Tinian takes down Saipan’s finest

It didn’t take long for the pride of Tinian to take down five of Saipan’s pigskin prognosticators as Keith Nabors bested the quintuplets from across the channel with a dominating performance in Week 3 of Miller Lite’s Pigskin Picks.

Nabors came up big, scoring a 14-2 record, after missing out on a close game and an unlikely upset. The Jacksonville Jaguars had looked average at best this year, with losses at Tennessee and Buffalo, but those losses came by a total of 11 points.

The 0-2 Jaguars were looking far worse for their ware than Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts, but David Garrard and company marched into Lucas Oil Stadium and notched their first win of the season against the favorites.

The outcome shouldn’t be too surprising to football fans because the Jags have played the Colts closely in recent years. Indianapolis swept the Jags last year and owns the series history at 11-3, but it was Jacksonville which thumped the Colts during Peyton’s Super Bowl run despite allowing him 313 yards through the air.

Who would expect the Colts to lose when Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne total for 211 yards? Not me. The problem was that Manning didn’t throw any touchdowns. Oh, that and the Jaguars racked up 375 yards of offense…on the ground! I guess that helps.

Last week the Jags piled up 236 yards on the ground and amassed 403 yards of offense across the board while Manning passed for 216 yards, connected with Harrison for a touchdown, and threw two interceptions.

Yep, the running game is important, just ask the Miami Dolphins. One of the worst teams in football coming off one of the worst seasons in league history ran all over the Brady-less New England Patriots to the tune of a 38-13 beatdown in Foxboro.

Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams blew up the Patriots defense with 211 yards on the ground, but Brown was the impact player that made the New England defenders wondering what hit them on their home turf.

All it took was one play for Brown to hammer the aging Patriots. Ronnie Brown lined up behind the center while quarterback Chad Pennington took the slot receiver’s position on the line. Seems easy enough, right? Nope. Not for the Patriots.

Brown took the snap four times and rushed into the end zone four times. Not too shabby, but wait, there’s more! Brown also took the snap a fifth time and passed for a touchdown when he found tight end Anthony Fasano for the 19-yard score.

What a difference a season makes. Some might argue that the Pats aren’t the same without Brady, but Tom Brady wasn’t playing defense for the Patriots. Tom Brady wasn’t on the sidelines calling the shots as the defensive coordinator. Tom Brady wasn’t even wearing a ratty looking hoodie on the sidelines. Nope, that was supposed to be super coach, Bill Belichick.

I can’t complain. The loss dropped the Pats to 2-1 and gave the Buffalo Bills sole possession of first place in the AFC East. What? I better go and check to make sure that there isn’t ice forming on Lake Susupe. [B][I](Brad E. Ruszala)[/I][/B]