NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

The Seahawks are 1-0 after upsetting division foe San Francisco at home, 31-6, Sunday.

It’s time to take a look back and also one forward with today’s Tuesday Two Deep poll questions.

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Jclombardi reviews and grades the Eagles game.

Guest senior writer jclombardi @ http://lombardiave.com

Summary: After a tough fourth quarter, the Packers held on to beat the Eagles 27-20 when MVP LB Matthews made the game-saving stop of QB Vick on a fourth-and-1 keeper with 2 minutes remaining.  QB Rodgers connected with WR Driver for a 6 yard score and with WR Jennings for a 32 yard score, as they combined for 10 catches and 112 yards. TE Finley had only 4 catches for 47 yards.

Video Highlights: ESPN.

Game Balls: LB Matthews; FB Kuhn; WR Jennings.

Turning Point: MVP LB Matthews made the game-saving stop of QB Vick on a fourth-and-1 keeper with 2 minutes remaining in the game.

Report Card Grades–Good, Bad, & Ugly (LA vs. SE):

Pass Offense—C—vs C-. QB Rodgers completed 19 of 31 passes for 188 yards, 2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 3 sacks, and a poor 73.1 passer rating. Don't know why he missed so many targets, other than maybe that was the first time this year he had bullets flying around him. It almost seemed as though he was targeting TE Finley too much.  At times, he tried to force the ball to him with other guys open. In an awful first quarter, he misfired on the first three throws of the game and threw an interception. In the third quarter, Rodgers briefly rebounded to build a 27-10, but he choked in the third quarter. WR Driver had 4 receptions for 50, but he dropped a touchdown pass. WR Jennings led the receiving corps with five receptions for 82 yards and one touchdown. Generally, C Wells, LG Colledge, and RG Sitton had solid games.  Showing their age, the usually reliable veteran duo of RT Tauscher and LT Clifton struggled in the first half allowing 3 sacks.

Rush Offense—B+ vs B. The Packers had 28 rushes for 132 yards averaging a solid 4.0 yards. RB Grant rushed 8 carries for 45 yards before he sprained his ankle.  It could have been worse after watching it. Replacement RB Jackson got 18 carries for 63 yards. FB Kuhn had two carries for 15 yards and a touchdown.

Pass Defense—B vs B-. The pass defense had a good game except for one CB Shields allowing WR Maclin's 17-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.  QB Vick made a few plays against relentless pressure completing 16 of 24 passes for 175 yards and one touchdown. The Packers 3-4 blitz schemes got pressure throughout the game getting five sacks. They got five sacks with Matthews getting two and Jenkins, Raji and Zombo getting one each. CB Williams had a solid game.  CB Woodson played solid and forced a key fumble.

Rush defense—C- vs D. Elusive QB Vick had 11 rushes for 103 yards mainly on broken pass plays causing fits for the Packers defense.  DLs Jenkins and Raji had long solid games getting solid pressure with one sack each. LB Matthews dominated the defensive wth seven tackles and two sacks. Overall, LBs Barnett and Chillar had good games. LB Jones had a rough game failing to hold the edge on occasions. The Packers got break when the Eagles kept Vick between the tackles on a delayed shotgun draw instead of running him to the outside on fourth-and-1 at the Packers’ 42 inside the two-minute warning. Matthews stuffed Vick for no gain and clinch the victory. McCoy was limited to seven carries but made the most of them in averaging 5 yards and scoring from 12 yards. Burnett is stiff in run support. He whiffed three times. The worst was on the screen pass to McCoy at the end. On McCoy's touchdown run, Burnett has got to fill. He runs up to the pile nice after the play, but he's got to want to tackle. He wasn't even physical

Special teams—A- vs A. The special teams had a great game. The return game had a great game with WR Nelson averaging 31.2 yards on 5 kickoffs.  K Crosby made two long fields, but he misfired on one kickoff. K Masthay did okay on 3 of 4 punts and averaged 41.5 (gross), 38 (net) and 3.82 (hang time).  PR Williams had good hands making fair catches on most punt returns. CB Bush looked surprisingly sharp forcing two fair catches. Generally, the coverage units played fast and smart keeping Jackson and Hobbs from big returns.

Coaching—B+ vs A-. Head coach McCarthy and his assistants held the team together, as it seemingly was coming undone at the seams by all kinds of adversity throughout the game, including a handful of injuries, to pick up the Packers’ first win at Philadelphia in 48 years. In the red zone, they were 2 for 2.  In 3^rd down efficiency, they were 6 for 14.

Overall Game—B+ vs CBS Sportsline-B. Finally, the Packers won a road game against the tough Eagles.

Preview: A home game against the Bills. Go Pack!

Monday Night Football Line

During the game Monday night between the San Diego Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs, a little bit of everything happened. Plenty of special teams heroics, lots of passing yardage by Philip Rivers and a late rally.

From what I saw from the 60 minutes, it seemed to me that the Chargers made too many mental mistakes early on and Ryan Matthews made some rookie mistakes. Of course the weather factored in, but not enough to really affect the final outcome.

When the smoke cleared, despite Rivers’ best efforts, Kansas City managed to hold on in the final 3 minutes of the final period and hold off San Diego 21-14 and for one week take sole possession of first place of the AFC West.

While Rivers clearly outplayed the Chiefs’ Matt Cassel, it was a combination of some hard running by Jamaal Charles, including a 56-yard romp which tied the game at 7 late on the first quarter and some inspired special teams play by Dexter McCluster as he ran back a punt a team-record 94 yards and gave the Chiefs a 21-7 advantage with 2:03 left in the first half.

Rivers did bring the Chargers to within 21-14, thanks to blown coverage of San Diego’s Legedu Naanee in which Rivers tossed a 59-yard TD pass, putting the chargers to within 21-14.

On their last possession, San Diego was getting ample yardage, including a pair of 22-yard strikes from Rivers to Buster Davis and Malcom Floyd which put them at the Chiefs 45-yard line.

Another pair of completions got the chargers to the KC 16 but a minus-2 yard run by Darren Sproles and three incompletions later, Kansas City laid claim to a 1-0 start.

Cassel absolutely stunk in terms of pure numbers as he went 10-of-22 for 68 yards and a touchdown while Rivers went 22-of-39 for 298 yards and three TDs.

Charles accounted for 98 of the Chiefs’ 135 rushing yards, with Thomas Jones adding 39 of his own; Charles also added a score. Mathews led all Chargers rushers with 75 yards while Mike Tolbert added 26 yards on just two carries.

Tony Moeaki led the Chiefs receivers with 3 catches fior 21 yards and a TD; Naanee led the San Diego receivers with 5 receptions for 110 yards and a TD while Antonio Gates caught 5 passes for 76 yards and a pair of TDs.

Kansas City (1-0), with sole possession of first place in the AFC West, travels to Cleveland Browns Stadium to take on the Browns next Sunday afternoon while San Diego (0-1) returns home to Qualcomm Stadium to host the Jacksonville Jaguars – also next Sunday.

The Chiefs have a new big name playmakers, as WR Dexter McCluster made a big play Monday vs the Chargers, going 94 yards with a punt return for a score to make it 21-7.

Cowboys receiver Roy Williams talked to the media today and let us all know that, right tackle, Alex Barron had apologized to him for taking away his touchdown on the holding penalty to end the game Sunday night against Washington. Williams responded with a fist pump.

"That silent dap said it all," Williams said Monday. "He said he was sorry for blowing the TD. I said, 'Don't worry about it.' I mean, it happens. You don't want it to happen in that situation. You'd rather it happen in the first quarter or the second quarter; the last play of the game, it's tough."

Apologetic or not, Barron was horrible in his Cowboys debut. He took 3 holding penalties and allowed a sack to Redskins linebacker Rocky McIntosh. While he remains on the team, Cowboys nation is calling for his release. The problem is the Cowboys owe him guaranteed money. The Boys are probably thinking, "If you're going to pay him, he might as well be on the roster and try to get better." We will find out in the next couple of days what the Cowboys will do.

A Vintage hit by future Hall of Famer Ray Lewis on Jets TE Dustin Keller late in the Ravens win in the new Meadowlands 10-9 over the Jets Monday night.

The Rams played hard, but slowly began to come unraveled on defense in the 4th quarter and ultimately lost by less than a touchdown.  The Rams had 4 such games in 2009 including a few come from ahead losses like the Rams week 1 2010 effort. 

The Rams lost their week 6 game 23-20 in Jacksonville after going up late in the 4th quarter thanks to an all-world play by Leonard Little.  The Rams came close against the future Super Bowl Champions, but ultimately did not have enough to win.

In week 1, the Rams were exposed in their wide receiver and cornerback depth, just like they were in 2009.  The Rams in week 1 had James Butler, a safety (and not a great cover safety at that) playing nickel corner late in the game.  The Rams in 2009 had Craig Dahl, a safety (and not a great cover safety at that) playing nickel corner late in games.

The Rams are starting a rookie quarterback in 2010 and obviously there will be growing pains and there is a lot of hope around what Sam Bradford can do for the Rams.  Sam Bradford had a solid debut in which he was asked to throw 55 times. 

So, obviously that is different than 2009.  Sam Bradford played better than a lot of young (and even veteran) quarterbacks in week 1. The Rams and their fans are filled with hope about the quarterback position.  But, we had hope about the quarterback position in 2009 at some points.  Remember the 1/2 of a game in which Kyle Boller played really well?

After watching the Rams fall short in their first game in 2010, I was struck with a case of deja vu.  We have seen this before over a span of one game.  That is the most important part of this.  We have seen the Rams play well for just 1 game. 

In 2009, they were unable to build on the momentum they built up in any of their 4 "moral victories" or their 1 real victory.  Can the Rams build on their "moral victory" in week 1?  We will have to wait until next week.