Week 8 Thoughts and Observations

[Tom Kessenich]

Here are some random thoughts and observations as I wonder if Andy Reid's going to make Michael Vick a scapegoat for all his team's problems:

The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday. Rarely do we see in-season trades so I'm not expecting much. Perhaps we'll see someone like LaGarrette Blount traded because he's cheap (note to GMs - the reason why Blount is cheap is because he's not very good) but I'd be surprised if any big names were dealt. But here are three trades that in my opinion should happen and would happen if I was running each of these teams:

The Packers send a third-round pick to the Rams for Steven Jackson. It's obvious to unbiased observers that Alex Green isn't the primary reason why Green Bay's running game stinks. The offense line is putrid. Jeff Saturday is a shell of his former self and his linemates spend more time on their back than a Turkish whore. But where Green fails most is in terms of power running between the tackles. That is something Jackson can still do well. He would provide a more sustaining element to the ground game plus he's still a fine receiver out of the backfield. He fits the Green Bay offense perfectly and would also be a terrific mentor for Green.

The Seahawks send a conditional second-round pick to the Chiefs for Dwayne Bowe. Seattle is in the playoff race with a rookie quarterback and a serious lack of talent at wide receiver. Bowe is one of the league's top talents at WR and is wasting away in Kansas City. He would provide the Seahawks with an enormoous upgrade at the position, give Russell Wilson a badly needed big-time threat in the passing game and allow them to make a legitimate run at the playoffs and maybe even win the division.

The Cowboys send a conditional fourth-round pick to the Panthers for DeAngelo Williams. Dallas is a mess but Jerry Jones isn't afraid to spend money and he loves big names. With DeMarco Murray struggling to prove he can stay healthy consistently and Felix Jones being ... well ... Felix Jones, the Cowboys could use someone reliable in the backfield. Wiliams has fallen out of favor in Carolina but has enough left in the tank to be a major upgrade over Jones and a solid starter if Murray continues to miss time or when he misses time next. This type of trade isn't likely to save the Cowboys' season but when's the last time that's stopped Jerry Jones from making a lot of noise?

Speaking of the Chiefs, Bowe and Jamaal Charles are clearly the best offensive players on the team. No one can dispute that. On Sunday, they combined for 11 touches in the loss to the Raiders. By comparison, Ronnie Brown (RONNIE BROWN!) had 11 all by himself for the Chargers. Here's an idea for the Chiefs - USE YOUR BEST PLAYERS ON OFFENSE. Seriously folks, this game isn't all that complicated sometimes no matter how difficult coaches often try to make it. Sometimes it's really not difficult to figure out why some teams are awful.

When asked to explain why Charles received only eight touches on Sunday and a putrid five rushing attempts, Romeo Crennel said, and I quote, "Now, that I'm not exactly sure either." Did I forget to mention Crennel is the head coach? You'd like to think he'd know why his team's most explosive playmaker spent most of Sunday standing next to him on the sidelines.

James Starks had more yards rushing on Sunday than Charles did. Pretty sure everyone saw that coming.

For the past several weeks, we've heard people say Michael Vick should be benched because he keeps turning the ball over. Am I the only one who would find it ironic if he was benched following a game in which he protected the ball extremely well and didn't turn it over once? Despite playing in horrible conditions?

Oh, if you're a Vick owner and he does get benched this week you have every right to curse the fantasy gods from now until the end of time. Next up for the Eagles are the Saints and EVERYBOYDY does well against the Saints.

Well maybe not Joel Dreessen.

As far as Vick goes, I would be surprised if he got benched this week. First of all, he did not turn the ball over once on Sunday as I mentioned before. Also, Vick has completed 60 percent of his passes in each of his past four games and most importantly, the Saints' defense is awful. So bad that a 3-4 Philly team could very well improve to 4-4 and remain in the playoff hunt. This is the type of game where Vick and the offense could go off and help raise the team's confidence immensely. For those reasons and the fact Andy Reid hitched his future to Vick awhile ago even though Vick had the same issues then he has now I think we'll see Vick on ESPN next Monday Night starting for the Eagles.

Speaking of the Saints, what the hell was that Drew Brees?

Remember all freaked out some people got about Peyton Manning's arm strength? That sure was cute.

I saw Manning audible into a designed run play inside the New Orleans 5 last night. I don't think I ever saw him check out of a pass play near the goal line with the Colts. Peyton loves his short TD throws.

If the Broncos keep playing defense like this, they're going to make me look real smart for picking them as my AFC Super Bowl representative.

Welcome back Jimmy Graham. You've been missed.

Devery Henderson and Jermichael Finley should get together and go bowling.

Remember when the Saints traded up in the first round to draft Mark Ingram? Ooops.

It's hard for me to envision a scenario in which Phil Rivers is starting for me anytime soon.

If you didn't see Robert Meachem's drop of a potential TD bomb from Rivers you have to see it to believe it. Hard to believe an NFL wide receiver, someone who is paid good money to play this game, could drop a pass like that.

Norv Turner is Dead Man Walking.

Don't look now but Andrew Luck and the Colts have a winning record.

Look everyone, Matthew Stafford's joined the 2012 NFL season.

I love you Megatron, but you gotta catch that TD late in the game. Good thing Stafford and Titus Young bailed you out.

I'm not gonna lie, I have serious Man Love for Julio Jones.

Remember when Nnamdi Asomugha was one of the game's elite cover corners? Seems like an eternity ago, doesn't it?

Blaine Gabbert topped 300 yards on Sunday while Aaron Rodgers was held below 200. Just like everyone predicted.

While the performances by the Packers and Bears won't win any medals those are the kinds of victories good teams need to get during the course of the season. Winning while clearly not at your best is vital for a team with Super Bowl aspirations.

The Bears have 10 defensive touchdowns in their last 20 games. That's better than decent.

Impressive job by the Giants holding Jason Witten under 20 receptions.

Miles Austin deserves a better team than the Cowboys. He's been terrific every game this season. The rest of his offensive teammates? Not so much.

Smart DeAngelo Hall. Real smart.

Impressive display of good hands by the Redskins receivers on Sunday.

Ben Roethlisberger sure is having a great fantasy season.

All it took for the Patriots to find themselves was a trip to London.

The Rams, meanwhile, probably can't wait to get back to St. Louis. I think they left their defense there.

That Greg Zuerlein thing was fun while it lasted, wasn't it?

Chris Johnson has rushed for 385 yards in his last three games. Looks like he's back doesn't it? Next up for Johnson are the Bears. We'll learn a few things about CJ next week methinks.

With the exception of their beatdown by the Giants, the Panthers have been in every game this season. They are so agonizingly close to having a winning record. I'm a firm believer in Ron Wolf's adage that "You are what you are," meaning your record is an accurate indicator of the team you have. But am I the only one who thinks Carolina deserves a better fate than to be 1-6?

If it wasn't for fantasy football how many people would know how good Denarius Moore is?

Darren McFadden topped 100 yards rushing on Sunday. Finally. How many McFadden owners watched him do that on their benches because they were tired of his disappointing production to date? Ain't this game fun?

Sorry Jets fans, this thing isn't getting better anytime soon.

I didn't understand why the Jets traded for Tim Tebow in the first place but if you're not going to start him at this point with two weeks to prepare him for your next game, why is even on your roster? Just trade the guy now so Mark Sanchez can stop looking over his shoulder.

For all the awful decisions Sanchez typically makes in the pocket I'm not sure any of them compare to letting Eva Longoria go.

I've said many times there are few players in the NFL I enjoy watching more than Steve Smith and on Sunday he once again showed why. That was a man's performance he put up against the Bears.

Anybody still calling Trent Richardson soft? Yeah, that's what I thought.

And finally, to all our friends on the East Coast stay safe the next few days. This is a great game we play but at the end of the day that's all it is - a game. What the people out there are dealing with is much more important.

[bald is beautiful]

Two things I learned:

1) Apparently Turkish whores spend more time on their backs than other whores. I did not know that!

2) Rob Gronkowski had a fantastic new TD celebration. Imitating the march of the British guards was marketing magic and great entertainment for the fans.

[Don Draper]

Smart DeAngelo Hall. Real smart.

i saw the highlight, but not the context of the game. what exactly was DeAngelo upset about? he went after the ref and not the opposing player?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Devery Henderson and Jermichael Finley should get together and go bowling.

I MUST talk about Jermichael Finley today. I was at that game yesterday at Lambeau Field. I expected him to be a major focal point of the offense and I was so hoping that he would step up and perform. Heck, I'll even verify that I own a Jermichael Finley jersey and I even bought my son one two years ago. I thought he was a rising star at one time and would be an unstoppable force in fantasy football like Jimmy Graham is when he's healthy.

Now I think HE JUST STINKS!!

Rodgers has lost confidence in him. I know they spent three days together last week trying to work through things and work out together, but it obviously didn't work. Worse yet, I don't think Finley has any confidence in himself.

Watch him during the game once and he's a shell of the player he was three years ago. For one thing, he either can't or doesn't want to get off the line of scrimmage. He battles with a defender for a long time and has no separation. In 2010, even when he wasn't open Rodgers would force it in there high and Finley caught EVERYTHING with his hands. Now if it hits his hands while he's covered (like it did with his first attempt yesterday) he drops them. And once he does that, it's as if he doesn't even want to get open.

I know that's not the case, but he's NEVER OPEN. Seriously, Rodgers tried to buy time yesterday and nobody could get separation. Certainly not Finley, who should have done that. They take him out for obviously running plays, so he's not even their first or second best blocking tight end (Crabtree and Williams comes in for those packages). And he's a non-factor for the most part in the passing game. He's just such a frustrating player right now.

The worst part about this is that the Packers' offense is set up perfectly for the tight end to work the middle. Jennings and Jones are so good on the outside and Cobb is great when you hit him on the run, even out of the backfield. That leaves the middle for Finley because Driver can't do it anymore and nobody else is as good as he was across the middle. That's where Finley should eat up these Tampa 2 defenses with the deep safeties, but he can't get open across the middle and when he does he drops the ball.

FRUSTRATING. And trust me, it's not getting better. Yesterday was his day to shine and he was never open. I'm done believing.

Fortunately, my son has outgrown his Finley jersey. I need to gain more weight in the belly to do the same thing!! I think I'll do it just to get rid of this jersey.

[Tom Kessenich]

Smart DeAngelo Hall. Real smart.

i saw the highlight, but not the context of the game. what exactly was DeAngelo upset about? he went after the ref and not the opposing player?

He was upset that he got tangled up with Emmanuel Sanders and thought Sanders should have been flagged for taking him down by the facemask. The ref disagreed and Hall lost it.

[Don Draper]

It's hard for me to envision a scenario in which Phil Rivers is starting for me anytime soon.

According to Yahoo's Mike Silver, "some league executives and coaches" still believe there may be something wrong with Philip Rivers' throwing arm.

[Don Draper]

Smart DeAngelo Hall. Real smart.

i saw the highlight, but not the context of the game. what exactly was DeAngelo upset about? he went after the ref and not the opposing player?

He was upset that he got tangled up with Emmanuel Sanders and thought Sanders should have been flagged for taking him down by the facemask. The ref disagreed and Hall lost it.

Wonder why he didn't go after Sanders more?

[Tom Kessenich]

Jared Cook reportedly could be traded by the Titans. No word yet on who is trying to trade for him.

[mattjb]

My Dolphins need to start getting some love. 2 missed field goals (overtime losses) away from the best record in the AFC.

[Tom Kessenich]

The trade deadline has been moved back to Thursday at 4 pm ET due to Hurricane Sandy.