Week 10 was a bit tame but interesting none the less. The competition on both ends of this list gets more heated as our expectations of teams and their potential becomes more clearly defined. Cincinnati stepped up. Denver stepped down. Philly decided the running game was not needed, with predictable results.
When the dust settled, that left Cincy in charge of the AFCN and Washington as the best team in the NFCE for week 10. Whodathunkit?
Indy and New Orleans remain unblemished although not without considerable effort.
This week, I lopped out the individual honors. Those are always a hit and miss proposition and we had precious few observations this week. Feel free to nominate your own in the discussion that follows.
Many thanks to the GBU contributors (Team Ugly): Any, Arj, Ben, GFC, Hannah, Stig, and Ward. And many thanks to you for reading our offering.
The Good
Cincinnati – This was certainly not a work of art. The Bengals managed just 218 yards of offense but only yielded 226 to the Steelers. The longest rush of the game was 15 yards, the longest offensive play was 25. There were no offensive touchdowns. The defense was up to the task, sacking Roethlisberger four times and pestering him all day. You get the idea, the ball was not moving up and down the field. It was a grinder. The exact type of game you would not expect the Bengals to win at all, let alone in Pittsburgh. Yet, the Bengals went into Heinz field and out-physicalled the Steelers. Cincy has now swept both the Ravens and Steelers and find themselves in unfamiliar territory at the top of their division. With an easy schedule down the stretch, they will be hard to knock off their perch in the AFCN.
Green Bay – We will spank the Cowboys lackluster effort later, but give the Pack its props. The defense held Dallas in check until the score ballooned to 17-0 and kept them off the scoreboard until the final minute of the game. In the process, they picked off a pass on their own goal line and scooped up a couple of fumbles, essentially wiping out 7 potential Cowboy points and gift wrapping 7 for the Pack offense. Rodgers was efficient at QB and the offense held the ball for almost 36 minutes.
Indianapolis – In the game of the week, and perhaps year, Peyton Manning led the Colts to a come-from-behind victory over their most hated nemesis and kept the loss column clean. The Colts overcame first half play where the difference between receiver talent couldn’t have been more apparent. Randy Moss looked like he was just toying with the Colts defense while Pierre Garcon looked like he couldn’t catch swine flu inside a pig’s ass. In the final quarter, the Colts offense found its groove. The 17-point deficit the Colts erased in the fourth quarter was the largest margin ever given up by a Belichick-coached defense. A desperate fourth down conversion attempt deep in their own territory was attempted by the Pats to keep the ball out of Peyton’s hands. However, the speeding Bullitt contained the completion short of the first down. The undefeated Colts now look to lock down their division and keep hold of the first-round bye.
St. Louis Rams – For possibly the first time this entire season, the Rams looked like an honest-to-Goodell NFL team. Bulger threw for more TDs than interceptions and completed well over 50% of his passes (65% to be exact), Jackson was his usual game-breaking self, the receivers caught balls thrown their way, and the defense picked off Brees twice, sacked him once, and forced a Colston fumble. Had it not been for a special teams breakdown that allowed a Courtney Roby 97-yard kickoff return for a TD, the Rams would have slapped the Saints with their first loss of the season. St. Louis may not win more than 1 or 2 more games this season, but this team hasn’t given up, which has to be a heartening sign for rookie coach Steve Spagnuolo.
Tennessee – Let’s give the Titans some props. This was a 17-17 tie at the end of 3 quarters. They responded with 24 unanswered points, including 14 by the defense, to put away the Bills at home and notch their third straight win. Young was effective, tossing 210 yards, a TD and a pick in a 17-25 outing. Chris Johnson carried the load in 26 rushes for 132 yards and 2 TDs. The defense did its part in addition to the 14 points. This was a little more like the Titans team we expected to see, less Bud Adams acting like he his team had never won a game before at the end.
Washington – It is not often we get to put the Redskins here. The Redskins actually scored 27 points in a single NFL game. They did so with a 35-yard TD off a fake FG on 4th and 20, and coming back from a 14-7 deficit. Normally, 14 points would be a fatal blow to this team. Ladell Betts contributed 114 of the team’s 174 yards rushing and a touchdown against what had been a solid Bronco defense. Campbell also threw for another TD in this effort.
The Bad
Dallas – Finding themselves atop a fading NFCE, the Cowboys looked like the most over-hyped team and barely avoided a shutout by the up-and-down Packers. The offensive line put on a clinic of how not to protect a QB in this game. The offense barely showed a pulse until the game was pretty much over, and then shot itself in the foot on the edge of the goal line while trying to amass a whimper of protest. Instead of seizing control of the NFCE entering a week 11 matchup with Washington, the Cowboys need to show some concern. Not a good way to build on recent successes.
Denver – With this week’s loss to the mighty Redskins, the Broncos have now negated in three weeks what it took them six to build. Sure, Orton went down and Simms is not reminding anyone of John Elway, but the defense gave up nearly 400 yards to an offense that has best been described as impotent. OK, we’ll give them a break, 35 were given up by the special teams on a fake FG on 4th and 20. But still, a team that made its mark and opened eyes on defense can not cede this level of yardage to a team like the Redskins and expect to have a chance. Couple that with the fact that their offensive chances seem to rest on the shoulders of Kyle Orton, who left this game with an injury, and it was a Bad, Bad day.
Philadelphia – Losing to the Chargers in San Diego in November is not bad. However, knowing you stand virtually no chance of winning against anybody when the run is abandoned and then abandoning it is stupid. The Eagles conducted 71 offensive plays, only 13 of which were runs. They simply do not win when they do this AND NEVER HAVE. The result is they did not finish off drives and were not efficient with their 462 yards (only 29 on the ground). Meanwhile, Rivers was the definition of efficiency against the Eagle defense. It was not the result that was Bad, it was how they got here and the fact that they should have known better.
The Ugly
Chicago – The Bears had countless opportunities to seize control of this game as the Niners, aside from some fairly efficient work by Gore, were mostly just along for the ride. Unfortunately for Bears fans, Chicago’s prime directive seemed to be perfecting the tedious and painful art of blowing their own toes off with a pellet gun. Cutler takes the lion share of credit for this Ugly and rightfully so as his INT festival (including another red zone forfeiture) continues to inspire Bronco fans everywhere to laugh like the monster at the end of “Predator.” Let’s not fail to give massive assist credit to Devin Hester though. The former master special teams slipster did his best Keystone Kops routine Thursday night and in the process, produced 2 of Cutler’s 5 INTs single handedly, both during critical, potential momentum grabbing drives for the Bears. I’m sure Chicago would like to burn the tape of this one but they might be too busy burning their Christmas wish list if it included January play dates.
Cleveland – What can you say that has not already been said. This was probably a winnable game since the Ravens did not exactly set the field on fire. But the Brown offense is about as effective as a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest, and threw two interceptions in the span of about 3 minutes early in the third, one returned for a TD and one resulting in a FG to ensure doom. Watching a Browns game is like watching electric football with no electricity.
Honorable Mention
Minnesota – Impressive offensive performance with almost 500 yards. The mitigating factor that lands them here was it was against Detroit. Still, worth noting and Good, with an asterisk.
Week 10: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
November 17, 2009 - 10:40 pm · 0 comments
by Zack Kelberman
in Community Commentary, Weekly Segments
When the dust settled, that left Cincy in charge of the AFCN and Washington as the best team in the NFCE for week 10. Whodathunkit?
Indy and New Orleans remain unblemished although not without considerable effort.
This week, I lopped out the individual honors. Those are always a hit and miss proposition and we had precious few observations this week. Feel free to nominate your own in the discussion that follows.
Many thanks to the GBU contributors (Team Ugly): Any, Arj, Ben, GFC, Hannah, Stig, and Ward. And many thanks to you for reading our offering.
The Good
Cincinnati – This was certainly not a work of art. The Bengals managed just 218 yards of offense but only yielded 226 to the Steelers. The longest rush of the game was 15 yards, the longest offensive play was 25. There were no offensive touchdowns. The defense was up to the task, sacking Roethlisberger four times and pestering him all day. You get the idea, the ball was not moving up and down the field. It was a grinder. The exact type of game you would not expect the Bengals to win at all, let alone in Pittsburgh. Yet, the Bengals went into Heinz field and out-physicalled the Steelers. Cincy has now swept both the Ravens and Steelers and find themselves in unfamiliar territory at the top of their division. With an easy schedule down the stretch, they will be hard to knock off their perch in the AFCN.
Green Bay – We will spank the Cowboys lackluster effort later, but give the Pack its props. The defense held Dallas in check until the score ballooned to 17-0 and kept them off the scoreboard until the final minute of the game. In the process, they picked off a pass on their own goal line and scooped up a couple of fumbles, essentially wiping out 7 potential Cowboy points and gift wrapping 7 for the Pack offense. Rodgers was efficient at QB and the offense held the ball for almost 36 minutes.
Indianapolis – In the game of the week, and perhaps year, Peyton Manning led the Colts to a come-from-behind victory over their most hated nemesis and kept the loss column clean. The Colts overcame first half play where the difference between receiver talent couldn’t have been more apparent. Randy Moss looked like he was just toying with the Colts defense while Pierre Garcon looked like he couldn’t catch swine flu inside a pig’s ass. In the final quarter, the Colts offense found its groove. The 17-point deficit the Colts erased in the fourth quarter was the largest margin ever given up by a Belichick-coached defense. A desperate fourth down conversion attempt deep in their own territory was attempted by the Pats to keep the ball out of Peyton’s hands. However, the speeding Bullitt contained the completion short of the first down. The undefeated Colts now look to lock down their division and keep hold of the first-round bye.
St. Louis Rams – For possibly the first time this entire season, the Rams looked like an honest-to-Goodell NFL team. Bulger threw for more TDs than interceptions and completed well over 50% of his passes (65% to be exact), Jackson was his usual game-breaking self, the receivers caught balls thrown their way, and the defense picked off Brees twice, sacked him once, and forced a Colston fumble. Had it not been for a special teams breakdown that allowed a Courtney Roby 97-yard kickoff return for a TD, the Rams would have slapped the Saints with their first loss of the season. St. Louis may not win more than 1 or 2 more games this season, but this team hasn’t given up, which has to be a heartening sign for rookie coach Steve Spagnuolo.
Tennessee – Let’s give the Titans some props. This was a 17-17 tie at the end of 3 quarters. They responded with 24 unanswered points, including 14 by the defense, to put away the Bills at home and notch their third straight win. Young was effective, tossing 210 yards, a TD and a pick in a 17-25 outing. Chris Johnson carried the load in 26 rushes for 132 yards and 2 TDs. The defense did its part in addition to the 14 points. This was a little more like the Titans team we expected to see, less Bud Adams acting like he his team had never won a game before at the end.
Washington – It is not often we get to put the Redskins here. The Redskins actually scored 27 points in a single NFL game. They did so with a 35-yard TD off a fake FG on 4th and 20, and coming back from a 14-7 deficit. Normally, 14 points would be a fatal blow to this team. Ladell Betts contributed 114 of the team’s 174 yards rushing and a touchdown against what had been a solid Bronco defense. Campbell also threw for another TD in this effort.
The Bad
Dallas – Finding themselves atop a fading NFCE, the Cowboys looked like the most over-hyped team and barely avoided a shutout by the up-and-down Packers. The offensive line put on a clinic of how not to protect a QB in this game. The offense barely showed a pulse until the game was pretty much over, and then shot itself in the foot on the edge of the goal line while trying to amass a whimper of protest. Instead of seizing control of the NFCE entering a week 11 matchup with Washington, the Cowboys need to show some concern. Not a good way to build on recent successes.
Denver – With this week’s loss to the mighty Redskins, the Broncos have now negated in three weeks what it took them six to build. Sure, Orton went down and Simms is not reminding anyone of John Elway, but the defense gave up nearly 400 yards to an offense that has best been described as impotent. OK, we’ll give them a break, 35 were given up by the special teams on a fake FG on 4th and 20. But still, a team that made its mark and opened eyes on defense can not cede this level of yardage to a team like the Redskins and expect to have a chance. Couple that with the fact that their offensive chances seem to rest on the shoulders of Kyle Orton, who left this game with an injury, and it was a Bad, Bad day.
Philadelphia – Losing to the Chargers in San Diego in November is not bad. However, knowing you stand virtually no chance of winning against anybody when the run is abandoned and then abandoning it is stupid. The Eagles conducted 71 offensive plays, only 13 of which were runs. They simply do not win when they do this AND NEVER HAVE. The result is they did not finish off drives and were not efficient with their 462 yards (only 29 on the ground). Meanwhile, Rivers was the definition of efficiency against the Eagle defense. It was not the result that was Bad, it was how they got here and the fact that they should have known better.
The Ugly
Chicago – The Bears had countless opportunities to seize control of this game as the Niners, aside from some fairly efficient work by Gore, were mostly just along for the ride. Unfortunately for Bears fans, Chicago’s prime directive seemed to be perfecting the tedious and painful art of blowing their own toes off with a pellet gun. Cutler takes the lion share of credit for this Ugly and rightfully so as his INT festival (including another red zone forfeiture) continues to inspire Bronco fans everywhere to laugh like the monster at the end of “Predator.” Let’s not fail to give massive assist credit to Devin Hester though. The former master special teams slipster did his best Keystone Kops routine Thursday night and in the process, produced 2 of Cutler’s 5 INTs single handedly, both during critical, potential momentum grabbing drives for the Bears. I’m sure Chicago would like to burn the tape of this one but they might be too busy burning their Christmas wish list if it included January play dates.
Cleveland – What can you say that has not already been said. This was probably a winnable game since the Ravens did not exactly set the field on fire. But the Brown offense is about as effective as a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest, and threw two interceptions in the span of about 3 minutes early in the third, one returned for a TD and one resulting in a FG to ensure doom. Watching a Browns game is like watching electric football with no electricity.
Honorable Mention
Minnesota – Impressive offensive performance with almost 500 yards. The mitigating factor that lands them here was it was against Detroit. Still, worth noting and Good, with an asterisk.
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Tagged as: gbu, nfl, week 10