Detroit, Tennesse and Tampa Bay all earned their first wins of 2006, the latter two earning the first NFL wins for QB’s Vince Young and Brad Gradkowsi respectively. But the playoff-vibe game of the day — save for Seattle surviving a big day from Torry Holt and Marc Bulger — was New Orleans’ comeback, 27-24 victory over the Iggles. The not-quite-washed-up Joe Horn (above, 6 catches, 2 TD’s 122 yards) was a favored target of Drew Brees (27/35, yards). 10 months removed from a Week 17 shoulder injury, the Saints QB is making excellent use of the varied weapons at his disposal. I’m still not sure why Daunte Stallworth is no longer one of them, but I look forward to the long explanation.
Brees’ successor in San Diego, Phillip Rivers, put on a clinic of his own against San Francisco earlier today (29/39, 334 yards, 2 TD passes), as the Chargers ran riot over the hapless 49’ers, 48-19. LaDanian Tomlinson had 4 rushing TD’s, all from 5 yards out or closer, while SF’s work-in-progress Alex Smith was sacked 5 times, fumbled once and picked off once as well.
Though I’ve never quite understood the saying, “you can’t keep a good man down”, apparently, you can’t keep Terrell Owens nor Jeremy Shockey down every week, either.
The Dolphins were a (long) Olino Mare FG away from tying the Jets at the gun today, but no dice, as the New York Manginis improved to 3-3 with a 20-17 win. Chad Pennington and Laveranues Coles hooked up for a pair of TD passes, and more surprisingly, the Jets actually rushed for 103 yards. That might not seem like much, but it actually represents serious improvement from the duo of Leon Washington and Kevin Barlow. I’m not sure when a new Folk Implosion album is coming out, but that’s why SNY’s has such a detailed post-game show, to answer such burning questions.
not sure if you were joking or not,
but stallworth is on the eagles now,
and currently injured.
http://cstb.wpengine.com/?p=7237
that wasn’t a joke, Billy. I’d like to know how the Saints are a better team without Stallworth.
Stallworth’s departure isn’t related to the improvement of the team. The Saints are better because:
a) No more Aaron Brooks. What a disaster he was. Dumb as a post and unwilling to use his legs – the only thing that made him an excellent QB his first few years. Once he stopped running, DBs could hang back and wait for him to get sacked or throw an INT.
b) New coaching staff. Payton etc. are much more creative than team Haslett. Importantly, the worst coach in NFL history – Rick Venturi – is no longer screwing up the D.
c) Colston, a 7th round rookie out of Hofstra (did someone say Chrebet?) is catching everything thrown his way.
d) Deuce is back and Bush is a real pass-catching threat out of the backfield.
e) Some mumbo-jumbo about post-Katrina blah blah blah.*
Stallworth was also frequently injured and could only run one pattern. He was never an over the middle kind of guy. I didn’t mind at all when the Saints got rid of him – and that was before I knew that Colston and Henderson would be valuable receivers.
Before yesterday I didn’t think that the Saints were an elite team. Now I do.
* Crediting emotional uplift from Katrina required by the NFL.
thanks, Charles. I think we’ve now established that N.O. are substantially better, and it has little to do with the Stallworth trade. Or rather, the Saints have established as much over the past 6 weeks.
You have to admit, Aaron Brooks is making few errors since getting injured in Oakland. No replays of clipboards thrown to the opposition.
re : Deuce / Reggie. Amazing how the latter has helped create so many opportunities for the latter. Even if Reggie had to take a pay cut to toil in the ‘dome.
You have to admit, Aaron Brooks is making few errors since getting injured in Oakland. No replays of clipboards thrown to the opposition.
Probably not from lack of trying. I assume that he still tries to call timeouts but isn’t acknowledged by the zebras.