The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, Week 2 Edition

The Good
Buffalo – A quality win against a highly respected opponent on the road gives the Bills a slot here for the second week in a row. The Bills look like a team making a statement early.

Washington – Right about the time the pallbearers assembled, their offense sprung to life. The result is a win against a quality opponent at home.

New England – It wasn’t a work of art, but it was a gritty win on the road against a divisional opponent by a team that needed a gritty win.

Denver – OK, is he gutsy or nuts? Regardless, with 34 first downs and almost 500 yards of offense we can understand why Shanny would say “what the hell, it’s only 2 yards.” Of course, the thought might have been “if we lose the OT coin toss, we’re fucked.” Fumble or no fumble, they made the most of their opportunities and log a big divisional win.

Arizona – Could it be? “Oh, this is the big one. Hear that Elizabeth, I’m comin’ to join ya honey…with the Cardinals at 2-0.” They took care of business by beating the Dolphins like a drum at home. Sure, it’s the Dolphins but these are the Cardinals.

Dallas – They had every chance to kick this game at home but stayed with it. In the NFCE every division win counts and the Cowboys were up to this task, even overcoming 14 points worth of Romo’s Simpsonitis.

The Bad
Minnesota – Losing to the Colts is not bad by itself. Having them storm back from a 15-point deficit in less than 20 minutes is not necessarily bad by itself. But the totality of allowing 3 big offensive plays, a 2-point conversion, a losing a fumble, dodging that bullet when Vinitieri missed the resulting 30-yard FG, squandering an interception on the Colt half of the field and generating about 40 yards of offense all in those same 19 minutes is bad. We won’t even get into the fact that they scored on 5 drives (good)….all FGs (bad). If this auspicious finish had been against a lesser team, they’d be on the Ugly list.

New Orleans – 10 minutes away from a road victory with the Redskins down by 9, on their own 6 facing 2nd and 22, the Saints defense applied the thrust reversers to the tune of allowing 183 yards and 2 TDs on the next 8 plays. That’s not so good.

Seattle – I’m not sure why I’m not calling this one Ugly considering the Hawks spotted themselves to a 14-0 lead. They had chances to put some distance between themselves and the 49ers (not the 1984, 1988 or 1989 49ers, either), but turned the ball over twice inside the red zone.

San Diego – Specifically, their defense. While this list is not cumulative, they have given up 874 yards in two games. 11 of us could accomplish that. The offense looked good, the defense was bad.

The Ugly
Detroit – They earned a slot under “the Ugly,” then actually came back to take the lead, redeeming themselves. Not being able to stand their own success, they then proceeded to give 24 points in the final 5:17. Yep, this is Ugly squared.

Kansas City – Hosting a lower tier, one-dimensional rival should be encouraging. Giving up 300 yards in that one dimension while amassing less than 200 yards of your own is, well, Ugly. If you are the Chiefs in the AFCW and you can’t beat the Raiders at home, you’re sunk.

Cincinnati – I was tempted to cut the Bengals some slack since they were trying to play in a 40 mph wind, but so was Tennessee. Not even being 1:20 away from the sanctity of halftime in a tie game with the Titans, who were seemingly content to just run the ball could save the Bengals from themselves. The punt block TD cemented their position here. This was a winnable game, but when you are Ugly winnable games are only bigger challenges to stink up the joint.