Atlas
09-27-2005, 11:08 PM
SoCals link: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/don_banks/09/27/florida.teams/1.html
Snaps
1. Did the AFC East get bitten by the injury bug in Week 3 or what? In order of significance, the Patriots lost Rodney Harrison (and maybe Matt Light), the Bills lost Takeo Spikes and the Jets lost the unproductive Chad Pennington.
2. Rough weekend for former University of Tennessee standouts who now make their living in the AFC South. Jacksonville defensive tackle John Henderson was accused of being involved in a domestic violence incident and Titans running back Travis Henry rewarded the team's show of faith in him with a four-game league suspension for a substance abuse violation.
3. With the Colts 3-0 and sailing along, he'll never ever admit it, but Peyton Manning's numbers must be killing him. Manning is too fiercely proud of his performance and his place in the league's star system to accept winning with defense for long.
4. Curtis Martin and Corey Dillon ranked first and third respectively in the NFL in rushing last year, combining for 3,332 yards and 24 touchdowns. This season, Martin is averaging 2.8 yards per carry, and Dillon 2.7. The two are on pace to rush for 1,899 yards combined. Can you really get old overnight?
5. After his 1,487-yard rookie season in 2000, Denver's Mike Anderson rushed for just 1,321 yards in the next four years combined. But if the Broncos are smart, they'll ride him this season as far as he goes. Against the Chiefs on Monday night, Anderson looked like the Anderson of old.
Media Buzz
Though the league is doing handstands to turn this week's San Francisco-Arizona game in Mexico City into a historic event all but worthy of Roman numerals, we savvy NFL reporters aren't buying the hype. The truth is, the 49ers and Cardinals are playing south of the border because Arizona is the only team in the league that could forfeit a home game without anyone in its own market noticing.
Let's be real: Hardly anybody's excited about the 49ers-Cardinals because, well, they're the 49ers and the Cardinals. If the league assigned Indianapolis-New England or Pittsburgh-Dallas to Mexico, then you might whip up some interest for the novelty of playing a meaningful game in a foreign country.
As is, this is just another matchup of bottom-feeders, and trying to dress it up into something of great significance is public relations taken to the extreme.
Three up, Three down
UP
1. Cincinnati -- The last time the Bengals were 3-0 was 1990, which was also the last time they made the playoffs. Guess what, folks? That correlation is going to hold up again this year.
2. Denver -- The Broncos are maddening. You never know which team they are -- the one that mailed it in at Miami, or the one that mauled the supposedly powerful Chiefs at home on Monday night.
3. Dallas -- Comeback wins at San Diego and San Francisco still don't offset that fourth-quarter meltdown against the Redskins. But the 'Boys are definitely better off than they were at any point last year.
DOWN
1. New York Jets -- The pretenders of the year thus far. But don't forget, the Jets love to dig themselves a hole and then surprise everybody by climbing out of it.
2. Buffalo -- I asked Bills head coach Mike Mularkey in the preseason how he would handle things if he had to give up on the J.P. Losman experiment for the good of this veteran-laded team. We may be close to finding out the answer.
3. Arizona -- I thought Dennis Green would at least ensure the Cardinals of being competitive most every week. I thought he'd end the years of chaos in the desert and the unproductive play at quarterback. Apparently I thought wrong.
Crystal ball
1. The Jets quarterback situation looks bleak, but with the return of Vincent Frank Testaverde, who'll turn 42 in November, all is not lost. The good news is that New York is still just a game out of first in the AFC East.
2. The Steelers and Patriots will somehow meet in the playoffs once again, and New England will -- as always -- find a way to win. At this point, not even the Colts have the Pats deeper in their heads than Pittsburgh.
3. Don't expect another season-saving run out of Green Bay this year. The Packers aren't coming back from three games under .500 for the second consecutive year. This is a bad team going nowhere in 2005.
Snaps
1. Did the AFC East get bitten by the injury bug in Week 3 or what? In order of significance, the Patriots lost Rodney Harrison (and maybe Matt Light), the Bills lost Takeo Spikes and the Jets lost the unproductive Chad Pennington.
2. Rough weekend for former University of Tennessee standouts who now make their living in the AFC South. Jacksonville defensive tackle John Henderson was accused of being involved in a domestic violence incident and Titans running back Travis Henry rewarded the team's show of faith in him with a four-game league suspension for a substance abuse violation.
3. With the Colts 3-0 and sailing along, he'll never ever admit it, but Peyton Manning's numbers must be killing him. Manning is too fiercely proud of his performance and his place in the league's star system to accept winning with defense for long.
4. Curtis Martin and Corey Dillon ranked first and third respectively in the NFL in rushing last year, combining for 3,332 yards and 24 touchdowns. This season, Martin is averaging 2.8 yards per carry, and Dillon 2.7. The two are on pace to rush for 1,899 yards combined. Can you really get old overnight?
5. After his 1,487-yard rookie season in 2000, Denver's Mike Anderson rushed for just 1,321 yards in the next four years combined. But if the Broncos are smart, they'll ride him this season as far as he goes. Against the Chiefs on Monday night, Anderson looked like the Anderson of old.
Media Buzz
Though the league is doing handstands to turn this week's San Francisco-Arizona game in Mexico City into a historic event all but worthy of Roman numerals, we savvy NFL reporters aren't buying the hype. The truth is, the 49ers and Cardinals are playing south of the border because Arizona is the only team in the league that could forfeit a home game without anyone in its own market noticing.
Let's be real: Hardly anybody's excited about the 49ers-Cardinals because, well, they're the 49ers and the Cardinals. If the league assigned Indianapolis-New England or Pittsburgh-Dallas to Mexico, then you might whip up some interest for the novelty of playing a meaningful game in a foreign country.
As is, this is just another matchup of bottom-feeders, and trying to dress it up into something of great significance is public relations taken to the extreme.
Three up, Three down
UP
1. Cincinnati -- The last time the Bengals were 3-0 was 1990, which was also the last time they made the playoffs. Guess what, folks? That correlation is going to hold up again this year.
2. Denver -- The Broncos are maddening. You never know which team they are -- the one that mailed it in at Miami, or the one that mauled the supposedly powerful Chiefs at home on Monday night.
3. Dallas -- Comeback wins at San Diego and San Francisco still don't offset that fourth-quarter meltdown against the Redskins. But the 'Boys are definitely better off than they were at any point last year.
DOWN
1. New York Jets -- The pretenders of the year thus far. But don't forget, the Jets love to dig themselves a hole and then surprise everybody by climbing out of it.
2. Buffalo -- I asked Bills head coach Mike Mularkey in the preseason how he would handle things if he had to give up on the J.P. Losman experiment for the good of this veteran-laded team. We may be close to finding out the answer.
3. Arizona -- I thought Dennis Green would at least ensure the Cardinals of being competitive most every week. I thought he'd end the years of chaos in the desert and the unproductive play at quarterback. Apparently I thought wrong.
Crystal ball
1. The Jets quarterback situation looks bleak, but with the return of Vincent Frank Testaverde, who'll turn 42 in November, all is not lost. The good news is that New York is still just a game out of first in the AFC East.
2. The Steelers and Patriots will somehow meet in the playoffs once again, and New England will -- as always -- find a way to win. At this point, not even the Colts have the Pats deeper in their heads than Pittsburgh.
3. Don't expect another season-saving run out of Green Bay this year. The Packers aren't coming back from three games under .500 for the second consecutive year. This is a bad team going nowhere in 2005.