Dave’s Football Blog

The NBA in the 90s had the Jordan Rules. Does the NFL now have the Rule of Law? Plaxico Burress and Hines Ward seem to think so.

“They’re arm-barring guys out of bounds,” Burress said earlier this week, “Ty Law’s pushing guys 10-15 yards downfield, stopping in front of guys and bumping them when they’re 20 yards downfield. So I think it applies to everybody but them.”

Said Ward, “I’ll be sure to talk to the refs early in the game, just to remind them of that…”

Clearly, Plax and Hines want to get it in everyone’s heads that the Pats’ defensive backs aren’t being called for illegal contact like everyone else is this season, and that’s why New England has won 21 in a row — not because they’re a good, well-coached team with a quarterback who is arguably the best in the game right now.

Regardless, Steelers WRs vs. Pats DBs is far from the most interesting matchup in that game this weekend. There’s also the Pats run defense vs. Duce Staley, the Pittsburgh Blitz vs. Tom Brady, and the New England pass rush vs. Ben Roethlisberger.

Given the mediocrity of the Pittsburgh secondary, the Steelers may choose not to blitz as much as they would like. That will be interesting to see. This entire game will be interesting to see, as it will tell us all just how good this Steelers team is right now. I can’t wait…

While most of my attention Sunday will be focused on the Patriots-Steelers game in Pittsburgh, the political animal in me will be paying close attention to the Packers-Redskins game in Washington.

That particular game is the last Redskins home game in Washington before the Presidential election, and it has a unique history in politics. Since 1936, the outcome of this game, by strange coincidence, has determined the outcome of the election. If Washington wins this game, the party controlling the executive branch remains in power. If Washington loses, however, the opposing party wins the White House.

Of course, the Red Sox just won the World Series for the first time since 1918, so a lot of the rules can be thrown out the window. Regardless, if you see lots of Democrats rooting for Green Bay this weekend, you now know why.

This is way beyond post-Super-Bowl-loss hangover. Someone on the Carolina Panthers has been playing poker with tarot cards or something…

The Carolina Panthers announced yesterday that Steve Smith would be placed on Injured Reserve and would miss the rest of the season. Also, Stephen Davis will not play on Sunday in Seattle because of ongoing swelling problems in his knee.

Said DT Brentson Buckner, “We’re not only playing with backups, we’re playing with backup backups.”

It appears Brad Hoover will start at running back again next week. Carolina probably looks like a giant slab of dead cow (”Mmmmmmm… dead cow…”) to a Seahawks team that’s hungry for a win after losing three straight, including an upset loss at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals.

Will the Kerry family be rooting for the Steelers or the Patriots on Sunday? We can assume that John Kerry is New England fan, but the game will be played in… Heinz Field.

Hmmmmmm…

If the Steelers beat the Patriots on Sunday, will anyone in Boston notice?

From the AP report:

GULFPORT, Miss. — The wife of Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre was diagnosed with breast cancer, yet more bad news in a year full of heartache for the family.

“Brett was relieved to learn that the situation is not as bad as it could have been,” Deanna’s brother-in-law, Scott Favre said. “We think that they got (all of the cancer) out.”

All the best to Brett Favre and his family. They’ve been through enough in the last 12 months.

Click here for final game stats from NFL.com.

Say what you will about the Cincinnati Bengals — and we do — but they were determined to make their first Monday Night home game in 12 years count for something.

As their hometown newspaper begged them not to embarrass the city — a sad statement on the team’s recent history — the Bengals put together their most solid performance of the year. RB Rudi Johnson dominated the ground game, WR Chad Johnson outperformed Denver All-Pro CB Champ Bailey, and the less-than-stellar Bengals defense forced shaky Denver QB Jake Plummer into two interceptions and other mistakes.

You would never have known from watching this game that the Bengals were considered by many to be a disappointment this season. It will still be a struggle for them to finish above .500, but this was a positive step for a franchise that needs all the positivity it can get.

As for Reuben Droughns — no, I’m not done writing about this guy yet — he did manage to get his third consecutive 100-yard game, but he fumbled the ball late in the second half, which set up a Bengals field goal and gave them a little extra momentum at halftime. Still, it’s hard to argue that 24 carries for 110 yards is a bad night. It will be interesting to see what he does next week against an Atlanta Falcons team reeling from that 46-point thrashing in Kansas City.

Overheard on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption yesterday:

“Toss up: Who had the worse weekend, Michael Vick or Ashlee Simpson?”

1. Balance checkbook.

2. Practice radio voice.
3. Visit ArenaFootball.com, look for tryout information.
4. Call Tommy Maddox, get pointers on the insurance industry.

Seriously, how big a bust are you when you go from being the #1 overall draft pick to being rejected by the Chicago Bears, a team trying to decide among Jonathan Quinn, Craig Krenzel and Chad Hutchinson? Talk about hitting rock bottom…

Carolina Panthers’ running back DeShaun Foster has been placed on Injured Reserve with a broken collarbone and will sit out the remainder of season.

After yesterday’s loss dropped the Panthers to a dismal 1-5 on the season, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. There’s no point in bringing Foster back now when his return will not help this team make the playoffs. Stephen Davis will likely return in a few weeks, anyway, so it’s best to let Foster heal up and be ready for 2005.