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The Cleveland Browns are 0-3, and according to Adam Schefter, they are changing the quarterback.  Derek Anderson will start on Sunday, relegating Brady Quinn back to the bench.  With one weapon, and no help on the offensive line, Quinn did not look good at all in his three starts this year, and Anderson hasn’t looked good since about Week 7 of the 2007 season.  The lone bright spot for the Browns has been WR Braylon Edwards, who is having a strong rebound season following a tough 2008 campaign in which he led the NFL in drops.

And so we arrive at step number two in the Mangini plan.  He’s coming under a lot of fire for completely wasting the preseason with an unnecessary quarterback competition, and of course for losing his first three games as head coach of the Browns.  If you’re Brady Quinn, you probably could have used a whole preseason to play and establish yourself as the quarterback of this team.  If you’re Derek Anderson, it probably didn’t matter one way or another.  But the complete lack of professionalism the Browns have displayed over the first three weeks of the season is completely Eric Mangini’s doing.

Right now, the Browns probably do have a better chance to win with Derek Anderson than Brady Quinn.  But for a team who is staring 1-15 right in the face, is Derek Anderson really the answer to any problem?  On one hand, Quinn is likely to be on the team next year, Anderson is not.  On the other hand, you have an intriguing prospect in Brett Ratliff on the bench.  If you are going to juggle quarterbacks on a bad team, why not juggle Ratliff and Quinn in trying to find your QB of the future?  What in the world does throwing Anderson out there do for the long term health of the franchise?

You have Quinn, and his prospectus has taken a bit of a hit for a poor three game stretch, but he was a legitimate first round draft pick coming out of college who, perhaps through ultra-conservative playcalling, was completing 60% of his passes.  You have Ratliff, who has torn up the preseason in 2008, and didn’t get much of a chance in 2009.  And you have Anderson, who might know the offense the best, but craps the bed every time he is out there on the field.  And…you’re going with Anderson, who is the guy of the group who is nearly certain to be the odd man out in the offseason.  If that’s not desperation for ones job, I don’t know what is.

The Browns are the odds on favorite for the first overall pick in the 2010 draft, and they would probably use the pick on a quarterback.  Can’t say I can blame them.  It might start a Drew Brees-Philip Rivers type situation in Cleveland if Quinn or Ratliff finish the year strong, but the Phil Savage era has created a really big hole to dig out of, and none of the current quarterbacks appear good enough to get the job done.  The offensive line has raw pieces, Braylon Edwards is on the verge of earning an extension, and they have young options at No. 2 receiver.  So quarterback is the natural choice for a really high first round pick in Cleveland.

But I don’t think Eric Mangini will be joining George Kokonis in the draft room.  His mismanagement of this situation would be inexcusable for a first-time head coach, but after a failed stint with the Jets, his days as a head coach are probably over.  And for Browns fans, that day can’t come soon enough.  The Browns need a fresh start, only three games into a new regime.

As a team, the Cincinnati Bengals have been quite the pleasant surprise.  When I predicted that the AFC North would be the strongest division in football, I was not thinking that the Browns would compete for the title of worst team in football.  But with the Bengals and Ravens off to strong starts, it’s the Pittsburgh Steelers who find themselves in third place at an unimpressive 1-2.  Somehow, I think that team will be alright.

The Bengals, on the other hand, needed this 2-1 start–at the very least–to be considered a legitimate playoff contender.  They’ve done it behind strong defense and clutch offense.  But the source of the clutch hasn’t come from QB Carson Palmer as much as it has come from embattled RB Cedric Benson.

Prior to being taken by the Chicago Bears with the 4th overall pick of the 2005 NFL draft, Benson was a record-setting runner at the University of Texas.  He held out from the Bears into the season, which made his 2005 season a wash.  But he was a major player en route to the NFC Championship season the Bears had in 2006.  During that year, Benson posted a 4.1 YPC average in 157 carries and scored 6 touchdowns.  The Bears felt confident enough in Benson to trade Thomas Jones to the Jets for the equivalent value of a third round pick.  After an incredibly disappointing third season in Chicago behind an incredibly disappointing offensive line, Benson ran into trouble with the law twice in three weeks in his home state of Texas (he was never indicted of anything), and the Bears released him.

Benson was an easy poster child for a team that values high-character like the Bears, but since Benson never violated any of the NFL’s conduct policies, it’s reasonable to assume that what caused his release in Chicago was a blend of poor performance and public relations concerns.

Of course, what the Bears failed to realize was that Benson’s failed campaign in 2007 as the starter said no more about him than the 2006 breakout season did.  Benson was far from the biggest issue with the Bears in 2007, as a benched Rex Grossman yielded playing time to Brian Griese and later, Kyle Orton.  The offensive line was horrendous.  From all the starting lineman on that team, only Center Olin Kreutz and Guard Roberto Garza are still in the league.  The offense featured no creativity as Mushin Muhammad had his worst season as a pro, Greg Olsen was just a rookie trying to learn the ways of the NFL, and the only above average player on the offense (excluding Benson) was WR Bernard Berrian.

So when the Bengals gave Benson a second chance after Chris Perry did everything to show that he could not cut it as an NFL back, Benson hit the ground running.  Sort of.  His conventional statistics don’t look any better in 2008 than he did in the 2007 season that ultimately got him released.  But he provided an instant shot in the arm for a punchless offense, and emerged as the most dynamic weapon on a team with T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chad OchoJohnson.  So, you could say that this year, the production is simply catching up to him with an improved supporting cast.

In three games, Benson has 293 yards on 66 carries (4.4 YPC), 2 TDs, and he’s also on pace to set a career high in receptions and receiving yards.  He’s done it against the Broncos, Packers, and Steelers as well, and the way the Broncos have started, none of those teams are poor defensively.

So what’s the end-game?  Even with Carson Palmer struggling to produce consistently at the beginning of the season, the Bengals have ridden Benson to a 2-1 start with victories over two quality teams.  It shows that great players can be found on the scrap heap, if you follow them.  Teams who are struggling to run the ball should be asking themselves, is there another Cedric Benson out there?

Let’s hit these where it hurts.

Season record to date: 13-19.  Ouch.

Browns at Ravens

I’m thinking you’re going to get a great wire to wire effort out of the Browns,  but since I bothered to employ The Wire as a descriptive term about a football game, you know I’m going with Baltimore.

Titans at Jets

I think the 0-2 Titans are just a better team than the 2-0 Jets.  They are more fundamentally flawed than the Jets are, but they also have all the firepower in this match-up.

Giants at Bucs

Here’s your upset special in the early games.  The Giants put safety Kenny Phillips on IR to go along with a completely embarassing list of injuries in the secondary.  I think Byron Leftwich gets his first win as quarterback of the Buccaneers, and they will prevent the Giants from starting 3-0.

Packers at Rams

The Rams are getting better, and the pass rush of the Rams vs. the poor pass blocking of the Packers makes an interesting match-up that could spell an upset in this game.  Until the Rams show 60 strong minutes of play though on both sides of the ball, I’ll sit with the Packers.

Chiefs at Eagles

No Brian Westbrook?  No Donovan McNabb?  That will make it tougher, but I’m still on the Eagles.  Dwayne Bowe is out for the Chiefs

Falcons at Patriots

This is an interesting game, but as Matt Ryan went through his schedule last year, he did not see a whole lot of creative defenses.  I think the Patriots defense, much-maligned to this point, will offer up some variations that the Falcons have not seen, and despite a slowish passing game, the Patriots will win comfortably.  This team never loses two in a row.

Washington at Detroit

With Randy Thomas out, the Redskins will struggle on offense, but they have a nice remedy this week in the Lions.

49ers at Vikings

My blowout pick of the week.  Nothing goes right for San Francisco in the Metrodome.  Extra prediction: neither of these cities have a team in the MLB playoffs.  Vikings roll to 3-0.

Jaguars at Texans

I’m not sold on the Texans quite yet, although they can make a believer out of me with a convincing win to go to 2-0 in the division and drop the Jags to 0-3.  Until then, I’m taking Jacksonville.

Saints at Bills

The Bills are a good September team, but do you think they will slow down the Saints?  Do you really, really think they are going to stop the Saints?  Yeah, I don’t think so either.

Bears at Seahawks

With the entire Seahawks roster banged up, I’ll go with the Bears to get a victory in which they will lead from the 2nd quarter on.

Steelers at Bengals

A lot of experts are seeing a Bengals upset, but with an inconsistent offense that will need to score 21-24 against the Polamalu-less Steeler defense to be in the game in the 4th quarter, I’ll take the champs and ask the Bengals to prove they can take care of business at home.

Dolphins at Chargers

Miami is going to 0-3 for the second time in three years.  Unlike 2007, the rebound is coming.  They just aren’t a match for the Chargers.

Broncos at Raiders

The Broncos have ridden their defense to 2-0, and now that defense faces it’s biggest challege: the Raiders.

Yes.  The biggest challege to date for the Broncos defense: JaMarcus Russell and the Raiders.  Oh boy.  It’s still going to be a long season in Denver if they do not win this game.

Colts vs. Cardinals

Can I pick against Peyton Manning two weeks in a row?  No.  No I can not.  So it’s the Colts.

Panthers vs. Cowboys

The Panthers have not been very good this year.  But with Marion Barber looking like a scratch from this game, this becomes a great matchup for the Panthers.  Limited interior running game for the Cowboys, a lot of passing in this game, and a Cowboys defense that has zero sacks and limited pressures in two games.  Ick.  The Panthers add to the length of time the Cowboys will have to wait to win at Jerry-world.

As a Royals fan, I can promise you that consecutive losing seasons are completely tolerable as long as the organization continues to operate in a professional manner, while doing what it can to improve itself.  For so many years, this is exactly what the Oakland Raiders were, in and out of the regular season.  The Raider Mystique was one of the few sports intangibles that had real-world application.  Al Davis created a brand that sold itself to the nation.

But these Raiders, though improving, have no mystique anymore.  Six consecutive losing seasons have drained what pride the Raiders might have had left after Super Bowl XXXVII.  And, so it’s a story about the primary player for the Raiders in that game that suggests that the Raiders still do not get it, and perhaps never will.

The Raiders have barred CBS broadcaster and former MVP and Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon from their facility.  Or at least they tried to, until they found out that such a ban is explicitly impermissible by NFL policy.

Money quote, courtesy of Davis-lackey John Herrera.

As to the Raiders’ reasoning, Herrera pointed to Gannon saying the organization “should just blow up the building and start over.”

Herrera is apparently more sensitive than his incredibly confrontational history with at least one reporter suggests.

“We think in a post 9/11 world, that’s not a very proper thing to say,” Herrera said.  ”It’s uncalled for.  [Gannon] seems to be a guy who can’t get over the fact that he played the worst Super Bowl game in the history of the game and he wants to blame everybody but himself.”

Um, wow.

Where do you start with this guy?  Well, first of all, any organization that isn’t a complete circus would dismiss him from the organization immediately.  There’s a lot of misunderstandings and misinformation in the sports world that paints people to look a lot dumber than they really are, but it’s really hard to take what Herrera said out of context.  The man is an idiot, and this isn’t the first time he has proven it.

Secondly, I disagree that this came directly from the top.  The ban?  Probably.  It’s safe to say that Al Davis and Rich Gannon aren’t on great terms.  It’s probably not as ugly as the Marcus Allen situation, but hating certain former players is part of his charm.  But the mishandling of the situation probably isn’t coming from the top.  Davis may be a bit sophomoric in his ways, but this is as much about Herrera as it is Davis.

Thirdly, has Gannon actually been critical of the organization?  Not really.  He’s a good analyst and he put into words what we’re all seeing about current Raiders passer JaMarcus Russell, and it’s not like members of the coaching staff aren’t being equally candid.  Gannon has praised the Raiders organization when it has been relevant, and he’s criticized them when that has been relevant.  Like, you know, a member of the media.  He’s just a bit closer to the situation than most.

There’s something to be said for the Raiders wanting to be different, but their insistence of undying loyalty to an organization that consistently wins nothing year in and year out suggests that it’s management is becoming increasingly thin-skinned and frustrated with their inability to improve.  And like most bad organizations, the Raiders have made a complete mockery of their history and principles, all while ignoring the fact that perhaps if they took some outside advice, they might not have the worst quarterback situation in the NFL.

But if Herrera wants it to be his way or the highway, I say we oblige him.  Let’s take the four years where Rich Gannon started all 16 games for the Raiders, and let’s throw them out.  After all, that was an embarrassing period in Raiders history, complete with a super bowl meltdown.  Now, you have an organization that hasn’t had a winning season since 1994.  16 seasons of Gannon-neutral ineptitude.

Commitment to excellence, boys.

flickr.com/Keith Allison

If there’s one word that describes what the Redskins-Lions game is not, it’s epic.  These are two teams who are very, very desperate for very different reasons.  And when these two NFC also-rans take the field in Detroit, in a game that won’t even be televised locally, both teams will be desperate for a victory for entirely different reasons.

After all, isn’t that what makes the NFL great?

The Lions come in on an 19 game losing streak that officially appears to be in danger of becoming the longest losing streak in NFL history (currently 26 games).  The Redskins come in aware of the threat that the Lions pose, but needing the win for this team, this year.  The Lions are trying to avoid making dubious history.  The Redskins are trying to avoid taking one of the softest fourth-place schedules in recent memory, and riding it to a 1-2 start.

Both coaches need this win as well.  Jim Schwartz has watched Josh McDaniels start 2-0, watched Rex Ryan start 2-0,  watched Jim Caldwell start 2-0, and watched Mike Singletary start 2-0, leaving him in a group of winless NFL head coaches with Raheem Morris, Todd Haley, and Steve Spagnuolo.  That is not a group that one would want to be the last coach remaining.  Zorn, on the other hand, has endured about as rough a week as a winning coach can have.  He’s really taking it from all directions after the Redskins failed to get in the end zone against the Rams.  Certainly, a lot of the criticism is warranted, but it should be noted that Zorn is a win maximizer, not a point maximizer.  He’s lead a very average-looking team to a 1-1 record.

Furthermore, this is a game that will almost certainly be decided in the final few minutes, and figures to include some sort of a Redskins lead in the final minutes while Matthew Stafford tries to lead a Lions comeback to take the franchise to the next level: back to winning.

The Redskins have been here before.  In 2006, a lost season in which the team finished 5-11, an 0-5 Titans team led by Vince Young went into Washington and beat the Redskins.  The next year, a playoff bound Redskins team hit one last bump in the road against rookie Trent Edwards and the Buffalo Bills.  The last rookie quarterback the Redskins actually beat was Alex Smith of the 49ers, back in the 2005 season.

We’re also unsure exactly what we can make of the Redskins at this point.  At the very least, this is an average team.  But the payroll is not at the level it is at for this team to repeat at 8-8.  A loss in this game would certainly suggest that 6 to 8 wins is the end game for the Redskins this year.  For the Lions, a lot of prognosticators figured the team would rebound to at least 4 or 5 wins.  But at 0-3, the team isn’t going to be able to simply improve to that number thanks to mean regression: 5 wins in the final 13 games would be indicative of a team that is–talent wise–much stronger than their 0-16 counterparts.

The Redskins expect to be great.  It appears that Jason Campbell has made the necessary improvements to take the team to the next level: a 68.9% completion percentage, 7.4 yards per attempt, a career low sack rate of 4.7%, a remarkable 1.6% INT rate, and an 89.0 QB rating.  Campbell is what the Lions hope Matthew Stafford can one day become.

But if Campbell’s maturation hasn’t helped the Redskins score touchdowns, what is left to blame?  A lot of it can be pinned on mental errors, losing key one on one match-ups on offense, and yes, some piss poor red zone playcalling.  A lot of it does come back to the feet of Jim Zorn.  My take is that: if you can win the battles that help you win the games, it doesn’t so much matter if you have to take advantage of field goals over touchdowns to do it.  Of course, the point of offense isn’t to score field goals, it’s to put the ball in the end zone, but field goals can be a useful tool for winning games.

Now the media, the media has seen the cracks in Snyder’s empire, and sees the David vs. Goliath angle, and they’re thinking (collectively, of course) that, “hey, this is a week the Lions can win!”  Well, yeah, of course, but about the time they started 0-12 last year, every loss from that point out became historic, and you were no longer in danger of getting anything but the best effort from the team.  Yet, since the Thanksgiving loss to the Titans, the Lions are 0-6.

Now sitting at 0-2 this year, Jim Schwartz gets the added pressure if he loses to the Redskins.  Schwartz was nearly offered the Redskins job a year before, but ironically, one of the reasons he took his name out of the running was because the team was going to make Zorn the offensive coordinator regardless of who took the job, and naturally, that made the job less appealing to everyone but Zorn, who eventually emerged as the best candidate.

Zorn has the better team in this game.  He knows that.  Schwartz knows that.  The media, I think they know that.  I think the whole Redskins organization and fanbase knows that.  But the fact that the teams are uneven only makes this match-up more intriguing.  You have an injured offensive line on the Washington side who knows that big plays will be at a premium, and they can only score via effective red zone play.  You have a rookie quarterback on the Lions side who is confident that he can win this game for his team at home.  And you have two organizations who take on a very different outlook should they lose this game.  In summary, this should be a great football game.

For those who get to see it.

Everybody loves articles with a negative slant!  Or at least, that assumption is what I’m basing the inspiration for this next article off of.  I’m taking a look at 6 NFL players (all offense) and 4 NFL teams who just don’t have what it takes to run with the company they’ve kept these last two weeks for an entire season.

Kurt Warner, QB, Cardinals

He enjoyed probably his last moment in the sun during Week 2′s victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, as he enjoyed a nearly flawless day through the air en route to a victory.  But this was a Cardinals team that lost at home to the 49ers, and looked awful in the process.  Warner will keep the Cardinals afloat for about half a season, but he will eventually succumb to teamwide offensive regression, and this performance will be the shining moment of his 2009 season, and probably his whole career after last year’s super bowl.

Trent Edwards, QB, Bills

Edwards had a start like this last year, remember?  What reason do we have to assume the Bills are going to be able to avoid another collapse given the issues on the offensive line and tough defensive schemes in the AFC East?  Like last year, the Bills have started the season off with two pretty easy opponents (although, no one thought the Pats would look this bad through two weeks), they are 1-1 including their yearly Monday Night collapse, and while Edwards has shown the ability to win games in September, adversity seems to rattle him.  This can last a few more weeks, but the Jets, Dolphins, and Titans should have a field day with Edwards, not to mention the Saints and Falcons.

Mark Sanchez, QB, New York Jets

A really good start to his career, kinda reminds me of Ryan Leaf’s first two games.  Yeah, that’s a bad comparison.  Sanchez has actually played well in his two wins.  I wanted to go to Kyle Orton with this spot, but Orton is in a very QB friendly offense, and though he’s going to get murdered when the Broncos competition gets tougher, I think he will come out of it alright.  Sanchez on the other hand, I think the best part of his season was the start of it.  When teams start to mix coverages and get pressure on him, I think he will struggle for a majority of his rookie year.  However, the Jets, as a team, might just be the real deal.

Willis McGahee, RB, Baltimore Ravens

Has Willis McGahee been the best RB in football through two weeks?  DVOA thinks so.  He has three rushing TDs, a receiving TD, and an obscenely high 64% success rate on his carries.  He might just have regained his status as the lead man in the Baltimore rushing attack, but I think he’s the best bet to drop off of any back.  We know how fundamental McGahee’s flaws are in producing a consistent running game, we know the Ravens offense probably won’t be as good as it’s been through two weeks (but the defense should get better), and thusly, when the TDs dry up, you’re left with good ol’ Willis McGahee.  This will be the high point of his season.

Brandon Stokley, WR, Denver Broncos

This is an easy one, because his biggest play of the season was a complete fluke, but Stokley has always been a smart player as he proved on that play.  At the end of the year, I don’t see him as one of the top two WRs on the Broncos in terms of receiving yards, and he’ll probably finish behind Daniel Graham in TD catches as well.

Jeremy Shockey, TE, New Orleans Saints

Right now, Shockey is the beneficiary of the ungodly nature of the Saints’ offense.  As the season progresses, Drew Brees will continue to throw the ball to his wideouts, and there will be fewer and fewer touches for Shockey, who may or may not lose complete interest in football as a result.

San Francisco 49ers

This is a very well coached team who has now pulled back to back upsets over NFC west rivals, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a complete mirage.  The offense has been quite horrible, although the difference between last year and this year is that they’ve gotten Frank Gore to the second level and the safeties have missed tackles.  Before the season, I thought for this team to have any chance of being competitive, the defense would have to be great.  And it has been, to an extent.  But because the rush defense has been so disproportionately good to the pass defense, I don’t see them sticking around on defense, or in the win column.

Atlanta Falcons

I haven’t been impressed by the 2-0 start.  Wins at home against the Dolphins and Panthers are nice, both were playoff teams last year, but the overall execution has been meh.  Matt Ryan has been typically excellent, but Michael Turner just hasn’t gotten going yet, now Jerious Norwood is hurting, the defense lost it’s No. 1 draft pick in Peria Jerry, the secondary has concerns.  I’m seeing 8-8 still for this team.

New York Giants

I picked the Giants to win the NFC East, but it’s them in my opinion, not the Jets, who are the mirage at 2-0.  Eli Manning has been good again, and their receivers are for real, but the offensive line hasn’t opened up a lot of holes for the backs to run through, and as the injuries pile up, the pressure will start to get to Eli Manning.  Right now, I don’t think they’ve been a very good defensive team, and are as much 2-0 because of poor efforts by the Redskins and the Cowboys as because of anything they did.  I think this team will be heavily tested in inter-divisional play.

Philadelphia Eagles Defense

The offense is going to score this year for the Eagles, but the defense is a mirage.  Drew Brees proved as much when he torched them for 48 points.  In fact, I would argue that any defense that played the Panthers during a Jake Delhomme meltdown would look just as good right now on the Eagles.  Going forward, they will be a points against machine.

Over at MVN Outsider, one of the staples of my work last season was the contribution of a weekly stock report for the NFL season.  Today, I’m bringing this feature to LiveBall Sports.

Week 2 is a particularly pivotal week in the season because it’s one where all 16 teams play following a week where all 16 teams play, so there’s lots of relevant improvements and declines.  The biggest gainers are well positioned for a run, while the biggest losers have to do some soul-searching and either make improvements for next week, or spend the rest of the season trying to salvage.

Biggest Winner: Tie between New Orleans Saints and Denver Broncos

You may not have heard, but the NFC South team with the most impressive preseason performance (a 30 point win by the Panthers over the Redskins) won the divison last year.  Well, the New Orleans Saints turned a lot of heads by embarassing the Raiders in the preseason this year, and they haven’t slowed down.  The Eagles are a quality team, and Kevin Kolb played pretty well (his stock is up in the losing effort), but it wouldn’t have mattered any other way.  Gregg Williams’ defense is for real, Sean Payton’s offense is better than last year, and this team is going places.

The Denver Broncos are two and oh, and they have the Raiders next week.  No coach, outside of possibly Ken Whisenhunt (and for different reasons), needed to win in September more than Josh McDaniels, and he’s beating all the teams that last year’s Broncos team should have beaten.  Will they repeat at 8-8 without Jay Cutler?  I don’t think so, only because that stretch between Week 4 and Week 12 looks as impossible as ever, but 6 or 7 wins is not out of the question, especially if they can start 3-0.

Biggest Loser: Jacksonville Jaguars

At the end of the day, losses to the Colts and Cardinals aren’t going to do much to hurt this team in the long run, but in the short run, this team is no better right now than it was last season.  It was supposed to be.  With the AFC South looking very winnable this year, with the division currently having no wins in inter-divisional competition (pending the Colts-Dolphins game tonight), the Jaguars need to seize the moment, and a loss at home to a team like the Cardinals, super bowl apperence or not, looks very, very bad.

1-1 teams who proved the most: Houston Texans and Cincinnati Bengals

After I wrote them off last week, the Texans offense got it together for an upset of the Tennessee Titans.  The defense still has major issues everywhere: right now the run defense looks awful, but given the importance being placed on the pass rush by the defensive line, you can imagine why there would be gaping holes everywhere.  So if Chris Johnson went for ~200 yards, how did the Texans prevail?  Simple: Matt Schaub was almost flawless at the controls of the Texans offense.  He was responsible for taking Chris Johnson out of the game by manipulating the scoreboard.  He also showed Kerry Collins that he’s the second best quarterback in the AFC South.  I still don’t buy the Texans as a real contender, but hey, win your next two or three winnable games, head into the middle of October at 3-1 or 4-1, and we’ll talk then.

The Bengals lost a heartbreaker to the Broncos that they felt they had earned, so now we know their defense is for real after watching them stifle Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense for most of the game.  Carson Palmer let the Packers know that he comes from a land where he sees a 3-4 defense every week.  And the Cedric Benson career revival tour showed Packers fans that perhaps they are lucky that they no longer have to see him twice a year anymore.

1-1 teams that have the furthest to go:  New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles

Thought by many to be top five preseason teams, the Eagles and the Pats sit at throughly unimpressive 1-1 records, but the prospectus for both teams is very different.  For the Eagles, they receive two boosts to their offense with Michael Vick and Donovan McNabb returning to join Kevin Kolb at the QB position, and with KC and then a bye week, they have a great chance to get healthy and go into the post-bye schedule at 3-1.  The Patriots have a long way to go now a game behind the Jets, but they have to handle the 2-0 Falcons next week.  I think they will, but if they don’t, a 1-2 Patriots team has no mystique, and the offense that Tom Brady is running right now wouldn’t score points in a playground game, much less on an NFL defense that isn’t Buffalo.

Last Week: 8-8.

Not a good start; I might have well flipped a coin.  This week, I’ll do better.

Carolina at Atlanta

The Panthers need this win a lot more than the Falcons do, but their problems are very real and I’m not sure that if they couldn’t correct them in an entire offseason, that this week is going to be any kinder.  With a small improvement for Jake Delhomme, this will be a close game, and the Falcons aren’t a great team yet in my eyes, but until further notice, I’ll take the Falcons to outlast.

Minnesota at Detroit

The Lions’ home opener would be a great chance to snap the 18-game losing streak, but the Lions defense hasn’t come far enough for me to give them a realistic chance.  They could begin 0-4 beforer they make that jump to respectable after the bye.  Easy win for the Vikings.

Cincinnati at Green Bay

A lot of pundits are thinking the Packers will win by a two TD margin, but I’m not even sure they will score two TD’s.  Both these defenses are for real, in my eyes, and this game probably means more to the Packers who need to get off to a 2-0 start with their first two games at home to keep pace in the NFC North.  The schedule is not kind to them later, and on that note, I’ll take Green Bay in a close one.

Arizona at Jacksonville

If this Cardinals team couldn’t handle the 49ers pass rush, then the new multiple-D looks of the Jaguars should be able to frusterate Kurt Warner into many turnovers.  Jags in a blowout.

Oakland at Kansas City

Kansas City’s effort in Baltimore was strong, but it also looked a lot closer than it really was.  This game is right there for the Raiders’ taking, which of course means that I don’t expect them to go out and win it.  Chiefs.

New England at NY Jets

A lot of people think Mark Sanchez can beat the Patriots, but well, USC lost yesterday, I have Carson Palmer going down, and Matt Cassel struggling against the Raiders…this probably isn’t the best week to be a USC quarterback.  The Patriots will make this game academic by the third quarter.

New Orleans at Philadelphia

Kevin Kolb’s getting the start, but I don’t think it matters.  Kolb may or may not do well, but his offensive line is decimated, and nobody is going to stop the Saints the way they are playing right now.  Saints.

Houston at Tennessee

Houston needs this win, but they aren’t going to get it.  They have not made any strides on defense because they will not fix the fundamental coverage issues.  Titans win.

St. Louis at Washington

No idea what to make of the Rams right now, so I will cautiously pick the Redskins to win by two TD’s.

Tampa Bay at Buffalo

Buffalo is more funadmentally flawed than Tampa is, but their players are better prepared right now than Tampa’s are, and Buffalo seems like a safe pick to get a win.

Seattle at San Francisco

One of these teams is too flawed to get to 2-0, in my opinion, and it’s not the Seahawks.

Pittsburgh at Chicago

This game, in the words of Lee Corso, will be “closer than the experts expect”, but the Steelers are a better team without Troy Polamalu than the Bears are without Brian Urlacher.  This will be a seven point victory for the world champion Steelers.

Cleveland at Denver

Brady Quinn nearly won his first career start against Denver last year, but he was bested by Jay Cutler.  If most of the other variables remain the same, the Browns will win this game.

Baltimore at San Diego

This is a better matchup than Giants-Cowboys, and even though they are ravaged by injury, I think Philip Rivers is too good to not lead his team to victory in the home opener.  The Chargers win.

NY Giants at Dallas

The Giants may have the deeper roster and the better prospects, but the Dallas Cowboys are the better, healthier football team right now, so I think the Cowboys will win.

Indianapolis at Miami

With Anthony Gonzalez out, Marvin Harrison gone, and Joseph Addai not performing up to his immense promise, Peyton Manning is trying to once again work miracles on offense.  Chad Pennington has made a career out of winning big games like these, and he will do it again for the Dolphins on Monday Night.

Took a look at the AP and USA Today polls this morning, and well, we’re two weeks into the college football season and I’m going to argue that the pollsters know LESS about how things will play out than they did two weeks ago.

This isn’t exclusive to this year either.  In the preseason polls, everyone is on a level playing field, and given that, the court of public opinion has some value.  Do preseason polls end up having too much of an impact on the final polls?  Perhaps, but without a clear objective formula to rank the teams, I think preseason polls do more to keep things from getting completely out of whack than they do to hand an unfair advantage to teams who rank well in them.

But today, look at the top ten.  USC, Alabama, and BYU all have quality victories in their first two games.  Oklahoma State has a quality victory, but also an upset loss.  Cincinnati hasn’t played a great team, but they’ve just embarassed Rutgers and Southeast Missoui State into submission.  Meanwhile, can anyone tell me what the heck the difference between No. 13 Virginia Tech and unranked Notre Dame is?  One of these teams got beaten by two scores on neutral turf by a great team, the other got beaten in the final :15 seconds by a very good team on the road.  Is this a bias?  Nope, it’s just the way that you’d expect the No. 23 team in the preseason polls to be after they start 1-1, and where you would expect the No. 9 team in the preseason polls to be after they start 1-1.

It’s also very counterintuitive.  No one wants to see Penn State in the top five because they shut out Syracuse.  If the preseason polls are even worth updating before Week 5 (and that’s debateable), you’d like to see those teams who beat their early tests ranked ahead of the teams who haven’t played anybody.  Put USC and Alabama at No. 1 and No. 2.  Why not?  What rule is there that says that Florida has to be No. 1 until proven otherwise?  They can schedule as lightly as they want to, and the pollsters can say, “fine, we’ll put you in the top 15 when you earn it.”

Otherwise, just wait five weeks and come out with a comprehensive poll, sort of like the BCS does.  I know that logic tells us we shouldn’t be looking at the BCS as a model for what is right, but on this one, they have it right.  Rankings at this time serve no purposes except to stroke the ego of big-name programs who haven’t done anything yet, and to de-incentivize the playing of big games in the first three weeks in the season.  And neither of those things makes the college football season any more compelling.

To describe the effort of the Houston Texans on Sunday in one word:  unprepared?  To describe it in a complete thought: they won’t actually show up until October anyway.

At the rate they are going, the Texans defense might actually just be a myth perpetuated by the presence of DE Mario Williams and DT Amobi Okoye amongst an endless stream of the talentless hacks that populate the majority of the team’s defense.  Why else would a team that ranks last or second to last in defense virtually every year since 2005 fail to show any semblance of improvement under three different coordinators and through the development of excellent individual talents?

The efficent day that Mark Sanchez had throwing the football might have been the final straw in the Gary Kubiak regime, even while his offense failed to figure out what the heck they should do to move the ball minus second WR Kevin Walter, at some point the head coach is responsible for what goes on over on the other side of the ball as well.  What’s going on there is blown coverages, missed gap assignments, and horrible, awful defensive mismatches.

The Texans will probably not see a weaker offense all year than they just saw in the Jets at home, so it’s possible that this defense could set a few records for points against by the end of the year.  The building blocks of a strong defense remain on the roster, but until the terrible players are removed, 8-8 will remain an over achievement for whoever Houston’s next head coach is.

*****

Speaking of poor coaching, the Washington Redskins could not solve the puzzle of the injury riddled New York Giants on either side of the ball, despite a convincing victory in the trenches, lead by Snyderbucks’ latest prize, DT Albert Haynesworth.  The Giants could not gain a yard no matter how much it mattered, so they went to the next best thing: picking on DeAngelo Hall/Fred Smoot, Washington’s chapter of the human third down conversion.

To combat this bend-and-hope-the-offense-breaks defense, the Redskins offense spread out the Giants depleted secondary in the first half, turning the three or four first half possessions into a single score, while being marred by turnovers.  Then coach Jim Zorn took the offense back into it’s shell in the second half, as the Redskins plunged Clinton Portis into the line while they scored only 10 points in the half: and three of those were set up by a Hall interception.

Needless to say, the combination could not overcome the Giants’ passing game efficiency.  The Giants, who were physically beaten at home in the game, held onto a 6 point victory.

***

Joe Flacco had his first career 300 yard passing game in the NFL, leading the Baltimore Ravens to a 38-24 victory over the surprisingly competitive Kansas City Chiefs.  Flacco also threw 3 TDs and 1 INT.

Ray Rice chipped in 100 yards on the ground for the Ravens, but the Chiefs used two special teams touchdowns to remain competitive deep into the fourth quarter.  It was Flacco who drove the team down and threw the game clinching TD pass to avoid a potentially embarrassing defeat.

On one third and goal play, Flacco rolled right, found no one open, then came back left between pass rushers and ad-libbed a touchdown to Willis McGahee, who was blocking on the play.  The throw was perfect.  It was a defining game in the young quarterback’s career, as the Ravens almost certainly need his passing acumen to overcome the Steelers in the AFC North this season.

***

Chicago Bears fans everywhere were questioning the Jay Cutler trade after the Sunday Night game.  Cutler was intercepted 4 times, and threw no less than three other possible INTs that were dropped by Packers defensive backs.  That doesn’t even count the times he threw into quadruple coverage and got lucky.

But the bottom line is for all of Cutler’s gunslinger-ness, he threw a single TD and produced all of 13 offensive points.  Cutler has undergone a serious system transplantation in the last 8 months and a learning curve is inevitable.  The problem is that Cutler is at a point in his career where those gaps in knowledge regarding the Chicago playbook will become forced plays or worse: throws made into areas where Cutler feels a receiver should be going.

The outcome: a gem from the defense nullified by play at the quarterback position.  That’s exactly the scenario that Cutler was acquired to prevent.