Frinklin Football Wrap-up
Huh… two weeks in a row.
NCAA
-The Huskies pretty much encapsulated “good news, bad news” against Notre Dame on Saturday. The good news is that Notre Dame was never really able to stop Washington’s offense. The bad news is they didn’t have too, as UW made a succession of mistakes at crucial times. In the first quarter, if Chambers doesn’t fumble on the 1-yard line, and Stanback doesn’t throw an interception the end zone, this is a completely different game. Now the Huskies start a brutal stretch with road games against UCLA, Oregon, Arizona State and home against UCS. Washington could improve in every game and still start November 1-7.
-It was a pretty slow week in college football. USC looked lethargic for the first half against Oregon, until Reggie Bush took over. The Trojans will not get away with that playing Texas or Virginia Tech. The Hokies looked awesome against a good Georgia Tech team. Louisville, everybody’s BCS lock, looked awful in losing to South Florida.
NFL
-Had I been paying attention and realized that Chuck Knox was being inducted into the Seahawks’ Ring of Honor this weekend; I would have made up a giant sign reading “Football Players Make Football Plays” which, for my money, was Ground Chuck’s best football cliché. He was a master of coachspeak. He was also an excellent coach who, as mentioned ad naseum in the Seattle papers this week, was 113-0 after leading by 12 or more in the fourth quarter. Unlike the current Hawks, who seem to fall apart if somebody breathes on ‘em wrong in the fourth.
It went much better this Sunday against an apparently overrated Cardinal team. Tell me again why Arizona was a trendy sleeper pick? They looked awful in just about every phase of the game. They Cardinals have excellent wideouts, a mediocre quarterback and nothing on the offensive line. The running game is non-existent too. The Seahawks looked good, but they should against Arizona.
-Now, you’re an NFL coach. You have the consensus best running back in football. You’d run him until his legs fell off, wouldn’t you? Well, Marty Schottenheimer and San Diego finally shook off the hangover of last year’s awful playoff game and took it to the Giants last night. The Charger defense was a little shaky at times, but the offense was brilliant. When LT and Antonio Gates are working, the Bolts are hard to beat.
-What is with the Panthers? Lose to New Orleans in a very emotional game, beat up on New England, and then lose to the tough-but-talentless Dolphins? This is a Super Bowl team?
-Speaking of the Patriots, Peter King makes the point that –however tedious they might seem- we are seeing true greatness in the Pats, and Sunday’s win in Pittsburgh, despite losing two starters to injury just proves it.
-Okay, this thing where Indianapolis’ defense is better than its offense? It’s getting old. Start throwing touchdowns, Payton.
-Eli Manning is going to be pretty damned good. Carson Palmer is already pretty great.
Posted by Frinklin at September 26, 2005 11:27 PM | TrackBack