One Hundred Yards And Counting

The best NFL blog on the net (or at least that's what i tell my wife).

Monday, October 30, 2006

How do you get to lead 41-0 at halftime?

First, you need to have the best defense in the league with the best turnover margin in the league (and that even with the abysmal performance by Rex Grosman against Arizona).

Second, you need to play against second worst defense in the league with the worst turnover margin in the league (having four fumbles recovered never hurts...)

I would add that you have to have the best offense in the league, but apparently this is totally unnecessary against 49ers :)

It's about time

Oakland has finally finally started to come through. Of course, it's only the beginning, and they might as well continue losing a lot. The offense is still pretty lame, with total of 17 (!) passing yards, but the defense is pulling their act together with two interceptions returned for TDs (and two more just intercepted). I'm especially happy for Warren Sapp who was (and probably is) one of the best all-round defensive players in the league (with LaRoy Glover and Brian Urlacher). Of course, they also have Randy Moss which has been far from stellar since he moved from Vikings to Raiders, but this can be blamed on a never-ending QB rotation...

Pittsburgh on the other hand can't seem to recover from the loss of Jerome Bettis. Their best rusher is not in the league's top 10, the quarterback throws for 271 yards but has four interceptions and a fumble, and the leading receiver is not even in the league's top 20. The magic was there for one spectacular season, and now it's all gone. How about letting Roethlisberger sit out a week or two after a concussion?

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Who's that girl?

Whenever i see Texas Longhorns play and they show the coach, there's always the same girl in the frame. She basically follows him around, looking at him and rarely cheering the team. Who is she? Do you know? If so, leave a comment.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Valuable experience for both sides

Yesterday's game should be an excellent lesson for both young quarterbacks. Both lost - Matt Leinart lost literally and Rex Grossman didn't have anything to do with the win. Both were stellar performers in college football, and both need such games to grow into real NFL quarterbacks. I could say that Rex was getting overconfident with 5-0 lead. I could say that Matt was getting overconfident with throwing four TD passes in first two games (all of them in first quarter). I don't know for sure. The only sure thing is that both had their asses served to them on a silver plate during the Monday game.

And of course, Bears' defense finally got together and Urlacher did what he does best - chase guys who carry football across field and not make any fouls while doing that. Can't say that Cardinals didn't deserve to lose - if you don't play until the last minute, you can expect anything in NFL. But finally they showed that they have some talent on both offense (except Edgerrin that averages 2.7 yards per carry instead of his 4.1 career average) and on defense.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Go with the flow

I confess - i like teams that win. No, that should say - i like teams that play explosively on the offense and win. That can even say - i like teams that play explosively on the offense. Six years ago it was Rams, four years ago it was Buccaneers and last year it was Colts and Steelers. Do you see the common part? No, it's not the SuperBowl championships (Colts didn't get it), since Patriots and Ravens are not even close. It's great offensive plays (they might or might not be backed up by solid defense / special teams) that leave me riveted to the screen all the weekend. Of course, it doesn't last forever - players get injured, retired, traded or even simply bad. But as long as there is another team that plays great high-scoring offense against any opponent, I'm with them.

My wife tells me that i'm a winner prostitute. Indeed. Although i have a soft spot for Rams (since they were the first great team i saw in the league seven years ago), i don't have any problem "abandoning" them to root for better-playing teams. Sure, the game yesterday against Seahawks was a thriller, but i wasn't really sad to see Rams lose. I'd rather see them lose in a great game (which wasn't that great, it was just pretty good) than win by a landslide against Raiders or Titans. My type of game would be 70+ points combined, all though the air. I don't think that there's anything wrong with wanting to see spectacular plays all day long, even when the team just can't win in the playoffs year after year.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

How the mighty have fallen

The first NFL game i watched (entirely by accident) was Kansas City second game in 1999-2000 season (i have no idea who they played against). Elvis Grbac was Chiefs' QB and he threw this amazing 50+ yards pass down the side that was caught by some WR just over the fingertips of the defending cornerback. That was the moment I fell in love with football (the Americal version) and abandoned football (the worldwide version). That season was also the season that the "Greatest show on turf" inched the Titans out of going to SuperBowl OT, and Kurt Warner was obviously at his best.



Although this is a subject to an entirely separate entry, i'm not a fan of one team (perhaps because i started watching football at 25). I like good high-scoring offensive teams, and although i'll always remember Elvis and Kurt in their best days (although Elvis threw a mind-boggling number of interceptions), i enjoyed Buccaneers two-three years later and Colts last year. That's why i was saddened to see Elvis go and that's why i'm saddened to see Kurt struggle at this stage against Eli at first and Matt now. Sure, they are the future, but Kurt's career was so spectacular and so short... It's a real pity that he hurt his thumb back then and never recovered.