Against The Grain -- Pregame Edition

2009-10-26T13:37:27-04:00

2009-09-17T13:33:53-04:00

2009-09-17T18:54:46-04:00

cbc*1963

York 501900

8 "The Bills' inability to land any kind of offensive knockout punch" wasn't what cost Buffalo the game. McKelvin delivered the knockout punch. I place the blame more on the coaching staff for not making certain he knew what to do in that situation - up by 5 with less than 2 minutes to go. 6913591

2009-09-19T12:32:00-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/149/552/thumb/lsu-tiger.jpg 148 LA

Jayddrew

Shreveport 149852

"The Bills' inability to land any kind of offensive knockout punch" wasn't what cost Buffalo the game. McKelvin delivered the knockout punch. I place the blame more on the coaching staff for not making certain he knew what to do in that situation - up by 5 with less than 2 minutes to go.

46 I disagree - any moron knows you don't fumbel the ball on a kickoff when all you have to do is run out the clock to win the game. McKelvin could have taken a knee. I wouldn't blame the coaches one lick, you shouldn't have to teach a guy not to fumble, particularly at the college or NFL level, on a kick return, wehn you've got the game won. That said, I did feel for the guy since he made such a massive mistake. But he should have said next time, even though he runs it out of the endzone, he'll hold on to the ball like his life and his career depended on it. 6934320

2009-09-17T19:21:25-04:00

mcflyguy224

Elkhart 55769

9 You guys will say anything and make any excuse for the Patriots to make them "the best team ever" status. Yet when the Colts win against a division foe, who by the way is better than the Bills, it's not because they are better but because they are the Jags and Indy has shortcoming. Very hypocritical of you, nice to know that there will never be enough Patriot knob slobbers out there. 6913767

2009-09-19T04:23:29-04:00

308

DeuceDeuce

Zurich 91512

You guys will say anything and make any excuse for the Patriots to make them "the best team ever" status. Yet when the Colts win against a division foe, who by the way is better than the Bills, it's not because they are better but because they are the Jags and Indy has shortcoming. Very hypocritical of you, nice to know that there will never be enough Patriot knob slobbers out there.

45 It's always funny to see a disgruntled Colts fan whine when their team doesn't get the props they used to. New England is the better team, point blank, period. This isn't even debatable. As a long time Cowboys supporter, I have no problems saying New England each and every year for over half a decade is the team to beat. I love watching the Pats, and more so Tom Brady (the best quarterback in the league, and easy at that) go to work on Sundays. 6933239

2009-09-18T22:19:12-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/994/61/thumb/Drew_Pearson.jpg 47 NM

daprophet

Tesuque 99760

44 Perloff, you okay? You almost made some salient points this week. I read you to feel superior. Don't get carried away with the insight. 6931773

2009-09-18T21:28:13-04:00

tripp203

Uwchland 868769

43 ahhh its good to see the "Philthy" fans came out of there bubbles. lets see.. where to start: quote 38 - yes.. intelligent people live outside of "Philthy" and know that Vick is inactive until week 3.. duh.. Eagles dumb move. Feely or Kolb??? I would think they would've kept Feely knowing his history but again I am not as intellligent as the braniacs from the "old 700 club" at the vet.. quote 39 - good job.. you can put 3 words together in a sentence. obviously you are smarter than most since you root for the Eagles. quote 40 - you have some good points and i will actually acknowledge your points with some of my own.. (in parantheses) This is ridiculous. Nobody gives the Eagles credit. (why do Eagles fans feel they constantly "deserve credit"? if you recall the SI NFL Preview, the Eagles are NOT picked to even make the playoffs) Did we forget that this young, enthusiastic defensive coordinator was schooled by one of the all-time great defensive minds?? (what does being young and enthusiastic have to do with a QB throwing 4 ints since this same QB had a similar playoff finale last season? to use the death of Jim Johnson in this context is totally disrespectful of what that coach was about) Maybe his play-calling had something to do with Delhomme's "meltdown". Maybe it was the fact they have 2 All-Pro players(Mikell and Samuel) in the secondary, not to mention a very, very solid Sheldon Brown and Super Bowl champ Ellis Hobbs. (all I have to say about having a super bowl champ in your defense.. Larry Foote Pittsburgh to the Lions - is that making the Lions defense that much better ??? ) Maybe it could have been Carolina's o-line, which is considered one of the better in the NFL, got completely dominated by a young, hungry rotation of d-lineman that have been dominating up front?? No wait, I got it...it was that Carolina's top 10 rush game was completely stuffed at the line. Of course a qb will have a "meltdown" when he's surrounded by green jerseys. The Eagles d dominated, didn't matter who showed up that day. It's gona be fun with a "great offense, who's run game is no where near as good as the Williams-Stewart 1-2 punch, coming into town. And mind you, NO's d stinks. Good luck Saints fans. (Brees vs. Kolb? Not a Saints fan but the smart money is on NOs offense who bascially tripled the Beagles offense stats in week 1) 6931588

2009-09-18T19:31:45-04:00

114

Favre310

Eau Claire 207231

42 And regards to Favre...I think everyone knew Favre was injured and was just playing to preserve his consecutive win streak. So, yeah the Jets were lying...but I would expect that even the NFL commish could spot a bad liar. The commish didn't want to be the one to break Favre's record either. 6930946

2009-09-17T16:37:55-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/746/936/thumb/piper.gif 1168 KS

PieEyedPiper

Manhattan 747596

1 Not completely retarded today Perloff. Kudos. 6911523

2009-09-18T19:29:27-04:00

114

Favre310

Eau Claire 207231

Not completely retarded today Perloff. Kudos.

41 As he said himself, its almost like the 5th preseason game. I'm sure he'll turn into the man we all know and hate. Well, thank goodness for small victories. The Bears weren't in it do to Rodger's mistakes, but because Rodgers receivers were dropping passes they should have caught. So Cutler should just mail a thank you card to Rodger's receivers for not making him look like a bigger ****. Though he certainly didn't need any help in that department. 6930907

2009-09-18T19:26:31-04:00

cohox520

Philadelphia 664319

40 This is ridiculous. Nobody gives the Eagles credit. Did we forget that this young, enthusiastic defensive coordinator was schooled by one of the all-time great defensive minds?? Maybe his play-calling had something to do with Delhomme's "meltdown". Maybe it was the fact they have 2 All-Pro players(Mikell and Samuel) in the secondary, not to mention a very, very solid Sheldon Brown and Super Bowl champ Ellis Hobbs. Maybe it could have been Carolina's o-line, which is considered one of the better in the NFL, got completely dominated by a young, hungry rotation of d-lineman that have been dominating up front?? No wait, I got it...it was that Carolina's top 10 rush game was completely stuffed at the line. Of course a qb will have a "meltdown" when he's surrounded by green jerseys. The Eagles d dominated, didn't matter who showed up that day. It's gona be fun with a "great offense, who's run game is no where near as good as the Williams-Stewart 1-2 punch, coming into town. And mind you, NO's d stinks. Good luck Saints fans. 6930937

2009-09-18T19:18:44-04:00

cohox520

Philadelphia 664319

39 This is ridiculous. 6930886

2009-09-18T18:18:39-04:00

MikeNo1eaglesfan1

Holland 515721

38 So, you really think the Eagles signed Jeff Garcia because they have limited faith in Vick's ability to run the offense? Do realize that McNabb is out, Vick is not eligible, and that the Eagles had to sign someone so that they would have a back-up for Kolb? 6930510

2009-09-18T17:13:32-04:00

Alec Miller

Raleigh 220719

37 Since I'm assuming the title of his blog is not intentionally ironic, his editors must take all SI.com readers to be as dunderheaded as Perloff. There's nothing "against the grain" about a string of platitudes and half-witted observations written with the exact same snide, quasi-adolescent tone and sarcasm as every other sports blog in existence. 6929907

1. Week 1 is a lot like a fifth preseason game.  Coaches don't have videotape of their opponents and they're still figuring out their own personnel. It's dangerous to read too much into last week. Here are six teams who gave off false impressions ... Three teams who are much better than they played in Week 1: -- New England: Bill Belichick will use all his tricks to keep this patchwork defense together. The Jets' bulletin board material will help also. -- Carolina: As foolish as the Panthers were for giving Jake Delhomme an extension, he's not as bad as he's looked his last two games. No one's that bad. -- Houston: No surprise, the Texans are all over the place. They'll look terrible, reel off two winning streaks and end up at 8-8. Then we'll all pick them as our darkhorse next season. Three teams who are not as good as they played in Week 1 ... -- Philadelphia: Delhomme's meltdown made the Eagles' defense look better than it is. -- Jacksonville: The Jags played the Colts tough, but that had more to do with the divisional familiarity and Indy's shortcomings. -- Seattle: Torching the Rams doesn't mean Matt Hasselbeck is back. He better be very careful about turning the ball over against the Niners on Sunday. 2. The NFL needs to get over itself fining the Jets for not listing Brett Favre on the injury report. Every single coach in the league would lie to their mother for even the slightest competitive advantage and no one trusts this list anyway. It's purpose is to ensure that gamblers don't pay team trainers to get an advantage. But the league can't go half-way enforcing it in random circumstances. Especially because Favre only brought this story back as an excuse for his poor play. 3. All the hype around the new stadium won't help the Cowboys this weekend. Dallas players may try to do too much, which will play right into the hands of an opportunistic Giants defense. 4. The expectations for Jay Cutler were so out of proportion with anything he had ever done in his career that Week 1's meltdown against Green Bay actually shouldn't worry Bears fans. That's what you get with Cutler. Some nice plays and a lot of forced passes downfield. The fact they were in position to beat Green Bay anyway is encouraging. As long as Cutler doesn't get freaked out by blitzes, the Bears are a dangerous opponent for Pittsburgh on Sunday. 5. After Richard Seymour's performance on Monday night, the Raiders should trade all their first-round draft picks for the next 10 years. They don't even need to get good players back. Taking highly paid first-rounders off that roster will automatically make them better. 6. The Michael Vick angle in Philadelphia has been overblown since the day the Eagles signed the controversial quarterback. The Eagles obviously have limited faith in Vick's ability to run the offense right now or they wouldn't have signed Garcia.  I'm convinced the whole Vick experiment is more about garnering a second-round pick in the future. Remember the Eagles were able to trade quarterback A.J. Feely for a second-round pick in 2004 even though he didn't take a snap the season before. Meanwhile, if they give Kevin Kolb a chance, he may play well enough to be even better trade bait. Kolb has the size, arm and supposedly a good shoulder on his head. He's unfairly judged for throwing a pick-six against the Ravens last season -- a pass play that never should have been called against that defense in the first place. 7. Denver QB Kyle Orton is better than you think. If his finger improves, he'll get a little better every week. He'll hit some bumps and the Broncos aren't a great team, but he's not as erratic as he was in Cincy last Sunday. 8. Terrell Owens is going to cause some pain for Trent Edwards. Edwards made a glued-together offensive line look good by getting rid of the ball underneath before the Patriots' rush arrived. Edwards doesn't appear comfortable waiting longer in the pocket for receivers to make their moves. If T.O. starts crying for the ball, and Edwards holds on to the ball like the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger to let Owens get clear, that line will crumble fast. 9. Watching Edwards on Monday night against the Patriots reminded me of why the quarterback rating system and its emphasis on TD-to-INT ratio is useless. That kind of stat encourages "game managers" like Edwards, but doesn't show how content the under-manned New England defense was to give him the underneath stuff. The Bills' inability to land any kind of offensive knockout punch kept the Pats in a game they should have lost. 10. Everyone's off the Wildcat bandwagon already? Prediction: a wide receiver or running back will throw a touchdown pass this weekend and we'll all jump back on - until something else new comes along. Debate NFL with Perloff every day at <a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/danpatrick/index.html">DanPatrick.com</a>. http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/397/2/thumb/Perloff.jpg 684 NY

Andrew Perloff

New York 3992 78021 1. Week 1 is a lot like a fifth preseason game.  Coaches don't have videotape of their opponents and they're still figuring out their own personnel. It's dangerous to read too much into last week. Here are six teams who gave off false impressions ... Three teams who are much better than they played in Week 1: -- New England: Bill Belichick will use all his tricks to keep this patchwork defense together. The Jets' bulletin board material will help also. -- Carolina: As foolish as the Panthers were for giving Jake Delhomme an extension, he's not as bad as he's looked his last two games. No one's that bad. -- Houston: No surprise, the Texans are all over the place. They'll look terrible, reel off two winning streaks and end up at 8-8. Then we'll all pick them as our darkhorse next season.