Week 3 NFL thread

These are dark days for Steeler fans.

Running Arians out of town for Haley might be the worst decision the Steelers have made since picking Senor Sack over Dapper Dan.

Roethlisberger might want to think that the plays he made 5-6 years ago, he can no longer make.

 

Not even the least optimistic of Steeler fans would have thought they'd be looking up at Cleveland in the standings.

 

I don't get this dislike of Haley. Yeah, 0-3 and the offense sucks. But Haley ain't the guy throwing the INTs or dropping fumbles. He IS the guy trying to patch together an O-line and a running game.
The offense moved the ball last night, but Roethlisberger had - what? - four turnovers, two that directly resulted in 14 points.
I'm not seeing how that is Haley's fault.
I don't like Haley. Didn't like the hire to begin with, but I don't see how last night - and the overall 0-3 - start is more his fault than anyone else.

How about NO turnovers by the defense this season? NONE. How many sacks?
And Polamalu is playing very well.

Did anyone else notice the first play of Chicago's offensive series? LaMarr Woodley, lined up on the right end, gets a great jump off the snap - Cutler should have been sacked - but the Bears lineman recovers and prevents him from putting any pressure on Cutler. The lineman was a fucking rookie and stopped Woodley cold.

 

Roethlisberger is a lot like Bradshaw where he is much more comfortable throwing the ball 10-15 yards than shortening his throwing motion for short passes. They are both awful at screen passes and short outs, dinks and dunks.

This current offense does not play to the strength of the offense's best player. That is cause for the dislike of Haley.

 

So Cardinals safety Rashad Johnson lost the tip of his middle finger yesterday against the Saints:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/09/23/rashad-johnson-loses-top-of-middle-finger/

 

C'mon, do you really believe the Niners are in the super bowl last year with Smith?

 

The preseason favorites in each NFC Division are:

Packers (1-2)
Niners (1-2)
Falcons (1-2)
I'm not sure if there was a clear favorite in the NFC East, but it was probably the Redskins or the Giants and they are both 0-3.

 

Still the funniest .gif I've ever seen.

 

The division favorites in the NFC may be 1-2 but they all came into the season with notable flaws, except for San Francisco (and I had Seattle winning the West). Green Bay has porous defense, shoddy in-game coaching and the inability to convert short yardage on the ground. Atlanta won a bunch of close games last year but you can still hit them in the mouth and daze them.

When the season started, looking at Green Bay's schedule, starting 1-2 wasn't exactly that unexpected, figuring they would lose at SF and Cincy. After the opening week, I thought they could start 0-3. Green Bay will be a typical "middling" good team -- good enough to make the playoffs but with too many holes to get past divisional weekend, at most.

 

Yeah, I picked the Bears in the North, but I think the Packers were the more popular pick. I'm not stunned the Packers are 1-2, but I am pretty surprised the Niners were so awful yesterday. Either they haven't recovered from the Seattle loss or every team other than the Packers has figured out how to stop Kaepernick. I know it doesn't help that they are so thin at receiver.

 

Biggest surprises so far:
3-0 Miami and and KC.
Miami is a paper tiger.


Biggest disappointments: San Fran, Green Bay, NYG, and Washington
The Niners following up a rough loss at Seattle with a home loss to the Colts is a head scratcher.