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 | | Dan Patrick Show
 Chris Mortensen takes a look at the "disappointments" around the league.
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Dan Patrick Show
Chris Mortensen tells why Warren Sapp didn't start against Washington.
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Dan Patrick Show
Chris Mortensen and Dan Patrick analyze Peyton Manning's happy feet.
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Week 6 review: Bucs' slide continues, thanks to Vikes
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|  | | Randy Moss got behind the solid Bucs' secondary late Monday night for a 42-yard TD reception that helped lift Minnesota to victory. |
Vikings 30, Buccaneers 23: It must be frustrating to play the Vikings.
The Buccaneers clearly had a sound game plan. They did a lot of good things,
really shutting down the high-powered Minnesota offense for good portions of
the night. But one mistake -- even the blink of an eye -- and football death
flashes in the personages of Daunte Culpepper, Randy Moss and Cris Carter.
Culpepper's 41-yard missile to Moss with 8:42 left that put an abrupt halt to
Tampa Bay's momentum -- and wiped out the Bucs' 23-20 lead -- had
to send more chills up the spine of defensive coordinators who remain on the
Minnesota hit list. But that wasn't the play that will cause those same
coaches sleepless nights. Two other Culpepper moments will do that. His
27-yard touchdown scramble 24 seconds into the game was a picture of speed,
athleticism and explosion for a 6-foot-4, 255-pound quarterback. That set up his
first TD pass to tight end John Davis. TV analysts applauded the pump
fake that froze All-Pro linebacker Derrick Brooks, but Brooks was really paralyzed by Culpepper's threat to run as he stepped up in the pocket.
Physically, there is no QB in this league who can compare to Culpepper;
again, credit Green and offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis for taking
advantage of those skills by simplifying the scheme. I was also impressed by
the defense. They did a great job of containing Tampa Bay's running game on a
night when the Bucs open up the passing attack. Now 5-0, the Vikings are clearly the favorite in the NFC Central but their schedule does have some
obstacles -- including three divisional outdoor road games in the next four
weeks and a home contest against the Buffalo Bills. The Bucs fall to an
equally surprising 3-3. I guess what's shocking about this is the way the
Bucs have fallen -- they blew a 17-6 lead to the Jets in the last quarter and
then their defense couldn't hold another fourth-quarter lead Monday night.
Their turnovers continue to set up scores for opponents, and they have lost
their poise at critical moments, very unlike a Tony Dungy team. Shaun King made some nice plays, but he had a lot of balls sail on him when receivers
were open. Nevertheless, I suspect Dungy will use this bye week to get the
Bucs back on track. The Vikings may have a commanding lead, but they have not
locked up the division, not this early in the year.
Ravens 15, Jaguars 10: Neither team exactly jumped out, but Ravens coach
Brian Billick has a pretty fair point about being overly critical of a team
that is 5-1 and making very few turnovers. The Ravens do need Tony Banks to be
more consistent, and he has enough weapons around him to do that. What can
you say about the Ravens' defense, except that it has lived up to its
billing? Jacksonville ... oh, where do you start? The most stunning development
from this game was Tom Coughlin's benching of QB Mark Brunell, and then a
shaky endorsement of Brunell for Monday night's game at Tennessee. Brunell
and the Jags looked to me like a team pressing too hard. Crisis is almost an understatement.
Steelers 20, Jets 3: Oh-oh, what have we here? Kordell Stewart is not only alive and well, but he has now engineered back-to-back road wins over the Jaguars and Jets. He looked so relaxed passing the ball Sunday that this is hardly the time to bench him if and when Kent Graham recovers from his hip injury. Of course, Steelers coach Bill Cowher can now follow the playbook of the Vikings' Dennis Green in 1998. Back then, Vikings starting QB Brad Johnson was injured early in the season and Green said he would return as soon as he was healthy. But Randall Cunningham got hot and Green amended that to "as soon as Johnson was 100 percent healthy."
|  | | Vinny Testaverde holds his hand as he leaves Sunday's game with a pinched nerve. |
Well, who determines whether somebody is 100 percent? In this case, it's the coach. And, for the record, there are very few players in the NFL who are playing at 100 percent healthy. So, Cowher can take that road, or he can simply be honest and say, "Kordell's back, we're winning, and I ain't going to mess with things right now." The best thing for Stewart is that he now can return home against the Bengals (for some reason, always a dangerous game for the Steelers) knowing that he has actually won over Pittsburgh fans. The Steelers look like their old selves, running the football, and playing physical on defense. I guess everyone wrote off Jerome Bettis too soon -- he had another 100-yard day. The Jets need to regroup, and fast. They face an AFC stress test the next three weeks against the hot New England Patriots, the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills. Two of the three games (Patriots and Bills) are on the road and the Dolphins get a bye to prepare for the Jets in a Monday night game (Oct. 23). Then again, the Jets had a bye last week and had a stinker Sunday. Vinny Testaverde's injury obviously had an impact vs. the Steelers -- Ray Lucas' snaps in practice came on the scout team as he emulated Stewart. Look for Lucas to be the guy for the next few weeks -- Testaverde's injury sounds a little ominous.
Dolphins 22, Bills 13: Dave Wannstedt is coaching his rear end off, folks. The chance he took the week before by resting several key injured regulars against the Bengals gave him a fresher team for the Bills, who couldn't handle the humidity of south Florida. Offensive coordinator Chan Gailey continues to do nice things with his design and play calling, making Jay Fiedler an effective "conservative" quarterback. And how about Dolphins veteran DE Trace Armstrong, who had 3.5 sacks to run his total to an amazing 10? Now the Dolphins get a bye week to get healthier and there's a chance that wide receiver O.J. McDuffie and defensive tackle Daryl Gardener will return when they play the Jets on that Oct. 23 MNF game. The Bills' offensive line still can't protect QB Rob Johnson, who was sacked five more times. This is a real problem, as is Buffalo's 0-3 mark inside the division.
Patriots 24, Colts 16: This one didn't really surprise me. The Patriots clearly were out of sync on offense during their 0-4 start, but Drew Bledsoe has regained his confidence with six TDs and no interceptions the past two weeks. However, it was pretty interesting that Pats coach Bill Belichick had Michael Bishop throw the Hail Mary pass at the end of the first half, snagged for a TD by Tony Simmons that tied the game 10-10. Huge play. Hey, the Pats even ran the ball well between Kevin Faulk and J.R. Redmond, who combined for 109 yards on 26 carries. Belichick continues to be a master designer against the league's elite QBs as Peyton Manning had to scrape for everything he got Sunday. Anytime a quarterback, even Manning, is throwing 54 times, it's usually bad news. The Colts need a huge breakout game by Edgerrin James, who hasn't hit the century mark running the ball since Week 1.
Redskins 17, Eagles 14: "Don't throw it!" I wonder how many Eagles were screaming that when Donovan McNabb threw an off-balance pass that was intercepted by Darrell Green in the final 30 seconds. I also wondered whether Eagles coach Andy Reid should have simply run out the clock after McNabb was sacked on the previous play. Either way, this was another game that reflected the toughness of Norv Turner's Redskins. They found a way to win after dominating the first half, then blowing a lead.
Three weeks ago, when the Redskins were 1-2 and looking at a seemingly murderous schedule, we all but buried them. Now 4-2, they get a run at the AFC Central's best -- Baltimore, Tennessee and Jacksonville. It'll be a tough task, but if they win just one out of three, it will keep them in decent shape. The worrisome part is playing Baltimore and Tennessee teams that are extremely physical; so are the Redskins, but they're a lot older and can ill-afford to get more players beat up.
Lions 31, Packers 24: OK, Detroit is an uncomfortable but decent 4-2 going into a bye. The Lions can get healthy, they can get Charlie Batch about where he needs to be after missing the preseason and the regular-season opener, and they can find out if they can win tough games on the road, where they play six of their last 10 against the likes of the Bucs, Colts, Giants, Vikings, Packers and Jets. It does look like RB James Stewart is getting on track. The Packers can't live on Brett alone; Favre needs a healthy Dorsey Levens and a defense that can keep it close.
Titans 23, Bengals 14: Sometimes, you don't complain about a victory. The Titans weren't very spectacular, but every week is not the Super Bowl and they did what they had to do against an improved Bengals team. Eddie George is getting on track, this time running for 181 yards, a pretty impressive total in light of all the injuries the Titans have on offense. Not only were both Tennessee receivers (Carl Pickens and Yancey Thigpen) inactive, but so was left tackle Brad Hopkins. And left guard Bruce Matthews left in the second quarter with a sprained knee.
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I expected the Giants' offense to put up more points. ” |
Giants 13, Falcons 6: It's a win, and the Giants got back to the basics, but I expected their offense to put up more points. Kerry Collins (two INTs) isn't making the progress I expected, but his receivers aren't doing him any favors, either. The Falcons' offense is woeful -- Jamal Anderson (12 yards on 12 rushes) and Chris Chandler (KO'd in the second quarter) are being pretty diplomatic about an O-line that is awful.
Panthers 26, Seahawks 3: This might have been the worst pick I made (went with the Seahawks). No way Seattle was going to win after losing a tough Monday night road game at Kansas City, turn around and travel cross country to Carolina, and do it with a (basically) rookie quarterback in Brock Huard. Good rebound by the Panthers, who have been kicking themselves for dropping home games to the likes of Atlanta and Dallas. Richard Williamson's debut as the Panthers' offensive coordinator was a good one as QB Steve Beuerlein lit it up. But the biggest move of the week was dropping kicker Richie Cunningham for placekicker Joe Nedney. The Panthers never got over the injury of John Kasay, or else they'd be sitting at 4-1. Mike Holmgren is feeling the pains of trying to win with a team somewhat in transition, but finding out if Huard has potential as a quarterback is probably a must even if it means a setback.
Cardinals 29, Browns 21: You know, I'm happy for a good-guy coaching staff, but I really thought the Browns would win this road game to be a surprising .500. I think Vince Tobin's move to Michael Pittman (107 yards, 16 carries) as the starting RB sparked the Cards. Pittman has heart, and the Cardinals needed a little bit of that. The Browns' defense still needs a little more stoutness. You know, muscle. Travis Prentice (97 yards, three TDs) looks promising as Errict Rhett's replacement for Cleveland, but penalties cost the Browns a possible victory.
Raiders 34, 49ers 28 (OT): Maybe there will be a time when Sebastian Janikowski justifies his first-round status, but it isn't happening now. The Raiders were forced into OT because of Janikowski's fourth-quarter miss, then he blew one to win it early in OT. Two old pros, Rich Gannon and Tim Brown, had a huge day for the Raiders. But there's still something about the 49ers that is intriguing. Jeff Garcia had another huge day against an excellent defense -- and what about an O-line that again held an opponent sackless in 41 pass attempts. Terrell Owens (172 yards receiving, two TDs) made a statement. As the young 49er defense improves, we better pay attention.
Saints 31, Bears 10: The Saints' Jim Haslett and staff are doing one of the best coaching jobs in the NFL. They dominated this game on the road. Haslett has the top-ranked defense and he's also getting production out of Ricky Williams (125 yards), who had his third straight 100-yard rushing day. Jeff Blake played his best game at QB for the Saints. The Bears didn't have WR Marcus Robinson, so their offense was pretty impotent. Of more concern is the defense, which still can't stop the run, although I must say that rookie MLB Brian Urlacher looks like he has a chance to be a real player.
Broncos 14, Chargers 7: This part of the Denver schedule couldn't have come at a more opportune time for a Broncos team that is struggling to overcome injuries and some pretty porous play on defense. Now the Broncos play the Browns and Bengals before the bye week, which gives Terrell Davis time to get healthy, so don't count 'em out yet. Jim Harbaugh's three interceptions against a defense that has been weak against the pass probably will get Moses Moreno another start for the Chargers in the near future. Don't ask about Ryan Leaf.
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