NFL Week 4 - RIP Mike Heimerdinger

Some sad news for the league tonight, former Titans’ OC Mike Heimerdinger succumbed to his battle with cancer tonight. Story here: Former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger dies at 58 - ESPN

I was recently petitioning for him to come to Chicago to be the OC prior to his diagnosis and I think he’s a really underrated talent. He will be missed and I am left to wonder how big of an impact his leaving the Titans has had on Chris Johnson’s early struggled. He’s a local guy here in Chicago, born in DeKalb and an alumni and former player at Eastern Illinois where he roomed with Mike Shanahan. RIP Mike.

This week has a bit of a strange hodgepodge of games. Very few high profile games and the primetime games lost a bit of their luster with the Manning injury and inconsistent starts from the Jets and Ravens. Most of the elite teams are playing against sub par opponents. Lots of home dogs this week too, with some of the worst teams in the league suiting up at home.

I’ll be excited to get my first look at Cam Netwon as he comes to Chicago to face the Bears. I’m confident and I think the Bears defense will really shake him up and our zone schemes seem like they should lead to a jump in turnovers for him.

The Lions will have a stiff test going into Dallas to see if they can remain undefeated, I think they will against a banged up Cowboy team with a really shaky secondary. The Cowboys issues on the O line are a bad fit against the Lions pass rush. Though if Felix Jones gets rolling the Lions might get into trouble, and they don’t have anyone who can match up with Witten or Bryant. I’m taking the Lions in a shootout.

The other feel good story is the Bills, coming off a big Pats victory might be set up for a let down. They go on the road against the inconsistent Bengals. Cedric Benson will be on the field in spite of his off field troubles, but you have to wonder how effective he’ll be. The Bills defense isn’t very good and the rookie QB and WR will need to step up. I picked the Bills to win in the pick em leagues, but after some thought I think the Bengals will probably win. The trap game will be too much especially on the road.

Other potential upsets, the Falcons going into Seattle against Tarvaris and Sidney Rice’s groin. New England heading into the black hole. Giants facing Fitzy and the Cards. And, I’m sad to admit, the Panthers in Chicago. I think of those four, I’d take the points on Seattle and Oakland.

The thread is open.

The Saints are @Jacksonville, with a banged up O-line. Kreutz © and Strief (T) are both out for the game. Colston should play this week, but it’s not like we have any shortage of receivers. On defense, Vilma is probably going to play, and Will Smith will be playing his second game of the season. Hoping to see a return to form from our Superbowl year, throwing the ball and building a lead in the first half, then running the ball and controlling the clock in the second half. My fantasy team includes Brees, Graham, and Ingram, and I need big numbers from all three in what I expect will be a tight game this week…

GEAUX SAINTS!

Not liking the looks of this Bears opening defensive series. The Panthers have put us on our heels in a big way. Stewart is running like a mad man, and the Panthers are running the fucking option.

Holy crap, Marion Barber is actually playing!!! Couple big runs to start the game for the Bears, guess they aren’t going to have a repeat of last week. I like it.

On the Panther’s first series the Panthers ran all over the Bears, but Newton almost through a interception on one of his 2 pass attempts. This could work out for us.

Called it. Da Bears.

Ok, is the Texans’ D-line that good, or does the Steelers’ O-line just suck that bad?

The Texans’ may have a great D-line, but Pittsburgh’s offensive line was suspect before they were ravaged by injuries, they’re just plain pathetic now.

These Safeties are going to be the death of the Bears. Rushing TD for Cam is nice for my fantasy team at least.

Big return from Hester. Should have been a TD but for a blown block on the kicker by Conte. Damnit.

TD Forte. They CAN run the ball!

Against the 25th rated rush defense, yes they can.

No missed blocks on that one. Punt return TD from Hester.

That’s the record-breaker – congrats to him…

Record setting punt return TD.

Also, I really wish the Bears weren’t an NFC team, because Fox’s SD feed is constantly fucked up. First they had black bars on the left and right side, now they’ve zoomed in extra so you can’t see the left and right side of the screen.

I feel bad for Sam Bradford. He needs guys who can actually catch the damn ball.

Joe Haden is easily a top 5 CB.

Brandon Merriweather sucks. Not sure how much of this is due to him still learning the system and freelancing and how much of it is just poor awareness. Plus he’s a head hunter and doesn’t wrap up when he tackles. We need Chris Harris and Major Wright back. Plus Lovie needs to stop drafting “project” DBs because he’s currently batting abut .089 on that count.

The Rams are just plain inept. Penalties, dropped passes, poor pass protection. They’re painful to watch.

Saints up 14-10 at the half. Brees has a TD pass and an interception. Saints D giving up a lot of yards, but not many points so far.

Well, Cam Newton has been solid. Makes all the throws but also misses a lot of reads. The real eye opener for the Carolina team is how damn impressive the offensive line is. The Bears have gotten almost no pass rush to speak of, and the times we’ve gotten to Cam he was strong enough to step up through it. The Panthers pass protection is outstanding and their run blocking is very solid too. This team could be really good if they had a better defense.

Hester walked off with a shoulder injury, hopefully it’s nothing serious. The Panther fell on him in a classic broken collarbone/separated shoulder scenario. As I type this Hester comes in to receive a kick. Good.

The Bears have gone away from the run in the second half. Get back to it damnit.

ETA: Also, Steve Smith is killing the Bears again. For like the 12th time. The guy will be 80 and in a wheelchair and still putting up 5 catches for 88 yards.

I can’t believe the Eagles have Blown a three score lead to this team.

And a FG to extend it to two scores again is missed. That’s a very very bad sign.