10 Random Thoughts - Week #1

But a win is a win. The defense looked obscenely soft several times, and got bailed out by a couple of TB drops, but did play better in the second half, other than the long garbage TD at the end.

I simply find it hard to believe that a defensive middle manned by Jay Ratliff, Brady James, and Kieth Brooking will play that badly all season.

Here are my ten random thoughts, not all of them Cowboy-centric.

1. This is why we as fans have lost respect for the media. I read multiple articles before the game about Tampa Bay’s lack of talent on offense, and saw that opinion reinforced by both pregame shows. Then I look at their roster and I see the names Cadillac Williams, Derrick Ward, Ernest Graham, Antonio Bryant, Mark Clayton, Kellen Winslow Jr, and Jeremy Stevens staring back up at me, and I wonder what these people are smoking. Admittedly, many of those players have various issues attached to their names, but a lack of talent isn’t one of them. It was pretty clear to me that if they could get decent QB play, the way they did yesterday, they would be able to score points.

But even after the game they played, the first thing I heard on CBS afterwards was Shannon Sharpe saying that we’ll see how good Dallas really is next week, because “Tampa Bay doesn’t have much.”

Le sigh.

2. Speaking of sighs, has any QB coming off a 6-10 season ever been fawned over the way Aaron Rodgers was on Sunday? At least half the early Super Bowl picks had the Packers playing for the championship, apparently vaulting over the (lemme count) one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, (wait for it…) twelve teams in the NFC that finished with a better record than them in 2008.

Oh yeah, and Rodgers is going to win MVP.

And to think, all they needed to beat the Bears in their opener at home was for Jay Cutler to play the worst game of his life, and Brian Urlacher to miss the entire second half with a dislocated wrist.

3. Why is it when everybody else runs for 180 yards against Cleveland, it’s because they can’t tackle to save their lives, but when Adrian Peterson does it, he’s just that awesome?

4. I took a good, hard look at Philly’s offensive numbers in their 38-10 win, and they’re not nearly as impressive as you think. 267 total yards (102 passing on 17 of 29, 2.6 ypa). They ran the ball reasonably well, but mostly that game struck me of Jake Delhomme rotting like a cow carcass in the sun.

5. I think people are finally starting to figure out that Matt Shaub is really a backup, not a franchise QB. The clock is now ticking on Matt Cassel. Luckily, he’s taken a cue from Shaub and gotten himself injured, which improves shelf life.

6. People in NO shouldn’t be celebrating the fact that Drew Brees threw 6 TD passes against Detroit. They should be worried that they turned the ball over three times and the Lions hung 27 points on them.

7. NBC should have thrown giant bags of money at Moose Johnston to get him to come and do color for Sunday Night Football. He’s head and shoulders over everyone else in the business, but it feels like no one notices. It’s hard being a fullback.

8. Julius Jones had 117 yards and a touchdown against St. Louis. No, seriously.

9. Jason Campbell might not ever become a Pro Bowl QB, but he deserves better than being a placeholder in Washington, until Daniel Snyder sees another shiny passer he can’t live without.

10. LITTLE KNOWN FACT: Eli Manning’s career record head-to-head against Tony Romo is 1-4. Admittedly, the one win was in the playoffs, but I have a nasty habit of pointing that out to the people who think that Eli has somehow established himself as the best QB in the NFC. Another little known fact is that the two of them have identical December records over the last two years (3-5).