The Blog Hawgs

The meek shall inherit the NFL earth!  The Buffalo Bills stormed back to beat New England, Oakland ran away from the NY Jets, and Detroit pulled out a miracle win at Minnesota.  Those three teams are a combined 8-1 with the only loss coming against one of those teams (Buffalo beat Oakland in Week 2).  Meanwhile Indianapolis remains winless, Kansas City remains clueless, and Minnesota cannot stand success.  As we head to final week of the first quarter of the NFL season, we once again see that parity produces exciting football if not traditional dynasties.

The Good

Ryan Fitzpatrick shook off a shaky first quarter to end the day 27/40 with 369 yards passing and two touchdowns.  He had a third wiped off the board, but that booth review set up the game-winning field goal for the Bills to stun the New England Patriots.  I have plenty of hate in my heart for Buffalo thanks to January 3, 1993, but it truly is fun to watch a team rise from the ashes like the Bills have this year.

This aint the Detroit Lions we’re used to seeing.  Much like Buffalo the Lions have reinvented themselves and now look like not only a playoff team, but a real Super Bowl threat.  Down 20-0 in the third quarter, Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson willed Detroit to a miraculous OT win at Minnesota.  That’s two road wins for Detroit, who travels again next week – this time to Dallas.  Even with a loss, the Lions would be sitting 3-1 with only five road games left on their schedule.

Is Arkansas’s Darren McFadden ready to take over the mantle as Best Running Back in the NFL?  While Adrian Peterson still has a lot to say about that, the former Razorback has made a move.  Run DMC ripped off 171 yards on just 19 carries against the NY Jets and their formidable defense.  His 70-yard TD run was the longest scoring run ever recorded against a Rex Ryan defense.  Oakland is now 2-1 and hosts New England this weekend.  I’m going to go ahead and take the Raiders +4 in my picks.  Book it.

The Bad

It’s a tough week to be a Houston Texans fan.  After the Kevin Walter tipped-pass touchdown grab, I honestly thought Houston finally had a marquis road win.  Alas, the old Texans returned on defense and allowed Drew Brees to engineer a game-winning touchdown drive.  It’s a tough loss for Houston, who now heads home to face Pittsburgh.  While this is not a must-win game for head coach Gary Kubiak, it’s damn close.

The Miami Dolphins haven’t won a game yet, despite not looking awful in any of those games.  New England trashed the Dolphin defense, but Chad Henne lit up the Patriots.  The next week Miami limited the potent Houston offense, only to sputter offensively themselves.  This past week the Dolphins went to Cleveland and lost on a last-minute touchdown pass from Colt McCoy to Mohamed Massaquoi.  This snake bit franchise looks to be heading for new leadership in their open week.

Kansas City did all they could, and it was almost enough against the Chargers this week.  In the end, though, the Chiefs fell to 0-3 making last year’s division title seem like nothing but a distant memory.  In a year where the offenses are far ahead of the defenses across the league, Kansas City’s paltry 252 yards of total offense won’t get it done.  The Chiefs will be lucky to win four games this year.

The Ugly

The entire Cincinnati v. San Francisco game should be put on a loop at Guantanamo Bay.  The two teams combined for a total of 454 yards in total offense.  Wes Welker had almost half that (217 yards) himself in the Pats game at Buffalo.  At the end of the season, we’re going to be scratching our heads wondering exactly how the Bengals managed to beat Cleveland on the road this year.

It just keeps getting worse for Indianapolis.  Former NFL quarterback and current Colts starter Kerry Collins was knocked out of the game, leading to the Curtis Painter Era in Indy.  To their credit the Colts took defending AFC champs Pittsburgh to the mat but simply couldn’t get it done, losing 23-20 on Sunday night.  Indianapolis is a double-digit underdog on the road this week at Tampa Bay, leading almost all sane people to see an 0-4 start for the Colts is inevitable.

The SEC West is a more difficult division than the NFC West.  If you don’t believe me, go back and watch the replay of the Seattle/Arizona game where Tarvaris Jackson was the winning quarterback.  Kevin Kolb looks to be a bit overrated after three games, and the Cardinals defense has serious holes.  And Arizona is (allegedly) the best team.  Elsewhere in the NFC West the Niners won the aforementioned pillow fight at Cincy by a final of 13-8 (not a typo), and St. Louis was humiliated at home by Baltimore 37-7.  If you gave me 10 points and either Alabama or LSU against any NFC West team, I’d take the points.

BK’s Picks – Week 3

For the first time this year I failed to pick up more wins than losses, but at least I didn’t have a losing record.  I was most surprised by San Diego’s lack of offense against a weakened Chiefs defense, but was pleasantly surprised to have nailed Seattle and Oakland as upset winners straight-up and against the spread.  I’m already looking at a handful of good plays for Week Four, so get ready to go back and cash in this week.

Week 3 Results – 8-8-0

2011 Season – 27-18-2