The Good
Arizona – The Cardinals regain a spot here by running away from the previously unbeaten Bills. It would be easy to attribute this game to Edwards injury on the Bills first series, but he doesn’t play defense and the Cards shredded said defense all day. Drives of 12, 13 and 14 plays led the dominance. The thorough thrashing of a quality team warrants a spot in the Good.
Atlanta – If you simply look at the stats, the game was unremarkable. The Falcons weren’t great and probably weren’t good for all 60 minutes. Then you realize these are the Falcons. For a team that was supposed to win 4 or 5 games, they played solidly in Green Bay. They had chances to fold and settle for “nice try,” but played like a team that has won 3 of its first 5. They walk away with a win and a slot in the Good for their efforts.
Carolina – It takes a lot to make the Good when you pound the Chiefs at home. Whatever that threshold is, the Panthers surpassed it. Make no mistake, the Chiefs added to the ease in which the Panthers ran up 440 yards of offense, more than 200 yards on the ground and consumed almost 39 minutes of TOP, while giving up only 8 first downs and 125 yards (40 of which were after the 2-minute warning). Still, we can’t penalize a Good performance even if it comes against an Ugly team.
Chicago – It also takes a lot to make the Good when your opponent is the Detroit Lions, anywhere. The Bears made their successful bid for the Good by racking up 425 yards of offense, a miraculous 328 yards in the air while holding that potent Lions offense to 183 yards and less than 22 minutes TOP. Even though this all happened against the Lions this ranks as Good.
Miami – If anyone said the Dolphins would put up 390 yards of offense and hold an opponent to about 200 in the same game this year, we would have accused them of smoking some pretty good stuff. If that same person would have said that same game would be against the Chargers, we would have called the cookie truck to take them away. Yet the Dolphins did just that by controlling the second quarter and then stopping the Chargers on 4th and goal from the Miami 1 on the first play of the 4th quarter. The Chargers never threatened again, and the Dolphins sealed the win by holding the ball for the final 6 minutes. All this is worthy of a Good rating.
New York Giants – I guess we know which Seahawks team showed up at the Meadowlands. Regardless, the Gents ran up 44 points, 27 first downs, over 520 yards of offense, over 250 yards on the ground and David Carr even threw a TD pass to his own team. Meanwhile, the defense contained the Hawks to 13 first downs and less than 190 yards of offense. Overall, a performance worthy of the Good.
Pittsburgh – I debated about this one for a long time. The Steelers should have won this game going away but could not distance themselves from the Jags. However, when you cut to the chase, they went to Jacksonville, outgained the Jags almost 2-1, survived a TD from their lone turnover in the first 2 minutes, came from a point behind midway in the fourth quarter, actually put the ball in the end zone when it counted and then sealed the deal with their defense on the game’s final drive. All that against a team that has been a nemesis of late, and Roethlisberger lived to talk about it (just barely).
Washington – The Redskins make the Good yet again. They recovered from a horrid start that put them in a 14-0 hole and wound up with over 390 yards of offense, while holding the Eagles to less than 60 on the ground. The defense did not allow the Eagles more than a single first down in any drive in the second quarter and held them without a first down in the third. By the time the Eagles sustained another drive they found themselves down 23-14 in the 4th. Even then, the Redskins stopped them from 2nd and 1 and forced them to settle for a FG. The Redskins offense then proceeded to run out the final 7:21 with a 13 play drive.
The Bad
Buffalo – Losing is bad enough, losing 41-17 is worse and losing your starting QB in the first series cements it as a Bad day. I guess will find out if Chris Berman’s words, “nobody circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills” are correct in two weeks.
Houston – The sad thing about the Texans is they were making a strong case for being Good for 55 minutes. Then they imploded by turning the ball over three times and giving up 21 points. Sorry, gang. The game lasts 60 minutes. Strong performance capped off by a horrid finish equals Bad.
New Orleans – The Saints weren’t all bad. They outgained the Vikings to 375 to 270 yards, held the Vikes to 44 yards on the ground and passed for 325 themselves. Reggie Bush returned two punts for TDs. Unfortunately, this turned bad with four turnovers, three more fumbles they recovered themselves and 11 penalties for over 100 yards. All they needed was for the clowns to pour out of the Volkswagen at halftime. Bad enough to fritter away a chance at a victory against a team marginal enough to still need a FG in the dying seconds to claim victory.
The Ugly
Kansas City – Not much needs to be said. 8 first downs and 127 yards against 441 yards generally equals an Ugly performance, and this one did. The Chiefs were almost unnoticeable in this week’s game.
Detroit – No explanation is really needed as to why the Lions are Ugly. They just are.
Seattle – The Hawks are potentially Ugly whenever they see the east coast. They started off Ugly, giving up a 44 yard run and 32 yard TD pass during the Giants 4-play, 91 yard drive. They then gave up a 75 yards in 6 plays and 48 yards in 4 play before forcing the Giants to break a sweat on offense. The Hawk defense didn’t stop a Giant drive until their second of the second half. As for the offense, well, they watched the Giants offensive fireworks.
Honorable Mention:
The Officiating Monday Night – I normally give officials a lot of slack. Seven of them are trying to watch the interactions of 22 exceptional athletes on every play. I do not buy officials costing teams games. After all, even if they blow the very last play of the game, there were around 130 other plays. That said, Monday night was hard to watch. On consecutive plays, the crew whiffed on a facemask penalty on a play that resulted in a turnover and then, on the very next play, tried to call a pass complete that was plainly incomplete. When you find yourself rooting for the officials to get one right, they have reached honorable mention for the Bad.
Raise your steins to the Bengals. They didn’t win, but they are notably absent from the Bad or Ugly this week, and they did actually play.
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The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, Week 5
October 8, 2008 - 6:33 pm · 0 comments
by Zack Kelberman
in Community Commentary, Weekly Segments
The Good
Arizona – The Cardinals regain a spot here by running away from the previously unbeaten Bills. It would be easy to attribute this game to Edwards injury on the Bills first series, but he doesn’t play defense and the Cards shredded said defense all day. Drives of 12, 13 and 14 plays led the dominance. The thorough thrashing of a quality team warrants a spot in the Good.
Atlanta – If you simply look at the stats, the game was unremarkable. The Falcons weren’t great and probably weren’t good for all 60 minutes. Then you realize these are the Falcons. For a team that was supposed to win 4 or 5 games, they played solidly in Green Bay. They had chances to fold and settle for “nice try,” but played like a team that has won 3 of its first 5. They walk away with a win and a slot in the Good for their efforts.
Carolina – It takes a lot to make the Good when you pound the Chiefs at home. Whatever that threshold is, the Panthers surpassed it. Make no mistake, the Chiefs added to the ease in which the Panthers ran up 440 yards of offense, more than 200 yards on the ground and consumed almost 39 minutes of TOP, while giving up only 8 first downs and 125 yards (40 of which were after the 2-minute warning). Still, we can’t penalize a Good performance even if it comes against an Ugly team.
Chicago – It also takes a lot to make the Good when your opponent is the Detroit Lions, anywhere. The Bears made their successful bid for the Good by racking up 425 yards of offense, a miraculous 328 yards in the air while holding that potent Lions offense to 183 yards and less than 22 minutes TOP. Even though this all happened against the Lions this ranks as Good.
Miami – If anyone said the Dolphins would put up 390 yards of offense and hold an opponent to about 200 in the same game this year, we would have accused them of smoking some pretty good stuff. If that same person would have said that same game would be against the Chargers, we would have called the cookie truck to take them away. Yet the Dolphins did just that by controlling the second quarter and then stopping the Chargers on 4th and goal from the Miami 1 on the first play of the 4th quarter. The Chargers never threatened again, and the Dolphins sealed the win by holding the ball for the final 6 minutes. All this is worthy of a Good rating.
New York Giants – I guess we know which Seahawks team showed up at the Meadowlands. Regardless, the Gents ran up 44 points, 27 first downs, over 520 yards of offense, over 250 yards on the ground and David Carr even threw a TD pass to his own team. Meanwhile, the defense contained the Hawks to 13 first downs and less than 190 yards of offense. Overall, a performance worthy of the Good.
Pittsburgh – I debated about this one for a long time. The Steelers should have won this game going away but could not distance themselves from the Jags. However, when you cut to the chase, they went to Jacksonville, outgained the Jags almost 2-1, survived a TD from their lone turnover in the first 2 minutes, came from a point behind midway in the fourth quarter, actually put the ball in the end zone when it counted and then sealed the deal with their defense on the game’s final drive. All that against a team that has been a nemesis of late, and Roethlisberger lived to talk about it (just barely).
Washington – The Redskins make the Good yet again. They recovered from a horrid start that put them in a 14-0 hole and wound up with over 390 yards of offense, while holding the Eagles to less than 60 on the ground. The defense did not allow the Eagles more than a single first down in any drive in the second quarter and held them without a first down in the third. By the time the Eagles sustained another drive they found themselves down 23-14 in the 4th. Even then, the Redskins stopped them from 2nd and 1 and forced them to settle for a FG. The Redskins offense then proceeded to run out the final 7:21 with a 13 play drive.
The Bad
Buffalo – Losing is bad enough, losing 41-17 is worse and losing your starting QB in the first series cements it as a Bad day. I guess will find out if Chris Berman’s words, “nobody circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills” are correct in two weeks.
Houston – The sad thing about the Texans is they were making a strong case for being Good for 55 minutes. Then they imploded by turning the ball over three times and giving up 21 points. Sorry, gang. The game lasts 60 minutes. Strong performance capped off by a horrid finish equals Bad.
New Orleans – The Saints weren’t all bad. They outgained the Vikings to 375 to 270 yards, held the Vikes to 44 yards on the ground and passed for 325 themselves. Reggie Bush returned two punts for TDs. Unfortunately, this turned bad with four turnovers, three more fumbles they recovered themselves and 11 penalties for over 100 yards. All they needed was for the clowns to pour out of the Volkswagen at halftime. Bad enough to fritter away a chance at a victory against a team marginal enough to still need a FG in the dying seconds to claim victory.
The Ugly
Kansas City – Not much needs to be said. 8 first downs and 127 yards against 441 yards generally equals an Ugly performance, and this one did. The Chiefs were almost unnoticeable in this week’s game.
Detroit – No explanation is really needed as to why the Lions are Ugly. They just are.
Seattle – The Hawks are potentially Ugly whenever they see the east coast. They started off Ugly, giving up a 44 yard run and 32 yard TD pass during the Giants 4-play, 91 yard drive. They then gave up a 75 yards in 6 plays and 48 yards in 4 play before forcing the Giants to break a sweat on offense. The Hawk defense didn’t stop a Giant drive until their second of the second half. As for the offense, well, they watched the Giants offensive fireworks.
Honorable Mention:
The Officiating Monday Night – I normally give officials a lot of slack. Seven of them are trying to watch the interactions of 22 exceptional athletes on every play. I do not buy officials costing teams games. After all, even if they blow the very last play of the game, there were around 130 other plays. That said, Monday night was hard to watch. On consecutive plays, the crew whiffed on a facemask penalty on a play that resulted in a turnover and then, on the very next play, tried to call a pass complete that was plainly incomplete. When you find yourself rooting for the officials to get one right, they have reached honorable mention for the Bad.
Raise your steins to the Bengals. They didn’t win, but they are notably absent from the Bad or Ugly this week, and they did actually play.