Lessons Learned in NFL's Week 7...
By Scott Burks
Here are my thoughts on Week 7 in
the NFL...
These are not your father's New Orleans Saints.
The Saints 46-34 come-from-behind victory told me a couple of things.
First, New Orleans is a 60-minute team. When Drew Brees scored on the
QB sneak to cut the deficit to 24-10 right before halftime, that gave the
Saints something positive to build upon for the second half. The
Saints of old would have quit before halftime. The Saints of old also
would not have returned two interceptions for touchdowns, one of which
sealed the outcome. With the Giants and Vikings losing, the Saints are
in the driver's seat for home-field advantage in the NFC.
The Chicago Bears are in trouble.
Anytime a team loses to another team by 35 points, that team has issues.
The Bears not only have issues, they need an intervention after that 45-10
beat-down administered by the Cincinnati Bengals. How did the Bears'
alleged defense allow RB Cedric Benson to gash them for over 180 yards --
especially after the trash he talked all week? And what was QB Jay
Cutler thinking in throwing those interceptions? The Bears are already
in third place in the NFC North: 2 1/2 games behind the Vikings, and a game
behind the Packers. The Bears better get right soon, or they might as
well prepare for NEXT season.
The Pittsburgh
Steelers' defense is back in a big way. Allow me to be overjoyed
for a minute. My Steelers laid the smackdown on the Minnesota Vikings
on Sunday -- and they did it with defense, defense, and MORE defense.
It wasn't enough for my Steelers to hold stud RB Adrian Peterson to under 70
yards rushing. It also wasn't enough that the Steelers' D returned a
Brett Favre fumble for a 77-yard touchdown. The Steelers' D capped off
their stellar day with a late interception return for a touchdown to seal
the victory. I guess the Steelers cured those 4th quarter blues after
all...
The Washington Redskins' problems can be
traced to one source: Vinny Cerrato.
I would lay the blame at Dan "Danny Boy"
Snyder (and I might be right in doing so), but since the owner cannot fire
himself, I'll pick on Cerrato for a minute. Cerrato has the title of
"Vice President of Football Operations", but he is officially Snyder's "yes
man". This is the same Cerrato that hired embattled coach Jim Zorn to
be the offense coordinator (without first naming a head coach, mind you),
before eventually promoting him when no coach with a brain would take the
job. This is also the same Cerrato who stripped Zorn of his
play-calling duties and handed them to a old dude who was last calling out
bingo numbers at a retirement facility (Sherman Lewis). Are you
kidding me? Why doesn't Danny Boy fire Cerrato's ass? Is Danny
Boy trying to win, or is he trying to be RIGHT?
Miles Austin, not Roy Williams, is the Dallas
Cowboys' #1 receiver.
The good news for Dallas is that they found a diamond in the rough with
Miles Austin, an undrafted free agent who turned into the stud wide receiver
as a replacement for Terrell Owens. The bad news is the Cowboys
over-paid for Roy Williams, who at $40 million is not giving them the
production they expected. I'm sure Dallas would love to have those
draft picks they traded for Williams back right about now. Leave it to
good 'ol Jerry Jones to strike gold...
The New York Giants are dangerously close
to becoming frauds. I know the Saints and Arizona Cardinals are
good teams, but the Giants have lost games to the only teams with winning
records on their schedules thus far. That doesn't bode well for a team
that wants to be taken seriously in the NFC. Too bad the Giants cannot
just play teams that suck, eh?
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