Our Week Two SPF Tastings: Give Us Some Panther, but Steer Clear of Ram and Bengal

After getting a full-sized Sunday helping of SPF games, not everything we sampled was up to par.  Let's do a quick break down in hopes that maybe some of the team cooks can get their wares

"Finger Lickin' Good"

Although Col Sanders made the phrase famous, the South ahs used this wonderful expression for eons.  We reserve this for our SPF teams that satisfied their fans hunger with a decisive performance on the field.

Carolina Panthers - This team can check two important items off their list.  First, they outhit and outran a smash mouth team from the NFL's Big Ten, the Chicago Bears.  Second, they got a win at home, something that has been a major problem in the John Fox era.

Dallas Cowboys - They are 2-0 after a wild, back and forth game on Monday Night.  All the same elements from last year are there on the offensive side of the ball.  The Cowboys also derailed the Philly hype train that began after their Week 1 win.  The Cowboys have beaten two strong teams.  They are living up to the hype so far.

Tennessee Titans - Another one of our 2-0 teams, the Titans also got two big check marks - one, a solid win, and two, a solid performance from Kerry Collins.  The Vince Young situation continues to look Vick-esque in terms of his downfall, but the Titans have far less depending on him.  They won in spite of him in Week 1 and without him in Week 2.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers - The Bucs won a game SPF dubbed "must win".  They did it with Brian Griese replacing last year's hero, Jeff Garcia.  Griese did what Gruden wants from his QBs - play winning football.  Too much rested on the fragile shoulders of Garcia last year.  Gruden isn't making that same mistake in 2008.

Washington Redskins - Although the Skins still have some things to prove, (a) they got a win and (b) QB Jason Campbell looks like the real deal.  Skins fans have to put their faith in the Snyder vision, and Campbell has been a big part of that vision.

"Tastes Kinda Off"

You know that sensation when you try a stew or a soup, and something's missing.  Maybe its the wrong combination of spices.  Maybe it just needs a pinch of salt.  One way or another, it doesn't quite satisfy the palette.

Jacksonville Jaguars - We thought they figured it out after last year, but SPF isn't surprised with this 0-2 start.  Clearly, the Jags are a good team, but their offense remains so brutally inconsistent that they can't keep the chains moving.  Although they have had o-line injuries, the numbers show that the Jags haven't committed to the run (which seems to be frustrating RB Maurice Jones-Drew).  Perhaps all the plaudits for last year's new OC Dirk Koetter were premature.  Del Rio should have gone for someone with NFL experience last year, but now he is committed to Koetter.  Considering this offense is loaded with multiple first round picks and a QB that just signed a big off season contract, they must show more than the pedestrain results so far. 

New Orleans Saints - With Jax it's the offense.  With NO, it usually is the defense.  Regardless, the Saints couldn't handle success once again.  They had the late lead.  They got big plays from the offense and Reggie Bush, but their D allowed Jason Campbell put up elite numbers.  Some may argue that the Skins on the road can't be an expected win for the Saints, but the Saints should be expecting to win them all.  Letting wins slip away is worrisome, but all too familiar according to John DeShazier.

Indianapolis Colts - Yes, they won.  Yes, Peyton had a great game.  However, the Colts were a play or two (or even one competent QB play from the Vikings) away from starting 0-2.  Maybe this year's team will find themselves having to pull out games week after week, but this year's squad hasn't produced the fluid effectiveness on offense and defense that we've come to expect from the Colts.

Atlanta Falcons - Consider them TKO with a bullet.  The Falcons can't be expected to play like they did in Week 1 because they won't play the Lions again this season.  However, Matt Ryan did take his shots like a man, and he even seemed willing to punch back.  Most of all, the Falcons still have the fans interested and supportive.  Jeff Schultz does raise an interesting point in noting that this young Falcons team is facing its first bit of adversity - a loss and Lawyer Milloy's DUI.  We will see how this develops.

Houston Texans - It's hard to bash the Texans since they had their game suspended due to the ravages of Hurricane Ike. However, this team has every element to be good (strong ownership, great market, high revenue), yet it has struggled since its inception.

Leave it to Richard Justice to sum it up by comparing the Texas team he used to cover (the Cowboys) with his current Houston team - the Cowboys are just more interesting.

Quick!  Name one player on the Texans that excites you as a viewer.  Didn't think you could...

"Startin' To Turn"

When your meat isn't cured just right, it turns.  At only two games in, SPF detects that a few of our teams might be needing some "curing" of their own.

St Louis Rams - There is little that can be said beyond the obvious.  The Rams are not only one of the NFL's worst teams, they are also in danger of leaving St Louis.  It seems to us that these two stories might be linked.

The St Louis Post-Dispatch's three main sports columnists (Bryan Burwell, Jeff Gordon, and Bernie Miklasz) all wrote on Monday asking that either the coach be fired, the GM be fired, or both.  While certainly witnessing the inevitable end of the Scott Linehan era, we might also be seeing the end of the NFL in St Louis.

With a stadium lease that runs only through 2012, the team reportedly for sale, and LA still empty and waiting with Rams fans still alive that can remember their time in SoCal, the obvious answer seems to be a sale and move further west.

We don't want to be negative nellies here, but the Rams era in St Louis happened only because of the late Georgia Frontiere who couldn't get along in LA so she moved her husband's team to her hometown of St Louis.  She proved her point and won her Super Bowl and then she passed away last year.  Her two kids who inherited the Rams live in LA and want to sell it.  Unless a deep pocketed St Louis buyer emerges, the sale price to any LA group would be too rich to ignore.  Additionally, the NFL won't try to stop it since they have been trying to fill the LA market since the Rams and Raiders left.

Scott Linehan is a joke.  He never had this team so it isn't accurate to say he lost them.  Watch part of his post game press conference.  Linehan shakes more than an addict looking for a fix.

However, this isn't anything the Rams didn't know.  Yet, they kept him in place, spent more money on free agents like they were about to turn the corner which now makes Linehan look even worse alienating fans further.

The Rams front office has poisoned the well in a good sports town.  Knowing that greener pastures lie in their former home, SPF wonders if this wasn't the plan all along.

(Update on the afternoon of 9/16/2008 - The St Louis Post-Dispatch reports that owner Chip Rosenbloom, son of the late Georgia Frontiere, seems to have realized that he is, in fact, the owner of the Rams, and that people are wondering if he cares that his team stinks.  Rosenbloom decided to lay down a gauntlet of sorts:

"I am happy for this team to be in St. Louis, where we have an appreciative fan base," he said. "And I hope that the fans will not waver in support of their team — even when times are a little tough."

Then came the hammer.

"Things will get better," Rosenbloom said. "And if they don't, changes will be made."

I guess the someone is paying attention to this debacle and recognizing the pain that fan in St Louis are being subjected to.)

Cincinnati Bengals - The only difference between the Rams and the Bengals is that the Bengals aren't in danger of moving.  We guess that is a good thing, but the Bengals' fans shouldn't be punished any longer with this sad team.

Like the Rams, anyone could see that the Bengals started to turn last year.  However, owner Mike Brown keeps serving this rancid product to his fans.  Not only does this team lose in spectacularly pathetic fashion, but they also have a roster filled with unsavory malcontents.

Paul Daugherty has Mike Brown back on the bad owner watch list.  The problem with this list is that it doesn't change a thing - just ask fans of the Detroit Lions).

Miami Dolphins - We think that the team has turned itself around by putting Bill Parcells in charge, but their loss to the Cardinals reminded their fans of last season's horrific team a little too much.  Considering the proud history of this franchise, its has been suffering for way too long either through the falied return of Jimmy Johnson to the mediocrity of the Wannstedt years to Nick Saban's initial promise and abrupt departure to the joke that was Cam Cameron.

SPF gives Parcells a break because the Dolphins have little in the way of quality NFL talent.  However, he and his staff should start playing their youngsters and let them learn rather than subject their fans to watching retreads get lit up week after week.

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