Behind The Scoreboard - Claude Vinson


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Behind The Scoreboard
By Claude Vinson

NFL news

Not quite one third through its regular season games and already the odds makers are shining their swords. Entering week five there were only a trio of remaining NFL unbeatens. Those castles began to crumble on “Thursday Night Football” in the game between the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals.

I am sure a lot of you remember the old switcheroo some eons ago when the aforementioned teams changed places. The Cardinals’ fame has been constantly rising since going to their new venue and, of course, likewise for the old Los Angeles Rams. I believe at the time the Rams hightailed it out of the City of Angels, the edict was that the town wasn’t big enough to support all of the pro franchises. I don’t rightly remember just why the Cards left St. Louis.

Anyway, Arizona was one of those three non-losers (this season), until they met the new head Ram (and former head Titan), Jeff Fisher. He and the Rams upset their division leader 17-3.

So that left the Houston Texans and the Atlanta Falcons as the only two without blemishes. The Falcons got their record-breaking streak extended to 5-0 at the expense of the Redskins and their star rookie signal caller, RG III. Griffin had to leave the game with a concussion. The Texans had to wait until Monday (8th) to see if they would stay on top in the NFC South. They met the Jets.

And noticing QB injuries, Matt Cassell was also knocked out of a game with a concussion. If you are noticing a spike in the “unnecessary roughness” calls, it isn’t a fluke. The league has grown tough since the scandal of “bounty gate” and the Saints. In the three weeks prior to Sunday’s games the league had levied $282,000 in fines. And a player (Harrison Smith) was ejected Sunday for inadvertently bumping an official – a strict “no-no.” Hate to see what the fine for that will be. What do they do with all those collected fines anyway? And is there really “unnecessary roughness” in a sport like football?

There were so many highlights in week five that one couldn’t go wrong in recapping any one of them, however, none would be bigger than the momentous milestone achieved by Drew Brees. What a way to get your first win of the season and pass a record which has endured for 52 years. Brees threw a 48th consecutive game TD strike to Devin Henderson. This eclipsed the record of 47 (which Brees threw last week) for the tie), set by the greatest QB of all times, John Unitas.

And who says Roger Goodell doesn’t have a heart? Reacting to an e-mail from Brees, he allowed deposed coach Sean Payton to attend the game. Will it take another half century to top Brees? Remember, he ain’t done just yet.

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