From The 5th Down Report Archives: 2007 - Week 4 Edition
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THE 5TH DOWN
REPORT
    Game Plan:

* Kickoff
* Touchdown
* Extra Point
* Fumble
* Interception
* 2 Min. Warning
* Coin Toss
* Under Review
* Sudden Death
* Hall of Fame
* Blitz
* On the Sidelines

** WEEK 4 EDITION **
♦ Referee Ron Winter should be fired
♦ Shanahan and Gibbs coaching blunders
♦ Throwback uniforms a joke
♦ Who is the best coach of all time? (the complete list)
♦ Steelers an elite team?
♦ Cowboys the best team in the NFC?
♦ Ex-Giant Martin walks for good cause
♦ What coach will be fired first?
♦ Favre playing better than you thought
♦ What David Beckham brings to soccer in America
♦ Our Week 4 picks

~ Kickoff ~

Welcome.

You have arrived at the most authentic site about professional football. This site is all encompassing in its no nonsense, to-the-point, "real" analysis of the teams, players, coaches, officials, broadcasters, and of the league itself.

This site is not a fantasy site, nor a stat site, nor a betting site, nor is it a site that recaps what we as fans have seen and heard over and over, ad nauseam, watching the highlights and listening to the radio all week.

Our views on this site will be astute, concise, and maybe you'll find them insightful.

You will notice that this site is quite simple in its design. This is so, not because of a lack of imagination or web design talent, but rather because of a disdain for the clutter found on a lot of other sites. This site focuses on content rather than graphics. There are a few flashing lights and animations for those who feel they are a requirement on a web site.

So after you've read it and reread it, let us know your opinion about anything we've said here or anything else you'd like to express regarding the great game of football. Contact us at: blitz@5thdownreport.net. Thank you and enjoy.

This site will be updated weekly, primarily on Wednesdays.

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~ Touchdown ~

Around the League

AFC East
Bills Losman being out can only be a good thing
Dolphins Decent offense but must play better on defense and special teams
Jets Could barely hold a 31-13 4th quarter lead. Defense must tighten up. Pennington must throw for more than 8.3 yards per pass
Patriots Brady to Moss... any questions?
AFC South
Colts Not an easy win in Houston, but with so many weapons they get it done in the end
Jaguars Garrard seems likes he's getting comfortable as the starting QB. Big win for the Jags in Denver. Big win
Texans Schaub: 27 for 33, 236 yards, with no Andre Johnson. However, 2 INTs and no running game cause them to come up 6 points short against the Super Bowl champ Colts
Titans All Titan fans can exhale now... Kerry Collins was in for only 4 plays
AFC North
Bengals TJ Houshmandzadeh: 12-141; Chad Johnson: 9-138; Carson Palmer: 342 yards passing - all this comes to is 21 points (again not enough when you turn the ball over 4 times and your D can't stop anybody)
Browns Showing some life with Derek Anderson at QB
Ravens Stover is money
Steelers Ascended to the 3rd best team in the AFC (and therefore, the NFL)
AFC West
Broncos Shanahan should be fired... going for it at his own 9 with 4:12 left down 20-14. We don't care how many timeouts you have left. (Why were all Denver's timeouts used by the 3rd quarter?)
Chargers Suddenly, L.T. forgot how to play football?
Chiefs The Chiefs win with Larry Johnson rushing for only 42 yards. Can Damon Huard carry this team on his shoulders? No chance
Raiders You lose by a field goal negated by a timeout, you win by a field goal negated by a timeout
NFC East
Cowboys How 'bout them Cowboys. Except when it's money-time, why not throw the ball to Owens or Witten and stop "spreading it out"?
Eagles Keep in mind all that crazy Eagle offense was against the Lions
Giants This bad team finally shows some character and heart and actually makes some plays defensively
Redskins Not holding a 17-3 halftime lead cause the Skins to fall from the unbeatens
NFC South
Buccaneers Earnest Graham: 8 carries, 75 yards, 2 TDs... who?
Falcons The Falcons could be beginning to implode
Panthers Delhomme or Carr? It won't matter if DeShaun Foster keeps rushing for 122 yards
Saints Sophomore jinx? Do or die game already, in 2 weeks against the Panthers in New Orleans
NFC North
Bears The way Bears fans want to sack Grossman makes us wonder if they think that Johnny Unitas will come off the bench
Lions Jon Kitna threw for 446 yards... so what?
Packers Are the Packers really this good? We don't know
Vikings Going to have to play more aggressively offensively if they are to win some games
NFC West
Cardinals Must get the running game going every week
49ers Stayed with the powerful Steelers for most of the game, but a kickoff returned and an INT returned for TDs are too much to overcome
Rams Bulger, Jackson, Holt, Bruce - sounds like a lot of offense (how do you explain only 3 points against the Bucs?)
Seahawks The defense bends but doesn't break and Hasselbeck calmly leads the Seahawks to another victory

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~ Extra Point ~

Why is everyone saying that Donovan McNabb had a great game "after the tough week he had"? Yes he had a great game (381 yards and 4 TDs) but the tough week part was all his fault. He had a severe case of foot-in-mouth disease.

And, speaking of the Eagles, why don't the NFL stop with the "throwback" uniforms? The Eagles looked totally ridiculous on Sunday. If the NFL and its teams are so hard up to make some extra money selling these jerseys then have all the teams do it on one particular day, say Week 9 or whenever, and be done with it. And make it a uniform from recent history... say the 1950's.

Is Hall of Fame Coach Joe Gibbs kidding us with those play calls at the end of the Redskins/Giants game? On 1st down from the 1 with 51 seconds left Redskins QB Jason Campbell spikes the ball. Why? Then on 2nd down, he throws a pass short of the end zone to FB Mike Sellers who drops it. On 3rd down, he hands off to Ladell Betts off left end for no gain. On 4th down they run the same play, this time Betts loses 2 yards. Yes folks, Betts, not Portis.

When did 2nd and long become a running down?

The penalty for the Patriots coach Bill Belichick regarding the so-called Spygate was too lenient. Yes, the $500,000 fine to Belichick was huge, but that doesn't mean anything to me and you the football fans. Instead of a 1st round pick or a 2nd or 3rd round pick based upon the Pats making or not making (yeah right) the playoffs this season, why not either all their picks in 2008 or a #1 in 2008, 2009, and 2010? It seems that would punish the team more.

Ex-Giant George Martin began a cross country walk on Sunday to raise money for ailing World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers. He began the walk at the George Washington Bridge and hopes to finish at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco in 4 months. His goal is to raise $10,000,000 with his walk. Good luck to him on his benevolent journey.

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~ Fumble ~

RE: Referee Ron Winter

Last week at The 5th Down Report, we praised Referee Scott Green for his correct calls on 3 challenges. This week however, it's back to the same old stale poor refereeing that we've seen so many times before. In the Bears/Cowboys game Sunday night, QB Rex Grossman gets sacked on 4th down. There is clearly 3 seconds left on the clock (which is on the TV screen). Winter, who should be fired, is seen rotating his right arm saying that the clock should be running. But the fact is it was 4th down and change of possesion. Therefore, the clock should have been stopped immediately and Dallas should have taken over at the Bear 15 yard line. Certainly in FG range. Then, when Cowboy coaches try to explain his error he arrogantly and dryly refuses to hear them. Come on! This guy should be demoted to the chain gang.

Folks, this isn't a "judgment" call that the officials hide behind every time they blow a call. This is Basic Refereeing 101.

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~ Interception ~

RE: David Beckham

We know the football season is in full swing and the baseball playoffs are right around the corner, but we'd like to take a moment to talk about Major League Soccer. We'd like to comment on what David Beckham has brought to America since his signing with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Here goes:

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~ 2 Minute Warning ~

Key Games:

Seahawks at 49ers
     - Can Seattle play good ball consistantly when playing a good team
     - Must beat the #1 team in the division to be #1

Bucs at Panthers
     - Are the Bucs for real? Beat Carolina and maybe so
     - With the Saints and Falcons all but done, beat Tampa and the Panthers could coast to the NFC South title

Eagles at Giants
     - Are the Eagles really a 1-2 team or a team that scores 56 points a game?
     - At 1-2, are the Giants ready to rise or fall?

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~ Coin Toss ~

This Week's Picks:

JB: (35-13)   Joe Namath Guarantee (1-2)
Jets over Bills
Bears over Lions
Cowboys over Rams
Raiders over Dolphins
Texans over Falcons
Packers over Viks
Ravens over Browns
Bucs over Panthers
Colts over Broncos
49ers over Seahawks
Chargers over Chiefs
Steelers over Cards
Giants over Eagles
Pats over Bengals

MD: (29-19)   Joe Namath Guarantee (2-1)
Jets over Bills
Giants over Eagles
Dolphins over Raiders
Texans over Falcons
Ravens over Browns
Lions over Bears
Packers over Viks
Cowboys over Rams
Bucs over Panthers
Seahawks over 49ers
Steelers over Cards
Chargers over Chiefs
Colts over Broncos
Pats over Bengals

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~ Under Review ~

RE: Greatest Coaches of All Time

We here at The 5th Down Report have devised a system to try to determine who the greatest coach of all time was. We've taken the average number of wins a coach had per year and subtracted the average number of losses he had per year. Then, we added 2 points for every playoff win and subtracted 1 point for every playoff loss. Then, added 3 points for every championship won. Although there's not a minimum number of years coached each coach listed has at least 9 seasons under his belt.

20) Barry Switzer 15.000 (although coached only 4 years)
20) Hank Strahm 15.000
19) Marv Levy 15.824
18) Weeb Ewbank 16.050
17) Tony Dungy* 17.728
16) Tom Flores 19.833
15) Mike Shanahan* 20.571
14) Mike Holmgren* 20.600
13) John Madden 21.100
12) Jimmy Johnson 21.778
11) Bill Cowher 21.933
10) Bill Parcells 22.211
9) George Seifert 25.728
8) George Halas 27.250
7) Joe Gibbs* 27.866
6) Bill Walsh 28.300
5) Don Shula 32.212
4) Bill Belichick* 34.500
3) Tom Landry 35.035
2) Chuck Knoll 37.956
1) Vince Lombardi 38.200

* Active

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~ Sudden Death ~

Any Questions?

Q: What team is the best of the 0-3 teams?
A: Saints.

Q: Which player is having a better year so far than you expected?
A: Brett Favre.

Q: Right now, who is the best team in the NFC?
A: Cowboys.

Q: What first year head coach will lose last?
A: Mike Tomlin (Steelers).

Q: What coach will be fired first?
A: Tom Coughlin.

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~ Hall of Fame ~

To view our previous reports, please visit the Archives Section.

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~ Blitz ~

To contact us, please send an e-mail to: blitz@5thdownreport.net.

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~ On the Sidelines ~

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