowed just 26 points in four games forced a pair of Tony Romo turnovers and sacked him five times. Enjoy it while it lasts, Broncos fans. The next four games: New England, at San Diego, at Baltimore, Pittsburgh. Yikes.
...JaMarcus Russell was awful again. Seriously, it's time to pull the plug on this kid. Russell continued his spate of embarrassing performances by completing just 12-of-33 passes for 128 yards and a lost fumble in the Raiders' 29-6 loss to the Texans. I don't know how much better Bruce Gradkowski would be than Russell, but I'm willing to bet he can complete somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 percent. Oakland is absolutely wasting its three terrific running backs against teams that are stacking the box and daring Russell to throw...Justin Fargas, Michael Bush, and Darren McFadden combined for 31 yards on 19 combined carries on Sunday against a Texans club that entered the day ranked last in the league in rushing defense (204.7 yards per game), yards allowed per rush (6.3) and rushes allowed of 20 yards or longer (7).
...the state of Missouri dropped to 0-8. The Chiefs (27-16 to the Giants) and Rams (35-0 to the 49ers) both had horrible assignments on Sunday, and looked as overmatched on the field as they were on paper. We have a feeling Kansas City will be 0-8 when it heads to Oakland on Nov. 15th, and that St. Louis will take an 0-7 mark into Detroit on Nov. 1st. What happens in those games could determine how close both teams come to matching the Lions' 0-16 of a year ago.
B.O. (BAD OFFENSE)
A current ranking of the league's five worst offenses, in order from bad to really bad.
5. Redskins. Bad play-calling. Overly conservative quarterback. No explosive backs or receivers. Ugly.
4. Browns. Anderson moved them on Sunday, but there is still no one to fear on this offense.
3. Chiefs. Bad things happen when you ignore the offensive line for too long.
2. Raiders. It's not all Russell's fault, but it's mostly his fault.
1. Rams. Are we going to look back one day and wonder how good Steven Jackson could have been had he played alongside anyone talented?
IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY (WHICH THEY PROBABLY WON'T)
AFC Byes: No. 1 Broncos (4-0), No. 2 Colts (4-0) AFC Playoffs: No. 3 Jets (3-1) vs. No. 6 Ravens (3-1); No. 4 Bengals (3-1) vs. No. 5 Patriots (3-1)
NFC Byes: No. 1 Giants (4-0), No. 2 Saints (4-0) NFC Playoffs: No. 3 Vikings (3-0) vs. No. 6 Packers (2-1); No. 4 49ers (3-1) vs. No. 5 Bears (3-1)
