10 Things You Need to Know: NFL Regular Season Week 4

The Texans have dethroned the 49ers as the #1 team in the NFL
according to the NFL.com Power Rankings.

Don’t forget to listen to an all-new broadcast of The All-Sports Crew tonight at 7 p.m. on WMUC Sports. We had a special show last night, the podcast of which is currently on iTunes. The WMUC Sports server is currently back up and running, so we should not run into the same issues we did last week, not getting a show in or a podcast on iTunes.

10.         ‘Monday Night Fiasco’

I already wrote more than enough about this train wreck, but it was so horrendous that it’s worth me linking to it in this post. You can read my semi-rant here and check out our discussion on the topic by subscribing to The All-Sports Crew’s podcasts on iTunes.

9.            CJ”No”K

Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson is one of the fastest players in the NFL today. After running for 45 yards in 3 games he is on pace to gain only 240 rushing yards in 2012. Keep in mind that this is the same Chris Johnson who broke Marshall Faulk’s single-season yards from scrimmage record in 2009, rushing for 2006 yards and gaining another 503 yards through the air.

8.            Coaches Fined for Conduct

Denver Broncos head coach John Fox and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio have both been fined by the NFL for how they dealt with replacement officials in their Week 2 matchup with the Atlanta Falcons.

This week, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan are both being reviewed by the league for their actions toward replacement refs. I’m sure we can expect some fines to be handed to some coaches and players from Monday Night’s game, too. In my own opinion, all of these fines are unwarranted.

7.            Major Injuries

Yet again, the Colts will be without Austin Collie for the remainder of the season. After having concussion issues the past few seasons, this year it is Collie’s knee that will keep him out for the final 14 weeks of the season.

Darrelle Revis tore his left ACL and will also be gone for the rest of the season, leaving the Jets playoff hopes all but shattered.

Darrius Heyward-Bey took a vicious hit in the end zone on Sunday. He was unconscious before he hit the ground but gave a thumbs-up to the crowd as he was carted off the field. He was released from the hospital on Monday. He sustained a concussion and a strained neck.

Fantasy standout running backs Reggie Bush and C.J. Spiller both went down with injuries this week. There was no structural damage to Bush’s knee, but the team has not definitively said how much time he may miss.

Spiller’s injury may be more severe. It was a shoulder injury, but the severity isn’t so much with the injury itself, which the Bills have said may not keep him out for too much time. The severity is with Fred Jackson scheduled to be back from his injury in the next week or two. With his injury, Spiller stepped into the starting role and had many people thinking he would keep it even when Jackson returned. Now, the future isn’t nearly so clear for C.J. Spiller.

6.            Fantasy Disappointments

Saints RB Darren Sproles had only 6 fantasy points in my PPR league.

Packers WR Jordy Nelson had only 2 fantasy points.

Patritos TE Rob Gronkowski laid a rare egg, scoring only 3 points despite Aaron Hernandez not being an option for Brady.

This one isn’t so much a disappointment because he played poorly, but because he wasn’t rewarded for how well he played. Eli Manning played a brilliant game against the Panthers, but only scored 16 fantasy points.

5.            Fantasy Surprises

Ravens WR Torrey Smith scored 27 fantasy points, playing hours after learning of his younger brother’s death in a motorcycle accident.

Chiefs RB Jamaal Charles scored 39 fantasy points! He said he finally felt like himself again after suffering a season-ending injury last year. He looked like himself, too.

Texans QB Matt Schaub scored 33 fantasy points.

Jaguars RB Maurice Jones-Drew scored 27 points as he finally hit his stride after his holdout.

Giants K Laurence Tynes scored 20 points, quite a high sum for a kicker.

4.            Games to Watch

Like last week, I’ll be more specific on why these are the biggest games to watch in my predictions post tomorrow.

• San Francisco 49ers at New York Jets (Sunday, 1:00 p.m.)
• Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions (Sunday, 1:00 p.m.)
• Tennessee Titans at Houston Texans (Sunday, 1:00 p.m.)
• Washington Redskins at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Sunday, 4:25 p.m.)
• New Orleans Saints at Green Bay Packers (Sunday, 4:25 p.m.)
• New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles (Sunday, 8:20 p.m.)

3.            Power Rankings

For the sake of space, I will list just the top 6 and the bottom 6 here. You can see the rest on NFL.com.

1. Houston Texans	27. Indianapolis Colts
2. San Francisco 49ers	28. Miami Dolphins
3. Atlanta Falcons	29. Oakland Raiders
4. Green Bay Packers	30. Washington Redskins
5. Baltimore Ravens	31. New Orleans Saints
6. New York Giants	32. Cleveland Browns

The Vikings made the biggest jump, ten spots from 26^th to 16^th. The Cardinals jumped eight spots from 15^th to 7^th. The biggest fall goes to the Redskins and the Saints, who each dropped eight spots from into the bottom six. The Steelers dropped seven spots from 7^th to 14^th.

2.            Arizona Cardinals

When John Skelton was announced the starter over Kevin Kolb and then went down with an injury in Week 1 against the Seahawks, I’m sure most people felt that any chance of winning games was gone for Arizona. Three weeks later, they’re sitting at 3-0, one of just three teams with that mark this season. Kolb has stepped in and, though he has not played like a phenomenal quarterback, he has not been a liability to his team.

“Not a liability” isn’t much of a vote of confidence, but when you have a defense like the Cardinals have put on display the last three weeks, not a liability is all you really need from your quarterback. Anything more is gravy.

The Cardinals backed up their comeback victory against the Seahawks with a win against the Patriots (granted, they needed a missed field goal as time expired to get that win) and a decisive victory against the Eagles.

I am not yet buying into this team completely, but with the 49ers a strong team, and the Seahawks with possibly the best defense in the National Football League, the Cardinals make the case for the NFC West being the best football division.

1.            Houston Texans

After a rough loss to the Minnesota Vikings, the San Francisco 49ers have fallen from the top spot in the NFL.com power poll for the first time this season. I was a little surprised that the voters weren’t more split between the Texans and Falcons, but the Texans were the unanimous #1 team. Matt Schaub is back from last season’s injury, and he had a huge game against Denver.

Arian Foster is a fantastic running back, Andre Johnson had a great game and appears to have regained his position as a top-5 NFL wide receiver, and the defense has picked up right where it left off last year.

Houston plays Tennessee this week, and Jake Locker had a huge game this past week. Listen to The All-Sports Crew tonight at 7 p.m. on WMUC Sports to find out who my co-hosts and I believe will win that game, and the other 14 games in Week 4.

Monday Night Football Afterword: Seahawks vs Packers

It certainly would appear so.

Words can’t even describe how frustrated and appalled I am at the events of last night. Well, I suppose they can, but what is the point when everything that can be said has been and has not made a difference? It really is getting to the point of near hopelessness. You know the feeling you get when you are so frustrated that all you can do is scream and cry because you don’t know any other way to vent those emotions? I’m so close to that point I’m not sure how I haven’t yet been pushed over the edge.

This game was one of the greatest defensive games I have seen in as long as I can remember. For what should have been an epic battle, exactly what the late Steve Sabol made even the blandest game appear to be, to be compromised by the incompetency of the officials the NFL is putting on the field is outrageous.

Adam Schefter said it well. We had the Immaculate Reception, which was and still is controversial because of the lack of video evidence; we had the Music City Miracle, which is less controversial because we have video evidence, but it is so close that people don’t have to accept one outcome or another; and now we have this. I don’t know how that pass is not an interception; I don’t know how there were two opposing calls on the field; I don’t know how this doesn’t make it a top priority for the NFL to get the real officials back, but I’m sure the NFL and Roger Goodell will figure out how.

My thoughts on the first half of last night’s game? It seemed to be well officiated. It was certainly very well played by both defenses, as the first score of the game ended the longest scoring drought to begin any game so far this season. Also, I finally saw why Russell Wilson beat out Matt Flynn for the starting job in Seattle with his ability to escape from pressure and deliver a flawless touchdown pass to Golden Tate. I saw a game, a legitimate game, a game the NFL could be proud of showing on national television.

How about the third quarter? Also pretty well officiated. We got to see Mike McCarthy outcoach Pete Carroll as the Packers not only continued to put good defensive schemes up against the Seattle offense, but Green Bay also began marching the ball by mixing more consistent running from Cedric Benson with terrific throws by Aaron Rodgers. Green Bay clawed their way back to a 7-6 deficit at the start of the 4^th quarter.

But that final 15 minutes, oh boy what a tragedy it was. But it wasn’t really the entire final 15 minutes. It was the final three drives in particular. Two Seattle drives and a Packers drive in between. Well, the Packers drive was fine, no officiating issues there.

First, there was the bogus roughing the passer call on Erik Walden that negated an interception that would have put the Packers in field goal territory with a chance to extend their lead to 15 (or even up to 20) to 7. Later on the same drive, on 1^st & 25 Sam Shields was flagged for pass interference. I saw so many tweets I was shocked the Twitter servers didn’t go down; but that was nothing compared to the end of the game, as I would find out.

Now, that Seattle drive would stall after a failed 4^th & 3 attempt. No harm no foul, right? Wrong! I already mentioned that the interception that was wrongly taken away would have almost certainly meant points for Green Bay. But even the pass interference was huge because without it, it would have been 2^nd & 25, very unlikely to be converted, and the Packers would have the ball in good field position. Even if they don’t convert a first down, Seattle has a much longer field to drive down for a chance at a last-second game-winning touchdown.

Fast forward to that final drive, the final play. 4^th & 10, eight seconds left in the game, it is the moment that every NFL fan loves! We’re on the edge of our seat, eyes glued to the television set, every muscle tensed, ready to spring up in excitement or grab the nearest object and fling it against the wall, whichever action the outcome of the play calls for. But what happened left me speechless. I already said what happened early in this post, so I won’t say it again. But I sat there, stunned, staring at the screen, head spinning, jaw dropped, not moving a single muscle, not even to shake my head in disbelief.

And here I am, in the same position of so many sports analysts, which is the same position as the ‘common fan.’ That is, I know what the problem is; I know that the replacement refs are not fully at fault and that the fault truly lies with Roger Goodell and the NFL. But what can I do about it? Absolutely (expletive) nothing!! I can choose not to watch the games, but what will that do? Enough people will watch that the NFL losing me as a viewer won’t matter; all that will do is put me at a disadvantage as I attempt to cover the sport. Yet I know that if this continues, and I keep watching, I won’t have any hair by the end of the season.

I will end with this: congrats to the players and coaches on a fantastic, well-played game. I am so, so sorry that the NFL, by placing these officials on the field, have called the legitimacy of the outcome into question.

I originally considered doing a video blog post, but The All-Sports Crew will have another special Tuesday broadcast tonight at 9pm. Eric, Saswat and I plan to talk about a lot of stuff, but no doubt the officials will be a main topic. If we don’t get to much else between tonight and tomorrow, we will get together and put another recording to podcast later in the week. Just ‘like’ us on Facebook and keep up with our updates. Thanks everyone.