Sorting the Sunday Pile, Week 2: The AFC Is a Hot Mess

Sorting the Sunday Pile looks back at the NFL weekend that was. It's also an unofficial Mittens blog.

Eight days ago, it was pretty well established as fact that the AFC pecking order went something like this: New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers, Jacksonville Jaguars.

During Week 1, the Patriots lost Tom Brady and the Colts were embarrassed by the Bears. And thanks to Ed Hochuli trying his hand at drunk officiating during yesterday's action, the Chargers are now 0-2. Just like the Jaguars, who have suffered enough injuries in two weeks to last them the rest of the year. The beneficiaries of all this early-season upheaval? As best I can tell, the Bills, Broncos and Steelers.

There's a good case to be made that Buffalo is the best team in the conference. The Bills' offense has finally evolved beyond "let's all watch J.P. Losman dance around the pocket for what seems like forever before inevitably getting blindsided" into something a tad more efficient: an accurate and decisive Trent Edwards getting the ball to his playmakers. The defense is strong up the middle with defensive tackle Marcus Stroud, linebacker Paul Posluszny and safety Donte Whitner, and the special teams unit continues to be one of the best in the league thanks to coach Bobby April. That said, this is still a young team that hasn't played a meaningful game since Week 17 of the 2004 season.

For the Broncos, quarterback Jay Cutler continues to develop into a top-flight player, and he's the unquestioned star of the 2006 QB draft class. With Matt Leinart getting comfortable on the Arizona sidelines watching Kurt Warner pretend it's 1999, and Vince Young dealing with issues much bigger than football in Tennessee, there isn't much competition.

But Cutler was impressive last Monday night against the Raiders, completing 16 of 24 passes for 300 yards and two touchdowns (made all the more mind-blowing in light of the Rob Ryan dog-and-pony show), and he had his way with the Chargers' secondary for three quarters on Sunday.

I have a hard time declaring Denver the AFC's best team given their fourth-quarter implosion against San Diego, although I would happily reconsider if you could guarantee that the Hochuli Traveling Circus would officiate every one of their remaining games.

So that leaves the Steelers, a team that dominated the Texans in Week 1 and pounded out a road win in Cleveland on Sunday night. Throughout his five-year career, Ben Roethlisberger has been pejoratively referred to as a game manager, but truthfully, he's matured into one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

And for all the concerns about the Steelers offensive line, a unit that played a starring role in Big Ben going down 47 times last year and 93 times since 2006, they have looked more capable than anyone imagined possible through the first two games. Throw in a rejuvenated Willie Parker, everybody's fantasy favorite Santonio Holmes, and a suffocating-as-ever defense, and the Steelers are the way-too-early favorites in the AFC.

It doesn't mean much on September 15 (Pittsburgh started 3-0 in 2007, after all), but Pittsburgh must certainly feel better about their predicament this morning than, say, Cleveland. The Browns have now lost 16 of 17 to their division rival. And for all the preseason hype surrounding this team, their brutal schedule along with the 0-2 start might've already doomed their postseason aspirations. ESPN's Bob Holtzman reported during NFL Sunday Countdown that only 13 percent of teams losing their first two games of the season made the playoffs, which isn't good news for a Browns club that hoped to get off to a fast start. Instead, they were blown out in the home-opener by the Cowboys, and could only muster two field goals against the Steelers. And things don't get any easier the rest of the way.

For as tough as the proverbial sledding is for Cleveland, it's worse for Pittsburgh. For now, though, the Steelers are the team to beat in the AFC, which means about as much as the Lions going 4-0 in the preseason. And although the Bills and Broncos are right in the mix, the Browns, Chargers and Jaguars are already behind the eight ball. On the upside, we'll be hearing about MUST-WIN GAMES! from here on out. Splendid.

Of course, as soon as Bill Belichick hammers out the details on his latest deal with the devil, none of this will matter.

Aaron Rodgers Is Doing Just Fine, Thanks

There's nothing like listening to CBS's Jim Nantz and Phil Simms make excuses for why Brett Favre was playing like a 38-year-old who should've stayed retired, while still managing not to offend the Prince of Darkness and incur his wrath. As I staved off drowsiness watching the Jets offense sputter against the Patriots, I kept thinking back to Aaron Rodgers and the memorable start to his Life-After-Brett Packers career.

Six weeks ago, he had Green Bay's finest young citizens offering him support in their own special way. Now Rodgers is 2-0, the team is atop the NFC North, general manager Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy have been vindicated (if only temporarily), and everybody wants to know why the Packers didn't trade Favre earlier. Or maybe that's just me.


To be fair, Green Bay won 13 games last season and Rodgers has the benefit of great pass catchers, a solid running game and a stout defense; Favre goes to a New York team that won four times a year ago, and is probably no better than the third-best outfit in the East, despite loading up on high-priced free agents this offseason.

One of the primary concerns with handing over the offense to Rodgers was the perception that he's fragile (oddly, he didn't take this well). And that, coupled with his perceived fondness for taking sacks, might quickly torpedo any chance Green Bay had for returning to the playoffs this year. Well, so far, so good on all fronts. Behold, once-skeptical Packers fans:

Rodgers: 42 of 60, 506 yards, 70%, 4 TDs, 0 INT, 4 sacks
Favre: 33 of 48, 375 yards, 69%, 3 TDs, 1 INT, 5 sacks

And if that doesn't convince you, Rodgers has something Favre doesn't: JORDY!

Norv Has a Right to Be Angry

In general, I don't like to talk about the officiating; it makes you come off as a whiny loser (or worse: a whiny winner). But, jeebus, what the hell was going on in Denver yesterday?

First, the Chargers got hosed on a Chris Chambers catch-and-tackle that was naturally ruled a Champ Bailey interception. Except, you know, it wasn't. Replays clearly showed that Chambers hauled in the Philip Rivers pass and his left arm was on the ground while he was still in possession of the ball. This is typically referred to as "a reception."

But the call on the field was that Bailey had wrestled the ball away from Chambers. So San Diego head coach Norv Turner challenged the play. And he lost. Not because there wasn't enough evidence to overall the call, but because there was no evidence. You see, the replay equipment happened to be be on the fritz and there was no way for referee Ed Hochuli to reverse the call, even though CBS showed the replay 400 times.

But Hochuli was just getting warmed up. On 2nd-and-1 from the Chargers 1-yard line, with the Broncos trailing 38-31 and just over a minute left in the game, Cutler rolled right, went to pass, and before he could raise his arm to throw, he fumbled. It was as obvious as any fumble you will ever see. San Diego recovered, and all they had to do was run out the clock, right?

Uh, not quite. Hochuli ruled that the fumble was, in fact, a pass attempt and an incompletion, which, if you're the Chargers, was very, very bad news. If it makes you feel any better, Hochuli explains what happened:

"The play should've been ruled a fumble. By rule, the ball was dead when it hits the ground because the whistle was blown. Therefore it's Denver's ball at the 10-yard line, which was the spot that the ball hit the ground."

Thanks, Ed, for breaking down exactly how you screwed the Chargers out of a much-needed division win there. Denver would score two plays later and head coach Mike Shanahan, not wanting to take a chance with Hochuli in overtime, decided to go for two. The Broncos converted, and that was that.

The usually mild-mannered Norvanator used the post-game press conference to voice his displeasure with how things went down:

"It was clearly a fumble ... Ed came over to me and said he blew it. And that's not, to me, acceptable."

The best part: Turner will no doubt get fined for his comments.

Muffed Punts
Leftovers from Sunday's action...

... Peyton Manning spent much of Sunday afternoon running for his life against the Vikings, and looked out of sorts for most of the game. Lucky for him, Minnesota still doesn't have an offense, and when the Colts finally started putting it all together, there was enough time to overcome an early 15-0 deficit.

Indianapolis pulled out the victory without a running game, and thanks to/in spite of Adam Vinatieri. The former Patriots-turned-Colts kicker converted a 47-yard field goal with three seconds left to give Indy the win, but he had also honked a 30-yarder earlier in the game. Head coach Tony Dungy has to hope Manning returns to his old wily self in short order, because the sooner that happens -- and the quicker the offense can get about the business of blowing the doors off opponents -- the less likely the team will have to rely on a wildly inconsistent kicker to win games down the stretch.

... By this point we all know that Matt Cassel last started a tackle football game as a high school senior in the 1990s. He also possesses a strong arm, quick feet, a deep understanding of the offense, and he's a Taurus who enjoys Indian food, eHarmony, and watching reruns of "Welcome Back, Kotter."

Actually, Cassel had a perfectly unremarkable performance against the Jets, and that must've made Bill Belichick very happy. The Patriots don't face their first real test of the season until October 12 against the Chargers, which means that Cassel will have time to continue to grow into his role while facing off against the likes of the Dolphins and 49ers in the coming weeks. Frankly, New England could have Vince Wilfork playing quarterback and this team would still make the playoffs. It's depressing, really.

... Lane Kiffin lives to fight another day. Or something. Word on the street had the second-year Raiders coach out of a job by as early as, well, now if Oakland didn't find a way to beat Kansas City. As it turned out, it was a lot easier than expected. Just give the ball to Darren McFadden and Michael Bush and take the afternoon off.


McFadden finished the day with 162 yards on the ground and Bush added 90 more. For some perspective, the Chiefs' leading rushers were Larry Johnson with 22 yards and Damon Huard with 15. Or, combined, 18 fewer yards than McFadden gained on his longest carry of the day. On the bright side, the Chiefs had 55 passing yards. Congrats, Kansas City, it's much, much worse than anybody imagined. And that's saying a lot.

... Maybe it takes five uninspiring preseason games and one regular season beat-down before Jim Zorn's West Coast offense sinks in. Jason Campbell, the same guy some Redskins fans were ready to replace with Colt Brennan, racked up 321 yards on 24 of 36 passing, including a nifty 67-yard touchdown bomb to Santana Moss to give Washington the lead late in the second half.

... It was easy to overlook given how the final minutes played out, but Brandon Marshall is pretty good. Okay, he's freaking fantastic, hauling in 18 passes against Antonio Cromartie who, before yesterday, was arguably the best young corner in the league. Instead, he spent the afternoon getting "DeAngelo-ed." That's bad.

Post-Game Debaclings
Quotes that Emmitt Smith might like...

"They came out, knocked us off the ball, ran the ball down our throats. We got embarrassed at home -- the home opener -- we're a much better team than that."
- Herm Edwards after getting shellacked by the mighty Oakland Raiders

"That's not my decision, so, um, I'm excited about the way our staff and players prepared this week, and if I'm here, we'll do the same next week."
- Lane Kiffin, answering a question about his job status with the mighty Oakland Raiders

"I'm not going to give you a magic wand. You want one, go home and take one. I don't do that."
- Lions head coach Rod Marinelli speaking incoherently during his post-game presser

"I think everybody in the stadium knew they were going to run a draw, except for maybe the 11 guys on the field."
- Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis explaining what happened when Titans rookie running back Chris Johnson ripped off a 51-yard run

"We are inches away from beating these guys ... Big Ben just comes up with something every time. They are the best defense in the NFL. They are great, not good. We just want to win the division and to do that, we have to beat those guys."
- Tight end Kellen Winslow after the Browns dropped their 10th straight game against the Steelers