Andy Richardson

A whirlwind tour of the games I paid the closest attention to yesterday….

Dolphins-Texans: Wow, what a game and what a finish. Houston deserved to finally win one of these close ones. Andre Johnson was huge – could have been huger but for a dropped TD and a fumble near the goal line. Not to be negative, because 10 for 178 is pretty good, plus he had an amazing grab on 4th down to keep the game-winning drive alive. More trickery by the Dolphins, who appear to be trying to make it up to all their fans for the last few years of ineptitude. More Jekyll-and-Hyde play by Matt Schaub, who alternates bonehead interceptions with impressive scoring drives, and it now appears will keep doing so right until he finally plays his way out of the lineup. And get ready for some yahoo saying to you “The Dolphins’ No. 1 receiver has finally emerged, guy named Patrick Cobbs!” Cobbs went for 138 receiving yards and 2 TDs,which I have to think might be some kind of record for a fullback. Fun game.

Bengals-Jets: It wasn’t pretty, but I watched it anyway. Expect an announcement that the Bengals will give Cedric Benson a shot at running back by Wednesday or so, because Chris Perry (11 carries for 14 yards) is not getting it done. Not that Benson (4 for 6) will be a huge improvement, and in fairness this is a very good run defense; the Jets got their draft picks’ worth in the Kris Jenkins acquisition. With Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback, of course, the Bengals’ offense didn’t function at all, although I guess T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chad Johnson were both fine in leagues that award points for receptions. Perhaps Carson Palmer will be back next week; if not things will only get worse for the Bengals. As for the Jets, Favre threw 4 TDs – well, sort of. On the opening drive he threw a pair to Cotchery and Keller that were erased by penalties. On a later drive, he hit Coles with a perfectly thrown ball that was dropped in the end zone. The big day was had by Thomas Jones, but don’t worry about the passing offense; it looks fine.

Lions-Vikings: I picked another beauty here. The halftime score was 3-2. Just brutal. The key thing to note here for the Lions is that they came out running the ball against one of the league’s best run defenses, plus they used Rudi Johnson as the ineffectual hammer against that defense. Johnson finished with 38 yards on 17 carries; Kevin Smith carried just 5 times but for 62 yards, thanks to one long run. Why the Lions are taking the ball away from their third-rounder just to give it to a guy like Johnson who will be out of the league when the Lions are good again is beyond me, but of course, they are the Lions. Dan Orlovsky’s game at quarterback was forgettable, he hopes anyway. Everyone probably saw him embarrassingly take a safety by scrambling along the white stripe at the back of the end zone for about 15 yards before the play was mercifully blown dead. Orlovsky essentially made one nice play, a long pass to Calvin Johnson that set up Detroit’s touchdown. To his credit, though, he was about even with Gus Frerotte, who’s been in the league about a dozen years longer than Orlovsky. Bernard Berrian had a big day, and the Lions got rooked by a supposed fumble after a reception (it wasn’t) and a questionable pass interference call that gave the Vikings the win. Adrian Peterson rushed for 111 but fumbled twice, and plus it was the Lions – he should have gone for 150 on this defense. Let’s move on.

Packers-Seahawks: I watched enough of this game to confirm my suspicion that maybe Mike Holmgren announcing before the season that this would be his last year wasn’t his best inspirational coaching move. I know Seattle has had a lot of injuries, and it’s ironic that as soon as they get their receivers back they lose their quarterback, but man does this team look bad. Next week they go to Tampa Bay, where the Bucs haven’t allowed a touchdown in two of their three games. And it’s the Sunday night game! Thriller. Matt Hasselbeck had best be really hurt if he misses this one. Consider: Seattle’s leading receiver had 23 yards and its leading rusher 44, and this is not a great Green Bay defense right now. Just pitiful. As for Green Bay, Ryan Grant racked up 90 yards, which sounds great until you see it took him 33 carries to hit that total. Aaron Rodgers scored his 3rd TD of the year on a sneak; the rest of the team has one rushing touchdown. I could accuse Rodgers of vulturing them, but odds are none of the team’s running backs would have gotten in, since thus far they have only once. Greg Jennings continues to be one of the league’s best receivers in relative obscurity; with him having almost a 100-yard lead on the rest of the NFL’s pass catchers, maybe that will change. Green Bay’s passing offense looks just fine, and maybe Grant will finally have a good game next week (home agains Indianapolis). For Seattle, I’m calling the season just about over for them. They’re not going to win more than 7 games, if that.

Cowboys-Cardinals: The certain shootout that wasn’t, until the end. It was a pretty good game, including spectacular catches by Larry Fitzgerald, an amazing TD run by Marion Barber – even more amazing because it was the last thing the Cardinals should have, could have allowed to occur, and helped force overtime in a game Arizona should have won in regulation – and the continued emergence of Steve Breaston. Plus the near invisibility of Terrell Owens, while Miles Austin and Patrick Crayton caught touchdowns. But I’m left with the craziness at the end, when it took the officials about 10 minutes to figure out where to spot the ball after deciding an injured Cardinals player was offside, helping Dallas kick the game-tying field goal. That kick was followed by Cowboys’ coach Wade Phillips celebrating as if his team had just won the game, rather than merely forcing a tie. I understand about momentum, Wade, but try and set an example here. Let’s focus on the overtime period, not finding guys to hug after a 52-yard field goal. After the Cardinals won, meanwhile, Ken Whisenhunt made like Cal Ripken, running around the stadium slapping hands with fans. (Considering at least a third of the stadium was rooting for the Cowboys, it was a bold move by Whisenhunt.) That too was odd, but hey, at least it was a win he was celebrating.

Considering some of the games I’m not writing about were even wilder – a rookie quarterback stunning the Bears, Correll Buckhalter out Westbrooking Brian Westbrook, and suicide pools everywhere getting busted by the Rams (Why did Pete Kendall have to catch that tipped ball? And why did he then have to FUMBLE the thing?) – it was one crazy day.

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