As we get deeper and deeper into the 2008 NFL season, it’s interesting to see just how long some people will hold on to their pre-season predictions. “The Chargers and Jaguars will turn it around,” “The Packers really will be okay without and Favre,” and “Kyle Orton will be the the MVP.” Okay, so that last one was a little far fetched, but I’m sure some delusional bum on the streets of Chicago or Kyle Orton’s mom could have made that prediction. Here’s just a few more things we know going forward this season: 

Saints kicker Martin Gramatica was a "goat" on Monday Night Football.

Hurricane Gramática Wreaks Havoc on New Orleans

We laugh at how they wear wear single bar helmets that are too big for their small heads, strap on shoulder pads even though they don’t have to, and always have mismatching shoes. We applaud their abilities to flop like soccer players when anyone touches them and praise them when they are the last person to beat and just get in the way. How quickly the tide changes when our lovable kickers miss a field goal and are demoted to a “goat” as quickly as he was acclamated. Aside from the quarterback, the kicker has to be the most vital part to a team’s ability to score. It can dare be said that New Orleans Saints kicker Martin Gramatica can now be pinned with two of the Saints’ three losses this year. A couple weeks ago the Saints lost to the Denver Broncos by two after Gramatica missed a field goal and last night he didn’t fair much better. On Monday Night Football, Gramatica had a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown by the Minnesota Vikings and then missed the go ahead 43-yard field goal with under two minutes left in regulation. The Saints better get their kicking in order or they stand to be another forgotten team in a forgettable season. Case and point, the 1999 NFC Championship Game, Atlanta Falcons at the Minnesota Vikings. Led by Randall Cunningham, the Vikings were the shoe-in for the Super Bowl and also the favorites to win. Vikings kicker Gary Anderson, who had not missed a field goal all year, missed a 38 yarder with under two minutes left. Atlanta drove the ball, made a field goal, and won. Consequently, the Vikings lost and their incredible season is now forgotten by most. Come on Gramatica, we want to see more of your days of old when you were “automatica.”

Miami Dolphins Out of #1 Draft Pick Contention

The Miami Wildphins are turning things around this year.

Nobody would have believed the Miami Dolphins could win during the off-season, but then the Dolphins landed Chad Pennington and there was a glimmer of hope they might win at least a couple games. The Dolphins got pummeled at home in week one and embarrassed the next week by the Arizona Cardinals. Fans in south Florida thought they were staring at another #1 offensive lineman draft pick next year right in the face. The Dolphins were a gloomy bunch heading into Foxborough to face the New England Patriots. They looked like little kids who just couldn’t pull off a win in “Chutes and Ladders,” devastation was seeping in. “I always land on the chutes, it’s no fair,” Ricky Williams whined on the team bus before he slipped into daydreams about “Puff the Magic Dragon.” Then something miraculous happened, the Dolphins pulled off a win against the Patriots! The Dolphins introduced their “Wildcat” offense, a scheme of trick plays and direct snaps to the running back, which seemed unstoppable. The Dolphins flew back to Miami elated, thinking that maybe this season did hold some success for them in the future. Then last week, the Dolphins beat the Chargers using that same “Wildcat” offense and now the Dolphins have equalled their win total for last year and we’re only in week 5! I wonder if the excitement will fade now that fans are kind of expecting to win and will be disappointed after they lose. The high ground is always better, but the Dolphins are more on the middle ground, they aren’t seen as big of underdogs as they were a couple weeks ago, but they aren’t king of the hill either. Needless to say, they are on a roll and should keep rolling next week at Houston. It’s intriguing to think how the Dolphins will do against the tough Baltimore Ravens defense in two weeks. From this day forward, JIB Sports will refer to the Dolphins offense as the “Wildphin” offense, wildcats and dolphins don’t mesh, but if they did they would be “wildphins.”

Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell is quietly leading with no turnovers so far this year.

Redskins Won’t Fade This Year

The Washington Redskins started the year by getting run down by Brandon Jacobs and the New York Giants. Nobody expected those teams to be heading into week 6 as the two of the top teams in the league. The Giants are still undefeated and the Redskins are coming off of convincing road wins at Dallas and Philadelphia. What’s even more head-turning about the Redskins’ start to the season is that their quarterback Jason Campbell has not committed a single turnover all season. Also just as interesting is that running back Clinton Portis has run over 120 yards the past two weeks, averaging over 5 yards per carry. The Redskins defense has not been phenomenal but it has been good enough to win, they run a true “bend but don’t break” defense. Besides the casual Redskins fan, everyone doubts this team because they have to. Really, the Redskins have proven for many years that they are nothing more than a mediocre team, we are forced to doubt  based on previous years’ results. One thing that may be hard to doubt is that the Redskins will be 7-1 at the halfway mark. The Redskins play the St. Louis Rams, the Cleveland Browns, and the Detroit Lions the next three weeks. If there was a separation between teams like in college football, those next three opponents for the Redskins would be 1-AA teams. Throw the Kansas City Chiefs in there and they would have their own division!

Tags: NFL

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under NFL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.