Thursday Morning Numbers

Here are the week 2 turnover numbers, with the winners listed followed by the turnover differential in that given game. This week, the turnover winner was 10-4-2, taking the record for the season to 21-6-5 or only 78% so far.

Cin +5, Ind -1, Pit +1, Phil +2, TB E, Ten -1, Chi +5, Car +2, StL +1, Sea -1, NYJ +1, Den E, Cle +2, KC +1, NYG +5, Wash -2

Since I ran the numbers last week, many want to know the record of just being +1. Bill Parcells actually brought this up in his press conference (in fact, I believe his numbers were wrong):

Records for teams that finish:

+5 = 5-0
+4 = 2-0
+3 = 2-0
+2 = 4-1
+1 = 8-5

These numbers do prove what one e-mailer pointed out, that +1 is not near the convincing stat that I thought it was, but we are only through 2 weeks into this. Stay tuned. It also proves only 1 team in all of football has lost a game this year when being a +2 or better: The Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night. Surely, if you were recovering from Monday, that number made you sick again…

Also, I could not help myself; I had to drop the extra $99 to get the NFL Sunday Ticket Superfan. Superfan is a pretty good scam (it makes HD subscribers now pay to get HD NFL games for the first time ever), but, they do have a genius idea of editing the games in such a way that you can watch every play of a game in roughly 22 minutes. It is so wonderful. The games are available after Monday Night Football is completed, and you can pretty much watch 3 NFL games in just over an hour.

So, yesterday, among other things, I watched Chargers-Broncos, Steelers-Texans, and Seahawks-Falcons. And, I have a few quickhits.

Ron Dayne turned up in Denver after his failed stay in New York, and didn’t touch the ball the whole game until the final drive. Then, he was unstoppable leading to the final score for the Broncos. I have no idea what the Broncos are doing at RB from week to week, but he appears to be another option…Texans CB Phillip Buchanon who was once a top-10 pick (EDIT 10:40am: 17th pick actually in 2002) in the draft for the Raiders wins my award for the “sorriest attempt at avoiding a tackle” on a Willie Parker touchdown run. The dude seriously had a 1-on-1 chance to bring him down and almost ran the other way…Antonio Gates is back and Drew Brees will throw it at him no matter how tightly he is covered. When he is not open, they still force it in there, and you know what? He still catches everything….Algae Crumpler may be a great TE in Atlanta, but when you are far and away the best target on your team, your team should likely not be cutting Peerless Price. On the other hand, we still don’t know Peerless is any good, do we?...Given the play of Gates and Crumpler, do we still think Jason Witten is a no-brain "top 5" TE? Tony Gonzalez, Gates, Crumpler most likely take 3 of those top 5 spots…David Carr gets hit a ton, and the Texans offense is still a mess. They have now fired their Offensive Coordinator, but that OL will still struggle under the new OC. Of course, Pittsburgh’s defense is really, really good. That Troy Polamalu is amazing on the blitz from safety…Why aren’t the Seahawks better every year? In watching these 6 teams yesterday, clearly the best looking QB was Matt Hasselbeck (although Big Ben was really good, too). Hasselbeck is just so stinking accurate most the time that it is hard to believe they could have that much talent on that Seattle offense and still have nothing to show for it…Gerard Warren showed up all day on that Denver DL, Courtney Brown and Ebenezer Ekuban? Not so much…

Hurricane means Aggies play tonight …

A&M president Robert Gates, who made the final call on whether to cancel or reschedule the football game, called it an "exceptionally difficult decision." He said he was swayed by the desire of both teams to play and of students to attend, and the fact that the contest's timing allowed Texas State to return home safely and A&M students to leave campus if they so choose.

Yet A&M hopes that relatively few fans show up. Gates urged fans who live outside the Bryan-College Station area to stay off the roads, which will probably be packed with evacuees leaving coastal areas. Gates added that hotels are not available in Bryan-College Station tonight.

"Let me be clear: We are holding this game primarily for the students," he said in a statement.

Red Sox slip out of first; White Sox could be next Travis Hafner, former Rangers great, doing the damage in Chicago …

Dan Daly says hockey may be back in Washington, but the fans aren’t …

Ovechkin, the first player taken in the 2004 draft, made his debut for the Capitals last night against the Sabres. The club had purposely -- and wisely -- held him out of the first two preseason games so he could be unveiled in front of the home folks. Alas, there weren't many home folks to unveil him in front of, 4,500 by one estimate. Such is the challenge facing the Caps as they try to re-establish a place for themselves in the Washington market.

Wow, the Capitals don’t have hardcore fans? What is next, will they tell us ice is cold?

P1 night pays off for FC Dallas, they win 4-1 …

Finally, Lost was really solid in its return last night. Bravo.