Two Games For the Ages

For those out there that say college football is so much more exciting than the NFL, they did not watch the Cowboys/Eagles game on Monday night. I have never seen a more well balanced series of highlights and blooper reels in one game before. And it was a shoot-out on top of everything else. Great stuff.

Seriously, it looked like there was a puppeteer pulling some strings on the football so Tony Romo could have the goofiest looking fumble I have ever seen in the endzone which resulted in a touchdown for Philly. And then Desean Jackson's early touchdown celebration when he was still on the one yard line was my early nomination for bonehead play of the year if not the decade. Jackson should be fined or at least ripped to shreds by Andy Reid for that ridiculous maneuver; unfortunately since they scored on the next play, I don't think he will get ridiculed as much. Looks like we have another Terrell Owens on our hands.

On top of those two bizarre situations, there was a Romo interception where it looked like he forgot what team he played for because it was a perfectly thrown pass to the Eagles' defender. There was also a fumble in the handoff from McNabb to Westbrook which ultimately cost them the game; the shot of it that we got to see on television looked as if Westbrook took it and then threw it up in the air. I realize this isn't what happened, but that was the visual we were given; I could hear Chris Berman's annoying sound effects churning around in my head as it happened.

This game completely overshadowed the Broncos/Chargers chaotic mess from Sunday which was another exciting game. You are lucky to get two games like this all season, and we got them in the same week. I'm still not sure I like the call at the end of that game which allowed the Broncos to get the TD and 2 point conversion leading to the come from behind win. Whistle blown or not, there should be a way to overturn that.

But here's the thing. The Chargers still had two chances to stop the Broncos from getting in the end zone, and Shannahan practically gift wrapped the game to them by using the draw play on third down. Then he decides to go for 2 which gives the Chargers yet another chance at getting out of it alive, but they completely fell apart, and then looked like they had no idea how to move the ball down the field with thirty seconds left in the game. Yes, it should have been a fumble, but it wasn't called , so get over your whining and keep the lead. Chargers fans should be more pissed off at their team than the officials, but that's just my opinion.

As far as our local team in which Kerry Collins seems to be the new QB unless he finds a way to screw it up, I have really no feeling on that whatsoever. I will say this though; this team is eerily reminiscent of that 2000 Ravens team which won the whole damn thing. A veteran QB coming in to replace the troublesome youngster matched up with a great running game and one of the top defenses in the league. It will be interesting to watch, and for the next few weeks their schedule is fairly manageable, but that 2nd half is brutal (Steelers, Jets, 2 against the Colts, Jaguars, etc.). Should be a fun year for Titans fans though which is a lot more than I can say for us in the Raider Nation; although nice to see a first round draft pick is finally coming through. RUN-DMC (aka McFadden) is my new man crush. I hope this one lasts longer than the ones I had with Lamont Jordan and Jerry Porter; they were both just giant teases.