Teddy spends every Sunday typing furiously at his laptop as he watches the games, giving you the key info that the box scores and game recaps simply don’t have. This week: NFC tidbits from around the league.
Chicago Bears
Has there ever been an NFL quarterback with more hype and less production than Jay Cutler? Cutler didn't do anything in college – remember Vandy didn't end its bowl drought until after he graduated.
In the NFL he was QB of the team that engineered a record setting collapse last year; blowing a three-game division lead with three games to play. Here in Chicago, the Bears have beaten Seattle without Matt Hasselbeck, the hapless Lions and Pittsburgh in a game where Jeff Reed (the Steelers kicker) pulled a complete choke job.
Meanwhile, Denver has been the best team in the AFC this side of Indy now that Cutler is out of town. What the hell is so good about Jay Cutler? Once again, I'll make the comparison to Jeff George, another QB with great tangibles and lousy intangibles.
Back to the game notes…
Chicago’s defense is getting torched on the perimeter. The unit is unable to stop the run or the pass. The Bears allowed nearly 300 yards of offense in the first half; giving up five scores on five drives; forcing only two incomplete passes and allowing more than five yards per carry.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I think this team is worse than the Rams putting the club right at the absolute bottom of the NFL. There isn't a single above average unit on the squad -- quarterback, offensive line, running backs, receivers, defensive line, linebackers, secondary, special teams or coaching.
QB Josh Johnson has some scrambling ability and he can fire downfield, but accuracy is certainly not one of his strengths at this stage of his young career.
Dallas Cowboys
This offense continues to show home run potential on a weekly basis; a big play waiting to happen. Even though WR Roy Williams has been a complete bust since coming to Dallas, undrafted Miles Austin has developed into a home-run threat at the other wideout spot. When Romo is on, this has the potential to be an elite level offense.
And we saw an impressive showing from the Cowboys defense once again. This stop unit has been top notch in every game this season. They owned the line of scrimmage in this one, despite another rash of offside penalties.
San Francisco 49ers
Michael Crabtree played. Frank Gore played. They both looked good, with Crabtree, in particular, making a couple of beautiful catches in his first NFL game. This offense still stinks with Shawn Hill at quarterback. San Fran gained a total of 30 yards on its first 15 plays.
But this was a completely different looking offense in the second half. The receivers spread the field and ran vertical routes, not dink-and-dunk like they were doing with Hill behind center. All of a sudden, this was a big play, downfield attack with Crabtree, Isaac Bruce, Josh Morgan and Vernon Davis all making plays downfield, and Alex Smith putting the ball right in their hands.
Without a doubt, that's the best offensive half of football that we've seen from the 49ers in the entire Mike Singletary era.
Carolina Panthers
Jake Delhomme seems to be regressing on a weekly basis. He’s under throwing and overthrowing wide open receivers, making wrong reads, throwing to the wrong guy, taking delay of game penalties – the works. The coaching staff doesn't trust him to throw downfield and his receivers don't trust him to hit them downfield.
The running game can pick up yardage in chunks, but no NFL team can win games consistently without some semblance of a passing game. Carolina can win the time of possession battle and the yardage battle all they want to -- unless they score touchdowns, they're not going back to the playoffs.
New Orleans Saints
We saw proof that Drew Brees and the Saints offense can be stopped....for a half. In the first half, Brees took hits, sacks, he threw interceptions, he held the ball too long and he made bad decisions under pressure. In the second half, buoyed by the running of Mike Bell, Brees proved that he is an elite level QB, rallying back from repeated mistakes and overcoming a three-touchdown deficit.
This could easily have been throwaway game for New Orleans. Instead, the squad’s second half performance was nothing short of extraordinary, against a physical team on a grass field away from home.
Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota was able to mask the loss of star cornerback Antoine Winfield here, thanks to a fierce pass rush and an impressive overall effort from the secondary. Minny didn't allow a completion longer than 10 yards until the two minute drill and only allowed two completions of longer than 10 yards all day.
Last time the Vikes went on the road, they were sloppy early at St Louis. This time, they were sloppy throughout and the endless parade of penalties and turnovers cost them the game. On offense they had to overcome five false starts, a holding, a tripping and an illegal shift penalty.
The tripping penalty was nonsense and it cost them a touchdown. Two plays later came the sack/fumble, returned 88 yards for a touchdown the other way; the difference in the game.