NFL Week Six Runaround: The NFL Experience

Sunday night is football night...or so I’m told.

I attended the Seahawks-Saints game at rocking Qwest Field in Seattle last Sunday night. The following is my non-live liveblog from the opening kick:

15:00 Q1: Mack Strong raised the 12th Man flag prior to kickoff. He was one of the most unsung fullbacks in the NFL, and retired earlier in the week due to injury.

Was that redundant?

12:34 Q1: On the team's first punt attempt, the Seahawks’ long-snapper (name withheld due to research limitations and lack of interest) rolled one back to punter Ryan Plackemeier, who failed to field the ball, but did succeed in instilling hope that maybe I’m athletic enough to be a punter.

The Saints recovered the loose ball for a touchdown.

10:00 Q1: The Skycam fell out of the sky, nearly killing Matt Hasselbeck. Mike Holmgren’s play-calling finished what the Skycam started.

9:15 Q1: Shaun Alexander got booed for running into the backs of his linemen.

7:00 Q1: I left to get something to eat. There were so many options, but when I saw “Chili Bread Bowl,” it was as if the heavens opened and God, in all His wisdom, smiled upon me.

Any meal where you can eat the place setting is fine by me.

6:59 Q1 through 3:00 Q2: I spent the next 45 minutes cramming my face with food and watching the game between the legs of the people standing around me. I think I missed a Saints touchdown or two.

2:45 Q2: Shaun Alexander got booed for not hitting the hole.

2:00 Q2: The Seahawks scored to cut the lead to 21-7. Ben Obamanu caught the touchdown pass. Wasn’t he a Star Wars character?

0:30 Q2: The Saints marched right down the field to put another one in the end zone. The people next to me were talking about leaving.

Halftime: Weiner dog races. Finally, something that runs hard wearing a Seattle jersey.

9:24 Q3: The Saints took the ball down the field up 28-10 and should have added more points, but Reggie Bush fumbled.

9:23 Q3: Shaun Alexander got booed for no apparent reason. He actually did all he could on that one.

15:00 Q4: The people next to me left, my chili had yet to hit me where it counts, and the game was well in hand. Things could not have been going better.

10:01 Q4: I got a text message that Nevada and Boise State were tied. Things could not have been going worse.

4:33 Q4: We had seen enough. With the Seahawks failing to do much, we decided the game was over and headed for the exits. Shaun Alexander got booed as we left.

2:00 Q4: Text messages from a friend told me that the Nevada-BSU game was in overtime. I cared more about the game on my phone than the one I just spent two-and-a-half hours watching live.

0:00 Q4: Back at the hotel, I settled in just in time to watch the fourth overtime of the BSU game. When the Broncos made the game-winning tackle on the two-point conversion, I had a slight fist-pumping fit and breathed the world’s biggest sigh.

Sunday night is, indeed, football night...just not in the way NBC wanted it to be.

Team of the Week: Jaguars

Not too long ago, the Jaguars were giving up 200 rushing yards per game and the Texans were 2-0. Sunday showed that things have changed.

A Jaguars win, their fourth in a row, dropped the Texans to .500 and set up a Monday night Jacksonville-Indianapolis showdown for AFC South supremacy.

The Jags have been on fire lately, riding their tough defense and relying on big plays from Maurice Jones-Drew.

The formula works.

Starting quarterback David Garrard doesn't turn the ball over and doesn't lack mobility à la ousted Byron Leftwich. He has been a good fit for the smashmouth style that Jack Del Rio prefers.

Jacksonville seems to always be in the playoff hunt, which is a credit to Del Rio’s coaching and the always strong D. This year seems to be no different.

 
Bad Team of the Week: Bengals

While the Jags haven't lost since Week One, the Bengals haven't won in the same span.

Their opening win over Baltimore is still their only W of the year, and who knows when their next one is coming.

Carson Palmer looks human, Chad Johnson looks incorrigible, and Marvin Lewis looks like he needs a hug. Maybe the return of Chris Henry from suspension will rally the team. Or maybe his return will spark a gang war in the Bengals locker room.

Which begs the question: If the Bengals are fighting themselves, can anyone win?

 
Kevan Lee's Beverage of the Week: Izze

Not drinking coffee makes trips to Starbucks very difficult for me.

Thankfully, there is Izze. This fruit soda is actually quite tasty, and drinking it makes anyone 10 percent cooler than they just were.

I would recommend a flavor, but I’m not completely sure what some of them are. I had Clementine, which I thought was a disease. 

Oh well—it tasted good.

 
Nap of the Week: Third quarter of the radio call of the Chiefs and Bengals

Like a baby in a car-seat, if you drive me anywhere for a long enough period of time, I will fall asleep and drool on the seatbelt.

Truth be told, I wasn’t so much sleeping as I was wishing the Chiefs-Bengals game wasn’t on the radio.

However, I was drooling.

 
Most Misleading Stat: Reggie Bush, 141 total yards

Don't get me wrong—Bush played really well at times against Seattle, and even showed flashes of his old USC flair.

However, all of his damage was done in the first half, and he did virtually nothing in the second. In fact, he fumbled when the Saints were driving for a game-icing score, and he dropped an easy swing pass on third down that would have kept the drive alive and might have resulted in a touchdown.

He had one of his best games, but it could have been so much better.

 
Painfully True Stat: 43 years old, Vinny Testaverde’s age

Vinny T threw a touchdown pass in Sunday’s win over the Cardinals, and looked far more competent than several other quarterbacks in the league.

His age isn't a painfully true stat for him—it's a painfully true stat for me.

You see, when I’m 43, I will most certainly not be throwing touchdowns in the NFL. I imagine that I'll be losing a lot of my hair, living vicariously through my children, and avoiding the stairs in my home.

Here’s to the future.

 
Premature MVP Ballot

1. Tom Brady: Number one on my ballot, number one in my heart.

2. Peyton Manning: I feel obligated to put him here.

3. Derek Anderson: You were thinking it.

 
Weekly Super Bowl Prediction: Patriots vs. Giants

As long as we can get at least one Manning involved, the league will be happy.

For more insight, check out www.kevanlee.com.