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With weekends like this, there is no wonder why the National Football League is America’s most popular sport. Consider these Week 4 highlights: Jet Favre throws six touchdown passes in a shootout against the Greatest Show on Turf (Version 2.0), tying Broadway Joe’s franchise record, the Tennesse Titans go 4-0 for the first time in franchise history, the Raiders choke on a 12-point fourth quarter lead, lowly KC pulls the reigns on the Bronco offense while torching their hollow D for 33 points and the win, a Ohio-based football team garners a win, the Eagles reveal a dent in the armor of the NFC East and lose their first game to a non-Division opponent in Chicago, and last but not least, rookie Head Coach Jim Zorn bucks history by beating the NFL’s top-ranked team in their own building (no previous Redskins Coach had been able to win in Dallas on their first attempt).

Monkey In My Mind NFL Player of the Week

Of course we’ll talk more about some of these headliners below, but first I wanted to take a moment to formalize my week-by-week award for the player who puts together a performance that is most indicative of mastering the monkey mind on the fields of friendly strife.

I hadn’t invented the award yet when I wrote the Week 1 Recap, but the Monkey has authorized me to retroactively deem Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers as the Week 1 MIMM NFL Player of the Week, for his ability to put the sideshow of the Brett Favre Saga behind him and pull out a huge opening day victory.

In Week 2, we saw Santana Moss walk away with the award and in Week 3, Ronnie Brown was the no-brainer selection.

WIth the selection of the winner for Week 4, however, for the first time since starting this blog will the Monkey and I have to issue an apology and a correction to a previous post. The post in question was an entry I made on September 20th entitled, “Kickers Are Not Football Players,” in which I essentially argued for the consolidation of the punting and kicking duties into one position. While I still don’t quite understand why there are two people on the squad to handle these rather similar functions, I now realize that my headline was a bit brash and possibly offensive to NFL kickers, who deserve a bit more respect than I had initially offered, especially in light of an incredible performance by a kicker this weekend, who is the recipient of this week’s Monkey In My Mind NFL Player of the Week Award: Tampa Bay Kicker Matt Bryant.

Tragically, Bryant lost his infant son eariler this week, yet still chose to suit up with his brethren and take the field against Rodgers and the Pack, a “Bay of Pigs” matchup a la the old NFC Central. The fact that Bryant was even able to step out onto the field, much less hammer home the game-winning field goal, along with several other scores earlier in the game, indicates incredible mental toughness, perseverence, leadership, and dedication to ideals above and beyond himself. In fact, Bryant’s performance – triumph amidst tradgedy – literally personifies the Overcoming of the Monkey Mind. In a way that is unfathomable to me as a father, Bryant was able to offer up his performance to his deceased son and his teammates in an inspiring and enlightening manner.

In addition, only now do I realize that my rail against kickers in that post was itself a manifestation of the Monkey Mind in action, similar to my previous free admission that I was harboring resentment towards Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler for the actions of their coaches and/or team management.

That being said, NFL Football Player Matt Bryant wins this week’s Monkey in My Mind Player of the Week Award.

On to this week’s games…

Skins Unseat Beasts of the East

In one of the most hotly anticipated games of the weekend, the Washington Redskins visited Texas Stadium for perhaps the last time to take on the undefeated, top-ranked and arch-rival Dallas Cowboys. The Redskins entered the contest on a two-game winning streak but the high-scoring Cowboys were the unanimous favorites. The Skins were seeking credibility and legitimacy, while the Cowboys were attempting to put their playoff miscues behind them and establish themselves as the leaders of the NFL elite, with the Patriots’ stranglehold on the league suddenly challenged.

The keys to the Redskins’ upset victory were multifold.

• Primarily, their recent success has come hand-in-hand with the marked improvement of QB Jason Campbell. The man hasn’t thrown an interception yet this year and has so far managed to put together a string of extremely efficient performances, quietly checking in as the #4 ranked Passer in the league. To put this accomplishment into perspective, every other quarterback ranked in the top 7 in the league in Passer Rating (Favre, Rivers, Brees, Warner, Romo, and Cutler, respectively) has four interceptions! each
• Secondly, the Redskins D, while allowing over 300 yards per game, has made stops and key turnovers when necessary. Rookie Chris Horton currently stands tied at #2 in the league with 3 interceptions. And, kudos toShawn Springs for making T.O. look like Brandon Lloyd.
• Thirdly, while now a West Coast Offense team, Rookie Head Coach Jim Zorn realizes that the Redskins will likely never stray too far from the rich tradition of power running. Clinton Portis is currently the #5 rusher in the league and has done so without a fumble. The Skins controlled the clock in this ball game through a perfect Yin Yang balance between passing to speedy receivers Santana Moss and Antwaan Randel El, and putting the ball game on the backs of the Redskins Rushing Corps.
• Finally, the previous point leads right into sound coaching. So far Zorn seems to be learning from his mistakes. All you can ever ask for in life is to improve everyday. The Skins are making strides each week and that kind of progress is hard to argue with. They will be facing a hungry Eagles ball club after their very tough loss to an extremely physical Bears Defense. If the Skins can manage back-to-back wins within their Division, the NFL’s toughest, they will suddenly find that they too are surprisingly among the NFL’s new elite.

And oh by the way, they win the right to call themselves Beasts of the East, a title to be challenged next week against Philly.

A word about the ‘Boys. They are a talented team. Among their talented athletes one stands out among the rest. His name is Marion Barber III. Do not forget about him. He had nine touches in that game. Inexcusable.

Skins-Boys Highlights below…

Touchdownapalooza in the Meadowlands

This week, two, count ‘em, TWO teams in the NFL named the Titans won their games. And if I were the person within the New York Jets organization responsible for choosing which uniforms the team wears on Sundays I would keep those ratty blue and gold unis within reach after the bye next week.

Much like Donovan McNabb lighting up the Detroit Lions last year for 4 TD’s and 56 points while wearing the “so ugly they’re bad-assed” Eagle throwback unis, Jet Favre lit up the Arizona Cardinals for 6 TD’s and 56 points while wearing the “so ugly they’re bad-assed” Jet (A.K.A. New York Titans) throwback unis. Oddly enough, the losing quarterbacks in both games (Warner against the Titans, Kitna against the Eagles) threw for over 400 yards each and couldn’t pull out a win. What’s especially notable about the New York win is the fact that the Cardinals committed seven turnovers! I’m not sure if I’ve witnessed that many turnovers in a game in my entire life (the NFL record is 12, tied by three teams in 1942, 1950, and 1965).

The Buffalo Bills wore their “Standing Buffalo” throwback unis earlier in the season and won, while the Pittsburgh Steelers wore their “Bizarro World” (yellow helmets, black jerseys with yellow numbers, & white pants) throwback unis against Baltimore Monday Night and won (also winning while wearing them twice last year, ironically against Buffalo and Baltimore).

I’m a huge fan of throwback unis and personally loved the Redskins yellow-helmeted “R” logo unis, which were designed by Vince Lombardi himself, and worn most recently in 2007 when the Skins suffered a horrific collapse against New York in Week 3 at home. I also love their “Arrow Head” throwbacks that I last saw worn during the Steve Spurrier days. As the Redskins were unsuccessful in most of these games, I doubt they’ll be going back to throwbacks any time soon. Lately they seem to be digging the all-white outfit, the uni they’ve worn during their two playoff runs (2005 and 2007) during the Joe Gibbs II Era.

Another great throwback fave of mine are the powder-blue digs of the San Diego Chargers, which should definitely see the light of day more often. Anyway, except in the case of the ‘Skins, throwbacks mean W’s, so my question is: Why don’t teams wear them more often?

Titans-Cardinals Highlights Below…

Steel Curtain Call for Ravens

“There is no personal foul on the play…only one member of the Steelers jumped into the stands” — NFL Referee, Ravens at Steelers, Sept. 29, 2008

This game was not pretty, but nothing in the AFC North is. The Steelers had a lot to prove after falling to the Eagles and failing to score a touchdown. Both defenses ran clinics against one another but ultimately, Rookie Ravens QB Joe Flacco was manhandled by the Steelers rush. Big Ben wasn’t getting many favors either, but his defense bailed him out with an interception returned for a TD exactly 15 seconds after ending the Steelers’ offensive (both senses of the word) TD drought.

Storylines to Watch in Week 5

With most teams having played a full quarter of their season, we’ll finally get a sense of who’s who and what’s what with our MIMM Quarterly NFL Rankings. And watch out for these key matchups:

• Miami will get a chance to prove whether or not their domination of New England was an aberration or the real thing when the Chargers come to town.
• Resurging Tampa Bay and their tough D will challenge Denver’s offense and we now know Griese and company can move that offense.
• Arizona doesn’t get any breaks after their resounding thumping at the hands of the Jets with the undefeated Buffalo Bills heading their way.
• Dallas takes on Cincy at home and they had better win, and win big, to silence the growing concerns about a lack of leadership surrounding the “T.O. Effect” on their franchise.
• Beast of the East is up for grabs in Philly.
• And the Giants get to prove if they are as good as many think they are with a home date against Seattle (with playing at home being the preferable way to take on the Seahawks, just as ask the Redskins).
• …And will the swarming Titans D keep Joe Flacco on his heals in Baltimore to assure continued, yet aesthetically ugly perfection (5-0) for Vince Young-less ball club?

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