Monday, October 15, 2007

Bolts 28, Raiders 14

The one thing holding me back from being fully on board with this Bolts' squad - I was never off the Bolts' bandwagon, mind you - was what happened at the 6:64 mark of the 2nd Quarter. Rivers was forced to his right and then he turned - inexplicably - and threw back left across the field into the hands of Thomas Howard who ran 66 yards for a touchdown. A 14-0 game was immediately 14-7.

This was worse than the ball he threw into Adalius Thomas' hands in Week 2.

This was almost as bad as the INT Drew Brees threw to Champ Bailey in Week 2 of '05.

It's that kind of mindless mishap that doesn't seem to happen to Brady and Manning and that, more than anything else, puts the Bolts as the #3 team in football.

But in the end the Bolts smashed the Raiders once again and I'm pretty happy about it. LT scored 4 times - a 3 yard run, a 27 yard run, a 13 yard run and a 41 yard run - and each score was better than the last. Actually, that's not right. Each was equally mesmerizing in its own right, whether you prefer the sweet vertical of the 3 yard TD in the 1st or the dagger 41 yarder that iced the game in the 4th.

Something for everyone.

I also liked the defense. Cromartie's INT. Phillips' sack forcing the Culpepper fumble. Merriman's 4 tackles and 2.5 sacks. Simply put, that's the kind of pressure the Bolts have to have to win games.

No comments: