PURPLE PUNISHMENT: Quite a convincing road victory for the Vikings over the Seahawks yesterday, thanks to a career day from Chester Taylor, standout defensive play, and Seattle missing both Shaun Alexander and (for half the game) Matt Hasselback.
Seneca Wallace was a hell of a college quarterback, and it's good to see him get a shot. But if he can't handle it, next on the depth chart is former Eckstein Award Winner David Greene.
GROUNDED EAGLES: The Eagles, meanwhile, suffered through their second straight heartbreaking loss to a road underdog, losing to Tampa Bay on an unbelievable 62-yard field goal by mediocre kicker Matt Bryant. The Iggles, though, made plenty of mistakes throughout the day, including lots of dropped passes and Jerome McDougle's kicking of a penalty flag (for another penalty.) Donovan McNabb, meanwhile, had an old-school game- he ran the ball, threw interceptions, and vomited on the field.
Some of the criticism of the Eagles after the loss ripped Brian Westbrook for scoring a touchdown while leaving more than a minute on the clock. He should have, the radio callers said, run out of bounds at the 1, or perhaps zig-zagged at the goal line and ticked more time off the clock. Please. That sort of thing works in Madden, but not real life.
Still, the Eagles have lost three games this year, and all were on the final play. I'm not ready to back off my NFC East championship pick of them yet.
THE RAIDERS AREN'T WHAT WE THOUGHT THEY WERE: The Raiders will not be winless, after they beat the still-reeling Cardinals in Oakland. Denny Green has to be fired now, right? Because if you look at it, coaches/managers who have highlight-reel-worthy meltdowns rarely keep their jobs for much longer afterward.
Posted by Stephen Silver at October 23, 2006 10:54 AMOh God no! I'm counting on Denny staying through the season at least. First there's the comedic gold...gold, I tell ya. Second, I have Rackers as my kicker in FFL and it's my firm belief that no coach in the NFL is more prone to resorting to the field goal than Denny Green, the gift that keeps on giving.
Posted by: Dave E. at October 24, 2006 10:27 PM