The 2012 NFL thread

[Pies4shaw]

[blackmissionary]

[Pies4shaw]

Game 1 of week 2 is into the 4th quarter. Until a few moments ago, the only person to throw for a TD was Green Bay's punter, Tim Masthay, who threw a 27-yarder in the second quarter.

Thankfully, A-Rod has thrown another (to Donald Driver, who is going around for what must be about his 93rd season as a Packer). Green Bay now lead 23:10, 6 m 49 s to go and Green Bay taking over after a Chicago TD (off the back of a first-possession interception of A-Rod last time he had the ball).

Barring a miracle, the Pack will still win this one.

[Pies4shaw]

Green Bay won 23:10. Jay Cutler was very unimpressive for the Bears. He completed 11 of 27 for 126 yards total, with 1 TD, 7 sacks and 4 interceptions, for a QB rating of 28.2 (ouch). A-Rod wasn't great today, either, but he semed to be in control of the contest for most of the last 3 quarters (except for a bad interception half-way through the last which ultimately cost the Pack 7 points).

Raji was injured late in the game - and that's an injury which will have the Packers holding their breath. Cedric Benson ran better today than he did against the 49ers last Monday. The Pack actually ran for 112 yards (81 to Benson), before A-Rod lost 6 kneeling on the last three plays to run the clock out.

Meanwhile, the biggest problem for the Pack is that they still have little threat down the field for the long-passing game, mostly because Greg Jennings is still injured (he didn't start today). The Pack's long gain for the day was the 27 yarder "novelty" TD by Masthay out of field goal formation. Without that down-field threat to stretch out the opposition's defense, the good defences will stifle A-Rod's very accurate short-passing game. Still, the Pack at least know what they need to work on. And Clay Matthews is back and looking like having another big season: 3.5 sacks and 4 hits on the QB in today's match.

Meanwhile, the Bears probably lost any chance when Matt Forte got injured. Given the poor protection the offensive line is giving Cutler, and given Cutler's limited ability to pass accurately when forced out of the pocket, Matt Forte is critical to the Bears' chances.

[Pies4shaw]

Most of the rest of the Week 2 matches were played this morning. In summary, the Eagles beat the Ravens by a point, 24:23 (and despite Ray Rice's hard-running, a singularly unimpressive Joe Flacco did little in the second half); the Steelers out-classed the Jets 27:10; the Bills beat the Chiefs 35:17; Sav's Redskins lost late 31:28, despite appearing to have the game under control for much of the time (Sav had another punt partly blocked this week - he needs to lift that aspect of his game, or he'll be unemployed fairly soon); the Bengals just held on against a much-better performed Browns outfit 34:27; Andrew Luck scored his first win, the Colts just pipping the Vikes 23:20 with a late field goal; despite a good effort from Palmer (24 of 38 for 373 yards), the Raiders gave him no back-up on the ground (apart from Palmer, the Raiders netted a miserable 16 yards running) and had no defensive answer to the Dolphins, especially Reggie Bush (172 yards on 26 carries, including 2 TDs); despite only gaining 245 yards, Arizona held out the Patriots 20:18 (even though the Pats gained 406 yards); Eli (who completed 31 of 51 for 510 yards, with Nicks and Cruz at WR tearing it up for 199 and 179 receiving yards, respectively, and a TD each) averted a disastrous start to the season for the reigning SB winners (despite trialling 27:13 early in the third, Eli threw 2 4th quarter TDs and the Giants ran in another), eventually triumphing 41:34 over Tampa Bay; in an upset, the Panthers beat Drew Brees' 'Aints 35:27; Houston had nearly three-quarters of the possession (approximately 43 minutes to 17 minutes) in cleaning up the Jaguars 27:7; the Seahawks picked Dallas apart, 27:7; and the Chargers finally got into their rhythm, disposing of the Titans 38:10.

And in the late BIG news, the 49ers have done a number on the Lions, winning 27:19. The 49ers were never seriously threatened, running out comfortable winners, despite Stafford's TD within the final 2 minutes.

The last game for the round is tomorrow's Denver at Atlanta - that should be an enthralling battle of the QBs but Atlanta should, IMO, be too strong. They won't want to hang back in defence, though - Peyton looked like he was his old self last week and might just pick them apart: if he could do a job on the Steelers, he can do a job on anybody's defence.

[blackmissionary]

Only action I got to see this week was the 49ers' fourth quarter touchdown drive. Some big plays by Crabtree and Gore to seal the game.

[Pies4shaw]

[Pies4shaw]

Wow - Peyton just threw a third INT, after stringing together three good passes. At least, this time Atlanta will have to go 53 yards (or at least get into field goal range) to score.

[Pies4shaw]

After trailing 20:0 late in the 2nd, the Broncos surged late but just failed to catch the Falcons, losing 27:21. Peyton will rue those 3 early interceptions, which really cruelled the Broncos chances in this one.

[Pies4shaw]

In the "Thursday night" game, the Giants are pulverizing the Panthers, 33:7, with about 6 minutes left in the last quarter. Panthers about to kick a field goal, I expect, and bring it back to 33:10.

[Pies4shaw]

Nope - spoke too soon: Cam Newton went for the TD on 4th down and threw another interception. Giants now have it back near the middle of the park.

[blackmissionary]

Saw a little bit of the Eagles - Cardinals match. Poor Michael Vick, every offensive play seems to end up with him having to produce unreal maneuvers due to the lack of protection he gets.

Saw all of Ravens - Pats game, really crazy. They need to sort out their referee lockout, because these replacement guys are just hopeless. Lot of scuffles, coaches out of control, some brutal hits on Dion Branch, and a good comeback from the Ravens in the last quarter, but only just, with the winning field goal going over the post. Home crowd chanting 'bullshit' for extended portions of the game, a streaker, Torrey Smith playing well in difficult cirumstances, and Ray Rice having a great game running the ball,

[Pies4shaw]

[OEP]

[Pies4shaw]

Hmmm - looks like the wheels have fallen off the wagon in Green Bay, with a 14:12 loss to Seattle. Rodgers was sacked 8 times in the first half. I haven't seen the game but it sounds like the Offensive Line must have done a disappearing act.

In other results not mentioned above, Chicago beat the Rams 23:6, the Bills beat the Browns 24:14, Dallas beat Tampa Bay 16:10, the Titans just got over Detroit 44:41 in OT, the Colts lost to the Jaguars 22:17, Kansas City beat the 'Aints 27:24 in OT, the Jets beat Miami 23:20 (also in OT), the Bengals beat the Redskins 38:31 (for Washington, Sav punted 7 times this week for 310 yards, average of 44.3, long gain of 58 and 2 downed inside 20, with only 24 total yards return from his punts and - thankfully - no blocked punts this week), the Falcons crushed San Diego 27:3 and the Texans just held out Peyton's Broncos 31:25.

I watched the Eagles against the Cardinals this morning. Blackmissionary's comments about Michael Vick are spot on. His OL gave him no protection at all - he must have taken at least 20 hits. At this rate, he'd do well to feign a two-week injury during this week - he's fun to watch when he's going well but there's a reasonable chance he won't live through consecutive games against the Giants and the Steelers over the next 2 rounds.