[Business Day One] Week 2 Thoughts (From The “No, You’re Not Crazy” File)
No, you’re not crazy. Don’t worry. You’re not the only one thinking what you’re thinking. I, John Serpico, Sports Blogger, am thinking the same thing:
-Aaron Rodgers is a good NFL quarterback. He can throw, run and throw on the run. As such, these first two weeks were not a fluke. In fact, two straight weeks of great-if-not-excellent quarterback play has done for him more than Mike McCarthy’s impressive offensive scheme did; they made believers out of the Lambeau Fans. There’s now slack on the leash, and the boo birds and doubters aren’t going to start haunting the hallowed field. Rodgers throwing three impressive touchdowns looked even better when compared to the 1TD/1cINT(costly interception) put up by Brett Favre in a home loss against the Patriots. Congratulation, Aaron Rodgers, you have arrived.
-It’s a little early to say that any win could save a season, but the Colts’ last second heroics against the Vikings averted disaster. And not disaster in a “oh my goodness, they’re doomed” kind of way. But in a “now the media will be asking what’s wrong with the Colts for a month” kind of way. The Colts are fine. All of these woes are tied to the absence of center Jeff Saturday. Once he’s back, they’ll be fine again. Seriously, he’s that important. I’d be saying this even if they were 0-2.
-When you’re trying to decide between Tyler Thigpen and a rapidly aging Damon Huard, you should just trade away the team for draft picks. Seriously, the Chiefs are that bad. They were outcoached by a guy who might lose his job soon (Lane Kiffen), Darren McFadden ran everywhere, and Larry Johnson ran nowhere. This is ugly. This is the kind of ugly that we saw from Miami last year. Despite JaMarcus Russell only completing 6 of 17, the Raiders still did whatever they wanted against the Chiefs defense. When you mix terrible undermanned D with terrible undermanned O, you’re going to lose at least a dozen. Maybe fourteen. Heck, maybe sixteen.
-The Giants are executing in all aspects of the game. I will never be entirely sold on Eli Manning as a quarterback, but the man hoisted a Lombardi Trophy above his head last year, so I should probably just be quiet. Considering how soft the rest of the NFC is, the Giants will probably pick up 10 victories without difficulty. An A- defense, a C+ quarterback and some B+ skill position guys will do that in the lesser conference.
-The Rams play the Arizona Cardinals in Week 9 and Week 14. I have a feeling that the Cards will hang about 75 points on them over those two weeks, despite playing an old man at quarterback and an old man at running back.
-Matt Cassel will be a fine leader for the rest of the season. His stats week over week will look similar to how they’ve looked for the past two weeks. However, the New England media will perpetuate the myth that he is somehow getting worse. I know this.
So no, you’re not crazy.