Hot Reads - Week 9

Posted 10/29 by Jeff Pasquino, Exclusive to Footballguys.com

Welcome to "Hot Reads", a new column for 2008 here at Footballguys.com. The general purpose of this column will be to collect some of my thoughts and observations throughout the NFL season as we go along - from waiver wire comments, how to get the most out of the Footballguys site, or anything else football related that comes to mind. It will mostly be a free-flowing, stream of consciousness - that means that there's no predicting what I might talk about in a given week. So....welcome to my world.....

Philly's Big Day

Week 8 was a big game for the Philadelphia Eagles, but it was a little odd at Lincoln Financial Field when the Atlanta Falcons came in for a big NFC clash on Sunday. Most NFL teams have some fans that are visiting and wearing their team colors, but they most likely were lost amongst all of the red Philadelphians who were wearing a mixture of red with their green in order to show their support for the Phillies. That dichotomy helped the Matt Ryan fans to blend in, as the rookie quarterback from Exton, PA returned to his native area and had a large contingent of family and friends wearing Eagles jerseys but Falcons hats. They had to be pleased with the outcome as Ryan played well but the Eagles walked away with the win.

As for the World Series also coming to town, it is a major story that Philadelphia may get their first major title in 25 years, but I think Fox went a little over the top. Shocking, I know. While it isn't that rare of an occasion for two major sporting events to be going on in the same city on the same day, the importance of both games was highlighted by Fox Sports at every opportunity. I guess it helps that both games were on FOX television, as it was just last week when Tampa Bay hosted both the Red Sox and Seattle at the same time on a Sunday night - but one was on TBS while the other was on ESPN. They really pushed it when they added that The Who were also in town for a concert. Was that inclusion really necessary? If their goal was to point out that there were a lot of people in once place at one time, they should review some of their Daytona 500 numbers from February.

London Calling

So I understand that the NFL wants to broaden their horizons and their fan bases, not to mention their revenue streams, but it seemed a little odd to force one of the teams that travels the most in the NFL to not only travel cross-country but also an additional 3,000+ miles to London for a game with the Saints. It is no wonder that the Chargers lost (and are the best 3-5 team in the NFL). Both teams seemed to be at peace with the decisions, but one of the major concepts of this NFL outreach is to educate another group of fans about the American version of football.

This brings me to the interesting conclusion of the Saints - Chargers game. For those of you who missed it, Drew Brees was doing everything that he possibly could to preserve the victory for New Orleans. With the clock winding down and San Diego out of time-outs, Brees called a time-out on fourth down and two at the New Orleans 26 with 0:14 on the clock and the Saints up 37-30. Head coach Sean Payton and Brees came up with a plan to kill as much of the time left and avoid any type of punt block scenario by having Brees take the snap and run for the end zone. Brees did just that, fumbling intentionally (actually he threw it) out the back of his end zone. This gave the Saints a free kick with no chance of a block at their own 20 yard line with only eight seconds remaining, but it almost backfired on New Orleans as Philip Rivers had a chance at a Hail Mary pass from midfield after Darren Sproles returned the kick and left one second on the clock.

Now I'm sure that you followed all of that, but imagine if you lived in Europe and are watching the NFL for the first time. Can you imagine that? Try explaining to someone who watches soccer that it is a good idea when you are winning to give up points to the other team so that you have a better chance to win a game. Go ahead - tell them that a goalie (or should I say, "keeper") kick the ball into his own net in extra time when up 2 to nil just so that they can kickoff at midfield. Okay, maybe not the best analogy, but I think you get what I'm saying - it is a tough one to explain. Plus I got to use "nil" this week, so it's all good.

A Case For More Games

We've heard the rumors that the NFL is considering expansion of the regular season to 18 games, either at the expense of some preseason games or just to push back the Super Bowl until late February. While there are good arguments for and against this, I thought of another reason that someone might be more in favor of more games - a balanced schedule.

Now, a perfectly balanced schedule would mean that each team in the NFC would play every NFC team once and their divisional opponents twice, which just so happens to add up to exactly 18 games. The same schedule could be adopted by the AFC, but we know that this is virtually impossible to be acceptable to the NFL. They want AFC-NFC contests for numerous reasons, mostly revolving around television and marketing, but still they like possible Super Bowl previews. So this will never happen, but it does make for an interesting point. There is no such thing as a "balanced" schedule - do you really think the same team that played Tampa Bay in Week 8 was the same that played Philadelphia in Week 2? - but a bigger schedule would allow for more intra-conference games to be played, which would help to reduce the number of teams that did not face off in a given season.

Just something that crossed through my mind......

Have We Seen This Team Before?

So I'm watching the Titans and the Colts on Monday night (partially, the other eye was keyed on the World Series - gotta love picture-in-picture) and I'm seeing the Titans just dominate yet again. It isn't the sexiest team in the NFL, but they are the best, which made me wonder if I had ever seen a team quite like them before. Turns out that I have, and the comparison is a pretty good one - the 2000 Baltimore Ravens. Here me out:

The Titans have two running backs that are combining to lead the offense (Chris Johnson and LenDale White) while the Ravens had some pretty good ones as well (Jamal Lewis and Priest Holmes).
Both teams had a younger quarterback that was replaced midseason by an older and more conservative veteran. The Titans' Kerry Collins is doing even better than Trent Dilfer so far, while Vince Young had dropped all the way down to the Tony Banks level. Ouch.
The 2000 Ravens were not known for a passing attack, and good luck recalling their starting receivers (and no, Brandon Stokley was not one - he had one start that year). Their best receiver? Shannon Sharpe, a tight end. Sound familiar, Titans fans? Bo Scaife and Alge Crumpler are the 1-2 punch for a team severely lacking in receiver talent - yet they still win.
Both teams are winning with solid defense. The 2000 Ravens led the NFL with only 165 points against all season. The 2008 Titans also lead the NFL in points against, having yielded only 87 through seven games.
Both teams have strong kickers, as evidenced by Matt Stover's 135 points and two victories for the Ravens during a period of offensive futility where they failed to score a touchdown in five consecutive games. Rob Bironas has 58 points on the year and is on a pace for over 130 points. Stover hit on over 90% of his attempts and Bironas is hovering right near that mark (89.7%, one miss out of 14 tries).

Which brings me to my final point - the 2000 Ravens won the Super Bowl that year. Can history repeat itself? Tennessee fans certainly hope that this comparison holds up all the way to Tampa Bay....

That will do it for this week. I hope you enjoyed this window into my world. Until next time.....