Saints Comeback Kings?
by admin on Nov.10, 2009, under Uncategorized
Michael Rushton writes (http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=nfl/news/newstest.aspx?id=4265553)
By most accounts, the New Orleans Saints should not be off to the best start in club history; 8-0 should be 7-1, maybe even 6-2.
Yet, here New Orleans stands as one of two undefeated teams left in the NFL, along with the Indianapolis Colts. And with games versus the Rams and Buccaneers on the horizon, it is now realistic to get excited about the Saints’ meeting with the Patriots on November 30, when New Orleans could be 10-0 and getting ready to face a New England club that finished the 2007 regular season 16-0.
After blowing out their first five opponents, the Saints have not made it look easy as of late. They have had to rally for their last three wins, capturing victory after victory on even their worst days.
New Orleans trailed by 14 points at the end of the first quarter Sunday versus Carolina. The Saints won, 30-20.
On October 25, New Orleans was down 24-3 to the Miami Dolphins before rallying for a wild 46-34 victory. The following week, a 14-7 deficit to the Atlanta Falcons morphed into a 35-27 triumph.
“The more you win games like this, the more confidence you gain,” said quarterback Drew Brees after Sunday’s victory. “You just feel like you’re going to come back and you’re going to do it.”
Brees has been playing with fire as of late, but not getting burned. After turning the ball over four times in New Orleans’ first five games, the Pro Bowl quarterback has thrown five interceptions and lost three fumbles in the last three weeks.
Brees has his defense to thank for coming to his rescue. A unit that has scored seven touchdowns this year has had its offense’s back. Just over two and a half minutes after John Carney kicked a go-ahead field goal for the Saints on Sunday, defensive tackle Anthony Hargrove recovered a fumble on the doorstep of Carolina’s end zone for a one-yard touchdown return and a 10-point victory.
“The game is 60 minutes,” said Hargrove. “That’s why the game is four quarters. No matter what the score is at halftime, we have to fight to the end. We try to play hard. That was the difference in the game.”
One has to wonder when the Saints are going to put themselves into a hole they can’t get out of, but few deficits are hard to overcome when you lead the league in scoring. New Orleans hasn’t seen an insurmountable one yet, and that is why it is 8-0 for the first time.
“It’s great,” Brees said of the start, “1967 (the franchise’s first year) until now, and we’re the only team to have done that. I feel like we have a special group of guys. We feel like we have what it takes to continue to win, as long as we take care of the little things, continue to get better. In these last three games, we’ve come out in the fourth quarter and taken the game over.”
FALCONS: Every team usually has a player that it can feed off of for energy. Brian Dawkins used to do it in Philadelphia, Ray Lewis still does it in Baltimore.
Not very often is that source of energy the head coach. However, that is how the Falcons feel about Mike Smith.
“He’s always like that,” said center Todd McClure of his coach. “I love playing for him. I think everybody in this locker room does. Hes always got your back. He is always looking out for his guys.”
Smith’s emotion was on full display in Sunday’s 31-17 victory over the Washington Redskins. After his quarterback Matt Ryan took a late hit from Redskins safety LaRon Landry. Smith became visibly upset at the play, which also drew the attention of former Falcon and current Redskin corner DeAngelo Hall.
Smith and Hall appeared to exchange words on the sideline while, according to Hall, other Falcon coaches starting grabbing the defensive back.
“I ran over there to help my guy, and next thing I know, one of their strength and conditioning coaches started grabbing at me, putting his hands on me,” said Hall after the game. “Then other guys put their hands on me. The whole time I’m trying to get them off me.”
It wasn’t shocking that Hall was involved, given that he was unhappy about how his tenure with the Falcons, which ran from 2004-07, ended.
“I was on the other side of the field, so I saw the commotion, and I had a feeling that [Hall] might have had something to do with it,” said wide receiver Roddy White, a former teammate of Hall’s in Atlanta.
Smith didn’t offer too much information of the melee after the game.
“There were a bunch of guys on that sideline. Some of them were wearing black helmets and some of them were wearing maroon helmets,” said the coach. “I can’t tell you anything more about it. It was very, very hectic on that sideline. There were a lot of things going on, and my main goal was for the safety of our football team and restoring order.”
While the league will likely look into the incident, the main thing the Falcons can take out of it is that they have a coach that has their back. Smith’s inspired defense notched a club record-tying five first-half sacks en route to a 24-3 halftime lead, while running back Michael Turner notched a season-high 166 yards running, including touchdown runs of 30 and 58 yards.
Atlanta needs all the help it can get if it hopes to stay in contention for the NFC South title. At 5-3, the Falcons are three games back of the 8-0 Saints for the top spot and visit the 3-5 Carolina Panthers this weekend.
PANTHERS: The Carolina Panthers gave it their all in a game versus the New Orleans Saints this past weekend that nobody expected them to win. That loss, though, wasn’t the only thing that hurt the club’s longshot chances at a playoff spot.
Linebacker Thomas Davis suffered a season-ending torn ACL in his right knee, the latest injury blow to a Panthers squad that can ill afford to lose any more players.
Davis, who had 61 tackles, two interceptions and a safety in seven games, suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 30-20 setback during a Saints’ pass play. It is the same knee in which the 26-year-old suffered a sprained MCL during in training camp, but that injury did not cause him to miss the start of the season.
“He’s played very well,” head coach John Fox said on Monday of Davis. “I feel bad for the young man because he’s put a lot into it. He was playing at a high level.”
Because of new contracts handed out this year to quarterback Jake Delhomme and offensive lineman Jordan Gross, and a franchise tender signed by defensive end Julius Peppers, the Panthers entered 2009 with thin depth at a few positions. The club has already placed defensive tackles Ma’ake Kemoeatu and Corvey Irvin on injured reserve along with quarterback Josh McCown, while safety Charles Godfrey, fullback Brad Hoover, wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad and tight end Dante Rosario are all currently dealing with injuries.
Davis’ might be the biggest blow, though, as he has developed into one of the top outside linebackers in football. Landon Johnson replaced him in the Saints game and also did so versus Buffalo in Week 7, when Davis missed that game because of a hamstring ailment.
“I’m concerned when anybody gets hurt,” said Fox. “We’ve got a long list. We’ve got other guys that hopefully are a week closer to being able to play.”
This is the last thing the Panthers needed after finally showing signs of turning their season around. After starting the season 0-3, Carolina had won three of four prior to the loss.
Carolina jumped out to a 14-0 lead versus unbeaten New Orleans, but saw the Saints slowly creep back and eventually move ahead when kicker John Carney booted a 40-yard field goal with 4:36 to play.
The final blow came when running back DeAngelo Williams fumbled at his own one-yard line, a gift the Saints took to the end zone for the 10-point victory.
“We’ve got half the season left, half the race left,” said Fox. “We’ll define where the body of work is after 16 [games]. Nobody comes and rescues you. We’ve got to man up and get better.”
Carolina will look to do so this weekend, when the team hosts Atlanta before getting a visit from Miami just four days later in a Thursday night clash.
BUCCANEERS: For the first time this season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got back to work on Monday following a victory.
That last team in the NFL to earn a win in 2009, the Buccaneers got head coach Raheem Morris that elusive first one on Sunday, a 38-28 come-from-behind triumph over the Green Bay Packers.
Tampa Bay has to be pleased with how this first victory came about, with 2009 first-round pick Josh Freeman rallying his club in his first career start. Although they put him on the field earlier than anticipated, Freeman showed he was up to the task.
“It was what we thought,” said Morris of Freeman’s outing. “It was why we brought him in here, why we brought him in to lead this franchise. I am sure you guys [the media] can feel how poised he was out there, never really rattled.”
Freeman threw three touchdown passes, including two in the fourth quarter. His second came early in the final period to get the Bucs within five points, while the go-ahead score was a nicely-placed seven-yard pass to wide receiver Sammie Stroughter on fourth down with just over four minutes left to go.
With a 0-7 mark heading into the game, Morris didn’t think twice about going for it on fourth down.
“It was a no brainer for me,” he said. “We were out there playing to win.”
Although it might be too late for the Buccaneers to save their 2009 season, the experience Freeman will get this year should pay off next year. And hey, maybe the Kansas State product can spark some excitement along the way.
Freeman, who at 21 years and 299 days old became the youngest player to start and win a game in club history, threw for 205 yards on 14-of-31 passing with an interception. He also helped the Bucs snap an 11-game losing dating back to last year. That was the longest in franchise history since it opened NFL play by losing its first 26 games from 1976-77.
Coincidentally, the 2009 Tampa Bay squad did so wearing the same creamsicle Orange uniforms that it donned during the epic slide.
“We have all been putting in a lot of work and really haven’t been seeing a lot of results,” said Freeman, the 17th overall pick of the past draft. “It was just a big load off a lot of peoples shoulders with the win.”
Tampa Bay gets a shot at win No. 2 this Sunday at 3-5 Miami.
I, for one, would not be calling them kings. Yes, they are unbeaten. But the past few weeks have shown how fragile and tenuous their hold really is. They don’t seem as mentally focused as they did at the start of the season, and it seems like they only seem to turn it on halfway through a game.
Will they be able to maintain this run? Playing against a team like Carolina allows the Saints more room for error. What happens when the Saints meet a better team? They need to get right in the head, and not once they’re down and it’s the third quarter. They need to be strong right from kickoff, else their season is going to end mighty quickly once playoffs start. And since the Saints were Football Frontpage’s dark horse pick at the start of the season to win the Super Bowl, they better get it sorted out, for this blog’s reputation!
Larry Johnson Clears Waivers
by admin on Nov.10, 2009, under Uncategorized
As posted by Jason La Canfora on nfl.com (http://blogs.nfl.com/2009/11/10/johnson-clears-waivers-becomes-free-agent/), Larry Johnson has cleared waivers and officially become a free agent.
Larry Johnson, who was released Monday by the Kansas City Chiefs, has cleared waivers and is now a free agent, according to a league source.
Johnson is owed the roughly $2.3 million remaining on his contract by the Chiefs.
A league source tells me the Houston Texans could end up being his most likely landing spot. That’s the team I’d focus on as a possible destination. It makes sense for Johnson as well, with the chance to be on a winning team.
Besides the Texans, league sources say the Bears, Patriots and Redskins have also called to express interest.
Larry Johnson is still riding high on his phenomenal 2005 season, but his entire NFL career has been shadowed by off the field drama. Teams interested in Johnson will have to ask themselves whether he is still capable of a season like 2005, or if he is past his prime. Football Frontpage ask you: If he will never match his 2005 numbers, what kind of numbers will he need to put up in order for a team to be willing to swallow his drama?
Are the Bengals for real?
by admin on Nov.08, 2009, under Bengals, Injuries
Greg Doyel of CBS Sports certainly seems to think so (http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/12487909/take-off-the-blinders—-time-to-believe-in-bengals)
CINCINNATI — If this were anyone but the Cincinnati Bengals, you would believe in them by now. OK, maybe you wouldn’t believe in the Lions or Browns yet, either. Or the Rams. But anyone else … and you would believe.
The Bengals have a former Pro Bowl quarterback in his prime, a budding 1,500-yard rusher at running back and one of the most explosive receivers in the game. They have two sensational defensive tackles, two terrific young cornerbacks and a decent corps of linebackers. They have a rookie punter who will make the Pro Bowl sooner than later, and they have the fourth-most accurate kicker in NFL history.
But they’re the Bengals. So you don’t believe. Not you nationally, and not you locally. Nationally, the odds makers in Vegas stuck their finger into the air and gauged the pessimistic public opinion of this team, which is why they installed the Bengals — despite playing at home against a team they had beaten earlier this season on the road — as underdogs Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Locally, the team required yet another extension from the NFL to sell out its smallish stadium and avoid the local television blackout. The blackout was somehow avoided, but there were several thousand empty seats.
They’re the Bengals. It’s not easy to believe. I get it.
But it’s time. The Bengals didn’t just defeat Baltimore 17-7 on Sunday. They mugged Baltimore, jumping to a 17-0 lead midway through the second quarter. They took away the Ravens’ running game and their passing game. They ran for almost 150 yards and passed for almost 225 more. The Bengals are 6-2 and leading the AFC North because they out-hit, out-thought and out-hustled what had been — what still is — one of the better teams in the NFL.
Don’t give me the Ravens’ 4-4 record. That’s a number, and it’s an important number, but it’s only a number. Here are some more: Before Sunday, Baltimore’s three losses had come by a combined 11 points to teams that were 12 games above .500 this season. If there’s such a thing as The Best 4-3 Team in the NFL, well, Baltimore was it.
Ravens-Bengals video NFL Today Postgame Show: Bengals
More Ravens-Bengals links Recap: Bengals 17, Ravens 7 And now the Ravens are probably the best 4-4 team in football, which won’t do them much good seeing how they’re not going to the playoffs. They’re two full games behind the Bengals and 1½ behind the Steelers in the AFC North, and their 0-2 record against the Bengals had Cincinnati defensive tackle Tank Johnson skipping like a schoolboy and cursing like a sailor as he rumbled into the locker room after the game.
“Get ya brooms out!” Johnson screamed. “Get ya brooms out — sweep them mother [expletives] out the door!”
Teammates were laughing. A few minutes later, a thunderous chant of Who Dey — “Who dey think gonna beat dem Bengals? Who dey! Who dey!” — could be heard coming out of the locker room. Most NFL locker rooms I’ve been in, even happy winning locker rooms, have a corporate feel to them, but the Bengals have a collegiate air about them. Maybe this is why: They entered the season as the most inexperienced team in the league, averaging 3.77 years of NFL experience per player (Green Bay was second at 3.81). Whatever it is, they’re showing youthful exuberance rarely seen around here.
“We’re still learning and growing,” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. “It’s onward and upward. … Our guys are a football team, and that’s the key. That’s who we are.”
The caustic chemistry of the past is gone. Part of that is the departure of receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who chafed at his role as the understudy to Chad Ochocinco’s starring role. Ochocinco chafed right back. They didn’t snipe at each other, but they sniped at quarterback Carson Palmer and at the coaches and at the media. Ochocinco’s game suffered, and so did the Bengals. But with Houshmandzadeh gone, Ochocinco again is the clear star. Love him or hate him — and I’m probably leaning toward the latter, if you want the truth — Ochocinco is the thermometer of his locker room. If he’s cool, everyone’s cool.
Bengals corner Jonathan Joseph says, ‘when we come to work, we’re all on the same page.’ (AP) Ochocinco is so cool that Lewis feels safe to stick him with a needle on occasion. One such occasion was Sunday’s postgame press conference, when the coach was asked about Ochocinco’s two fumbles against the Ravens — one was nullified by a Baltimore penalty — and the reporter mentioned the difficulty in re-teaching a “veteran” such a basic concept as holding onto the football.
“You throw that term around loosely,” Lewis said. “I wouldn’t say ‘veteran.’ I think you can start over [as a rookie] every day with him.”
Lewis was laughing, and in the locker room, Ochocinco was laughing too. He was wearing ridiculous-looking Louis Vuitton glasses, a gold-plated pair that retails for $900 and smothered his face, and he was saying something that might have sounded even more ridiculous.
“I wanted this to be a statement game,” Ochocinco said. “Not just a victory — but a statement game. A lot of people, media, they’re making us underdogs. They’re basing it on last year.”
But he’s right. Last year is gone. The Bengals restructured their offensive line, turning a team weakness into a strength, and the result is that former Bears castoff Cedric Benson is averaging 105 rushing yards per game, including another 117 on Sunday against a Ravens defense missing inactive tackle Haloti Ngata. Thanks to Benson’s work inside, Palmer has been freed up to compile a passer rating of 89.5, which he has topped just twice in his seven years in the NFL — when he made the Pro Bowl in 2004 and ‘05. His rating was 91.0 on Sunday.
On defense, the Bengals have gone from one of the league’s worst teams against the run to one of the best after the addition of Johnson and the emergence of Domata Peko at defensive tackle. When teams pass on the Bengals, they are throwing on former first-round picks Leon Hall and Johnathan Joseph, each of whom recorded his fourth interception of the season Sunday against Joe Flacco.
“Nobody cares who gets the credit for doing the job, as long as the job gets done,” Joseph said. “It doesn’t mean we have to hang out off the field every second of the day, but when we come to work, we’re all on the same page
It is pretty hard to argue that the Bengals were anything but awful last year. Yet this year they are off to a flying start. Is it too early to consider them contenders? Or are we just waiting for the orange and black house of cards to come crashing down? With the injury to Chris Henry, can they maintain this impressive run?
Bengals win but lose WR Henry
by admin on Nov.08, 2009, under Bengals, Injuries
The Bengals won their game over the Ravens today by a score for 17-7. All is not rosy for Cinci though, as Henry was forced to leave the game with an injury. According to The Sports Network (http://www.kansascity.com/491/story/1556625.html)
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry left early in the second quarter against the Baltimore Ravens due to a fracture of his left forearm.
On the first Bengals play of the second period, Henry caught a 20-yard pass from Carson Palmer. Henry’s left arm hit the ground hard after taking a big hit from Fabian Washington.
The trainers and medical staff put an air cast on Henry’s left arm before he was carted off the field. X-rays in the locker room showed a fracture of Henry’s left forearm. The injury could end his season.
The West Virginia product had 11 receptions for 216 yards and two touchdowns on the year entering Sunday’s action.
The Bengals have seemed on a roll. What will Henry’s injury mean for their chances?
Welcome to Football Frontpage!
by admin on Nov.08, 2009, under Uncategorized
Hey all, welcome to your premier site for football news. Come to Football Frontpage for all the latest info on your favorite teams and players.
As you can see, we’re just getting up and running. But soon enough, we’ll have the information flooding your way
