Bucs 20, Panthers 7

Another joyless performance by the Carolina offense in Charlotte. The Panthers continue to struggle in Bank of America Stadium, losing both their home games thus far this season.

The Panthers lone TD came late in the fourth quarter on a screen pass to DeAngelo Williams. If nothing else, it saved the Panthers of the ignominious honor of being shut out by the Bucs.

The Panthers have yet to find any rhythm on offense, looking less predictable but just as ineffective as they did last year. The defense is better, though the blitzes are few and weak, and opposing quarterbacks have time to wait for their receivers to get open down field.

The Panthers travel to New Orleans next week to play the 0-3 Saints.

Halftime: Bucs 17, Panthers 0

A dismal showing for the Panthers, no points and many punts. The passing game is running to the sidelines, Steve Smith and Jeff King are being mostly ignored, but DeShaun Foster is getting a healthy dose of carries. On defense, the Panthers are mostly unable to pressure Jeff Garcia, despite the injuries to veteran OL Luke Petitgout, and star RB Carnell Williams. The Bucs are not playing lights out, but are advancing down the field and scoring on every other possession. The Panthers are going to have to attack the middle of Tampa Bay's Cover Two more and create more pressure on defense if they are going to get back into this divisional matchup.

Week 4

Good afternoon, football fans!
Today's featured game is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers visiting the Carolina Panthers. Both teams are 2-1 and appear to be the only two contenders in the formerly competitive NFC South. The Saints, after their amazing, unexpected and heartwarming run to the NFC championship last year, have fallen on hard times, sporting an 0-3 record and failing to score more than 14 points in any of their games. The Falcons', also 0-3, have troubles of their own, having traded away their valuable backup QB Matt Schaub and Michael Vick being indicted on federal charges.

The Panther have their own problems as well. Panthers starting QB Jake Delhomme is out with an elbow injury and David Carr will start in his stead. On the other side of the ball, their vaunted defense has recorded 2 sacks, one by starting tackle Kris Jenkins, the other by backup Kindal Moorehead.
The Bucs have won two games in a row after dropping their season opener to Seattle, and have explicitly said they will not provoke Steve Smith, who likes to retaliate to criticism by scoring touchdowns in bunches. Jon Gruden's defense is key as it has been since the Buccaneer's run to Super Bowl XXXVII. Their offense has been solid, if not stellar thus far this season, with unknown Earnest Graham scoring almost half their running touchdowns and the aging but mobile Jeff Garcia at the helm. Let's play some football!

Second Half Summary

Well that is the final bell from Chicago! After a grindingly slow first half which featured a 3-3 stalemate, Dallas opened the offensive fireworks in the second half. They outscored the Bears 31-7 and left no question about who is the biggest threat to the AFC's supremacy.
Grossman threw another pair of interceptions and no touchdowns, the lone Bears score coming on the ground from RB Cedric Benson. Devin Hester continued to be a non-factor, almost becoming a liability as he fumbled kicks and muffed punts. As Chicago fell further behind, they abandoned the pass game allowing the Dallas front seven to pressure Grossman and force him into bad throws, as well as drop more players into pass coverage. As the game wore on, Romo became more adept at dodging Bears rushers and finding his receivers, particularly Owens, as he was scrambling. Marion Barber III also built up momentum, finding larger holes in the line and frequently breaking into the Chicago secondary. The final score : Vaqueros 34, Osos 10. See you tomorrow night!

Barber breaks off a huge run, gets down to the Bears' 2. He gets better and better as the defense tires. They reward Barber by letting him score the TD on the next snap.
Cowboys 34, Bears 10.

Tommie Harris goes down, another Bears Defensive injury. He seems to have been kicked below the belt.

Once more Hester is tackled immediately, though there is a flag on the play after he threw the ball away. Indeed, they refer to it as an "Illegal Spike." Chicago to start behind their ten yard line.

Devin Hester is stripped of the football on the ensuing kickoff! The Bears recover, but on the first play Grossman throws an interception to Anthony Henry who runs it back for a Touchdown.
Cowboys 27, Bears 10.

Dallas has a First Down at the Chicago 20 but is promptly sacked by Urlacher for a loss of seven.

Dallas is forced to kick and Folk converts on a 44-yarder.
Cowboys 20, Bears 10.

Tommie Harris is called for Encroachment. He is excellent at tracking cadences notably in the season opener against San Diego, but sometimes he jumps the gun and incurs the wrath of the referees.

Dallas knocking on the door again, First and Goal on the Ten and Barber proceeds to run it in!
Breaking free of tackles and bouncing off defenfers Barber breaks the tie.
Vaqueros 17, Osos 10.

Another Bears defensive injury, Nathan Vasher goes down with a groin pull. Ricky Manning Jr. the former Carolina Panther, comes in for him.

Sam Hurd throws a great block that gains T.O. part of his 35 yard gain on Third and 11. Hurd then proceeds to catch a pass on the next play for another first down.

Vaqueros de Dallas 10, Osos de Chicago 10.
Not sure if they meant to show the score in Spanish, or if it is part of Hispanic Heritage Month, pretty cool either way.

Hester catches the kickoff and drops it for the second time tonight! He picks it up and scrambles around the end zone and manages to get out to the 13 before he is forced out. Hester has been a complete nonfactor tonight, with the Cowboys unafraid of kicking to him and providing excellent coverage when they do.

Rex Grossman turns on the jets and goes up the middle for a first down. He then makes a great pass to TE Desmond Clark and Roy Williams inexplicably tries to bump him down instead of wrapping up. Roy Williams may set too much store by his reputation of being a hard hitter.

Another pass to a TE this time Greg Olsen who is tackled inside the 3 and on the next play Benson takes into the end zone easily. Touchdown, Chicago 10-10


Suddenly the offenses of both teams churn to life!

Lance Briggs has yet to play in the second half, and Adewale Ogunleye left the field during the drive, both crucial parts of the defense for the Bears. It shows, as Dallas puts together a great drive and caps it with a short TD pass.

Jones is forced out at the 3, that is the closest he has been to the end zone all year.
Romo to Witten, Touchdown!

Romo continues to show mobility, escaping the fierce pass rush to find Ownens once again for a another First Down.

Owens make a First Down catch, and throws the ball away through his legs, no flag, but they might fine him later for that. Owens make another catch on the next play and he is almost horsecollared on his way out of bounds.

First Half Summary

A low-scoring affair thus far in Chicago, 3-3. Both teams drop passes in their opponent's red zone, and end zone, so thankfully the offense is not as stagnant as the score suggests. Grossman throws a pick but does not fumble once, a minor victory for Bears fans. Romo also gave one away. Here comes the second half. Al Michaels seems to have put in a call to Mike Pereira, NFL VP of Officiating as he notes that the referee signaled to wind the clock at the end of the half when they should have stopped it.

Last play of the half Fourth and 11 and Grossman falls down for a sack, and there is a penalty before time runs out. Dallas should have one more play with about two seconds, but everyone leaves the field, players and referees and the half is over.

Third and 20 for Dallas deep in their own territory and its a handoff to Barber, who gets a few. Dallas to punt away, so Chicago will get one more possession before halftime.

Away, and Hester signal for a fair catch. He has been rendered mostly ineffective in the first half, kudos to the Dallas coverage unit.

Roy Williams, Dallas safety and popularizer of the Horse-Collar tackle, gets flagged for just that, so another 15 yards and a first down for Chicago to tack on to the end of the reception.

The moon is waxing Mr. Madden.

Grossman passes incomplete and here comes Robbie Gould. The peacock tell me this is his first attempt over 50. Chicago opts to have Gould pass it and it falls incomplete Turnover on Downs.

Bernard Berrian is wide open and drops a pass at the Dallas 10.

Grossman throws an incomplete pas under pressure from Ware. Third and Ten now.


Grossman signals timeout and with go to commercial with 1:20 to play in the second quarter.

Four downs in the Red Zone and Dallas fails to put any points on the board, a testament to Chicago's stingy defense and alert special teams.

Patrick Crayton drops a touchdown pass on Third Down, his pinky must be bothering him. Dallas settles for three, only to have the Field Goal blocked by Israel Adonije, the backup DE.

Fason catches a low pass on Second and Eight, the First Down line is at the Chicago 1.

Romo drops back, passes to Witten for another First Down, Hunter Hillenmyer cannot bring him down alone.

Julius Jones with a big gain on a screen pass but not enough for the first down, Dallas to punt.

Whistle! Timeout Chicago.

Now Dallas is going for it on Fourth and Three. Let's see if they actually hike it. They do! T.O. with a big catch after coming in motion from the backfield.

Romo escapes early pressure but Urlacher cleans up and knocks Romos to the ground for a sack, loss of 8.

Incomplete out of bounds.

Demarcus Ware has the sack and Maynard punts from his end zone.

Crayton with a half-hearted fair catch signal, but then runs with it anyway. Dallas starts on the Chicago 46.

Second and 16 and Grossman is sacked at his 4-yard line.

Beer commercials seem to fall into two categories: Insipid and pho-nostalgic.

Witten can't one-hand a pass in the endzone, Second Down.

Incompete pass, intended for Fasano, the backup TE.

Big Third Down right here. Pass to Crayton is incomplete, and the kicking team comes on for a chip shot.

Rookie Dallas kicker Folk knocks a 30-yarder through, no problem.

Witten with a 30+ gain.

Terrell Owens catches his second pass tonight, another First Down.

Pass to Owens is defensed, and to add insult to injury he is also called for Pass Interference. First and 20.

Witten again down the sideline, First Down at the 12.5.

Dallas has drafted for defense in early rounds in the last two years, most notably picking up Anthony Spencer this year and Demarcus Ware last year, but the Benson seems to gain five yards at will against them (remember the Giants put up 35 points on them in a loss). This also begs the question why Chicago does not run the ball more, but no doubt Lovie Smith is committed to balancing the offense.

Mark Bradley, a WR buried on the depth chart, almost blocks the punt but it is away and Hester muffs the return then falls on it - no return.

Replay seems to indicate is was not Witten, but the call stands.

Barber gets the handoff, he swarmed by the Bears no gain.

Crayton catches Romo's pass but nowhere near the First Down marker.

I was watching when Crayton broke his pinky last week, it was not pretty. The top portion of the finger was nearly perpendicular at the joint, while still remaining inside his receiver's glove.

End of the First Quarter

Fairly tame so far, but we know this game can explode at any moment.

Jugate! Jugate! Jugate! Another commercial in Spanish, with subtitles this time.

Grossman picked off by Anthony Henry.

Barber rotates in for Jones for a play but Jones comes right back in making Urlacher miss a tackle - a rare occurrence. Jones' gain is nullified by a Witten Block in the Back.

Let's see what the Cowboys offense can do. A good run for Julius Jones. He is in a contract year, but his number have not reflected it. He has no TDs on the season and Marion Barber III also enjoys the majority of the carries. At one point last week Barber was also returning kick for the Cowboys.

Two false start penalties, one on Terrel Owens and the other on Flozell Adams.

An ineffective run, Third a 15 and Archuleta intercepts!
Crayton was the intended receiver, he is playing with a broken pinky that he sustained while dropping a pass in last week's game.

A good drive for the Bears, who looked confident, if not sharp. No serious errors for them.

A commercial for Madden 08 in Spanish, no subtitles. Love it.

Now Gould feels obligated to kick the ball out of bounds, so Dallas will also start from the 40 yard line.

Two runs, minimal gains for Chicago, it is now Third and Goal for the Bears, looking to strike first to allow their defense to play aggressively. Grossman is forced to backtrack because of pressure and good coverage by the Cowboys and he throws it away.

Gould's kick is good! CHI 3 DAL 0

Greg Olson, Chicago TE, with his first catch of the night. The Bears have high expectations of him, coming out of The University of Miami, famous for producing NFL tight ends.

Moose with his first catch sets up First and Goal.

Another nice pass to Berrian for a First Down. They are a young pair and Berrian has the speed to stretch the field.

Incomplete pass, low, to Muhsin Muhammad, Berrian's older, slower but bigger counterpart.


Another short First Down to Berrian.

Grossman to Berrian, First Down! Nice effort by Berrian to muscle past the marker.

Good punt, good coverage, and Hester is forced out of bounds.

Quick changes of possession, no one looks too good or bad yet.

Short run, gain of two.
Romo to Owens who is gang-tackled after a gain of 17.
Cowboys to punt.

First and 10, Romo is sacked by Anderson. Score one for the Bears' defense. Loss of 11.

Chicago avoids going three and out by virtue of handing off to Benson who gains 18 yards on two carries. Grossman throws two incomplete passes, a drop and bad throw because of pressure. Maynard punts, touchback.

Kickoff!

Dallas kicks off short to avoid dangerous return man Devin Hester, the ball rolls out of bounds so by rule the ball is spotted at the Chicago 40.

I'd like to thank Telemundo for providing Spanish audio for this game. Now all we need is someone to provide Catalan.

I liked the Heroes spoof/introduction until T.O. started talking.

Main Topics: Will Grossman ever get yanked? Can Dallas' defense stop the Bears' offense?

NFL Hispanic Heritage Month

Gloria Estefan sings the National Anthem. A Shot of a fan wearing a Cubs uniform. Welcome to Chicago!
Tonight's game will feature arguably the two best teams in the NFC with Lovie Smith's 1-1 Bears' stifling defense and outstanding special teams matching up against Wade Phillips' 2-0 Cowboys' high-powered offense. At this point in the season both teams are considered playoff contenders, though the surprising resurgence of the Green Bay Packers may loosen the Bears' iron grip on the NFC North.

What is this?

First and foremost this is a blog about professional football. College football may be referenced occasionally. After January, it may morph into a college basketball blog or hockey, if it becomes interesting. Please feel free to comment on what I write, how I write and what I leave out.