[Chief Rum]

Week Ten

Week Ten's Big Games

Atlanta (7-1) at New York (5-3)

Both teams are tied for their division leads and need to win to keep with their division rivals. The Falcons are on the road and look like a playoff lock already, so this one might matter more to the Giants, as a loss combined with a Dallas win would move them into second place and have them at playoff bubble 5-4.

Baltimore (6-2) at St. Louis (6-2)

Yet another interesting battle between the AFC North and NFC West, which are clearly matched up in the schedule this year. The Ravens need a win to stay with the red-hot Steelers. The Rams are ina three-team race for control of their division.

Buffalo (7-1) at Dallas (5-3)

The Bills are one of the big surprise teams of the year, and, in a way, so are the Cowboys. Both could use a big win for further legtimacy, and thr Boys are locked into a battle with the Giants for control of the NFC East race.

San Diego (4-4) at Minnesota (5-3)

The Vikings seem to be running away with the NFC North, and won't consider an out-of-conference foe to be of much importance. The Chargers are locked in a tough division and are ont he outside looking in. They need this win.

Arizona at Pittsburgh

We're still not as healthy as we would like to be, but we're probably about as healthy as we have been since the second preseason ga,e. If we get through this one unscathed, we will liekly see the rteurn of Dexter Jackson and James Hodgins next week, which should give us big boosts on both sides of the ball.

But before we get to that, we get the joy of being the Steelers' gimme opponent this week in Pittsburgh. Ouch. You could see this one would get ugly before it even started. The boys of Steel Town are rolling, and we're mostly just rolling over.

And everything went according to expectations. The Steelers felt sorry for us po' widdle Card'nals and let us kick in a FG in the second quarter. And that was it for us.

The Steelers rolled, 34-3.

It seems like every time I get completely blown out in Jim's football games, I also lose a major player to injury. I suppose it could be more accurate the other way around (since losing a major player is generally not conducive to winning football), but my point is, it seems like when I get beat bad, I not only will lose on the field, the opponent will also go out of its way to hurt one or more of my key players. I don't know why that is.

Anyway, the Steelers put a hurt on Jeff Blake with 5 minutes left in the third quarter. Blake had to leave the game with a dislocated shoulder, turning the game over to Preston Parsons. I guess that's like adding injury to insult.

Neither Blake nor Parsons made a dent in this Steelers defense anyway. The Cards were limited to just 189 total yards of offense, and 10 first downs. We also had 5 turnovers, including a pair of interceptions for each of our quarterbacks.

Meanwhile, the Steelers racked up 350 total yards and didn't turn the ball over once.

QB Blake: 10-for-18, 63 yd, 0 td, 2 int
QB Parsons: 8-for-14, 73 yd, 0 td, 2 int
RB Smith: 43 yd (3.9 ypc)
WR McAddley: 7 rec, 65 yd, 0 td

The line once again held up decently well, allowing just three sacks again. They also pushed forward for a 4.0 ypc for the rushing game, not that it mattered with us having to pass all the time trying to catch up (and failing miserably as you can see).

McKinnon had to be all over the place, as he had his biggest tackle game of the year (14 tackles) to lead the team. He was probably wrapping up Jerome Bettis more often than not.

Bettis had just 40 yards and a touchdown (actually we did a good job on their running game, limiting them to 2.2 ypc), but he pounded the ball forward and ate up a lot of time. The Steelers dominated time of possession, 36 min to 23 min.

Tommy Maddox was wonderful, of course, at 22-for34, 241 yd, and 3 td.

Other Games

Home Team in CAPS

NY GIANTS 23, Atlanta 9: This was a huge win for the Giants, as they made a strong statement in beating the Falcons, who were previously only defeated by fellow NFC South power Tampa Bay. The Giants took an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter and never relinquished the lead. The Falcons had a slight yardage advantage (321-305), but 5 turnovers, including 2 fumbles by Mr. Michael Vick himself, stopped the Atlanta offense time and time again. Vick also threw an interception. Kerry Collins (18-29, 212 yd, 2 td, 0 int) was the player of the game, and Tiki Barber (90 rush yd) keyed the running game.

ST. LOUIS 17, Baltimore 13: A week after I am asking what the Ravens are doing in a shootout, I am wondering why the Rams are in a defensive battle. I guess you win any way you can. The Ravens really couldn't get much going. The Rams scored two touchdowns in the second quarter to take a strong lead in a tight game, and the Ravens had to use a fumble return for score to get a touchdown in this one. You know what kind of game it is when a defensive end (Grant Wistrom) gets game MVP nod. Kyle Boller was under seige all day (17-32, 265 yd, 0 td, 0 int, sacked 7 times), although he put up pretty good yardage. In case you're wondering, Wistrom had 4 of those sacks, which I believe might be a season record (up to this point anyway). Warner (22-37, 222 yd, 2 td, 1 int) didn't light it up, but he got the job done. Marshall Faulk (53 rush yd, 7 rec, 56 rec yd, 1 rec td) finally showed some of that dual threat capabilities he has.

Buffalo 24, DALLAS 21: With the Giants beating the Falcons, this was a bad loss for the Cowboys, although you can't fault them for falling to a team that had only been beaten once before going into this game. It actually wasn't as close as it seems, as the Boys scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to close gap a bit. Dallas outgained the Bills, 366-260, but they also had two interceptions, including one run back by S Lawyer Milloy for a touchdown (in fact, the score gave the Bills the lead for good, so you could say it was a very pivotal play). The Cowboys couldn't do much about Travis Henry (120 yd, 1 td), who led the way for the Bills. Milloy, who was the game MVP, also had 16 tackles. The Cowboys had the better looking players, but all for naught. Quincy Carter (19-24, 200 yd, 2 td, 2 int), Troy Hambrick (107 rush yd), and Terry Glenn (6 rec, 71 yd, 2 td) all had good days.

San Diego 36, MINNESOTA 10: I said the Bolts needed this one, and boy, did they come through! One week after obliterating the Bears at Soldier Field to get back to .500, the Chargers took part the NFC North-leading Vikings, also on their home turf. Good thing for the black & blue division that the Chargers are stuck in the much tougher AFC West. The Chargers jumped out to a 10-0 lead, and led 13-10 at halftime. Then in the second half, they really turned it on, scoring 23 unanswered points. As has often happened when the Vikings implode, Daunte Culpepper was a little too free with his passes (3 int) and he was eventually benched in favor of Gus Frerotte, not that it did any good. DE Marcellus Wiley was dominating (4 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 int). Drew Brees (18-29, 235 yd, 1 td, 0 int) was steady, and David Boston (6 rec, 89 yd, 1 td) finally had a solid game (or the first I can recall anyway). Randy Moss (10 rec, 136 yd, 1 td) was the best player on the field, little good it did his quarterbacks or his team. With the Chargers win, the AFC West has now pulled off the improbable and has all four teams above .500.

DETROIT 10, Chicago 7
KANSAS CITY 37, Cleveland 20
CINCINNATI 17, Houston 6
JACKSONVILLE 38, Indianapolis 31
Miami 22, TENNESSEE 21
OAKLAND 20, NY Jets 17
GREEN BAY 28, Philadelphia 23
Seattle 47, WASHINGTON 3
Tampa Bay 17, CAROLINA 13

Injuries

Well, the dislocated shoulder will sideline Blake for 2-3 weeks. That means we don't have a choice but to go with Parsons now (Josh McCown is no more a choice than Parsons).

Dexter Jackson, alas, will still not be ready to go either next week. It's fortunate that Marques Anderson has been solid in his place, but there's no question we're a better team with Jackson.

There is also no question we're a better team with James Hodgins, and he has set to finally return from his injury and make his season debut. It's been a long time coming.

Fortunately, we play Cleveland next week, and they are nearly as bad as we are. So there's always hope.

CR