It’s Called Defense (Week 3)
Posted by Doug McHone on 28 Sep 2004 at 06:54 am | Tagged as: Football
Did anyone else catch the Packers/Colts game on Sunday? That was about as crazy a shootout as I’ve ever seen. It may be good for ratings to see the scoreboard operator develop carpal tunnel, but I’m more of an old-school fan. I’d rather see 15 play drives that eat up the clock and a solid defense than a long-bomb touchdown teeter-totter, with each team’s defense having the resistance of the automatic door at the supermarket.
For the first half of the Packers/Colts, I felt like I should have grabbed my coupons, then scoured the endcaps for free samples, because it was a scoring free-for-all! I appreciate Favre airing it out every now and then, and this does let me know that the offense can handle anything that a mediocre defense throws at it, but that is not the pride of this team to me. It’s all about the defense.
When Reggie White was doing his dance behind the line as the opposing QB was helped up, I cheered. When guys like Bernardo Harris and LeRoy Butler were in the fray, I had a sense of comfort. The DB position has never been the strong suit of the defense, but it has always been enough to handle most opposing players, with the help of the very capable safeties and linebackers.
Last week, the Bears ran at us after announcing their intent! This week, the Colts bombed us for 393 yards and 5 touchdowns in the air! What do you expect the league MVP from last year, who is known for his passing attack, to do? Take into account that their running back was a bit hobbled and the Packer secondary has long been suspect and what do you look for if you’re a Packer linebacker? Um… the run?
OK, I got that out of my system. Let’s look to some other games from week 3:
When Houston travelled to Kansas City, one thing was certain. There would be one less winless team in the NFL. We all know by now that the Chiefs have a defense that will make you appreciate your own team’s D, no matter what. But 0-3? They brought in Gunther Cunningham to coach the defense into a lean mean machine of some sort. I do think they need to change their personell a bit, but I don’t buy into the notion that there are no stars on that defense. These guys are the best of the best, in the top 32 professional football defenses in the NFL! That has to stand for something, right?
Philadelphia handilly beat Detroit. A couple years ago, that would be a foregone conclusion, and this year… it’s a foregone conclusion. Sorry, Lions. You’re gelling up and recent drafts are really showing why they were drafted, but the Eagles are playing on a whole new level. Barring an injury to McNabb, I don’t expect them to be tested until week 6 at the very earliest.
Chicago was in that game against the Vikings to the end. The NFC North will once again be a hotly contested division in a year or two. If the Packers don’t get a solid backup to Favre (at least one who doesn’t take Geritol), they will have some lean rebuilding years ahead of them. Nice job by the way, Vikes.
Denver beat San Diego. Yeah…So? If you look a little deeper and examine the game stats, though, the lightning bolts beat the smoking steeds in every category except passing yards and the final score. Who says the Chargers paid too much for LaDainian Tomlinson? I do. A dominating back is nice, but no one player can win the entire game for you as that makes you one-dimentional.
Seattle blanked the 49ers. I guess there is some Defense in the sleepless city. I look forward to their meeting with the Eagles in the postseason. Yes, that is my first prediction of the year, even in these formative days of the early season. Who will win? The team that goes to the Superbowl, of course!
Oakland beat Tampa Bay under the care of backup QB Kerry Collins. You really can’t rely on the stats of a game like this to measure the teams, though. There’s a lot of recent history between these two teams. John Gruden, Tim Brown, Warren Sapp and others had been on the previous teams within the last few years and everyone wanted to prove the other team wrong in the trade. It was a fun game to watch, but not one to guage team skills against.
Baltimore beat Cincinnati by gaining 7.5 yards on average every time they ran the ball. The Bengal offense has some life to it, but the defense won’t survive getting trampled like that. That should be their top priority as they make trades and acquire players in the draft. Even if their offense suffers mildly, it’s worth it.
Some people say that Kurt Warner is fighting for his job, even though his job won’t be as the starting QB in New York next year. I believe he has been given a new start to his career under a different head coach. Mike Martz is a fine coach and a risk-taker, which I can appreciate. But Kurt Warner is playing better now than he had a year ago with receivers that are not future hall of famers and he’s having fun once again. I do hope he goes to a decent team next year and is given an honest chance at the starting job.
Jacksonville will be the team that you’ll be happy you didn’t jump on the bandwagon with but will cheer for anyway for reasons you can’t fathom and you’re probably wondering where my grammar went and why this is such a bad run-on sentence. That sentence did end and so will the Jaguar’s luck.
Finally, does anyone feel that Dallas or Washington is ready to take a step up this year? It’s early and there’s a lot of football to be played, but I get the impression that these teams are here to play out the season and build on what pieces of the teams are worth using next year. I would have liked the teams to play in throwback jerseys for this game, considering the coaches. The trouble is, the uniforms of these teams have been fairly consistant through the years. Sure, there have been subtle differences, but they don’t goof with the thread too much. Did I just say, “Goof with the thread?”
New Orleans beat St. Louis in OT. Isn’t that nice? I didn’t see the game, though, so this will have to do. Same with Philadelphia/Detroit and Pittsburgh/Miami.
Well, you’re not quite TMQ, but you still do a pretty good job…and without all the nasty innuendos too!
I would love to see Kurt Warner somewhere else next year. The question is…where will it be? There don’t seem to be too many places for him to go at the moment and I don’t know that next year will be any different. He can probably secure a backup position, but there aren’t too many teams in need of a starter. Most either have one now or have one ready to begin next year.
I don’t have the time to present a TMQ-length column or to research to the depth that he does. I do like to think of teams in terms of their attributes or logos, and I got that from TMQ, but my skill level isn’t in his ballbark.
I do like his verbage, by the way. Referring to bad protection from the Redskins’ O-line as having something go “badly normal” was pure genius, IMHO. Warner will play next year, barring injury. Perhaps the Raiders, considering the fact that their starting QB will be out a couple months with a fractured vertebre (sp?).
My mind translates that diagnosis to: broken neck. And this guy can play again? This season? We are fearfully and wonderfully made. And the pain killers we have devised aren’t too bad, either!
Doug,
You know, if the Packers had ten more minutes in that game, I think they would have won it. I think both the O. Coordinator, as well as the D. Coordinator did poor jobs of reacting to real game situations. First, once we realized that we could pass all day long on them, we should have done what they did, pass, pass, pass, as we did in the second half. There was no doubt wqho the better team was after half time, just like their was no doubt who the smarter team was before half time. We have the horse offensively, but do we have the right O. coordinator?
As for defense, hmmm….cna we really call it that?
Maybe we put red on our defense, and teach them how better to pivot out of the way of the onrushing bull? Pitiful, but then again, we knew this team was going to struggle defensively. I still think Mike McKenzie makes a world of difference for the entire defense. For starters, Reggie Wayne ( is that his name?) would never have had that kind of game. And that makes the Colts offens actually see third down before half time.
We’ll be alright, Doug, we’ll just have to out-offense everybody.:???:
I don’t want to be the Chiefs, though. When the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl, they were the cream of the crop with a stout defense and an above-average offense. I’d like the Pack to move in that direction. Top 3 in defense, top 5 in offense, top 3 in special teams. That’s what I want.
Recommended Reading
It has been too long since I posted some recommended reading from other blogs and Web sites. I will remedy this today. You are free to understand this post as being an indication that I am busy writing my first week’s “lesson” for Cutting It Straigh…
Doug - did you say something nice about the Vikes or was that my imagination?
And, since I grew up in Jacksonville, I’m on the Jaguars bandwagon. Right now, I’m waiting to wake up. If we don’t get an offense real soon this little Cinderella season we’re having will come to a quick end.
I find it difficult to say nice things about the Vikings and the Bears. The Lions, bless their hearts, are a little easier to cheer for, but we’ll see how that goes.
The Vikings are a great offensive team, but all it takes is an injury to Moss or Culpepper to bring them back to reality. The longevity of those two, to be able to play consistantly without major injury, has been remarkable. Give them a top 10 defense and they will be a contender.
Champions don’t have to win shoot-outs each and every week.
I just did it again! I complimented them and couldn’t do it without balancing that with a comment about their defense. I never said I was fair and impartial, though. Did I?
Refs are supposed to be fair and impartial, fan’s aren’t! The way I see it, the ability to trash talk your opponents is a prerequisite to being a fan.