Four Downs 9/17

Got a brand new edition of the feature today. Plenty of things I liked, plenty of things I didn't like, plenty of things to watch for, and of course, the Monday Night Football preview. Let's get ze show on ze road.

1st Down: Things I Liked

San Francisco Dominates Detroit; Looks Like the Best Team in Football

The San Francisco 49ers played exceptionally well in their first game of the season against the Green Bay Packers. If you thought that they were going to have a hangover from that, you were sorely mistaken. Even though the score indicated that it was a one-possession game at its conclusion (as the 49ers beat the Lions 27-19) anybody who sat down and watched would have realized that San Francisco pummeled the boys from Detroit. If I’m not mistaken, Detroit never managed to get past the San Fran 20-yard line until the final possession of the football game. That is incredible, if it happens to be true. I’ll do some fact checking on that for sure. Nonetheless, the 49ers can run well, they can pass, they can block, they play incredible defense, and they have a great special teams unit. After two weeks, there’s no better team in football than the 49ers. Whether that matters in a few months? Only time will tell.

Andrew Luck and the Colts Move Forward

Had the Minnesota Vikings taken care of business and won yesterday, they would probably be getting this slot. Instead, the story is on Andrew Luck, the Indianapolis Colts, and their fans. What a marvelous showing that they had yesterday, in spite of the fact that they nearly let up an L. Luck became the first rookie quarterback to lead a comeback drive with less than a minute to play in the month of September in quite some time. That’s a lot of specifics, but here’s another thing: the last rookie quarterback to do that in the month of September? Last name: Manning. First name: Archie. On that note, good for Indianapolis fans for the strong showing that they had yesterday. As I was looking at that game, I kept hearing loud crowd noise and from the attendance numbers, it looked like it was a full house. Bravo, Indy. The healing may take a while after the loss of #18, but you can make it a lot easier if you show up like this.

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane… It’s Reggie Bush

Reggie Bush (above) ran all over Oakland 
yesterday. Does he truly have a chance to lead
the NFL in rushing yards this season? 
(Credit: AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Was Reggie Bush wearing a Superman cape? Was Reggie Bush wearing a USC Trojans jersey underneath his Miami Dolphins jersey? Whatever the case was, he sure as heck put on a show yesterday in South Beach. After vowing to lead the league in rushing in the offseason, Bush used Week 2 to put on a clinic; 26 rushes for 172 yards, including a dazzling 65-yard scamper for a touchdown in the third quarter. It was a really impressive performance for Reggie, who, while he can’t necessarily erase his early year blunders with New Orleans, can certainly revitalize his career a la Alex Smith in San Francisco. Don’t look now, because guess who’s second in rushing yards this season? If you thought it was Reggie Bush, congratulations. 

Cardinals Soar and Stun New England

Who the heck saw this coming? I’m not so certain Cardinals fans saw this coming either because this was the most shocking victory of the day and going forward, perhaps the year. The Cardinals defense, which is in fact very good, made life hellacious for Tom Brady. That’s something that the New York Giants do, but the front seven was able to get pressure all day on Brady; four sacks and six QB hits and perhaps nobody was more impressive than Calais Campbell, who amassed three of those six QB hits and two of those four sacks, to go along with 10 tackles and two TFL. This kid is a stud, ladies and gentlemen. If he was playing anywhere else, he’d get national notoriety. This was perhaps most shocking, because of the way the game played out at the end. A Ryan Williams fumble led to New England theoretically killing clock, but not before a holding call took away a go-ahead Danny Woodhead touchdown. Then, Stephen Gostkowski brutally shanked a kick wide left and New England was left scrambling for answers. They’ll need to this week as they head to Baltimore, but the story is on the Cardinals. What a massive upset, and what a story this may turn into.

Notables: The Rams come-from-behind victory, the Houston Texans looking like the best team in the AFC, the Steelers defense rising up without Polamalu and Harrison, the Seahawks defense, the Green Bay Packers pass rush, C.J. Spiller, Eli Manning’s terrific fourth quarter, and Greg Schiano’s 60-minute attitude

2nd Down: Things I Didn’t Like:

Bears Downed

Jay Cutler (above) was put on the ground numerous times 
by Clay Matthews III (above) and many other Packer defenders.
(Credit: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

I said that the Packers would beat the Bears, because there was no way that they would start off 0-2 with two consecutive losses at Lambeau. Three if you count the home playoff loss to the New York Giants. What I did not expect was a complete, utter disaster from the offense. It was mish-mosh; 

I didn’t really see the gameplan that they were trying to go for. In fact, I didn’t see one at all. They would pass when they had to run, and when they were running and it was effective, they just stopped. It didn’t help that Jay Cutler, who had a bad game in his own right, had about three seconds on every snap to exacerbate the questionable decisions that he had to make. The defense played exceptionally well, but the offense crapped the bed. Bears… downed. 

Saints Go Stumbling In… Again

Yeesh. I thought it couldn’t possibly get uglier than it did for the Saints last week against the Redskins but boy did they put up an awful performance again against the Panthers yesterday. The defense looked awful (again), the team itself looked lost (again) and Carolina had their way with them (like Washington did). This Saints team is missing Sean Payton and they are missing Sean Payton badly. This is a big, big problem that could extend itself through the rest of this season. On the bright side: the offense is looking like it always has, and they host Kansas City next week.

Flacco and the Ravens Falter … and Then he Complains

A week ago people were clamoring over Joe Flacco and saying that he was an elite quarterback. This week all I saw were people saying they were already off of the bandwagon. Not that I think that an 8/29 performance in the second half is the make of an elite quarterback but my goodness people. This is what happens when you throw the word elite around like it’s nothing. Now speaking of that 8/29 performance, Joe Flacco took the time in the postgame press conference to complain about the replacement officials. Now, he might be right about that, because they have been pretty awful. Someone that was 8/29 and played for a team that picked up four turnovers off of the Eagles with numerous chances to win shouldn’t be complaining about officials. Maybe look in the mirror, or something. Or blame Cam Cameron.

Kansas City Throws Up a Lame Duck in Western New York

Oh, Chiefs. You managed to follow up a lame duck performance in the second half of the game against Atlanta with a miserable bludgeoning in Western New York by the Buffalo Bills. Seriously, has there ever been a defense that has so much talent that gets gashed like this? A team with Eric Berry, Derrick Johnson, Tamba Hali, Brandon Flowers, Tyson Jackson and Glenn Dorsey has no business being this bad. Period. I don’t get it, and I won’t even question the offense aside from the fact that they were letting up pressures like crazy, and Jamaal Charles is being used like a role player. Somebody needs to wake this team up, and fast.

Notables: The Lions using the Packers’ Week 1 gameplan against the 49ers and massively failing, the Cowboys’ foolish play in Seattle, the New York Giants’ secondary, the New England offensive line, the Raiders’ horrendous performance, the 2-0 Philadelphia Eagles that should probably be the 0-2 Philadelphia Eagles, and Chris Johnson

3rd Down: Games/Matchups to Watch For in Week 3:

New England Patriots vs. Baltimore Ravens - 8:20 PM ET, NBC

The rematch of the AFC Championship Game is taking place in a different venue this time. This Baltimore Ravens club looked a bit different this week compared to the game against Cincinnati, but you can’t bet that this time is going to be fired up to play the team that they probably should have beaten last January. Add that the game is in Baltimore this time around, and you have a recipe for the Patriots being 1-2. Will it happen? I’m not sure, but this has the potential to be the game of the week.

Green Bay Offense vs. Seattle Seahawks Defense

Aaron Rodgers (above) and the Green Bay Packers offense
may run into more trouble than they bargained for this
coming Monday against the Seahawks' ballhawking defense.
(Credit: Otto Greule/Getty Images North America)

Green Bay vs. Seattle doesn’t seem like an attractive matchup on paper but I see a lot of potential for this Monday night matchup. The main focus of this is going to be how the Green Bay offense matches up with a sneaky good Seattle defense. They came away with a bunch of turnovers yesterday against Dallas, including an interception by 6’4” cornerback Brandon Browner. Expect a lot of 4-wide and 5-wide sets from Green Bay so that they don’t always have to throw to Browner or Richard Sherman and to underrated safety Kam Chancellor and Pro Bowler Earl Thomas. I’m very excited to see this matchup. 

Peyton Manning vs. The Houston Texans Defense

Staying on the offense versus defense focus, it will be very interesting to see how Peyton Manning plays against a defense that knows him as well as he knows them. The Houston Texans have played like the best team in the AFC this season but it will definitely be fun to see them travel up to Denver for their first strenuous test of the season. The Texans are a hard-hitting defense that boasts some of the best players in the league (J.J. Watt, Brian Cushing and Johnathan Joseph) that definitely has the ability to pressure Peyton and make him feel very uncomfortable in the pocket. But, Peyton knows how this defense works, and he, aside for two instances, has had their number. This one will be fun.

Philip Rivers vs. Matt Ryan

Okay, I know quarterbacks don’t “face off” with one another. This however is going to be a very fun quarterback matchup and is definitely the best quarterback matchup of the entire afternoon. Philip Rivers looks like the Philip Rivers of old for the last two games, although he has played two pretty awful secondaries in Oakland and Tennessee. The Falcons secondary is a bit weak also, so he may torch them for a little while. Meanwhile, Matt Ryan and the new-look Falcons offense get a big test tonight against Peyton and the Broncos, and there’s no doubt in my mind that a similar gameplan will be put up against the Chargers. If you have access to this game, I definitely endorse watching.

4th Down: Monday Night Football Preview:

Denver Broncos vs. Atlanta Falcons

Peyton Manning plus a domed stadium might spell disaster for all of the NFL. Luckily this will be Peyton’s only game inside of a domed stadium this season, unless they make it into the Superdome for Super Bowl XLVII. They looked strong last week against a much better defense in Pittsburgh so the possibilities could be limitless tonight against Atlanta who is hurting after losing Brent Grimes for the season to an Achilles injury last week against Kansas City. But, I think this is a big test for Atlanta. We’ve seen a less-than-inspired effort from them in the past, especially on the national stage. However I think that something smells different with this season, and perhaps it’s me going with my convictions, but we’ll see what happens. Nonetheless, here’s my fearless (and homer-scented) prediction:

Denver 31

Atlanta 35

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Thank you all for reading this feature, and we’ll be back for Week 3.