Two Weeks In...

Two weeks into the NFL season, it’s clear to see there are and will be plenty of storylines in 2012. From replacement refs to RG3, there won’t be a week where football fans have nothing to discuss.

Rookie QBs:In Week One, starting rookie quarterbacks went 1-4. In Week Two, the record improved to 3-2. After 2 weeks, here is a power ranking of the 5 starting rookie quarterbacks:

1)    Robert Griffin, III: Washington Redskins: RG3 has been spectacular for the Redskins in his first two outings. In Week 1, RG3 faced the Saints in the Super Dome. In the Redskins victory, he completed 73% of his passes for 320 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions, while running for 42 yards. Facing the Rams during Week 2, RG3 threw for 206 yards, a touchdown, and a pick. He also ran for 82 yards and 2 touchdowns. If it weren’t for a stupid Josh Morgan penalty, the Redskins could be 2-0 right now, and anyone who says it isn’t because of RG3 is a lunatic.

2)    Andrew Luck: Indianapolis Colts: Andrew Luck is not Peyton Manning. He isn’t now, and he will never be. Still, I cannot give Luck enough credit for what he has done with the Colts in such a small amount of time. Last season without Peyton Manning, the Colts were horrendous. Without adding any other key players, Luck has transformed the team into a respectable team. He hasn’t been great so far, throwing for a total of 533 yards, while only completing 57% of his passes, along with throwing 3 interceptions (all of which came Week 1 at Chicago). Don’t expect Andrew Luck to be winning Super Bowl MVPs anytime soon, but don’t discount the importance of a smart QB under center.

3)    Russell Wilson: Seattle Seahawks: Russell Wilson hasn’t had any special plays. He hasn’t put up big fantasy numbers or led a 4^th quarter comeback. He hasn’t made many mistakes either. He’s thrown 1 interception (against the same Arizona defense that get an interception from Tom Brady). Last week while leading the Seahawks to a 27-7 victory over the Cowboys, Wilson completed 75% of his passes for 153 yards and 1 touchdown. Compare that to Eli Manning’s performance against the Cowboys two weeks ago. Eli completed 65% of his passes and threw for 213 yards and a touchdown. With Wilson under center and a powerful defense, the Seahawks could sneak into the playoffs as a wildcard team.

4)    Brandon Weeden: Cleveland Browns: Brandon Weeden had the worst NFL debut in history. In the Week 1 matchup against the Eagles, Weeden threw 4 interceptions and completed only 12 passes. Think about that. For every 3 completions, Weeden had 1 interception. Then, out of nowhere in Week 2, Weeden erupted to throw for 322 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions against the Bengals. Which Weeden is the real one? I’m going to guessing its closer to Week 1 than 2.

5)    Ryan Tannehill: Miami Dolphins: As a life-long and loyal Longhorn fan, I am contractually obligated not to root for or say positive things about former Texas A&M Aggies.

Saints: Wait…coaching does matter? WHAT?!

With Sean Payton suspended for the season, the Saints are 0-2. Saints’ offensive line coach, Aaron Cromer, is the current head coach and midway through the season, he’ll be replaced by Joe Vitt after Vitt serves his 6 game suspension. Ever since the Saints’ bounty suspensions were announced, I have thought that whatever could go wrong, would go wrong for the Saints. After two weeks, I can say that I don’t think the Saints will make the playoffs. Now, the question is: can this be good for the Saints? Imagine this scenario: the Saints tank this season and get a top 10-draft pick. Sean Payton comes back and gives the Saints the mindset of, “They think we’re done…we’ll show them.” I’m calling this right now: the Saints are the 2013 Super Bowl champions.

Replacement Refs:The media has spent so much time covering the NFL’s replacement refs that you would think that Tim Tebow was officiating NFL games. The refs don’t deserve all the heat they’ve gotten. Sure, there have been some bad calls, heck, there’ve been some awful calls, but there are horrible calls by the normal refs too. The “Immaculate Reception” wasn’t really a catch. At the time of the play, there was a rule that if the pigskin touched a team’s receiver, another receiver from that team wasn’t allowed to touch the ball. Since the ball touched John Fuqua first, there should never have been a reception.

On his ESPN Radio Show, Colin Cowherd said, “97, 98% of the time, replacement refs are fine, but we in the media and the players are looking so hard for that 3% that when it happens, we’re just pouncing on it.”

It’s just like the tabloid magazines. They’ll do anything to make a story. Selena Gomez left a restaurant before Justin Bieber did. They must be breaking up! Brad Pitt took a picture with a random passerby? It’s on the cover of People saying, “Brad Cheats on Angelina: Exclusive Photos Inside!” Give these guys a break. They have to wear zebra stripes to work.*

Tim Tebow: It’s been two weeks, and I haven’t heard anyone call for Tebow to start. This is America. Right?

Peyton Manning: Is Peyton back? Not quite. Peyton looked like old Peyton in Week 1. He completed 73% of his passes for 253 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Then, Week 2 happened. He opened the game by throwing 3 interceptions on 3 drives. Which Peyton is it going to be? 2009 or noodle arm Peyton?

Buccaneers’ Kneel Down Incident: Up 41-34 in the last seconds of the 4^th quarter of last Sunday’s Giants-Buccaneers’ game, the Giants took a knee to run down the clock and win the game. If only it were that simple. Instead of giving no effort like most teams do on kneel downs, the Buccanneers’ defensive line shot out of their stances and tried to force a fumble. They were unsuccessful, but Giants’ coach, Tom Coughlin was outraged by the Buccaneers’ decision to go for the football.

Why shouldn’t the Bucs d-line go for the football? Aren’t they supposed to play ‘till the fat lady sings? It isn’t like the Buccaneers had no chance to win. They were only down a touchdown, so there is a legitimate chance that the Bucs could pull off the victory.

The Buccaneers’ new head coach, Greg Schiano, had preached physicality all pre-season. By telling his players to give up on the last play, he would have been going against everything he had told his players.

Whether the story is about super heroes (RG3), super villains (former Aggies), tragedy (Saints), comedy (replacement refs), or drama (Bucs), these two weeks have only been the prologue.

*After the September 24, Monday night game between the Seahawks and Packers, I have changed my opinion on the refs. Up until the 24th, no bad calls changed the outcome of the game. There were multiple officiating errors in the Monday night game that changed the outcome of the game.

With about 9 minutes left, the refs called a penalty on the Packers for roughing the passer. The call gave the Seahawks the ball instead of it rightfully being the Packers because of a Russell Wilson interception. If the Packers had the ball, they could have tacked on points and won the game. There were two horrible pass interference calls in the game too. Then, on a final hail mary thrown up by Russell Wilson and the Seahawks, the Packers intercepted the ball. Seahawks receiver, Golden Tate, put a hand on the ball after the Packers seemed to have possession of it. Since any time a ball is in possession of both an offensive and defensive player, it’s the offense’s ball, the Seahawks scored a touchdown, winning the game.

The play shouldn’t have been a touchdown for 2 reasons: first of all, Golden Tate pushed a Packer defensive back to the ground before he jumped for the ball, a definite pass interference call. Secondly, the Packers’ cornerback, M.D. Jennings had possession of the ball. Golden Tate only had a hand on it. Then, for no reason at all, the refs made both teams come back onto the field to try an extra point, although time had expired, and there was no way for the Packers to win the game. Pathetic. Simply pathetic.

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