Week 4 — Mon, 3 Oct 2005
From: JeffTo: mnf@doobie.com
Subject: Es Lunes...
...y que es ese hedor en el Ciudad de Mexico?
Yes ladies and gentlemen, last night, as Fox was rerunning The Simpsons for the umpteenth time, the NFL played its first regular season game on foreign soil. By all accounts, the event was successful. 103,000 fans paid up to 800 pesos (about $75) to drink Sol and watch futbol Americano get played on the first-rate soccer-quality rye grass of Azteca Stadium.
It's a shame that the NFL didn't send first-rate teams. On the first play of the game, Cardinals QB Josh McCown gets sacked and fumbles the ball on their 11 yard line, which the Niners recover, then fumble, then recover again in the endzone for a Touchdown. Little did we know that this was just foreshadowing of the caliber of offense we'd be seeing on both sides of the ball. It got so bad that in an effort to create a quarterback controversy, or perhaps just to wave away some of the stink, the 49ers even put in rookie quarterback (and first pick in the NFL draft this year) Andy Smith. While it's good to see the kid see some playing time, he's not yet NFL material (6-11 for 34 yds).
As it turns out, only one person on the field came to play: Cardinals kicker Neil Rackers. Having fallen in love with the high-altitude pollution-filled air in Mexico City, Rackers kicked 6 field goals (and could've kicked a 7th late in the fourth quarter). He also kicked two kickoffs through the uprights. The Cardinals won 31-14.
The rest of Sunday's games were full of good matchups, and more than a handful of surprises, not the least of which was the Redskins' ability to remain undefeated. Allow me to set the scene...
The Redskins and Seahawks both slogged out impressive defensive battles all the way to the two minute warning (when the score was 17-10 Washington). Then, with 1:27 to go, the Seahawks found the endzone and tied the score. The Redskins get the ball on the 20, and on the second play, passer Marc Brunell from the shotgun without a huddle, threw an 8 yard pass off of Clinton Portis's fingertips and into the hands of the Seahawks strong safety -- giving the Seahawks the ball at the 33 yard line. Fans start heading to the exits in droves (Redskins' fans are now quite used to the team's ability to grab a defeat out of the throes of victory).
The Seahawks move the ball to the 29, and with 1 second on the clock, bring out generally consistent kicker Josh Brown. The snap is good, the hold is good, Brown boots the ball and clearly it felt good, because he immediately threw his hands in the air... but even the people in the parking lot heard that magic sound. The sound that says, "for at least a few more minutes, you are undefeated" --- the unmistakable CLANG!!!! of the pigskin bouncing off of the left upright.
To be honest, the overtime period was nothing special. The Redskins get the ball, run it up the field until they get stopped at the 17, take a stupid delay-of-game penalty that backs them to the 22, and newly signed kicker Nick Novak boots a perfect 39-yarder to win the game 20-17.
Never heard that name before? That's because Nick Novak started this season as the place kicker for the University of Maryland (he's a local, having grown up in Charlottesville, VA, he probably slept on Redskins sheets as a kid). He had never attempted a kick on an NFL field prior to Sunday. His kick takes the Redskins to 3-0 for the first time since (ahem) 1991, and sends the Seahawks to 2-2.
Most of America watched intently as the San Diego Chargers showed the New England Patriots a little bit of Tijuana hospitality. In all fairness, half of the Patriots starters are on Injured Reserve, but if their replacements keep playing like this, the starters won't need to be healthy in January. The Chargers flat-out outplayed The Patriots on Sunday... and I'm starting to wonder if the Patriots are going to have to get used to that.
So, why was it that I mentioned that the Cardinals could've kicked a 7th field goal, but decided against running up the score late in the game? (The Cardinals kicker said that he's a gentleman, and wouldn't do that against a team that he'd be playing again this year.) Compare that to San Diego's Donnie Edwards, who intercepted Matt Cassell at the 41 with about 40 seconds to go. Uncontent to just catch the ball, take a knee and head to the locker room, Edwards threw a lateral to Clinton Hart, who ran 40 yards for a completely unnecessary touchdown. San Diego wins 41-17, both teams go to 2-2.
Indianapolis beat Tennessee 31-10 in a completely uninspiring game. The Colts have a fairly easy schedule right now (including next week when they come to Candlestick), and are likely to remain undefeated for a few more weeks.
Still undefeated: Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Washington.
Houston and Green Bay are the only teams that are still winless.
Which brings us to tonight's game...
Tonight, the 0-3 Green Bay Packers go to Charlotte to take on the 1-2 Carolina Panthers on the hybrid bermuda grass surface of Bank of America Stadium.
At the beginning of the season, this looked like it was going to be a good game. But over the last three weeks, both the panthers and the packers have completely failed to produce any significant offense. Farve just seems to throw the ball to the wrong team, and Jake DelHomme, well, he's throwing interceptions too, but he's also been fumbling.
Neither team is particularly good this year. Neither seems to be doing much rebuilding. At least they seem equally bad, so perhaps it'll be a halfway decent game.
The Line:
The Panthers are favored by 7.5. The over/under is 44.
The increasingly misnamed Smart Money is 1-6 so far for the year. Tonight, it takes the Packers and the under. Don't bet against Green Bay on Monday night, no matter how much geritol Brett Farve needs to get up in the morning.
The Bar:
Finally, baseball season is over, and there's no contention for which sport goes on which TV. This opens up a number of locations that are otherwise unavailable to the itinerant NFL fan.
Tonight, we're headed back to an old favorite... a nondescript local hangout and a relic of another era of barroom, complete with ferns. This place is particularly convenient to some of the people on the list that we haven't seen in a while. Hopefully we'll get to see some of them tonight.
Yancy's Saloon
734 Irving St (@9th Ave)
Steps from the N, 6, 43 and 44
Kickoff is at 6:00. See you there?