Hey...

One of my former bosses at the Prospect, the one who gave me the assignment to write my web piece, Chris Mooney, was just on the Daily Show, promoting his book. He wasn't great, but seriously, how cool is it to have someone you know on TV's coolest show?

Most of this weekend was about football. Obviously, I was extraordinarily disappointed by what happened in Ann Arbor Saturday. Usually, I am not one to lay losses at the feet of one guy, especially in college. I got in many arguments with my dad about John Navarre and whether he deserved any blame for Michigan losses when he was Quarterback. Well, I'm breaking from that this week. Three times in the red zone, Chad Henne made big mistakes that cost Michigan points. First, he missed an open Jason Avant in the end zone in the third quarter, throwing a pick to Tom Zbikowski at the one, trying to go to Tyler Ecker. Next, in the fourth, he didn't give his receiver, again Avant, an opportunity to catch the ball on a fouth and goal play. Third, he fumbled the exchange on the goal line, when he literally could have fallen forward and scored. Hopefully, with Eastern coming up, the confidence will return in time for the trip to Camp Randall. The defense was better than I thought it would be against ND, and the game plan itself wasn't particularly conservative. It has to go on Henne, and he realizes this, because he failed to execute.

The Texas-Ohio State game was great, but I really feel like Senator Tressel cost his team the game with how he used his two quarterbacks. I've never seen a two-qb system work, I've only seen it needlessly force some people into confidence problems. To me, the only way to make such a system work would be to run two completely different offensive systems, to change total offensive packages for each guy, like have one run the triple option and the other a spread. But the way Tressel used his guys was particularly odd, as there seemed to be no rhyme or reason why one came in at one point and then why the other came in.

The fantasy team did not have its best week. We had a lot of disappointing performances, either because the team played poorly- Nate Burleson, or were coached by a guy who might well be the most stubbornly stupid coach in the NFL- Stephen Jackson. We also had some weird things, like the Bills throwing to a tackle on the goal line rather than giving to McGahee, or Chad Johnson going out for two series with leg cramps. We have a few guys on thin ice, like Matt Stover, but we'll see if next week will be better.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Lions, and surprised at how poorly the Packers played. I think John will write about how bad Ahmad Carroll is, but he was not really, you know, good. When he wasn't getting beat, he was commiting a penalty. The Packers also beat themselves in other areas, as they don't get the lowest scoring output of the Favre era without screwing up. I don't know exactly how they are going to survive without Walker and the problems on the offensive line, who were dominated inside by Wilkinson and Rogers, but this could be a long year for Brett Favre. The defense was a pleasant surprise for the Packers, but then Jim Bates is a great coordinator. The Lions played conservativley, too much so in certain spots, but still played well. They need a win against the Bears now to set the tone going into the bye in week 3.

One quick Monday observation. When Hubie Brown came into the booth to talk wih Michaels and Madden, it got me thinking that Hubie, assuming he knows anything about football, would probably do well in Madden's job. But what if you switched others? Who wouldn't want to hear Madden talk about David Eckstein's hustle for forty-five minutes in a playoff game, or Tim McCarver getting needlessly self-righteous while doing an NBA game? Sounds like a plan.