FanHouse MondayNightFootball

Jon Gruden made national headlines yesterday when he replaced Tony Kornheiser on ESPN's Monday Night Football. Kornheiser, of course, "stepped down" (as MDS, Ryan and I noted last night, that may or may not be extremely convenient) from his role in the booth with very little noise aside from the original announcement.

All in all, it was a pretty smooth transition. That is until SI's Peter King dropped a bombshell in his Tuesday morning version of Monday Morning Quarterback, teased via his Twitter account.

In a matter of two weeks, Philadelphia's outlook has completely changed. On Nov. 23, Baltimore absolutely dismantled the Eagles, 36-7 -- dropping the Eagles to 5-5-1 overall, 0-2-1 in their last three and to the edge of postseason life.

Then Philly smoked Arizona on Thanksgiving night and followed that win up by beating the Giants in New York. As it stands now, if the Eagles win their final three games (including over Dallas in Week 17), a loss by either Tampa Bay or Atlanta would send Philadelphia to the playoffs.

Cleveland's outlook is not nearly as optimistic. The Browns have lost three straight -- not reaching double digits in any of those games -- and are now feeling some heat from Cincinnati for third place in the AFC North.

Drew Rosenhaus just gave a very bizarre (although mostly scripted interview) at halftime of Monday Night Football. Obviously, he did this because he is Plaxico Burress' agent and he was trying to do some quick media scrambling on Plax's behalf in the most public of situations.

Honestly, he didn't say much, but three things stood out. First, he deigned to compare being Sean Taylor's agent to representing Burress ... and somehow thinking that the two items compare. Secondly, he told Tony Kornheiser, who did a nice job of questioning R-Haus on the set, he could "privately" discuss why Plax had a gun on his person at the club, but couldn't talk about it publicly for legal reasons, which is just beyond stupid/ridiculous.

And finally, he said that the Giants weren't concerned about football. Just Burress' health. I'm going to go ahead an call BS on all three of those.

For starters, Drew, don't do America and your late client and revered Redskin the disservice of comparing Burress idiotically carrying a loaded and unsafetyed gun into a nightclub with Sean Taylor being freaking murdered. Seriously, that's screwed up. Like, really screwed up.

Next, why on Earth would you tell Mr. Tony, a tremendously public member of the media, why Plax was carrying a gun, or even promise to tell him? And yes, this is less important, but still, it seems really ridiculous.

And finally, you want us to believe that the Giants, who watched Burress casually stroll into the New York City police station today, are totally unconcerned with his contract or performance on the field? Sure, that's sounds nice in principle, but come on, man. It might be Monday and we might be used to tuning out talking points in the ESPN booth at this point, but at least be reasonable with your discussions of things that involve logic and common sense.

Oh, and if you don't mind, refrain from insulting dead people with shoddy analogies when the only common threads between the two situations being compared are: football and you.

When it comes to first-overall picks, specifically franchise quarterbacks, patience isn't a virtue most fans hold. But Alex Smith is getting ready to show 49ers Nation that good things come to those who wait.

After a less than successful start to his career (a 1-11 TD-INT ratio), Smith showed signs of improvement last season in his second year. Big things are expected of the 49ers this season, most of which belies the optimism surrounding Smith's progression, and so far the trajectory is still upwards. Last night's Monday Night Football preseason game against the Broncos was the first in the newly-renamed Bill Walsh Field, and as the San Jose Mercury News' Tim Kawakami notes, Smith is beginning to do its namesake proud.

It wasn't Joe Montana. It wasn't Steve Young. It was just a dumb exhibition in August, against a Denver defense that wasn't doing anything tricky. But this was the first game played on Bill Walsh Field, and, in the short time Smith was out there, he looked like the right guy at the right place, and he looked like he finally was realizing that himself.

Smith finished the game 4-for-5 for 58 yards, hooking up with Arnaz Battle for a 26-yard gain that landed the 49ers on the Denver one-yard line, setting up a touchdown. More importantly, he took the 49ers on two drives, both of which produced points. Smith has seen the field better this year, he's been delivering with poise and efficiency -- two things Walsh stressed.

The 49ers' success doesn't really rely on Smith -- the team proved last year it could ride the legs of Frank Gore. But a breakthrough season for the quarterback could be the difference between the 49ers being a fringe playoff team and a division champion.

Are you ready for some football? Let's hope the Cardinals are because the last thing they need is a repeat of their previous appearance on Monday Night Football. I really don't think I have to remind any of you what happened, but just in case here is a quick run down:

- Arizona dominates Rex Grossman and the Bears for two quarters.
- The Cardinals begin to struggle in the third but still lead in the fourth.
- In the fourth they meltdown leading to a 24-23 loss.
- After the game Dennis Green totally loses his mind.

With that out of the way, it's time to move on. The Cardinals will begin their 2007-2008 campaign on the road against San Francisco in the second game of a Monday Night doubleheader.

"It is awesome," Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart said. "It's fun they are showing the NFC West some love and showing the Cardinals some love."

This past season they also opened against the 49ers in 34-27 win at the brand new University of Phoenix Stadium. A similar result would be a great start to what I think is going to be an exciting season.

It's been a couple years since the Carolina Panthers visited the Illadelph. The last two regular season meetings ended with the Eagles winning. The last playoff meeting ended with the Panthers going to the Super Bowl. So I guess someone just has to convince Carolina that this is a playoff game.

It might as well be. A Panthers loss would drop the Panthers out of playoff position and leave them with yet another team against whom it would lose a head-to-head matchup tiebreaker, and wouldn't that just add fuel to the fire of the Fire Dan Henning campaign?

Here are the key matchups to watch tonight:

1. DeAngelo Williams v. Eagles' Run Defense. If I were Chris Berman, I would crack the usual joke about the movable object and the resistable force. (And I would be chasing after any barfly in leather pants, because hey, I'm Chris Freakin' Berman.) The Eagles' run defense has given up more than 200 yards rushing in three of its last four games. Those were all against AFC teams, though -- Indianapolis, Tennessee and Jacksonville -- and Panthers running backs have produced only three 100-yard games all season, largely because of weak run-blocking. Andy Reid was joking about the Panthers' lack of running game earlier this week. Will it also be a joke on the field?
   
   
2. Julius Peppers v. John Runyan. The Eagles will want to keep the Panthers' D-line away from Jeff Garcia. Runyan was on the injury report with a hamstring injury, but he's expected to play. Having a bad hammy against a monster like Peppers? Not a good thing.
   
   
3. Jordan Gross v. Darren Howard. Likewise, the Panthers will want to keep Jake Delhomme upright, and Howard is the best pass-rusher the Eagles still have. It will be crucial for Gross to prevent Howard from collapsing the pocket and doing to Jake what his avatar did to Dallas Clark in that Madden commercial.
   
   
4. Steve Smith v. Lito Sheppard. Smith was frustrated last week against Washington, catching only 5 passes for 34 yards. He's going to want the ball a little more. Can Sheppard prevent that from happening?
   

Stop by the FanHouse later tonight for hot liveblogging action. There may even be a few surprises in store...

Let's face it. Heading into last Sunday, not many Seahawks fans expected to come out of Kansas City with a win, and none expected Seneca Wallace to throw for three touchdowns in the game.

It was the classic "no pressure" situation, with very low expectations on the Wallace-lead Seahawks, and a lot of help from the sloppy play of the statistically superior opposition. And after having a ride on the emotional roller-coaster that was the last 6 minutes of that game, I almost would be happier if Kansas City won in a blow-out, like they should have.

Deep down, I'll be Seneca Wallace does too.

Now, the tables have turned 180-degrees, and given the "near miss" in KC, there's nothing but great expectations on Seneca Wallace heading into the Monday Night Football game with the Raiders.

The defense played well, 3 points allowed blah blah blah Broncos won blah blah. Whatever. It's a good thing the Broncos did win. Before the game, I said that we should wonder about the offense if they didn't score at least 24 points against the Raiders. 13 points later, I'm wondering what's going on. Last week, I was overjoyed that the Broncos scored 13 points against a defense that was averaging just 10.33 points allowed per game. This week, however, 13 points is not acceptable. Oakland's defense is better than a lot of people think it is, but this is a team that had allowed an average of 28.25 points per game coming into Sunday.

No, it's unacceptable when your offense is so stagnant that a team that lost to San Francisco and Cleveland out-gains you. Part of this, I think, lies in a deliberate change in play-calling. Once the Broncos built up a 13-0 lead in the first half, Shanahan's calls, which had been frankly inspired in the first half (the perfectly-timed bootleg and wonderfully-executed double reverse were genius), were noticeably toned down. Once they got the lead and it was clear that the Raiders weren't making any progress against the Broncos ridiculous defense, I guess Shanny decided not to put anyone in a position to lose the game (cough, Jake Plummer, cough), and so he kept the offense really conservative in the second half.

Well, they silenced me anyways...for at least the next 12 hours. Hey, before I get started on the game, I want to give a shoutout to the history teach, Ms. Guggy, who's giving us the morning off tomorrow because, as she put it today, "My son's taking me to the Broncos game tonight and I'm going to have a hangover -- I mean, I'm going to be very tired." I love this town - if you watched Sports Center after the game, you know that we can heckle with the best of them. Now that that's out of the way, here's something for you: That Broncos defense that I questioned earlier today, well, the kids can play. They've now allowed just one touchdown in 4 games, and only 34 points - matching Baltimore's points allowed total in their first four games.

Okay, one more slightly off-topic thing: I just want to represent for a moment here and take my one free shot at Tony Kornheiser. Right before the game, Tony Kornheiser made a few comments about Denver that were, shall we say, slightly inaccurate. While it's true that the Broncos are Denver's team, and it's equally true that the streets basically close when the Broncos play, I don't think it's safe to say that, and I quote, "There's not much else out here...besides sheep." In case you haven't been to Denver since 1890, Tony (and you too, mislead national audience), a few people actually live here now, and the Mile High City has developed into a pretty nice urban oasis. Case in point, you might have heard that the Denver Art Museum recently opened a new building, among some other things that have been happening to the city. So if you're thinking of putting on your stirrups and saddling up for a ride to town, I would try thinking again. Even in Denver, you'd look ridiculous. Oh and by the way Tony, it's the "Buckhorn" exchange, not the "Buckboard" or whatever you guys called it.

My Little League football coach used to always say to us, "It's not what you do right; it's what you DON'T do wrong..."

After a preseason in which John Hall did nothing to gain our trust, he misses a 48-yard field goal to cement our doubt about his ability to make the critical kicks the Redskins may need to make a run at the playoffs (Didn't I just write about this?). With 12 seconds on the clock and after driving to around the 30-yard-line with an offense getting there in less than a minute, John Hall hooked his kick, badly, and the Redskins are off to a bad start of the season.

Former Redskins Brad Johnson (16 of 30 for 223 yards and a TD) and Fred Smoot (six solo tackles, several were critical) both had solid games as the Minnesota Vikings defeated the Redskins 19-16 in front of the country on a Monday Night in which they were remembering the victims of 9/11 on its 5th year anniversary.

Chris Cooley wasn't a factor (2 catches for -3 yards). Brandon Lloyd wasn't a factor (1 catch for 23 yards). Clinton Portis wasn't a factor (10 rushes for 39 yards, but he did get a TD). The special teams gave up some big returns (a critical 44 yard return late in the game). Mark Brunell threw away so many passes that Al Saunders should've just called running plays. Sean Taylor -- were the officials trippin' over last year's spitting incident or was Taylor just a bit out of control (a couple of crippling penalties late in the game for 15 yards each)?

Joe Gibbs was in attendance, but it made no difference. Al Saunders' play calling was decent, but nothing worth $2 million a year. I mean, the reverse that Antwaan Randle El finally got was immediately after two fakes to him. It fooled no one. I even called it before the snap. And the two runs prior didn't do that much damage to get the defense eying on our RBs!

Tom Cruise was in attendance with his wife (no baby, though). But who cares? Jamie Foxx talked about himself his time in the booth, but I sure did prefer listening to him than our man Joey T. Can we get Mike Tirico in the booth by himself?

The questions from the preseason don't seem to have found answers. The Redskins were 1 for 4 in the red zone, settling for very short John Hall FGs. But when a FG was absolutely needed to have a chance to win the game, Hall looked like he was a kicker recovering from two years of injuries who had no competition in the offseason and just couldn't get the job done.

Hey, it's just one game out of 16. We have Dallas next weekend. With a win against Dallas and we'll be back on track. That is, if we can get a kicker that can, well, kick.