10.01.2005
Saturday Football II
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ATL- This was a sloppy game for the Falcons but they had a good game plan and did what good teams do. Brian Finneran stepped up with a huge game (relative to Atlanta receivers). He finished with 4 catches on 7 targets and made some key grabs along the way to keep drives alive. Alge Crumpler also had 7 targets, but he pulled in only 3 for 35 yards. Michael Jenkins is the #1 wideout though. He went 4 for 5 with a score. For most of the game, however, the Falcons'd ground game gashed a suddenly soft Bills defensive front. This week the Falcons host Minnesota.
BUF- The Bills opened this game with back to back deep throws down the left side; one to Eric Moulds and the other to Lee Evans. J.P. Losman wasn't even close on either of his throws. After seeing the Bills play three games now, I don't know what the Buffalo brass thought they had with Losman, but the second year QB is running plays that don't really seem to be suitable to his talents. He plays a lot like Michael Vick, but with less touch than Vick on the deeper throws, and should probably be learning how to get the ball out of his hands sooner.
The Falcons spent a lot of this game with only 7 men in the box, in order to protect their banged up secondary. So Buffalo was able to run the ball a little better than one would normally expect. At the end of the third quarter, the Bills had 129 yards rushing and just 44 passing. Yet they trailed just 16-17.
The pass patterns for the Bills this year has been consistent. Moulds has gone 7-7-8 in targets. Evans, 5-5-5. And Josh Reed, 4-7-3. With the offense unable to move the ball through the air, and now with Takeo Spikes out for the year, things are certainly not looking up in upstate New York.
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OAK- The Raiders aren't really playing bad football, they just can't come up with any plays when they need then. They played NE tight for three quarters, were 10 yards away from beating KC, and then last week Oakland stayed with Philly all the way up to the final play. Oakland has not, however, run the ball well yet this year. And against the Eagles, they picked up just 21 yards rushing (and just 2 of their 18 first downs via the ground). Courtney Anderson score 2 TDs in week one, got zero targets last week, and then picked up 5 catches on 9 passes for 100 yards. With all these perimeter types, Anderson's chances should continue to come. And without Ronald Curry, Jerry Porter saw a lot of throws. But he picked up just 5 catches on 11 targets. Randy Moss had 7 more targets. Tied for second on team in targets for the season is Lamont Jordan, who had 9 against the Eagles giving him 27 on the year.
PHI- The Eagles'pass blocking has been tremendous this year and they're going to need that to continue with Donovan McNabb dealing with an abdominal tear. Greg Lewis is doing well as the team's #2. He caught 6 passes on 9 targets for 70 yards against the Raiders. T.O. went 9 for 14, and Westbrook went 6 for 11. L.J. Smith continues to produce, catching 5 of 8. In the red zone, TO got 5 looks, Westbrook had 3, Lewis and Smith each had one. The Eagles front seven dominated the Raiders' offensive line, and that bodes well for them with KC on the schedule next.
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TEN- The Titans are going to be trouble this year. Norm Chow is really doing some good things with this offense and Steve McNair has been sharp. Rookie Brandon Jones has played well, and against the Rams he caught 5 passes on 9 targets and a touchdown. Drew Bennett is still putting up good numbers too, he went 6 for 10. Erron Kinney is surprisingly getting more throws than Ben Troupe. In St Louis, Kinney picked up 7 catches on 7 targets while Troupe had just 3 balls go his way (but he does have two scores on the year).
STL- Issac Bruce missed the second half of this game, and ended up with just 1 target. Torry Holt led the team with 11, and Kevin Curtis stepped into Bruce's role and picked up 5 catches on 5 passes for 56 yards and a score. Shaun McDonald, after getting 10 targets in week one, had just 2 last week and 1 against the Titans.
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DAL- One of the few games I didn't see from week three, the stats show that Drew Bledsoe is spreading the ball around well to Terry Glenn, KJ, Jason Witten, and Patrick Crayton. But in the red zone, Keyshaun was targeted 3 times against the Niners, and he has 6 RZ targets on the year. It's also nice to see Julius Jones involved in the passing game. He had 5 targets in week three and has picked up 16 passes his way for the season.
SF- Arnaz Battle is still producing. 6 more catches for him on 9 targets and a score. With Eric Johnson out for the year, the tight end position is all but gone from the team's passing offense. Only three balls have gone to a 49ers TE all year. Seeing the highlights of Bradon Lloyd scoring twice against Dallas proves that the Cowboys are still vulnerable to the small, quick receiver (Moss).
- posted by jrf @ 10/01/2005 04:43:00 PM
