BenMaller.com - Ben's Takes

Big Ben's College Football Recap Frenzy

By Ben Maller

Let me be the first to eat crow, UCLA was outstanding against Oregon State. Any doubts that I had about the Bruin defense are now gone. To hold the Beavers star running back Ken Simonton to a career-low 26 yards on 13 carries was tremendous.

DeShaun Foster carried the load for the UCLA offense. Foster who reminds me of Barry Sanders with his running style had 147 yards rushing on 31 carries and took to ball to the house three times.

UCLA is 4-0 for the first time since 1998, what a difference between that team and this one. In '98 the Bruins had Cade McNown and no defense. This UCLA team has RB DeShaun Foster leading the offense and LB Robert Thomas leading the solid defense.

The Bruins had 488 yards total offense to just 218 yards for Oregon State.

UCLA is as good as any team in the country and should be rated ahead of the Oregon Ducks.

Do you think these Beaver fans can get their money back for this Ken Simonton van?

I was the Coliseum Saturday. It was one of those days that makes you feel good to be alive, a 90 degree Southern California evening watching college football as USC battled Stanford.

Pete Carroll summed up the latest Trojans loss best right after the game on the radio when he said, "I don't like the way this thing is going." Yes you could say that after SC got blown off the line of scrimmage in their latest loss. The Cardinals ran for 203 yards to the Trojans 51.

SC has now lost three games in a row by a combined 11 points. As one of my favorite LA radio sportscasters Jim Healy used to say, "Bad Teams lose close games."

Whatever coach Carroll says to his team at half-time he should try and say before the game. Stanford outscored Southern Cal 21-0 in the first half, SC outscored the Cardinal 16-0 in the 2nd.

Carson Palmer did not throw a touchdown pass but did toss two more interceptions.

Stanford looks to me to be the second best team in the Pac-10 behind UCLA.

A semi-famous Stanford alum Tiger Woods was roaming the Cardinal sidelines...

Cal blew a 14-0 lead to Washington in dropping to 0-4 for the first time since 1980, The Golden Bears are 2-12 in their last 14 games. The Huskies, who appear to be very beatable, have won 11-games in a row.

QB Kyle Bowler who's college career has gone much the way of Carson Palmer had four touchdown passes and 265 yards passing in the loss.

Oregon beat Utah State 38-21, QB Joey Harrington tossed two TD Passes and ran for another. The Ducks had just a 3-point lead entering the 4th quarter at 24-21 against the 0-and-4 Aggies.

No. 11 Kansas State spoiled my streak of great gambling wins, the Wildcats went down fighting 38-to-37 at No. 3 Oklahoma.

The Sooners defense struggled against an inexperienced QB Ell Roberson. The K-State signal caller shocked me with his solid play, passing for 257 yards and rushing for 115 yards and three
touchdowns.

Kansas State totaled 446 yards of offense, compared to 325 for the Sooners.

QB Nate Nybl looked good at times but his three interceptions almost cost Oklahoma the victory.

OU has the nation's longest winning streak at 17. If the Sooners want to make it 18 in a row, then coach Bob Stoops has some coaching to do. The Sooners play Texas in the Red River rivalry game next week.

No. 5 Texas is 4-0 for the first time since 1983, after a 42-7 victory over Texas Tech. Something tells me that the Longhorns will not be undefeated after next Saturday.

No.2 Florida made a statement with their 52-0 rout of Mississippi State. Rex Grossman passed for 393 yards in just under three quarters and tossed five touchdown passes in a revenge victory.

The Bulldogs who pride themselves in having one of the better defenses in the SEC allowed 640 total yards!

One thing about UF coach Steve Spurrier you have to love is he always tries to run up the score.

No receiver in college football had a bigger day than Kelley Washington of Tennessee. Washington, a freshman walk-on, set a Volunteers record for receiving yards in a game with 256 on 11 catches including a 70-Yard TD Catch.

The Vols rallied from a 7-6 half-time deficit to beat LSU.

John Henderson and the Orange defense allowed just 29 yards rushing to the Tigers.

No. 8 Virginia Tech's defense was at it again against Central Florida. The Hokies intercepted three passes and recovered a pair of fumbles on their way to a 46-14 cakewalk over the Golden Knights.

The Hokies ran for 232 yards behind one of the best offensive lines in college football.

Coach Bob Davie figures to be looking for a job after the season. Notre Dame dropped to 0-3 for the first time in the history of Fighting Irish football. Texas A & M won 24-3. The Irish produced 191 yards of total offense. Notre Dame has also committed 9 turnovers in the first three games after committing just eight all of last season.

87,206 people showed up to watch A & M kick some Irish ass. The largest crowd ever to watch a football game in Texas. I couldn't believe that stat. The Bruins and Trojans do that at least every year when they play!

No. 4 Nebraska had little trouble with Missouri 36-3. QB Eric Crouch had a school record 95 yard run on his way to 191 yards rushing on 17 carries. The Cornhuskers had a mind-boggling 412 yards rushing on 72 carries, an average of 5.9 yards per carry.

No. 25 Clemson had their biggest win in many years a 47-to-44 OT victory at No.11 Georgia Tech. QB Woodrow Dantzler had 251 yards passing and a pair of touchdown tosses. Dantzler also ran for 165 yards and a pair of TD's, including the game winning 11-yard rushing in the first OT.

No. 15 South Carolina beat Alabama 37-to-36 for the first time in school history. The Gamecocks rallied for two touchdowns in the final 6 1/2 minutes. QB Phil Petty led the comeback.

Tide quarterback Tyler Watts, played over his head with 383 yards of total offense. He completed 20-of-25 for 231 yards and rushed for 152 yards on 22 carries... Nobody could have predicted that the Bama offense would produce 36 points against the Gamecocks.

Alabama won the stat sheet with 529 yards to 373, 1st Downs Bama 29, South Carolina 16

No.17 Michigan dominated #23 Illinois 45-20 at the Big House. The Illini were trying for their first 4-0 start since 1951, now they can try again next year.

The Wolverines lost 4 yards on their first four drives. They scored touchdowns on three straight and four of their next five possessions.

No. 18 Northwestern pulled out a miracle comeback against Michigan State 27-26. The two teams combined for 22 points in the final 4:42 of the game. Yet again, a prevent-defense prevented a team from winning. This time it was the Spartans.

QB Zak Kustok's "Hail Mary" pass worked as the Wildcats stuck inside their own 15-Yard line with 16 seconds left pulled out the upset on a late field goal.

Michigan State missed an extra point and three field goals, then had an extra point blocked with 18 seconds left before Northwestern's David Wasielewski kicked a 47-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Spartans 27-26.

Northwestern who is among the best in a weak Big 10 is off to its first 3-0 start since 1962.

Attention USC and old LA Rams Fans, John Robinson is 0-4 at UNLV for the first time in his 24-Year coaching career. The Rebels have allowed 110 points in their last three games.

Maryland coach Ralph Freidgen is the second Maryland coach to start his first season 4-0. The last coach to do so was H.C. Byrd in 1978. Lets see what the Terrapins do once they have to play the big boys in the ACC.

For more great college football pictures Click Here
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Friday, September 28, 2001

Friday Thoughts, Opinions and Notes

By Ben Maller

The Dodgers did the right thing in telling Major League Baseball that they would not stop the game to honor Barry Bonds if he had hit #70 at Dodger Stadium. Do you think if Shawn Green hits #75 in 2 years that the Giants would honor Green in San Francisco? Of course not!

Dan Evans will be the next Dodger's GM. Lets hope his deals for Terry Mullholand and Mike Trombley are not a sign of things to come.

Lets take a look at the "Kevin Brown $105 million dollar scoreboard". Three years, No playoff wins, one elbow surgery.

For those that say Los Angeles doesn't care about the Dodgers anymore. The blue went over the 3 million mark in attendance for the sixth consecutive season. Way to go Dodger Fans!

Lets play a little game... If the Dodgers had won half the games their bullpen had blown what would their record be?

Answer: LA would be 94-and-59 (The Dodger Bullpen leads the NL with 26 blown saves)

Mark Mulder signed a 4-Year $14.4 million dollar extension with the Oakland Athletics this week. Mulder is 10-Times the pitcher that Chan Ho Park is.

It's something you would expect to see in the NFL: White Sox catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. had his 10th knee surgery this week.

The fourth anniversary of Pete Rose's application for reinstatement to baseball passed this week with no word of when or if commissioner Bud Selig will make a decision.

NBC is not going to schedule any Wizards games until a month before. The peacock network is worried about a Michael Jordan Injury.

The 76ers and Timberwolves are the first two teams to get screwed by MJ's return. TNT is expected to cancel that telecast to broadcast the Wizards and Knicks from Madison Square Garden.

Dennis Scott has the chance to be the Lakers secret weapon this season. Scott was given an invite to training camp. If he is in shape he is a deadly outside shooter. Scott holds the NBA Record for the most 3-point field goals made in a season (267) and a game (11). You have to wonder if Dennis has anything left. He was released by the Washington Wizards a year ago and did not play last season.

Dickey Simpkins will have a major roll on the 2001-2002 Lakers. Simpkins signed a free-agent contract this week. He was part of three world championships with Phil Jackson's Chicago Bulls. Heck, at this point, Simpkins is better than Horace Grant who went to Orlando.

Big Ben Trivia Question of the week: In honor of Carson Palmer. What quarterback holds the Division 1-A record for the most consecutive passes attempted without an interception in a single season? Answer Below!

Jeff George is the Barry Bonds of the NFL... Problem is George is not a Hall-of-Fame talent. He is a hall-of-fame jerk though.

You can rip George all you want, however he's going to have the best memorabilia collection in pro football. George has played for the Colts, Falcons, Raiders, Vikings and Redskins.

George getting released is not surprising. The surprise will be the next team that signs him. The New England Patriots are worried that Drew Bledsoe is going to be out for a long period of time. The Pats brought in Billy Joe Tolliver and Eric Zeier for workouts. How much fun would it be to see George playing quarterback for Bill Belicheck.

Los Angeles took another blow to their chances of getting an NFL Team. The New Orleans Saints signed a 10-Year lease with the Superdome to stay in Louisiana.

The odds are now that if LA is going to get an NFL team its going to be the San Diego Chargers or Oakland Raiders.

Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren was forced to apologize to Seattle fans this week. Holmgren blasted the fans who chanted for backup quarterback Trent Dilfer to get into the game instead of Matt Hasselback. Holmgren should apologize for his poor coaching since he left Green Bay.

Deion Sanders could be back in prime time soon. The hot story Monday was that Sanders was talking with CBS Sports about joining the "NFL Today" pregame show. I still won't watch, not when JB, Howie, Terry and Chris are on FOX.

Emmitt Smith said if he was the coach of the Cowboys he would start Anthony Wright at QB instead of Quincy Carter. Problem is Jerry Jones is the real coach of the Cowboys. Smith will likely get his wish this week, Carter's thumb is still hurt so Wright will start against the Eagles.

Under coach Bob Toledo UCLA is 28-8 when they score at least 30 points... However the Bruins are 13-9 vs. ranked teams

Do you know when the last timewas that the UCLA defense allowed fewer than 40 points in the first three games of the season? Answer: 1992 against Cal State Fullerton, BYU and San Diego State.

Oregon State will have been off the field for three weeks when it faces UCLA tomorrow. Despite the lack of competition the Beavers have not scrimmaged because they have suffered so many injuries.

Ken Simonton has his own heisman website Click here for Simonton's Web Page

Shame on UCLA. All DeShaun Foster gets is a link from the Bruin website Click Here for Foster's weak webpage

A couple of key stats to keep in mind as you watch Stanford play USC... Stanford has had 10 receptions over 20 yards, including five over 30 yards in its first two games ... Touchdown passes have come from 25, 32, 46 and 69 yards out... Ten different players have caught at least one pass for the Cardinals and four have caught at least one touchdown pass through the first two games.

Stanford is USC's oldest rival going back to 1905

When Sultan McCullough starts and has 25-Plus carries USC is 4-0. The Trojans are 6-2 when McCullough is a starter and gets 20-plus carries.

A sign that SC Football has been in the toilet... This is the 20th anniversary since USC's last Heisman trophy winner TB Marcus Allen in 1981.

In case you missed it, check my in-depth previews on the UCLA at Oregon State and USC vs. Stanford games by clicking here.
Ben Maller.com's USC & UCLA Previews

I wonder how fast the Mighty Ducks called the agent for Steve Kariya who was released by the Vancouver Canucks this week. I can see it now, the skating Kariya Brothers live at the Pond in Anaheim.

ESPN is pulling "Up Close" off the air next month. The show has sucked ever since Roy Firestone and Chris Myers left. Gary Miller was pathetic as host. ESPN is going to launch a new show entitled "Unscripted." Its going to be a sports/entertainment interview show. Sounds like a Bomb to me.

A friend of mine told me that KMPC 1540's studios are among the best in Los Angeles. How much longer could it be before they have a solid local show booming out of those mic's?

Tom Looney was out of work for 5 minutes. Looney will help produce the "John & Ken show" on KFI and host a weekend show. 640am is starting to look a lot like the old XTRA SPORTS 1150am on weekends. Looney and Lee Klein both host weekend shows.

I want to wish Rich Herrera the best of luck in his next radio gig. Rich parted ways from Fox Sports Radio this week. My favorite Rich story goes back to when I was working at 690 and he was at KMAX in the mid 90's. I'll never forget the afternoon at Dodger Stadium when I showed Rich the Dodgers Clubhouse and he wore a San Francisco Giants baseball cap, I can still hear Tommy Lasorda yelling at him, it was classic Tommy!

Is it just me or have I been wishing my friends in radio a lot of luck lately.

Now a word from our sponsors...

A friendly reminder to listen to my radio show this weekend on your local Fox Sports Radio station. It's me and Patrick O'Neal from 2am till 5am(est) Saturday morning. (Now on the radio in Cleveland)

Sunday morning from 4am till 7am, it's myself and Jason Smith breaking down all the college football action and previewing week two of the NFL. (Now on the radio in Boston)

Big Ben Trivia Answer: Trent Dilfer, who threw 271 consecutive passes without an interception at Fresno State in 1993, also holds the career record for most consecutive passes attempted without an interception in a single season.

Big Ben Maller's Five Star College Pick of the Week

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(11) (11) Kansas State (2-0) at (3) Oklahoma (3-0)

The Line: OU -4 1/2

Big Ben's Breakdown: For Oklahoma this game against Kansas State and next week's game against Texas will determine if they are again the best team in college football. A year ago the Sooners beat the Wildcats twice on their way to the crown.

K-State doesn't figure to have much success against the OU defense. Rookie QB Eli Roberson had a pathetic performance against USC in week one completing 7-of-16 passes for 26 yards. I'm not going to give stats from the New Mexico State game because that's a junior college team. If Roberson had problems against the Trojans what is he going to do against college football's best defense?

Oklahoma has allowed just 13.3ppg while allowing only 278.7 yards in total offense per contest. Linebackers Rocky Calmus and Teddy Lehman lead the front seven. Safety Roy Williams leads the secondary, coming off a career-high 15 tackles.

The Sooners' D must key in on RB Josh Scooby who has back-to-back 100 yard rushing games. Shutdown Scooby and make Roberson try and beat you.

Oklahoma's offense is starting to get in gear. RB Quentin Griffin leads the team in both rushing (355 yards, three TD's) and receiving (166 yards, one TD). QB Nate Hybl has been impressive, completing 62% of his passes for 663 yards and four TD's. Hybel does need to cut down on his interception (3). Against weak teams the Sooners are averaging 40 points per game and nearly 410 yards of total offense per outing.

The K-State defense has allowed just six points so far this season. The key to the KSU defense is creating turnovers. The Cats' D has 17 turnovers in the last seven games. Cornerback DeMarcus Faggins had two interceptions last week. The real leaders of the defense are linebackers Josh Buhl and Ben Leber.

Head coach Bob Stoops is a perfect 3-0 coming off a bye week

BenMaller.com's Final Score: Oklahoma 28, Kansas State 17

Other College Picks: Fresno State -22 vs. Louisiana Tech, BYU -7 at UNLV, Washington -15 at Cal, Connecticut +18 at Rutgers, Washington State -2 1/2 at Arizona, Wake Forest -26 1/2 at Florida State.

Big Ben Maller's Five Star NFL Pick of the Week

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Indianapolis Colts (2-0) at New England Patriots (0-2)

The Line: Colts-11 1/2

Did you know? The Colts have not opened a season 3-0 since starting 4-0 in 1996. (The last time the Colts won their first three division games was 1980.)

Big Ben's Breakdown: The Colts are putting up numbers similar to the St. Louis Rams of a few years back. Indianapolis has scored a league-high 87 points and 471.5 yards per game. Payton Manning has been untouchable with a 73.8 completion rating, for an NFL-best 652 yards, and his six touchdown passes are tied with Denver's Brian Griese for the league lead.

Jerome Pathon has emerged as a star along side Marvin Harrison. Pathon has 17 catches for 261 yards and two TD's he has been the key to the offense. Edgerrin James is still the workhorse having rushed for over 100-yards in the last five games. When James goes over 100 yards rushing the Colts are 19-2.

Defense is a problem for the Colts who are allowing 25 points per game. The good news for Indy is that the Patriots don't have many weapons. The Colts have allowed 700 yards to a pair of mediocre offenses against the Jets and Bills.

Backup quarterback Tom Brady will play for the injured Drew Bledsoe this week. Brady who played college ball at Michigan was 5-of-10 for 46 yards in a relief appearance last week. Brady has attempted just 13 passes in his NFL career and figures to struggle in his first pro start.

The Patriots' defense has its work cut out for it against Manning, Harrison and James. The Pats have allowed an average of 161.5 passing yards per game, which ranks them third in the AFC. That stat figures to go up after this game. New England does not have an interception in the first two games of the season.

Big Ben Key Stat: The Patriots have one of the league's worst rushing attacks, averaging just 87.5 yards per game. (That Mean's all the pressure will be on Brady)

BenMaller.com's Final Score: Colts 38, Patriots 9

Other NFL Picks: Minnesota -2 1/2 at Tampa Bay, Kansas City -3 at Washington, Miami +6 at St. Louis, Seattle +10 1/2 at Oakland, Philadelphia -13 1/2 vs. Dallas

Another Game I like a lot is Cincinnati +6 1/2 at San Diego. The Chargers have played the Redskins and Cowboys the NFL's two best teams. The Bengals are coming off an upset of the World Champion Baltimore Ravens. These teams combined to go 5-and-27 last season.

The Bengals' defense appears to be the real deal. Cincinnati forced Baltimore into six turnovers last week.

Despite that stat the Cincy defense ranks 22nd and the Bengals' offense ranks 24th.

To me, the most surprising thing about the Bengals' fast start is the play of all-pro Corey Dillon. Dillon is ice cold with just 161 yards rushing in the first two games combined.

Key Stat: QB Jon Kitna is looking for his 3rd straight win vs. San Diego. (He was 2-0 last season with Seattle)

BenMaller.com's Final Score: Bengals 20, Chargers 17

Sound Off: Send questions and comments to Big Ben by CLICKING HERE! permalink

Wednesday, September 26, 2001

Michael is no Kobe

By Ben Maller

In sports, often times we only remember the good times and not the bad. Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest player in the history of the NBA. From the late 80's till the late 90's nobody could come close to MJ's talent.

When I hosted the "Ben & Dave" show with Dave Smith back in our hey day, I pointed out that Kobe Bryant of the Lakers in his 3rd year in the NBA was already as good as Jordan of the Bulls. Let me explain my point.

Let's breakdown the numbers from Jordan's MVP 1997-98 season (his last before now)... And Kobe's 3rd season 1998-1999.

Jordan averaged 28.7ppg shot 46.5% from the floor 78.4% from the foul line and 23.8% from the threepoint line and 5.8rpg and 1.7spg.

Bryant averaged 19.9ppg shot 46.5% from the floor 83.9% from the line and 25.7% from the threepoint line and 5.3rbg and 1.4spg.

The Key stat that separates the two players is points per game. The reason for this is shots attempted. Michael attempted 23.1 shots per game, Kobe 15.6 shots per game.

Even more stunning are Bryant's numbers from last season.

Kobe averaged 28.5ppg and 22.2 shots per game while shooting 46.4% from the floor and 85.3% from the line and 30.5% from the 3point line. and 5.9 rebounds 1.7 steals per game along with 5.0assists a game.

These are of course just numbers, that said it's been my feeling the last few years that basketball doesn't need Michael Jordan to come back. It already has the next MJ, his name is Kobe Bryant. My question for Commissioner David Stern is 15 years from now who is going to replace Kobe?

The Washington Wizards won 19 games last season, The Wiz got rid of bad guys Juwan Howard, Rod Strickland and Mitch Richmond. In return for those vets Washington has Christian Laettner, Loy Vaught and Hubert Davis along with young players Etan Thomas and Courtney Alexander.

New Wizards coach Doug Collins is expected to have a starting lineup of Laettner, Alexander, Jahidi White, Jordan and Richard Hamilton. It's funny to see some idiot sportswriters and sportstalkers yelling about Jordan being good for an extra 20 wins. Ok lets say that's right; that means that Washington wins 39 games and misses the playoffs. Last season, the eighth place team in the east was the Indiana Pacers who finished at .500 41-and-41.

It's my guess that Jordan's comeback to basketball this time will be much like Magic Johnson's return to the Lakers.

Don't worry, though, basketball fans, Kobe Bryant is only going to get better with the Lakers.
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Monday, September 24, 2001

Ben Maller.com's Monday Morning Quarterback

by Ben Maller

HBO should come up with a new series with the Baltimore Ravens. They can call it, "Hard to Believe Losses"

The Ravens had six turnovers against the Bengals. WOW!

Cincinnati is 2-0 after there 21-10 win against Baltimore.

All of Cincinnati's points came off the turnovers. Elvis Grbac is not the answer at QB. Grbac was 33-of-63 for 326 yards with three interceptions and a fumble. There is a simple way to explain what happened to the Ravens. Its called Karma! They are getting what they deserve after dumping Trent Dilfer at QB that led them to the World Championship.

Corey Dillon and the Bengals are 2-0 for the first time since 1995. It should be noted they finished that year under .500 at 7-and-9.

Minnesota's Randy Moss and Chris Carter combined for six catches and 94 yards. That explains a 17-10 loss to the Chicago Bears. How embarrassing is it to lose to the Bears? Daunte Culpepper, Moss and Carter all refused to talk to reporters after the game. Class acts. Of course watching the way that Carter handled himself on the sidelines, he probably had to go suck on a bottle.

Chicago won despite just 47 yards rushing!

I have to admit I was sweating it out in the fourth quarter watching my NFL lock, the Dolphins trailing the Raiders 15-10 with just a few minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Jay Fiedler was outstanding on that last-second game-winning drive. Miami pulled out an 18-15 victory. The Dolphins are now 28-and-4 in home openers.

Future Hall of Famer Jerry Rice had just one catch for seven yards.

The Colts vs. Bills matchup was the pro football version of Miami playing Rutgers in college ball. I don't know many defenses in the NFL that can slow down Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James and Marvin Harrison who are all in the prime of there careers. The Colts are 2-0 after a 42-26 rout of the Buffalo.

Manning had a career-high 421 yards and four touchdown passes. Indy has scored over 40-points in each of their first 2-games. It could take the Ravens half the season to score 40 points.

Poor Rob Johnson, he finally gets the chance to start and has no running game and no offensive line. Johnson led the Bills with 63-yards rushing. Buffalo had 128 yards in penalties their most since 1977.

Ty Detmer must be so thankful that the Cleveland Browns traded him to the Detroit Lions that he wanted to give a gift back to coach Butch Davis. Detmer actually gave seven gifts. An amazing seven interceptions - one less than the NFL record - in one game. The Lions lost 24-14 to Cleveland.

Matt Millen might be calling Rupert Murdock, as you read this, asking to get his old job back. The Lions are a mess. They allowed Browns' rookie RB James Jackson to go for 124 yards. The 15 penalties for 115 yards didn't help Detroit either.

Cleveland ran my favorite play in football. The short yardage jumbo package pass to the offensive lineman. Tim Couch tossed three TD's- including one to backup center Shaun O'Hara! All big guys who have ever put on the pads dream of this.

As expected Fred Taylor is hurt for the Jacksonville Jaguars. The star running back was knocked out of the Jaguars game against the Titans and left the stadium on crutches. Surprisingly Jacksonville was able to pull out a 13-6 victory. Stacy Mack ran for 80 yards and a TD filling in.

Tennessee's offense looked as if Steve McNair was still under center. Neil O'Donnell had just 215 yards passing, and Eddie George had 79 yards rushing on 20 carries as the Titans produced just six points.

I'll start to get impressed with the San Diego Chargers when they beat a good team. The Chargers beat the Cowboys 32-to-21. Doug Flutie had a good game against a pathetic Dallas defense. Flutie had 353 yards passing with a pair of touchdown passes. Like I said let's wait and see this team play against the Broncos and Raiders.

Emmitt Smith rushed for 85 yards passing Barry Sanders for second on the NFL's career rushing list. Smith the pride of the Cowboys is 1,435 yards behind "Sweetness" Walter Payton for the No. 1 spot on the all-time list. I wonder is Emmitt would consider going to a team that needs a running back. It's embarrassing to watch him play on the current Cowboys.

Its back to earth for the Carolina Panthers. The Falcons beat them 24-16. Atlanta averaged an amazing 8.2 yards every time they snapped the ball. Chris Chandler looked like Joe Montana going 11-of-14 passing for 244 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Chris Weinke did his job. Weinke passed for 276 yards and ran for his second TD in two games. Its hard to win when your defense allows 377 yards on just 46 plays.

The Giants defense made New York proud with a 13-3 upset of the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead one of the toughest stadium's in the NFL. It was great to see the Giant players wearing NYFD and NYPD caps, following the lead of the Mets and Yankees.

I don't know how the Jets can really feel all that good about beating the Patriots 10-to-3. Curtis Martin rushed for 106 yards and a TD and Vinny Testaverde passed for 137 yards. All of New York points came off of three pats turnovers deep in Jets territory.

The Patriots had more 1st downs and total yards then the NYJ and still lost.

Looking at the preseason numbers I really thought Matt Hasselbeck would have a big season with the Seahawks. After a 27-3 ass kicking by the Eagles I'm starting to rethink that position. Hasselbeck completed just 9-of-24 passes for 62 yards. Seattle is still waiting for its first touchdown of the season.

Donovan McNabb continues to prove he is the best out of the QB class of '99. Against the Hawks McNabb passed for 283 yards and two td's he also ran for a score.

Eagles WR James Thrash who was a Redskins bust had 165 yards receiving on 10 catches a career day.

The Rams still own the 49ers. Kurt Warner passed for 321 yards and three touchdowns, and St. Louis milked Marshall Faulk late in the game to pull out a four point victory.

Faulk had 105 yards rushing on 18 carries and caught eight passes for 79 yards.

After losing 17 straight games against San Francisco, most of those as the Los Angeles Rams. St. Louis has now won five straight against the Niners.

I tied many of my wagers into the Denver Broncos beating up on the Arizona Cardinals. I have to admit I was a little nervous when Arizona jumped out to a 10-3 lead. Luckily when the weather cooled from the 103 degrees at the start the Broncos pummeled the Cards 38-17.

Brian Griese looks legit at QB. He completed 17 consecutive passes, three for touchdowns. Rod Smith is enjoying being back in the spotlight. Griese caught a team-record 14 passes for 162 yards against an average college defense.

This marked the first weekend in my time gambling that I did not lose a bet. Fresno State, Virginia Tech, USC, the Miami Dolphins, the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos all won for me!

BenMaller.com's list of teams that will not win the Super Bowl

Minnesota Vikings (0-2)
Dallas Cowboys (0-2)
Kansas City Chiefs (0-2)
Tennessee Titans (0-2)
Detroit Lions (0-2)
Buffalo Bills (0-2)
New England Patriots (0-2)
*Washington Redskins (0-2)

*Skins are 0-1 but play the Packers Monday Night

Ben's stat of the week: Since they started playing the Super Bowl, only one team, the Dallas Cowboys of 1993, have started 0-2 and gone on to win the Super Bowl. The Cowboys got off to a slow start because Emmitt Smith was a contract holdout.
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