Notes From last Sunday

• As good as Mathis was, Freeney was equally amazing. He was a factor from the go, forcing the pick. On several of the turnovers Freeney was in the backfield wreaking havoc. Jennings made a better play tipping the first pick than he did on the ball he actually caught.
• Freeney and Mathis had several sweet crossing stunts where they looped around and ended up coming from the opposite directions from which they started. This lead to a sweet sack by Mathis to end a Ravens drive in the second quarter.
• The Marvin TD was classic, right down to the play fake. I half expected to see Edge stone somebody.
• Bullitt was a force on special teams. AV’s kicks had me wanting to check his Wheaties for HGH. He had a cannon working on Sunday.
• Bethea’s pick was the result of a young QB who didn’t look off the safety, and great discipline by Bethea not to bite on a pump.
• CJ was generally bad. He almost ruined Dom’s 38 yard run. Ugoh had better get himself figured out, becuase CJ is not a left tackle, running or passing.
• The long pass to Wayne down to the 1 was as silky as any you’ll ever see. Reggie only glances at the last second and barely raises his hands at all as the ball just lightly drops right into his palms. No one but Manning can make that throw. I’ve never seen it from anyone else.
• The few passes the Ravens hit for any yardage at all were all against Tim Jennings, who made a couple of nice plays and big hits, but is still not the answer in coverage.
• The defense was really hitting even into the fourth quarter. Jennings and Jackson both had big hits from the corner slot on the last Ravens drive. That kind of passion was inspiring.

My other thoughts were confirmed. The offense still isn’t right, so if you see regression this week, don’ t freak out. The big plays were there, but the consistent long unstoppable drives weren’t. The line was still poor, and there were lots of missed assignments, but Peyton erased them by being amazing. Confidence is an amazing thing, and his seems to have ramped up.
Links: Phil Richards’ piece on 88 is a good read
On this day he really was a Jaddai Master
SI breaks down the Packers/Colts

Simmons is bitter the Colts are back:
Thanks again to the Vikings and Texans — they could have chopped Indy’s head off Jason Voorhees-style, but instead, they just whacked the Colts with a machete a few times, walked away, turned their back and waited for them to get up. Now the Colts are 3-2 and rounding into January form. Meanwhile, I’m supposed to be excited because Tom Brady’s reconstructive knee surgeries went well. Damn it all. I might break the record for “Most NBA Games Watched In One Month” in November.