I The Behrend Beacon Defying Expectations Bills, Browns both off to surprising starts If you stand outside Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. MA and lis ten carefully, you may hear something. The sound on your ear is probably the faint chant of. “Let's go Buffalo." riding the northeasterly winds. In week one of the NFL season, the New England Patriots lost Pro Bowl quarterback Tom Brads. Brady went down with a knee injury that is going to keep him sidelined for the rest of the sea- When this happened, the thought of another team w inning the AFC East, started to look like a reality. The Patriots have sat atop the AFC East since 2003. and it seemed as if going to be even longer. However Brady was such a key ingredient to their success that when he went down it changed the team. Ok. so if the Patriots aren't going to be divi sion champions, who is? Well, the New York Jets acquired Green Bay Packer legend Brett Favre in the preseason, so the Jets are looking pretty good to win it. However. Brett Favre is strug gling to learn the offense and the Jets aren't doing so hot. The Miami Dolphins are coming off of a 1-15 season, so chances are they won't be able to make such a dramatic turn-around so soon. That leaves the Buffalo Bills, with young quarterback Trent Edwards at the helm. Surprisingly enough, the Bills are 3-0 and are currently in first place in the AFC East. The Buffalo Bills are 3-0 for the first time since 1092. and they are really looking like a strong football team. Veteran kicker Rian Lindell hit a 38-yard field goal as the clock ran out to finish Following an abysmal Week 111 of the NFL picks, Connor and Rachel rebound with respectable scores. Currently, the only score that matters is: Beacon - 4 Behrend - 0 Can you out-pick our sports fans? Try to out-pick us; send a list of your weekend picks to cisso6o@psu.edu. Nick Blake assistant sports editor pSU.Ci.lll off a comeback win in overtime against the Oakland Raiders in week three "l just jogged out and trusted what 1 had done and the week I put in and good snap Ryan Neill, good hold Brian Moorman and it went through." said Lindell after the game Even though it was close, a win is a win and head coach Dick Jauron was very pleased. "It was definitelv a sweet win for us and it was a team (win) offense, defense anti special teams." said Jauron The Buffalo Bills are ranked fifth in the NFL for Total Defense. They are also ranked in the top ten strong point. Their offense is decent, averaging 26 points per game, and averaging 333.7 yards per game. However. the running game is having trou ble getting moving. The Bills rushing attack is ranked 23rd in the NFL. a\enniinu onlv 99 vards per game. Second year quarter back Trent Edwards is doing a pretty good job leading his offense. He has completed 679 f of his passes, thrown three touch downs and one interception in three names. With Brett Favre and the Jets struggling, and the Patriots "Brady-less." don't count out the Bills. If their defense keeps up the work, and the offense can get the w heels turning, they could he a scary team. There is no better time than now for the Bills to make a run at winning the divi- NFL Atlanta («' Carolina Cleveland (p Cinei Houston <p Jacksonville Phillv Chicago S.F. (f« New Orleans Arizona (p N.Y. Jets G.B. (p Tampa Bay Min (p Tennessee San Diego Oakland Buffalo (s' St. Louis Washington (& Dallas Tie-Breaker Baltimore (s' Pittsburgh Last week denotes w inner NCAA Illinois (p PSD Alabama (p Georgia Stanford (p Washington S. Florida at N.C. State T. at Oklahoma Last week: ■ ilcnoles w inner Season Totals: for points and passing yards allowed per sacks and two inter- ceptions in three games. For the lime being, the Bills defense is definitelv their Beat The Experts Connor Matt Atlanta Cleveland Cinci Jacksonville Jacksonville New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans S.F. Buffalo S. Florida S. Florida S. Florida S. Florida N.C. St. Oklahoma Oklahoma Oklahoma Oklahoma O.K. 39-12 28-23 35-16 29-21 27-24 c I PORT This week, the Cleveland Browns took a devastating loss to the Baltimore Ravens, begining their season 0-3. Regardless, I think this is the start to a moder ate Cleveland eomeback because there are some very good things developing for them. Amidst these losses, their defense still remains a moderate force to be reckoned with. However, with an amateur offense, a good defense can only do so much. Following the Browns (0, 4) preseason. 1 originally thought they were going to do great this year. They finished within five points of the Jets - who were playing Brett Favre that game three touch - and within downs of their the players are defensive Romeo team. And. Cren n e 1 after a devas tating preseason 1 still had hopes for the Cleveland Browns for three reasons: 1) their offense was stressing the passing aspect, when they've unsuccessfully fin ished the past couple seasons in near complete rushing mode; 2) their defense was early consid ered a reckoning force having placed two sacks on Romo, and 3) their special teams was lOOff accurate. Then the longest rivalry in football history reared its head when the Steelers came to Cleveland. The game was left to the defensive teams as the offen sive side of things was horrible. The Browns only scored two field goals, taking an early lead, but their defense couldn't hold Giants running back Derrick Ward from scoring a TD late in the second quarter. That was the tragic end to what looked like an Atlanta Arizona Buffalo Georgia Nathan Carter staff writer npbso4l (?’psu.edu early win for Cleveland. Their offense was no match for Pittsburgh's defense, headed by Bryant McFadden and Aaron Smith - who made two sacks on the Browns in the third quarter. The third week against the Ravens, yet again, looked like a win for Cleveland early on with an interception by D’Qwell Jackson and a TD by Jerome Harrison. This left the Ravens defense in amazement, but their offense wasn’t going to take it. In the second half, Ed Reed returned a Browns punt for a TD and was quickly followed by Le’Ron McClain and Willis McGahee making Baltimore. But they’re not making the best decisions on the field when you’re playing good teams, like we have been in the past few weeks, we need to make better decisions. I think this team shows potential, and if we can get one win under our belts, the rest of the season will be better off-" Lastly, Browns fans, I remem ber a little old team who went 0- 3 last year and later went on to win the Super Bowl. So, when the Browns play the Cincinnati Bengals next week, cheer your hardest because anything’s possi ble in a little thing we call foot ball! The Browns need to get their offense going and make better decisons. With that said, they may be able to turn their season around and make it successful! Rachel Ryan Carolina Carolina Cleveland Cinci Jacksonville Houston Oakland Buffalo Buffalo Dallas Georgia Georgia Wash. Stanford Cl yj and your rebuttal might make next stated, after the loss in I really thought that my articles about Barack Obama. Jim Gaffigan, or the housing situation at Behrend would give me some great reader feedback. To o|||| , the article which has giveiyjjjj|the most feedback was my “Off the Wall" column last week, where 1 explained why I think that the two-QB system will be the next revolution in the world of professional football. What's a shame is that nobody had the guts to e-mail a response. Behrend's sports fans, while par ticularly articulate in a behind closed-doors argument, apparent ly aren't willing to put it on the line. This isn’t a lapse in creativity. 1 feel that my column last week didn't particularly clarify why 1 think that the 2-QB system will make its way to the NFL. In addi tion, there are several key factors that must occur before the system can find success. The first is the requirements for both quarterbacks must be pretty high. Both must be expect ed to be able to make plays with their legs as well as with their Chris Atlanta For some quarterbacks, their mobility is near zero; even when they find themselves flushed out of the pocket, they have trouble eluding blitzers. For others, they have high mobility but can't sup port a team on his arm when his running is stopped (See Tennessee, Vince Young and Co.). Houston It’s asking a lot; don’t get me wrong. The system would only be available with two quarter backs that can do both the ground and air components of the perfect playcaller. I like to look at Dennis Dixon or last week's example. Tim Tebow. Partnered with another quarterback of equal or greater skill, those two could eas ily excel in a two-QB system. The second requirement for success is the preparedness of the team. For most situations where two quarterbacks are used in the NFL, it’s simply out of necessity. Don’t know which quarterback is best? Hell, use them both until one gets hurt or gets better. If a team spent six days prepar ing for a specific defense with the game plan of having two quarter backs, they could come up with a respectable amount of plays where they could exploit the weakness of the defense in front Buffalo ‘Bama “Off the Wall” Each week, sports editor Connor Sattely picks a widely accepted NFL view and disputes it in his editorial column, “Off the Wall.” Think he’s wrong? Let him know week’s edition. Arizona Cardinal quarterbacks Matt Leinart (left) and Kart Warner. The rise of the two-QB system: Friday, September 26, 2008 Part II Bv Connor Sattelv sports editor cisso6(K° psu.edu of them. Weak corners could be a catalyst of a pass-happy day until the star receiver is double teamed. then quarterbacks can hit the ground running. The third requirement is a good running gaing and .Bafkfield. 1 don't really see the benefit of two QB and two RB situations, but having a threat with a running back would be especially helpful in presenting an additional threat (or. at least, an extra option to Ilex out an opposing defense). There are two problems which my readers (in private, of course) let me know about. One is (he cost. With the aver age cost of an NFL quarterback skyrocketing (See Matt Ryan), teams wouldn't be able to afford two stars I disagree. Quarterbacks like Tebow or Dixon will not go first round because they arc not able to carry a team on their backs. Players like Ryan will grab huge contracts in the first round because they can succeed in the NFL alone. I don't think that Tebow will do as good as. say. Georgia's Matt Stafford in the draft or as a leader in the league alone. Quarterbacks who present an option as a part of an offense rather than its workhorse will expect less pay. The other problem people let me know about is the fragility of the players. Quarterbacks get hurt. Putting them in as a l'aux runningback would present them to too much of a chance for If you run the system right, the whole point of having two quar terbacks is to confuse the defense. At the point where they've realized the quarterback is running , or rather doing some thing they are not expecting, it should already be too late. I'm not opposed to quarterbacks slid ing down to avoid bone-crushing hits. Get that first down and hit the ground. The system requires quality players, a quality program, and the right approach. Will it hap pen? I think so. Don't you? Let me know. In writing Submissions should be mailed to cisso6o@psu.edu and should contain no less than 250 words. All sub- missions will be considered for publication.
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