Football Wrap Up, Week 3

Another exciting week of football, and another week when I make some good picks but not quite good enough. This time, it was Eric Johnson's Studs Terkel that took the prize, in a tiebreaker against Mommy and Me. (Those tiebreakers count!)

Despite having the NFL package, I missed the first quarter or so of most games. That's because I got up at 6:00 AM, voluntarily, to go play golf with Doty's Dominators. I must say, it's a bit of a struggle to choose to get up when it's still dark out - but I would have probably gotten up no more than 45 minutes later with the kid. And I got a fun, full round of golf out of it and got home before 11:00. That made for a fun day.

Because, I then spent virtually the rest of the day sitting on my ass watching football.

You have to like any week that has so many games come down to the final play, though that's somewhat tempered by the fact that most of those ended on field goals. (Hey, a win is a win is a win - but nothing beats the game winning TD.)

You also have to like it when a team that needs a win goes out and gets one, regardless of the opponent. Jacksonville beat the Colts, and San Diego absolutely whooped the Jets to right the ship and get a win. The Chargers could easily be 3-0 right now, and instead are 1-2.

Meanwhile, the Titans and Bills are 3-0, the Cardinals and the 49ers are 2-1.

Yeah, that's MY San Francisco 49ers, who beat up a truly bad team in the Detroit Lions, but did so convincingly on offense and defense. Their schedule is going to get ugly quickly, but there's definitely a fighting chance they could play a very close game with the Saints this weekend. All I know is, they played some bad teams last year and failed to score 30 points very often. Actually, they only did it ONCE all last year. They've now done that two weeks in a row, with Isaac Bruce actually looking suprisingly spry and JTO looking like a QB playing well in a system he understands.

What's more - and yes, it was against Detroit - but the 49ers had a pass rush, something that's been absent - absent - for the great majority of defensive minded head coach Mike Nolan's tenure. (I'm not entirely sure Nolan is a good coach - at all. I'll take these wins and hope he proves my suspicions wrong.)

Anyhow, the 49ers are finally fun to watch again, and the world can't be too wrong when that's the case.

It's an NFL season where the Dolphins can beat up the Patriots - not just win, but pretty soundly beat the Pats by a score of 38-13. Ronnie Brown had one of the legendary days in the sport by running for four touchdowns and throwing another. Nice day at the office, Ronnie. I was less shocked by the lack of offense - one can't expect Matt Cassel to just become a Hall of Fame QB - than the fact that the defense couldn't handle the tepid Miami offense. Three of Brown's TDs came on direct snaps to him from the center -- it's fine to be confused by that once in a game, but three separate times? That's embarassing.

So who is the worst team in football? Obviously, Miami is no longer part of this discussion. The winless teams are now the Texans, Chiefs, Rams, Lions and the Browns. None of these teams are good - and in the case of the Browns, that's genuinely a bit shocking. Derek Anderson looks awful -- or, in retrospect, like the guy who initially lost the starting QB job in Cleveland to Charlie Frye. There is talent on this team though - in fact, every team on this list has at least one player who is or should be a top guy at his position. But the Texans and Chiefs look particularly bad right now. I don't think the Chiefs have any clue what they're doing out there, and in Houston, Matt Schaub looks horrid.

It's also worth stating - the Rams are REALLY quite bad as well. Marc Bulger just got benched for Trent Green, who I thought had retired. Seriously, I thought he had. Again, this is a team with Torry Holt and Steven Jackson, but right now? Hard to see them winning more than two or three games.

Finally, I obviously have to say something about the debacle that is the Raiders and the currently still ongoing saga of Lane Kiffin. I honestly think that any Raiders fan who thinks Al Davis isn't the problem with the team that he owns is delusional. As is Al Davis.