Week Ten Observations

1. Mike Shanahan to Chicago at the end of the season just makes too much sense for everyone involved, except Lovie Smith has a gigantic long-term contract that would cost the Bears to renege upon.

2. Jay Cutler plus a bad offensive line plus Ron Turner plus a n00bish corps of receivers = the most interceptions in the league.

3. I said last week the Bears would be one of the worst teams in the league if their quarterback was Kyle Orton instead of Jay Cutler, but you'd have to think Kyle Orton would have beaten the Niners last Thursday night. Either way the Bears are a bottom ten ballclub right now.

4. During the draft, the Broncos traded a 2010 first round pick for the opportunity to draft Alphonso Smith. It was assumed the Broncos could have traded either their own 2010 first rounder or Chicago's, which they had the rights to thanks to the Jay Cutler trade. The decision to use their own pick is looking wise.

5. Minnesota had 302 yards of offense in the first half against Detroit.

6. Percy Harvin is a truly incredible athlete, sort of like a taller Maurice Jones-Drew but at WR. His strength/speed/balance combination is dumbfounding.

7. Detroit's offense has regressed significantly since the early part of the season. The injuries to Matt Stafford, Calvin Johnson, and Kevin Smith disrupted their chemistry. Johnson, in particular, is not the same player.

8. Is it just me or are field goal kickers getting worse? I should look into the numbers.

9. The defense of the New York Jets is in shambles. Their defensive line is porous. The loss of Kris Jenkins was arguably the most devastating injury of the season to any one team. In a week or two I'll compile the list of the season's most significant injuries.

10. ***Guest Observation of the Week***
This week's observation comes from NFL diehard and fantasy football rival David Hoedeman. Hoedy has an interesting theory on how to improve Buffalo's sucktastic offense. For the record, I am in total concordance with him on this one.

“When you're losing, everyone's looking for answers.” - Ryan Fitzpatrick in a Tuesday press conference after being named the Buffalo Bills starting QB for Sunday's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Sage words from Fitzpatrick. We should expect nothing less from a Harvard grad. Of course, if he were actually that bright, he would know that if the question is, “Who should start at quarterback for my NFL football team?” the answer will never, ever be, “Ryan Fitzpatrick.”

Here's how I imagine the conversation between Fitzpatrick and new Bills head coach Perry Fewell transpired this week:

Coach Fewell: Ry Guy, we need to get some wins here. My ass is on the line. I've got to make a move here. Assert myself as the leader of this team. You're my guy against the Jags on Sunday.

Fitzpatrick: You are aware that our offense averages a meager 4.4 yards every time I drop back to pass this year, yes?

Coach: Hell good for you, son. That's almost half as many yards as that Manning guy, and he's damn good.

Fitz: That's actually the worst number in the entire league. Worse than any starter or backup on any team. Heck even Brady Quinn averages 4.7 yards per attempt, and he doesn't have a single NFL-caliber receiver on his team. Look Coach, I'm a competitive guy. I'm happy for the opportunity and I'll do my best, but I may well be the least talented quarterback on any NFL roster. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Coach: Well you're still my guy. That's the kind of tough decision a new head coach has to make. I've got balls, son. Don't you forget it.

Fitz: I'm completing less than 50% of my passes.

Coach: You got guts, kid.

Fitz: I was 2/7 in my cameo against Tennessee last week.

Coach: We need a spark.

Fitz: For 6 yards.

Coach: Go get ‘em son.

This is where the hapless, frustrated and frustrating Bills find themselves. Fresh off a midseason coaching change that followed a last-minute preseason offensive coordinator change—resulting in the 29th ranked offense in the NFL—Buffalo is attempting to turn things around by turning to 7th round draft pick and perennial journeyman bum Ryan Fitzpatrick.

If Fewell really had balls, if he really wanted to shake things up in a way that might actually improve the Bills atrocious offense, attract some attention and reinvigorate a passionate-yet-disenchanted fan base, then the Bills starting quarterback on Sunday would be running back Fred “Action” Jackson.*

This is not an overreaction to Jackson's one nice touchdown pass to Lee Evans in last week’s Titans game. I'm not calling for Jackson to start throwing the ball all over the field, nor do I think he should take every offensive snap at quarterback. But I absolutely think the Bills could improve on their 4.6 yards/play average if they became the first team to utilize the Wildcat as their primary offensive formation, bringing in Edwards (never ever Fitzpatrick… ever) as a change of pace about 30-40% of the time.

The reasoning for the birth of the Wildcat in Miami was simple: “We have two electric backs. Let’s get them on the field at the same time.”

The Bills can relate.

Fred Jackson is one of the most dynamic open-field runners in the league. Marshawn Lynch has a devastating combination of speed and power and the ability to be one of the league’s best all around backs. With T.O. and Lee Evans on the outside, along with the as-yet-unproductive-but-always-dangerous Roscoe Parish, the weapons are there.

What is not there is quarterback play and offensive line play.

The best way to minimize these inadequacies is to maximize the impact of their skill players.

Both Jackson and Lynch should absolutely be on the field at all times. With Jackson a threat to throw (okay so he’s only thrown one pass, but it was a really nice toss) if the defense gets too aggressive, and with misdirection coming from every angle (motion, fakes, play-action, end-arounds) to slow down opposing defenses and help out the Bills blockers, the offense would be difficult to stop, or at the very least average at least 4.7 yards per play. Which would be an improvement.

And if it doesn’t work?

They tried.

Perry Fewell would show he has some balls. The media would have a new Wildcat darling following the formation’s tragic demise in Miami on the heels of Ronnie Brown’s season-ending injury. And those poor desperate Buffalo Bills fans searching for answers would have something to get excited about, a reason to go to the stadium on Sundays.

I fail to see how even this worst-case scenario is not 400 times better than finishing the season with Ryan Fitzpatrick manning an offense that will be rivaled by only Cleveland and Oakland for utter futility.

Well, unless Cleveland and Oakland turn their offenses over to Joshua Cribbs and Darren McFadden.

Fitzpatrick gets it. He went to Harvard.

“The situation isn’t about a lack of talent. We’ve got guys on the outside, we’ve got the backs. We have the right guys to do it. It’s just a matter of getting them the ball,” he said in that same press conference. I didn’t watch the whole thing, but I’ll assume he added something along the lines of, “I’m just the worst possible guy for that job.”

*Though Fred has some competition for the official ‘Action Jackson’ nickname in the NFL, I feel his involvement in the Wild Cat gives him an edge over DeSean “Mr. Big Play” Jackson, Vincent “Touchdown” Jackson and Steven “Savage Warrior/Beast/Killer/Monster/Bulldog” Jackson.

11. Before his injury, Kyle Orton nailed Brandon Marshall on two easy touchdown bombs - the first real deep passes Denver has completed this season. But Orton also missed Eddie Royal on another easy bomb and ultimately that was one of many mistakes that cost the Broncos the game.

12. Before the season started, there was a lot of derisive talk about how old Denver's secondary was. The tune changed once it became apparent the Broncos had the best secondary in the league, but as the season progresses the mileage is starting to become apparent.

13. It's unfortunate Michael Turner sprained his ankle just as he was peaking. It's very unfortunate for my fantasy team, which was also peaking. But Atlanta's running game shouldn't take much of a hit. Jason Snelling is a more than serviceable replacement and Jerious Norwood is on his way back from a hip flexor. Atlanta's problems are their defense, special teams, and quarterback.

14. How many times do we have to watch Matt Ryan throw the ball away on that horrible roll-out to the right before Mike Mularkey stops calling that play?

15. Another play I am tired of watching is the deep ball to Ted Ginn. It's growing reminiscent of Braylon Edwards '08, except the ball just slips through Ginn's hands instead of bouncing off them like it does with Braylon. Like we saw with the Browns in '08, Ginn's inability to catch the deep ball is crippling the offense.

16. Connor Barth appears to have solved Tampa's placekicking problem.

17. I know Cincinnati swept Pittsburgh and has a better record, but I still think the Steelers are a slightly better team.

18. It's hard to do much against Cincy's D. They have arguably the best tandem of corners in the league with Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall. Jonathan Fanene has stepped up in Antwan Odom's absence, their young linebackers are playing well, and Mike Zimmer is outscheming everyone. Zimmer has overtaken Mike Nolan and Gregg Williams in the defensive coordinator of the year race and should be a hot head coaching prospect after the season.

19. I've seen some ugly games this season. The worst was Cleveland at Buffalo, but Kansas City at Oakland came close. No one deserved to win that game. It was bad on offense, bad on defense, bad on special teams and poorly coached. Normally Dantrell Savage would win the Goat of the Week award for his terrible play but Darrius Heyward-Bey would not be denied this week.

20. Matt Hasselbeck and TJ Houshmandzadeh are finally developing some chemistry.

21. Remember when Housh played for the Bengals? I thought his loss was supposed to hurt them.

22. Arizona's vaunted rush defense disappeared the last two weeks, this week against the likes of Justin Forsett and Louis Rankin.

23. Despite running the ball well, Seattle called two pass plays on the one yard line in a tie game which they failed to convert.

24. Dallas couldn't even get enough protection to run screen plays against the Pack. They kept calling screens and Romo kept having to throw it away.

25. The overrated Asante Samuel keeps getting burned.

26. The other day I was watching a classic Patriots/Colts game on the NFL Network, the game in which the Pats stuffed the Colts four times from the 1 yard-line with the game on the line. Right before that goal line stand, as Peyton Manning was running the Colts down the field in a blistering 2-minute drill, Willie McGinest went down with a mysterious injury. It resembled a soccer injury - McGinest writhing theatrically on the ground, consuming time. But two plays later McGinest was back on the field, and on fourth down he made the game-winning tackle and then sprinted down the field in jubilant celebration. I mention this because Sunday night in a similar situation with Manning carving up the defense in the no-huddle, a Patriot defender went down with a mysterious injury. The crowd booed and Cris Collinsworth made note of it.

27. My take on the controversial Belichick decision: it was the wrong choice, but only because of the psychological repercussions. From a pure strategical perspective, it was very close. The real mistake was the pass call on third down. A running play on third down made more sense for many reasons.

28. Could Brady Quinn be worse than JaMarcus Russell? These two are the Ryan Leaf/Akili Smith of their generation.

Goat of the Week: Darrius Heyward-Bey, Oakland
Defensive Breakout Player of the Week: Quincy Black, Tampa Bay
Offensive Breakout Player of the Week: Brandon Gibson, St. Louis
Defensive Coordinator of the Week: Dom Capers, Green Bay
Offensive Coordinator of the Week: Clarence Shelmon, San Diego
Defensive MVP of the Week: Charles Woodson, Green Bay
Offensive MVP of the Week: Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville

32. Cleveland (32)
31. Oakland (31)
30. Kansas City (30)
29. Detroit (29)
28. Tampa Bay (27)
27. Buffalo (26)
26. St. Louis (28)
25. Chicago (22)
24. Seattle (23)
23. Washington (25)
22. Jacksonville (24)
21. New York Jets (17)
20. Carolina (21)
19. San Francisco (19)
18. Miami (16)
17. Tennessee (20)
16. Atlanta (14)
15. Houston (15)
14. Denver (9)
13. San Diego (18)
12. Philadelphia (10)
11. Green Bay (13)
10. New York Giants (12)
9. Arizona (11)
8. Dallas (8)
7. Baltimore (7)
6. Cincinnati (6)
5. Pittsburgh (2)
4. New England (5)
3. Minnesota (4)
2. Indianapolis (3)
1. New Orleans (1)