NFL Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous NFL thoughts and observations.

Are you in a fantasy football league? Was Peyton Manning one of the top 3 picks in your league? Is the person who drafted Manning now trying to trade him? If he wasn't yesterday - after last night's 6 interception performance I bet he's thinking about it today. In a season where Manning has been without Marvin Harrison - it's amazing how pedestrian his numbers have become. It should also be noted that Manning set the Colts record for interceptions in a game last night. Not even Jeff George managed to throw six picks in a game for the Colts... If you combined the totals from for the QB's in the Atlanta / Carolina game, the Minnesota / Green Bay game, and the Denver / Chiefs game - then you would get the exact same number of total interceptions as Peyton Manning threw all by himself.... Is it me or is Gunther Cunningham's defense in Kansas City masking just how bad a coaching job Herm Edwards is doing for the Chiefs? The Chiefs would be wise to ditch Edwards at the end of the season and bring back Marty Shottenheimer... The record for the remaining opponents for the Bills is 35-28 (but if you took out Miami it becomes 35-19). I've said it before - if Dick Jauron manages to lead the Buffalo Bills to an 8-8 record this season then he should be unanimous coach of the year... I wonder if the Dolphins have Sunday December 2nd circled on their calendars? They play the Jets at home that day and its got to be their best chance to win a game this year... The Cleveland Browns are one game back for a Wild Card playoff spot and right now I'd say they are the team you would not want to play in the first round of the playoffs.... Craphonso Thorpe? That's your real first name? I'd go with Fonzie if I were you but then again with the number of dropped passes you had last night maybe the other nickname is appropriate... Just saying but Stephen Gostkowski is 11-12 (92%) on field goals this year. Adam Vinatieri meanwhile is 16-20 (80%)...

NFL Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous NFL thoughts and observations.

The Buffalo Bills are a tough team when they play at home. So far this season they are 3-2 at home with both losses coming by a single point in each game. Who could have guessed that half way through the season the Bills would have as many wins as the Chargers and more wins than the Bears or Eagles? Dick Jauron has to get serious consideration for coach of the year if he can somehow manage to get this Bills team to finish at .500 for the season... Every prediction you saw for the Patriots / Colts game had the game being a high scoring shootout. Everybody loved the over in the game. I thought the Colts would try a ball control running attack and with everybody going one way on the over / under I normally go the other. Yet I did not take the under in yesterday's game and today I'm kicking myself... Detroit may just be unbeatable when they play at home. The Lions are now 4-0 at home with the shellacking of the Broncos yesterday.... The Colts may tell themselves that the results would be different if they played the Patriots again with a healthy Marvin Harrison but the truth is the Colts received some very favorable calls from the referees yesterday and were helped by playing at home. If the Colts do play the Patriots again it will be at Foxboro and I'm guessing the margin of victory for the Pats will be more than 4 points... Adrian Peterson is a horse. I think he's a taller Marshall Faulk or a stronger Eric Dickerson. Yesterday Peterson set the single game rushing record with 296 yards but I'd guess that he's going to break that record at least 2 more times in his career... Randy Moss is just incredible. He had another 100-yard receiving game getting 145 yards on 9 catches. I know he could get more money elsewhere at the end of the season but I really hope he re-signs with the Patriots. With Tom Brady reluctant to do any commercials - Randy Moss can become the face of the Patriots and make up whatever salary shortfall he has with commercial opportunities... One final note - do you realize that Tom Brady has as many TD passes (33) as Peyton Manning (14) and Tony Romo (19) combined? That's incredible... Damn! Just one more thought - yesterday the Lions had Jon Kitna play the entire game even though they were up by 37 points in the 4th quarter. The Lions then scored another TD to make it 44-0 with Kitna still in the game. My question is this - where are all the talking heads today complaining about the Lions running up the score? If this was the Patriots it would be the lead story everywhere...

Buffalo Bills

I like Buffalo. Really I do. I know the city is gray with concrete the building material of choice and the sky always looks ready to rain or snow - I still like Buffalo. I've always had a good time when I've gone there and the people always seemed nice and down to earth.

I also like the Bills. That's why I feel bad that they will have such a miserable record at the end of the season. The Bills have perhaps the toughest schedule in the NFL. Going into their December 16th game against the Cleveland Browns - it is entirely possible that the Bills have either 1 or zero wins. Seriously.

Bodog has the over / under for wins for Buffalo set at 6 and I'm thinking the under is a pretty good bet. I hope I'm wrong because I like the Bills.

I like Dick Jauron as a coach, first round pick Marshawn Lynch (with a name like Lynch - how could I not?) and second round pick linebacker Paul Posluszny. The Buffalo Bills will probably be involved in many close games but alas they will end up losing almost all of them.

The good news is that they should be in the running for Brian Brohm and the first pick overall in the 2008 NFL draft.