Tuesday NFL Musings - Week 3 Edition

Hey everyone...

Well, that was a nice weekend of football we just had. I went 9-5 in my picks for the weekend, bringing my season record to 18-12. It's not a great record, but it's nothing to be ashamed of either.

For those who watched, last night they were able to witness something special in New Orleans. The Saints met with the Atlanta in the first game at the Superdome since Katrina the ravaged the stadium and the town about a year ago. So when Steve Gleason slashed through Atlanta's line and blocked a punt 90 seconds into the game, you knew you might be in for something good; and when Curtis Deloath fell on it in the endzone for the first touchdown of the game, you knew on which side faith was.

For the balance of the game, New Orleans completely dominated the Falcons. They held the best ruhsing offense in the league to 117 yards. Although he rushed for 57 yards, Mike Vick was held to 12 completions in 31 attempts for a pedestrian 137 yards and no touchdowns. On the other side of the ball, Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush, who are truly starting to look like the most lethal backfield in the league, combined for 134 yards rushing. Meanwhile, Brees looked awesome all game, not making any mistake whatsoever (that guy is the complete opposite of the Saints' previous QB, Aaron Brooks). When all was said and done, the Saints stood victorious, 23-3. More importantly, they now stand on top of their division, alone at 3-0. And at this point in time, where the Saints end up in the standings at the end of the season is meaningless. What is important is that they are giving the city of New Orleans something they haven't had in a long, long time: something to cheer about.

Random observations from week 3:

• Congratulations to Brett Favre, who is now only 18 touchdown passes away from tying Dan Marino's all-time record. It took Favre only 1 more game than it did Marino to reach #400. And I have to say, Brett looked like a young kid again out there on the field on Sunday. I will say this: that one game was enough for me to say the guy made the right decision in coming back. I mean, don't look just yet, but Favre has thrown for 850 yards, 6 Touchdowns and 3 interceptions since the start of the year, all good for a 87.3 QB rating. Pretty good for a 36 year-old.
• The Jacksonville Jaguars need to let Byron Leftwich loose a bit. Against the Colts, they kept running, never letting him get into a comfort zone. Leftwich has never lived up to his billing, but no one has allowed him to.
• Kudos to Mark Brunell for his league record 22 straight completions. But I still think the Redskins suck.
• David Carr is the top rated QB in the league. That, in itself, is amazing. What's even more amazing is he's doing it on a team that looks like it might not win a single game this year. He needs help, and that defense better start doing something soon.
• Last week's comeback by the Giants against the Eagles was a bit of a fluke, i wrote here a week ago. Well, they tried it again this week, but with no success. 2 things the Giants need to do if they want to make the playoffs: Eli Manning needs to learn that a game has 60 minutes, not 30; and that defense needs to start putting pressure on oppoising QB's. The Giants have collected, as a team, a measely 2 sacks in 3 games. That is unacceptable.
• The Eagles offense looks pretty good right now doesn't it? Even with Donte Stallworth out, McNabb lit up the 49ers defense for 38 points. Terrell who?
• Carolina is such a different team with Steve Smith in the lineup. That guy is more valuable to his team than just about any other player out there.
• Carson Palmer is Da Bomb! In a game in which he was harrassed by the Pittsburgh defense, and in which he found himself on his butt after just about every pass attempt, he still threw for 4 touchdowns. Keep in mind, Chad Johnson caught only 2 passes in the game. That Cincy offense has a lot of weapons, and they're all good.
• I am starting to like what Denver is doing this year. They are playing great defense. I mean, great, great defense. It took the opposition 11 quarters to finally put up a TD against them, and that includes offenses with guys like Torry Holt, Steven jackson, Larry Johnson and Tom Brady. They balance that out with a terricfic ground game. And now, Jake Plummer is starting to find out how good Javon Walker is. Watch out!
• Finally, I like Kurt Warner. He is the prototypical nice guy. He throws a really pretty ball too. But boy does he make stupid mistakes sometimes. Case in point: with under a minute left in the game against St. Louis, the Cards are at the Rams' 14 yard line. Losing by 2, Arizona is looking at running one or two more plays and getting Mr. Automatic, Neil Rackers, on the field to kick the winning field goal. So Warner goes under center and proceeds to fumble the snap. The Rams recover and win the game. Today, Dennis Green announced that Matt Leinart would be starting the next game.

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It's time that time of year again... what time, you say? Time for hockey pools baby. Get youselves ready, because I am going to whip your collective butts this year. Oh yeah, you can write that down.

Till next time,

Dwarf out