Ravens' Bad Dream: Brady in a Skirt

Baltimore Ravens' Coach John Harbaugh

Sunday's Don’t-Hit-Brady Game

Photo: Associated Press

Baltimore is having a bad dream over the notion of Tom Brady in a skirt.

It is so bad that you just want to run down the hall and tell your mother about it. Even after two days, the image just won’t go away.

See, Brady is an NFL golden boy, Super Bowl champion, etc., etc. His New England Patriots beat the Ravens 27-21 Sunday in Foxborough in a key AFC matchup.

But for a lot of Ravens fans, along with pro football commentators and observers nationally, some of that Brady mystique is taking a beating after perceived favoritism the QB received on officials’ calls Sunday.

(Continue to DMA 7-22 Sports)

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What's Up with Tom Brady

OK Jets fans...let's cool it with the "Brady Sucks" chants.

Tom Brady does not suck. Tom Brady is just playing below the significant bar he has set for himself to this point in his career. I know, it's much too wordy to chant at a game. But it's more true than "Brady Sucks".

At the very least, Brady sucks right now. The question is, why?

Here are the facts:

Game 1: 39-53 for 378 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
Game 2: 23-47 for 216 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT

Going deeper than the facts, Brady only had as many yards against Buffalo as he did because they didn't run the ball and he completed short passes. And if it wasn't for the final five minutes of that game he would have shown no life at all.

(Continue to 200 Miles From the Citi)

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Thanks to Fans, Jets Get It Done

I don't want to make a huge deal out of this...but I got a game ball on Sunday.

"I think our fans are huge in this victory," said head coach Rex Ryan. "In fact, we're giving a game ball to our fans. It will go up in our trophy case. I thought they were the difference."

It's not the first time I've been given a game ball, incidentally. I remember I was awarded one after the Jets' playoff win over Jacksonville in 1999. I was loud then, too.

But I wasn't alone in this - I did have help. Besides the 70,000+ others screaming for much of the game, there was the Jets' defense. They played pretty well. They still have yet to give up a touchdown on this young season, holding the Patriots to three field goals (and after the Texans scored last week on only a defensive score).

And then there was Tom Brady. I'll delve into this one later in the week, but again he looked terrible, this time without the end-of-game flurry like the ones the Bills handed him last week. And there were times that he had the Jets' defense beat, but threw a terrible pass, and didn't seem on the same page as his receivers.

(Continue to 200 Miles From the Citi)

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Jets vs. Pats - Point/Counterpoint

Other than, "Don't fumble the ball inside your own 25 on the kickoff after a Patriots touchdown that seemed to give them a tiny bit of life late in the fourth quarter," I'm not sure the Jets could learn anything about the Patriots from Monday night's game. I mean, that had to be the Patriots looking past the Bills and getting caught in a Week 1 trap game, right? They can't possibly be as bad as they looked for the first 45 of the 60-minute game, could they? Let's go with a Point/Counterpoint to figure things out:

POINT: The Jets looked great in their win against Houston, and the Patriots looked terrible, barely getting by Buffalo. Gotta be a win for the Jets in Week 2, no?
COUNTERPOINT: I don't believe the Patriots will come out and play that flat two weeks in a row until I see it happen. I can't believe their coaching staff would let that happen.

(Continue to 200 Miles From the Citi)

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Are You Ready for Some Football?

How's that for a way to kick off the 2009 NFL season?

The defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers needed to overtime Thursday night to survive the Tennessee Titans at Heinz Field and Ben Roethlisberger had to engineer another clutch drive to pull off the win, just like he did in Super Bowl XLIII. Santonio Holmes once again had a big game and put up identical numbers to his Super Bowl MVP performance --nine catches for 131 yards and a touchdown.

So now we have a full slate of games scheduled for Sunday, with the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders closing out Week 1 on Monday night, and if that game or any of the ones being played on Sunday rival last week's college football Monday night spectacular between Miami and Florida State, we're in for an incredible season.

Obviously, there are a lot if intriguing story lines involving quarterbacks, starting with Tom Brady looking to show everybody that his knee his fine and he is the same quarterback who threw 50 touchdown passes and led the Patriots to an unbeaten regular season two years ago.

(Continue to NFL Guru)

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