Power Position Betting Quick Hits: Week Three Football Review

This must be the Year of the Linemen. For the second straight week, we saw a 300+ pound heffer return a fumble a long distance, this time for ninety-eight yards and a touchdown—Mike Patterson even made the slightest of cuts at the end of his run as well. Hilarious. This play deflated the Forty-Niners, put the Eagles in cruise control, and even though San Francisco mounted a garbage time attack, there was little fear of a repeat of Week 2.

Same goes for the Giants, throttled by Seattle, who then began to mount another fourth quarter comeback, only to fall far short of their goal. Oh well. They will bounce back next week, no worries.

How about Brett “if only this team had Walker” Favre? Second quarterback to hit 400 touchdowns (he is only behind Dan Marino at 420), he was in a slugfest against Jon Kitna and the Lions in the fantasy game of the week with great performances from the two QB’s, Roy Williams, Kevin Jones, and Ahman Green.

And, on the topic of old and seemingly over-the-hill quarterbacks up against weak defenses, how about Mark Brunell? Everyone was out against this guy, everyone, including me—but the Texans are the curiously strong balm for a struggling team.

Completion after completion, with the jeers of all Redskins fans hanging around his neck, Grandpa Brunell sets the record for most consecutive completions. Twenty-two for twenty-two, he finished 24/27 for 261 yards. Oh, and Portis came back for 164 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns. Go Texans.

Perhaps the most shocking thing that happened today was that the Raiders did not lose to their bye week. Hopefully they can build off this momentum.

The Jaguars returned to earth a bit, playing a hell of a half, only to fall to the Colts. Maybe if this were the playoffs the Jags would have won, but in the regular season, Manning and company can belittle any defense—eventually. Making the necessary adjustments on both sides of the ball, Indy pulled out a tough win that will have everyone calling them the team to beat in January. Again.

That honor also belongs to the Seahawks this week, who play Chicago next week in a huge test for both squads.

Something is wrong with Culpepper. If he cannot produce against the Titans, who can he produce against? This was the question of the week in our Podcast, and James and I both said we believed Daunte could bounce back. The Dolphins won, but he did not.

What happened to the days when Jamal Lewis would rush over the Browns, reverse, and then rush over them again? Last year he had difficulties against them, attributed to the prison time he served, so this year it is true—Jamal Lewis and the Ravens are not the team they used to be. Still, 3-0 is 3-0. Let’s see what happens next week against the Chargers.

Speaking of next week, Browns versus Raiders. Very interesting.

The Jets are in first place. On average, most experts gave the Jets around four victories, and three games into the season, they are halfway there. Chad did not have a 300-yard game, but he did enough and the Jets scored their first rushing touchdown of the season in a solid victory over the Bills.

My computer friend Dave, Jets fan, started to laugh when the Bills recovered the inside kick. Worried, I asked, all too familiar with the pain of Jets fans. Nope, he said. The Bills have J.P. Losman.

And so they do. So they do.

Carolina has their first victory and Steve Smith played in his first game. Coincidence? Tampa Bay gave everything they had, Chris Simms had a spleenectomy, and Jon Kasay was the hero of the game easily, receiving mention in Chucky-Face’s, a.k.a. Coach Gruden’s post-game comments. Anyway, Steve Smith is back so expect happy times down in Carolina.

Happy time should also be expected in Chicago, though I hope most of you out there took the over on the number of heart attacks amongst their fans. What seemed an easy game at the beginning turned into a long grind, and once Grossman hit Rashied Davis—I’m sure the place exploded. Literally. They have a good tradition of fans there in Chicago, and we here at PPG expect good things for the city. Well, good things for all matters football related at least.

What is wrong with Big Ben? Something is just not right. Willie Parker and the Steelers gained the lead in the fourth, but then two quick viper strikes to T.J. Who’s-Your-Mama? and the Bengals are 3-0 as well.

Carson Palmer, while not as sharp as he was obviously last year, is back and the Bengals are once again contenders. Oh, and do not expect another performance like this from Chad Johnson, he will be back.

Also back is Jake the Snake. He and Brunell shared the title of most hated by their fans (and the Broncos were 1-1 as well), and he responded with two great throws to Javon Walker—the second TD catch was a serious Madden-Juke between two defenders, I loved it. Best TD catch of the day I say, and there were some nice ones.

As for Brady, his stats look good, but anyone who watched the game could see that the Patriots didn’t look alive until the fourth quarter. I don’t know what to make of it, but it was strange.

Strange as football in China next year? Stranger. Of course, football is going to China, the NFL one day will probably become the GFL one day, but the Patriots not not showing up to play the team that beat them in the playoffs last year—in what was a very controversial game—well, what else can I say.

What else can I say about the Cardinals-Rams game? Are you kidding me? Bulger fumbles the ball within Rackers range, then Warner makes a mistake on the snap and the ball goes right back—well, that’s football for you. Any given Sunday, any sort of play can happen.