Saturday Pancakes: NFC/AFC South Notes

Today was a very unproductive day. I layed around like a Panda bear and played about 5 consecutive hours of Madden 360. Koren Robinson is like Jerry friggin Rice in that game BTW. Anyway, I owe you two divisions today. So let’s look at the NFC and AFC South.

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The Saints are 6-2, but it is not thanks to any ability to run the ball. NO’s only run for over 100 yards as a team once in their last 5 games, and has been held to under 65 yards in 3 of the last 5. Yet, the Saints have somehow gone 3-2 in that span. Drew Brees for NFC Offensive MVP, anyone?
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This week’s Monday Night game happens to be an NFC South tilt, Panthers v. Bucs. The Panthers hope to get a much needed boost to their running game from rookie D’Angelo Williams. Williams has been out with a leg injury since Week 5. He averaged 5.3 yards per carry before his injury. Since he’s been out of the lineup, Carolina’s totaled only 194 rushing yards in 3 games combined.

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Bruce Gradkowski isn’t setting the world on fire as the Bucs’ QB, but, you can’t dispute that the 6 TD’s he’s thrown vs. 1 INT are very impressive for a mid-round rookie who was not expected to play this year. By way of comparison, the man he replaced, Chris Simms, threw 1 TD vs. 7 INTs before mercifully rupturing his spleen.

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Falcons corner D’Angelo Hall’s late hit on Jon Kitna last week earned him a $5,000 fine and a war of words with Lions’ center Dominic Raiola. Raiola has promised to “take his (Hall’s) head off” if the two ever meet on the football field again, while Hall retorted by stating his address and phone number to reporters and saying, I? don’t know who he thinks he’s talking to but that’s my address, that’s my phone number. Make sure he gets it and tell him to come see me.”

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AFC SOUTH

The Colts’ defense could be a patchwork unit in tomorrow’s game against the Bills. Safety Bob Sanders is going to be a game time decision, and linebacker Gary Brackett, the team’s leading tackler, will most likely miss the game with a hamstring injury.

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Dave Garrard will line up under center for the Jags tomorrow when they host Houston. Garrard also started against the Texans last Christmas Eve, and had a very strong outing. He threw for 292 yards and a TD, and ran for 40 yards in that game. Meanwhile, Byron Leftwich and Jack Del Rio have been offering varying status reports on Leftwich’s injured ankle. Del Rio says the ankle is only at 70 to 80 percent of being fully healthy. Leftwich says its more like 80 to 90 percent. Long story short, Del Rio is trying to make it look like Leftwich isn’t playing because he’s hurt, while Leftwich is hinting he’s healthy enough to play but Del Rio is choosing to start Garrard over him.

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Wellity, wellity wellity. From where I sit here in week 10, Mario Williams has 4 1/2 sacks for the Texans, while Reggie Bush is averaging 2.6 yards per carry and hasn’t scored a TD on a set play yet this year.

Can it be that the Texans actually did something right on draft day?

No, probably not.

If they didn’t want Bush, they should have traded down. It’s retarded to take a pass rushing specialist with the first overall pick. Do you even know who leads the league in sacks right now? Would you believe me if I told you it’s the Packers’ Aaron Kampman? Do you see teams shaking in their Nikes at the thought of facing “Aaron Kampman and the Packers”?

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I’m just going to throw it out there that’s unfathomable that Jeff Fisher’s Titans have actually won 2 out of the last 3 games they’ve played. This is the worst team in the league right now.

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That’s a wrap for tonight. Tomorrow morning we’ve got the Week 10 pregame show! See ya then.