FINAL UPDATE (5:35) Raiders/Lions QB: Through the first half, quarterbacks in the Lions/Raiders game are a combined 31/41 for 304 yards and a touchdown. Jon Kitna: 16/21, 164 yards, TD, INT. Josh McCown: 15/20, 140 yards.
L.T.: 9 carries for -1 yards. He also has 15 yards receiving on three receptions for 14 total yards. Then, the last play of the second half, L.T. picked up nine yards on a run. However, San Diego's defense has one interception, three sacks and a forced fumble.
UPDATE III (5:00 p.m.) : Interesting stat: With three minutes left in the first quarter, the Chargers have rushed seven times for six yards. Here's the interesting stat. Phillip Rivers and L.T., have the exact same number of yards (three) although LT has five more carries.
Jeff Garcia had a great start. In the first quarter, the former Eagles savior went 7/9 for 118 yards passing. Joey Galloway caught three of those passes for 59 yards receiving. Shaun Alexander rushed for only eight yards on five attempts.
Rex Grossman, on the other hand, completed only one of his four passes (four yards) through 14:22 left in the second quarter. This game is going to be won by the defense. I can feel the force flow through me.
Jon Kitna started off smoking. After completing eight of ten passes for 95 yards to start the game, Kitna threw a pick allowing the Raiders offense a chance to score. Which they didn't -- Janikowski field goal try blocked. You really thought they would?
Note: There's been two field goal attempts blocked during the late games. The Lions (Rogers) blocked a Janikowski attempt and the Bears (Brown) blocked a Nate Kaeding attempt.
NFL.com Update: With most of the first quarter up with all three late games, the NFL.com Game Centers first went back to the start of the games with the corresponding stats, then everything went out completely because they were labeled as "Pregame". Just sad. If anything, NFL.com's Game Center has become very unreliable. For example, it had Josh McCown going 6/6 with a few minutes left in the first quarter. Now, it has Dante Culpepper (with no McCown references) going 1/1.
UPDATE II (4:00 p.m) : So I wanted to quickly reference my fantasy football team. I so know that the interest level is beyond low for you readers. But knowing you read through my stuff, you guys soldier on.
This week I'm playing Arrowhead Pride. My quarterback, Peyton Manning, scored me 31 points from Thursday. Dallas Clark contributed five points. David Akers is my second highest scoring at the moment with eight points. Hines Ward provided a touchdown -- five points. That's it so far and I'm beating Arrowhead. I still have two running backs (Brandon Jacobs and Cedric Benson) to play in the late games -- he still has Alexander. I feel confident, provided McNabb holds to his current form, that I will win this weekend.
Chris Brown/Titans Update: Chris Brown's good start continues -- 19 rushes for 175 yards. But it isn't just Brown. The Titans simply wore down the Jags with a powerful rushing attack. The Titans called 49 rushing plays against 18 passing plays on their way to a 13-10 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Vote for you: What's worse? A ref that calls ticky-tac fouls or doesn't call a foul on an obvious play? Something tells me that point of view will change depending on whom it's called. Um, Duh?
Going back to the Texans newest quarterback: Let's not fail to mention a majority of Schaub's success (16/22, 225 yards, TD) comes at the hands of Andre Johnson who has 142 yards receiving on seven receptions and a 77-yard touchdown. Larry Johnson added 87 total yards on 17 touches (10-43 rushing, 7-44 receiving). The newest Chiefs quarterback, Damon Huard went 22/33 for 168 yards passing and two picks. The Texans handily beat the Chiefs 20-3.
Adrian Peterson/Vikings defense update: The rookie running back is having one hellva start. On 19 carries, the Vikings rookie recorded 103 yards rushing. But that's not all. On a swing pass to the right, Peterson, after juggling the reception, took a 60-yard reception into the endzone for his first NFL touchdown. Peterson finished with 163 total yards. The Vikings defense is another story. They've returned two interceptions for touchdowns (Kevin Williams and Antoine Winfield). The Vikings beat the Falcons 24-3.
Powerful Patriots: While the Colts announced that they're still in Super Bowl form Thursday night, the nemesis Patriots have done the same owning a playoff expected New York Jets, 38-14. The Tom Brady (22/28, 297 yards, 3 TDs) to Randy Moss (9-183, TD) combination could join the league's elite duos.
Good game by Big Ben: The Miami University grad led the Steelers to a crushing defeat over the Cleveland Browns, 34-7, with four touchdown passes.
Most people expected the Rams to be in the running late for the NFC West. And that could still be the case. But the Carolina Panthers, with a good start from Jake Delhomme (three touchdowns), were better after a 27-13 win. DeShaun Foster and DeAngelo Williams combined for 32 carries for 156 yards. The fantasy football love-fest of Steven Jackson failed (note: Fake Teams thanked me for passing over him for Peyton Manning) after recording 61 total yards and no scores.
Note to NFL.com: Please revert to the old site. The game logs use a lot of PC resources (mostly RAM on Firefox) and they're just too goofy. The old style was simple, easy, convenient and awesome. Progressing for the sake of progressing is similar to con-gressing.
UPDATE I (3 p.m.): I made the reference, during a family gathering while watching Michigan/Oregon Saturday, that when people see a car wreck on the highway, they have no choice than to slow down and take a peek. It's just in our nature. It's why we have to watch Michigan get smoked during their four-game losing streak stretching back to late 2006. Enter Browns.
Browns quarterback Charlie Frye was taken out of the game for Derek Anderson. The chants for Brady keep getting louder. My question is, if you're Brady, why in the hell would you want to come in now? The fans are already on edge in the first half of the first regular season game. The Steelers are owning the Browns offense and Romo Crennel is ticked off. The Browns quarterbacks are a combined 7/20 for 68 yards passing (34 for each) and a pick through the first half. The Steelers recorded six sacks.
Another long return: Ellis Hobbs, Patriots kickoff return guy, returned the opening second half kickoff 108 yards to give the Patriots a 21-7 lead.
The Houston Texas newest quarterback, Matt Schaub has completed nine of 14 passes for 156 yards and a score leading the Texans to a 17-0 lead with 14 minutes left in the third quarter. You know what they say, a great offense can be a team's best defense. With only nine carries, Larry Johnson has become slightly irrelevant as Kansas City's offense has called 20 passing plays.
The Miami Dolphins newest quarterback, Trent Green: 13/21 for 128 yards and a score.
The Best Modern Clutch Quarterback is having a ball with his newest toy, Randy Moss. Tom Brady completed a 51-yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss increasing their lead to 28-7. Randy Moss has six receptions for 157 yards and a touchdown. Brady is 15/20 for 238 yards and three touchdowns. I think it would be fair to score this game as "over".
The Chad Johnson wanna-be Steve Smith caught a 68-yard Jake Delhomme touchdown pass. Delhomme, with the legendary David Carr in the wings, is 12/18 for 143 yards and two touchdowns.
Original Post
If there's ever a reminder why I really, really want the NFL Network, it's today. CBS is covering the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. the Cleveland Browns. I really don't mind watching divisional games. But the Browns are being the Browns. In the first quarter, the Browns fumbled twice. Browns punter Paul Ernster fumbled the snap -- it was a good snap -- and barely kicked the ball away -- 15 yards. The Browns committed four different fouls on that play and the Steelers scored four plays later. On the second fumble, Jamal Lewis fumbled on a run giving Pittsburgh the ball. Ben Roethlisberger completed a 40-yard touchdown to Santonio Holmes. I don't mind watching divisional games, but the Browns in recent seasons, have been this sloppy. And I truly mean no disrespect to Browns fans. Something tells me they are as disappointed. Note: Close to half-time, Charlie Frye threw a horrible pass leading to a Browns punt. The Browns fans started chanting: Brady, Brady, Brady.
Reason why not having the NFL Network isn't so bad: Oakland vs. Detroit
Chad Pennington during the preseason: 12-21, 129 yards, TD and two picks. Jets QB with four minutes left in the first half against the Patriots: 10/12, 102 yards and a touchdown. The Randy Moss experiment on the field is, thus far, a success: 4 receptions for 87 yards receiving. Tom Brady: 12/17 for 159 yards and two scores.
Eyes will focus on the Atlanta quarterbacks -- no matter who it is. So far, Harrington is 9/13 for 82 yards and an interception. The interception lead to Minnesota's first score after Kevin Williams returned the pick 54 yards for the touchdown. Vikings running back has rushed eight times for 40 yards.
Rookies and returners: Bills running back, Marshawn Lynch: 9 carries for 29 yards. Roscoe Parrish returned a punt 74 yards for a touchdown. Paul Posluszny recorded five tackles in the first half.
David Garrard, the for-sure starting quarterback for the Jags, went 7/12 for 123 yards and a touchdown. Maurice Jones-Drew has struggled carrying the ball four times for three yards. Chris Brown is having a sensational start for the Titans with seven rushes for 85 yards.
Packers QB, Brett Favre has 35 yards passing and a pick in the first half against the Eagles.
The one guy that was upgraded in fantasy football forecasts: Rams runningback, Steven Jackson has 46 yards rushing in the first half against the Panthers. No receptions.
Stamped Blue is prepping for some football today with no home games on tap -- like me -- while Canal Street Chronicles examines what went wrong.