NFL Touchdown Sunday Quick Hits - Week 2

Pittsburgh Steelers 10, Cleveland Browns 6
So when do you think the suits at 280 Park Avenue will start kicking themselves for putting the sexy Browns on prime time five times this year? The biggest mistake the league and networks made was having three of those prime time games come after Halloween.

After Kellen Winslow screamed “I was open! I was open!” on his way into the locker room at the end of the first half (which, you recall, ended with Derek Anderson tossing an interception to Troy Polamalu), he went out and had a drop, committed a false start and ran more than one impotent route in the second half. Oh, he also had his lunch eating in several blocking situations.

I have no idea why the Browns don’t incorporate Jerome Harrison into their offense more. If Braylon Edwards is going to continue to be ineffective, Harrison may be Cleveland’s only playmaker.

Props to Chris Kemoeatu and the rest of the Steelers offensive line. I’m one of the doubters who, so far, have been disproved.

Santonio Holmes has officially surpassed Hines Ward as Pittsburgh’s premium wideout.

I’m sorry, but wasn’t Rashard Mendenhall supposed to be the two-punch behind Willie Parker?

Denver Broncos 39, San Diego Chargers 38
After this game, Norv Turner said that Ed Hochulli’s blown call on the Jay Cutler fumble was not acceptable and that it decided the game. Shut up, Norv. Your team gave up 39 points, including consecutive scores from inside the five-yard-line in the waning seconds. That’s what decided the game.

Not to mention, Hochulli made a mistake, yes (kudos to him for publicly admitting it, by the way). But it’s not like the Chargers did anything on that play – Cutler simply dropped the ball. So again, Norv, shut up.

New nickname for Antonio Cromartie: Mrs. Brandon Marshall.

How about Jay Cutler? 36/50 for 350 yards and four touchdowns!? The guy may wind up being the most prolific passer in the AFC this year. Before the season I wrote that with his arm strength, he’ll have to really fight the temptation to force tough throws into traffic. A great example of that was his interception in the end zone to Antoine Cason. But that one bad play puts only a mild dent in the young passer’s outstanding performance.

Broncos rookie left tackle Ryan Clady has performed well thus far. In fact, that whole offensive line has.

I’m really liking Denver’s running back by committee approach. Selvin Young has been making big plays, Andre Hall still catches defenses off guard when he enters the game and Michael Pittman knows how to produce near the goal line.

Tony Scheffler looks more like a star every time I see him.


Arizona Cardinals 31, Miami Dolphins 10
At one point, Kurt Warner was 9/9 for 221 yards and two touchdowns. That’s how you know he was playing the Dolphins.

The Arizona coaching staff was on Larry Fitzgerald all offseason about being a tougher runner after the catch. Fitzgerald listened. His diligent improvements in this area have been on shimmering display the first two weeks (his 75-yard catch and run in this game obviously being the brightest highlight so far).

Ricky Williams was the buzz coming out of Dolphins camp. Through two games, he has 21 carries for 52 yards and hasn’t shown an ounce of burst. It should be noted that Ronnie Brown has not been anything special, either, and Miami’s front five has looked every bit like the inexperienced, makeshift unit that it is.

The cameras were on Kendall Langford after his personal foul facemask penalty kept what turned out to be a Cardinal touchdown drive alive. With Langford being a small school rookie, and the cameras catching Tony Sparano talking to him, homogeneous analysts everywhere made the brilliant observation of “what a big mistake the young guy made.” Lay off him. It was a facemasking violation on a sack – that’s just one of those things.

P.S. Cardinal fans: your team is 2-0 after beating the 49ers and Dolphins. Be please, but contain your enthusiasm until the Cards face a varsity team.


Click here to see Quick Hits for all of the Week 2 action from Sunday.