Trav's Thoughts

Go IRISH!!! It wasn't pretty and I don't expect to suddenly go on a roll and rattle off a bunch of wins in a row and be the pre-season #1 team in 2008. But at least now I don't have to worry about being 0-8 heading into the Navy game. Notre Dame took advantage of UCLA's misfortune, capitalizing on an injury to the starting QB and a bunch of penalties and turnovers to beat the Bruins. I never thought I would be so happy about a 1-5 record, but at this point Irish fans need to take the small baby steps.

The big news last night was Stanford upsetting former USA Today #1 and AP #2 USC. Yesterday I commented that the Trojans play with a kind of arrogance...well, that swagger took a big whack. USC is not out of the championship picture. They'll need to win out and get some help now. Cal looks to move up to the #2 spot, probably ahead of Ohio State. There are some other undefeated teams as well.

LSU got a late TD to defeat Florida last night. LSU will surely be #1 in all polls. With the two losses, Florida's hopes of back to back championships in football took a major hit. I won't rule out a 2-loss team playing in the BCS championship in January. It's not likely, but this has been a bit of a wacky season and anything is possible.



My Raiders have a bye this week, along with Cincinnati, Minnesota, and Philadelphia.

I have a bit of a bone to pick with a writer for msnbc.com called Steve Silverman. He has published his first quarter NFL grades, and he has given my 2-2 Raiders an F. OK...everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I'm not about to sit here and say that my Raiders are a great team. They've got a lot of improving still to do.

But Mr Silverman gave the 0-4 Dolphins a D, the 1-3 Jets a C-, the 1-3 Bills a C-, the 1-3 Bengals a D, the 1-3 Chargers a D-, the 1-3 Eagles a D+, the 1-3 Bears a D-, the 1-3 Vikings a C+, the 1-3 Falcons a C+, the 0-3 Saints a D-, the 0-4 Rams an F. A-hah! He did find a team with a worse record than my Raiders worthy of a failing grade!

No other 2-2 team graded out at less than a C, according to Mr Silverman. The odd thing is that he wrote some really positive things in his review. Evidently the fact that my Raiders are "...averaging 154.0 yards per game, ranking 29th in the league" makes them failures despite the fact that they have managed to win 2 games led by a pretty good defense with 2 players in the top 5 with 3 interceptions each.

The 49ers weren't exactly lighting up the score board or the stat sheet, but with QB Alex Smith out with a separated shoulder things are looking even worse now. Trent Dilfer looked awful last week in relief of Smith. He should be better after getting the reps this week. Baltimore's defense is not what it has been in the past, but it is still formidable. I'm not confident for tomorrow, or for the rest of the season that looked so promising just a few weeks ago.

Seattle took advantage of the 49ers' inability to do anything positive on offense last week. I doubt things will be quite so easy as the Seahawks visit Pittsburgh. The Steelers have the second ranked rushing defense and they only give up about 12 points per game. I've been unimpressed by Seattle so far this season. The defense plays well but makes key mistakes and penalties. As a veteran team, they have been able to find ways to win. But Pittsburgh is the better team and - don't tell Pam - I like them at home.

The Colts have yet another challenge in the early part of the season as they host Tampa. The Bucs are led by Comeback Player of the Year candidate Jeff Garcia at QB. Garcia's stats are average, but he brings a spark and a toughness and is doing what it takes to win. Peyton Manning has an 8 to 1 TD to interception ratio and a 110 QB rating, and yet statistically he's only 6th best QB in the league. But you know, I'd still pick him if I wanted a leader for my football team. Indy's defense is again just good enough to make timely plays, but wins are still on Manning's shoulders.

I was way off with my picks last week. Here's a quick recap:

Week 1 = 12-4
Week 2 = 11-5
Week 3 = 10-6
Week 4 = 8-6

Falling off a little each week and now sitting at 41-21 to date. Let's see if I can get the feel back this week.

Lions over Redskins
Patriots over Browns
Steelers over Seahawks
Cardinals over Rams
Chiefs over Jaguars
Saints over Panthers
Jets over Giants
Texans over Dolphins
Titans over Falcons
Colts over Bucs
Ravens over 49ers
Broncos over Chargers
Bears over Packers
Cowboys over Bills

Catch ya later with some Sunday observations. And don't forget to check out Turnbaby Talks from the beach. Now she's usually on at 8pm EST, but when I check out her BTR page it says 7pm EST. Hmmmm. Guess I should find out for sure.