Theres so much to say about this amazing and powerful game, so much passion and pride for the hawks that go beyond football, that it's nearly impossible for me to put that into words, but ultimately it comes back to football, and this was the biggest and most hyped hawkeyes game in my lifetime so far, and in my father's as well from what he said. I was so happy to see iowa was finally getting national respect and credit for the great and consistent program they have become under kirk ferentz and i felt this game was to be a big culmination of his efforts in turning iowa into a national power so that they don't suck in my prime. the hype for this game and the fact that college gameday was in iowa city almost made it too much, trust me it takes a lot to actually make me tired of hearing about my hawks. the most impressive thing to me however was the fans, america finally got to see that we have the best and most passionate fans in the game, we live and die with hawkeye football. the throngs of drunken students and supportive iowans outside the stadium, in the parking lots, and around the famous Nile Kinnick Statue and the college gameday crew was really awe-inspiring and i got goosebumps when i saw Kinnick at the start of the game, every seat was literally filled with gold, towels waving everywhere in sync, with only a few small dots of red. it was beauty to me, and the fans that came out in crazed support really made me the proudest i have ever felt to be an iowa fan. i knew with our boy drew tate, the most competitive guy in college football and most talented QB OSU has had to face, as well as the huge support of the crowd that we would have a chance to make this legendary upset of epic proportions. unfortunately some dreams, like this one, don't turn out the way they should or the way we want them to, as the biggest game in the history of the iowa program became swept up in a sea of disappointment as the hawks failed to win in front of the record-breaking home crowd and we lost the game that could have made us legends. i am still extremly proud to call myself a hawkeye fan and noone can say that the effort and the intensity weren't there, we played OSU better than anyone except maybe penn state, but against a team this talented you cannot make any mistakes and we had to play the perfect game, and we didn't. the crowd was insane to start the game and still made an impact at spots but ohio state made sure to take them out of the game fast and make sure they weren't a factor by making a quick TD drive right after iowa failed to do anything on their 1st drive. the game ball should go to either troy smith or anthony gonzalez, even though antonio pittman was key to the buckeyes win as well. smith finished with 4 td passes and just under 200 yards, but the most impressive thing for me was his poise and amazing confidence in the face of that iowa crowd, it didn't affect him one bit and he seemed cold and emotion-less as he disected our defense. he made plenty of big plays and vaulted himself forward in the heisman race because of his leadrship and poise under pressure. gonzalez had 2 recieving tds, and one big one that broke the game wide-open and seemed to take the heart out of us. he caught the 1st one of the game, an easy slant route from smith taking advantage of the coverage by marcus paschal, our hard-hitting safety not known for his coverage skills. his biggest score came in the 3rd quarter, when he used his speed and elusive running to break a few tackles and make the iowa defenders just look like fools as he rolled all the way down-field after a short pass to get the big play. we still had a chance at this point and we would get some momentum still, but this play made the gap just too large to surmount. our defensive gameplan was all about stopping the dangerous gamebreaking speed of their wideouts and the passing game, because they had a big advantage over our corners and could have torn us up, but because of that they were able to run the ball all over his for most of the 3rd quarter. thats when the life looked like it was sucking out of us, the controlled the clock and moved the ball with ease thanks to the punishing combination of very underrated speedster pittman and freshman banger chris wells. for the 1st half it was pittman, for the 2nd half it was the beast wells who we couldn't stop, and our failure to stop the running game led to our defeat. ted ginn had a few catches but wasn't a big impact. we had our chances and opportunities, we just didn't take advantage of them and we commited turnovers at very bad times that killed our momentum and took points off the board for us, these mistakes are impossible to recover from in a game like this. drew tate took a long time to get hot and the wideous overall had a horrible performance, lots of drops and they didn't help tate get his confidence up or get a consistent rhythm, not that tate needs help with his confidence, but you can't move the ball when recievers are droppin key passes and makin the crowd fall silent. chandler got a few nice receptions but his performance ultimately left a disgusted taste in my mouth, because of his fumble in the 4th quarter when it looked like we had the momentum and potential to stage a comeback, he caught a big pass then fumbled it too easily, and it killed all our chances and looked like it struck tate in the heart. herb grigsby had a nice reception and dominic douglas played nice overall, but both had some drops and andy brodell, who dropped a big one too (story of the night) was the only one who actually got a touchdown. damien simms was clutch in giving us a spark in the 2nd quarter and getting us in scoring position, and while albert young is not having the season expected and has yet to have a 100-yd. game, he did come through with a big touchdown run, so i can't be too mad. our defense played dominant in spurts, so if you only watched some of the game you might think they were great, but they could not make any stops in the 3rd quarter and they ran all over us thanks to our focus on their passing game, and that was a major momentum killer because we hardly controlled the ball then. our linebackers and defensive front looked good at times, tackled well and put decent defensive pressure (for iowa) on troy smith, but the running game just killed us for a stretch there. drew tate will still go down as one of the best iowa QB's of all time, but he failed at his chance to become a college legend. here are the three main plays that killed us:

1)the 1st one was a combination of the failed fumble recovery of ted ginn's fumble on ohio state's 1st offensive play and drew tate's 1st quarter pick. we couldn't do anything about the fumble because it fell right into ginn's hands, but tate's pick killed a lot of the energy and momentum we had going, it was a bad throw and he threw it too late cause the guy was open. it was a bad start for tate too, he needed to get a good start and play perfect to win, and this bad start solidified the fact that he wouldn't.

2)another big play was when we controlled the momentum and got the ball with great field position on the 50 yard line, and we failed to move the ball at all and get any points, so a big wasted opportunity that basically threw our momentum out the door.

3) the final play that put the dagger in the heart was scott chandler's fumble in the 4th quarter, when there was 9 minutes left and we had a 2-td deficit. tate was movin the ball well and had completed a long pass to chandler, who dropped it pretty quickly and couldnt recover. my heart just sank into depression, because i knew this one was over.

Big news out of the 713 today as the last big free agent left on the market, Bonzi Wells, signed with my team, the Houston Rockets. When i 1st saw the news flash across the ticker, i was ecstatic and fist-pumping like an even whiter version of Tiger Woods. The more i thought about it, however, the less i liked it. Bonzi is a very talented scorer and offensive rebounder when he wants to be, but his production comes in spurts and he has a notorious work ethic problem from his past, though he seems to have pretty much fixed it now. He will give the backcourt a major scoring and energy boost and gives the rockets a rare player who is versatile and athletic, something they lack, and while this move looks good on paper and it's never a bad thing to add a player of Bonzi's caliber, he could end up being lazy and an underachiever like Stromile Swift last year. I'm probably paranoid but Stro's failure in houston last year is still fresh on my mind. The other problem is his position, shooting guard, and how the rockets will fit him in with Tmac and Shane Battier playing the same position. They will probably start by bringing him off the bench, but i think they would be better served putting him in the starting lineup and going with an undersized but a faster and more athletic starting 5. The rockets now have the weapons for a sleek and stylish team like this (a far cry from van gundy's conservative nature), for an example look at what the suns do with their roster, and now picture the rockets doing the same. I just hope Bonzi doesn't get in van gundy's doghouse and wallow on the bench like Swift, as Bonzi is the type of player who would get angry and disruptive with reduced playing time. A lot of questions when it comes to Wells fitting in Houston, but if he can at least put forth some of the production he had in last year's playoffs, stay out of trouble with van gundy and get good minutes, and if he is used in the right way by the coaches to take advantage of his power forward-like talents, then i'm not joking that this could be a championship season for us. Lets hope that at least some of these questions are answered, as of right now i don't thnk Bonzi's the key to our playoff and title hopes, but hopefully my opinion will change as the season rolls on.

I can't say too much about this game, a pretty crappy one to watch. illinois is easily one of the worst teams, if not the worst, in all of D1 football and we should have crushed them by a lot more than the 24-7 score suggests, but after we took that commanding lead in the 2nd quarter and realized how much better we were than them i think kirk ferentz just decided to manage the game and sit back and get the win. trust me, the score doesn't do justice how bad illinois is, i mean their freshman qb juice williams could have used some juice in his arm, he was 5 or 6 for 25 on completions and just looked horrible, not that he had a supporting cast either, as the receivers dropped any semblance of a good pass juice sent their way. our defense looked good and, surprise, we actually forced some turnovers, something we haven't done in two games. hers my storylines and thoughts on the game:

1)really didn't seem like all of iowa's emotion and intensity was in this one, i think they might have brushed this game off in preparation for the big one next week against ohio state. they looked boring and lethargic to start and never really sustained a long drive in the 1st quarter, but that quick succession of TDs in the 2nd quarter thanks to forced turnovers and key passes by tate kind of sealed the deal and gave us the dominating lead we would need to just rest on it for the remaining time. i still don't support coach ferentz's conservative play calling throughout the second half, i say we just put the dagger in their hearts and finish them and we had plenty of chances to go for it on fourth down with minimal consequence on our part, but coach chose to make the safe plays and run the clock out, essentially keeping illinois in the game if they could ever get some offense going. luckily illinois didn't get a long drive for the entire game and their offense sputtered under Juice, but if we were playing a more elite team this style would not work. i loved the turnovers we forced, we haven't done that in a couple of games and it was starting to get disturbing, and believe it or not, we weren't doin so hot until the turnovers changed the momentum and swiped the energy and will out of the illini.

2) our wideout corp didn't look very good today either, we didn't have andy brodell thanks to a banged up shoulder and herb grigsby failed to make much of an impact, a surprise to me seeing as he was supposed to be the stud number one. dominic douglas continues to impress with his consistency and tough catches, while chandler oddly didn't even make an impact, he's usually tate's favorite target and bail out option. tate wasn't spectacular either and seemed to struggle with confidence, but the other tight end on the roster, tony moeaki, is still making the big plays after last week, following up last week's td catch with an encore that sealed the game for us. this game really showed me how underrated sean green is, our 3rd string running back. he had a couple huge runs and showed that he is not just a bruiser but that he has breakaway speed as well, he should definitly get more touches then he does, even with albert young, and i don't know why he wastes away on the sidelines against the bigger opponents. the disturbing trend of no rushing yardage from albert young continued, he did score a td and made an impact by catching passes but he didn't even get 60 yards rushing. damien simms also got a rushing td, but it was on the goaline. i know our strength is the passing game because of the deep group of receivers and obviously tate, but if we are to beat ohio state (and trust me, we have a chance) we need to re-establish the running game and get that offensive balance back.

3) finally, i need to talk about how bad illinois is. juice williams is a good athlete and talented runner, but he makes horrible decisions and doesn't know which type of throw to put on at the right time. it doesn't help that his wideouts were dropping wide open catches, and with our big brutes up front their running game was poor. i know the horrible stats don't justify juice's talent, but he looked really, really bad out there and his completion percentage was one of the worse i've ever seen watching football. i do give him so credit for that end of game drive when they scored a touchdown, he made some crisp, deep passes that all looked nice and led to his 1st touchdown pass, but he was getting destroyed all day and this didn't make up for it. other positive notes for us was the impressive return of safety marcus paschal, who came back with a bang and was all over the place making plays and hitting hard like he's known for, he even had a pick that was reversed by a challenge. our secondary is also just not doin well and i don't have much (if any) confidence in them next week when we play ohio state, adam shada gets way too many pass interference calls on him and everyone else is too short and not athletic enough, which seems like a huge matchup problem when going up against the incredibly fast ted ginn jr. as long as we can keep passing the ball well and bring in the threat of the running game with our dangerous and versatile trio of backs, as well as put pressure on troy smith and stop the running game, we will have a great chance. so in other words, we have to play the perfect game just to stay in it, but with drew tate at quarterback i think anything is possible.

This was the game that me and my family attended, and its a great tradition for us. The fans are always at their craziest and the players at their most intense and focused, and no matter what the cyclones record is, when they play iowa they always play them like the national title is on the line. Playing at Kinnick just made this game more special, the history and the passion in the air can be felt, i know i sound cheesy and cliche but in historic college stadiums, especially sold-out historic college stadiums, you have to be there to experience the fantastic air you breathe when your in one. the players also have a tradition of gathering outside the kinnick statue at the front of the stadium after games and the hometown feel you get when you just see the players out there with their families casually talking to fans personfies what iowa is all about. but back to the game. iowa came in 2-0 after whupping d-1AA montana and surviving a scary encounter with an overacheiving syracuse team, who was playing with a level of energy that was way over their heads for most of the game. luckily we survived that one in double overtime thanks to that now-famous goal line stand and syracuse extended their nation-long losing streak to one more week, but even though our talent advantage was huge (and we did have the excuse of not having drew tate, whose mere presence seems to inspire the team to play on another level) we were lucky to win. iowa state had barely survived their 1st two games against relatively easy opponents, todd blythe's receiving heroics and just plain freakish ability and chemistry with brett myer allowed the 'clones to scrape out a triple overtime victory over toledo and they beat unlv pretty easily the next week even though they let them hang around and only took them out 16-10. but like i've said, nothing matters when iowa state plays iowa because this interstate rivalry is always close and always so intense, with the cyclones almost-always playing their best game. the memory of last year's game was still fresh on my mind, that brutal 23-3 destroying when tate went down with a concussion and jason mansen choked horribly in his 1st collegiate start. we were lucky to have tate back from that abdominal strain injury, he not only helps with his experience, leadership, big arm, and elusive speed, but his presence and confidence inspires the rest of the team and makes them play better. for evidence just watch last weeks game, when mansen, who didn't look THAT bad, threw 4 picks and just couldn't get the offense or that confident attitude that tate musters up.

well the fans were pumped and drinking early, and i was up in all the action sitting just a couple rows up from the isu bench, along with being witness (and participant) in all sorts of taunts and wars of words with isu fans and injured players who had walked over to jaw-jack with us. emotions and tensions were running high and i couldn't wait for kickoff. some funny notes were todd blythe's interaction with the crowd, as he carefully and slowly took down his pants, stretched, and did all his pregame business while exchanging shit-talking with the crowd and letting us know that our hard-hitting star safety marcus paschal would not be playing, much to the surprise of me and my pops. you just can't get this feel at home, and you sure as hell can't get this emotion at an nfl game.

important players for us on offense obviously starts with drew tate, our stud QB and heart and soul of the team. he can will us to win on any given saturday and just has that leadership quality prevalent in all the legends yet impossible to define. for his small size he has a big arm and is very elusive and hard to bring down, even without a star wideout this year he has spread the ball around and found a go-to target in big and sure-handed tight end scott chandler. if tate came back healthy and hungry today i knew we would win and could have a chance to win every game we play this season. chandler would have to put up a big day, or else one of the receivers would have to rise above the pack and prove to be a go-to target, as we can already rely on our corn-fed offensive line and star-studded running game to do their part. albert young is a versatile scoring threat with reggie bush-like ability, damien simms has a super-quick burst up the hole, sean green is an underrated bruiser with surprising speed, and then fullback tom busch is the perfect blue collar player with his blocking and reliable running and solid hands. our defense has a great and maturing defensive line that should be one of the best in the nation this year or next, with physical-phenom and stud pass rusher kenny iwebema on one end and workhorse bryan mattison on the other. the defensive tackles matt kroul and mitch king are both massive run stuffers and tacklers, while our linebacker corp has been solidified by vet ed miles and new star mike klinkenborg, who had lost his father 3 days before the game. we actually sat by his brother and you could see the sadness and the focus on his face, and an inspired performance from mike would be needed. the only problem with our defense is the secondary, which is fantastic at the safety spots but very suspect with the corners. even without paschal and his game-changing hits that struck fear into the hearts of wideouts crossing the middle everywhere, miguel merrick would hold the spot down with his hard-hitting and physical coverage. the problems with the corners are their height, both adam shada and charles godfrey are undersized and it shows often, and i was afraid blythe and his height of 6 "5 would tear us apart. shada gets a lot of pass interference calls on him and grabs too much, but he is a good hitter and hard worker, but without the height these boys may be in trouble. the iowa state offense is one of the most prolific in the nation, with QB brett myer as one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the nation and he has great chemistry with star blythe, a must. you can basically throw it up anywhere and blythe will catch it anyway. austin flynn is another talented wideout, strong and a good athlete who is a solid number 2. running back stevie hicks battled injuries last season but when healthy is one of the best backs in the big 12, great combo of power and speed and could be dangerous, i know he ripped us up last year. the cyclones defense isn't that good because they lost a lot last year, especially in the linebacker unit, but they got some good size up front so we'll see how that works.

well the story of this game at the start was our inability to stop them, run or pass, period. it was definitly a disturbing start and we were lucky to rebound (hint, hint). meyer was just running right up the middle and advancing down the field with ease, and they capped of an amazingly quick 1st drive with an easy fade td pass to blythe. ok, a little disturbing but with tate i knew we could rebound from anything, so at this point i was still very confident. penalties, botched plays, and a plain inability to get yards prevented us from scoring any tds in the 1st quarter, but luckily we got an easy field goal from the consistent kyle schlicher. lots of missed chances though, and the cyclones would score again off a meyer QB sneak to take a commanding 14-3 lead. this is when the game looked like it was falling out our grasp and we all started getting worried, but all the momentum changed with the amazing reception by scott chander, who had made some penalties and drops on the previous plays, who rebounded in an amazing way to keep tate's confidence up and advance the ball by catching the pass using his hand to tip it over the defender and then catch it over his head, definitly sportscenter worthy. tate capped it off with a nice pass to andy brodell, who fought for the score. as we would find out by the end of the game, our wideouts don't have any stars or big names but as a unit we can hang with anybody. iowa state tried to hand us the game in the 2nd half, i mean the whole 1st half they advanced the ball with ease and meyer looked great, but that momentum we got on that before-half play really changed the game and carried into the 3rd quarter. freshmen dominic douglas suddenly became a stud wideout and top target for tate, as did albert young off variou screen passes. brodell was still a part of the offense as well as grigsby and chandler, and tate, heres the word again, willed his team to an eventual 27-17 victory and moved the ball with stunning ease throughout the second half. the iowa state offense came to an odd standstill, as hicks advanced the ball well on the ground but meyer couldn't find his targets through the air. he seemed to give up on blythe in the 2nd half, a confusing decision and key reason they lost. he only threw to him once i think, and it was a horrible pass. flynn was getting banged up and had a hard time holding on to anything, and their offense just collapsed and bowed down to their master tate in the 2nd half. drew would have 2 more td passes before he was finished, a 1st one for tight end tony moeaki and another one for tom busch, who you don't think of when you think of TD. key plays in the 2nd half were a memorable block on a reverse by the big hometown offensive lineman marshal yanda, who pancaked a defender incredibly hard and sent a deafening BOOM throughout the stadium, as well as tate's passing. one disturbing note was the lack of a running game, not that they needed one with tate at the helm but young only had 53 yards, not what you want out of your elite back and i'll expect better against illinois next week. the illini are the big-ten opener for iowa, and even though no team in the big-ten is easy illinois is horrible this year and with their lack of talent i would be surprised if they stayed in the game with us. i did get to talk to drew tate after the game and get his autograph, he may look small on tv but he's lookin big-swole in person.

Thursday: Miami vs. Pittsburgh-Great and intriguing opening to nfl season, miami is a trendy super bowl pick thanks to overrated daunte culpepper, who looks much better on paper than he really is. the steelers would be playing without ben roeslithberger, who had an emergency appendectomy. miami has a great offense and i can't deny that daunte is the best QB they've had there since dan marino, ronnie brown should be good as an undisputed number one back but the last time he was the sole back on his team was in high school, while chris chambers is one of the game's best deep threats, perfect fit for culpepper's big arm. their defense is great against the run but suspect against the pass with a rebuilt secondary, offensive line is underrated but not that good in pass protection. pitt. is fearsome and tough all over the field on defense, troy polamalu is the best defender in football because he is a part of every play and joey porter is menacing in the pass rush and as a big time playmaker. i picked miami for the sole reason that charlie batch was quarterback, and even though the steelers rely on their great running game and defense to carry the team their offense always seems to sputter when big ben ain't the QB. well chaz batch had a great game, the defense made some key turnovers that sealed the game, and willie parker gave them just enough with the running game to give the steelers the win. daunte stunk up the joint, no td and two picks and even though he looked good at 1st and put up decent yardage, as usual the numbers didn't measure his suckitude. ronni brown gave them some points but basically nada in yardage, and the steelers just plain played like a playoff team and i think the 'fins will be better when daunte works out the kinks.

Sunday: Jets at Titans: Jets lack talent at key positions, mostly running back (old and banged up, soon to be retired curtis martin and average kevan barlow) and wide reciever, where there is not much proven depth behind star laverneaus coles except vet speedster tim dwight. the qb situation is a big question, and even though the titans are the nfl's youngest team and that inexperience left plenty of big question marks themselves, i just thought they had better overall talent at every position, whoever was playing QB, so i picked the titans to win. well chad pennington had arguably the best day of any passer and the defense made some big plays and got some key picks that killed momentum and kept tenessee from scoring, so the jets overcame the lack of a running game and an embarassingly bad showing from kicker mike nugent to overcome the titans, who struggled with quarterback switching between kerry collins and vince young, both of whom struggled in their 1st starts in this offense.

Eagles at Texans: Texans should be better this year, they made some good defensive additions, especially in the draft with pass-rushing phenom mario williams and tackler-extraordinare demeco ryans, and they really helped out the passing game by grabbing andre johnson a real number 2 wideout in proven vet eric moulds. the offensive line got a great coach in mike sherman but its ultimately up to the personnel, while david carr is set for a breakout season one of these days with all his talent. with that said, houston still stinks thanks to their poor offensive line and sudden lack of a running game thanks to the season ending injury to domanick davis. phila had the return of great leader and passer donovan mcnabb and versatile back brian westbrook from injuries, plus one of the league's best defenses and a great line, receivers are overally weak and unproven but getting donte stallworth is an underrated move, he's the vertical threat they need. the eagles are a better team by far, donovan should be ready to throw and throw well, attacking the suspect texans secondary, so i picked the eagles. donte proved to be even better than i thought, he had almost 150 yards and became mcnabb's favorite target as phila battled an early deficit to whup houston with the passing game.

Bengals at Chiefs: Kansas City has big time homefield advantage at Arrowhead along with maybe the best back in the game with all-world larry johnson, who might have no flaws, and a much improved defense, especially in the secondary. the bengals have the return of carson palmer from major knee surgery along with one of the best wideout units in the game led by flashy and super talented chad johnson. rudi johnson is one of the game's most underrated backs and is always consistent, but the big questions are the defense, which gives up a lot of rushing yards thanks to lack of greta frontline, and the return of carson. i picked the chiefs because i still had questions about palmer being at 100 percent and i thought larry johnson would run all over them, even without much in the passing game. well carson passed well but didn't score anything, the running backs piled up the points while the defense did surprisingly well, trent green went out with a scary looking concussion so that killed an already weak passing game and the bengals easily rolled over my chiefs.

Denver at St. Louis: i thought denver had too much talent to lose, they are the afc runners-up and grabbed themselves one of the best and most forgotten wideouts in the game, javon walker, who was though to be the missing piece to the broncos super bowl hopes. plummer is still inconsistent and unreliable no matter what you say, the running game is never a worry under shanahan, and the defense is playoff worthy, especially against the run. st. louis is actually shifting to more of a running game since mike martz left, they should be much more balanced and probably better and more efficient on offense, defense is better but still a team weakness because of the poor secondary. i picked denver. jake plummer went back to his old self here, sadly, and had three turnovers that derailed his team and lost them the game. mike bell grabbed a td for denver but the turnovers changed the game and the rams nabbed an impressive 6 field goals for the win. the impatient bronco's fans will be demanding jake's head here soon.

Falcons at Panthers: two top teams in nfc south so a tough game to pick, falcons have unstoppable running attack with vick and warrick dunn, vick may not be a great passer with ratings and all that but his athletic ability makes him a once in a generation QB, while their defense is fantastic getting to the passer and in pass coverage with speedy deangelo hall, but they have trouble stopping the run and that is what carolina does. the panthers have a great leader and solid passer in jake delhomme and their running game is always good and the center of their attack, along with their flawless defense and return of some key injured stars. i thought carolina was too balanced and too good on defense and with the running game, vick also played horrible against carolina last year, so i picked the panthers. well vick made some big plays, steve smith was hurt so carolina lacked a real number 1 wideout, and the falcons defense was dominate all over and i got this one wrong too.

Ravens at Bucs: ravens have a bunch of washed up stars, but still a ton of talent and big names on defense, lots of aggressiveness and hard-hitting, no flaws and still one of the top d's in the league. steve mcnair will be a big upgrade in the passing game for at least the 1st few games before he gets hurt, but for the offense to thrive jamal lewis has to play better and get over his injuries. tampa bay similarily has a great veteran defense but one that is on it's last legs, while the offense is great in the running game and has talent at reciever but chris simms has to play well for it to succeed and that is a big question. i thought the ravens defense would give simms major trouble and that was enough for me to pick baltimore. well for once i was right, the ravens got a shut-out on the road and put into play serious questions about simm's future as the QB here, he looked real bad, but then again, so did everybody else here. defense made most of the plays (props to chris mcallister and haloti ngata) but offense looked pretty good and jamal lewis showed promising spark.

Bills at Pats: pats aren't what they used to be, they lack any talent at receiver and are forced to throw often to tight ends and running backs, but they still have the best leader and maybe the best QB in football, the ultra-clutch tom brady. the running game is in good hands if dillon gets injuries like he usually does because of speedy rookie laurence maroney, a future star who they want to use as much as possible. the defense lost some key guys but their front 7 is fantastic, especially at putting pressure on the passer, but their secondary has a big size disadvantage. pats still have great coaching, tom brady, and a deadly running game but too many holes elsewhere to get to super bowl. bills are horrible though, willis mcgahee is a great workhorse back but jp losman is too inconsistent and inaccurate at quarterback, the offensive line and receivers are bad, and the defense will be much better with the return of takeo spikes but they don't have much up front or in the secondary, great linebackers though. special teams is best asset here, and thats not gonna get you far, this offense will have trouble putting up points. so i picked new england. pats got off to a slow start, brady got smashed on the 1st play, fumbled the ball and the bills returned it for a score. brady soon recovered even without a number 1 target to throw too, and the bills played better than expected, but good teams are separated from bad ones by the little things and the mistakes you make, and new england's safety on the bills at the end demonstrated why they are a bad team, and the pats won in dramatic fashion.

Saints at Browns: everyone came to see reggie bush play, but drew brees will probably play a bigger role than mr. bush in the team's success, and the return of deuce mcallister as their workhorse back is a lot more important than some people would think. saints have good talent at the skill positions and lots of big names and potential, but its misleading because they lack much at all elsewhere, their offensive and defensive lines are horrible, as is most of their defense except will smith. you cannot win if you are crappy at key places like the offensive line and defensive line. browns are improved and looked like they might be decent, but the bad look started with the season ending injury to center lecharles bently, its very hard to break in a new QB with a bad center. the offensive line is bad and their defense had big holes too, but they got some great veteran leadership in willie mginnest and ted washington. charlie frye is good and poised beyond his years but still has a lot to learn and a bad o-line protecting him, running game is good and there is talent at receiver but noone is durable or very consistent there, like braylon edwards, who should be a lot better than he is. i picked the saints because of their talented playmakers, like reggie, and they didn't disappoint. browns got off to horrible start but played better in the 2nd half, but turnovers, good running by new orleans, and offensive balance by saints as well lead to browns loss.

Seahawks at Lions: hawks still have great running game without steve hutchinson, but his departure will hurt, receivers aren't great but hasselbeck should still tear up weak lions secondary. i thought offense would role over lions, detroit should be more disciplined and finally live up to their potential (especially the receiving corp) under Rod Marinelli, but they just lack enough talent to take on seattle, so seahawks are my pick. ended up as surprisingly close game and both offenses were stuffed with passing and running, came down to kicking and seattle won with the clutch josh brown.

49ers at Cardinals: cardinals have best twosome of wideouts in league with larry fitzgerald and anquan boldin, best passing offense last year, and even with the crappy line edgerrin james is too good to have a big fallout and his rushing will give cardinals offense another dimension and should make them the best offense in the league besides the bengals. warner can still pass and put up the big numbers, and the defense is good in the secondary with lots of young potential and they have an elite pass rusher in bertrand berry. 49ers are better but still bad, cardinals should tear them up through the air and on the ground, while their offense doesn't have enough playmakers yet to make a serious threat, so cards are the pick. 49ers played well and hung in until the end, alex smith made few mistakes and threw no picks while vernon davis looks like a future star and the running game should be good with frank gore. in the end the cardinals passing game was too good and came out on top in an arizona win.

Bears at Green Bay: packers are horrible, with brett favre and playing on lambeau field i hoped that a miracle would happen and i'm not willing to give up on favre yet, so i picked the packers even though i realize they have nothing on their line, at receiver, or at running back anymore. the bears have the most physical and hard-hitting defense, may be the best in football, even with questions at quarterback their running game is all the offense needs to make the playoffs, but to go to the next level they need some passing. well the bears showed it quickly with an early td pass to brent berrian, and it went all downhill from there for me as favre threw 2 picks and got shut out for the 1st time in a while as the bears dominated on defense and were efficient enough on offense to get the embarassing win and expose the pack's suckitude once again.

Quick picks as im getting a little tired, i picked dallas over jacksonville since i though the jags didn't have enough offense to overcome the tough dallas defense, and even with a TO touchdown drew bledsoe made too many key mistakes and the jag's made the right plays at the right time on offense to get the win, they still need to find a true #1 wideout though. i picked the colts over the giants in the so-called "manning bowl", peyton and the passing offense is too good for the giants secondary and peyton is too intense and focused to lose to his little bro, even without a running game at the moment the passing is too good, while the giants are much improved on defense and eli has gotten much better, he is still inconsistent and inaccurate at times. colts ended up winning a close one, tough one to scrap out and eli had better stats but colts made the big plays and giants secondary missed about 3 picks. on monday night i picked washington over my vikings because i though minnesota just had too many questions, but brad johnson was great and their offense and defense showed impressive balance, vikes won off a field goal. i picked the chargers over the raiders even with a 1st-time starting QB in phillip rivers because the raiders just stink, you look at them and see great talent but aaron brooks is either really good or really bad and you never really know, LT number 2 is pretty unstoppable and the raiders have too many issues on defense and in their retooled offensive line to put up enough of a fight, even with the declining randy moss still making plays. game still in progress but raiders looking bad, getting sacked like crazy, and LT is looking nice.