With all of the NFL’s Week Two games completed, it’s time to reflect on which players, coaches, and teams are going back to practice this week with the biggest smiles on their faces.
5. Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin, and Larry Fitzgerald (Arizona Cardinals)
It’s the greatest show on sand, down in Arizona nowadays.
Having held off competition for the starting roll from Matt Leinart, Kurt Warner is now rolling back the years.
The first drive of the game for Arizona saw Kurt Warner linking up with Boldin for a 79-yard score.
They didn’t stop there though; Warner racked up 361 yards total passing, with three touchdowns. Boldin collected all three of those touchdowns, but his 140 receiving yards were bettered by the 153 yards put up by his teammate Larry Fitzgerald.
Yes, it was only Miami, but it was an excellent day at the office for these three, and with Seattle dropping to 0-2, they know that if they keep playing like this, the Cards will finally be playoff bound.
4. Jonathan Stewart (Carolina Panthers)
Carolina’s offence had been completely stifled by Chicago’s powerful defence all day; the first half saw the ball moved just 47 yards by the Panthers.
With just two John Kasay field goals on the scoreboard, nearing the end of the third quarter, Carolina needed someone to step up and put points on the board to mount a comeback.
Enter rookie Jonathan Stewart.
Handed the ball on the Chicago four-yard line, he punched the ball into the end zone to reduce the deficit to four points. It was his first ever NFL touchdown.
With less than four minutes to go in the game, Carolina had the ball on the opposition's one-yard line. The ball was again given to Stewart, who duly doubled his total career touchdowns.
He rushed for 77 yards overall, at 5.5 yards a carry, but it was the 12 points he put on the scoreboard that changed the outcome of this game. It was a huge result for Carolina, as they move now to 2-0.
He has wasted little time settling into the National Football League, and it’s this kind of gritty, game-winning performance needed if they are going to be Super Bowl contenders this year.
3. Jim Zorn (Washington Redskins)
Jim Zorn picked up his first ever win as a head coach when his Redskins came from behind to beat the much-fancied New Orleans Saints.
Zorn will have a lot to be happy about. His side produced much more offensively than the Saints' very powerful Drew Brees-led attack, which is a good sign for both his offence and his defence.
He will also be very happy with the character his side showed in not only bouncing back from going behind early on, but from a disappointing performance in Week One against the Giants.
With Dallas and the Giants finishing the week both at 2-0, it was vital that the 'Skins won this game, otherwise they'd have a lot of catching up to do already in their division.
Much for the rookie head coach to be pleased with this week.
10 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
Thomas 9 months ago
I'm smiling with the Cowboys. =)
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Jimmy Grappone 9 months ago
Steven,
A few comments on your article:
5. What are your thoughts on Kurt Warner as a HOF qb? I saw him play for the Cards at Candlestick a few years ago and he didn't do anything flashy but somehow ended up with some ridiculous yardage total way up in the 300s...might've been 400+. It reminded me of watching Antawan Jamison play in college at UNC--at the end of the game, you'd remember Vince Carter's 17 points, 6 rebounds and 3 flashy dunks, but when you looked at the box score to find out how Jamison did, he'd have 22 and 14 and you just didn't realize he'd been so productive when you watched the game.
4. I'd add John Fox's name next to Jonathan Stewart's. Fox has pretended the Panthers had a power rushing game ever since he's been in Charlotte, but the last great downhill runner they actually had was Stephen Davis. Now that he has Stewart, I'm sure he has a big smile on his face. The cat-quick DeAngelo Williams and Stewart should compliment each other well...sort of a Fire-n-Ice or Thunder-n-Lightning combo, ala a poor man's Tiki Barber-Brandon Jacobs combo.
3. Good call about Jim Zorn. Add Dan Snyder and the Redskins' faithful to that list. I listened to Redskins radio w/John Riggins a lot over the summer and I can tell you they questioned Snyder's choice of Zorn over Greg Williams and they also questioned Zorn's ability to be tough with his players after an incident in which the coach allowed Santana Moss to sit out of practice because of a hangover after his birthday party the previous night. Good comeback win for the Zorn, Moss and the Skins. Jason Campbell put up some big digis, too.
2. What is your basis is for saying Mike Shanahan has staked his Denver career on Cutler. While no coach has ever has complete job security, Shanahan's legacy as a two-time Super Bowl winning coach is secure, even if he did have John Elway and TD30 on his team. Is it b/c he benched The Snake in favor of Cutler at the end of 6's rookie year? Or b/c he drafted the kid from Vandy instead of Leinart or Young or whoever else was in that class? Help me to understand. Also, as an editorial note, Eddie Royal (not Eddie King) is the Bronco's receiver. I made the same mistake the other day calling Zach Thomas Zach Johnson. Did I mention I'm a Denver fan? haha...and I'm smiling, too.
1. What was the deal w/McNabb's handoffs last night? Otherwise, he looked great, but he had 2 bad handoffs to Westbrook, including one that he did a double pump on before slapping it against BW's chest instead of sticking it in his gut. That NFC East is ridiculous and those Giants-Eagles-Cowboys matchups are going to be must-see games this year.
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Steven White 9 months ago
Hey Jimmy, thanks for the comments:
5. I was actually thinking about whether Kurt Warner was a hall of fame player the other day myself. I like him, I think for an undrafted quarterback to achieve what he has is remarkable and I think he does have a chance of getting into the hall of fame. The problem with him is, outside of his first few years starting in St Louis he's not been consistant enough to hold down a starting roll anywhere. Let's not forget that the ARIZONA CARDINALS, a team who haven't made the playoffs since the beginning of history, dropped him a couple of years ago. I didn't think I'd see him playing again after that. So, if three franchises feel they have better quarterbacks than Kurt Warner, and don't see him as an irreplacable member of the team, how can he be good enough to be in the hall of fame. So for me, I'd say his achievements are fantastic, but he falls short of being in the hall of fame.
4. Yes, and I'm smiling with John Fox as a Carolina fan, I'm very excited about this new run offence. They are the perfect compliment to each other, and with Stewart it looks as if they have found someone who can actually run the ball into the endzone. Smiles all round.
3. Very good week for the skins, I didn't expect them to win against New Orleans at all. The best way to answer critics - results.
2. Don't get me wrong, I think Cutler is better than Young and Leinart etc. But he hasn't achieved anything yet. In Plummer's last full year of starting, the Bronco's made the championship game after finishing 13-3. Then, they were on course to make the playoffs again when Shanahan threw Cutler in to the starting roll with five games to go. It just wasn't the right time to introduce him in my opinion, and I don't think it helped him being thrown in so early. Last year they finished 7-9, not good enough for a team like the broncos I'm sure you'll agree. What if the broncos finish 7-9 again this season? and next season? does Shanahan's superbowl wins make up for that? Shanhan put Jay Cutler in the team to win games, if Cutler doesn't win games Shanahan will be on his way in my opinion.
1. It's going to be the division to watch, and I really don't want to take a guess at who's going to come out on top of it!
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Jimmy Grappone 9 months ago
Steven,
I completely agree w/your comments about Cutler. I was a Plummer fan and when he was benched a couple of years ago w/5 games to go, I was a little pissed b/c it seemed like we were giving up on the season, but if you look back at Plummer's performance basically from the AFC Championship when Pitt blew us out on our home field up until the point that he was benched, he didn't play nearly as well as he did the previous year. For whatever reason, the Mountain Man always seemed to struggle to hit 50% of his passes. I don't know if he'd have helped Denver beat the 49ers in the NYE game that kept Den out of the playoffs 2 years ago or not.
Anyway, I'm generally of the opinion that if given the opportunity to let a qb sit back and learn from a good veteran qb for a few years before being thrown into the fire it's the best scenario. Rodgers seems to be doing well. Look at Brady, Steve Young, etc. Sometimes you just don't have a choice, and if you have a guy like Peyton, he's probably ready for the NFL at age 16 b/c he's so smart, but typically it's better to bring a qb along slowly. It's not like a running back who can just step in and keep running from the start of his career. Maybe Leinart will be okay, if he ever gets his confidence back, but Young played too early and now he apparently doesn't know if he wants to play football?!?!?! He's been benched for Kerry Collins who was at Penn St when I was in grade school and he still hasn't fixed that hitch in his delivery!
Back to Cutler, though, I think he's a winning qb. I think if they don't win this year it won't be Cutler's fault - it'll be because of the defense. Or b/c the rb by committee system doesn't work. My money is on the defense being the week link at this point, but it's a long season. And like I said, too, no coach has complete job security. I think Bowlen trusted Shanahan and almost "sacrificed" in the short term the past 2 seasons for the long term benefit, which I believe will start this season, and has started already. I wasn't a Cutler fan at first mainly b/c of the Plummer situation, but I saw his arm strength first hand last season in Oakland and he's looked great so far this year and I'm on the boat now. I'm all in, baby!
Finally, I tend to agree w/you about Kurt Warner, too. My friends and I have long had the "who's in the HOF RIGHT NOW if they never played another down" discussion and for a while, Favre was the only guy. Then Brady and Manning earned their ways in. Maybe McNair. Maybe McNabb - he has a real shot if he does something these next few years and he looked great the other night. Warner, prob not - def not first ballot - but he is intriguing based on his stats in the games in which he's played and based on his first few years. Doesn't it seem like he's 40 now? I think he was about 26 when he came into the league w/his gray hair and 50 year old wife. haha
Have a good one man.
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Steven White 9 months ago
How often does a rookie quarteback go straight into a team and become a top player right away? hardly ever, so why do coaches expect it to? I'd say Tony Romo's the best qb to emerge in the last few years and he'd spent years just sitting about being a back up before he replaced Drew Bledsoe in Dallas. Derek Anderson in Cleveland was around for a while before starting and he's turned out to be a pro bowl quarterback, the same goes for Jake Delhomme, Matt Hasselbeck, Trent Green, the list is endless. So why do coaches just keep throwing rookies in?
I wasn't a fan of Cutler either to start with, mostly because I had money on Denver to win the superbowl the year that he became the starter. The thing is Denver were 7-4 when they dropped Plummer, it didn't make any sense to me. It wasn't like the Bledsoe/Romo situation in Dallas where the team was only doing so so and it was clear that Bledsoe was a good five years past his best, Plummer was still capable of leading the team. But, Cutler has impressed me this year so far, so maybe finally he's ready for the big time.
As for the hall of fame McNair would be a yes from me, McNabb at the minute no. I think if Drew Brees carries on how he's been going for the past few years he's going to end up in the reckoning too. I think if Warner could win a superbowl with Arizona he'd get in to the HoF though. I don't think he will, but it would be nice.
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Jimmy Grappone 9 months ago
If ANYONE wins a superbowl with AZ they deserve to be in Canton. haha. I hadn't thought about Brees...he has been really good though. I think the coaches play their high draft pick qbs early either b/c of pressure from fans/owners, money they're getting paid or maybe because their other options are crap, i.e., in Atlanta this year. Whenever possible, though, yes, qb's should ride the pine their first few years in the league. Whatever happened to Kyle Boller in B'more?
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Steven White 9 months ago
Kyle Boller's still at Baltimore, but he's injured. And awful. Really awful. I can't think of too many qb's in the league who were supposed to be 'the man' who are as rubbish as he is.
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Jimmy Grappone 9 months ago
Boller's shone on occassion, esp in relief of Steve McNair who never really quite panned out in Baltimore due to his knees and banged up body.
If you want to shine the spotlight on royally disappointmenting quarterback play, you need look no further than the Bay Area's fellow #1 draft picks, San Francisco's Alex Smith and Oakland's JaMarcus Russell. Smith signed for an astronomical sum after being selected first out of Utah (where he played for Tim Tebow's current coach at Florida, Urban Meyer) and he's now backing up some bloke named TJ O'Sullivan who probably signed w/the 49ers primarily for San Francisco's abundance of Irish pubs. And did you see Russell's stat line against the Chiefs last weekend? They were so bad that he doesn't even have them posted on his website, www.jamarcusrussell.com. I just checked. He has his college stats - and his Raiders jersey is for sale - but he hasn't posted his stats. Fortunately, NFL.com isn't so discriminatory. Let's see, against AFC West rival Kansas City he was...6-of-17 for 55 yards! Again, I'm against starting super young qb's b/c I think it's bad for them more often than not, but still! The guy was picked #1 overall in 2007 because he's built like Karl Malone and he can throw a football 80 yards. Seriously. This gives me an idea for a brief article.
Cheers,
Jimmy
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Steven White 9 months ago
Kyle Boller was the only qb last year who didn't manage to lead his team to victory over the Miami Dolphins. Steve McNair took them pretty close to a superbowl the previous season don't forget, but as soon as he went down the following season they collapsed into a joke. Ironic really that Brian Billick got the Ravens job on the basis that he was an offensive genius with a specialty in quarterbacks, and all he provided in Baltimore was Kyle Boller and Trent Dilfer.
Quite right on the Alex Smith and Jamarcus Russell front, I've been horribly underwhelmed by Alex Smith who I expected a lot more from. Jamarcus Russell I expected nothing from simply because he was drafted by Oakland. If multiple time pro bowler Daunte Culpepper had such a rough time there he had to retire, then what on earth was Jamarcus Russell going to achieve going into the team????
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Jimmy Grappone 9 months ago
It's true - Brian Billick the offensive genius coaching the Ravens, and Marvin Lewis, the defensive genius coaching the Bengals. It hasn't quite worked out has it? Check out my article about quarterbacks playing too soon in their careers - I posted it last night / early this morning. Feel free to leave a comment there!
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