Thursday Recap, Weekend Preview

Ricky Williams looked like his old self last night as he torched the Carolina Panthers for 119 rushing yards and three total touchdowns in Miami’s 24-17 win.  Filling in for an injured Ronnie Brown, Williams looked more like the guy who rushed for more than 1800 yards in 2002 than the guy who retired, unretired, played in the CFL and returned to the league as a backup.  The Dolphins move to 5-5 and kept their Wild Card hopes alive last night, thanks mostly to Williams’ performance.  Brown is out for the rest of the year, so the Fins will likely ride Ricky’s still-fresh legs for the remainder of 2009.

The Colts and Ravens will tangle this weekend and a lot of people seem to expect a bit of a letdown game from the Colts following their exhilarating win over the Patriots last Sunday night.  The Ravens are definitely a quality team, but Peyton Manning gets up for every game.  It should be a good contest.  San Diego and Denver face off for first place in the AFC West.  These teams have been going in different directions as of late and Denver needs to rebound.  Kyle Orton’s status is still uncertain for the game.  One team will likely lose their playoff hopes in the San Francisco-Green Bay matchup.

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Thursday Notes

Miami Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown has been placed on injured reserve by the team, effectively ending his season.  Brown suffered what was initially thought to be a somewhat minor foot injury, but it turns out the injury was much more serious.  Brown has been the back that has run the now-famous wildcat for Miami, and it’s unclear whether the team will continue to run the formation with Ricky Williams.  Williams will presumably take over as the primary ball carrier, but the Wildcat could be run exclusively through rookie quarterback Pat White in Brown’s absence.

The Buffalo Bills have fired head coach Dick Jauron and replaced him with defensive coordinator Perry Fewell in the interim.  Fewell took no more than one day to shakes things up in Buffalo, naming Ryan Fitzpatrick the starting quarterback indefinitely.  Both Fitzpatrick and Trent Edwards have struggled this season.  Rumor has it that the organization has already contacted former Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan about potentially coaching the team next season.  Shanahan will presumably want personnel control of some kind, though.  Other candidates that have been rumored include former New Orleans Saints head coach Jim Haslett and New York Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride.  We could see some major changes in Buffalo.

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Power Rankings

The New Orleans Saints retained the top spot in ESPN.com’s NFL Power Rankings this week, despite getting a game from the St. Louis Rams.  I was a bit surprised not to see the Indianapolis Colts hurdle them after their comeback win against New England.  Both teams are 9-0 and people are already talking Saints-Colts Super Bowl, though I think that talk is a bit premature.  The Vikings remained in the third slot on the list this week with a relatively easy defeat of the Lions.  The Bengals held strong at number four with a big win in Pittsburgh.  New England rounds out the top five after a gut-wrenching loss in Indi.

The Steelers drop one spot, to number six, with their loss to the Bengals.  This team is definitely not out of the running for the AFC title by any means, though.  The Cardinals move all the way up from the 10^th spot to seventh and are looking strong.  The Chargers jumped up from 12^th to eighth with a solid win over the Eagles.  The Broncos and Cowboys, two teams that are tough to get a read on at this point, round out the top 10.  The Ravens, who come in at 11, are still a team to watch.

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Week 10 Recap

The Bengals asserted themselves as the power in the AFC North with a win in Pittsburgh over the Steelers.  Cincinnati has swept both of their season series with Ravens and Steelers, the two teams that faced off in the AFC title game last season.  The Bengals are for real and it’s time for everyone to buy into that.  Things are really heating up in the AFC as the Broncos and Chargers now both sit at 6-3.  Denver has lost three straight after starting the season 6-0, while San Diego appears to be improving on a weekly basis.

The Panthers beat the Falcons and improved to 4-5 after a dismal start to the season.  The team has gotten back to what they do best, running the football.  DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart have been impressive in recent weeks and I wouldn’t rule this team out of the playoffs just yet.  The Jags are a sneaky 5-4 on the season.  They too got off to a sluggish start, but they’ve gotten into the habit of feeding Maurice Jones-Drew early and often, and it’s paying off.  The Cowboys stumbled this weekend against the Packers, tightening things in the NFC East.  The Ravens took care of business in a pretty uneventful game last night against Cleveland.

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Comeback Colts

Last night’s Colts-Patriots game definitely had a playoff atmosphere to it.  What a game it was, too.  New England head coach Bill Belichick will probably be second-guessing himself for a while after electing to go for it on fourth down in his own territory, which ended up giving the Colts a short field on their way to scoring the winning touchdown.  The 35-34 victory was easily Indianapolis’ biggest win of the season and they secured it in dramatic fashion by coming back from 17 down.  Peyton Manning threw for more than 300 yards in the contest, essentially acting as the team’s only offense, as the running game offered little help.

New England played well, and outdid the Colts for the 55 minutes of the game.  When they kicked a field goal with about four minutes remaining in the game to go up 34-21, the win seemed to be in hand, but you can’t count out Peyton Manning until that clock reads all zeroes.  The Colts move to 9-0 with the win and establish themselves as the unquestioned top dog in the AFC.  There’s still a lot of football to be played, though, and the Pats and Steelers both pose legitimate threats to Indi’s conference title hopes.

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Thursday Recap, Weekend Preview

The San Francisco 49ers edged out the Chicago Bears last night in a low-scoring affair that may have put the Bears’ playoff hopes in real danger.  Jay Cutler threw five interceptions in the contest as the Niners took home the victory 10-6.  The Chicago quarterback was able to throw for more than 300 yards in the contest, but his turnovers ended up sealing his team’s fate.  With the loss, the Bears drop to 4-5 and will have to ramp things up if they’re going to have a shot at the playoffs.  The Niners kept their hopes of winning the NFC West alive with this win, though it’s not going to be easy to outdo the Cardinals.

This weekend we’ve got two marquee matchups.  We’ll get a clearer picture of who really has the power in the AFC North as the Cincinnati Bengals travel to Heinz Field to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Bengals surprised the Steelers at home earlier this season, but both teams are rolling right now and it should be a great game.  The Patriots will visit the Colts, which is always a recipe for a good game.  The Colts are undefeated but plagued with injuries in the secondary and the Patriots are looking good.

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Power Rankings

The top three teams remained the same in this week’s ESPN.com Power Rankings.  The Saints and Colts won their respective Week 9 matchups, while the Vikings retained their spot by default with a bye week.  If I were to tell you at the beginning of the season that the Cincinnati Bengals would be in the top five of the power rankings come week 10, would you have believed me?  Well, they are number currently number four on the list, coming off a convincing win against Baltimore.  The Bengals have not lost a game in the AFC North this season and probably won’t all year if they can take down the Steelers again.  Speaking of the Steelers, they round out the top five.

The Patriots drop one spot after beating Miami due to Pittsburgh’s dominance as of late.  The Steelers took down the Denver Broncos, who come in at number seven after registering their second loss of the season.  The Cowboys hold their position at eight after a strong win over the Philadelphia Eagles.  The Cowboys look more like a team of substance this season than the flashy unit they appeared to be over the past few.  The Falcons and Cardinals round out the top 10.

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Do the Chargers belong in the Super Bowl?

NBC reports that sportscaster Chris Ello made some sarcastic comments during this weekend’s Chargers-Giants game that posed a pretty crucial question to Chargers fans everywhere: Does the team have what it takes to go to the Super Bowl?

The Bolts struggled to keep up against the Giants throughout the game, scoring a phenomenal win toward the very tail end that sent them over the top. But because it was a narrow win–and because it only constitutes a third victory for the Chargers–it’s looking more like a fluke than a legitimate powerhouse drive to the Super Bowl.

Ello didn’t let them off easy: “Let’s load up the Super Bowl bandwagon now, there’s plenty of room, just step aboard, here we go, we’re now on course to where we all thought we were going to go in the beginning of the season.” That about sums it up for Giants fans, probably–and maybe even for some Chargers fans who remain skeptical about the team’s chances. You can bet that they all have their fingers crossed, though.

They don’t just have their fingers crossed that the Chargers will win, by the way. They also hope that Super Bowl tickets will remain plentiful at StubHub. Buy them early!

Rolling Along Again

The Steelers’ two losses were simply bumps in the road.  Pittsburgh should be feared in the AFC again, especially with their new running game.  The team drafted running back Rashard Mendenhall in the first round last year with the hope that he could be a feature back and continue the tradition of hard-running Pittsburgh teams.  While his first season was cut short by a jarring hit from Ray Lewis, and mired by fumbling issues in the preseason, Mendenhall has won the starting job this season and continues to impress.  He ripped off 155 yards on the ground last night in a solid win over the Denver Broncos.

The Steelers ran Mendenhall 22 times last night, something that they need to continue to do.  The second-year back is averaging 5.7 yards per carry this season and is a bruising runner with the speed and pass-catching ability to be an every down back.  The Steelers have always been a team that runs the ball and played good defense, and this team is shaping up nicely in both areas.  The reigning Super Bowl champs are most definitely in the hunt for the AFC title, and are probably on the same level as the Colts and Patriots as the conference’s elite.

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Weekend Review

The Colts and Saints remain unbeaten after a pair of close calls.  The Texans missed out on an opportunity to down their undefeated division rival yesterday, as a missed field goal with time expiring could have sent the game to overtime.  The Saints struggled early, but in what is becoming a trend this season, Drew Brees was able to lead the team to a solid second half of scoring.  Both of these teams are showing the kind of grit that a club needs to go all the way.  They’re undeniably the favorites in their respective conferences.

The Bucs finally got their first win of the season and it came in rookie quarterback Josh Freeman’s first career start, which has to encourage Tampa Bay fans.  Though he struggled from a completion percentage standpoint, Freeman tossed three touchdowns and received some help from the defense and special teams in a pretty significant upset of Green Bay.  The Cowboys asserted themselves as the power in the NFC East with a win over the Eagles.  Tony Romo and company have been rolling after a sluggish start to the season and could be a sneaky Super Bowl contender.  Tonight the Broncos and Steelers face off in a matchup of two AFC powerhouses.

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