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Run away! Run away! Former Browns defensive back Hanford Dixon is a columnist at our
Browns site, and just like the thousands of Cleveland fans who showed up to
support the team at their home opener against the Steelers, he was disappointed
by the team's poor showing in a 34-7 rout. "All we had to do was
match the intensity that the Steelers had and we didn’t do that," he
said. "They came in here, slapped us in the mouth and we turned
around and we ran and went home." Scout.com
subscribers can find out what he thinks the team do in the coming weeks
before things get even more ugly in Cleveland.
The blame game: By his own admission, C.E. Wendler is playing the "blame game" at
our Chiefs site after Kansas City lost 20-3 to the Texans on Sunday. And he
wasn't happy that the Chiefs tried to become a passing team rather than playing
to their offensive strength. "When Eddie Kennison yanked a hamstring
on the first play, the Chiefs should have abandoned their 'we’re sorry for
giving Larry [Johnson] 400 carries' campaign," he said. "I’m
not suggesting Johnson should have received 35 carries against the Texans, but
with a quarterback who had barely played in preseason and an inexperienced wide
receiver corps, the Chiefs should have split 40 carries between Johnson and
Michael Bennett." Catch his analysis of the Chiefs' woes at
our Kansas City site.
Eli sparkles: Our Giants team expert, Ken Palmer was impressed by quarterback Eli Manning's
performance even though New York came up short against the Cowboys. "He was
calm and cool in the pocket and very accurate with his passes," he
said. "His game-opening bomb to Plaxico Burress was right on the
money and his only interception came because his intended receiver, Burress,
fell down." Scout.com
subscribers can read the rest of his observations on the Giants' performance.
It's a mystery: Over at our Green Bay site, Steve Lawrence
points out that the Packers have more than a passing interest in what the real
scoop is on Eli Manning's shoulder injury that he sustained against the Cowboys
since Green Bay faces the Giants this week. Is he going to miss up to a month of
action as one report claims? Or will he play this week? Click
here for more on this story.
Monday morning quarterback: Dylan Johnson at our Seattle site explains how, "despite weird
penalties, early offensive ineffectiveness, special teams blunders and some
kinda really big whistle, Seattle beat Tampa Bay on opening day." Check out
his Monday
Morning Quarterback feature to get his take on the game.
An unfiltered view: You'll also want to be sure to check out Matthew Postin's view of the same
game -- from Tampa Bay's perspective. You'll find out, "Who shined? Who
stunk? And how hot is it under Jon Gruden’s seat?" Scout.com
subscribers can get Matthew's take at our Tampa Bay site.
Minnesota's Kevin Williams sacks Atlanta QB Joey Harrington
Tom Olmscheid/AP |
Hardcore analysis: At our Vikings site, personnel analyst Kevin Brown
liked what he saw from the Vikings defense against the Falcons, saying,
"The Vikings defense under Leslie Frazier appears better, not worse, than
it was under Mike Tomlin. They held Atlanta’s running game to
3.4-yards-per-carry on 28 attempts, sacked Joey Harrington six times and held
him to a 61.8 passer rating. Granted, they will face stronger team’s than
this, but this was what they need to do against teams of this
caliber." Brown breaks down how each
member of the Minnesota defense performed on Sunday in the team's win over the
Falcons in this Scout.com
subscribers feature.
Banged up: Our Dolphins site is reporting that talented safety Yeremiah Bell is done for
the season. Get
the details here. Scout.com Senior NFL Reporter Adam Caplan says
that the same is true for Rams offensive tackle Orlando Pace. Since injuries
across the league from the first week of action have been significant, teams
will need to look through available free agents for depth, so Caplan has updated
his list of offensive
and defensive free agents at our network's NFL site.
Bad news for Baltimore: Not only did the Ravens lose their
opener on Monday night to the Bengals by a count of 27-20, the suffered some
injuries to key veterans such as OT Jonathan Ogden, QB Steve McNair and LB Ray
Lewis. Scout.com
subscribers can get the details from Aaron Wilson at our Baltimore site.
Now if you can't say something nice... Over at our Steelers site, Ryan Wilson summed up the Steelers' thrashing of
the Browns saying, "Midway through the third quarter, I was half-expecting
CBS play-by-play man Kevin Harlan to announce that NFL Commissioner Roger
Goodell had granted the Steelers an unprecedented sixth preseason game.
That's the only way I could make sense of the Cleveland Browns' worse-than-usual
performance." Scout.com
subscribers can get his full take on the game in this feature.
The plot thickens: On Monday at our Jets site, Dan Leberfeld
reported that a Patriots employee was apparently caught taping the hand signals
of Jets coaches. Now
he files this update.
Live from San Diego! Our network's Bears team expert, John Crist, was at San Diego blogging live
from the pressbox while he watched Chicago come up short against the Chargers.
While watching the fourth-quarter action, he wrote, "He's just too good, so
you can't keep him contained forever. [LaDainian] Tomlinson fights his way into
the end zone from seven yards out. After the Kaeding conversion, it's a nasty
14-3 Chargers lead with 9:09 left in the fourth quarter. That might wrap it up
right there the way this offense is performing today. By the way, both San Diego
touchdowns were the result of turnovers." If you didn't get to see the game
and want a great description of the flow of it from his vantage point, Scout.com
subscribers can click here to read John's live game blog.
Give them their due: Kevin Saleeba points out at our New England site that while Randy Moss and
Tom Brady got the lion's share of the media attention on Sunday for the Patriots
trouncing of the Jets, the offensive line really stepped up and made things
click offensively. "Thanks to the men up front, Brady had all the
time in the world to pick apart the Jets secondary for 297 passing yards and
three touchdown passes," he says. Read
his full report.
Jason Campbell
Nick Wass/AP |
So how's that crystal ball? Following the Redskins' 16-13 win over the Dolphins, team expert John Keim
took a look at ten issues that were discussed prior to the game -- and how the
Warpath Insiders staff did at predicting their outcome. As a portion of his
response about how they had predicted quarterback Jason Campbell would do, he
said, "We thought he would look better; he's poised and relaxed. But we
were concerned about his ability to look off safeties and recognize blitzes. He
did fine with the latter, but he did not do a good job looking off the
safeties." Scout.com
subscribers can read his full report at our Washington site.
Unhappy campers: At our Raiders site, Michael Wagaman reports that the crowd became so
frustrated with quarterback Josh McCown that they were booing him by halftime. Scout.com
subscribers can read his full report card on the Raiders in their debut
under their new head coach, Lane Kiffin.
Record-breakers: Our Jacksonville team expert, Charlie Bernstein, reports that it was a
record-setting day for both the Titans and the Jaguars as Jacksonville dropped
their home opener, 13-10. "The Titans set franchise records for most
rushing attempts in a game (49), and most rushing yards (282)," he
noted. "The attempts and rushing yards allowed were also records for
the Jaguars franchise, eclipsing their old marks of 44 attempts (accomplished
three times, the last being on 10/2/05 vs. Denver), and 246 yards allowed
(inaugural season of 1995, vs. Seattle)." Read more about the game at
our Jaguars site.
Just the facts: Did you know that the Colts held the Saints tandem of Reggie Bush and Deuce
McAlister to an average of 3.5 yards per carry, a huge improvement over the 5.33
yards per carry they yielded during the 2006 season? Or that without Fred
Taylor's one run of 17 yards and he would have had -1 yard on five attempts
against the Titans?
You'd know that along with other detailed performance facts if you'd read my
"Just the Facts: AFC South" feature today. And you'd find out which player I
chose as each AFC South team's player of the game. Scout.com
subscribers can read it at our NFL site.
White flag impulse: Our Lions team expert, Nate Caminata posted his analysis of Detroit's road
victory on Sunday, saying, "Any Lions fan who raised a white flag after
Oakland running back Justin Griffith took a Josh McCown swing pass in for a
touchdown, pushing the Raiders in front 21-20, please stand. Everyone else who
is still sitting can leave. Because you're lying." Find out what impressed
him most about Detroit's 36-21 win over Oakland in
this feature at our Lions site.
Some very special questions: "A day after the special teams, notably J.R. Reed and Greg Lewis, cost
the Eagles a win in their season opener against the Packers, the hot news in
Philadelphia is the possible return of Reno Mahe," reports Chris Steuber at
our Philadelphia site. But is the return of Mahe or even former Olympian Jeremy
Bloom the answer? Steuber explores the various solutions the team will need to
consider, and offers up an intriguing one of his own. Scout.com
subscribers can learn more at our Eagles site.
Exclusive interview: Chargers offensive lineman saw his first
action in a regular season game on Sunday against the Bears. Amberly Richardson
talked to him about the game and San Diego's upcoming matchup with the Patriots.
Check it out at our Chargers
site!
Today's Birthday Bunch: Former Chargers LB Steve Foley (32), Panthers
WR Dwayne Jarrett (21), former Bucs LB Shelton Quarles (36), Ravens DB Ed Reed
(29), Seahawks FB Mack Strong (36), Saints CB Fred Thomas (34)