Week 7: A (Quick) Review
The second International game is here and I have so much lined up. So unfortunately this will be kinda brief, but next week they will be as in-depth as ever. Anyway, here it is!
Seattle Seahawks 34 Arizona Cardinals 22
Russell Wilson makes plays from nowhere. I am close to being on board. Lynch & McCoy might be the 2 most exciting players in the league. Defence stepped up again and hit Palmer up for 2 Interceptions. Speaking of Palmer, he looks set to carry on as he has been going so far this season and throw a silly amount of picks. Arizona’s Defence does still look decent, but there is a clear difference in talent in these 2 NFC West Teams.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23 Atlanta Falcons 31
So are the Falcons ok or are the Bucs that bad? The Bucs would have surely seen this as a possible win but Harry Douglas and Matt Ryan had different ideas. It is however kind of worrying how little they trust their run game and luckily Ryan was able to step up to pick up the win. The Bucs are in serious trouble but there is signs of life. The Defence looks like it has serious potential and Vincent Jackson made some big plays catching 2 TD’s. So maybe, as I have stated previously, the problem is coaching. The Bucs do need a new QB, but for the time being Glennon is serviceable.
St Louis Rams 15 Carolina Panthers 30
Despite Jeff Fishers relaxed approach to the game (Jeff Fisher cracking open the beers apparently), the Rams are now in serious trouble with Bradford now out for the season. So Kellen Clemens is now in and will no doubt be relying heavily on the run game in Stacey who had an average game in this one. There was however a Tavon Austin sighting in this game, but it’s probably not enough to rescue a rapidly declining season. The Panthers look like they might actually be pulling their socks up and taking advantage of one of the best Defences in the league. Cam Newton wasn’t asked to throw too much but when he did he was accurate. Steve Smith tried to fight the whole Rams team but actually had a decent game outside the scraps. The season could be changing for the Panthers.
Cincinnati Bengals 27 Detroit Lions 24
2 teams that are beginning to find their form, backed by 2 QBs that are finding their form. Dalton looked great again, throwing for 3 TD’s and spreading the ball about a very talented Receiving Corp. After being silenced last week by Joe Haden, Megatron managed to have a decent game for the Lions against Leon Hall and caught an unreal pass in triple coverage. However the battle of 2 evenly matched teams with explosive Offences came down to a Punter and a Kicker, the Punter being Martin for the Lions only managing a 28 yard punt with 35 seconds to go and the Kicker being Nugent, who once again wins the game for the Bengals.
San Diego Chargers 24 Jacksonville Jaguars 6
After a decent performance against the Broncos the Jags are back to the bottom of the pile as Rivers and Matthews run an Offensive master class. Rivers only missed on 4 passes and clocked up just short of 300 yards. Matthews who will probably be lacking some confidence should gain some by clocking up 110 yards against a desperate Jaguars team. I’m now of the opinion that I would be very surprised if the Jags don’t end up with the first pick in the draft.
Buffalo Bills 23 Miami Dolphins 21
Dolphin’s fans will rue some silly mistakes made by Tannehill in this one. Despite 3 touchdowns he did manage to throw 2 interceptions, one of which went for a touchdown. The Dolphins were in the game right till the end, when Mario Williams forces Tannehill to fumble the ball and sets the Bills up to win by a field goal. The Dolphins will have to go back to the drawing board after this one and see where they are going wrong. I still think Tannehill has potential but it might take some time.
New England Patriots 27 New York Jets 30
Bad day for QBs. Brady is looking a little worrying with some of his throws going a little wayward. Geno only managed to hit half his passes but as it turned out the Patriots really wanted to lose this one. Gronk made a bad drop towards the end of game forcing the game into overtime. Then Chris Jones forced a 15yard unsportsman like conduct penalty, from a rule that had been added this year to put Nick Folk in decent range for a field goal. If the Patriots lose any more games in this way I might lose faith, but right now I’m still on board.
Dallas Cowboys 17 Philadelphia Eagles 3
For any fans of Foles…Ouch, but what might go under the radar is the dominance of the Cowboys Defence, something that I have been saying would happen since the start of the season. When Barkley came on to play the Cowboys turned into a great Ball hawking Defence catching 3 interceptions. But truthfully the inadequacies of both Offences kept the score of this one low, with the Cowboys eventually managing to put the pieces in place to win this one. For the Eagles I would imagine we see Vick back as starter and Foles sinks into the shadows, with no better than a 7-9 season on the cards for this team. For the Cowboys, they now have control of the Division and will hopefully build on this. I stand by my claim that if the Cowboys make the playoffs, I think they make the Super bowl.
Chicago Bears 41 Washington 45
This will be very hard to limit to a brief summary, but let’s try. The Bears Defence is awful and the last thing they needed was the injuries to Briggs and Tillman. How they improve? No idea but they desperately need to if this team is out, especially with Cutler out for 4 weeks. Oh yeah Cutler went down with an injured groin. Luckily Josh McCown came in and played a great game. It’s just a shame the Defence couldn’t keep it together. Washington can relax as it would appear both the Run game from the backs and the QB appear to be back. Yup it does look like RGIII might be back. On Defence they looked shakey and Merriweather could be facing a suspension for a number of illegal hits and to be honest thoroughly deserves it. Both these teams aren’t great, but if RGIII is just warming up, things could be looking up for Washington.
San Francisco 49ers 31 Tennessee Titans 17
Any 49ers fans worried? Charlie I’m looking in your general direction. Well stop worrying, the Niners appear to be back putting 31 up against a very good Defence. Kap made some plays with his legs as well as through the air, providing some balance for an Offence that has looked like it was lacking some serious dynamic play ability. The Titans look great through the air, but the run game is a worry, especially when they are paying a ridiculous amount of money for CJ2K. The Defence looked beatable in this one, but in truth I shouldn’t worry Titans fans, they should get back to normal very soon.
Cleveland Browns 13 Green Bay Packers 31
The real losers in this game were whoever opted to put the Packers in those throwbacks. Anyway The Packers are finally beginning to look like the top team in the NFC North. As stated in last week’s pod, Rodgers hit Boykin a ton. Finley had a great game but suffered a scary injury which could leave him out for a while, meaning Rodgers is without yet another weapon. Eddie Lacy might be the answer however as he had a great game against a solid D. When we talk about this game we won’t talk about how great the Packers D is, but how ineffective Weeden is when his team is behind. The Browns could be on the way down as the Bengals begin to take control of that Division.
Houston Texans 16 Kansas City Chiefs 17
Brave effort put in by the Texans here. Case Keenum did the team proud and managed to avoid the Pick 6 the Texans QB’s seem to enjoy so much. Foster went down injured as did Cushing with a broken leg and torn ACL; he will be a huge miss on a very beatable Defence. Whilst talking about Defences, let’s talk about the Chiefs. This Chiefs Defence is probably the best in the league and the perfect companion for the way Alex Smith played. Oh and another great game by the underrated Chiefs Special Teams. 7-0 Chiefs fans, congratulations.
Baltimore Ravens 16 Pittsburgh Steelers 19
Massive improvements in this Steelers team, of which some of the credit has to be given to Running Back Le’Veon Bell. But also Big Ben seems to be throwing bombs to his 2 incredible Receivers, Brown and Cotchery. The Defence has stepped up in a big way too, with Polamalu leading the way. Undoubtedly the most disappointing aspect of this Ravens team is the run game which has been so productive in the past. Defence played well… but not well enough.
Denver Broncos 33 Indianapolis Colts 39
A lot will be said about Peyton’s late in the game Interception and his ability to choke on big games. Whilst this is true, there really isn’t much he can do on this play as his arm was hit. The true story should be about Denver’s Defence which has some serious problems especially now it looks like Champ Bailey will be out for the season. But to put it simply, if Peyton Manning isn’t winning a shootout…something’s gone wrong. That being said, this is their first loss, but arguably this was their first real challenge. Make of it what you will but we will still probably see this team in the Playoffs. The Colts made a point here and should now be considered no. 1 team in the AFC South with a bullet. Andrew Luck is unbelievable at making plays, both with his feet and through the air. Big loss for this team though as Reggie Wayne looked like he got hurt pretty bad. Regardless, these 2 should be playoff teams, but I don’t think they’ll get very far.
And that’s this week. I promise next week will be more in-depth!