NFL Week 2 Interview

Q. We are BACK with Week 2 of Henry's trenchant football analysis. This week, your interviewer suffered a cruel defeat in his office football pool, picking only three out of fourteen games. So it is with barely controlled rage that I ask Hen the following questions.

Hello, Henry. Two weeks in, do you see any trends starting to emerge?

A. The trend that I see starting to emerge is Kansas City attempting to somehow succeed by using three quarterbacks, one of whom was a converted wide receiver who hadn't taken any snaps at quarterback since college at Virginia.

Q. You like when players who aren't quarterbacks play quarterback, don't you?

A. That's not the point. My point is that the Chiefs have no chance of winning games with three mediocre quarterbacks.

Q. Who else carried the banner of mediocrity this week?

A. Hmm, let's see. Perhaps the Lions, who allowed 24 fourth-quarter points after scoring 34 fourth-quarter points last year, an NFL record.

Q. Why in the world do the Lions let general manager Matt Millen keep his job? He is wrecking that franchise.

A. Well, they looked pretty good last year, but this year is probably going to end up just as bad as all of the years before. Actually, the first half of last year. The Lions started out 6-2 in the first half of the year, but were 1-7 in the second half.

Q. Bears/Panthers. The Panthers eked out another narrow victory. Which of these teams is for real?

A. The Panthers are looking fairly good, and in a division that includes the Saints, Buccaneers and Falcons, who aren't as good as they once were, they could do well. However, we'll have to wait and see how the Bears and the Panthers do.

Q. Tennessee/Cincinnati. Let's skip over how embarrassingly poor the Bengals looked at home. The Titans have opened 2-0, even given all their VInce Young issues. Does this team have what it takes to make a playoff run?

A. Remember that they still have to play the Colts twice, the Jaguars once, the Texans twice, and the Steelers, Ravens and Browns, so their schedule isn't that easy.

Q. Do you feel bad for Vince Young?

A. I guess. It doesn't really matter anymore how his injury is, because all the controversy surrounding what he and his mother Felicia Young said has effectively benched him. Also, there were a couple more incidents throughout the week.

Q. We talked about the Lions' collapse, but how 'bout the Packers' Aaron Rodgers? Has he answered his critics?

A. It appears so. He's 2-0 as a starter, and 2-0 in the NFC North. He's using an excellent receiving corps that includes Donald Driver and Greg Jennings, who have become his favorite targets. The running game isn't that bad, either, but Ryan Grant has dealt with a hamstring injury. Brandon Jackson broke a long run today against the Lions, and he's one of several backup running backs.

Q. Jacksonville kind of imploded today. Can they get it together?

A. Perhaps. They didn't look that great, and they've scored a total of only 26 points in their two games, which is just more than the Lions scored in their 23-point loss alone.

Q. RAIDERS! Do you believe in this team?

A. Darren McFadden has looked really good. He got extended playing time due to the injury to Justin Fargas on an attempted pass by JaMarcus Russell.

Q. Is Russell any good? I can't tell at this point.

A. Me either. He's looked fine so far, but the Raiders' running game looked very good against the Chiefs. However, the Chiefs did lose defensive lineman Jared Allen, who was last year's leader in sacks.

Q. You seem eager to talk about Colts/Vikings. Thoughts on that game?

A. The Vikings collapsed even though they managed to outplay the Colts. Eighteen unanswered points in the second half was all Indianapolis needed to win the game, and the Vikings managed only five field goals.

Q. Giants/Rams. Could the Rams look any more pathetic at this point?

A. I'm really not sure. They're looking as bad as they did last year in an 0-8 start. Amani Toomer and Plaxico Burress had big games for the Giants.

Q. Should Scott Linehan keep his job?

A. It depends on if the Rams show any good flashes, and how much confidence the rest of the staff has in him.

Q. New Orleans/Washington. How did the Redskins pull this one out?

A. I'm not sure. They came back from nine down, and survived a missed two-point conversion.

Q. How do you like Jason Campbell?

A. He's pretty good. Not exactly one of the best quarterbacks, but he had one of his first 300-yard games in a while.

Q. How about Reggie Bush, nailed for taunting when he made that "bye-bye" gesture on his last touchdown? Is he turning into a bad citizen? And do you think that motivated the Redskins?

A. I don't think he's turning into a bad citizen. It was just a bit of a mental error. But it may have motivated the Redskins a bit.

Q. My Seahawks collapsed! How did they manage to lose to such an obviously inferior 49er team?

A. I'm not quite sure how good the Seahawks are at the moment. They've had so many injuries at wide receiver, including their starting punt returner, that quarterback Seneca Wallace had to be moved to wide receiver and punt returner.

Q. And now... the Falcons. What in the world happened today? They looked so crisp last week.

A. Last week against the Lions. Even though word got out later in the day that the Buccaneers had attempted to trade Jeff Garcia back to the 49ers (his old team), Brian Griese quarterbacked the team to victory. This is his second stint with the team. The first time, he got knocked out with an injury and was replaced by Chris Simms, now a Titan.

Q. Miami/Arizona. I have to confess, I find both these teams crushingly boring. You?

A. I just found it a bit surprising that the Dolphins, led by Chad Pennington, lost by three touchdowns to the Kurt-Warner-led Cardinals. And this is not the Kurt Warner who won a Super Bowl and set passing records.

Q. How about how the Dolphins brought in another Chad (Henne) in the fourth quarter? Are they losing confidence in Pennington?

A. You know, it seems like there hasn't been a team in a while that hasn't lost confidence in Chad Pennington. It was hard to tell whether he or Kellen Clemens was the starter last year. He's also very injury-prone.

Q. The Rat-Coach won again! How did you feel about his ratlike attempt to go for two to beat the Chargers?

A. Weird. He seemed to think that passing to the same wide receiver, rookie Eddie Royal, for both the touchdown and the two-point conversion would work. And somehow it did.

Q. I think the Chargers were totally thrown when the Broncos came out going for two.

A. It must have been a little surprising. Also, I have to note that LaDainian Tomlinson left the game after ten carries for 26 yards. Darren Sproles filled in admirably, but he still isn't LaDainian Tomlinson.

Q. Two games to go. How about the Matt Cassel era in New England? Does this guy have what it takes to go the distance?

A. Cassel didn't do too great, with 165 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions, but the Patriots rode four field goals to victory. In the running game, the Patriots weren't very effective either, with LaMont Jordan getting the most yardage. But the Jets were similarly ineffective, with their only touchdown coming on a pass from Brett Favre. However, Brett Favre was also picked off by Brandon Meriweather for his first interception as a Jet.

Q. Pittsburgh/Cleveland was so boring that we turned it off. How disappointing do the Browns look this season?

A. Really disappointing. And they still have a few prime-time games to go.

Q. That concludes our game-by-game wrapup. As is traditional, at this point I turn the keyboard over to Henry to type whatever he wants.

A. On Brandon Lloyd's blocked punt return touchdown for the Bears, it looked a lot like he was trying to steal a score from his teammate.