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I can remember it like it was yesterday, the 1980 New Orleans Saints losing the first 14 games of the season. A local radio legend named Buddy Diliberto decided he couldn’t take it anymore and renamed the team, The Aints. For years afterwards, no matter how many wins they had, the franchise was universally known as The Aints. Well, after watching Drew Brees gusty two touchdown performance over the Falcons in the Monday night game, The Aints are now 7-0. Over the next three weeks, The Aints will face the Panthers, Rams and Bucs. That means when Tom Brady and the Patriots pay a visit to New Orleans on the night of Monday, November 30, The Aints will likely be 10-0. |
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Reggie Wayne tied a career high with 13 catches as the Colts beat the 49ers to extend its regular season winning streak to 16 games. Playing inspired football under their fiery head coach Mike Singletary, the 49ers gave the Colts all they could handle. When things were looking grim, the Colts reached into the bag of tricks for a highlight reel touchdown. Peyton Manning handed the ball to running back Joseph Addai, who then spotted a wide open Reggie Wayne and hit him for the game winning 22-yard touchdown. Lost in all this offensive hype surrounding the Colts is the fact they’ve given up the fewest points of any team in the league (91). Up next, the dangerous Houston Texans. |
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Playing before a hostile crowd at Lambeau Field, Brett Favre manned up and threw four touchdowns in the Vikings big win over the Packers. Favre tied Dan Marino for the most in NFL history with his 21st four touchdown game. Favre’s heroics overshadowed another great game by defensive end Jared Allen. The man with the best mullet in the modern era of the NFL harassed Aaron Rodgers all day long and had three of the Vikings six sacks. Of course, Percy Harvin had another game that will earn him a lot of votes for the rookie of the year. The Vikings will now head into the bye week before facing the Lions. Talk about a charmed life.
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Coming off of a bye week, the Patriots will face those pesky Miami Dolphins and THE wildcat offence. This is an interesting and important game for Tom Brady and the Patriots. First off, the Dolphins hold a perfect 3-0 record in the AFC East while the Pats are 1-1. It will be interesting to see what kind of schemes Bill Belichick comes up with to combat the wildcat. |
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Also coming off of a bye week, the Steelers will travel to Denver to face the Broncos in the Monday nighter. While the Bronocs are trying to deal with its first loss of the season, the rested Steelers are looking to run the winning streak to five games. A big issue for Mike Tomlin is the health of safety Ryan Clark. The last time the Steelers played in Denver, the high altitude caused Clark serious health issues. It’s so serious that according to Yahoo Sports, the Steelers medical staff are seriously debating whether or not Clark should even be allowed to play this week. |
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After living an incredibly charmed life the first two months of the season, Josh McDaniels and the Broncos received a stern lesson in the trials and tribulations of life in the NFL. No matter how good the Broncos have played this year, they didn’t stand much of a chance against the Ravens this past Sunday. The Ravens were on home turf and steaming mad over a three game losing streak. All the Broncos can do is forget about it and start worrying about how they’re going to stop the Steelers Monday night.
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Coming off of their bye week, the Bengals will now host the Ravens in an epic AFC North showdown. Ochocinco made the most of his bye week and he made a guest appearance on the David Letterman show. Despite all of his histrionics, Ochocinco is still a very productive receiver and is still a huge part of the Bengals' offence. After the game with the Ravens, the Bengals will the face the Steelers in Pittsburgh. And you wonder why coaches like Marvin Lewis look so darn tired all the time? |
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It’s not difficult to figure out the secret to the Cowboys three game winning streak. I the last three games, Tony Romo has played text book, mistake free football. Romo has thrown eight touchdowns the last three weeks and has zero interceptions in that stretch. The amazing Miles Austin scored another touchdown in the Cowboys win over the Seahawks; that gives him five in the last three games. Not to be outdone is defensive end DeMarcus Ware. Ware had another sack, pushing his total to five in the last three games. All three Cowboys stars will be called upon to repeat their stellar play next week when Dallas takes a trip to Philadelphia.
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If only the Phillies could have bottled some of the mojo displayed by the Eagles in their win over the Giants for game 4 of the World Series. Donovan McNabb and DeSean Jackson stole the show as the Eagles laid a beating on the Giants, hours before the Phillies and Yankees hooked up 400 metres away at Citizens Bank Park. McNabb tossed three touchdowns, one of them a 54 yarder to the explosive Jackson. The amazing thing about the Eagles win was how they were able to exploit the Giants defence for so many big plays. Three of the Eagles five touchdowns went for 41, 54 and 66 yards. The Eagles will face a much stiffer test coming up on Sunday night when they host the surging Dallas Cowboys. BTW, the last few weeks have been absolute paradise for a sports fan in Philly. |
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With Steve Slaton busy fumbling the ball away, Texans head Coach Gary Kubiak turned to back up running back Ryan Moats. Well, Moats made Kubiak look like a genius as he ran for 126 yards and three touchdowns. All of the three Moats' touchdowns came in a fourth quarter as the Texans improved to 5-3 for the first time in franchise history. The Texans were dealt a big blow in its win over the Bills when they lost tight end Owen Daniels for the season with a knee injury. It’s not out of line to suggest that this week’s game against the Colts in Indy could be the tipping point in the young history of the Texans. |
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Pity the poor Denver Broncos -- facing the angry Ravens could not have been very fun. Ray Lewis and the Ravens' defence did a number on Kyle Orton and the Broncos. The Ravens won this game on the very first play of the third quarter when rookie Lardarius Webb took the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. On Sunday, there was no way that Ravens were going to give up that 13-0 lead. Up next, the Ravens travel to Cincinnati for a huge AFC North showdown. |
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No quarterback in NFL has been sacked more than Aaron Rodgers. The Packers' QB has been felled a whopping 31 times thus far. While the Packers offensive line deserves a lot of blame, so does Rodgers. Knowing he has a suspect offensive line, Rodgers needs to work at getting rid of the ball. Maybe the best thing for the Packers is the fact they are done with Favre and the Vikings, for now. Now they can concentrate on improving their blocking schemes and their special teams. Playing the Bucs this week should help them erase the memory of that loss to the Vikings.
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 I am beginning to think that Brett Favre has a picture of Packers GM Ted Thompson on his dartboard at home. Favre walked into his old stomping grounds and had a vintage game in the Vikings win over the Packers. Favre threw four touchdowns, wasn’t sacked, and didn’t throw a pick -- good enough for a QB rating of 128.6. Considering the circumstances and the magnitude of the game, it was pretty much a perfect afternoon for Favre at Lambeau Field.
 Browns quarterback Derek Anderson received a lot of votes after throwing for 76 yards, tossing two interceptions and posting a quarterback rating of 10.5, and then his GM George Kokinis ended up getting fired. However, Kurt Warner takes the prize for stiff of the week after he tossed an unacceptable five interceptions in the Cards embarrassing loss to the Panthers.
 The New York Giants desperately need to get off the schneid. The Eagles didn’t just beat the Giants at 'The Linc' on Sunday, they punked them. The Giants have now lost three straight and its defence is giving up way too many big plays. I did some math regarding the Giants' defence and the results are disturbing. The Giants have allowed 112 points the last three weeks and they’re now down there with the Bucs and the Lions as one of the worst defences in the NFC. Up next, the Giants will have to find a way to stop Philip Rivers and the Chargers.
 After a horrible start to the season, the Dolphins have really turned things around the last month. After a victory over division rivals the Jets, the Dolphins have now won three of four with the only blemish being a loss to the unbeaten Saints. After being benched, Ted Ginn Jr. became the first player in NFL history to have two 100-yard touchdowns in the same game. Tony Sparano will really see what his teams are made of Sunday when the Dolphins take on the Patriots in New England.
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