Temper yourself

It's week 2 of the NFL and there's plenty of overhappy people, and underhappy people.  It's only one game, and though it is the shortest of the major sports seasons with only 16 games to enjoy every year, there's still a lot of football left and anything can happen.  Let's talk football!

NFL
Packers v. Bills
(Follow your own advice, Dave, and temper yourself) I'm not talking about the loss of Ryan Grant for the year (though I'll touch on that in a minute).  I'm talking about the nervousness of going into this second game and thinking about last year.  Let me refresh your memory.  Last season, the Cincinnati Bengals lost a heart breaker to Denver, 12-7 then came into Lambeau Field and proceeded to pounce (pun intended) on the Packers, winning 31-24.  The Bills narrowly (not so much "heartbreaking" fashion) lost to the Dolphins 15-10 last week.  Could we see a repeat performance this year?  I think not.  That Bengals team was more talented than this Bills team...a lot more talented.  Sure, the Bills look to have a pretty good run game, but that's it.  And that plays into the strength of the Packers defense being the #1 rated run defense last season.

But Dave, didn't you see how Vick torched them on the ground last week?  Yep, and I also noticed that they stuck with a defensive game plan they had installed for the starter, Kolb.  Which meant that wide receivers were covered and an extremely athletic Vick, ala 2004/5, could run the open field when hurried out of the pocket (contrary to movies and TV shows, NFL teams don't often change game plans in the middle of a quarter and almost never game plan for the back-up QB).  Packer fans should be pretty pleased with the victory (though somewhat ugly) as Philly is a pretty difficult place to win in (just ask the Packers as that was there first win there in 48 years).  And don't panic about Rodgers' inaccuracies.  everyone has a bad game.  Instead, look it at as Don Banks of Sports Illustrated stated in his weekly power rankings, "...it's already apparent the Packers can win even without firing on all cylinders."

Packers win against this Bills team, and I think it's big.

Now what about Ryan Grant?  Now doubt a bummer of a loss not just on the field, but apparently in the locker room.  This does not, however, squash Super Bowl dreams.  Why not?  Take a look at last season when only 2 of the top 5 rushing teams in the league made it to the playoffs and 3 of the bottom 5 made it (and that includes the Indianapolis Colts, who were ranked at the bottom). The Packers just need someone serviceable in there, and Brandon Jackson should be at least that filling in for Grant.

Vikings v. Dolphins
Tough loss last week for the Vikes, and I agree with all the pundits about Favre's rustiness, tiredness and a lack of "trust" with his receivers from not being in training camp.  Adrian Peterson looked pretty good on some of those runs, but like I said in my NFL preview last week, Childress has no clue how to use this kid.  And that, Viking fans, should tick you off.  On the Vikings last offensive drive of the game, with 9:10 left in the 4th quarter trailing only 14-9,  a total of 8 plays were called.  Of those 8 plays, 1 was a punt and the seven others were passes.  Yes, that would be a big fat goose egg in the run department.  Truth is, not a single run play was called in the entire 4th quarter.  However, in the 3rd quarter, Peterson had runs of 13, 6, 1, 1, 6 and 3 yards equalling a 5 yards per carry stat.  It baffles me why Childress wants to ignore this guy, especially when his team is on the road and Favre was definitely not on his game.

The Vikings are home this week, and that alone should get them the victory.  It could be a high scoring affair for them as the Dolphins defense isn't exactly in the upper echelon.

Bears v. Cowboys
This is actually somewhat of a head scratcher.  The Cowboys offense looks absolutely inept, and with the talent they have, there are no excuses.  The Cowboys defense looked pretty good, though the Redskins offense isn't exactly imposing, even with McNabb.  The Bears really don't make any sense.  Look at these stat lines, Cutler- 372 yds passing, 2 TD's, 1 Int for a 108.3 rating, Forte- 201 total yards and the Bears defense held the Lions to 168 total yards and forced 3 turnovers.  This should have been a blowout, but no, it ended with the Bears winning by a whole 5 points and with the help of, quite possibly, the dumbest rule in sports.  On top of it, the Lions lost their starting QB for half of the game and that defensive secondary of the Lions really isn't that good.  How did the Bears avoid the end zone so well?  Oh yeah, the Bears had 4 turnovers themselves. Offensive stats shown above with only 2 total touchdowns to show for it + 4 turnovers = inept, in my opinion.

So the Bears and Cowboys both had defenses that fared well against poor offenses, and both the Cowboys and Bears are rather inept on offense.  Ummmmm, Cowboys win because they're the home team.  And who knows?  Maybe the light turns on for the Cowboys offense this week.

Lions v. Eagles
I would so choose the Lions in this one if both teams starting QB's were healthy and playing.  But Stafford's hurt and his replacement Shaun Hill is not good.  For the Eagles, Kolb is hurt, and Vick looked like a superstar last week once he was rushed out of the pocket.  The Lions have a pretty decent defensive line which will force Vick out of the pocket some more, again making him look like a superstar as he runs all over the open field.  Vick will play better than Hill, meaning the Eagles will play better than the Lions and win.

However, kudos to the Lions head coach for keeping his cool after the last game.  This could put a fire in the belly of those Detroit Lions and help them play angry.  Usually playing angry is good for a football team, but Shaun Hill isn't the "angry" type and that's what derails this train.

Other picks: Falcons, Ravens, Chiefs, Titans, Panthers, Broncos, Raiders, Patriots, Chargers, Texans, Giants and Saints LW: 10-6, 10-6 (This second record is what I call the "Vegas Record", in which if I decided to choose only the favorite teams to win, that would be my record.  I don't always do that, for example, in my personal picks this week I picked "underdogs" Giants and Chiefs to win.  I just want to see how much better or worse I am than Vegas at picking winners.  Point spreads are not taken into account)

College
Michigan v. Massachusetts
Hello Michigan.  Welcome back to the top 25, it's been a while.  Why don't you stay for a little bit?  Hello Denard Robinson.  Welcome to the Heisman Trophy discussion.  Has anyone ever told you that you like Desmond Howard?  UMass visits the Big House this week. Since this is football and not basketball, Michigan wins big.

Other games to watch
#9 Iowa at #24 Arizona.  Even though it's in Arizona, Iowa should win it.  #10 Florida at Tennessee.  A nice "rivalry" game that Florida should win with Tennessee still hurting after the Lane Kiffin debacle and from the 48-13 pounding they took from #7 Oregon last week.  However, I'm still not sold on the "post-Tebow" Gators. #8 Nebraska at Washington.  Why? Because Washington has the possible future #1 overall pick of next year's NFL draft playing at QB.  Oh, and Nebraska plays a completely different style of offense.  This actually could be a good game...has some upset potential.

Those with a vested interest in Kenosha
Bradford
They pasted Racine Park 56-6 last week.  They face Oak Creek this week, which should be a bit of a tougher test, but still a win.  They stay atop the rankings in the state, and oh, what do I see here?  The Red Devils are ranked #74 of the RivalsHigh 100 national poll.  What's that?  This the first time a Kenosha County high school has been ranked in the top 100 since the '90's?  Sweet.

Tremper
Tremper crushed Horlick last week 48-7.  The have a nifty running back in Toneo Gulley who has rushed for a total of 413 yards his last two games.  They move up to #10 in the state coaches poll and look to beat Muskego this Friday.

Bradford and Tremper look to be the cream of the crop in the Southeast Conference, but don't count out Franklin who is also 3-0, and though their 30 pts./game for is nice, it's the 2 pts./game against that's even nicer.  Mark your calendars for Oct. 14th when Bradford (51 pts./game for) faces off with Franklin.

Final Thought
What a class act by Reggie Bush to give that Heisman back.  Way to go...wait, what's that?  You've already used the Heisman for what you needed it for with endorsement deals and the money that comes with being the #2 overall draft choice of the NFL?  Yeah, I don't get this and I think we're going to still see this type of stuff going on because the NCAA isn't hitting people where it hurts. 

So what if you vacate wins and trophies?  It's not like you look at the list of those who won the Heisman in the past and say, "My goodness.  There's a blank space in 2005.  Were all the college players in 2005 so horrible that no one could win the Heisman?"  No, when someone asks, the response will start with, "Well, actually, Reggie Bush won it, but..."  It doesn't matter. 

You want to see people stop doing this stuff, start fining people.  Hit the pocket books.   For Reggie Bush, that running backs coach at USC that knew about stuff, the former AD at USC, Lloyd Lake (the agent in the middle of all this) and even Pete Carroll (come on, you don't think he high tailed it out of USC because he had an itch to coach a bad team in the NFL, do you?) a minimum of $50,000 each.  I also think the coaches and AD should be banned for one year from filling in any similar position (yeah, even at the youth level). 

I actually don't like the sanctions imposed upon the school of losing 10 scholarships for the next three years and not being able to play in bowl games for the next two.  I think there should be more.  I think USC should have to pay the NCAA every cent it received for winning (and losing) any bowl games it played in while Reggie Bush was on the football team there.  Then the NCAA should pool all that money (the payback from USC and the fines) and distribute it evenly to all the schools USC played against while Reggie Bush was on the team.  If the NCAA wants this type of thing to stop, this is what it needs to do.  Drastic times call for drastic measures, and vacating wins and trophies aren't drastic.

Happy Football!