NFL Week 2: Thoughts and Notes

Jerry Jones, Jason Garrett and Jason Witten love him. Jessica Simpson, Drew Bledsoe and Tony Dorsett really don’t. Dorsett, the former Cowboys great, said “the thing is this: You have a guy who hasn't done much, and quarterbacks in the NFL, most of them go through this growing curve. He hasn't gone through that growing curve, but he was anointed this great player all of a sudden. Now he's having to live up to that. And obviously Tony has some deficiencies." Let’s not get to what Simpson or Bledsoe said…

The biggest slight against the anointed Dallas star is his ability to win the big game. A look back at probably the 5 most important games of his career certainly consolidate that theory:

NFC Divisional Game, Sunday, January 13th 2008 vs. New York Giants
18-36, 201 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, lost 21-17.
Cowboys finish 13-3 and are the no.1 seeds in the NFC, fall at home to the Giants.

NFC Wildcard Game, Sunday January 6th 2007 vs. Seattle Seahawks
17-29, 189 yards, 1 TD, lost 21-20.
Romo fumbles the snap on the game-winning field goal attempt.

Week 17, Sunday December 28th 2008 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
21-39, 183 yards, 1 INT, lost 44-6
Cowboys get humiliated in an end of season playoff to make the postseason.

Week 2, Sunday September 20th, 2009 vs. Giants
13-29, 127 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT, lost 33-31
Romo underperforms as the Cowboys open their new stadium against their heated rivals.

Week 7, Monday October 23rd 2006 vs. New York Giants
14-25, 227 yards, 2 TD’s, 3 INT’s, lost 36-22.
Romo comes off the bench to replace Drew Bledsoe; his first pass is tipped for an Interception.

Tony Romo and about 105,000 disconcerted Cowboys fans can be seen this Monday night. In the spotlight. On the jumbo-mumbo-tron. In HD. Fortunately for all concerned, Jake Delhomme and the Panthers are in town to make Romo look good.

The Rams have 7 points after 2 games. They’re on pace for 56 total points.

What a catch by Andre Johnson. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccGFLRMPwUo He caught 10 balls for 149 yards and 3 scores.

Has anyone gained 284 total yards in an easier fashion than Chris Johnson? Untouched on plays of 57, 69 and 91 yards, all for touchdowns. Johnson’s average rush on carries 1-10 is 11.8 yards but on carries 11-20 it is just 1.7 yards.

In his NFL Career, Felix Jones has rushed for 384 yards on 14 carries and carries a 8.93 average yard per carry.

Darren Sproles has 524 all-purpose yards. He’s on pace for 4,192 yards.

The Lions have lost their first 2 games for the past eight straight years. Hasn’t been their decade to be honest. The Matt Millen legacy endures.

Brett Favre’s longest pass play through 2 weeks is 21 yards, his only pass over 20 yards.
Antwan Odom had 5 sacks against the Packers and already has 7 this season. He had only 3 all last year and only 15.5 in his 5 year career coming into 2009.

Greg Jennings, who had 6 catches for 106 yards against the Bears, was held without a single catch against the Bengals. His team have a league-high 8 dropped passes to this point.

Charles Woodson had 2 picks versus the Bengals and now has 21 since 2006.

Kurt Warner completed 24 of 26 passes for 243 yards and 2 TD’s against the Jags to break the all-time single game record for pass completion percentage. Tom Brady holds the post season record for his performance in the 07’ playoffs, going 26 of 28 for 263 yards and 3 TD’s. The opponent? The Jags.

There were 9 fumbles shared between Arizona (5) and Jacksonville (4).

The Chiefs more than doubled the Raiders in yards (409-166) and almost did the same in time of possession (38:39-21:21). They lost 13-10.

The Bengals were 4/4 in the Red Zone.

JaMarcus Russell only went 7 of 24 but 6 were for first downs. He has just a 36.7% passing completion % in the 1st half. That’s excellent compared to his 2nd half performance; 33.3%. Despite this, he has the highest yard per completion average at 16.7%.

The Redskins went 0 for 5 in the Red Zone.

Darren Sharper has 3 INT’s, 176 yards return yards and a TD already this season. He is the active leader in Interceptions (57), Interceptions returned for TD’s (9) and Interception return yards (1,212).

The Bills went 0 for 4 in the Red Zone.

Last year, the Dolphins, Chargers and Vikings all began the season 0-2 and made the playoffs. Of the current crop, the Titans, Panthers, Jags and Dolphins have killer schedules and the Browns, Lions, Bucs and Rams are pretty terrible. That leaves the Chiefs with a new QB, new coach and 4 games coming up against the NFC East. Only 3 teams since 1990 have begun the year 0-3 and qualified for the postseason.

The Chargers went 0 for 5 in the Red Zone.

Frank Gore, a week after averaging 1.4 yards per carry, ran for 207 yards on 16 carries, 12.9 yards per carry. His 80 and 79 yard TD runs were the longest two runs of his career.

The Cowboys outrushed the Giants (251-97) and went 4/4 in the Red Zone in comparison to New York’s 0 for 5. And lost of course.

Mario Manningham and Steve Smith have combined for 20 catches and 284 yards. Where’s Plax? Starting his 2-year jail sentence.

Eli Manning’s 330 yards on 25 for 38 passing, plus 2 TD’s, were his fourth most in his career, all achieved away from home. Tony Romo threw for just 127 yards, 13 for 29, 1 TD and 3 INT’s, the second lowest total of his career.

Roy Williams, penned as the Cowboys go-to guy, has just 27 receptions in his last 13 games. No wide receiver had more than a single catch against the Giants.

Matt Forte has 84 yards on 38 carries and just 117 total yards. Steve Slaton has 51 yards on 26 carries and just 111 total yards. Slaton also has a league-leading 3 fumbles.

Johnny Knox, a 22 year old rookie drafted in the 5th round by the Bears, has 152 yards receiving.

Elvis Dumervil, who sacked Brady Quinn 4 times on Sunday, now has 30 career sacks and 7 career multi-sack games.

Miami gained 27 1st downs, were successful in converting 71% of their 3rd downs, 239 rushing yards, 84 total plays and had possession for 45:07 minutes…and lost.

Of all NFL starters, Brett Favre (265) has the least passing yards. Phillip Rivers (688), on the back of 436 yard performance against the Ravens, has the most.

Biggest names on Injured Reserve: Jamal Williams (DT, Chargers), Brad Butler (T, Bills), Shawn Andrews (G, Eagles), Stewart Bradley (LB, Eagles), Harry Douglas (WR, Falcons), Peria Jerry (DT, Falcons), Brian Urlacher (LB, Bears), Adam Carricker (DT, Rams), Walt Harris (CB, 49ers).
Oh, some guy called Mike Vick returns to the NFL this week.

Eli Manning (8) has the most 25+ yard passing plays after week 2. Kyle Orton is second (7) but his longest is just 37 yards, last in the AFC.

Tom Brady is on pace for 800 passing attempts. He has already hurled the rock 100 times and has been sacked only once. That’s the same amount as Antwaan Randle El. He wasn’t sacked against the Jets but was pressured and harried all day, resulting in a lack of rhythm, no touchdowns and his hair being all out of place as he threw his helmet to the floor.

Aaron Rodgers has been sacked 10 times in just 77 pass attempts and has now lost LT Chad Clifton for a couple of games. They will travel to the Vikes (and their dominating D-line) in week 4...

Drew Brees may have the highest pass completion % in the 4th quarter but has only thrown the ball 7 times (6 completions). Ben Roethlisberger is 21/26 in two tough games (including OT) against strong defences, an 80.8 pass completion %.

Mark Sanchez (70%, 7/10) has the highest completion % in the NFL on 3rd down with 8+ yards remaining. Marc Bulger is at the other end of the spectrum, 0 for 9 at 0%. A big reason why the Jets are 2-0 and the Rams are 0-2.

The QB you want on 3rd down in the NFC? Jason Campbell apparently. He has converted 55.6% of pass attempts into 1st downs to lead the conference. And who don’t you want? Kurt Warner so the stats say, only 27.8% of his passes have lead to 1st downs.

Drew Brees has a 146.0 QB rating in the 2nd half of games. Great stat but no surprise. So you want a surprise? Kyle Orton (152.1) and Tony Romo (141.4) lead their conferences in QB rating in the 4th quarter. Another one? Oh go on, I’ll spoil you. Peyton Manning, yes 3-time MVP Peyton Manning, has a 16.7 QB rating inside the Red Zone.

Drew Brees has a 155.6 QB rating from the shotgun. That’s simply ridiculous. Hear me Drew? Ridiculous!

Big games for this week; Falcons @ Patriots, Titans @ Jets, 49ers @ Vikings, Colts @ Cardinals and Panthers @ Cowboys on Monday Night Football.

The Broncos have conceded only 13 points. I thought Josh McDaniels was a defensive guru?
Adrian Peterson (8) has the most 10+ yard runs. Of the next 6 on the list, Chris Johnson (6) and DeAngelo Williams (6) were obvious, Marion Barber (7) and Ronnie Brown (6) were potentials but Cedric Benson (7) and Fred Jackson (6)? Wow.

It’s early in the season but Mike Bell (3/3 on 3rd down and <3 yards) may have helped solve the Saints running woes.

Only 9 backs have rushed more than 20 times in a game so far this season; all but 2 have averages under 4.4 yards on those carries. Fred Jackson has gained an impressive 6.6 yards per carry and Adrian Peterson, yes future MVP Adrian Peterson, has averaged a whopping 18.4 yards per carry. He also has the 2nd highest average on 1st and 10 (10.1) only trailing Frank Gore (13.0).

Terrell Owens; 1 year, $6.5million, 5 catches, 98 yards, 2 drops.

Laveraneus Coles; 4 years, $28million, 3 catches, 20 yards, 3 drops.

Steve Smith has been targeted a league-high 28 times. Unfortunately, and somewhat endemically of his team’s troubles, only has 11 catches.

Game of the week - Giants 33 - 31 Cowboys. Jerry, Jerry, Jerry; not how you wanted that to go now was it?

Stat of the week - only 7 of the winning teams from week 2 outgained their opponents. Numbers eh? What do they mean? Probably not the way to end this piece…

Winner of the week - Jay Cutler and da Bears. Knocking off the Superbowl champs and seeing their star QB look like a star QB.

Loser of the week - The Dolphins. How did they lost that game again?

Play of the week - Ray Lewis shooting the gap to stop Darren Sproles on 4th and 2. That’s a thing of beauty. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldY2pInMyR4&feature=PlayList&p=EF225B6015730439&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=7

Player of the week - 25-39, 357 yards, 4 TD’s @ the Titans. We’ve been fooled before but this could be seen as the coming out party for Matt Schaub and a Texans playoff team.