Patriots Finally Lose A GameIt's been a long time since you could say that. Longer still since you could say the Patriots didn't even look very good in doing so. But true enough, they were thrashed 27-17 by the Carolina Panthers, the very team they beat in the Super Bowl two years ago.
Patriots lost because of Tom Brady, who had two of New England's three turnovers and couldn't carry the offensive load when the running game stalled.
Super Boy takes a bit of a beating.
Brady finished 23 of 44 for 270 yards, one interception and one fumble. He did throw a 1-yard TD pass to Daniel Graham early in the first quarter, the 100th passing touchdown of his career, but struggled from there.
New England was also uncharacteristically sloppy, committing 12 penalties for 86 yards.
Panthers TE Kris Mangum and Patriots CB Asante Samuel have a go at it.
Although Panthers QB Jack Delhomme was less than tantalising, (11 of 26 for 146 yards), running back Stephen Davis scored three touchdowns whilst gaining 77 hard-earned yards. Davis became the first running back to score three TDs against the Patriots since Curtis Martin did it in 2000.
It can be said that a Patriot loss, indeed a Patriot failure to defend their championship was perhaps inevitable both because modern sports do not allow for this kind of dynasty, because they are now weak in the interior linebacking corps and because they lost their offensive and defensive coordinators making Bill Bellichick to it himself for a change.
Things won't get any better on the Patriot opponent Revenge tour as next week they travel to Pittsburgh to face the unbeaten Steelers.
Sports Amnesia predicts the Pats will win, 17-13.
Jets Return To FormAfter last week's miserable 27-7 loss to the KC Chiefs made them look like they were starting their season a week early, the Jets defence managed to contain the upstart Miami Dolphins at home, 17-10.
So, the wheels haven't fallen off their Super Bowl run just yet although the offence is still struggling under the new Hummerdinger regime to score points.
In fact, after promising not to fumble at all after opening week's six fumble debacle, what does Chad Pennington do on the first play from scrimmage? Why, fumble the snap of course.
But the Jets defence held the Dolphins in check for most of the game and after the Dolphins scored to close it to withing 10-7 and making everyone jumpy in New York, Pennington put together a fantastic drive to save the game. On the drive, Pennington went 7 of 7 for 74 yards. He finished 19 of 30 for 190 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Jerard Sowell scores the winnah
The Jets played efficient, nearly-mistake-free football, the kind of disciplined performance necessary if they intend on making it through this season into the post season. They had no turnovers, ran for 98 yards, held Miami to 66 on the ground, and committed five penalties for 40 yards.
Vilma and Coleman gang up on Welker
But the Dolphins ganged up on themselves in a way as well. Following their impressive opening season victory over the Denver Broncos despite embarassing moments of undisciplined penalty-mongering, they had 10 penalties for 88 yards. And the Jets defence (or Dolphin offence - who is more at fault?) allowed the Dolphins to convert only 4 of 14 third-down opportunities. All the key ingredients to losing.
As if that weren't enough, everybody's hero last week, QB Gus Frerotte was off, finishing 20 of 43 for 177 yards with a touchdown and an interception and coming crashing back down to the real wold. The Dolphins also failed to muster much of a running attack. Rookie Ronnie Brown, who came into the game with a slight shoulder injury, had 35 yards on 12 carries.
But it isn't all to blame on the Dolphins. The Jets bounced back virulently, blue collar football, mistake-free football. January football.
Next week they host the Jacksonville Jaguars and Sports Amnesia is predicting a tough 10-9 victory for the Jets.
*****
Meanwhile, another early season favourite to knock the Pats from their Perch has been the Indianapolis Colts.
Unhappy Jags leave the field with a hard-fought loss
Yesterday in a AFC South defensive battle that saw the Colts shutout in the first half and Peyton Manning looking out of sorts with wildly overthrown passes and an assorted of miscues, the Colts had the final say with a monsterously hard-fought 10-3 victory over their rival Jaguars.
Manning, looking out of sync as the Jaguars pressured him, finished 13-for-28 for ZERO touchdown passes and a career-low 122 yards passing with one interception and a passer rating of 44.0 -- his worst regular-season rating since December 2001.
Unfortunately for the Jags, the Colt defence, hyped often as improved, held the Jags at bay as well. Jags QB Byron Leftwich, sacked six times, was injured on the next-to-last series when Raheem Brock sacked him from behind and he was bent him over awkwardly. Leftwich lay on the ground reaching for his knee before limping off the field. He was X-rayed after the game inconclusively.
The defense also allowed Jacksonville only 303 total yards and one field goal, and has yielded just 10 points in two games, the lowest two-game total by a Colts defense since 1992.
But in the second half the Colts wised up, abandoned the useless passing attack on a day Manning was looking less than stellar, and went instead to Edgerrin James who carried the offensive load, relentlessly and powerfully, and finished with 128 yards, his first 100-yard outing in his eighth start against the Jaguars’ stout defense.
With a 3-0 lead, the Jags looked poised to score the upset until James and Indianapolis used a 17-play drive that consumed nearly nine minutes before Carthon's late TD run finally gave the Colts the lead with 8:27 left.
Monster truck fullback Greg Jones feels the heat of the Indy defence
The Colts will host the Browns next week and should continue their unbeaten streak with an easy 34-10 victory over the Browns.
*****
Vikings Take Another On The ChinWell, so much for all that annoying hoo-haa, preseason rubbish about the Vikings mystical takeoff into the realm of the Super Bowl. They'll spend the rest of the week wondering if they are as bad as they have looked in going 0-2 in the first two weeks of the season, yesterday humiliated by the previously porous and pathetic Cincinnati Bengals by a shocking 38-7 margin.
Seven turnovers and a series of defensive miscues doomed the Vikings in a 37-8 debacle at Cincinnati, the second-worst defeat of coach Mike Tice's tenure and a humbling blow to those who considered last week's loss to Tampa Bay an anomaly - worse still, QB Daunte Culpepper continued to humiliate himself as though he'd forgotten how to play and threw a career-high five interceptions to join running back Michael Bennett, who fumbled twice in the first half as offensive stooges. The Vikings did not score until 3 minutes, 17 seconds remained in the game.
Someone please help me: Duante looks somewhere for help
And this defence of the Vikings which was supposed to be so new-and-improved and leading them to the Super Bowl, was absolutely abhorrent as they gave up 504 yards and 26 first downs to the Bengals. Free safety Darren Sharper suffered what might be a serious left knee injury, and frighteningly, the score could have been worse. The Bengals committed a team-record 17 penalties, wiping out one touchdown and two Culpepper fumbles deep in Vikings territory.
Bengals receiver Chad Johnson on the end of a 75 yard touchdown.
Carson Palmer completed his first nine passes against a dazed defense. Palmer went 27-for-40 for 337 yards overall with touchdown passes to three different receivers. The one to Johnson set the tone.
The Bengals will face a stiff test to keep their unbeaten season on the rails when they travel to Chicago next week. Prediction here is that the Bears will take them down where it hurts and beat the Bengals 17-13 to stop the bandwagon.
Meanwhile, the Vikings will host the New Orleans Saints and although the Saints are everybody's sweathearts at the moment, they will be on a short week following their necessary postponement to Monday night. Vikes 31 Saints 17.
*****
Rams Regain Footing, BarelyA week after the humiliating, disturbing and confounding upset loss to the nobody 49ers, the St Louis Rams had alot to prove away in Arizona facing a team that had stumbled sourly against the NY Giants, a team no one is mistaking for playoff-bound.
Playing against the team with which he'd experienced all his former glory, Cardinals QB Kurt Warner nearly upended his former mates but fell a few yards shy, though, doomed by Adam Archuleta 's sack and a false start penalty as time ran out in the Rams' 17-12 victory Sunday.
Warner goes down
Warner, 28 for 41 for 327 yards in his first game against the St. Louis franchise he directed to two Super Bowls and one NFL crown, drove the Cardinals to the St. Louis 5 in the final seconds, all for naught.
The man who replaced Warner eventually at St Louis, Marc Bulger completed 18 of 29 passes for 216 yards, with one touchdown pass, one interception, and a passer rating of 82 but directed touchdown drives on St. Louis' first possession of each half and the Cardinals advanced inside the Rams 12 four times without a touchdown. Sacks spoiled three of the threats.
Jax on the move: Steven Jackson rushed for 93 yards on 18 carries, including a 7-yard TD that was the difference in the game.
The Cardinals fell to 0-2 whilst losing their home opener and next week they will travel to Seattle to face the dodgy Seahawks with no killer instinct. Look for the Cardinals to take this game 24-17.
And the Rams, spared an 0-2 start to their season will now finally get to play at home against Tennessee. The Rams might well lose this one as well but the home field advantage will be the difference, faster pitch, higher score. Prediction, St Louis 26 Tennessee 16.
*****
Broncos Stop Slide, Prolong San Diego'sSmall surprise that after getting bagged by the Dolphins last week the Denver Broncos were returning home with a bit of a chip on their shoulder when they faced the Chargers.
The Chargers are not a team to take 0-2 lightly of course and it took a come-from-behind victory by the Broncos to show they aren't going to take a slow start lightly either.
Elam nails the game-winner
The long and almost-forgotten ex-Giant Ron Dayne came off the bench and ran six times for 38 yards in the drive that set up Jason Elam's game-winning 41-yard field goal with 5 seconds left.
Bailey, meanwhile, opened the third quarter with a 25-yard interception return for a score that started the rally, cutting Denver's 11-point halftime deficit to 14-10.
"Champ Bailey won the game. Let's call it like it is," defensive end Trevor Pryce said.
"It shows how one play can make such a big difference."
Champ is the real Champ of the Day
*****
Chiefs Stay Unbeaten
Raider Family Roots Hard
In an effort to prove their beating of the Jets was no flash-in-the-pan sort of phony miracle, the KC Chiefs travelled to Oakland to face the damned and dooming Raiders in an AFC West battle.
Kansas City's defense came through for a second straight week, stopping Oakland at the 10-yard line in the final minutes of a 23-17 victory.
Trent Green offset Randy Moss' massive 64-yard touchdown catch early in the third quarter with two long field goal drives for the Chiefs (2-0) in the second half. Moss had only one catch after the touchdown and was nowhere to be found on Oakland's final drive.
Trent Green, rehearsing alone.
Moss was the last player introduced before the game and received the loudest cheers. He caught an 18-yard pass to set up Oakland's first score, a 1-yard touchdown on the first play of the second quarter by LaMont Jordan.
Moss got louder cheers when he appeared to catch a 6-yard touchdown throw early in the second quarter. But those quickly ended when the play was called back by a pass interference on Moss and Oakland settled for a 29-yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski
Raiders QB and former Giant Kery Collins was 21-for-35 for 263 yards, but was booed frequently as he often threw the ball short on third downs.
This week it was a Chief in the Black Hole but next week, it might be Kerry Collins.
Most Suprising?We can look at the idling bandwagons of the Cincinnati Bengals and perhaps even of the 2-0 Tampa Bay Bucs who trounced the Bills, but the Chiefs, after beating Oakland, are also 2-0 and looking to build up fan interest.
Next week, the Chiefs play a Monday Night game at Denver and the prediction is, they will not stay unbeaten for another week - Denver 23 KC 21 in a rare Monday night thriller.
The Bucs will travel to Green Bay to face the suddenly weak Packers but they too, are predicted to go down as the Pack won't start 0-3. Green Bay 20 Tampa Bay 10.
In fact, by the time the dust clears next week, mark this down, only the Indiapolis Colts and the Dallas Cowboys will be 3-0.
