The Dolphins return to glory?

Are the Miami Dolphins good or is it just that “wildcat” offensive package that makes them seem like it? They now have victories over New England (sans Brady) and San Diego since allowing Ronnie Brown to take snaps and I don’t think it’s a coincidence. The reason I think allows this system to work best is that they’re a) surprising the defence a bit (that novelty will fade quickly) and that since there’s no QB that has to hand off, Miami is rushing 11 vs. 11. When a quarterback hands off the ball the play is essentially 10 on 11 since he’d stay out of the play after giving up the ball; so does one extra blocker really make that scheme that much more effective? It looks like it so far.

Are the Washington Redskins the No. 2 team in the league? They’ve now trumped both the Cowboys and the Eagles on their home fields and have only fallen to the clear No. 1 team in the league. Their top receiver (Santana Moss) didn’t catch a single pass in their victory in Philly and they still managed the upset. Granted, the Titans are undefeated and that defence isn’t going to allow too many points this season but the Redskins are up in the running to be next in line at the top of the league.

Matt Ryan sure showed his stuff as did the entire Falcons squad by beating the Packers in Lambeau. I know that Aaron Rodgers was playing hurt and wasn’t even allow to take a painkiller shot, but I think it was the Pack’s defence that let them down. Linebacker A.J. Hawk, their supposed stud only had two tackles and that has to change. He’s their core guy and if he doesn’t step up, there’s no way that Green Bay can beat Chicago or Minnesota on top of the NFC North.

The Cardinals were up by 17 in the fourth quarter, had a 4th and 1 or two within easy field goal range against a J.P. Losman-led Bills and decided to go for it. They ended up scoring a TD a few plays later but a field goal would have been the right call in my mind. There was no chance that Buffalo was coming back. In related news, My Coney Island Whitefish lost their game this week by one point. Their kicker, Neil Rackers, would have pushed their point total to 34 instead of 32 with a field goal in the aforementioned situation instead of the PAT he had. I am bitter with Ken Whisenhunt.

Speaking of being bitter about fantasy results, if you’re a Jonathon Stewart owner like myself, how do you feel about DeAngelo Williams breaking out and scoring thrice against Kansas City instead of your guy? Running back committees hurt much more people than just the guys who have sit out a few plays on the sidelines. There are millions of us affected every Sunday world-wide. Please stop the madness NFL coaches. Please.

The Giants beat up the Seahawks so bad that they even let David Carr come in and have his way with them. What an insult that is. What’s funnier is that the commentators were praising Carr, the worst bust in, albeit short, Texans history, claiming he couldn’t perform because of the dearth of talent around him in Houston. Then how do you explain his stink show in Carolina last year? That’s what I thought… And what’s even sadder for Seattle is that the Giants embarrassed them without Plaxico Burress.

I think the Ravens got robbed and the Titans shouldn’t be undefeated. That penalty should not have been called on Terrell Suggs, allowing Tennessee to keep on driving down the field and eventually winning the game. Referees are getting the spotlight more than ever and this is a shockingly bad thing for the NFL. Refs should be invisible, not the centre of attention.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone single-handedly blow a game like Sage Rosenfels did on Sunday. How do you lose two fumbles in the period of four plays? It’s mind-boggling and at this rate, the Texans are getting morally crushed week-by-week with first a hurricane and now stomach-punch losses.

How bad the CFL is: The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are sitting at 5-9 and if the season ended today — mercifully — they would be in the playoffs. The 4-10 Argonauts are their competition and have given up 182 more points than they have scored. Pathetic.

What a crazy game that was in the Superdome. Whenever a game includes a blocked field goal return for a TD, two punt return TDs by the same game (Reggie Bush), two 50+ yard field goals, a game-winning field goal with 13 seconds remaining and Drew Brees screaming like Ray Lewis during a pre-game psych-up, well that’s a classic in my books.

As for the coming Rays-Red Sox epic ALCS on tap, we’ll get to that one tomorrow.

This week: 6-6-1
This season: 38-30-1