Week 8: The Late Games

Some real blowouts here and few surprises.

New York Jets 9 Cincinnati Bengals 49

So this week its bad Geno who’s showed up. I really want to like Geno Smith, I really want to see him do well, but sometimes he makes it very hard, especially when he throws 2 interceptions for Touchdowns and doesn’t manage to throw a touchdown pass to his own team. The Defence obviously had a woeful game too as Andy Dalton carved them up. Truthfully this won’t happen every week and will undoubtedly be an anomaly for the Jets, but I can’t see them hitting the playoffs.

The Bengals look like they’ve finally turned the corner and now look as good as any team in the league. Andy Dalton has got consistently better in every game, which escalated to a career game here. Marvin Jones can give a big thank you to AJ Green who took away some serious pressure and left him open for a 4 Touchdown game. Something that could hurt them later in the season is the inability to run the ball and will hope Bernard can pick up his game in the future. That being said this Bengals Offence has gone from consistent to dynamic. The Defence continues to play at a ridiculous level and seems to be just crazy deep in pretty much every position.  Do not underestimate this team this year. They could be set up to go the distance.

Pittsburgh Steelers 18 Oakland Raiders 21

A close game that the Raiders had run away with in the first 3 quarters…literally. The Steelers will have some concerns as to how a team with less than 300 yards (90 of which in one play) can take this game. Whilst Roethlisberger struggled behind an awful O-line, he still managed to move the ball 275 yards, but couldn’t convert this into touchdowns. The Defence did a great job of slowing the Offence down, but was no match for an in form Terrelle Prior.

The Raiders looked like the team from the 70’s. Dynamic QB play both through the air and on the ground and McFadden looked good every time he ran the ball. More importantly though this Defence looks amazing. The front 7 was great at getting pressure and the secondary looked hungry against a QB that was struggling against pressure.

There really isn’t a great deal to say about this one, just that it really is a role reversal as to who the dominant team is. If the Raiders make some decent moves in the off-season then expect big things next year.

Atlanta Falcons 13 Arizona Cardinals 27

I would be stating the obvious if I was to say the Falcons are having a bad season. Before the start of the season the talk was about how they would share the ball between Jones, White, Gonzalez and Jackson. Now they dream of having that problem. As the Falcons had to come from behind in this game it left the Offence having to throw the ball…which didn’t work as he threw 4 interceptions. On Defence they carried on where the Offence had left off. Lack-lustre. The Falcons will hope to improve this season, but it might not matter. It might be too late.

From watching this I realised one thing. Ellington should get the starting job over Mendenhall for the Cards. Palmer managed to avoid turning the ball over too much and took advantage of some epic play from their secondary. As previously mentioned the Secondary looked as good as any teams Secondary and managed to pick off Matt Ryan 4 times. Tyronn Mattheiu continued to make his stakes for rookie of the year by picking up yet another pick. Despite the obvious talent on this team it is probably a little too late for a playoff push and they should be content that they are well set for the future.

Washington 21 Denver Broncos 45

No matter how bad Peyton wanted to lose this one, RGIII just wouldn’t let him. Washington have some serious issues in RGIII. It would appear he’s has lost some of his quickness and could get nothing done when the pocket collapsed. Add into the mix some accuracy issues and we have a recipe for disaster. On the plus side it looks like Alfred Morris might be close to hitting the previous seasons form and Jordan Reed might be the much needed help for RGIII in the passing game. In Defence I only really say one thing. They lost a 14 point lead and the Broncos went on to win the game by 24 points. But this isn’t really a true reflection of the game. There was some good play on this Defence, specifically from Dante Hall who took a pick to the end zone. All in all this team is a mess. Benching RGIII for the season might help, as they look to come back strong next year.

The Broncos always seem to find a way to win and Peyton always seems to correct his mistakes. Aside from a few drops and a terrible interception, Peyton seems to be finding ways for this team to win and usually by a huge margin. On Defence they looked as dominant as they have all-season and look like they could be the difference maker when this team hits the playoff. This team are now in with a real chance of lifting the Lombardi, so long as they can stop Peyton throwing the ball to the opposition.

Green Bay Packers 44 Minnesota Vikings 31

On paper this game looks close, in actuality it is very much not. The Packers look exceptionally dangerous with Rodgers connecting to whoever is open (in this case Nelson) and the ground game in Eddie Lacy looks like it might be the difference between a play-off Packers team and a Super bowl Packers team. On Defence the Packers looked a little worrisome as they allowed an awful Vikings Offence a chance to get back in the game. That being said Rodgers looks as good as he ever has and that should be enough to guide them to the play-offs.

The Vikings terrible season continued as they managed to not get a run game going despite having one of the best backs in the league. Ponder looked pedestrian but didn’t turn the ball over, which is what we’ve come to suspect from previous bland performances. On Defence they had no answer for a very strong Packers Offence and a weak Secondary was torn apart by Aaron Rodgers. Really for the Vikings the only big play came from Special Teams as Patterson took a Kick Return 109 yards and broke the NFL Record. This Vikings team is worryingly badly prepared for the future. What they need to do over the coming weeks is decide what they have at QB and do they need to replace them.

Seattle Seahawks 14 St Louis Rams 9

The Rams in this one gave the Hawks a little scare as they came within a whisker of winning this one. Despite a couple of big plays on Offence, the true saviours for the Seahawks are the Defence, who managed to stop the Rams on a goal line push to win the game. The Offence managed to win the game by doing very little and Wilson got sacked a worrying 7 times. If the Seahawks play this badly against most other teams, they probably lose, but if there is one thing we have learnt about this team, it’s that they always manage wins they don’t deserve. Despite my lack of faith I do think this team makes the playoffs and then go on a decent run. That being said, I can’t see them winning the Super bowl.

Rams fans you have to be thinking, ‘If Bradford was in, do we win this one’ and there is a distinct possibility they might be right. The Defence played a decent game and found a way to make sure Wilson wasn’t affective. But despite this hard work, the Offence couldn’t keep up and scored just 9 points. Rams fans take heart in this. Your team kept one of the top Offences in the league to 14 points and came within a whisker of beating them. As for the rest of the season, I reckon they batten down the hatches and prepare for the worst.

So Week 8 done. Keep an eye on us for updates on our midseason rankings and power rankings.