Saints alive!

IT’S an unlikely story – but the New Orleans Saints are one of the few teams going into week four unbeaten.

Last year they were without a stadium as the Louisiana Superdome was out of commission in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and while they got sympathy, they got little else out of the season. Things look different a year on.

With New Orleans’ victory over Atlanta Monday night, the Saints’ Sean Payton became the third man in the past 75 years to become head coach of a team that won three or fewer games the previous season and guide it to three consecutive wins to begin the next season.

This Sunday the Saints will play in Carolina, where Payton will face one of the three coaches to accomplish the feat – the Panthers’ John Fox. Fox (’97-01) and Payton (’99-02) were assistants together at the New York Giants, serving as the defensive and offensive coordinators, respectively, on its Super Bowl XXXV team.

While the Saints record is on the line, there will be other teams destined to lose that unbeaten record when the Seattle Seahawks travel to Chicago and the San Diego Chargers take on the Baltimore Ravens.

All you need to know about these two – Chargers No. 1 in NFL defense, Ravens No. 2 -- can be found in the league’s “touchdowns allowed” column. In five games (San Diego had a bye last week), they have surrendered a total of three TDs.

“We play with the attitude that we will be a dominating defense,” says Chargers corner Quentin Jammer. “It’s all about attitude.”

Of course, the Ravens, with the likes of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed don’t lack in that department. They lead the league in takeaways/giveaways with a plus-10 margin.

The big loss for Seattle going to Chicago will be 2005 NFL MVP RB Shaun Alexander will miss several weeks with a broken left foot.

And it is a week when injuries were subject of much comment when Miami QB Chris Simms suffered so many big hits last week that he was operated on after his match to have his spleen removed.

Saints alive!

IT’S an unlikely story – but the New Orleans Saints are one of the few teams going into week four unbeaten.

Last year they were without a stadium as the Louisiana Superdome was out of commission in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and while they got sympathy, they got little else out of the season. Things look different a year on.

With New Orleans’ victory over Atlanta Monday night, the Saints’ Sean Payton became the third man in the past 75 years to become head coach of a team that won three or fewer games the previous season and guide it to three consecutive wins to begin the next season.

This Sunday the Saints will play in Carolina, where Payton will face one of the three coaches to accomplish the feat – the Panthers’ John Fox. Fox (’97-01) and Payton (’99-02) were assistants together at the New York Giants, serving as the defensive and offensive coordinators, respectively, on its Super Bowl XXXV team.

While the Saints record is on the line, there will be other teams destined to lose that unbeaten record when the Seattle Seahawks travel to Chicago and the San Diego Chargers take on the Baltimore Ravens.

All you need to know about these two – Chargers No. 1 in NFL defense, Ravens No. 2 -- can be found in the league’s “touchdowns allowed” column. In five games (San Diego had a bye last week), they have surrendered a total of three TDs.

“We play with the attitude that we will be a dominating defense,” says Chargers corner Quentin Jammer. “It’s all about attitude.”

Of course, the Ravens, with the likes of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed don’t lack in that department. They lead the league in takeaways/giveaways with a plus-10 margin.

The big loss for Seattle going to Chicago will be 2005 NFL MVP RB Shaun Alexander will miss several weeks with a broken left foot.

And it is a week when injuries were subject of much comment when Miami QB Chris Simms suffered so many big hits last week that he was operated on after his match to have his spleen removed.

Saints alive!

IT’S an unlikely story – but the New Orleans Saints are one of the few teams going into week four unbeaten.

Last year they were without a stadium as the Louisiana Superdome was out of commission in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and while they got sympathy, they got little else out of the season. Things look different a year on.

With New Orleans’ victory over Atlanta Monday night, the Saints’ Sean Payton became the third man in the past 75 years to become head coach of a team that won three or fewer games the previous season and guide it to three consecutive wins to begin the next season.

This Sunday the Saints will play in Carolina, where Payton will face one of the three coaches to accomplish the feat – the Panthers’ John Fox. Fox (’97-01) and Payton (’99-02) were assistants together at the New York Giants, serving as the defensive and offensive coordinators, respectively, on its Super Bowl XXXV team.

While the Saints record is on the line, there will be other teams destined to lose that unbeaten record when the Seattle Seahawks travel to Chicago and the San Diego Chargers take on the Baltimore Ravens.

All you need to know about these two – Chargers No. 1 in NFL defense, Ravens No. 2 -- can be found in the league’s “touchdowns allowed” column. In five games (San Diego had a bye last week), they have surrendered a total of three TDs.

“We play with the attitude that we will be a dominating defense,” says Chargers corner Quentin Jammer. “It’s all about attitude.”

Of course, the Ravens, with the likes of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed don’t lack in that department. They lead the league in takeaways/giveaways with a plus-10 margin.

The big loss for Seattle going to Chicago will be 2005 NFL MVP RB Shaun Alexander will miss several weeks with a broken left foot.

And it is a week when injuries were subject of much comment when Miami QB Chris Simms suffered so many big hits last week that he was operated on after his match to have his spleen removed.

Ooops - Seattle almost slip up

Oooops, Seattle lost concentration and almost blew their massive lead not so much a rape (see earlier post) as a tentative kiss on a first date that almost went all the way. Still the Seahawks are looking impressive!

Bears go 3-0

The might Bears have gone 3-0 for the season with their last gasp win over the Vikings, the Bengals beat up Pittsburgh and Seattle are raping the Giants defence...all is well with the world :) Check out all this weeks scores here

Back to the Superdome

THE New Orleans Saints return this week to Louisiana Superdome, scene of so many harrowing tales in the wake of Hurricane Katrina - and the NFL is planning a party to help erase those horrible memories.

The 2-0 Saints will host the also unbeaten Atlanta Falcons and will cap off day-long festivities and pregame activities.

The Goo Goo Dolls will perform just prior to the official opening of the Superdome, including in their set the hit single “Better Days,” which served as a theme song for many throughout the Gulf Coast region in the weeks following the hurricane.

The pre-game show will feature live performances by U2 and Green Day.

Elsewhere in the NFL eyes will be closely watching the match-up between the New York Giants and beaten Super Bowl challengers then Seattle Seahawks.

These two met last Thanksgiving weekend in a game that had one dramatic twist after another.
The Giants out-gained the Seahawks 490 yards to 355, led 13-7 in the third quarter, tied it at 21 at the end of regulation, suffered three missed field-goal attempts by Jay Feely, and then saw Josh Brown’s 36-yard kick win it 24-21 in overtime.

“It was a gut-wrenching way to lose a game,” said Giants head coach Tom Coughlin.

The rematch will feature the top two rushers of last year – Seattle’s Shaun Alexander (1,880 yards) and New York’s Tiki Barber (1,860).

In terms of divisional games featured this week, the Cincinnati Bengals take on the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears visit the Minnesota Vikings with more than early season bragging rights at stake.

“It’s going to be a fun week,” said Cincinnati wide receiver Chad Johnson.

Fun though it may be, but a win Week Three will bode well for the rest of the season - a loss will make it an uphill struggle for the rest of the year.
ENDS

Monsters of Midway win again

Hey, hey, hey, hey - Bears go to two win streak! And Grossman was on fire! Read details of the win here together with all the rest of Sunday's results.

Divisional games feature in Week Two

WEEK two in the NFL sees a host of big division games that could determine who will be the early pace setters.

In the NFC East, the whole division is going at it, with the New York Giants at Philadelphia and Washington at Dallas Sunday night.

In the NFC South, there’s Tampa Bay-Atlanta. In the AFC East, New England comes down to visit the Jets.

Also, there’s Lions-Bears, Browns-Bengals and Chiefs-Broncos among others.

“One of the goals every team has is to take care of business in your division,” says Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren, whose club face the NFC West Arizona Cardinals this week.

All this comes after a Kickoff Weekend that saw a host of surprises with11 road teams winning; the most on an opening weekend in 23 years no-one quite knows what’s in store tomorrow (Sunday).

Leave it to a player -- the Jets’ Pennington, who missed most of a whole season last year -- to capture the exuberance a player feels in the return of an NFL season. “It’s an honour to play this game,” said Pennington. “That’s the way I look at it.”

It’s also time for a clash with a mentor. And what better type of mentor can you have than one who has won three of the past five Super Bowls? That is Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick, under whom new Jets’ coach Eric Mangini was an assistant/defensive co-ordinator for with the Browns, Jets and Patriots for 10 seasons through last year.

All that coziness aside, Mangini and his Jets – coming off a satisfying 23-16 win over Tennessee – have to reverse a six game losing streak to the Patriots.

They aren’t the only AFC Easters to suffer at the hands of New England. The Pats have won 16 of their past 18 division games, including last week against Buffalo, who take on a Miami side that are still smarting from last week’s fourth quarter loss to the depleted Steelers.

Beware being mauled by the Bears

As I am writing this the Chicago Bears are mauling the Green Bay Packers 26-0 at Lambeau Field. With just over 8 minutes to go, chances are it could be more. Could it be Rex Grossman will fulfil his potential this year? With the D as potent as ever, look forward to some exciting football from Chi!

Back in the saddle

The NFL is back on tele - it's Sunday night and all is well with the world...except that the nfluk.com site has 'too many connections' so will have to wait to sign up to the Sky Sports NFL fantasy league. Click here later and they may have it fixed...

Steelers kick off season with win

SUPER Bowl champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers, kicked off the 2006 NFL season with a win over the Miami Dolphins – thanks to a late rally in the fourth quarter with TDs from both the offence and the defence.

The 28-17 victory heralds the start of the defence, and that was despite being with talismanic young quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who after recovering from a close season motorcycle accident had plans to return to the helm interrupted by needing to have his appendix removed last week.

In the end one the decisive plays of the game came when back-up QB Charlie Batch connected with tight end Heath Miller who chugged his way down the line for an 87-yard TD.

While Miller struggled to make that distance – “It seemed like it took forever to get there,” he later said – it was a play that shouldn’t have stood.

TV replays clearly showed his foot out of bounds between the one and two-yard lines, but Miami coach Nick Saban was too slow to challenge the decision and the score stood.

And as the rest of the league gears up for the return to Sunday night football, there are significant changes for some sides starting line-ups.

Although only about nine percent of the free agents available switched teams this year, it seemed that this offseason contained an unusual amount of big-name switches through free agency, trades and free-agent signings.

Quarterbacks with Pro Bowl experience like Drew Brees (New Orleans), Daunte Culpepper (Miami) and Steve McNair (Baltimore) will be under center for new teams in 2006.

A pair of running backs coming off 1,000-yard performances in Mike Anderson (Baltimore) and Edgerrin James (Arizona) will don new uniforms this season, as will fullback Tony Ricardson (Minnesota), a two-time All Star.

Even a few specialists – familiar names to all - like Mike Vanderjagt (Dallas) and Adam Vinatieri (Indianapolis) will be kicking for new teams.

“Everything happens for a reason,” says Brees about signing with the Saints. “This is all going to be a huge positive for me in my life, my football career, for my family and everything.”