Model Ships Blog

Carolina Panthers’ quarterback Jake Delhomme struggled on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and was fortunate that his running backs bailed him out. Delhomme threw for only 65 yards with two interceptions, but D’Angelo Williams (152 yards) and Jonathan Stewart (110 yards) kept the chains moving as the Panthers won their second straight game defeating the Bucs 28-21. Tampa Bay has now lost ten straight dating back to last season and are 0-6 for the first time since’85. Carolina improved to 2-3 with the victory.

NFL sports bettors were faced with a choice between two teams with dismal ATS records in this game, and those who had the guts to take a 1-3 team as a -3 road favorite were rewarded with the cover. It was Carolina’s first NFL pointspread cover of the season and left them with a 1-4 record against the number. Tampa Bay has covered one of their six games this year. The 49 points scored went OVER the total of 40′. Tampa Bay has gone OVER in 4 of 6, while Carolina has exceeded the total in three of their five games.

Delhomme attempted only seven passes in the second half, but the way Williams and Stewart were running there was no reason to put the ball in the air. Williams said that even though Tampa Bay knew what was coming they couldn’t stop the Panthers’ running game:

“I’m sure everybody in the stadium knew what we were going to do. There were times they had nine in the box and we were still getting 7 or 8 yards.”

There’s been little impatience locally with Bucs’ rookie head coach Raheem Morris, but his weekly habit of explaining the obvious to rationalize yet another loss is starting to wear thin:

“We got overpowered at the end, and really throughout the game.”

Carolina safety Dante Wesley was ejected after clobbering Bucs’ return man Clifton Smith after a fair catch call. After the game, Wesley gave this defense for his actions:

“I was just trying to make a play. You can check my record. I’ve never really tried to hurt anybody. I’ve never tried to take a cheap shot on anybody.”

Wesley could face a possible fine or suspension from the NFL but, in all fairness, it did appear to be a momentary mental lapse as he was trying to make a big play.

Tampa’s schedule has the look of them going from ‘the frying pan into the fire’ as they host the New England Patriots next Sunday-fresh off of their 57 point drubbing of Tennessee. Carolina has an easier draw, hosting the Buffalo Bills next Sunday. The game is currently off the board pending the status of Bills’ QB Trent Edwards who suffered a concussion in Sunday’s win over the New York Jets. The Panthers will then play on the road the following two Sundays, traveling to Arizona and New Orleans.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

The Washington Redskins are a mess right now. Head coach Jim Zorn has a tenuous hold on his job at best and after Sunday\’s—6 loss to Kansas City was stripped of his offensive play calling duties. Management installed newly hired \’offensive consultant\’ Sherman Lewis as the new offensive play caller and the team has set up an awkward arrangement for him to get the plays to the quarterbacks. For that reason, starting QB Jason Campbell has some serious misgivings about the efficacy of the setup.

Lewis has only been out of retirement and with the team for two weeks, and has spent this week trying to ingest a crash course on the Redskins\’ offensive schemes. While he was learning on the job, head coach Zorn was trying to put the best spin possible on what can only be seen as a de facto demotion:

\”I need to have composure. I need to understand what the reality of the situation is, and I think our players expect me to rise up. We expect them to play under adverse conditions. We expect them to risk it all. … I\’m conscious of what\’s going on. I\’m not naive about what\’s going on, and yet I have to just hold back on any feelings and make the decisions.\”

Quarterback Campbell is more concerned about the convoluted system of getting plays from Lewis to him:

\”There\’ll probably be a couple of plays I have in my head just in case if some reason it doesn\’t get in on time.\”

Here\’s how things are supposed to work-Lewis will sit in the coaches\’ box above the field and read the plays off a sheet. While Lewis has years of experience working in the so called \’West Coast Offense\’, Zorn left doubt that he really knows what he\’s doing at this point stressing that Lewis \”doesn\’t know the protections\” and \”doesn\’t know the blitz schemes.\” Nevertheless, he\’ll be running the offense when the Redskins take on Philadelphia this Monday night.

Once Lewis figures out what to call, that\’s when it really gets tricky. He\’ll relay the plays via headset not to Zorn but to offensive coordinator Sherman Smith. Smith will then inform the quarterback what to run. Zorn is left in the role of a passive bystander on offense, though he will listen in to the playcalling on his headset.

Backup quarterback Todd Collins also shared his concern with the new arrangement:

\”It is unsettling. I\’ve never gone through this before. I\’ve never had a play caller get changed in the middle of the season.\”

Lewis didn\’t exactly evoke a lot of confidence upon his hiring, where he revealed that he\’d been calling bingo games at a seniors\’ center to kill time since his retirement in 2004. Still, Collins gave him a guarded vote of confidence;

\”I know he\’s been studying last year\’s game against the Eagles and seems to have a pretty good idea how he wants to call the game this week. It\’s the same plays. He might coach them a little differently or highlight some different areas, but the offense hasn\’t gone under an overhaul or anything like that.\”

The Redskins haven\’t scored more than 17 points in a game this season, so maybe the thinking is that things can\’t get any worse.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.