Hiatus

Due to the Exam Schedule and the schedule of events I have in the coming week, I will not be posting any new entries for at least a week. 

I will be back in time for a Thanksgiving preview early next week, and MAYBE a power ranking that is inclusive of week 12. 

Wish me luck. 

Thursday Night Quarterback

Week 9 Power Rankings

No Descriptions this week, too busy. Maybe a Cowboys Redskins article this weekend. Depends on how much free-time I have. Will post pictures from the game either Sunday Night or Monday, It depends on whether or not I'm happy with the results.

Previous Weeks: 6 7 8 9 10

Biggest Movers:

Minnesota Vikings +4
Green Bay Packers -5

last week's ranking in parenthesis

1. Tennessee Titans  (1)  9-0

2. New York Giants  (2)  8-1

3. Carolina Panthers  (4)  7-2

4. Pittsburgh Steelers  (3)  6-3

5. Washington Redskins  (5)  6-3

6. Atlanta Falcons  (9)  6-3

7. Arizona Cardinals  (6)  6-3

8. Tampa Bay Buccaneers  (8)  6-3

9. Philadelphia Eagles  (7)  5-4

10. Baltimore Ravens  (11)  6-3

11. Chicago Bears  (10)  5-4

12. Indianapolis Colts  (14)  5-4

13. New England Patriots  (15)  6-3

14. Buffalo Bills  (12)  5-4

15. Minnesota Vikings  (19)  5-4

16. New York Jets  (18)  6-3

17. Miami Dolphins  (16)  5-4

18. Green Bay Packers  (13)  4-5

19. New Orleans Saints (17)  4-5

20. Dallas Cowboys  (20)  5-4

21. Denver Broncos (22)  5-4

22. San Diego Chargers (21)  4-5

23. Jacksonville Jaguars  (26)  4-5

24. Cleveland Browns  (23)  3-6

25. Houston Texans  (24)  3-6

26. San Francisco 49ers  (28)  2-7

27. St. Louis Rams  (25)  2-7

28. Seattle Seahawks  (27)  2-7

29. Cincinnati Bengals  (29)  1-8

30. Kansas City Chiefs  (30)  1-8

31. Oakland Raiders  (31)  2-7

32. Detroit Lions  (32)  0-9

Last Week's Picks:

11-3 (Overall 41-27)

This Week's Picks:

Thursday Night Game:

NY Jets at New England

Sunday Games:

Denver at Atlanta

Philadelphia at Cincinnati

Houston at Indianapolis

New Orleans at Kansas City

Oakland at Miami

Baltimore at NY Giants

Minnesota at Tampa Bay

Detroit at Carolina

San Francisco at St. Louis

Arizona at Seattle

San Diego at Pittsburgh

Tennessee at Jacksonville

Dallas at Washington                -Game of the Week

Monday Night Game:

Cleveland at Buffalo

Wednesday Night Quarterback

Has been postponed. 

Look back tomorrow.

Home Made Uniform Project

I am currently creating my own Redskins Jersey from scratch. 

Here's the basics: 

Long sleeve beige shirt, cotton material (i really don't like the feel of the jersey fabric) with burgundy fabric patches sewn on to create this look.

I think the look is great, I'm excited to see how it will turn out. I'm toying with the idea of putting a name on the back. If I do, then I'd have to pick a name that I wouldn't mind cutting individual letters for. 

Proposed Names / Numbers:

#9       Sonny Jurgenson    

#42     Charley Taylor          

#44     John Riggins

#81     Art Monk

The problems here are I don't want the uniform to be period-inaccurate. I wouldn't be comfortable with having Riggins or Monk on there strictly because they didn't wear the uniform. 

So that strikes out Monk and Riggins.

The problem with Jurgenson is the amount of patience I would have to have to cut out the name Jurgenson. Then again, if I don't do the NOB (name on back) then I wouldn't have to worry about it. With Taylor, I feel like people would confuse him with the late Sean Taylor, whose number was 21.  

21 x 2 = 42. 

I think if I were to do this, I'd want it to be done right. If anyone out there actually reads this, please help me out by picking one of the above four and writing your choice in the comments section (click "comments" below). 

Thanks in advance, and If there is no response, Oh well. I guess I could always flip a coin. 

Did they invent four sided coins yet?

Wednesday Night Quarterback

Week 9 Power Rankings

Previous Weeks: 6 7 8 9 10

Biggest Movers:

Atlanta Falcons +7
Dallas Cowboys -10

last week's ranking in parenthesis

1. Tennessee Titans  (1)  8-0

They are officially the best team in the league. An impressive tough game against the Packers really shows the strength of this defense and offense. 
2. New York Giants  (2)  7-1

The Giants didn't play their best game against the struggling Cowboys and they STILL found a way to win. 

3. Pittsburgh Steelers  (5)  6-2

Beating down the Redskins on the road really makes this team look poised to win another title. 

4. Carolina Panthers  (4)  6-2

Idle weekend and this team is looking up at Oakland at Detroit for the next two weekends. How does 8-2 sound?

5. Washington Redskins  (3)  6-3

The Redskins had a terrible showing on a National stage. This team should rest up this weekend. Another Nationally Televised game on the 16th against the hated Dallas Cowboys. Should be a good game if Romo is back. 

6. Arizona Cardinals  (8)  5-3

The Cards have established themselves as being dominant on the ground and through the air. Their corner backs are playing tighter and they will win one playoff game this year if not more. 

7. Philadelphia Eagles  (12)  5-3

This team is coming back from a slow start. A win against the Giants this weekend would have HUGE implications for the whole division.

8. Tampa Bay Buccaneers  (11)  6-3

The Buccaneers are a back and forth kind of team. A poor performance in the Dallas game 2 weeks ago and a poor showing in the first half of this weeks Kansas City game could have been trouble, but they came out of those games 1-1. 

9. Atlanta Falcons  (16)  5-3

How about this teams turnaround from last year? More to come on that. 

10. Chicago Bears  (15)  5-3

How funny would it be to see a QB controversy in Chicago between Orton and Grossman in a few weeks? This team should do well either way. Grossman learned a lot sitting on the bench. 

11. Baltimore Ravens  (14)  5-3

This team is doing great things. And the way the AFC looks, you could say this team is 3rd best in the conference (wow). 

12. Buffalo Bills  (6)  5-3

This team and it's division is quite a surprise. The Bills find themselves in a tight race with the Jets and Pats (and Dolphins) for division supremacy. 

13. Green Bay Packers  (17)  4-4

The Packers played well against the Titans on Sunday, but if those FG's could have been converted to TD's and we have a 5-3 team and a 7-1 team. 

14. Indianapolis Colts  (19)  4-4

Peyton looked like his old self against the Pats Sunday night, however; he has to step up his game if he wants a wildcard spot. The titans are not going to lose 4 games this season.

15. New England Patriots  (7)  5-3

Wasn't this team 8 games ahead of the Dolphins at this point last year? Strange..

16. Miami Dolphins  (21)  4-4

Probably the 2nd most impressive turn around of the season, but again, more on that later in the week. 

17. New Orleans Saints (9)  4-4

This team is falling back in the ranks for the NFC South. Although they had a Bye last week, this is where the team should have been on last weeks rankings. If they beat the Falcons this weekend, I will put them up at least 4 spots. 

18. New York Jets  (24)  5-3

I refuse to give this team any higher ranking. They are 5-3 but they could easily be 3-5. Hope they prove me wrong this weekend at home against the Rams (I know i picked the rams to win). 

19. Minnesota Vikings  (23)  4-4

Is Gus bad or good? I can't tell. He plays too inconsistently to give this team a higher ranking. 

20. Dallas Cowboys  (10)  5-4

How ironic is it that they bench Johnson for throwing an INT and the very first pass by Bollinger is an INT? Big D desperately needs Romo back. And I believe he will be playing against the Redskins after Dallas's Bye. 

21. San Diego Chargers (13)  3-5

This team should be doing so much better with the talent that they have. Game against division bottom dwelling Chiefs should put this team at .500. 

22. Denver Broncos (18)  4-4

Thursday night game against the Browns could push this team over the .500 mark, but I don't think they can win this division without a running game. 

23. Cleveland Browns  (26)  3-5

So let me get this straight, you throw 24 million dollars at Derek Anderson, and now, 6 months later, you bench him for the fan favorite who now has 2 days to prepare for a Thursday night game at home? Ok. I understand. 

24. Houston Texans  (20)  3-5

This team was surprisingly bad, then resurgent (3 wins in a row), now it's under achieving. AND Matt Schaub is out for November. Awesome. 

25. St. Louis Rams  (25)  2-6

The Rams need to win against the Jets to show me they will reach at least 6-10 this season. If they lose ...well, they won't reach 6-10. 

26. Jacksonville Jaguars  (22)  3-5

How lame is this team playing? Let's just say I called it. 

27. Seattle Seahawks  (27)  2-7

I have nothing to say. This team is getting 27 only because they're not as bad as the following. Can I rank a team below 32?

28. San Francisco 49ers  (29)  2-6

Maybe Samurai Mike will show us more if he loses to the Cards on Monday Night.

29. Cincinnati Bengals  (32)  1-8

How can this team be talking about going 8-8 after winning their first game in week 9?!?!?

30. Kansas City Chiefs  (30)  1-7

How sweet was that pass to Thigpen? They should get a W just for that play alone. 

31. Oakland Raiders  (28)  2-6

Awful. If this team hadn't beat KC or NY Jets, they would easily be 32nd on this list with 1 or 0 wins. 

32. Detroit Lions  (31)  0-8

I want this team to get at least one this year, and if they don't get it this weekend, they won't get it at all. 

Last Week's Picks:

9-5 (Overall 30-24)

This Week's Picks:

Thursday Night Game:

Denver at Cleveland

Sunday Games:

New Orleans at Atlanta

Tennessee at Chicago

Jacksonville at Detroit

Seattle at Miami

Green Bay at Minnesota

Buffalo at New England

St. Louis at NY Jets

Baltimore at Houston

Carolina at Oakland

Indianapolis at Pittsburgh

Kansas City at San Diego

NY Giants at Philadelphia 

Monday Night Game:

San Francisco at Arizona 

Bye: Cincinnati, Dallas, Tampa Bay, Washington

Redskins 6 - Steelers 23

Click the title for Box Score.

3 things that went wrong:

3rd/4th Down ------> 1st Down

The Skins could not capitalize on 3rd or 4th down tonight. This was a terrible performance on on the Offensive side of the ball. We only had one 1st down in the first half and it cost us the game. 

Turnovers (on downs, on punts, and on INT)

The potentially perfect season for Jason Campbell has ended tonight and with it, we add a loss to the column on the right. The punt that was blocked by the Steelers early in the game led to a TD and that was Plackemeir's first blocked punt of his long career. To bad that could have helped us not lose the game. Finally, failed attempts on 4th down really killed this team. Those last few drives in the 4th quarter should have been field goal attempts (with the exception of 4th and goal on the 1). 

Don't be fancy. Stick to you're playbook.

The Skins wandered away from their playbook sometime in the 2nd quarter when they stopped utilizing the number one running back in the league and started throwing on 1st down. The 4th and goal play call was a terrible decision and they payed for it. It should have been a QB sneak or a dive by Portis or Sellars. 

3 things that went right:

Portis was the playmaker

It seemed like the only offensive player of the Redskins was Clinton Portis. He didn't get 120 like he did the last 5 weeks, but he did have the most yards on the Redskins for rushing and second most for receiving yards (53 and 73 respectively). 

Kick returns impressed

Rock Cartwright did his job. Great returns by this guy. 

Punting by Plackemeir

With the exception of the blocked punt, Big Boy blasted all of his punts way down field for a 43.7 yd average, with one inside the 20 and one touchback. Much better than Durant Brooks.

Game Excitement Rating:

/5

Not a great game for offensive football lovers. The Steelers had two good drives, but that was it for offense from both sides. A few turnovers didn't make up for lack of explosiveness from the teams. 

Game Ball:  Steeler's Defense

The Steeler's stopped the redskins on all facets of the defense. They played tight on the receivers and they stopped Portis. Well played game by the defense causing 2 turnovers and one blocked punt as well as numerous stops on 4th down and 3rd down.