I mean, they were the Oilers, which was bad enough, but Jeff Fisher. Man. When things aren't going his way, he pouts a lot. Which causes his team to pout. And it really is pathetic. I imagine he is the coach equivalent of Phillip Rivers.
So, what does one say about today's game? Well, 8 days ago, I was praying that we could find a way to be 2-2 when Ben comes back. Today, I'm thinking I don't care what happens the next two weeks. And I'm thinking that 4-0 is not out of the question.
There's not much to say about Dixon's performance. He didn't get a chance to do much, but I thought that he did well enough, creating offense even when he couldn't pass. He also made clear who is the best QB for the job (although if Leftwich gets healthy, he will get some snaps). But for all the people who were touting Charlie Batch, what can you say, except to note that he just wasn't getting the job done.
Actually, I'm going to reconsider that statement. The offense was 1000% predictable today. The computer on NCAA 11 does a better job of mixing things up. Now, I recognize that they were playing it safe, but the fact of the matter is that FGs don't win games.
So, as for the offense, you can't say much good, but I think it's as much on the play calling as anything else.
Let's talk about the defense. Lawrence Timmons - 15 tackles. Harrison - 11 tackes and 2 sacks. Troy with a pick and a leap over the defensive line for a tackle.
You know, I'm not going to say anything more about this game. The defense looked like they were playing a high school team. The Titans & Falcons are averaging 39.5 PPG against anyone but us. We've given up 10 PPG (and that TD for Tennessee was a gift after we started playing prevent). So, it was frustrating to see this game be close but the defense is perfect. End of story. Best in the league, bar none. I defy anyone to find a better a group.
So, I was thinking, as I'm sometimes prone to do, why is there no national poll for the best NFL team at any given time? The original college football ranking system was created so that a national champion could be crowned, without having everyone play each other. But then, college basketball got in on the fun, and then created a national championship tournament on top of it.
So, the ultimate answer is that there is no good answer. And that is precisely why we are here today.
Everybody and their uncle is doing a "NFL Power Ranking", so I thought that it would be interesting to see how that all pans out, on a week-by-week basis, pretending that each individual was voting in a national poll. Additionally, since being "ranked" should be somewhat exclusive, I thought it only fair to include the top 15 teams as being ranked. So, I compiled a list of people who do weekly power rankings, who rankings I will use to create a weekly poll regarding the top 15 teams in the country at professional, American rules, outdoor football.
So, let's look at who will be on our panel for the year (the panel is primarily comprised of who I could find keeping up-to-date power rankings, and not so much their actual national reputation for being either informed or incisive):
Mike Sando, John Clayton, Paul Kuharsky and James Walker of ESPN Don Banks and Peter King of SI Pete Prisco of CBS Sportsline Adam Caplan of Fox Sports USA Today Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk Pro Football Weekly Pete Moran of Buffalo Sports Daily Jeff (?) Zarbano of WEEI in Boston Mike (?) Vensel of the Baltimore Sun Adam (?) Fentress of The Oregonian Bill (?) Ciskie of AOL Fan House The Sporting News Gary (?) Matzek of WTMJ in Milwaukee DC Pro Sports Report Blog National Football Post SB Nation.com ColdHardFootballFacts.com Gil Braindt, Mike Lombardi, Joe Theismann, Pat Kirwan, Sam Wyche, Vic Carucci, Jason (?) LaCanfora and Bill (?) Brooks of NFL.com
If there's a "?" after their first name, it's because I don't really remember their first name, guessed, and may have been wrong.
So, that's 30 people who are either relatively reputable writers for national publications, or write for a variety of local "outlets". I did my best to be geographically neutral, and ended up with Boston, Buffalo, Washington, Baltimore, Milwaukee and Oregon. So, it didn't work out all that well, but it's other people's fault for not posting fucking power rankings.
Ok. So, here are the rankings for after Week 1 (first place votes in parens), total points, win-loss, last week: 1. New Orleans Saints (22) 440 pts, 1-0, 1 2. Green Bay Packers (6) 404 pts, 1-0, 4 3. Baltimore Ravens (2) 379 pts, 1-0, 5 4. New England Patriots 361 pts, 1-0, 9 5. Houston Texans, 272 pts, 1-0, NR 6. Indianapolis Colts, 260 pts, 0-1, 2 7. Minnesota Vikings, 224 pts, 0-1, 6 8. Pittsburgh Steelers, 214 pts, 1-0, 13 9-t. New York Jets, 159 pts, 0-1, 7 9-t. Tennessee Titans, 167 pts, 1-0, NR 11. Dallas Cowboys, 165 pts, 0-1, 3 12. New York Giants, 157 pts, 1-0, NR 13. San Diego Chargers, 114 pts, 0-1, 8 14-t. Miami Dolphins, 82 pts, 1-0, 15 14-t. Washington Redskins, 82 pts, 1-0, NR
Others receiving votes: Atlanta 37, Cincinnati 35, Seattle 18, Philadelphia 17, Kansas City 3, Arizona 1, Jacksonville 1
So, I think that it ends up being kind of interesting. Sure, after so many well-received teams lost, and the Saints won, it's easy for them to be at the top. But, I think that will change once they lose a game. Plus, someone, somewhere, thinks that Jags are the 15th best team in the league, and a lot of people think Seattle is better than Philly. If not for these composite rankings, you'd never know.
Now, I went back and went through all the pre-season rankings, but couldn't find them for the NFL people or a couple others in the group. Either way, here's how things looked before last week:
1. New Orleans (12), 282 pts 2. Indianapolis (5), 273 pts 3. Dallas, 230 pts 4. Green Bay (1), 222 pts 5. Baltimore (1), 204 pts 6. Minnesota, 201 pts 7. New York Jets (1), 181 pts 8. San Diego, 170 pts 9. New England, 143 pts 10. Atlanta, 107 pts 11. Cincinnati, 104 pts 12. Philadelphia, 53 pts 13-t. Pittsburgh, 45 pts 13-t. San Francisco 45 pts 15. Miami, 42 pts
Others receiving votes: Houston 36, New York Giants 21, Tennessee 19, Arizona 17, Carolina 3, Washington 2
So, there you go. An interesting list, I think, and one that gives some interesting indications about how people are feeling. I think I'll keep doing it each week, simply out of curiosity, but I will say that, in my opinion, no one has the right to rank Jacksonville in the top-15 for beating fucking Denver.
OK. That's all. I don't have a better way to close out this post, so, goodbye.
I feel that way for a number of reasons. Primarily, I feel that way because the magic number really is 2. If this team can get Ben back with at least a 2-2 record, we will be in prime position to make a playoff run. Looking at the schedule last week, it seemed realistic. Tampa should be a win. Beyond that, you have to think that this team could go 1-2 with 2 home games, even though it would be against good competition. To get that first win under the belt, 1-2 looks very doable.
Beyond that, though, I saw a lot of things to be happy about.
But first, let's hit the few things that were not good. Primarily, D-squared looked a little shaky. Amongst Jim Mora Jr's ramblings about the bravery of Matt Ryan, he made some very apt comments about Dixon's (un)willingness to turn his arm loose. He short-armed at 3, if not 4, sure-thing third down passes. He had open receivers, and all he had to do was toss it just a little bit harder, and the drives would continue. So, that was a little disappointing. I also thought that the interior line didn't get as much push on the Falcons' line as I would have liked. Pouncey can move guys, but there just wasn't the running room inside that I would have liked.
But a large part of that is confidence, and I think Dixon will get there. The throw to Mike Wallace was picture perfect, and it wouldn't surprise me if we see that 2-3 times next game.
But that's all the bad I saw.
What did I like? Well, the o-line did not take many penalties, despite a lot of blitzes from Atlanta (or a lot of formations with Atlanta showing blitz). And that hole for Mendy in OT? A thing of beauty. He got a hole like that one other time, in the first quarter, and Atlanta's SS stepped up and wrapped up Mendy's legs. He has 4.3 speed, and if he can get 2 of those a game, he'll break one, guaranteed.
Hines looks like Hines always does. For someone so slow, he sure seems to have a lot of time before anyone gets to him after a catch. Mike looked good on his two catches (he needs the ball more). Cousin Heath is Cousin Heath.
And the defense. Jesus. I wish I had something constructive to say, but they were simply awesome. The line was rock solid (especially while The Snack was in the game). Harrison and Woodley were as good as ever. Ike was getting his head around on every play, and looks like the CB we all know he can be (although, I'll eat my hat if he actually catches more than one a season). B-Mac was on Roddy White all day long. The result? Matt Ryan threw to Roddy White 23 times, and only completed 13. And for only 111 yards. FYI - that's a 69.3 rating throwing to your #1 target. Not how that's supposed to go, and a lot of that was thanks to McFadden. And lest we forget, Troy's back. Remember all of those late-game collapses last year? Yeah, that's not happening any more.
But let's not forget the real star of the day. Lawrence Timmons. He was everywhere. He was rushing up the middle, he was filling holes, he was making plays in coverage. He has safety speed, and linebacker size. And he's starting to play with a discipline we have not yet seen. So, watch out world, Lawrence Timmons might be the best linebacker on this team, and with Woodley, Farrior and Harrison out there, that means a lot.
So, what should you take away from this game? This team can win 3 games with Dennis Dixon. But more importantly, I want everyone to remember that Ben Roethlisberger (at least as of Week 4 of the pre-season) was in the best shape of his career, and playing as well as he ever has. If he means what he says - that he's newly committed to being a good teammate, a hard-worker, and a decent member of society - and comes back in Week 5 in great shape, and with a focus we have not seen during his young but illustrious career, I'll be damned if you can find a better team in this league.
But until then, I'm just hoping we can find one win in the next 3. Anything more than that will just be gravy.
