FanHouse NFLWeek3Recaps

The Texans had a chance to beat the Colts up to the last play of the game, despite playing the entire game without their number one receiver, Andre Johnson. The Texans are claiming no moral victory for the close loss, though their fans are probably more upset at the player injuries that happened during the game than the loss itself. The Colts lost all three AFC South road games last year, and have to feeling good to be currently 2-0 on the road in division this year.

To make it more difficult for the Texans to control the clock like they did last times the teams played, the Colts concentrated on stopping the run by playing 8 men in the box. They switched to Cover-2 after they had a couple of score lead. Ahman Green left the game early in the second quarter with a knee strain, and number 3 running back, Samkon Gado was unable to do much with the ball. (Second stringer Ron Dayne was inactive for this game due to a rib injury).

The Colts held the Texans to 40 yards rushing total. You think Bob Sanders had anything to do with that? Typically, in the past, teams' game plans against the Texans have been about stopping Andre Johnson, but with him out, the better bet is to make the Texans have to play mistake free football in the passing game and become one dimensional.

Matt Schaub threw the ball to 10 different targets and had a completion percentage of 81.8%. Two inceptions hurt the team, especially the one where he failed to take advantage of the Jacoby Jones' 74 yard punt return that put the ball at the Colts' 20 yard line. Time of possession was fairly even, but if you end up -2 against the Colts on turnovers, you are likely going to lose.

Both the Steelers and 49ers came into Sunday's game looking to prove their 2-0 starts weren't flukes. After its third straight blowout win, the question is no longer whether the Steelers have gotten over last year's post-Super Bowl malaise, but whether they deserve to be compared to the Colts and Patriots. They may not be there yet, but after winning their first three games by a total score of 97-26, they definitely are worthy of keeping an eye on.

But whatever the final score says, this was not the same kind of walkover like the Bills and Browns wins. San Francisco held the ball for almost the entire first quarter and outplayed the Steelers for most of the first half.

Even if the final score looks like the game was completely out of hand, San Francisco showed solid defense and an improving passing attack, largely because Verron Davis got the ball--you have to like when a player mouths up but then actually backs it up.

That doesn't mean the Steelers didn't expose some holes--San Francisco has to improve its run defense and figure out a way to get Frank Gore going to challenge for a playoff spot, but the 49ers looked like they should be in the middle of NFC West playoff race, especially when you consider the strength of the division.

On Friday, I pondered the possibility of Drew Bennett, 6'5'' against defensive backs no taller than 5'11'', being the target of a fade in the end zone. And he was, but the results defied logic: Philip Buchanon intercepted the pass.

A lot of things about the Bucs' 24-3 victory over St. Louis defy logic: the Rams finally getting Steven Jackson on track, to the tune of 115 yards, and only scoring three points; Marc Bulger, he of a 97-62 career touchdown-interception ratio, throwing three picks without a touchdown; the Bucs defense, considered tepid in the offseason, putting together a second-straight dominant effort.

But I guess at this point in the season, there is no logic to be defined. We've got three games, not nearly a large enough sample to judge, and prior seasons mean nothing. On that note, this is what we know, and it's always open to change: the Bucs are playing perfect playoff football while looking like the best team in the NFC South, and the Rams need Mike Martz back, in the baddest way.

He was erratic. He was egotistical. He had trouble managing the clock, timeouts, and challenges. He hardly knew of these things we call "defense" and "the run game." But the Rams made the playoffs four out of his six years as head coach, they had a 53-32 record during his tenure, and even at their most inconsistent and sloppy, they were never, ever, ever this bad.

The Giants-Redskins game was a tale of two halves - two halves that were complete opposites of each other in nearly every way. It was the Giants who remembered how to make big plays in their 24-17 victory over the Redskins who, fittingly, were wearing throwback uniforms since they became the 2006 version of themselves.

First half: The Redskins went into halftime with a 17-3 lead. The Redskins out-gained the Giants 179 to 109 and had possession of the ball 3:22 longer; The Redskins gained 10 first downs to the Giants' five; New York turned the ball over twice to the Skins zero. The Giants were 2-for-7 on third downs.

Second half: The Giants dominated by scoring all 21 points in the half. The Giants out-gained the Redskins 206 to 81 and had the ball 9:18 longer; New York gained 14 first downs to the Redskins' four. The Giants were 7-for-9 in 3rd downs.

The main reason for the switch was the Giants defense and Plaxico Burress. The Giants were able to apply pressure on Jason Campbell and didn't allow the Redskins any lanes to run the football [just 17 yards on the ground in the 2nd half]. Also, Plaxico Burress ... who wasn't sure if he'd be able to play today ... caught all of his 5 receptions in the 2nd half for 86 yards and a TD.

The Jaguars play in the same division as Peyton Manning. That's worth noting because the game plan they executed to perfection today is the same one teams have been trying, to no avail, against the Colts for years. Keep the offense on the sideline watching while you grind out long drives that end with points, the saying goes, and you can beat the most powerful of offenses.

The Jags held the ball for 39 minutes and held Denver's high-octane offense to just 265 yards in a 23-14 win that could serve as a case study for the above strategy.

The only way you can pull off such a scheme is with a quarterback who doesn't beat himself and David Garrard is quickly proving to be such a signal caller. He's completed 64% of his throws and has no interceptions through three games, leaving little doubt that Jack Del Rio made the right move when he dumped Byron Leftwich before the season.

Garrard also ran for 52 yards today proving that he doesn't just make the right throws, he knows when not to make any throw at all.

Garrard's impressive play made him the winner in a duel with one of the hottest quarterbacking names of the season's first two weeks. Jay Cutler had another strong outing, 222 yards and a touchdown, but when Garrard made his only mistake of the day, he couldn't make anything of it.

Do you want to know why Steve Smith is the MVP of the Carolina Panthers? It's this simple -- even when he's having a statistically garbage day, he finds a way to help his team win.

Carolina was down 17-10 early in the 3rd quarter, and Joey Harrington was lighting up the Panthers' defense -- and let me just repeat for emphasis that Joey Harrington was lighting up the Panthers' defense. After Harrington hit Alge Crumpler for his second TD pass of the afternoon, Jake Delhomme opened the next drive throwing down the field to Smith, who had zero catches at that point. However, Smith got Hall to commit a pass interference penalty, which cost the Falcons 36 yards.

It's unclear what Smith said to Hall after that; my guess is that it involved Michael Vick tying Hall's mother to a rape stand. Whatever it was, Hall became unglued and took a shot at Smith on the next play, drawing a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Then, when the Panthers' drive appeared dead, Smith and Hall started jawing once more, and Hall wouldn't stop. The refs flagged him once more for unsportsmanlike conduct.

All told, that's 67 yards worth of penalties on one player on one drive -- a drive that ended with Delhomme hitting tight end Jeff King for a touchdown, tying the score at 17-17.

We'll get back to Hall in a minute. I want to talk next about DeShaun Foster.

If there was a quarterback you thought would be free from on-field controversy this season it was Matt Leinart. Sure he might impregnate a basketball player here or party with an air-headed heiress there but there was no chance that Ken Whisenhunt would replace him with Kurt Warner, right?

Wrong. The new Cardinal coach did just that today and Warner nearly led the Cards back to a win after being down 17 points. But because Kyle Boller wrote another chapter in Baltimore's own book of controversy the Ravens improved to 2-1 with a 26-23 win on Matt Stover's last-second field goal.

Leinart wasn't hurt when Warner trotted onto the field in the second quarter and he was clearly unhappy, wearing a model's pout on the sideline, while the veteran led Arizona to a field goal.

Leinart returned for the rest of the first half but didn't do anything to slow the Raven march to a 20-3 halftime edge. He led one second-half drive, made a terrible throw that forced the Cards to settle for three and that was it for the Golden Boy from Troy.

While Warner was bringing the team back in the second half Leinart looked like the unhappiest camper this side of Michael Vick's pit bulls and even if the move worked out in the short term you have to wonder if Whisenhunt didn't destroy his relationship with his franchise quarterback. You know what you have in Warner, a strong arm and a penchant for mistakes, and it's not a long-term solution.

The good news for the Jets is that they avoided an 0-3 start and finally played some offense. The bad news is that their defense shows no signs of being able to stop opposing offenses. Leading 31-13 with less than 13 minutes to play in the game the Jets allowed the Dolphins to get within an onside kick of sending the game to overtime.

The 31-28 win is sweet but that poor defense overshadows the triumphant return to the lineup by Chad Pennington, the first strong game in green by Thomas Jones and a nifty 98-yard kickoff return by Leon Washington.

It should have been a runaway win for the Jets. Pennington led four long scoring drives on the afternoon, starting with a ten-play number that finished with a short toss to Laveranues Coles.

The Dolphins answered with a touchdown drive of their own but Washington's return quickly negated their positive momentum and the Jets built their lead just before the half when Pennington found Chris Baker for his second touchdown throw of the afternoon. Those scores obscured a defense that was on the field for more than 10 minutes of the second quarter because they couldn't stop Ronnie Brown.