NFL week 3 wrapup

Week 3 in the NFL...

• That was as ugly an exhibition of football as I've seen in quite some time from the Patriots on Sunday afternoon. The Dolphins played very well, but they're not a great team, and the Patriots looked awful. And Cassell has taken some heat, which is just silly. Not that he and the offense were great, because he wasn't and they weren't. But that was a defensive loss if ever I've seen one. In a span of 6 possessions on Sunday afternoon, the Dolphins scored five touchdowns on drives of 74 yards or more. This wasn't the Patriots offense putting its defense in a bad position - the defense had good field position and didn't even slow down Miami. Just pathetic.



• One of my favorite reads every week is Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback. But wow, does he write some stupid things (particularly when baseball comes up)...
  

  Now, with the bye week coming up, the question is whether New England will try to persuade Vinny Testaverde to come out of retirement at 44, or look elsewhere for quarterback help. Cassel looked really bad ...

  
  Again, did Cassell look great? No. But he certainly wasn't the problem, and the offensive line gave him no help. Without sitting in the coaches room for the film viewing, I don't think that there's any way to know whether he looked "really bad" or OK, because we don't know what he was supposed to do on any given play. We know the results were not great. We also know that he had no time to throw, and never threw the ball downfield. Was that Cassell or was that gameplan, play calling and offensive line?



• Cassell ran it into the end zone on New England's first drive, but the officials had blown the whistle saying that he was "in the grasp." Hmm. He certainly didn't look as "in the grasp" as Eli Manning did in February, but they let that play continue...



• Jacksonville, Indianapolis and Miami were not picked to finish the same way (and probably still won't), but they're all 1-2 right now. As are Minnesota, San Diego and Seattle. Any given Sunday...



• It's going to be a long, painful season in St. Louis. The Rams have been outscored by 87 in just three games. They've allowed 116 points. Tennessee's allowed 29. The Rams have scored 29 points. The Broncos have scored 114. It's going to be a long, painful season in St. Louis.



• How long will it be before Cleveland moves from Derek Anderson to Brady Quinn?



• I mentioned on Friday that I generally pick the winner to cover. I went against that four times this week, and was right on three of them. Overall, a very good week. And when I was wrong, I was spectacularly wrong. I picked the Patriots to cover 13, they lost by 25. Only off by 38...



• Evidence that you should be listening carefully to what I say:
  
  

  Cincinnati at NY Giants - "Obviously, the Giants win the game. But this is the kind of situation where the Bengals rise up and tease, lose close, and talk about how good they are."
  
  Kansas City at Atlanta - "The idea that Atlanta is nearly a touchdown favorite would be shocking if they were playing USC. Since they're only playing the Chiefs, it's probably reasonable."
  
  Detroit at San Francisco - "I don't know what to make of the 49ers. They lost badly at home to the Cardinals, and won in Seattle. Since I don't know what to make of San Francisco, I look to the opposition. Ah, the Lions on the road - I know what to do with them."




• Evidence that you should be listening carefully to what I say (and betting the opposite):
  
  

  Miami at New England - "That's a lot of points to give for a team playing the way that I expect New England to play. But it's not a lot to give to a team playing the way I expect Miami to play."
  
  Cleveland at Baltimore - "The Browns are due for a big effort. They'll get it here."




• For the week:
  Winners: 11-5
  ATS: 10-6-0



• For the season:
  Winners: 31-16
  ATS: 26-20-1