The Midweek Look at the League

Well, it goes to figure that as soon as you say something in sports...it goes the othere way. The last time that I managed to hammer out a post on the blog it was about Julius Peppers and the way that he was eating up opposing teams and their offensive lines. The result? Peppers went without a sack for the first time since week one against Atlanta. The Panthers did very little on the defensive line to disrupt the Bengals and in the second half, Cinny made them pay.

More from last week:

-Everyone is really excited about Michael Vick's performance(4 TDs) against the Steelers. That's great, but what are the chances that Vick plays anywhere near that level again this season? The Falcons still don't have a identity, and one great game in the passing department from Vick doesn't mean Atlanta is on the fast track to Miami in February.

-Remember back in the offseason when everyone predicted that T.O. would ruin the Cowboys as surely as the leaves would change color in the fall? I'm not saying that T.O. is exactly spreading peace and love in Dallas, but the Cowboys looked capable of ruining themselves without T.O. on Monday Night against the Giants. If your QB can't retreat from a blitz any faster than the polar ice caps...then it's time to make a switch for good. Ro-mo, Ro-mo, Ro-mo...

-Everyone talks about the problems of performace enhancing drugs and baseball, but for some reason it is as if people are struck deaf, blind and dumb when the issue of drugs and football comes up. Shawne Merriman was hit by the league with a four game suspension for testing positive for the banned substance nandrolone. Of course, Merriman is appealing the suspension under the now timeless defense of "don't blame me, blame my supplements". Why is it that the press simply reports NFL steriod suspensions as a disappointing story, but nothing beyond the moral limits of the sport, while treating anything envolving baseball and steriods as if it's an affront to decent people everywhere?

-The NFL has approved two regular-season games a year to be played outside the United States. I'm all for that, but then again...I don't have season tickets to any team and thusly won't miss a home game when the league jerks my team out of the good ole US of A in an effort to parade "American Football" in front of a crowd of people that think soccer is a better sport.

-On a somewhat related note, FIFA said this week that 58% of the injuries that were suffered in this summer's World Cup were faked. Oh, the artisty...oh, the passion...oh, get up and stop pretending.

-I know that the Steelers say Ben Rothlisbuger is ready to play this weekend, but is that really a good idea? Motorcycle accident, emergency appendectomy, mild concussion last week versus the Falcons...dude, it is karmic-ly not your year.

-I don't know if their defense is really good enough, but has anyone else noticed that the Patriots are putting together another very good season and are on top of the AFC East at 5-1. Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, etc, etc, etc... The only damper that I would put on the Pats is that four of their wins have come against their division. Two wins over Buffalo(2-5), one over the Dolphins(1-6) and one over the Jets(4-3). Make of that what you will.

-You could argue that Eagles should be 7-0 right now...they are in fact 4-3. How exactly did that happen? That's something that Andy Reid might want to figure it out soon.