Week 3 Wrap Up

Time to recap everything that took place last Sunday. Yea, I know it's Wednesday and everyone's already looking ahead to next week but I've been busy and haven't been able to discuss what happened. I'm done talking about the Niners so let's talk about the rest of the league. First I'll review my picks and fantasy projections.

Picks: 4-1    Season: 8-2
Another successful week for the Gridiron Guru as I picked 4 out of 5 right once again. Of course it's been the Jets that burned me for both of those losses. I'm so close to making a vow not to pick another one of their games for the rest of the season. I wasn':t exactly correct in how I thought the games would be won...the Saints won in a defensive battle, the Colts killed the Cardinals, and the Pats game wasn't exactly close as I expected. But hey picking games is just like playing them in the NFL...a win is a win.

Fantasy: Overall 7 for 10
Guys I thought would play poorly 3 for 5
X Marshall: 5 rec 67 yds TD- I'll say that's a good game so I was wrong. Orton finally found Marshall in the endzone
+ Thomas Jones: 14 car 20 yds - Jones was stuffed by a Tennesse D that can stop the run, but not the pass
X Joseph Addai: 63 rushing yds, 3 rec  8 yds TD- I didn't think Addai would be this involved in the Colts offense. It sure helped that the Colts had a comfortable lead
+ Byron Leftwich:.numbers too embarrassing to show- Leftwich and the Bucs were absolutely pummeled by the Giants on Sunday. I've never heard of a QB being moved from the starter all the way down to third string without being hurt. Leftwich found a way to do it. Have fun on the bench Byron.
+ Falcons Defense: No sacks, no turnovers, allowed 26 points and 445 yds- Just imagine how bad it would've been had the Pats been successful in the redzone.

Players I thought would do well: 4 for 5
1/2 Mario Mannigham/ Steve Smith: 11 catches 118 yds TD: I'm going to take a half a point there. Not a bad performance, just not as good as I expected.
+ Kevin Kolb: 327 passing yds 2 TD, 1-yard rushing TD: Great game for Kolb against a reeling Chiefs D. Might be the last we see him though, Eagles have a bye and McNabb might be healthy the following week.

+ Greg Jennings: 2 rec, 103 yds- No TD, but you can't go wrong with over 100 yds. He'll get targeted more as the season progresses
1/2 Felix Jones: 8 car 94 yds, 1 rec 20 yds- I'm being modest and only taking a half a point even though Flying Felix basically did all of this in one half before he was injured. 11+ yards per carry? Man this guy's explosive!

+ Pierre Garcon: 64 yds receiving, TD, 17 yds rushing-Just proves that it doesn't really matter who Peyton Manning throws to

What I learned from Week 3

The Redskins are in deep trouble. I knew the Lions were better than people thought. The Skins looked sluggish on both sides of the ball and can still hold on to the name of the Redzones. Don't blame Campbell who played very well, throwing for 340 yds. This team was supposed to be built around a run game and defense. Well Clinton Portis only carried the ball 12 times for 42 yds and the defense allowed Matthew Stafford to pick them apart. The $100 million man Albert Haynesworth has been a bust as I predicted. He got carted off the field with a sore muscle! Who does that? Apparently there was an all-you-can-eat buffet in the trainer's room. I thought he looked a few pounds heavier in the second half.

So Jim Zorn's job is safe...for now. And it probably will be for the rest of the season because not only is he the head coach, but he's the play-caller and the quarterbacks coach, meaning that there's too many positions to fill if he's canned. I tell you what...if he doesn't get it together he might need to take shelter because Skins' fans might try to burn his house down.

Ravens and Giants remain my top two teams in the league. These two teams put up the most dominating performances of the week on both sides of the ball. Joe Flacco is making a bid for a Pro Bowl appearance the way he's playing. And the Ravens D got back to form against the Browns. We'll see how good they really are next week in Foxboro against the Pats. The Giants one-upped Bmore by only allowing 86 total yards in their shutout of Tampa Bay. Look for a similar outing next week when the G-Men face the Chiefs.

Where's the respect for the Colts? Over the past couple years it seems that the Colts have been completely overlooked. I guess everyone takes it for granted that they will be in the playoffs and never make anything out of it. This team is the model of consistency in a league where that is extremely rare. And most of that can be attributed to Manning, who may break Favre's consecutive games started streak as well as many others.

This year all the talk is about the surging Saints, the surprising Jets and Favre with the Vikings and Brady's return. The Colts just fly under the radar and keep winning despite all of the obstacles they've faced already. New coach, no problem. #2 wide receiver injured (Anthony Gonzalez), no problem, most important defensive player injured (Bob Sanders), no problem.  The Colts deserve a lot of credit for their win over the Cards. They had a short week to recover after a grueling win in Miami last Monday night. Then they have to go back to Indy for a couple days before trekking out to Arizona for another primetime game Sunday night. And then they go out and spank the Cardinals, making them look like anything but the defending NFC Champs. Keep sleeping on the Colts, they'll make you pay.

The Steelers can't put teams away. Championship teams aren't supposed to blow fourth quarter leads. The Steelers have done it each of the past two weeks and all of a sudden find themselves in an unfamiliar position...3rd place. I think all of the Steelers' problems can be attributed to their inability to run the ball. If the Steelers had a more effective running game, they would've been able to burn a lot more time off the clock and keep their defense off the field. This would also mean that Roethlisberger wouldn't have to force throws and end up with costly mistakes like the pick-six that the Bengals had on Sunday. Now, Willie Parker is a little banged up, so we'll probably see what Rashard Mendenhall has got. Maybe younger, fresher legs will help out the Steelers. Last year Pittsburgh found ways to win tough close games and so far this year they haven't. If they don't straighten it out soon, the division title will be out of reach before they know it.

The worst can't be any worse. The bad teams in the NFL this year are
really, really bad. It's going to be a hell of a race for Sam Bradford between the Bucs, Browns, Chiefs and Rams. After last week, I'd give the edge to the Bucs who will put in the reliable Josh Johnson at QB next week. The Browns are god awful and might already be firing Eric Mangini, who's seemed to completely lose his team. He has permanently lost the nickname "Mangenius" and anyone who ever uses that term in a form that isn't sarcastic should be shot. Next are the Chefs (purposefully mispelled) were owned by the Eagles last week and actually seemed to play better without Matt Cassel. And fourth worst are the Rams who have actually jumped up on my list because they played decently against the Packers (as decent as a 19-point loss can be) and had a chance of beating the Skins the week before (no major feat either). 

0-3 team that could still make the playoffs: Obviously no one is knocked out of the playoffs yet but there's only one winless team that I think has a legitimate shot to get in...the Titans. Their three losses are by a total of 13 points with two of them coming on last second field goals. The Titans do play NFC West this year, which could mean three or four wins. They've only played one divisional game so they can make up ground with some wins there. So it's not over but they really need a win over the Jags this week.

3-0 team not making the playoffs: No, I'm not saying the Jets. It's gotta be the Broncos. Denver has played a couple bunnies the past two weeks (Oakland, Cleveland) and their opening week win over the Bengals was a fluke. Tough road ahead with the entire NFC East left on the schedule. I'll give them credit for cleaning things up after a turbulent offseason, but I don't see them beating out the Chargers to win the division or sneaking into a wildcard spot.

Check in later this week for more from the Gridiron Guru.