By keeping referring to the Broncos as a team with the world’s best defense everyone who wears Steelers jersey, the Pittsburgh Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin tried to motivate his players while preparing for Monday’s game.
“We’ve heard coach Tomlin say it 1,000 times already this week,” quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said. “They’re a great defense, a big challenge for us … an awesome challenge.”
He mentioned it during the weekly team meeting; before practice on Wednesday; before practice on Thursday and it is very likely that he will keep saying it until game time. In this way he reminded his players that the 6-1 Broncos are playing better statistically than the 5-2 Steelers and the Steelers offense must prove that it can move the ball in Denver and its defense will improve and get nearer and nearer to the No. 1 place.
Being the NFL’s best defense statistically the past two seasons, the Steelers, however, rank No.8 this season. The running is still No.1, but their passing has slide into No.16, dragging down their overall ranking.
Although the No. 2 receiver has been giving better performance than him, the Dallas Cowboys receiver Roy Williams still considers himself the team’s No. 1 receiver; it is just that “things are just going No. 2’s way”.
Evidence is mounting to the contrary. Besides feeling frustrated, Williams should have something else to do. He cost the Cowboys three draft picks and a $45 million contract extension, but it was Miles Austin who made the main contribution to Cowboys’ scores. The less-celebrated Austin has more yards and touchdowns in the past three games than Williams has in his first 16 games wearing Cowboys jersey, let alone he set an NFL record with 482 yards in his first three starts.
Where is Williams’ record? Having 447 yards for the equivalent of a full season in Dallas, the “No. 1” receiver should be reconsidered of his ability. Instead of complaining that Tony Romo’s throws are accurate to Austin and all over the place to him, Williams should spend more time on improving the harmonies between his talent and the team’s offense system.
It seemed that the Green Bay Packers should give quarterback Aaron Rodgers more time to recover from injuries. After this season’s second loss to the Minnesota Vikings, whose starting quarterback is a former Green Bay Packer, Brett Favre, Rodgers again got hurt in sacks.
Limping away from Sunday’s loss to the Vikings with a sprained toe on one foot and a nagging sprain on the other, Rodgers was expected by his Coach Mike McCarthy only to miss time in practice, not a game.
Rodgers seemed not strong enough to be comparable to 40-years-old Favre. The whole game became a verification of whether Favre would be able to lead his new team to win over his old team while wearing his forever No. 4 NFL jersey. And the role Rodgers played was simply something that added suspense and excitement to the verifying process.
The team is absolutely not ready to get into prime time.
Aaron Rodgers simply needs more time to be fully recovered from injuries and become a big threaten to Brett Favre- it takes time either for the essentially talented quarterback to get more experienced or for Favre to become too old to play a good game.
A similar case to the Arizona Cardinals, the San Diego Chargers also needed a 24-hour extension from the NFL to sell out their ticket and avoid local television blackout. The same as the Cardinals, they also managed to sell out the game within extension hours.
So this Sunday’s game against the AFC West rival Oakland Raiders will be televised live on local television and it will be the 43rd consecutive regular-season or postseason Chargers home game to be televised live in Southern California.
Two more sellout, the team will break its record of 44 consecutive games televised live from 1979 to 1984. It was a few days less than five years ago when the Chargers had their regular-season game blacked out- a game against the New Orleans Saints on Nov. 7, 2004.
After losing two straight games, the San Francisco 49ers will not change their philosophy, according to offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye, but the team will adjust its attack and game plan to take better advantage of passing weapons like quarterback Alex Smith.
“We’re not going to be stubborn and try to jam a square peg into a round hole,” Raye said. “What we are striving to do all along is to create balance. I think (more passing) is an apt description of where we would like to go with the changes that we’ve made.”
Smith entered last week’s game against the Houston Texans at halftime in his No. 11 49ers jersey to replace Shaun Hill. He completed 15 of 22 passes for 206 yards and tried his best to save the 49ers from a 21-0 halftime deficit. From 21-0 to 24-21, you know, that is really large stride. It is reasonable to consider that Smith adds a new dimension to the offense, giving the 49ers an ability to go downfield with their passing game that wasn’t there with Hill at the controls.
On Wednesday, the Buffalo Bills quarterback, unsure whether to be starting quarterback, Trent Edwards practiced on a limited basis for the first time since he sustained a concussion in the 16-13 win over the New York Jets on Oct. 18.
He has already been ruled out from playing in his Bills jersey against the Houston Texans this weekend. Edwards said he was feeling better and noted that any concussion-related effects are “slowly but surely” going away. But it seemed that he was uncertain he would take back his starting job to backup Ryan Fitzpatrick, who has led the Bills to two straight wins.
“I have a lot to think about in terms of just getting healthy and helping the team win.” Edwards said. Indeed to be healthy enough to win is much more important than anything else at the moment. Do not blame Coach Dick Jauron for having not decided whether Edwards will get his job back once he’s cleared to play- it’s just too early. As the Bills enter their bye week after playing against the Texans, there will be at least two weeks for he to make a final decision.
After being confirmed to hold his coach job for at least the 2009 season, the Washington Redskins head coach Jim Zorn does not seem to find effective way to improve the team. On Monday, they experienced this season’s fifthe loss, third in straight. But at least this time the opponent is stronger than the previous one. Losing to the 3-2 Philadelphia Eagles seemed less embarrassing than losing to 0-5 Kansas City Chiefs.
Jim Zorn of the Washington Redskins signals from the sidelines in the second quarter of the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at FedEx Field. The Eagles won the game 27-17.
Redskins Quarterback Jason Campbell (in No. 17 NFL jersey) is sacked during the second quarter of the game
Jim Zorn was speaking with Campbell, in effort to play a better game.
Eventually, he had to leave the field with another loss. Frustrated? Perhaps. His coaching job will not be lost this season, but since there has been doubt in his ability, there is no one willing to guarantee his job for next season.
The Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson muttered gay slurs in telling reporters to get out of his locker after the Chiefs’ 37-7 home loss to the San Diego Chargers. He also wrote the same gay slur in a series of posts on Twitter Sunday.
As Johnson belittled rookie head coach Todd Haley in his Sunday posts, Hayley was asked by reporters about the slurs. The coach said Monday that the Chiefs were looking into “a couple of situations” involving the running back in Chiefs jersey and gathering facts.
“I will say that how our players conduct themselves with the media and through the media is very important to myself as a head coach, and to the Chiefs as an organization,” Haley said.
Johnson was drafted in the first round out of Penn State in 2003. His rushing yards has been 5,995 yards, only 75 less than Priest Home’s club record of 6,070 yards. But what he did out of the field have brought him frequently to controversies. He has been benched for three games last year and suspended for one in connection with separate incidents involving women in bars.
In the NFL game at London’s Wembley Stadium on Sunday, the New England Patriots got their first road victory of the season by defeating winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers 35-7. Starting quarterback Tom Brady performed as he has been expected to since he wore back his No. 12 Patriots jersey.
Brady threw three touchdown passes and had more than 300 yards in the NFL’s third regular-season game at the iconic London venue after tossing six TD passes during the 59-0 win over the Tennessee Titans. And the Buccaneers had to see their losing streak extended to 11 games overall and the team fell to 0-7.
Obviously Brady was feeling great with his arm. He had TD passes to Wes Welker, Sam Aiken and Benjamin Watson and finished 23 of 32 for 308 yards before being replaced by Brian Hoyer. With two wins in a row, he will surely have a good bye week after flying home.
The Oakland Raiders Coach Tom Cable said Friday that he was thankful for the district attorney’s decision of not charging him for alleged assault. It was the first comment he made since learning the attorney’s decision.
Napa County district attorney Gary Lieberstein made the decision Thursday and cited there was inconsistencies in Randy Hanson’s story that were not corroborated by the three assistant coaches in the room at the time.
“I’m obviously very thankful that the authorities did the thoroughness that they did in terms of getting the facts and all that,” Cable said. “I never let it become a distraction because as I mentioned many times, I just had a lot of faith. I knew what happened.”
Hanson has alleged that Cable assaulted and threatened to kill him at a meeting at the team’s training camp hotel in Napa on Aug. 5 after he was treated for a broken jaw. But other Raiders assistant coaches, including John Marshall, Lionel Washington and Willie Brown told investigators that Cable did not punch Hanson or make any verbal threats.
