Week 3 is in the books across the National Football League. A scary thought, after this week, the season will be a quarter done.
Thanks to some rather brilliant scheduling by the NFL, the division races are all beginning to take shape. In the NFC North, the Bears are not only 3-0, but they are 3-0 against their division. The Patriots are 2-1, but picked up two big divisional wins.
In the NFC West, only the Seahawks have yet to play two divisional games. The purely division standings appear as so.
Seattle 1-0
St. Louis 1-1
San Francisco 1-1
Arizona 1-2
Not a whole lot of seperation so far. The overall standings are this...
Seattle 3-0
St. Louis 2-1
Arizona 1-2
San Francisco 1-2
Now, let's handicap the NFC West.
Saint Louis Rams
Last week: 16-14 win over Arizona
Chance to win division: Medium
Here's a sobering thought: if the Seahawks lose to the Bears and the rams beat the Lions this week Saint Louis will move into a first place tie with Seattle in the division.
The Rams defense put together another fine day on Sunday, picking off three passes and holding the Cardinals to 350 total yards.
Offensively, Saint Louis was decent. Marc Bulger put up a passer rating of 110.8, throwing for over 300 yards. However, Saint Louis couldn't put the ball in the endzone, scoring just one touchdown. This s becoming a trend for the Rams, who have scored 2 TD's in 3 games.
So, could it be? The Rams are winning games with...defense? It almost appears that way. However, after three games, no one is impressed with the offense of Denver or Arizona, and the Rams couldn't shut down the 49ers. So...how exactly are the Rams 2-1? Scheduling break?
The bottom line is they are winning. Personally, from a fotoball standpoint, I've liked what Scott Linehan has done with the Rams. A lot of people made fun of him during training camp when he took the team to a water park. I contended that it wasn't a bad idea, and applauded him for thinking outside the box. Now, his team is 2-1 and is staying competetive in the division.
Now, taking the team to an amusement park isn't the reason why Saint Louis is 2-1, but taking different approaches and revamping the team's thinking is.
This week: vs Detroit
Arizona Cardinals
Last week: 16-14 loss to Saint Louis.
Chance to win the division: Low
So, slowly (but ever surley) we are learning that the amazing Cardinals offense that was supposed to make Arizona thisclose to being a contender is not that great.
24 points in two games. To put that in prespective, the following teams scored at least 24 points in week 3: Washington, Green Bay, Detroit, New York Jets, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Cincinnati, New York Giants, Seattle, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
Buzzsaw, indeed.
After scoring 4 touchdowns against the 49ers in week 1, the Cardinals have found the endzone just three times since. Edgerin James is averaging 84 pards per game. Not exactly what Arizona had in mind when they brought him over in the offseason.
So, now the Arizona Cardinals will turn to Matt Lienhart to lead them. The USC Rookie will get his first career start this week. Something isn't quite right here. The team has struggled, but changing quarterbacks this early is strange. Something tells me ownership wants to see their new investment put to work, even though me missed a lot of training camp.
Defensivly, the Cardinals aren't giving the offense much of a chance. The Arizona is -1 in turnover margin. Last week, Time of Possession was split 30 minutes aside, give or take a few seconds. In contrast, the Seahawks held the ball for 38 minutes in their win over the Giants.
In the NFL, the more time a team possesses the ball, the more likely they are to score. This comes from three and outs, and turnovers. the Cardinals don't do much with either, and as a result their offense isn't getting a chance to score or get into much of a rythym.
Isn't it beautiful how football relates all parts of the game? I think so.
Sidenote: When the Cards return home next week, they will play in University of Phoenix Stadium, thanks to a 20-year 455 million dollar agreement. The cardinals say they will use the 22 million dollars per year to help build a winning team. Two questions, isn't everybody subject to the same salary cap? And, is there a chance you guys might start with a defense?
This week: at Atlanta
San Francisco 49ers
Last week: 38-24 loss to Philadelphia
Lost in the east coasts perpetual slurping of the Eagles and of the Giants for their near comeback, was the fact that the 49ers made a game of it against Philly. Trailing 24-3 going into halftime, the Niners put up 3 touchdowns in the second half to make it respectable. Sure, the Eagles killed them in the first half, but let's give credit where credit is due.
However, you have a feeling that this season might be a long one for San Fran. On the same play that the Eagles returned a fumble 98 yards, both Frank Gore and Vernon Davis were injured. Davis, who was having a good start to the season at tight end, will miss a month with a broken leg.
That play though speaks volumes about the 49ers as a team. Not the injuries, but how about this gem of writing from NFL.com's recap.
Patterson got to midfield before most of the Niners realized the ball was still live. He eventually walked over the goal line for the longest fumble return in Eagles history, surpassing a 32-year-old record and putting Philadelphia ahead 31-3.
Got to midfield before the other team realized that the ball was live? Granted it was a weird play, but those whistles are loud. Surely one of the 11 Niners could hear. In all fairness, Alex Smith did notice, and tried to save the touchdown. However, there was some absolutely fantastic blocking from one of the Eagles DBs to keep Smith from getting to Patterson.
Even though its stepping out of the NFC West, offensive coordinators should show that clip to teach wide recievers how to block down field. The fact that the block was sustained for 30 yards and was never a holding infraction, simply amazing.
So, with two big guns out, the 49ers look like they will be in for a long season.
This week: at Kansas City.
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