Dave’s Football Blog

Game of note #1: Jaguars 27, Colts 24.

Wow. No one is going to take Jacksonville lightly anymore. They are now in first place in the wild AFC South, a half-game ahead of the team they beat — in their house, no less. The Jags seem to keep winning in the last minute of every game. They could be this year’s Carolina Panthers. Don’t turn your back on them.

Game of note #2: Dolphins 31, Rams 14.

How do you figure the Rams? Just when you think they’ve proven they’re still a quality team after a big comeback in Seattle and a big Monday Night win against Tampa Bay, they turn around and give up 31 points to a winless team with no offense. I still expect the Seahawks to finish ahead of St. Louis in the NFC West.

Game of note #3: Chiefs 56, Falcons 10.

I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about the Atlanta Falcons’ defense. Where exactly was that defense today? Priest Holmes and Derrick Blaylock combined for 316 total yards and 8 touchdowns (!!!) today, while Michael Vick completed only 7 of 21 passes and was picked off twice. The NFC South used to be a pretty good division, but now only Atlanta is above .500 and nobody else has more than 2 wins. The Falcons may win this division by default.

Priest Holmes sprained his ankle in the 3rd quarter, though, so that may impact the Chiefs later in the next few weeks.

Game of note #4: Lions 28, Giants 13.

I suppose more of us really should have seen this one coming. The Giants are historically terrible after bye weeks. The Lions are improving under Steve Mariucci, and Joey Harrington completed 18 of 22 passes for 230 yards and 2 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Kurt Warner fumbled the ball 3 times and lost one of them. Detroit may be making a move for a Wild Card spot themselves.

And those were just the early afternoon games…

Click here for final game stats from NFL.com.

Football is a game of inches, and the Carolina Panthers always seemed just a few inches away today.

Too many of Jake Delhomme’s passes were just a few inches away from the hands of his receivers. A potential game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter slipped out of Muhsin Muhammad’s hands. Delhomme underthrew rookie tight end Michael Gaines on more than one potential first down catch. The Panthers secondary never could seem to get close enough to Chargers TE Antonio Gates to stop him from making a whole slew of first down receptions.

Then, with less than 2:30 remaining in the game, Jesse Chatman broke multiple tackles while breaking off a game-clinching 52-yard run. He eventually scored the Chargers’ final touchdown.

The Panthers had a shot with 5:00 minutes remaining. Delhomme and rookie WR Keary Colbert worked the no-huddle offense to perfection, making big pass plays and keeping San Diego’s nickel defense package off the field… until right guard Doug Brzezinski came off the line too soon and was called for a false start. The Panthers never got another first down after that and turned it over on downs.

Give the Chargers the nod today. They kept the Panthers out of the end zone early, made all the adjustments they needed to make at halftime and simply outplayed the Panthers in the second half. They did what they needed to do to win, and they look like they could be a contender for an AFC Wild Card spot.

The Panthers, meanwhile, are now 1-5. Folks, they’re done for 2004. The sheer number of injuries and the terrible inconsistency have doomed this team to a sub-.500 finish this year. The obvious focus for 2005 will be improving the offensive line and getting everyone else healthy again. This team can be competitive again, but not this season. What a shame.

Well, now, I didn’t expect this.

John Fox made no excuses for his team’s performance, and his players have responded with an excellent first half in which San Diego RB LaDanian Tomlinson was neutralized by a Carolina front seven that has muscled up and a Carolina offense that has kept the ball out of LT’s hands. The Panthers dominated the time of possession, 20:51 to 9:09.

A lot of credit for that goes to Brad Hoover, filling in for all of Carolina’s injured running backs with a Mike Alstott-like smash mouth performance. Hoover has 78 yards on 19 carries. A Charger defender rolled over Hoover’s left arm in the 1st quarter, but the fullback from Western Carolina put a protective sleeve on his elbow and went back into the game.

Carolina also caught a break at the end of the first half when Chargers rookie kicker Nick Kaeding hooked a 28 yard field goal attempt and bounced it off the upright. Kaeding never should have had that opportunity, though. A highly questionable pass interference call against Panthers CB Ricky Manning put the Chargers in position to get that field goal attempt.

The Chargers defense has managed to hold the Panthers to two field goals — one of which was set up by Tomlinson fumbling on his first carry of the game — but after spending so much time on the field in the first half, they may tire a bit in the second half. Expect to see Hoover get the ball more in the second half…

An aside…

Last March I bought an Atlas Mobile game called QBz for my cell phone. The game subscription costs $1.99/mo., but I usually win about $20 in prizes every month on the average. I’m pretty good at it.

On Thursday, ECU-Sharon and I went to Baskin-Robbins to spend the $24 in gift certificates I’ve won in the last few months. I got three pre-packed quarts, including one flavor called Quarterback Crunch, described as “Vanilla Flavored Ice Crean with Chocolate Crunchies and a Caramel Ribbon.” Of course, I didn’t consider it until ECU-Sharon read me the description on the back:

Quarterback Crunch was introduced as a tribute to the quarterback crunching exploits of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ “Steel Curtain” defense of the 1970’s. You don’t have to be a Steeler fan to love it.

But it doesn’t hurt…

CBS announcers just attributed the following quote to Carolina Panthers head coach John Fox: “Everybody’s a nobody until they get a chance to play.”

Good quote.

Today’s game between the undefeated New England Patriots and the undefeated New York Jets will not be shown on local TV here in the Triangle.

The game itself starts at 4:05 PM EDT this afternoon. However, Fox has the doubleheader today. Thus, in this area, CBS will air the Chargers @ Panthers game at 1:00 PM, then hand off to the local stations. Fox, which holds the NFC side of the NFL TV contract, will air Falcons @ Chiefs at 1:00 PM and Dallas @ Green Bay at 4:00 PM.

It’s funny how the NFL TV contract stipulates that the broadcast rights for games involving NFC teams playing at AFC stadiums default to the NFC network, and vice versa. I wonder why that is.

Anyway, if you want to see the Jets@Pats game locally, you will need to find a sports bar or use your NFL Sunday Ticket subscription. I’m sure people who want to see this one will find a way.

On the other hand, if you want to record John Stewart’s tirade against cable news on 60 Minutes tonight, that shouldn’t be a problem…

The CBS announcers just said that Cam Cameron is the offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers. Cameron was the former head football coach at my alma mater, Indiana University.

Cameron’s record as head coach at IU? 18-37.

Now I really want the Panthers to win this game…

So Carolina CB Ricky Manning couldn’t stop Terrell Owens in Philadelphia. Let’s see how he does this Sunday in Charlotte against Keenan McCardell.

In a major move right before the trade deadline, the San Diego Chargers acquired McCardell from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in exchange for two draft picks. McCardell, a Pro Bowler in 2003, had been holding out for a pay raise that would have given him as much as the top receivers in the league. The Bucs weren’t going to give him that money, though, so they honored his trade request.

McCardell will boost a receiving corps that just lost its leading receiver, Reche Caldwell, to a season-ending knee injury. In addition, the Chargers signed veteran journeyman and former Steeler Bobby Shaw.

Clearly, San Diego is making these moves because it feels it can compete at 3-3 and surprise some people. This could go one of two ways for the Chargers in the short term; either their new receivers will boost their passing game immediately, or the new guys will need a couple of weeks to adjust to the new offense and struggle early. As a Panthers fan, I’m hoping for the latter.

It may be a moot point, though, if the Panther defense cannot stop LaDanian Tomlinson. After all, this defense couldn’t stop some guy named Reuben Droughns two weeks ago.

Pittsburgh nose tackle Casey Hampton, an anchor in the Steelers’ run defense, is done for the year after tearing ligaments in his knee in last Sunday’s game against Dallas.

ESPN’s Len Pasquarelli is reporting that the Steelers have re-signed Kendrick Clancy to help fill in for Hampton. Clancy, a highly regarded lineman out of Ole Miss, played for four years for the Steelers before being cut this preseason in favor of practice-squad vet Chris Hoke.

Both Clancy and Hoke were competing for a job backing up Hampton. Now it looks like they’ll be competing for the starting job against New England.

Pasquarelli also reported that the Steelers are considering moving right defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen back to nose tackle, the position he played for them in 2000 after coming to Pittsburgh as an unrestricted free agent. Von Oelhoffen, you will recall, recovered the fumble that led to Pittsburgh’s winning touchdown in Dallas last Sunday.

There will be a lot of talk about how this defense will respond with Hampton gone. With upcoming home games against the Patriots and the Eagles, two popular picks for the Super Bowl, there’s not a lot of room for error here.

It was strange enough seeing Jerry Rice in a Raiders uniform. Seeing him in one of those goofy-looking Seahawks uniforms will be even stranger.

The future Hall-of-Fame receiver, now 42, was traded to Seattle yesterday for a conditional late-round draft pick. Rice somehow fell out of favor in new coach Norv Turner’s offense and asked to be traded after getting only 5 receptions in 6 games this year.

Rice’s legendary work ethic and workout regimen is one of the main reasons he’s the only wide receiver to remain in the league after age 40. Like a lot of athletes who some say hang on too long and tarnish their lasting image, Rice wants to stick around for a few more games. I don’t think Rice is tarnishing his image at all, though. The fact that he’s still a decent receiver in the NFL at the age of 42 speaks volumes about his skills. If he can still play, let him.

I’m not so sure I would say the same thing about Raiders QB Rich Gannon, who broke a vertebra in his neck in a collision with Tampa Bay LB Derrick Brooks. Gannon, 38, is out for the season, but doctors think he might be able to recover in time for next year.

Really, though. If you’re 38 years old and just broke a vertebra in your neck, do you really want to get back out there that badly? That’s just a little different than being 38 and completely healthy. Gannon needs to start thinking about life beyond the gridiron, or in the broadcasting booth. A neck injury like that should make any 38-year-old consider hanging up the cletes.