Football Week 3 Recap/Week 4 Preview

A combined 2-5 this weekend? Ugh.

Browns 17, Ravens 24 – Cleveland actually showed up against a far more talented team in Baltimore and held a lead in the fourth quarter for the third straight game. Peyton Hillis manned up and ran for the most yards the Ravens have ever allowed to a Brown. I doubt injured Jerome Harrison sniffs the field anytime soon. Senace Wallace was efficient with the ball with a 100+ rating and Cleveland didn’t have a turnover. However, like the other two weeks, the Browns found a way to lose the game. Cornerback Eric Wright had a terrible game covering Anquan Boldin, allowing three TD’s. Why did we bother to draft Joe Haden if we aren’t going to play him? The game clinching play this time was an offsides penalty on a third and short with no timeouts left. Next week the 2-1 Bengals come to town.

Cavaliers 48, VMI 7 – UVa took care of business and routed the Keydets in a sweltering hot day. Even though the win doesn’t count towards bowl eligibility it was still good to iron out the kinks and get healthy. The star of the game was cornerback Chase Minnifield, son of Cleveland Brown cornerback Frank Minnifield, which was one of my starting lineup figures growing up. He had two picks, including an amazing one where he tipped it up and recovered to catch it before going out of bounds. Hopefully he doesn’t return punts anymore, since he muffed one. Senior Ras-I Dowling is the attention grabber, projected first round rd draft pick, but junior Minnifield has been making all the plays this season so far. Strangely enough, over 1,500 VMI cadets showed up for the game in their all white uniforms, while the UVa student section and players were wearing Navy on a sunny 90 degree day. Maybe they were trying to get rid of extra Gatorades at the stadium or something. Saturday 3-1 Florida State comes to C’Ville in a prepared “white-out” promotion. The last time the Seminoles were in Scott Stadium, we were charging the field as they were exiting as the #4 team in defeat. And who doesn’t enjoy watching the ’95 version either?

Redskins 16, Rams 30 – Wow, that was a dud. Washington obviously took St. Louis for granted, stumbling out to a 14-0 hole. After rallying, the vaunted defense failed again, while the offense only scored three points in the second half. Portis is becoming a non-factor and may lose his job after taking a slide like a qb. Nine penalties, two turnovers, and 1-10 on third down isn’t going to get it done against any team, regardless of the record. All the playoff and division talk will be shelved due to the Cowboys’s win and Vick’s resurgence with the Eagles. If next week’s trip to 2-1 Phily wasn’t enough drama already, it was McNabb’s idea to bring Vick to the Eagles in the first place. Hopefully it will be a “sunny” trip to Philadelphia for the Skins.

Colts 27, Broncos 13 – Another week, another 300 yards, three tds, zero picks, and win for Peyton. However, only rushing for 40 yards, while allowing 519, and seeing shots of Freeney going in and out of the locker room are concerning though. The Colts better not overlook the struggling Jags next week in Jacksonville, since Jones-Drew has torn them up in the past and you can never count out a divisional foe.

Due to popular demand, I shortened my fantasy recaps, which is especially timely this week since I got spanked in all three leagues and am now 2-1 across the board.

Football Week 2 Recap/Week 3 Preview

Just like last week, my fantasy teams went 3-0, while my real teams struggled.

Browns 16, Chiefs 14 – Different QB, barely different score, same result. With Seneca Wallace at the helm Cleveland once again took a lead into half only to squander it with penalties and turnovers. Even though Cribbs had a sweet 65 yard td bomb, his talents are still being underutilized on a team devoid of talent. Now after starting 0-2, Cleveland faces a murderous schedule and another high draft pick. Good thing I don’t have season tickets to those games.

Redskins 27, Texans 30 – Much better game from the Skins offense. McNabb looks legit and a great trade for the Skins so far. Portis got two TD’s and the D looked solid until blowing the 17 point lead. Landry is a beast with another11 tackles, three qb hits and a sack. Schaub would have been having nightmares of him blitzing all night if he hadn’t chucked the rock in the comeback like his UVA days. With Dallas faltering at 0-2, and the Eagles and Giants with issues, Washington could be in contention for the division all year and hopefully a playoff spot.

Colts 38, Giants 14 – Indy decided to run the ball for the first time in three years, and by the time the GMen realized they didn’t need eight defensive backs the game was over. Watching Freeney and Mathis coming across the edge after Eli reminded me of playing Madden ’02 back in the day. Big sigh of relief for the season, but now its Schuab vs Peyton for the division.

Merlins 52, Holdbacks 43 – After another solid performance from Manning in addition to two one-yard Portis touchdowns I was able to build up a nice lead going into the Monday night game. Luckily the Saints D held off Drew Brees for a nine point victory. Now I’m in first place all by myself in the division after being in dead last a season ago.

Mountain Goats 45, Lions 42 – Luckily it was an off week for both teams, and I eeked out a three point victory. Not a good sign that my leading scorer was my kicker. Now I’m one of three teams at 2-0 left.

Wahoos 144, Stallions 126 – I scored the most points of any team this week, even though Chris Johnson only scored two points. Meanwhile the Stallions scored the second most points of the week and lost, sucks to be them. The only benefit of Schaub beating the Skins was 29 points for this team.

Week 3:

Browns @ Ravens – Uhhhh….Good Luck

Cavs vs VMI Keydets – The Cavaliers are facing their second D-2 school this season, which means this game does not even count towards bowl eligibility. With any luck the UVa team that soundly beat Richmond shows up, instead of the one that lost to William and Mary last season. It should be a rout on a nice fall day to give backups and injured starters like Dowling some much needed playing time, but you never know. With FSU, GT, and UNC coming up, everything should fine tuned and ready to go.

Redskins @ Rams – Rookie QB making his third start against McNabb and the strong Washington D, the Skins better win. Hopefully its not a repeat of last years 9-7 squeaker.

Colts @ Broncos- A lot more interesting matchup than the other two. Two 1-1 teams. Champ Bailey vs Reggie Wayne. Hopefully week 2 Indy shows up, not week 1.

Merlins vs Harriers – The brother rivalry continues. I face off against Nate for at least the 30^th time, but for one of the earliest times in the season. He’s 0-2 and is a six point underdog. Speaking of brothers, its Eli vs Peyton as well. Cute.

Mountain Goats vs Chopperlicious - Against another team that has Eli. Sure hope Erryn does not find out how much I’ll be rooting against the Giants this weekend.

Wahoos vs Team Turk – 2-0 vs 2-0, I better keep up the team of the week performances to stay undefeated this week.

Football Week 1 Recap/Week 2 Preview

It was a rough start for my real teams, but a perfect beginning to my fantasy teams.

Browns 14, Bucs 17 – New QB, new GM, same results. After a solid preseason, Jake Delhomme threw a critical pick to Ronde Barber (Go Hoos!), pretty much costing the game. Of course Peyton Hillis fumbled as well, so hopefully he’ll stop stealing carries from Harrison. Usually Peyton and Harrison would be a winning combination. If Cleveland can’t beat a low level team like Tampa, it might be another long season.

Cavaliers 14, Trojans 17 – Hmm, same score, different outlook. UVa looked like the better team in California, but a couple costly mistakes and terrible calls from the refs prevented the Wahoos from a big upset. The Cavs outgained Southern Cal, with more first downs and less penalties. I almost went to the game instead of getting season tickets, but after this performance I’m encouraged to see Payne, Dowling, and the others battle the ACC this fall.

Redskins 13, Cowboys 7 – We all know the two plays that comprised the whole outcome of the game, but the rest of the game was actually a snoozefest. The crowd sounded the loudest I’ve ever heard Fedex Field on tv, and the defense looked great, which is encouraging. But McNabb and Portis need to get it going in order to make a playoff push, and watching Haynesworth flop around for about $1 million a play was getting annoying. At least “he” won’t be shown at football games anymore.

Colts 24, Texans 34 – 17^th time’s a charm for Houston? Of course Sanders and A Gonzalez getting hurt once again sucks, but what’s the point of going 10-0 all the time if Indy don’t win when it counts in the playoffs anyway.

Syracuse Merlins 47, Raleigh Recession 41 – Despite only getting 6 points from my three runningbacks I labored over starting, I pulled out a 6 point victory to start the season. Of course Peyton led the scoring, like always, with 20 points, and a TD from Jennings helps. There was a little bit of a scare from Gates on Monday night and I was close to losing if Calvin Johnson’s catch was ruled complete.

Evil Mountain Goats 81, End Zone Sleeperz 50 – Eventhough my top two picks (S Jackson and D Williams) got me 5 points, star of the week Foster’s 27, Giants D’s 15, and Welker’s 14 point return from injury were more than enough.

C’Ville Wahoos 123, Florida Grip 100 – Foster has no trouble making himself at home on this team as well, racking up 41 points, to go along with Chris Johnson’s 26 in a victory over the commissioner of this league.

Week 2:

Browns vs. Chiefs – Jerome Harrison is hoping for a repeat performance of his 286 yard game last year against KC, but the Chiefs looked good in their upset win over San Diego last week (already out of my survivor pool on that one). Jake Delhomme is dinged up, shocking, so Colt McCoy, err, Seneca Wallace might start. If we don’t win this one in our home opener it might be all downhill afterwards with this following schedule (Balt, Cincy, Atl, Pitt w/ Ben, Saints, Pats, Jets,…ugh)

Skins vs Texans – Hopefully Washington can improve on offense, and Landry and the D should contain Foster and a Houston squad overconfident from their huge upset.

Colts vs. Giants – The Manning Bowl on Sunday Night. I expect nothing less than an older brother beatdown and a much needed victory at home. Here are some commercials to get ready for the game, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Merlins vs Gate City Holdbacks – Unfortunately, all six of my RB’s scored between 3-1 points, so once again I have no idea who to start. Some tongue twisting WR’s on my bench played well last week, Massaquoi and Legedu Naanee, but I’m not starting them until they are consistent. I’m playing a non-divisional foe, who won last week, scoring two less points than me.

Mountain Goats vs East Dillon Lions – Facing off against Beau this week. Commish vs treasurer. If I win, does this mean I don’t have to pay dues? No changes in this lineup either, eventhough putting Floyd in for TO sounds tempting.

Wahoos vs. Thurozville Stallions – In a divisional battle against another 1-0 team already. Sweet

Where is UVa? Don’t worry, they won’t lose….since it’s a bye week.

Football is Back!

The NFL returns this weekend with many intriguing games, but with a full slate of good college football games on Saturday, this weekend is going to be epic. While every weekend in the fall is packed with football, this one feels different since UVA will be playing late on Saturday, allowing me to actually see the other NCAA games, and the Skins play at night freeing up the Sunday NFL schedule.

Saturday

2pm – Miami (OH) vs Eastern Michigan – ESPN3 – Hopefully my only cousin and his RedHawks can recover from their loss at the Swamp last week and beat the Eagles in their home opener.

3:30pm – Miami @ Ohio State – ESPN – This game probably will not be as good as their BCS title matchup eight years ago when the Hurricanes had what seemed like 15 NFL players and the Buckeyes were led Maurice Clarett, who had more arrests than NFL carries.

3:30pm – Michigan @ Notre Dame – NBC – I’m only watching to see how many players can get injured for the year and which team will be absurdly ranked in the top #5 after winning two games. Hopefully the fight songs only come out during field goals in a dreadful 6-3 game.

7pm – Penn State @ Alabama – ESPN – Old Man Joe Paterno and his Nittany Lions travel to defending champ Crimson Tide in a clash of two of the simplest jerseys/color schemes in college football.

10:30pm – UVA @ USC – Fox Sports/Comcast - The Wahoos did not embarrass themselves against a D-II school last week against Richmond unlike the previous two seasons, while the Trojans looked average last week, in a season full of sanctions. The Cavs should “Bring the Payne” (sorry, I had to) against a Southern Cal defense that allowed 588 yards and 31 first downs in their opener versus Hawaii. Hopefully the result will be closer than when Mark Sanchez came to Charlottesville on my 25th birthday two years ago.

Sunday

Since the Skins play at night, we get three NFL games shown locally. (Silly US Open preventing two double headers). Here is a cool map that shows which region gets which games each week.

1pm – Cincinnati @ New England – CBS - TO’s Bengal Debut vs Car Crash-Hippy Hair-Rich Boy Tom Brady

1pm – Carolina @ New York Giants - FOX – The post Delhomme era vs Bloody Faced Eli

4 pm – Green Bay @ Philadelphia - FOX – The post McNabb era Eagles vs 6 receiving TD’s for Greg Jennings

8pm – Dallas @ Washington – NBC – Way too many subplots in this one besides the obvious Cowboys vs Skins. Snyder vs Jones in a Papa Johns commercial, Big Fat Al vs Shanahan, McNabb vs aging, and Miles Austin’s new contract vs belief.

Monday

There are even two Monday Night games this week, doubling the fun.

7pm – Baltimore @ New York Jets – Ray Lewis and his Old Spice Commercial vs. Revis Island and Hard Knock’s Rex Ryan

10pm – San Diego @ Kansas City – Rookie RB superstar Ryan Mathews’s 6 rushing TDs vs. nobody on the Chiefs D

Where does that leave the Browns and Colts? Luckily we just got the Red Zone Channel, so I’ll be seeing all of Harrison’s 6 rushing tds and Peyton’s 6 passing TDs live. Sweet.