GOING 10 Yards: 10 Random Thoughts from Week 8
By Jeremy Schloss
1. 
Bravo Stephen Tulloch. Tebowing after sacking the man himself was hilarious. It’s amazing how quickly this phenomenon has taken off. Never understood the planking thing so this is a welcome change. BTW, If Tim Tebow does it, is it considering Tebowing? Isn’t it just kneeling for him? Anyway, I’d like to see him embrace it and actually upload a photo of himself doing it on the website. I would dislike him a tad less if he did that… ____________________________________________________________________________________________
2. 
In the Steelers/Pats game this week, Lamar Woodley received a lot of screen time. Anyone else notice the size of his arms? I never really paid much attention but the guy is an absolute beast. He is like one of those 19 year old NBA draft prospects that Jay Bilas loves because of his insane “wingspan”. Except Woodley also happens to have tree trunks where his arms should be. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
3. 
And then there were two. Rams unofficially out of the Andrew Luck sweep steaks. (Rest a littler easier Sam Bradford). Thanks mainly in part to a huge let down by the Saints. Take away that last meaningless drive by Brees and he was horrible against the worst defense in the league for 3 and a half quarters. How is that, the Saints encore performance after dismantling the Colts a week earlier? The game did serve as a nice reminder to football fans that Steven Jackson is a still one of the better running backs in the game. I feel like he gets lost in the shuffle playing in St. Louis sometimes…I still recall the 2004 draft where the Cowboys desperately needed a running back and Jackson was falling to them. But instead of drafting him they traded their pick to Buffalo who selected J.P. Losman (great job as usual Bills). Two picks later the Rams snatched up the ultra productive Jackson. I remember screaming at the TV a few times after that. Dallas ended up selecting (and settling in my opinion) with Julius Jones in the 2nd round. He was good for like 5 minutes. Reason #435 it’s awesome being a Cowboys fan since the big 3 left. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
4. 
You know what I always found humorous, when an offensive lineman moves and the entire defensive line just starts yelling and pointing at him. It’s like a grown up version of taddle tale. If I was a D-lineman, I would do that on every play. Would have to work some of the time wouldn’t it? Even if it didn’t, the offensive lineman would certainly be distracted and unhinged by it. What’s stopping a team like the Colts from trying this at some point??
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5. 
And the tough season for Phil Rivers continues… Monday night’s fumble hopefully serves as his low point for Chargers fans. Ironically his worst season comes during Eli’s best season. I still think SD fans would take Rivers and his bad ass tude’ over wimpy Eli if they had to do the trade over, but the gap is closing by the week here. Chargers go on so many late seasons runs; it seems we all just collectively expect things to get better. One of these years that has to change doesn’t it? Why can’t the warm weather Chargers play better in the higher temperatures anyway? They are the opposite of every other warm weather city team. Maybe they should move the team to Alaska…
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6. 
I’m totally guessing here, but I imagine the Redskins will be in the market for a quarterback come draft time. Getting shutout to a porous Buffalo defense is horrendous. John Beck doesn’t seem to be the answer anymore than Rex Grossman was. I’d say the legacy of Mike Shannahan is taking a bit of a hit here. One has to wonder if Jon Elway was his ticket to success and really hid his coaching deficiencies all of these years. And what happened to Shanny turning every running back into a pro bowler? Last I checked, Tim Hightower, Ryan Torain, and Roy Helu aren’t putting to much fear in opposing defenses. Maybe the newly signed Tashard Choice can bring back the Shanny RB magic. Would be a nice kick in the nuts for Dallas fans. (If our nuts aren’t sore enough from Sunday’s debacle, speaking of that…)
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7. 
Why on earth did the Eagles finally resemble the “Dream Team” on Sunday night football against the Cowboys? First off, can we officially remove that label? Its belongs to Jordan, Barkley, Robinson, and company. Copy-catting nicknames is pretty lame. That’s why I no longer refer to myself as “The Great One’ after realizing Gretsky had that moniker first. As for the game itself, I got to enjoy about 2 minutes worth of it. Dallas seems to do this every season for their “biggest game” of the year so it was nothing new. By the 2nd quarter, after I had reluctantly changed out of my Michael Irvin jersey and into my Dallas Super Bowl t-shirt, I was already numb to it. A favorable schedule the rest of the way keeps me sucked into the season, but a loss to Seattle might finally put the nail in the Cowboy coffin. Side note on the game, anyone else get sick of the announcers talking about the #1 run offense going against the #1 run defense. They said it about as many times as Cowboys 3 and outs. We got it; the Eagles can run the ball and the Cowboys “used” to be able to stop the run. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
8. 
I’d like to officially welcome to the Shaun Alexander club Mr. Chris Johnson. If you couldn’t break out against the Colts run defense, not sure where it’s coming otherwise. 14 carries and a 2.4 ypa. Back-up Javon Ringer had the same amount of carries and almost doubled him in yards per, so you can’t blame the line anymore. Hopefully this will be the guy that changes how teams think when their starting RB holds out. Four large running back contracts were handed out starting with the end of last season. Jamal Charles – out for the year, D-Angelo Williams – taking back seat to a better Jonathan Stewart, Chris Johnson – I just suck now, and AP. A once in a generation runner like Peterson and I get it. He has rewarded the Vikings with being the NFL’s leading rusher this season. Everyone else? Teams are probably wishing they had the amnesty clause the NBA is discussing to rid their rosters of them. Owners will have to hike ticket prices to re-coup their losses. Thanks Chris Johnson.
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9. 
Survivor Pick of the week: Chiefs over Fins in KC. Chiefs have won 4 in a row and the Dolphins are tanking the season away. They stayed with the G-men for a while but totally threw the game away in the 4th for the second straight week. KC has slowly emerged as a playoff contender despite the injuries to probably their two most dynamic players, Jamal Charles and Eric “Crunch” Berry. Coach Todd Haley has done a great job this season and needs to keep them focused as their 2nd half schedule gets a lot tougher. With the TE masquerading as a QB Tim Tebow coming into town 2 weeks from now, they can be looking at 6 straight wins and the playoffs in their sights.
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10. 
Not sure I understand why the Raiders felt they had to sign TJ Houshmandzadeh this week. I’m sure he will come in and be great to make me eat my words, but if the guy had something left in the tank, why couldn’t he get a job this season until now? Pretty sure a team like the Rams could have used a legit threat before Brandon Lloyd got there. Oakland gave up the farm for Palmer, but seems they still think they owe him by bringing in his former favorite target. I can only see this hurting the development of the young receiving core of Heyward-Bey, Jacoby Ford, and Denarius Moore. Not sure why the Raiders think they can win this season with players that haven’t been great since 2007. Maybe Fred Taylor can come in and run the ball while McFadden heals? Alge Crumpler around to catch red zone passes?____________________________________________________________________________________________
The Extra Point: 
Why do I, along with everyone else, always wait till the last minute to get a Halloween costume? I promise myself every year I won’t and end up doing it anyway. Have you ever been to a costume store the week before? It’s Thunderdome. Even now, I totally know what I want to be next year but I’m sure I will wait till right before to start gathering the pieces. I’m clueless how to fix this problem. Any ideas please send my way…
Mike Shanahan Reaches Agreement with Washington Redskins!
Mike Shanahan has reached an agreement in principle to become the next head coach of the Washington Redskins. The agreement, from a source close to the negotiations, is said to be for 5 years at approximately $7 Million a year. It was the same figure he was making as the Head Coach of the Broncos. Read more
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