Tuesday 10- Ten Things we Learned in the NFL- Week 3

1. I can't believe I have to do this again. Seriously people. I thought we had all gone over this sometime around 2010 and it wasn't something that needed to be said yet again. But apparently, I need to repeat myself... Special teams coaches in the NFL. I'm talking directly to you. Arrogant head coaches, get these guys in line. Kickers, you are the scholars on the football team, you know better than this. STOP KICKING THE BALL TO DEVIN F--KING HESTER!!!! The man has a very particular set of skills. Skills that make life a living hell for kickoff and punt coverage units. Let's set aside the times he's taken it back to the house for just a moment, and focus on simply return yardage. Since he entered the league in 2006, Hester has returned just under 500 punts and kickoffs combined. Of those, over more than 40% were returned for more than 20 yards. That number alone should tell you that the man can't be contained in any realistic fashion. Hester has also taken 10% of his total efforts over 40 yards...and half of THOSE end up you know where. The man just broke Hall-of-Famer Deion Sander's record for kick return TD's, and shows no sign whatsoever of slowing down. So seriously. Not joking. STOP IT. You are not the team that has his game figured out. Punting? Just punt it out of bounds, netting 30 yards is a win against this dude. Kickoffs, simple, kick it out of the end zone and let them start at the 20. Don't have a kicker who can do that regularly? Go get a new kicker. Seriously. Tampa Bay (0-3) was going to get stomped by Atlanta(2-1) anyway, but allowing Hester to make fools of them was just plain silly. 2. The Eagles (3-0) have trailed in each game this season, and won all of them. It's not a coincidence. Despite some noise from the locker room that Coach Chip Kelly is beating the team up in practice, they have, like a predictable tidal wave, run over (and through) everything in their way in the second half. Is it simply conditioning? Possibly, but I think Chip Kelly might be onto something, focusing efforts in the second half as defensive players get fatigued and consistent yardage is easier to come by. Want some proof that it's effective aside from them pulling off these three wins? OK, Philly has averaged 24.7 points per game...in the second half alone. That's more than all but seven other teams are averaging, per full game. Washington (1-2) has a stout rushing defense which did well to control McCoy and Sproles, but Philly QB Nick Foles simply distributed the ball to eight different receivers, averaging 12 yards per reception and 3 TD's. The Eagles can put a very large nail in the postseason hopes of the defensively depleted 49ers (1-2) next weekend if they can can go out to SF and execute the way they have thus far. 3. The Cardinals (3-0) are rolling again and with their win over SF last Sunday and predictably, some have started to question whether they can unseat the Seahawks (2-1) for the NFC West title. No. Stop. Please. Want to know why? Really? OK, let's start with this...Because Arizona wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. threw as many passes as he caught(one), and for more yards, making him the highest rated passer in the contest, edging out both Colin Kaepernick from the 49ers and his own QB Drew Stanton, who no one has ever heard of, even in Arizona. The Cardinals eeked out a win against the Chargers in week one, and since have done well to beat the hapless NY Giants and these injury and suspension riddled 49ers. They are winning games they should win. Nothing more. I can see them competing for a wild card spot, but I wouldn't bet anything on it. 4. Bengals (3-0). It's starting. Can you feel it? Last week I gave some kudos to them for strong defensive play, especially iNo,n the secondary. This week, everyone and their cousin wants to hand them the Lombardi Trophy. They look good and balanced, the Atlanta game was a good win, but beating a very distracted Baltimore team and the Titans does not make them the favorite in the AFC, much less the whole league. They are on a bye this weekend, but talk to me after weeks 5-7 when they face (in this order) New England(2-1...in Foxboro), Carolina (2-1) and the Colts (1-2 but currently ranked 3rd in both offensive yards and points...in Indy). That's a nasty gauntlet, even if the Pats and Colts aren't starting as hot as some expected. 5. Speaking of the Pats, that win over Oakland wasn't exactly a Tom Brady highlight reel, was it. Longest offensive play... 22 yards. Amendola, still M.I.A. Gronk, still working part time. Edelman, doing all the heavy lifting on his (ahem, officially) 5-10 shoulders. Defensively, this team is much improved, but we will see if that Mankins trade was too much to recover from. Right now, the offensive line is a mess and Brady is suffering...it looks like it was a serious miscue that could end up with a sidelined Tom Brady and a wasted season. The Pats face a tough Chiefs (1-2) team on the road before that home game against the Bengals. So we should have a good idea of their long term viability by the time they face the Division leading Bills(2-1) in Week 7. That defensive improvement I just mentioned is that the gamble to bring in Darrelle Revis seems to have worked, as they lead the NFL in pass defense, allowing just under 170yds/game. 6. Anyone want to guess which QB has the most TD's in the NFC thus far? Rodgers? Nope. Brees? Try again. Matty Ice down in Atlanta? Russel Wilson? Eli Manning? Nick Foles over in Philly? No, no, no, NO!!!! Try Jay Cutler, quietly making the Bears(2-1) a force in the always nasty NFC North. Oh, also...both of those wins have come on the road. Since he got speared in the chest last weekend, he has been almost unstoppable, and I think it might be because he just now realized that getting sacked wouldn't actually kill him. 7. That Superbowl rematch was kinda sorta everything we wanted the Superbowl to be wasn't it? Last minute Manning heroics, hard hits, an overtime nail biter. Some want to say that this means that the Broncos(2-1) still don't have enough to handle the Seahawks, but if that game happens on a neutral field... Your guess is as good as mine. One note about the Broncos, we need to keep an eye on their run game, because if Montee Ball (14 carries for 38yards) can't help fill the void left by Knowshon Moreno a bit better, Peyton Manning will need to make do without the threat of the play option. That won't be good. 8. The J-E-T-S (1-2) lost something of a heart breaker to Cutler and the Bears on Monday Night. But here's the thing. They had every chance on earth to win that game, and I don't mean in the final 2 minutes. The Jets went 1-6 in the red zone. Including one of Geno Smith's 2 INTs. The term "not ready for prime time" was made up specifically for this scenario. I feel bad for the entire New York/New Jersey area this year. It's going to be a long one. 9. The Jaguars(0-3) and Buccaneers(0-3) gave up a combined 100 points this weekend. They gave up 60 the week before that. but only 54 points in week 1. Just what exactly is my point here? It's that the Jags and Bucs are getting exponentially worse in a hurry, at least the Raiders (also 0-3) are trying to put up a fight. The draft pick sweepstakes is underway early this year, so I'm going to go out on a limb and coin the phrase before someone else does..."Don't try one iota, we want Mariota!!" Get your signs ready for next weekend Tampa Bay and Jacksonville. It's no "Suck for Luck", but then again, what is... 10. Sadly, we learned this week that the Ravens organization knew full well what happened in that Atlantic City elevator, and they did their level best to sweep it under the rug. I have a lot of friends in Maryland right now who are thinking long and hard about whether to pull on their purple camo pants this weekend. To you all, I can only say do what feels right. I suspect some will see the revelations of this cover up as an institutional failure by what we all thought was a "character first" organization and have a hard time supporting the Ravens without some embarassment. Some will feel that there are still plenty of good men to support on the field, and I think that's okay as well. Here's hoping that we can all learn from the mistakes and missteps, and be better going forward.