Andy Richardson

A whirlwind tour of the games I paid the closest attention to yesterday….

Vikings at Bears: Two of the league’s top defenses, right? Naturally, they combined for 89 points in a wild slugfest that made me feel like I was watching a Chargers-Dolphins game from 1983. Too much happened in this game to cover everything, but a few notes: Sidney Rice played and got hurt again. Now we know why the Vikings didn’t want to put Gus Frerotte (4 interceptions) into the lineup. Adrian Peterson’s 121-yard, 2-TD game against one of the league’s better run defenses shows why you can’t bench the guy. (He was inches short of another that Chester Taylor ended up vulturing on the next play.) Visanthe Shiancoe (68 yards, TD) suddenly has fantasy value, ever since I ripped him a few weeks back. The Bears scored on a blocked punt, defensive fumble recovery, AND an offensive fumble recovery, sure to cause headaches for league commissioners this week. Marty Booker caught a long touchdown and also dropped an easy one. Bernard Berrian caught a touchdown; he was also tackled in the end zone on another play when he might otherwise have scored against his former team. And for whatever reason, the Vikings defense isn’t nearly as good as most people thought it would be in the preseason. The calls for Brad Childress’s head will grow louder this week.

49ers at Giants: Certain things in the NFL are predictable, like when a sack-happy defense playing at home matches up with a Mike Martz offense. Also a case can be made that J.T. O’Sullivan bounced around to seven different teams over the past few years without ever playing much because he’s not particularly good. It was just a game where you kind of knew all the Giants had to do was not screw up too badly and they were going to be just fine. And so they were. Josh Morgan finally looked like he looked for much of the preseason and led the team in receiving, Isaac Bruce showed how he’s lasted so long by being clever enough to drop to the turf like a stone after catching a pass over the middle rather than getting his clock cleaned, and Brandon Jacobs had a pretty nice day running the ball – 2 TDs, almost a third. And yes, by the way, Vernon Davis’ big day against Philadelphia was just because the Eagles can’t cover the position, not because he had a breakout performance. O’Sullivan may not be benched this week, but he’s probably getting closer.

Saints at Panthers: Anyone who questions Reggie Bush’s importance to New Orleans’ offense needs to watch this game, to see what it’s like when he doesn’t play. Bush was sidelined early with a knee injury, and suddenly the offense didn’t work. Makes sense, with him leading the team in rushing yards and receptions; he’s second in receiving yards. Sounds like he’s going to miss at least the game in London next week, and Jeremy Shockey also might be hurt. Meanwhile the Panthers get rolled at Tampa Bay, then come home and crush New Orleans, which beat Tampa Bay earlier in the year. Crazy division. Impressive touchdown to Steve Smith, who loves to play the Saints, and a nice rebound game for Jake Delhomme after a disastrous game last week. Check out the stat lines for Jonathan Stewart (17 carries for 68 yards and 1 TD, 1 reception for 3 yards) and DeAngelo Williams (18 carries for 66 yards, 1 reception for 4 yards and a TD). Now that’s a committee.

Titans at Kansas City: Like Giants-49ers, sometimes a game goes about how you expected, right down to Brodie Croyle getting injured (evidently he’s done for the year). I could make a joke about how this will benefit Kansas City’s other players, but Damon Huard also got hurt in this game (hand) and Tyler Thigpen is hopeless, plus Croyle actually played OK until he got hurt. Anyway, I don’t see much hope for Kansas City’s two good receivers, Dwayne Bowe and Tony Gonzalez; they’re definitely not going to have much success running the ball (plus Larry Johnson is going to be suspended by the league, which seems like a kindness compared to playing for Kansas City right now); and they can’t stop the run themselves, which is the recipe for a long and painful rest of the season until Herman Edwards’ eventual firing. Actual postgame quote from Edwards: “We don’t have any strengths.” As for the Titans, when I wrote this week that I thought Chris Johnson and LenDale White would combine for 150 yards and 2 TDs, I meant to say “each” – that would have been closer to being right. I would have thought LenDale White would go his entire career without an 80-yard touchdown run, and I’d have been wrong. Start your tailbacks against Kansas City, each and every week. Amusing (and also predictable) numbers for the Titans’ passing game: Kerry Collins attempted 18 passes, completing 11, and only two of those were to a wideout.

Plus some random thoughts from channel surfing: Why does the Bengals mascot wear a cape? He’s already dressed like a tiger; what’s with the cape? Is he a Super Tiger? It doesn’t make any sense to me. Is he trying to draw attention to himself for his outfit just because he gets to do so little celebrating? I think he should try a paper bag next week and see how that goes over. … I enjoy the Raiders shaking up their wide receiver depth chart as if it makes a difference. Start Chaz Schilens over Ronald Curry, sure, whatever. The most important player in the passing game will still be Zach Miller (who had a touchdown erased by a penalty on Javon Walker, just so’s you know). … Willis McGahee is back and on his game, even though he lost a bad fumble after one big run. Looks like the Le’Ron McClain phenomenon is over, for now anyway. … Is it possible to talk about Leon Washington without mentioning that he’s not very big? It’s always “There's little Leon Washington...he plays so well despite only being 5-foot-8” and stuff. Same deal with Dustin Pedroia during the Red Sox games. People can be small and still be really good athletes. Size may be vitally important for a nose tackle, but not for a running back or a whole bunch of other positions, at least in terms of making a huge impact. He’s not big, we get it. Maybe you could avoid falling off your chair when the guy comes up with an impressive play 3-4 times each game. He's good.

Andy is of average height. He also watches all the games he can each Sunday. If you want to add some observations of your own from yesterday, feel free.

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