h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have to say that the Dolphins' D made me proud on sunday (I've got them as my starting D-line in my fantasy football team). 7 PA, 4 int's and a couple of sacks.. Not too shabby, I must say.

The main story was how/if the Rams could find someone to replace Marshal Faulk. The answer to that is: They can't.
However, if the running game gets really hampered with Faulk out, what do they do? They go to the passing game instead, and somehow, it seems as if they don't need Faulk after all. Four TD's to four different recievers.

Interesting as well, to see the Raiders go down for the second time this season to Denver. The only two losses so far for the Raiders.

Just to digress, A question, will teh chargers win a game this season? I fear no.

I think I'll give them at least one win. I mean, they have to be able to beat someone!
Hmmm.. Let's see.. Their schedule for the rest of the season:
Broncos, Chiefs, 9ers, Ravens, Panthers and Steelers.
I guess they won't get a win this season.....

First of all, I'd like to thank you guys for not ridiculing me for what turned out to be a thunderously bad prediction.

Don't forget that "any given Sunday" adage in football. It's the reason no team has gone 0-whatever yet in pro football. However, with that awful offense quarterbacked by two turnover-prone rookies and one used-up veteran, you aren't likely to score points. Their defense is pretty great, though, so you would have expected they would have beaten someone with just D... the Ravens did it enough times, as have the Steelers. Don't be overly surprised if San Diego manages to upset one of those two... but don't be overly surprised if they go 0-16, either.

A pair of losses by Oakland to Denver is very interesting. Mike Shanahan has owned Oakland since taking over in Denver... I think his record against them is 7-1. Denver is also looking like a playoff team, which means they have an opportunity to derail the Raider Express when it matters the most... in the playoffs. That would be a great matchup to see come January.

Absolutely. Sadly tehir seahawks games ahve run out but more surprising things ave happened. (49ers/dallas)

Actually, I think Mike Shanahan's record against the Raiders is 11-1 or somtehing equally ridiculous. I think I saw that number being shown during MNF this week. Shanahan has the all time best record as a coach against a team he previously coached.

And on the Giants v Rams game.. Well, we can't all be right all the time, can we? No harm done in that, though.

To be fair, The Giants didn't play that well.

I saw it in the newspaper... Shanahan IS 11-1 against the Raiders, including the last seven in a row. So that's that.

Anyone noticing what's happening in Denver? San Diego is on their way to their first win, leading 27-10 late in the 3rd quarter. And no iron-man heroics from Griese can save them.

And Fiedler left the field on the first play of the game, pinched nerve in his neck. Status uncertain for next week. Most important game of the year. Huard isn't playing terribly, but neither is he moving the chains. Fiedler could be counted on for a couple of deep bombs to the wideouts, but so far Huard's only connected twice for more than 10 yards, and keeps throwing to the backs too often. Hey! Jerky! That's Gadsden down there... he can catch anything. That streak flying down the sideline is Tony Martin, back from injury. And the guy on the crossing pattern is a talented possession receiver named OJ McDuffie. USE THEM!!!

Why, oh why, do the Miami D always have to break in the 4th quarter against the Jets. Same thing happened in New York in Week 8. All was well until the fourth quarter, when hell broke loose. And how could Damon huard throw those inteceptions in highly dense coverage zones?

And with the Chargers.. Well, the jinx of the forum struck again. If we say something won't happen (Rams beating the Giants, Chargers winning one game) you can bet that it will happen. Okay, what will we jinx this week? The Dallas - Minnesota game? Minnesota comes from a 31-17 win over Carolina, while Dallas comes off a grueling shutout defeat in Baltimore. The Cowboys (4-7) will have to come up with something really special to beat the Vikes (9-2) on Thursday. Can they rise to the Thanksgiving occasion? Well, they have everything to prove to their home fans, but I think that they can't do it. Not the Vikings. Not this season.

Good point. Right, time to use these powers in my own interests. There is no way Seattle will win their next game.

Hope it works.

Hehe.. What do you think I was doing yesterday with the Cowboys-Vikings matchup??

And I have a question. What is the deal with these bogus statistical facts that everyone keeps referring to?
A couple of weeks ago, someone had figured out that if the Redskins won a MNF game at home before the election, the cabinet would stay, while they would lose the election if the Redskins lost their MNF game.
Same thing this past weekend. The Tampa Bay have a 0-18 record in games where the kickoff temperature is 40 degrees F or lower. And because the kickoff temperature was 37 degrees in Chicago on Sunday, the statistics declared that the Bears would win. And they did. And now everyone who said anything about that statistical fact thinks that the temperature was the only reason why the Bears won, and not the two crucial interceptions, of which one was returned for a TD.
Sure, those kinds of facts might be fun to see, but its still just something that someone with way too much time on their hands have figured out.
Right?

Ahh yes. Statistics can say anything. I (blowing of own trumpet) Actually write an article on general statistics. It can be aread at
http://www.h2g2.com/A73586

As for how tehy effect teh game. I think on this forum we've seen the "Any given Sunday" theroy proven many times over. Hey, I could do statistics on it and see if its significant.

That "any given Sunday" adage has been all the truer since the salary cap. It's what I blame for my inability to pick a Super Bowl winner for what is likely to be the second straight season.

Still, have there ever been so many completely hapless teams? I mean, the Titans turned the ball over SEVEN times, and still managed to win by a healthy margin? And I'm still in shock that the Chargers managed to rip defeat from the jaws of victory. They're supposed to have good defense, and it collapsed when they finally managed to put points on the board.

I deliberately withheld my MNF pick, because I didn't want to be wrong again, but I figured that dormant Redskins offense would come to life in St Louis and light up the scoreboard. I was glad I kept my mouth shut for the first bit, but the Skins triumphed, just not the way I expected. St Luis did a fantastic job of turning the ball over... I'd like to see more of that in the future.

As for my team, this is the time that will try their souls. Three teams are only one game behind them, including the Jets, who have the tiebreaker after beating them twice. Of those, they play the Bills once more, and the Dolts twice. Tampa Bay sneaks in there too, who, despite their record, are still a pretty formidable opponent. And the Dolphins have become famous for December dives. Fiedler may not be available this week, but at least Zach Thomas and Lamar Smith figure to be. Maybe I should invoke the curse of this forum and predict a repeat of their annual nosedive?

True, I think its not a load of poor temas, but a fair amount of mediocre. Last season we had some clearly strong teams, The Lambs, the (ack) Cowboys, The Vikings. This year we don't have any clearly strong teams. At teh start of teh season I thought the Giants and Tampa bay were going to dominate, but no, nothing. I also expected more from teh skins. I think we're in a midpoint, a kind of lull. Next season should se teh rise of some powerful teams. Now, I invoke teh curse of teh forum. These will be, The Cowboys, The Rams. Any others you want to hex?

The Ploughboys were not a very strong team last year. They limped into the playoffs, largely because nobody else in the NFC could play, with the exception of Tampa Bay and St. Louis. All the good teams were in the AFC... the Titans, Jaguars, Colts, Dolphins, and Jets. I thought good competition would breed better teams, but the result ended up just the opposite... the AFC teams beat the hell out of each other, so there wasn't enough left in the tank when they got to the Super Bowl. Plus, despite the fact that they won the championship, the Titans were clearly not the AFC's best team last year. And they still would have won the game if the coach hadn't been such an idiot. Why did he try a vertical passing game in the Super Bowl, when they got there through a grind-it-out running game and a conservative passing game, which made sense with their weak-armed scrambler under center?

And now for this year... the NFC *was* looking stronger, with Washington, New York, Philly, Minnsesota, and New Orleans stepping up to join the big boys. But Tampa Bay has nosedived, Washington and New York play like Jekyll and Hyde, New Orleans has received injuries to players they cannot replace, St. Louis forgot how to stop people, and Minnesota, despite their success, is still lead by an inexperienced quarterback, and they still don't play good defense. Even at the top echelon in the NFC, there are more questions than answers.

And in the AFC, that doesn't change much. The Titans are still the Titans... they play good defense, and can grind out some offense. If they stay to that game plan, they'll have a lot of success. The Colts and the Jets are another Jekyll and Hyde pair. The Dolpins need better play from their offense, and especially their quarterback, if they want to avoid their annual December freefall. The Chiefs have no running game, and can't keep opposing offenses off the field. The Broncos aren't very good at defense, and they keep getting key injuries on offense. Then there's the Raiders. Offensively and defensively, they're probably the most balanced team in the league. They're very consistent, too. And yet, they still haven't solved the Broncos. You can guarantee that, come January, teams are going to be looking extra hard at what Denver does against Oakland. Whatever the secret is, it will be out.

So, the top teams in each conference would have been no better than wild-card teams before the advent of the salary cap. Back then, you always had a few complete teams that would scrap tooth-and-nail for the top spot and the right to be in the Super Bowl. Nowadays, nobody is complete. Then you look at the bottom of the league, and you see teams that the top college teams could roll over. Cleveland vs. Marshall. Cincinnatti vs Ohio State.

Oh well. If it's one thing the salary cap has brought, its drama. I know my team wouldn't be leading the pack for a playoff spot with a first-year quarterback in the olden days... they'd be struggling to avoid a losing season.

To be fair to Miami, they've just lost Dan Marino, Something liek thats gonna shake up a team pretty hard. Have Dallas gotten rid of troy "old git" aikman yet, I can never remember, or had he died. Either way, thats going to screw tehm up further and give me hours of fun taunting the dallas fans I know (One of whom turned to teh vikings during teh thanksgiving game) I Liek the Salary cap if only because Scottish Soccer coudl use one. I think this Superbowls gonna be like the last one. As osmeone saidf to me while watching it on TV, "Rams vs Titans, Who cares" Particularly relavent in Britain where most of us don't care where St Louis is and just don't care about Tennasee.

Aikman is still there, and somehow, he's still got the confidence of the coach. One can only wonder why they acquired Randall Cunningham as a backup, when they seem set on starting Aikman as long as he can stand up and throw the ball a bit.
Why not rest Aikman for these last couple of games, since the Cowboys are hopelessly out of the Playoffs run, and let Cunningham get a few games under his belt?
After all, Cunningham is more mobile than Aikman and can avoid the sacks coming at him as a result of a failing O-line.

And it looks like the long-awaited return of Kurt Warner wasn't as spectacular as people would have liked. 189 yards passing and 4 interceptions? Not the Warner we saw before that Chiefs game...

What i'm wondering is why tehy botehred with Joey Galloway, I've never been too impressed with him during his stint at seattle last year and low and behold, with dallas, he dies quickly.

Dallas hasn't had anything in their line-up worth mentioning stats-wise this year, except for Emmit Smith and he can't keep the team going all on his own. Unless there are some deep threats that can take the heat off of Smith, D-lines will crush him all night long.

Is it just me or has this season seen more injuries that last? Or is it just because there's been more big names that has gone down with season-ending injuries?

This forum is beginning to have a profound effect. I said the Dolphins needed better quarterbacking, and the quarterbacks, Huard and Fiedler both (with Fiedler doing it in style, hitting 3 td passes in a romp over archrival Buffalo), manage to win road games against top divisional teams. Let's see if I can continue that... Fiedler! You suck!! Only 215 yards?? Come on, man, Marino would have thrown for over 300!!

As for Dallas, they don't do much to help their roster, and they lose a key player or two to free agency every year. And their core isn't getting any younger. That's why they continue to slide... and their revolving door coaching staff doesn't help. As for subbing Randall for Troy... who cares? Both are battered and aged quarterbacks. It's not like Cunningham needs more snaps to develop. The Ploughboys need to see the writing on the wall and get their hands on a young quarterback, and soon. And Troy should think about retiring at the end of this season, if not sooner.

As for injuries, that's a trend that has been building for the last few years, that of key players getting key injuries. It's more important nowadays because teams can't give themselves so much depth and stay under the salary cap. Most teams have good depth in a couple of areas, but absolutely nobody has it all around. Lose a player where you can't afford it, and you're screwed.