For those who read my Thursday entry and actually decided to take my advice to milk some money from your friends, local OLG retailers or your online bookies, you're welcome. :-) I'M JOKING! Sometimes I just can't resist, but it's so gratifying when everything you write actually comes to pass. As the NFL weeked wraps up with the Monday nighter, I wanted to break down all the action from Sunday.
Chicago Bears vs. Miami Dolphins
Game 1 of the 5 game perfection from Thursday. Here's exactly what I wrote from Thursday: "I think Chicago gets past Miami based on the strength of their defense vs. a Tyler Thigpen led Miami offence. Thigpen got it done for one afternoon, but to ask a thrd-stringer to lead you to victory back-to-back weeks is probably asking too much."
Tyler Thigpen was really exposed in this game as a third-stringer as he was pressured all night by the Bears' defense. The biggest difference to me is the presence of a pass rush with the addition of Julius Peppers. His ability to get to the quarterback causes such a disruption to the opposing offence and was well worth the big free-agent payday.
Oakland Raiders vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
Game 2 of Thursday perfection. Exact quote: "Pittsburgh beats Oakland soundly. The Raiders have had a nice season so far, but still don’t have enough talent to match up well against the Steelers. Look at the Raiders schedule and you’ll see that they haven’t really faced a bonafide Super Bowl contender yet. They’ll be exposed this week."
It was just total domination in all facets of the game and it was made clear that the Raiders are not in the same class as the Steelers or any other Super Bowl contender. Oakland has shown improvement in their offence this season, but I would like to see Al Davis start to focus a little more attention now on improving the defence.
Cleveland Browns vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
A tough loss for the Browns to swallow as they played well for 55 minutes before their defence broke down in the final 5 minutse to give up two touchdowns. A young team is going to have these growing pains as they continue to learn and mature, but if you're a Browns fan, you have to be happy with the season considering the expectations.
As for the Jags, give them a lot of credit for being able to pull it out and give themselves a share of the AFC South lead with the Indianapolis Colts. No one gave this team a chance to be 6-4 at this point in the season, but Jack Del Rio has really gotten a lot out of players that weren't wanted or passed up.
Washington Redskins vs. Tennessee Titans
Big win for the Redskins and an even bigger loss for the Titans. The Titans needed this game in the worst way as they now find themselves behind both the Colts and the Jags in the AFC South. It's pretty easy to say that the gamble by Jeff Fisher and the Titans to bring in Randy Moss has turned into a big mistake and headache. No catches for Moss is just inexcusable.
As for the Redskins, I don't think they're good enough to get themselves in a position to win the NFC East or get a wild card spot, but I loved the comeback from a team that was thoroughly trounced by the Eagles 6 days ago. Donovan McNabb took a lot of criticism after that performance for some odd reason, but he "bounced back" by having a big statistical day.
Houston Texans vs. New York Jets
I've heard this about 100 times in the mere hours after the Jets win. Are the Jets a good football team or are they just lucky? How can you call an 8-2 team lucky? It's one thing to be able to comeback once and be lucky, but you have a talented football team if you can do it consistently.
I know, I hear you screaming right now, "If they're a talented football team, why do they put themselves in such a perilous position every single week?" I wish I had the answer to that. It's not what what I would want to do week in/week out and it will come to haunt them if they continue to do so, but give credit to the Jets. The Texans are just a bad football team. That's it.
Baltimore Ravens vs. Carolina Panthers
Not much to breakdown between these two teams. It was known before the game and it's certainly known after that the Ravens have much more talent than the Panthers. I thought the Panthers did OK to keep it as close as they did considering they started a stay-at-home dad at QB for this week.
The Panthers have to be the new favourites to take the number one overall pick in the draft now since they have no quarterback, no real running back and a lack of talent defensively. On the other side, the Ravens did their job in keeping pace with the Steelers in the AFC North. Even if they can't win the division, they'll be good enough to win a Wild Card spot.
Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings
How the mighty have fallen in just three months, but things have changed so quickly for the Vikings since August when they were considered a threat to win the NFC Championship and the Super Bowl. Now we shrug our shoulders when they get pumped by the Packers at home. What a shame.
The Packers are quietly building up a great record and should be able to pull away from the pesky Bears by the end of the year. As for the Vikings, everyone knows what the problems are. Brad Childress was a lame-duck coach and Brett Favre is nowhere near the player he was a year ago. The Vikings should be better off with Leslie Frazier in charge and once Brett Favre is out of the picture.
Arizona Cardinals vs. Kansas City Chiefs
I love the balance that the Chiefs have now with their roster. Their offence is a threat on the ground with Thomas Jones/Jamaal Charles and in the passing game with the emergence of Dwayne Bowe/Matt Cassel. However, the biggest difference to me is their defence playing as a unit.
A lot of their defensive players were highly touted and expected to bring a lot to the Chiefs, but over the last couple of years, we saw a lot of them play individually and it hurt the team. With Romeo Crennel leading the defence now, they're playing as a group and making things much more difficult for opposing offences.
Detroit Lions vs. Dallas Cowboys
The lesson to be learned from this game is that when you have offensive balance, you have a much better chance to win. The Lions relied solely on Shaun Hill to throw the football that they became one-dimensional and predictable. Jon Kitna only threw the ball 24 times and for less than 150 yards, but the Cowboys won the ball game because they finally decided to lean a bit on their rushing attack.
It's unfortunate that it took until the second half of the year and a coaching change for the Cowboys to realize that they needed to hand the ball off much more, but that is what Jason Garrett has done in his first couple of games as head coach. It's too little, too late for the Cowboys, but the storyline for the rest of the year is whether Garrett can keep the winning going and keep his job.
Buffalo Bills vs. Cincinnati Bengals
The Bills have won two in a row! It's amazing what the emergence of one player can do, but at the rate that he's performing, Steve Johnson is going to be the next person to have a cereal named after him. It was supposed to be about CJ Spiller, but Johnson is making it easier for people to forget about him instead of worry about him coming back.
Every week, it gets worse and worse for my prediction of the Bengals being the surprise team of the AFC. On paper, this team should be closer to an 8-2 team rather than 2-8, but it's clear that there are a lot of individuals on this team. The plan to bring in big personalities and comeback projects has certainly failed.
Seattle Seahawks vs. New Orleans Saints
Pick 3 of Thursday's Perfection. A little bit off with what happened, but it's not that big of a deal. "The Saints show the Seahawks why no one ever takes the NFC West division champ seriously by putting a good whooping on them. Reggie Bush comes back to the offence and I think Drew Brees and the rest of that group find themselves again in thumping Seattle."
Well, the only thing that I missed was that Reggie Bush in fact missed the game as a game-time decision gone wrong, but as the season has gone on, Drew Brees has become more comfortable and we're starting to see the Saints of last season. It's almost like the Saints are becoming comfortable in their skin as defending champs.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. San Francisco 49ers
It's not pretty and it's just about impossible to explain, but the Bucs are 7-3 and have put themselves in a great spot to get themselves into the playoffs. It's a shame that they have to play in the NFC South where 7-3 gets you into a tie for second with the Saints and one game behind the Falcons.
Raheem Morris has certainly leaned on young guys to play in big-time situations and it's worked out so well. On the other side, Mike Singletary has to be coming close to the end of his tenure with the Niners. There was a lot of promise this season of the Niners being NFC West champs, but it's not going to happen.
Atlanta Falcons vs. St. Louis Rams
Pick 4 of Thursday's perfection. Thursday's thoughts, "Atlanta takes care of an under-talented Rams team. It’s a minor miracle that Sam Bradford has been able to lead this team to 4 wins, but at some point, injuries and a lack of talent will come back to bite you." Bradford did well to keep the Rams in it, but his inexperience really cost the Rams in the 4th after an ill-advised shovel pass turned into a big turnover that sealed the win for the Falcons.
Not only can the Falcons throw the ball, but they can punish opposing defences with a powerful rushing attack led by Michael Turner. The time of possession was 35-25 in favour of Atlanta today and if they can continue to do that in the regular season and playoffs, they will go a long way.
Indianapolis Colts vs. New England Patriots
At 8-2, Bill Belichick continues to show his ability to coach and win with no-name players. All he needs is Tom Brady and everything will usually work out. The Colts are usually right there with the Patriots, but injuries have really decimated this team to force them to be at 6-4 after today's loss.
The biggest thing I notice is that Peyton Manning can work wonders with third-string/practice squad receivers, but he can't control the fact that they don't have an elite rusher like they did when Edgerrin James was in town or when Joseph Addai was at his best. Donald Brown just isn't good enough to do it on his own.
New York Giants vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Pick 5 of Thursday's perfection. Thursday's thoughts, "I think the magic from Monday night continues and the Eagles get past the Giants. Michael Vick was always able to run the football effectively, but the knock was that he couldn’t throw the football on a consistent basis. Now that he seems to have that facet of the game down as well, the question is: How do you stop this guy?"
The Eagles won the game, but it wasn't all about Michael Vick. It just came down to mistakes and the Eagles capitalized on more of them. The Giants found a way to neutralize Vick by pressuring him from all different directions, but they couldn't make a big stop in the final quarter. Look for opposing teams to copy what the Giants did defensively on Sunday night.