Week 9 NFL random thoughts

[Buzzman]

so good.

[Maynard]

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[ram29jackson]

Mike Vick is hurt and backup Nick Foles followed him to the injured list on Sunday, yet this isn't the juggernaut many believed would bring NFL defenses to their knees. The Eagles' fast-paced offense came into Sunday with 409 total plays from scrimmage, good for ninth in the league – two behind the Cleveland Browns. The Eagles' points per game ranked a strong fifth, but that was two spots behind the Cowboys, who took sole possession of first place in the NFC East on Sunday.


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Chip Kelly is hurting at QB as his Eagles suffered another blow and home loss Sunday. (Getty Images)


Meanwhile, the Eagles' former coach, Andy Reid, started 7-0 after picking first in the NFL draft.

It's not that Kelly's system can't work; it's that the hype was preposterous and somewhat insulting to all the coaches and coordinators who get paid to come up with an edge every single week of every season. One of those coaches is Cowboys defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, who Kelly toyed with in the college ranks but couldn't score a touchdown against on Sunday.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--chip-kelly-s-warp-speed-attack-doesn-t-look-so-revolutionary-anymore-in-the-nfl-231637202.html

[Warner2BruceTD]

They usually take after their coach, and are a complete emotionless bunch. I'm not sure what you have against Steve Smith. Sure he's aggressive, but he's not (usually) dirty. It may be just because I am a fan of his team that I think that. How do you rate Finnegan?

I never liked Finnegan. I was not happy the Rams signed him for two reasons. One, I hate hate hate using up cap space on CB's. Two, I hate the antics. Just play football. I don't need the bullshit. That's why I don't like Smith. Constantly talking shit, but worse, is constantly inciting fights.

I find him to be very dirty. I thought he was the root of at least two of the fights today, yet didn't draw a single flag. The big scrum where Long was ejected, multiple Panthers were doing the same thing Long was doing. Tolbert, for one. Shoving everybody in sight. No flag, no ejection. Long deserved to be booted, but so did others. I thought the officiating was a disgrace. After the first fight, I have no idea why they allowed so much nonsense to go on after nearly every play. Much of it from Smith, who was in the face of everybody.

Anyway, i've been very critical of the Rams under Fisher when it comes to cheap shots and chippy play. I hate that shit. And I think Fisher has a history of encouraging it. But today, I thought the Rams were reactive as opposed to the shit stirrers. And I thought the officials did a terrible job controlling the game. Long deserved to be ejected, but I had no problem with Long or Dahl going after guys and getting penalized. The refs weren't going to protect the Rams, so they protected themselves.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I've got no problem with Long's behavior or even getting tossed. The refs handled that entire scrum very, very badly. If they had thrown some flags earlier during that fight, Long doesn't have to come flying in to knock guys away from his teammates. And then he owned it.

The more I think about it, the more I blame the refs for losing control of the game. These are 23 year old kids out there. If you let them behave this way and don't reel it in early, it snowballs. And then the guys on the other side are going to react.

The game was just a mess.