Week 4 Observations

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Published on October 4, 2010

Maybe it was because I was drunk after the bartender bought us tequila shots, but I haven't seen a physical beat-down like the Giants put on the Bears maybe ever. They had 10 sacks, eight quarterback hits, five turnovers, knocked two quarterbacks out of the game, held the Bears to 110 net yards and three points (which came after a Giants fumble and a three-and-out). The Bears offensive line has been in shambles all year, but this was a 3-0 team that owned wins over Green Bay and Dallas, and the Giants took them apart.

Greg Olsen is the Bears' best receiver. Jay Cutler and Mike Martz were doing well before Week 4, but the offensive line and below-average receiving corps are a headwind.

Ahmad Bradshaw is a top-10 back, assuming his ankle is okay.

Arian Foster is a top-5 back, and just needs two quarters to prove it.

I know Jimmy Clausen's a rookie, but the clock management on the last play of that game where he used nearly 35 seconds to snap the ball is beyond inexcusable. Even if the Panthers had converted and gotten into FG range, they wouldn't have had the chance to kick it.

Max Hall can't but be an improvement over Derek Anderson. Larry Fitzgerald if anything will benefit from the switch, i.e., it's more likely to be like Matt Moore replacing Jake Delhomme last year for Steve Smith than Clausen replacing Moore. Even if Hall is terrible it won't get any worse.

If Darren McFadden's injury lingers, Michael Bush has top-15 upside.

Ray Rice's injury was timed perfectly as he wasn't going to have a big game against the Steelers anyway. Don't be overly concerned here.

The Bills offense is so loaded there's no need to work in C.J. Spiller or Lee Evans.

Shonn Greene and LaDainian Tomlinson will both be viable starters more often than not. This is like Carolina's backfield from 2008-09, with Tomlinson playing a slower DeAngelo Williams and Greene a good comp for Jonathan Stewart.

Braylon Edwards looks like the guy from 2007, but with Santonio Holmes returning, Dustin Keller seeing his share of looks and the defense and running game strong, he'll be more 2009 Robert Meachem than 2007 Edwards.

One of the three greatest WR in NFL history (the other two being Jerry Rice and Randy Moss), Terrell Owens is far from done. He's a top-25 WR going forward and would be top-15 were Chad Ochocinco not also seeing so many targets.

Kyle Orton is Rich Gannon circa 2001 without the scrambling ability. I have no idea where to rank Brandon Lloyd or Eddie Royal.

The Detroit Lions are 0-4, but they're not a good team to pick against in Survivor if you can help it.

Antonio Gates leads the NFL with six TDs through four games. Arian Foster, Jahvid Best and Dustin Keller are tied for second with five - not exactly the group I would have picked in the preseason.

It's a wonderful thing when the bartender gets drunk with you and leaves without recording your substantial tab for two: (BLT, fries, turkey burger, salad, pepperoni pizza, pitcher of Stella, nine Stellas, shot of tequila, shot of Makers Mark (we actually ordered one round), two bottled waters. The other bartender couldn't find our tab, so we tipped her $20 and took off.