KC Coming Up

***

I haven't started really looking into the Chiefs yet so I'll limit my comments about them. KC was bad last year and is still pretty young, which leads you to believe they'll struggle this season.

The Eagles are clearly the better team, but without McNabb no game is certain. I feel pretty confident we will win this game, but nothing is a lock in the NFL anymore.

It sounds like Kevin Kolb will start again, which is the right decision. Jeff Garcia wouldn't have made much of a difference last week. And Michael Vick isn't ready to be a starting QB again. He needs work.

Westy is battling an ankle issue, but Andy said it isn't very swollen and that Brian should play on Sunday. That's certainly good news.


WR SHUFFLE

Danny Amendola was signed off our Practice Squad by the Rams. Good for Danny, bad for us. I hoped to keep him til next year when he could push for a roster spot. He gives the Rams offense a quick, elusive guy with RS skills. Hopefully things work well for him. I liked Amendola.

We signed former Penn State star Jordan Norwood to take his place on the PS. Norwwod is small (5'11, 175), but has great hands. He can really pluck the ball. He's got okay quickness, but lacks the speed to ever be anything more than a role player in the NFL, if that. Norwood is probably here more for practice than to be developed for the future. His dad is the Defensive Coordinator at Baylor.


AROUND THE NFC

DAL --- Anyone checked out the Dallas defense this year? They are in 30th place, allowing 439 yards per game. That includes going to Tampa and hosting the Giants. I can't wait to see what Drew Brees does to those guys.

I hate Tony Romo. He's clearly the devil. Or worse. But I don't get all the criticism that some people throw at him. Mike Florio (PFT) continually bashes him for not working harder to be great. I like Florio most of the time, but this is an odd comment. I've never seen anything that would lead me to believe that Romo isn't working hard enough. I think a legit criticism of him is that he improvises too much. That works great in the regular season, but you can ask Randall Cunningham about how well that works in December and January. This isn't a case of Tony not working, but rather becoming overly reliant on "making plays".


WAS --- They just beat the Rams 9-7. Huh? What is up with Washington? That team has Chris Cooley, Santana Moss, Antwaan Randle-El, and Clinton Portis. They scored 17 in the opener, but only 9 vs the Rams. Now comes the news that RG Randy Thomas is done for the year. Not a great start for Washington. I expected them to be a last place team, but a good one (8-8 or so).


NYG --- They are 2-0 and both wins came inside the division. Impressive start. The Gmen gave up 251 rushing yards to the Cowboys on Sunday night and that is a serious concern. WR Mario Manningham is off to a great start, but the Giants did go 0-5 in the RZ on Sunday night. They still miss Plaxico. Their best DL is Justin Tuck, not Osi Umenyiora. Unfortunately Tuck hurt his shoulder when he was tripped by a Dallas OL and fell. The Giants need Tuck on that defense. He makes everyone around him better.


GB --- The Packers have a lot of talent, but their OL is really struggling. The RT got lit up in the opener and then LT Chad Clifton struggled on Sunday vs Cincy. Bengals DE Antwan Odom had 5 sacks. Aaron Rodgers to Greg Jennings only works if the guys have time to connect. I don't have a good feel for how their conversion to the 3-4 is going yet.


MIN --- Adrian Peterson continues to be kinda decent. That guy is something else. WLB Chad Greenway had a pair of INTs on Sunday. The Vikings have led the NFL in run defense for 3 straight years, but only sit 15th after 2 weeks. Teams are now running at them and challenging the Williams Wall. Anyone else wonder if there is a StarCaps effect going on?


TAMPA --- The Bucs are a mess. Their starting secondary was bad, but they've now lost a couple of guys to injury. Coach Raheem Morris is mad at DE Gaines Adams for not playing up to his potential. The good news is that Cadillac Williams is healthy and playing pretty well. I'm picking Tampa to be the worst team in the league.


ATL --- I figure we already know what's going on in CAR and NO. The Falcons are 2-0. Matt Ryan is still kinda decent. Tony Gonzalez leads the team in receptions and has 2 TDs. Free agent LB Mike Peterson is playing really well. The bad news is that rookie DT Peria Jerry got hurt and is done for the year. ATL's run defense could continue to be a problem.


ARZ --- They came East this week and beat the heck out of JAX. That surprised us all a bit. The Cards just haven't fared well when heading our direction. Young DL Calais Campbell is starting to make some plays, on defense and STs.


SEA --- I thought they would bounce back this year after a dismal 2008. So far they are 1-1, but plenty has gone wrong. LB Leroy Hill is out until November with an injury. QB Matt Hasselbeck got hurt on Sunday. LT Walter Jones isn't healthy. C Chris Spencer is banged up. WR TJ Houshmandzadeh has proven to only be a possession receiver, which we all knew. He's got 10-110 with no TD and a long play of 22 yards after a couple of games. This team needed some good karma so they could get off to a good start under new coach Jim Mora (don't call me Junior). Next up is the Bears and then a trip to Indy. The Seahawks better hope some things start breaking their way.

_