Oh please. Elam could run that drill in his sleep, and he probably has. I never for a second doubted they would get that kick off. But there is a hell of a lot more to Special Teams than the field goal at the last second. For example, we shouldn’t have needed the field goal at the last second, because there shouldn’t have been a punt return for a touch down. The Bills had excellent field position for almost the entire game. Last year, when everybody was screaming for Plummer’s head, everybody conveniently left out that due to ST, he was starting at his own fucking 2 yard line most of the time. This week, ST was doing slightly better than that, but come on. A tiny improvement over “so sucktastic it loses games” is not really what I was hoping for this year.
Nothing against them, but thanks to the Brady Quinn trade the Cowboys have their first round pick next year. I’d love to for them to have the first and last picks in the first round. 
Denver had above average special teams last year, even when accounting for the “Denver Effect”.
I didn’t see the Denver game yesterday, but it’s a testament to their preparedness that they got that kick off. Not every team in the league gets that down.
I’d worry about Denver’s offensive line this year more than I’d worry about the special teams.
Eli is not bad, he has more talent and ability than Simms, but he is no Peyton by a long shot. He can be a good solid quarterback for the Giants. It would help, IMHO, if he had a better coach. He needs Plaxico and Toomer to stay healthy. If they do, Eli can put up some very good numbers. Probably Giant record numbers for passing.
Eli’s biggest problem is the high expectations of his last name, the Franchise player tag and being the #1 pick in the draft.
Jim
That mess was above average last year? That’s not the way I remember it. I remember a lot of possessions starting on the 2 or 3 yard line, and I remember a lot of really good starts for the opposing teams. I wish I knew how to look up the obscure stats commentators always drop during games, because I know for a fact I heard somebody say last year that the Broncos had the worst starting field position on average in the league.
I didn’t actually see the game yesterday–I was listening to it online. So I don’t know how the O-line looks.
To their credit, the Bills have some of the best special teams in the league, including the league’s best punter.
It’s just really too bad that the rest of the team sucks so goddamn bad.
Keith Olbermann started on TV as a local news sportscaster in L.A. on local channel KTLA. He was very funny. He then “upgraded” to KCBS in LA doing the same gig for the local network affiliate. Then he went to ESPN. Then he went into news and politics.
And what’s up with the Eagles? They were less disciplined than Andy Reid’s sons.
What, you want the Browns to win the Superbowl and the Cowboys to finish last?
Dunno. Marshawn Lynch looks like he can maybe play. I know he was overshadowed by Peterson’s debut, but 90 yards in an offense that can’t get out if its own way otherwise isn’t a bad first game. Lee Evans is a good receiver. And the defense kept Denver mostly in check in spite of their youth. If they manage to find a decent quarterback and let their defense mature, they could be good faster than you’d think.
Well, second-best punter. You’re still behind Oakland’s Shane Lechler, Brian Moorman.
Oh Christ, you too?
Eli is pretty damned overrated. He’s young, and he can still improve, but so far, he’s a minor disappointment. When you pay that much for a quarterback, you better see some glimmers of greatness, not glimmers of mediocrity, as he has done with throwing balls 4 feet over his receivers’ heads.
I’m happy that Denver won, but I can’t take too much joy in the victory (as much as I do as a fan, which generally isn’t all that much anyway) with the news about Kevin Everett. The man could still die or be paralyzed for the rest of his life and it came on a fairly standard kickoff coverage tackle. Yeah, I know these things happen in football, but you still hate to see it, especially live.
Our record will be pretty strongly tied to how the quarterback situation is handled.
The front office is determined not to let Quinn start for as long as they possibly can. Everyone is afraid that getting a little beat up and some losses is going to “ruin” a rookie QB.
Now, if you put in a QB who’s not all that ready for the NFL into an expansion-level team that was intentionally crippled by the NFL from the start (like Tim Couch), bad things can happen. But even then I don’t think he was “ruined” - he improved every year and he just wasn’t a great NFL QB.
So you get close to the opposite situation - a team with a pretty good O-line and receiving talent (counting Winslow) with what many people call one of the most NFL-prepared QBs ever to be drafted.
People want to treat NFL QBs like they’re little children - we can’t let him lose or get sacked, or his confidence will break and he’ll be ruined! … BS. You don’t make it to the NFL level by being weak and not being a supreme competitor. What do you think happened to Quinn at ND? He got his ass kicked regularly and still carried that undertalented team on his back. Getting a few sacks and losing a few games isn’t going to break the kid’s spirit - and if it is, he should’ve never been drafted.
It’s remarkably how much of that pathetic performance was caused by bad quarterbacking - the line gave pretty good protection, but Frye either held the ball until someone sacked him, or when that wasn’t fast enough, ran into his own sack by running by a blocked defender. The defense actually did pretty well in the first half - Parker, who torched us last year, was held to 1-2 yards a carry very frequently, with only one big run of about 15-20 in the first half. They gave up points, but the offense was constantly turning the ball over and giving the opponents sickeningly good field position. The running game never had a chance to start when you go down that quickly. I can’t remember a game where one position so dramatically killed a team’s otherwise decent performance.
So you throw Quinn in there, because he can’t possibly be worse than tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb. People will knock that his performance in the preseason was against future grocery baggers (do grocery baggers actually exist anymore?) - but he played against Denver’s first string defense in the third preseason game when the score was tied at 10-10, not at all garbage time, and performed well. The offense just seems to come alive under him - they want to play for him, where they look listless under other quarterbacks, as if to say “oh, this again…”
So… in a way, this disgusting performance might be for the best. The fans will riot if we have to tolerate anything like what we did yesterday, and the pressure to put Quinn in will be enourmous. If he starts early, and gets some experience, I could see it being like Vince Young last year - a mediocre team that had enough fire to finish the season with some wins.
Also, this gives me a legitimate reason to hate the Cowboys and wish them ill. Before they just irrationally annoyed me. I guess the whole arrogance of the “America’s team” thing is a solid reason behind disliking them.
All I’m gonna say is that if Monday Night Football started at 7pm every week, I think I’d watch a lot more Monday Night Football.
Care to make it interesting? I’m more than willing to wager pretty much anything that the Vikes will not sweep the Pack this year. Name your stakes.
I do so love Vikings fans. One win, at home, against a team that lost its franchise QB, has no pass rush, and Joey fucking Harrington running the team, and now you’re better than the Bears, let alone the Packers? You guys seriously crack me up.
The Packers spent 4 draft picks and much of their off season training to improve their special teams, while the Eagles let Mahe go, and wouldn’t risk Westbrook back there. It showed in the game.
Yes, the Packers offense was, for lack of a better word, crappy. Most of the blame lies with the O-Line, which gave up too much pressure on Favre and couldn’t open any holes. It didn’t help that our starting rb and #2 WR were injured either. But, unless the offense seriously improves, it could be a long season for the defense.
From what I saw:
Player who rocked : Moss (NE), Williams (HOU), Brown (Tenn).
Players who sucked Frye (CLE) and Janikowski (OAK)
Most of the teams out there looked off their game. I guess all those preseason games were not enough.
Going to stay up and watch the Arizona game!
Osip