Week 3 Thoughts / Rankings / News Snippets

[Mags FTW]

If not for Charger DB drops, Favre would've had 3 pick 6s tonight.

[LUKE23]

Favre should have 5 INT's and 3 INT returns for TD's in this game. Their offense looks really out of sync. Given the Jets overall schedule, not looking good for getting a 2nd from them.

[Thunder Muscle]

The Jets are a pretty horrid team, more so than I figured. Favre should have 4 picks tonight if not for Chargers drops, 3 for TD's probably like said above. I'd say right now its looking like a 4th rd pick heading our way. I wouldn't be surprised if Arizona knocks them off next week.

[LUKE23]

We get a third if he plays half the snaps, which he will. 2nd if they make the playoffs, which barring a miracle isn't happening.

[Thunder Muscle]

We get a third if he plays half the snaps, which he will. 2nd if they make the playoffs, which barring a miracle isn't happening.

That's right...a 3rd it will be.

[Mags FTW]

I need some garbage time magic from Cotchery.

[Thunder Muscle]

I need some garbage time magic from Cotchery.

I need the opposite, lol. Well I still have a 20 point cushion and Cotchery is his last hope.

[xTitan]

I was up very comfortably, my opponent had the Charger defense, Favre ALMOST got me again!.....happy about the dropped int's............wow, a third round pick for nothing, got to love it.

[Mags FTW]

I need some garbage time magic from Cotchery.

I need the opposite, lol. Well I still have a 20 point cushion and Cotchery is his last hope.

I was down by 11. If he would've returned that kickoff I think i would've won. I think I've got one last drive here...

[El Duderino]

I love how there was this mad rush to hire Patriots assistant coaches, thinking they were getting Belichick like head coaches. Mangini has done nothing, Crennel could get canned if the Browns continue to flop this year, and Weis has been a disaster at Notre Dame.

As for the Jets, 8-8 looks to be their ceiling to me. Favre and his receivers obviously are out of sync. Their expensive line is mediocre, lots of pressure on Brett and not many holes in the running game. Their defense is ok, but nothing special.

[Rockmaninoff]

I love how there was this mad rush to hire Patriots assistant coaches, thinking they were getting Belichick like head coaches. Mangini has done nothing, Crennel could get canned if the Browns continue to flop this year, and Weis has been a disaster at Notre Dame.

Yep. They're like the opposite of the 90's Packers staff. Along with good to great quarterbacks, the Pack sure produced a lot of good coaches from that time period. For being such a dynasty, New England has done neither. I've enjoyed Weis failing. The guy is such an ass.

As for the Jets, 8-8 looks to be their ceiling to me. Favre and his receivers obviously are out of sync. Their expensive line is mediocre, lots of pressure on Brett and not many holes in the running game. Their defense is ok, but nothing special.

Again, yep. Favre will have to play another two years if he wants to get anywhere with this team. Just a lot of cast-offs and not a lot of stud players.

[ReasonablySober]

You know what's a real great idea? Blowing your wad on high priced vets in the offseason. The Jets, Browns and Vikings are obviously loving their moves right now.

[ReasonablySober]

I saw the game in person and I played 12 years so I want people to know that, from what I saw, Aaron Rodgers is a better quarterback than Tony Romo. Based on throwing the ball in certain areas. The interception Romo threw to Collins and some of these other passes and the way he moves around, Aaron is a much better quarterback. Aaron doesn't put his team in those kinds of situations. When you look at Romo's stats, you'll see those long passes and those glamour things. Aaron's stats are OK, too, but if he gets the opportunity to throw 40 or 50 times a game, he's going to be good. No interceptions for three straight weeks?

[LUKE23]

Romo has more weapons than Rodgers does. Based on just looking at them individually, I'd have to agree with Butler. Rodgers is better with his legs and just as accurate with the football. Arm strength is comparable. Rodgers will have a better TD/INT ratio in his career than Romo, IMO. Romo is at 60 TD/35 INT so far in his career.

[TheGhostDog]

We get a third if he plays half the snaps, which he will. 2nd if they make the playoffs, which barring a miracle isn't happening.

I am slightly worried that we might not get the third rounder. Through three weeks Favre has already been sacked 8 times, which projects out to 43 sacks for the whole season - more sacks than the soon-to-be 39 year old Favre ever suffered in 16 seasons with the Pack. Lucky for us the Jets now face a run of mostly weaker teams in the coming weeks:
Arizona
Cincy
Oakland
KC
Buffalo
St.L

Boy I wish the Packers had the Jets' schedule this season.

[TheGhostDog]

I love how there was this mad rush to hire Patriots assistant coaches, thinking they were getting Belichick like head coaches. Mangini has done nothing, Crennel could get canned if the Browns continue to flop this year, and Weis has been a disaster at Notre Dame.

Yep. They're like the opposite of the 90's Packers staff. Along with good to great quarterbacks, the Pack sure produced a lot of good coaches from that time period. For being such a dynasty, New England has done neither.

As this season is likely to show, there was never a Belichick dynasty in New England, but a Tom Brady dynasty. Compare Belichick's regular season coaching record six-plus years for both the Cleveland Browns and Pats when he didn't have Tom Brady as his starting QB...
42-58, 42% winning percentage, one winning season, 5 losing seasons

...to Belichick's regular season record with Brady starting:
87-24, 78% wins, 7 winning seasons, 0 losing seasons.

Belichick's Browns and Pats teams without Brady look an awful lot like the Bears of recent lineage - consistently strong defenses with stone-age offenses. When you further consider that Brady, when given a strong receiver corps for probably the first time ever in his career last season, put up an amazing 50 TD passes to just 8 INTs, you start to realize that Belichick is a great defensive coordinator but mediocre head coach who lucked into landing one of the best ever QBs to elevate his offense.

[El Duderino]

No question that Brady has played a huge role in the success Belichick has had with the Patriots, but i do think you're short changing him even though he does come off like a crabby prick. From what i've read, Belichick is not only their coach, he's basically the Patriots GM even if he hasn't had the title. Other teams in the NFL have had a very good QB and didn't have near the success of the Patriots.

Plus, look through the history of the NFL, especially the last 20-30 years with increased importance on passing, every team that i can think of that had a long run of success also had a high quality quarterback. The reason for that is obvious, quarterback is the most important position in all of pro sports.

Regardless if any head coach has a great football mind and is good at motivating a team, if he doesn't have a quality QB, it will be nearly impossible for that coach to have a run of consistent success. Sure, you'll see a team here and there win big for a year or two even while having a very mediocre or poor QB because they have not just a good defense, but a dominant defense. That almost always comes to a screeching halt though because winning year after year simply is so tough without a top 5-10 quarterback.

So Belichick isn't alone in riding a very good QB to years of winning. Put a subpar QB on the great teams lead by say Noll, Walsh, J.Johnson, etc etc, those coaches and teams won't be viewed with the greatness we remember them for.

[ReasonablySober]

Maybe this should have gone in the Harris thread:

The Packers are known for their aggressive secondary and love to play press coverage on the perimeter. Problem is, starting CB Al Harris is likely to miss an extended period of time -- if not the whole season -- with a torn spleen and Charles Woodson is playing on a broken toe. Without these two corners -- among the best in the league -- opposing offenses won't waste any time attacking what could be perceived as a weak link.

Time to hit the Panic Button? No.

Al Harris was great at press coverage. Without him, expect changes in the Packers' approach.
Why: Green Bay is a talented bunch defensively with capable backups, including Tramon Williams and Will Blackmon, who both feature good combinations of size, strength and athleticism. They obviously don't bring the same experience and instincts to the game as Woodson and Harris, but are technique-sound as well as extremely competitive. Both players are physical enough to re-route receivers off the line of scrimmage as well helping in supporting the run. Defensive coordinator Bob Sanders is likely to tweak his defensive philosophy some. He might not use as many pure man coverages or pressure packages, but instead more rolled-up corners in Cover 2. They look the same initially and the corners will still jam the receivers, but they'll funnel them inside where they have safety help.

Sanders will also look to generate a little more pressure. If the Packers play more zone, expect to see more interior twist stunts between ends and tackles, or a linebacker coming on the blitz with a zone drop from a defensive lineman into a short area. When the Packers do play pure man coverage -- and they will still do this a lot -- it frees up other players to blitz the line of scrimmage without any coverage responsibility and just get after the QB. As the defense puts more pressure on the QB, it also helps take the pressure off the secondary. There's no need to panic in Green Bay. While the secondary can't replace Harris, it's talented enough to still have success without him.

There's a reason Will Blackmon was one of my favorite TT draft picks. I loved him at BC and, as a sophomore and junior, he was one of the best defensive backs in the country. Had he come out he was a first round pick. He moved to WR as a senior and his draft stock took a hit. But he's got everything you want in a corner and with time on the field I think he'll be a good one.

[Nowak008]

I'm not a big Sanders fan but Dallas scored more points in weeks 1 and 2 than what they did against our banged up defense. That includes the 41 points they scored against what it suppose to be a very good Philly defense. Let's face it, Dallas has a lot of weapons. You can shut down one, or maybe 2 of them, but then they have other options. I don't see too many defenses having their way with Dallas.

Agreed. The offense lost that game.