THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS

7 Months of waiting came to an end on Thursday for a precious few, but many others had to wait until Sunday.

I would like to thank the bartenders and waitresses of Mother Hubbard’s Sportsbar in Downtown Chicago for having excellent food, and a great environment to watch a ballgame or 10.

New Orleans Saints at Indianapolis Colts–The Colts are not going to relinquish their championship without a fight, and after a 10-10 tie at the half, Peyton Manning renewed the pinball machine that is the Colt offense. The Saints were a feel good story last year, and that meant nothing to the Colts. 41-10 Colts

Atlanta Falcons at Minnesota Vikings–The league will survive without Michael Vick. The Falcons will not. Backup quarterback Joey Harrington through a touchdown pass for the Vikins, which would be good except that he plays for the Falcons. 24-3 Vikings

Carolina Panthers at St. Louis Rams–The Carolina defense manhandled the Ram offense. Orlando Pace was knocked out of the game, at which point the Panthers teed off on Ram quarterback Marc Bulger. 27-13 Panthers

Denver Broncos at Buffalo Bills–The Bills offense consisted mainly of a punt return of a touchdown. Leading 14-12 late in the game, the Bills inexplicably tried to throw the ball rather than try to grind down the clock. Giving Denver one last chance, the Bills then gave up two fourth down conversions, and reliable kicker Jason Elam kicked the game winner as the clock was moving. Denver did not even have time to stop the clock and prepare, rendering the kick more impressive. 15-14 Broncos

Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans–It may have been an expansion Texans team that took the field today, but not in Houston. The Chiefs used to be known as the Dallas Texans, and they played with all the innovation of a 1960s game. An 80 yard touchdown pass by Matt Schaub and a stifling defense shut down KC. 20-3 Texans

Miami Dolphins at Washington Redskins–Somebody somewhere cared about this game. On the last play of the game, the Dolphins completed a hail mary, but short of the goal line. An overtime field goal won it for the DC faithful. 16-13 Redskins in OT

Philadelphia Eagles at Green Bay Packers–This game was an old fashioned head knocker. Brett Favre and Donovan McNabb both got belted on several occasions. A controversial play early in the game involved an Eagle punt returner getting belted before the ball got there, causing a fumble that the Packers recovered for a 7-0 lead. No penalty was called. The Eagles led 13-10 late in the game, but a tying field goal followed by a muffed punt led to a game winning Packer field goal with under a minute to play. 16-13 Packers

New England Patriots at New York Jets–Ellis Hobbs returned the second half kickoff 108 yards for a Pats touchdown and a new NFL record. Randy Moss being traded to the Pats for a 4th round pick was as much a steal as the USA buying Manhattan for $27 from the American Indians. The Raiders are dead last for a reason, and Randy Moss had 183 yards receiving, including a 51 yard bomb from Tom Brady, where Moss outran 3 defenders. Chad Pennington got hurt again, rendering the Jets finished in this game. 38-14 Patriots

Chicago Bears at San Diego Chargers–Despite the win, I maintain that the Chargers are on their way down. Norv Turner, offensive genius…ummm…no. A turnover filled game with two hard hitting defenses ruled the day. Philip Rivers went ballistic after San Diego fumbled at the Bear goal line on a play where the Bears appeared to jump offsides. MVP Tomlinson threw a touchdown pass on a halfback option. 14-3 Chargers

Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns–Wherefore art thou team, Romeo? In the toilet. Brady Quinn was thankful to be holding a clipboard as the Steelers raced to a 17-0 1st quarter lead. Blitzburgh harased Charlie Frye all day. The Steelers started 3 of their first 4 drives deep in Brown territory. The Browns have a chance to be the worst team in football week 3 against the Raiders. 34-7 Steelers, although the game was not that close.

Tennessee Titans at Jacksonville Jaguars–two coaches that preach physical defense is a main reason why this game was a headknocker. Lendale White had a fumble at the goal line, but overall Tennessee pounded out 282 yards on the ground. Vince Young had a miserabl day passing, but ran for a touchdown. Tennessee had the ball for almost 37 minutes. 13-10 Titans

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Seattle Seahawks–A pair of field goals put the Bucs up 6-0, but by halftime Seattle was up 10-6. In the second half, Jeff Garcia and Cadillac Williams were both knocked out of the game, altohugh Garcia did return. Matt Hasselbeck was efficient, and Sean Alexander, free from injury after being cursed by the Madden video game, cracked 100 yards on the ground. 20-6 Seahawks

Detroit Lions at Oakland Raiders–This was the game of the day. Ok, I lied. however, it was not the worst game ever played, and the Raiders are not the worst team ever to play the game of football.

First of all, starting Josh McCown over Dante Culpepper is insane. JaMarcus Russell is expected to be signed and in camp by Wednesday, and while this season is not lost yet, the Raiders lost at home to a team almost as pathetic as they were last year.

Yes, Josh McCown went 30-40 for 313 yards, but make no mistake about it…besides one bomb for 50 yards, these were dink and dunk passes that pad stats but accomplish nothing. The West Coast Bullsh*t is great for quarterbacks with no arm strength, but with Culpepper playing this would be unnecessary. Jerry Porter is wasted in this offense.

The Raiders were down 10-0 at halftime, which would have been 10-9 had Sebastian Janikowski not missed 3 field goals in the first half. None of them were super long attempts. Seabass performed well until last year, and if this continues he will be gone next year. As pathetic as the Raider offemse is, 3 missed kicks is unacceptable.

The Raiders fell behind 17-0 because the Lions kept starting in Raider territory. It would have been more when the Lions drove from their own 3 yard line to near the Raider end zone. However, the Raider defense intercepted a pass to prevent that score.

As for the defense, while it made some good indiviudal plays, overall the pass defense was exploited easily and often by Jon Kitna. An interception return set up one touchdown, and somehow the Raiders came back from a 17-0 3rd quarter deficit to take a 21-20 lead, which they held with 5 minutes remaining in the game.

Jon Kitna then found a wide open receiver who somehow got past the entire Raider secondary. Down 26-21 with over 4 minutes left, Josh McCown responded by fumbling the ball away. The defense held Detroit to a field goal, and were down 29-21 with 2 minutes left. The Raider offense rose to the occasion by turning it over again, allowing the Lions to go up 36-21 with over a minute to go. 16 points in 3 minutes.

These are the Lions. The William Clay Ford Lions. The Matt Millen Lions. The 3-13 Lions, worse than every team last year except the 2-14 Raiders.

If the Raiders cannot defeat Cleveland at home in week 3, 0-16 is a possibility. This game may have been rock bottom for the Raider franchise, but time will tell. 36-21 Lions

www.justblogbaby.com provides more Raider lowlights.

Sunday night featured the New York Giants at the Dallas Cowboys in a shootout. Terrell Owens established himself repeatedly. Eli Manning and Tony Romo traded touchdown for touchdown. The Giants had Manning, running back Brandon Jacobs, and a couple others knocked out of the game. In the same way that offensive genius Norv Turner won a defensive slugfest, defensive genius Wade Phillips won a pinball machine contest. 45-35 Cowboys.

Monday night provided the double header of the Baltimore Ravens at the Cincinnati Bengals and the Arizona Cardinals at the San Francisco 49ers.

With the Bengals leading the Ravens 27-20 late in the 4th quarter, the Ravens made it to the Bengal goal line. A tying touchdown was called back due to an offensive pass interference call. However, on 4th down, and an incomplete pass that would have turned the ball over was nullified by a defensive holding penalty, resulting in an automatic first down. With both teams trying to lose, the next would-be tying touchdown pass instead bounced off the receiver in the end zone, popped into the air, and became a gorgeous shoe string interception. 27-20 Bengals.

The 49ers and Cardinals may not be exciting, but this game had a thrilling if inept finish. With the Cardinals leading 17-13 late in the game, 49er quarterback Alex Smith threw a pass that looked like a touchdown. However, the receiver fumbled at the one yard line into the end zone. A Cardinal defender could have won the game by falling on the ball, or even knocking it out of the endzone. However, the same team that blew a 20 point lead to the Bears last year without giving up an offensive touchdown, continued their 125 years of ineptness. The defender tried to pick the ball up, allowing the 49ers to fall on it. Do to the “Holy Roller,” rule, the ball went back to the 1 yard line. The 49ers scored and won the game. 20-17 49ers.

eric

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 9th, 2007 at 6:34 pm and is filed under SPORTS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.