Sports

[gardenman]

The Eagles woke up in the second half. 

[waterlily]

Very happy with my Redskins today.

[sunshine45]

RAVENS were HOT!!!!!  59 - 10

great plays throughout the entire game from both the offense and the defense.

even RG3 had a touchdown  drive in this game!

franchise record for points in the first half.

franchise record for total yards.

equally helpful......bengals lost, browns lost, steelers are not looking good against the patriots.

[gardenman]

I think any team with the Dolphins on the schedule can consider it a bye week this year. They really seem to be tanking for Tua/Herbert. Now in three to four years the Dolphins should be good, but this will not be a good year for the Dolphins' fans.

[deepwaterdotter]

I couldn't be happier with the way the Vikings played today.  Hope it is an omen for the rest of the season.

[teganslaw]

Chargers win in OT: 30-24. It was a good game with very few penalties on either side. 

Jacoby Brissett played well, no interceptions, connecting with Hilton on throws. 

Mack attack! Marlon Mack ran for 174 yards, including a 63 yard touchdown run which was a career best. 

The difference was a couple mistakes in special teams, plus Vinatieri missing two field goals and an extra point. That is unlike him, I don't know what happened. Maybe the holder was off, or he didn't kick accurately. Whatever it was, Vinatieri had an off day. 

However, Brissett proved that he can be the leader and the Colts have a running game. Not a bad start for the season, otherwise. 

The Chargers say "Melvin who?" They weren't missing Gordon at all. His replacement, Austin Ekeler, carried the team.

[gardenman]

What did we learn from yesterday's games? Not a whole lot. the Dolphins are as bad as feared and have likely locked up the first overall draft pick in 2020. It's going to be hard for any other team to lose as many games as they'll lose this year. The Browns have a lot of talent, but they didn't play well yesterday. Was that a wake-up call, or a precursor to how the whole season will play out? The AFC still looks like a fight between the Chiefs and Patriots to see who's the best in the AFC. 

In the Eagles/Redskins game, we saw the Eagles defense look pretty porous early on, but then rally later. We learned you still can't single cover DeSean Jackson or he'll burn you badly. On the 51 yard TD he blew past Josh Norman on one of the few plays where Josh wasn't manned up on Alshon Jeffery. On the 53 yard TD the Redskins had a single safety deep with Nelson Agholor and DeSean both running deep routes. Wentz looked off the safety towards Agholor and then hit DeSean deep for the TD. There's nothing the safety can do in that situation. He can't be in two places at once and with Agholor heading to the back left corner and DeSean heading to the back right corner, he was caught in the middle.

The Redskins really trust their right guard Scherff and left him man to man with Fletcher Cox while they used the center to help out Ereck Flowers. The Eagles then moved Fletcher Cox around more in the second half to create chaos. The Redskins running game was largely ineffective with Guice getting just eighteen yards on ten carries. You wonder if AP had been active if he'd have gotten some second-half carries and been more effective. Jay Gruden said Guice was the guy, but you've got to wonder if he's a hundred percent just yet.

The Eagles running game looked pretty solid overall. I'd have liked to have seen more of Jordan Howard. He was like a wrecking ball when he got the ball in his hands. He had just six carries but got 44 yards. It's not like he was running through gaping holes either. He'd run into a wall of Redskins and the whole wall of them would move back six, seven yards at a time. He's going to be fun to watch. He's not a game-breaker, but he can certainly move the pile.

I'm happy to come away with the win. Hopefully we can get these slow starts out of the system and get back to playing a full game instead of coasting through the first half and then turning it on. On to Atlanta next week in what they'll likely consider a must-win game. They lost to another NFC team this week in Minnesota and now they can't really afford too many NFC losses if they want a wild card slot in the playoffs. Those conference games play a role in who makes the playoffs and who doesn't. Getting off to an 0-2 start with two losses in conference games would not be good for Atlanta.

Two more games tonight. The first is Houston at New Orleans. I'm not optimistic about Houston's chances in that one. Then Denver at the Raiders. Who knows who will win that one?

[Spurt]

@gardenman 

CONGRATULATIONS on the Eagles win!!!  

I was very surprised and pleased with many aspects of the Redskin's game.  Gee we actually scored 27 points!!!!  Something to build upon, and yes you have to wonder if AP would have made a difference.....and how costly was Gruden's decision in this game........

Yes, the Eagles made some adjustments on defense.....And the Redskins defense needs time to gel---And Allen's injury had a big impact too.....

Big takeaway: The Redskins' defense needs to be a lot more sound and impactful if this team is going to even think about having a good year. They were plagued, once again, by some communication mishaps that led to big touchdowns -- just like last season. Corner Josh Norman said part of the issue stemmed from not getting certain calls or audibles to the outside quick enough. Safety Montae Nicholson said some of it was from not playing a lot together thus far. Regardless, it was bad -- and it wasn't just the secondary. "That miscommunication will kill you every time," Norman said. "We'll get it corrected. ... You get out like that you got to put guys away, you've got to shut the door."

And it was ironic everyone was concerned about LT Williams not being there, Donald Penn did okay, and it was the right side of the Redskin O line with veterans Moses and Scherff that killed drives with costly penalties.....and caused Keenum to get sacked.....

But how about our punter......  And "the people's corner" got a nice mention too on a play he made....

Like I said something to build upon.....and much better than I anticipated....The Redskins looked better than many teams out there.....

[Spurt]

Permit me to vent:

I got so irritated after ONE game....a game when many starters were given their first opportunity to play for the seson .....YET from what all the national anlaysts and media said, let's just cancel the rest of the season and put the Cowboys and the Patriots in the Super Bowl~!!!! 🙄

Everyone was absolutely RAVING about the Cowboys but no mention by the national media that they were playing one of the worst defenses in the NFL....5 days ago, a ranking had them at 29th in the league.....and Eli was struggling on offense with few weapons other than Barkley, and poor play selection was a factor as well.....BUT to quote a Titan player who said what was so true of the Browns....and quoted the late great Denny Green, "they are who we thought they were" (speaking of the Giants)....so no surprise the Cowboys got a solid win....And speaking of the Browns, just because it looks good on paper doesnt mean it will be that way out of the gate....and YES the Dolphins are tanking for Tua!!! Season ticketholders should ALL be given a refund !!! 

29. New York Giants

One of the worst defenses in football a year ago somehow managed to get even worse during the offseason. The Giants downgraded from Landon Collins to Jabrill Peppers at safety. At corner, it’s Janoris Jenkins then a bunch of unproven guys. The Giants haven’t found a good linebacker this decade. The defensive line is a bunch of guys you never heard of after New York traded DE Olivier Vernon to Cleveland. Other than that, this defense is in pretty good shape.

Same was true of the Patriots....the Steelers were DOWNRIGHT AWFUL at all phases of their game ....an easy schedule and an easy Division certainly also gives the Patriots a big advantage....few seem to mention this as well.

My main point---HEY MEDIA!!!!---Lets at least get half way into this regular season before we start labling teams as contenders and pretenders......

And no Im not saying the Redskins will be one of the contendersw--- I stand by my prediction of 7-9 at best....but I think too many people are jumping to conclusions way too early in the season....

Thanks for letting me vent.....

[redwingsgal]

---

@Spurt wrote:

Permit me to vent:

I got so irritated after ONE game....a game when many starters were given their first opportunity to play for the seson .....YET from what all the national anlaysts and media said, let's just cancel the rest of the season and put the Cowboys and the Patriots in the Super Bowl~!!!! 🙄

Everyone was absolutely RAVING about the Cowboys but no mention by the national media that they were playing one of the worst defenses in the NFL....5 days ago, a ranking had them at 29th in the league.....and Eli was struggling on offense with few weapons other than Barkley, and poor play selection was a factor as well.....BUT to quote a Titan player who said what was so true of the Browns....and quoted the late great Denny Green, "they are who we thought they were" (speaking of the Giants)....so no surprise the Cowboys got a solid win....And speaking of the Browns, just because it looks good on paper doesnt mean it will be that way out of the gate....and YES the Dolphins are tanking for Tua!!! Season ticketholders should ALL be given a refund !!! 

29. New York Giants

One of the worst defenses in football a year ago somehow managed to get even worse during the offseason. The Giants downgraded from Landon Collins to Jabrill Peppers at safety. At corner, it’s Janoris Jenkins then a bunch of unproven guys. The Giants haven’t found a good linebacker this decade. The defensive line is a bunch of guys you never heard of after New York traded DE Olivier Vernon to Cleveland. Other than that, this defense is in pretty good shape.

Same was true of the Patriots....the Steelers were DOWNRIGHT AWFUL at all phases of their game ....an easy schedule and an easy Division certainly also gives the Patriots a big advantage....few seem to mention this as well.

My main point---HEY MEDIA!!!!---Lets at least get half way into this regular season before we start labling teams as contenders and pretenders......

And no Im not saying the Redskins will be one of the contendersw--- I stand by my prediction of 7-9 at best....but I think too many people are jumping to conclusions way too early in the season....

Thanks for letting me vent.....

---

I could NOT agree more, @Spurt !  Someone please tell me why Troy Aikman continues to do national coverage of HIS team!!??  He refers to the Cowhands as "we" and "us".  NOT very professional, IMO.  Fox continues to allow this year after year.  I do NOT watch if Troy is announcing the cowhands.