Watching the classless, absolute a-hole move by Belichick, going for it on 4th and 1 with a 28 point lead, I have to say that a bus crash or some other misfortune will be in the Pats future if they keep this up. There was no honor or necessity in going for it on 4th and 1 with that lead, none. Don’t give me any BS about how the game isn’t over until it’s over and how any team could come back. It’s the Bills and you’re the Pats, with the football equivalent of the 2000 Yankees lineup. The Bills are not coming back, and you’re going to put up more points.

The Patriots have no class. They continue to show it every week. This is just the latest example.

Alright, so we finally have the left/right splits for Donovan McNabb after the game against the New York Giants. Here are the new totals:

That means for that game, this was his breakdown:

That’s pretty much what I saw during the game. No passes off the left, which is where the pressure was coming from. Now, looking back I think I was being unrealistic during the game. Call it fan frustration. It’s more likely that the pressure from the left side made it hard to throw that way, plus he did have a few batted down, and it wasn’t like a quick WR screen or out was going to work against press coverage.

The real NFL commentators on ESPN, for example, have been railing against Andy Reid because he didn’t adjust by having a TE cover and help Winston Justice against Osi Umenyiora. That’s a fair point and amazingly obvious in hindsight.

Another correction/observation, McNabb was at least doing one look left on most of the sack highlights I saw, so I was probably wrong about that. Looking at it, he was still holding the ball too long, because he’s used to being able to scramble away. He’s not able to right now, and that looks to be the biggest adjustment he needs to make before they come back off the bye.

Donovan McNabb has the following splits as of the end of last week’s games:

If I remember correctly, passing splits are updated after STATS does their tape review of the games on Monday/Tuesday, so I’d expect it to be updated by Wednesday if not tomorrow. I’ll send out the new numbers then.

I’m a pretty big Donovan McNabb fan. I’m not one of those Eagles fans who wants to run him out of town at the first sign of struggle. So, understand that when I say that McNabb is the reason the Eagles look so awful tonight, I don’t say it with malice or with a predisposition for picking on McNabb.

Couple of observations from tonight’s game (and from the first two, as well — I missed most of last week’s game).

1. His timing is off, he’s throwing late and holding the ball too long.
2. Yes, the receivers aren’t getting open as much as they need to against press coverage.
3. That being said, McNabb isn’t scanning the field like he used to. Too often, he’s only looking right (the natural side for a righty) and isn’t looking left. That’s a rookie mistake. Follow your progressions, Donovan. This is the biggest issue tonight, I’ve seen Curtis, Buckhalter, and others open left during a lot of the sacks.
4. Accuracy is down. He does throw a few into the turf every other game or so, but this year he’s been missing right, high, and behind receivers. This is uncharacteristic.
5. McNabb looks to be slow on his scrambles. Probably due to the injury, but he needs to adjust to that fact, then.

This is a quick list, but item 3 is by and far the most frustrating thing to me. When I’m watching QBs for my fantasy team (stop snickering!), that’s one thing I look for. His head should hit both sides on many if not most of the pass plays. A QB that only looks one way cuts off half his receivers. This also leads to a lot of interceptions.

The easiest way to see if I’m right or wrong will be to see the breakdown of passes by zone. I bet there has only been 1 or 2 attempts to the left side of the field. Pick any other game from last year and I bet that’s not true. (I’ll look this up tomorrow).

11 sacks (and counting) have to more with McNabb’s performance rather than the injuries hurting the team. I’m not saying Winston Justice isn’t making mistakes, or that Brian Westbrook isn’t a big loss. What I’m saying is that McNabb has done better with less. The Giants are good, but they’re not this good.

The good thing is that this stuff can be fixed, especially over a two week break (well, except for the speed issue). McNabb shouldn’t be immune from criticism, and it shouldn’t be we love you or leave town. Let’s go Eagles, this season isn’t over yet. McNabb does his part, the rest of the team does their’s and the playoffs are still in reach.

It seems that Michigan isn’t the most overrated team in the NCAA. With their defeat of Notre Dame, Michigan has proven they are only the second most overrated team in college football. I guess our friends in South Bend have finally proven they are number 1 in something.

Michigan loses again. This time, they lost to a real team. They lost big. Bigger than ever. To say that Michigan is hurting, is an understatement.

Can anyone say “Big 9 Conference.” Don’t worry, running back Mike Hart promises that they will win next week against Notre Dame. Well, they might have a shot as they are playing the second most overrated team in college football.

I’ve written about this before, but the New England Patriots are truly the least classy “dynasty” in modern sports history. I’ve never seen a bigger bunch of whiney, sorry players with as much talent as they have. LaDainian Tomlinson was right to get mad, and it’s no surprise the Pats acted like this. The Pats are ridiculous, and it starts with the coach and the veterans on that team who consistently play the victim. There are very few franchises I don’t respect. The Pats are one.

It seems that a few people just don’t like the guy. I can’t imagine why.

I hate making big predictions about players. In fact, I think it’s so hard that I wanted to build a fantasy game around big predictions. So many things go into a career that it’s hard to say what someone will be at the end of their run.

With that said, I was reading Page 2’s Goats, gaffes and blunders article and I can’t help thinking what I said to a friend last week: Tony Romo is overrated. Way, way overrated. He’s not going to be great.

I’ve watched him quite a bit this year and while I recognize the talent, and I see how good he could be, I also recognize something else in him: a lack of preparation and seriousness about the game. He reminds me of Rex Grossman or any number of talented QBs who just don’t quite make it to the big time.

The mistake this past weekend was a case in point. He’s going to make mistakes like that, not because he’s trying to make a play, say like a Brett Favre, but because he’s not always giving his best. Maybe this weekend will scare him into fixing this, but I’m not holding my breath.

This is great stuff:

Love working here… smart people everywhere. Whoever got him to make this announcement here was brilliant.

At least I had one prediction on FatMixx that turned out right. The scoring on the crazy McNabb/Brown/Buckhalter TD was corrected to reflect a tipped ball and completion to Buckhalter. Here’s the full impact of the scoring change:

OFF Phi +35.0 Passing Yards for Donovan McNabb
OFF Phi +1.0 Passing Touchdowns for Donovan McNabb
OFF Phi +1.0 Receptions for Correll Buckhalter
OFF Phi +55.0 Receiving Yards for Correll Buckhalter
OFF Phi +1.0 Receiving Touchdowns for Correll Buckhalter
OFF Phi -1.0 Receptions for Reggie Brown
OFF Phi -20.0 Receiving Yards for Reggie Brown
OFF Phi -1.0 Fumbles for Reggie Brown
RET Phi -1.0 Fumbles Recovered (Own Team) for Correll Buckhalter
RET Phi -37.0 Fumble Recovery Yds (Own Team) for Correll Buckhalter
RET Phi -1.0 Misc Fumbles Recovered for Correll Buckhalter
RET Phi -37.0 Misc Fumble Recovery Yards for Correll Buckhalter
RET Phi -1.0 Fumble Return TDs for Correll Buckhalter

Told ya so.

NFL.com has the updated GameBook if you’re interested.

That amazing Eagles TD by Correll Buckhalter is right now scored as a fumble recovery for a TD in the official GameBook. I think that this is going to get changed during the week as the NFL has a chance to review the film. I would’ve scored it as a tipped ball and a completion to Buckhalter. I was watching the game live and I’ve watched the play on several different highlight packages and every time I don’t think that Reggie Brown ever had possession of the ball. He was juggling it, tipped it into the air, where Buckhalter grabbed it and took off.

My bet is a scoring correction and 6 more points for McNabb on my fantasy team.

Update: As luck would have it, my game this week is tied. This could be a big scoring change…

So, before I really talk about the Arizona Cardinals implosion last night, I want you to watch Denny Green at the postgame press conference:

He’s referring to this preseason win against the Bears, in case you’re wondering.

So, they folded, sure. And killed my fantasy team in the process (no hard feelings). But the thing that baffles me is that for a team that talks so much about finishing games off, I don’t understand the second half game plan. It’s important to run, but my God, when your running back has 55 yards on 36 carries (an amazing 1.5 yds/carry), it’s time to do something different. I don’t care how much Edgerrin James whines.

The second thing is that you play to win the game. I know that you want to be safe, and you have a great kicker, but with 2nd and 3 at the Chicago 24 with 1:04 left, you don’t settle for the field goal. You go for the first down. And if you’re going for the first down in last night’s game, you trust Leinart. Edge is a pretty good receiver, by the way. I’m not sure if Denny Green realizes that.

Anyway, the Bears are good, but their offense showed what happens when you get cocky. Pregame reports had the defense talking about a shutout and quotes from Grossman saying that if he saw Muhsin Muhammad single-covered, he would consider him open. The number of bad passes of over 20 yards was ridiculous. He was pressing and it showed. They’re just lucky Denny Green doesn’t trust his offense and tightened up in the fourth.

(Via Deadspin)

From King Kaufman’s Week 6 picks (winners in caps):

N.Y. GIANTS (2-2) at Atlanta (3-1): The Giants’ strong defensive front and weak secondary is perfect for a quarterback who makes good decisions, gets rid of the ball quickly and has an accurate arm. Oh.

Of course, I’m still picking the Falcons, but hey. By the way, he’s still my favorite sports writer. If you’re not reading Kaufman, you’re missing out.