Monday Football Wrap-Up
by Mike Neri
The Bears and Titans are off disappointing Sundays, but for different reasons. Chicago had a big edge in yards, 373-253, but kept screwing up in the red zone of a 21-14 loss at Atlanta. Matt Forte lost a fumble at the 1-yard line. QB Jay Cutler threw two interceptions, the first one on Atlanta's 9-yard line and the second one the Falcons turned into a TD three plays later. They were called for silly, costly penalties.
On defense, linebacker Lance Briggs dropped a fumble that bounced right into his hands. Safety Danieal Manning dropped an interception that earned him some choice words from Lovie Smith.
You can blame the coach, too. With the Falcons punting at the Bears' 36 with 10 minutes left, they had 12 men on the field, giving Atlanta a first down and keeping the drive alive. Jay Cutler notched his 11th career 300-yard passing game, but his teams are 5-6 in those games.
So would you rather lose a game you know you should have won? Or, like the Tennessee Titans, lose a game you lost before you even stepped off the bus? The Titans, an NFL team as far as I know, lost 59-0 at New England Sunday. They trailed 45-0 at the half! It was clearly a match-up made in hell for Tennessee, a team with a young, injury-depleted secondary against Tom Brady, Randy Moss and Wes Welker.
On the other hand, wasn’t Tennessee 13-3 a year ago, the No. 1 seed in the AFC? In the last three weeks the Titans have been outscored 127-26 in losses to the Jaguars, Colts and Patriots. Fisher, in his 15th season as head coach of the Titans, is under contract through the 2011 season. Practices will be closed to the media this week, he said.
"I don't think anybody in this league is 59 points better than us," tight end Bo Scaife said. "This is the worst it gets." How to explain such a fall? "I'm disappointed and embarrassed," Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher said.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Trent Edwards received the second concussion of his NFL career, leaving the starter's status uncertain for Buffalo's game at Carolina this weekend. If Edwards can't play, Ryan Fitzpatrick would take over after going 10 of 25 for 116 yards and a touchdown in rallying Buffalo to victory Sunday at the NY Jets, 16-13.
If you watched the game, it doesn’t matter who is QB, as the play calling is super-conservative for Buffalo, a game they should have lost. Playing it safe by running the football late while trying for a 47-yard field goal with the wind swirling at the end of regulation wasn’t very good. They missed the field goal. Come on, a 1-4 team playing on the road in a game they are supposed to lose, but has a chance to win late? Go for it! Wing it down the field, take some chances. You’re 1-4 going nowhere, what is there to lose? I don’t get it. Sure, the Bills eventually won, but only because the NY rookie QB handed them the game with 5 picks.
Sanchez joins Ryan Fitzpatrick (oddly, the guy who beat him) and Kyle Orton as rookies to throw five picks in a game since 2000. Amazing Rex Grossman isn’t on that list!
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