Monday, October 08, 2007

NFL Highway, Week 5

Back on the NFL highway for 13 games. Nothing is ever a sure thing in the NFL, and some of the events of Sunday only proved that notion.

Poor Miami. The Dolphins can’t buy a break. They lost their fifth game in a row on Sunday, as Kris Brown kicked a 57 yard field goal on the last play of the game to give the Houston Texans the win. A bizarre occurrence happened earlier in the game. Dolphins QB Trent Green was on the ground, and attempted to get back up to make a block. He tried to block Texans DL Travis Johnson at the knees, and promptly suffered a concussion as a result of a head-to-knee collision. As Green laid on the ground, Johnson continued to talk trash to him. Unbelievable.

The New England Patriots continue to roll. The Pats scored 34 points once again, defeating the Cleveland Browns, 34-17. The game was actually closer than that, but the Patriots returned an interception for a touchdown late in the game to provide the winning margin and to cover the point spread. The Pats have scored 38, 38, 38, 34, and 34 points in their first 5 games. They are nothing if not consistent. They next travel to Irving to meet the Dallas Cowboys.

The Jacksonville Jaguars held Kansas City to 10 yards rushing as they went to Arrowhead and spanked the Chiefs, 17-7. The Chiefs did not score until the last play of the game. I’m glad I didn’t see this game. It looked ugly.

The New Orleans Saints are quickly reverting to becoming the Aints again. The Saints, for the first time in four games, were not blown out. Nonetheless, they lost to David Carr and the Carolina Panthers, 16-13. This team was picked by many to go to the Super Bowl. They’re a long way from there right now.

The New York Giants won the endorsement of Mayor Bloomberg on Sunday, as they won bragging rights to the Big Apple by pasting the Jets, 35-21. Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward are now a two-headed running back monster for the Giants, as both scored touchdowns.

In Pittsburgh, the Steelers returned to the win column by skunking the Seattle Seahawks, 21-0. The Eastern Time Zone has not been kind to the Seahawks, who reverted to their former nickname of Seabags in this one.

A Jekyll and Hyde team resides in Detroit. Or, maybe I-95 is Kryptonite for the Lions. The Lions were spanked yesterday by Washington, 34-3. The Lions have played two games to date in stadiums on the Main Street of the East Coast. Philadelphia hung 56 on the Lions, and the Redskins scored 34 on them. That’s a total of 90 points allowed in two games against the NFC East. The Lions have actually won 3 games this year. However, they can’t drive 95.

The Cardinals played in St. Louis yesterday. Kurt Warner also played in the River City yesterday. And, both of them won. The current St. Louis football team, though, is a shambles. Warner led the Cardinals to a 34-31 win over the injury-depleted Rams. The Rams are in deep doo-doo at 0-5.

The states of Georgia and Tennessee did a two-step over the weekend, as their universities met on Saturday in Knoxville, and their pro teams met on Sunday in Nashville. Tennessee came out on top on both days. The Titans hosted the Atlanta Falcons and came out on top, 20-13. The Titans get that Cracker Barrel franchise in Chattanooga. The Falcons go home to lick their wounds.

The Indianapolis Colts just keep rolling along. They plugged in a no-name running back, Kenton Keith, and ran all over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 33-14. The Patriots are getting all the attention, but they will have to beat the Colts to get to the Super Bowl. That will not be an easy task.

The AFC West is officially pathetic. The San Diego Chargers are not out, and aren’t even down any longer. The Chargers beat the bejeebers out of Denver at Mile High, 41-3. All of a sudden, Norv Turner can coach. As bad as the Chargers were, they are in the thick of the division race. Actually, the Raiders are in first place due to their bye, at 2-2.

Out on the Left Coast, the Baltimore Ravens got three field goals and beat the 49ers, 9-7. This defined ugly. The Ravens don’t care what it looks like, as long as they win.

In the Sunday Night extravaganza, the Chicago Bears saved their season, as Brian Griese led Da Bears to a 27-20 win over the Green Bay Packers. Brett Favre, fresh off of breaking the all-time record for touchdown passes, broke the all-time record for interceptions thrown. That only proves that he played for a long, long time. You have to be good to play long enough to break that record.

Tonight, Wade Phillips returns to Buffalo as coach of the Dallas Cowboys. The fans will be jacked up in Buffalo. This is the definition of trap game. Anything can happen in the NFL. Hopefully, the Cowboys will escape with the W.

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