Week 4

Week 4 Review

Sunday Games

Falcons 30, Panthers 28  

For Atlanta:

The story of this game is Matt Ryan and his final drive. As he has done many times during his tenure with the Falcons the quarterback called “Matty Ice” led his team on a miraculous comeback drive to win the game.
It looked like Carolina had the Falcons right where they wanted them as they were pinned on the one-yard line down by a point. no problem for the Falcons as Ryan threw up a 59 yard bomb to Roddy White and then threw a few more passes to get into field goal range. Matt Bryant came on the field and booted the kick right down the middle and gave Carolina a crushing loss.

For Carolina:

Carolina has to have been crushed by this one. They were just whooped by the Giants and nothing would have pleased them more than to beat the team everyone is touting, as the best in the NFC, just happens to be a division rival too. They almost did it but in the end little things caused them to fall.
There were encouraging signs in this game for the Panthers however. Cam Newton came out and played a nice complete game, outside of his fumble at the end. Their defensive line was a huge surprise. A much-maligned unit, they came out an put seven sacks on Matt Ryan. If this unit plays at that pace again, the defensive unit could take another step.

Patriots 52, Bills 28

For New England:

The Patriots were making some foolish mistakes with fumbles and drops and down 21-7 I was thinking they were going to sleepwalk their way to a fourth straight loss. Well not so fast as the Patriots eventually just steam rolled the Bills to rack up 52 points. Tom Brady had a vintage performance with 340 yards and three touchdowns. Two Patriots stalwarts, Wes Welker and Rob Gronkowski, each went over 100 yards receiving.
Some newcomers also made this win possible. Young running backs Stevan Ridley and unknown Brandon Bolden both ran for over 100 yards and scored three touchdowns between them. Chandler Jones continues to be a total stud for this team and leads this improved unit. They snagged four interceptions.

For Buffalo:

This one was ugly for the Bills. They looked like they could give the Patriots a run for their money when they led at the half, but in the end the usual happened; Ryan Fitzpatrick betrayed his team. He threw four touchdowns but threw four passes right back to the other team as well.
Mario Williams was again invisible. I have given him some sack, but with only one sack on Brady, there really are not any more excuses. You get a $100 million contract you are going to get heavy scrutiny. Especially when you go to a mediocre team like Buffalo.

Vikings 20, Lions 13  

For Minnesota:

This Minnesota team continues to amaze me. They are now a 3-1 and are one of the leagues under the radar surprise teams. Adrian Peterson continues to look like he was never hurt as he went over 100 yards against the Lions. Christian Ponder barely had to throw any passes and totaled only 111 passing yards, but that was because Minnesota led basically the whole game.
A big reason for that was special teams. Stud playmaker Percy Harvin took the opening kickoff 105 yards back for a score. Harvin continues to impress me and he is just so explosive. Making matter worse Marcus Sherels took a punt 77 yards to the house as well.

For Detroit:

The special teams gaffes deserve to be a big concern for the Lions. You just cannot allow two return touchdowns in one game like that. However, Detroit did a ton of things wrong to kill themselves in this game. There were drops left and right, with Brandon Pettigrew being the primary offender, and it just wouldn’t be a Lions game without dumb penalties.
Also, this highly paid and highly touted defensive line really is not dominating like you would think. They only sacked Ponder twice and that just is not enough. Since their secondary is such a liability their defensive line needs to be stellar stopping the run and rushing the passer. They just are not doing either well enough.

Texans 38, Titans 14  

For Houston:

The Texans continue to look like the best team in football, as they had no problem handling this Titans team. On offense it was all more of the same for the Texans. Tough running by Arian Foster and smart, judicious throws over the middle off play action by Matt Schaub.
The defense gave the Titans fits all day here. They knocked Jay Locker out of the game early and made life miserable for this team all day. They ended the day with four sacks and two interceptions. They really only allowed one touchdown when their starters were in the game.

For Tennessee:

This game did not start well with an injury to Jake Locker early in the first half. The Titans basically did nothing before and after that. Matt Hassleback showed why he lost the job in the preseason as he did not look ready to lead this team.
Chris Johnson looked alright and racked up 141 rushing yards. However, lets be clear, most of that came when the game was over and the Texans were playing their backups. To give him credit he did look his best all season and did run with more decisiveness than we have seen in awhile.

Chargers 37, Chiefs 20  

For San Diego:

This game was not even as close as the final score would indicate. The Chargers were eventually up 27-6 at one point. Nothing really stood out for the Chargers on either side of the ball as the Chiefs really just played like hot garbage.
One thing that was interesting for San Diego was their handling of Ryan Mathews. Mathews has been the image of injury-prone his entire career and also has a fumbling problem that reared its head last week near the goal line. The Chargers seem to want to punish him as they gave a bunch of his carries to the mediocre Jackie Battle. This is just another reminder why it was silly for San Diego to trade up so high for Mathews a few years back in the draft.

For Kansas City:

The Chiefs got their first win last week, but made that look like a big old aberration against the chargers. Turnovers were the key here as the beleaguered Matt Cassel threw a whopping three interceptions. Jamal Charles put together some nice stats but also fumbled twice.
With Cassel playing poorly, unfortunately there really are no viable alternatives on this roster. There is first round Browns’ bust Brady Quinn and I doubt he is an upgrade. There is also second year man Ricky Stanzi but he was not good enough to beat out Quinn for the backup job. The Chiefs need to use all their resources to get a real starting QB for next year.

49ers 34, Jets 0  

For San Francisco:

You could tell the 49ers did not like losing as they did to an inferior team like the Vikings last week. They came out and threw everything they had at the New York Jets. The surprise was their extensive use of Colin Kaepernick in the wildcat. He threw a pass and rushed for 50 yards and a score on five carries.
The Niners just totally whipped the Jets in every way but especially on the ground. They had an incredible nine players run the ball on Sunday. The defense also had four takeaways including three fumble recoveries. The 49ers showed they are still a top tier team on Sunday.

For New York:

Yikes. It really cannot get much worse than this. Lets start with Mark Sanchez, as he was abysmal for the third week in a row. This is a guy who is clearly showing that he is not the answer for this team. He cannot overcome his average physical tools and looks like he has lost all confidence in himself. Basically he is cooked.
Not helping matters is that the rest of this team isn’t very good. Shonn Greene may be the worst starting running back and they need to give more opportunities to players like Bilal Powell. Sanchez also has almost no one to throw to and that is even more apparent now that the Santonio Holmes suffered a serious injury. I will not discuss Tebow time here, but have no fear I will be all over it in the power rankings tomorrow.

Rams 19, Seahawks 13  

For St. Louis:

The Rams continue to show that they are a tough and competitive team under Jeff Fisher. This shows why the coach was a hot commodity in the offseason. Offensively there was not much to see. The key was a fake field goal when Danny Amendola lined up far wide and the holder just passed the ball right too him wide open in the end zone.
Defense and special teams won this game for the Rams. The defense snagged three picks and put heat on the Seahawks. The MVP of the game was clearly Rams’ rookie kicker Greg Zuerlein. He drilled four kicks, and two were 60 and 58 yards and has not missed yet this year.

For Seattle:

Justice is restored. The Seahawks did not deserve a win last Monday and thankfully did not steal a win from the Rams. The Seahawks still put the reigns on Russell Wilson but he did not play as safe and tossed three picks. Though not al of those were totally on him, the Seahawks are not good enough in the passing game at the moment.
Marshawn Lynch had a big game and that is why the game was still close. He is such a handful for offenses when he gets going. He is really the only option on offense. Sidney Rice looks done after all of his injuries and no one else on this roster can get open on a consistent basis.

Cardinals 24, Dolphins 21  

For Arizona:

Some times, it’s just magic. I am on board now with the fact that something special could be brewing in the dessert. It looked like the Cardinals were going to blow this game to a lesser Miami team for most of the day. Their two problems from the preseason looked like they were finally going to expose this team as Kevin Kolb was sacked eight times and made some costly errors.
Not so fast. The Cardinals tied this game and took it to overtime and it was basically all on Kolb. He threw some of the best throws I have ever seen him make including the tying TD to Andre Robert. This type of gutsy, no quitting, performance can really define a season and player’s career.

For Miami:

You have to love the Dolphins’ effort. Ryan Tannehill made some amazing throws including some beautiful long bombs. He totaled 431 passing yards and 253 of those went to Brian Hartline. The problem though was Tannehill’s two interceptions, especially the carless one in overtime. It was an encouraging game for him overall.
The Dolphins defense played very well and is looking better each week in their new defense. Cameron Wake had an incredible 4.5 sacks and was dominant all day long. That was nice to see because I thought he would be a poor fit in that 4-3 scheme.

Broncos 37, Raiders 6  

For Denver:

Peyton Manning told everyone who was worried about his arm strength to shut up and relax. Nothing could stop Manning as he was in total machine mode and was practically flawless in going 30 for 38 for 338 yards and three touchdowns.
Manning got all of his receivers involved and Willis McGahee also spent the day shredding the Raiders for over 100 yards and a touchdown. The Broncos’ defense looked good too putting pressure on Carson Palmer and never allowing a touchdown.

For Oakland:

Coming off a big upset of the Steelers, the Raiders sure looked like a farce on this day. Their defense was a total disaster on every level and should be ashamed of that effort. The depth on this team is so bad that I feel it will only get worse as the season goes on. That is a scary thought
Carson Palmer played decent, but he looked hurt in the second half and just could not keep up with Manning. Darren McFadden once again looked bad in the zone-blocking scheme. It is getting bad as there really was nowhere for him to go in this game and was removed from the game relatively early as the Broncos built and insurmountable lead.

    

Bengals 27, Jaguars 10  

For Cincinnati:

Saw a great tweet by @GregRosenthal “The Bengals beat bad teams as consistently as anyone. It’s a start”. There is some big truth in that as the Bengals just look so good against bad teams like the Jags and the public tends to get carried away with them. More on that in the power rankings.
Andy Dalton and A.J. Green continue to play well as they tore up the Jaguars secondary. A tricky special teams play where Cedric Peerman took a direct snap 48 yards. This play ignited the Bengals early in the game and they never looked back from there.

For Jacksonville:

The Bengals totally shut down the Jags on the ground and consequently Jacksonville never got anything going on offense. Maurice Jones-Drew went nowhere as he could not find any running room.
It was astonishing how much Cincinnati did not respect Blaine Gabbert or the Jaguars passing game. You would think with the top three Bengal corners missing this game Gabbert would have a chance to impress. He failed to accomplish much however. He continued to throw check downs and was picked off when he threw down the field.

Packers 28, Saints 27  

For Green Bay:

It would have been crushing to lose this game for Green Bay after the Monday night injustice. Even in this game the officials made plenty of shady calls leaving us all to wonder what is going on with the referee world hating the Packers. Luckily for the sanity of Packer nation they have Aaron Rodgers and his brilliance overcame the BS.
This was a fun game to watch as we got to see two elite QBs at the top of their games. The only moment that was bad quarterback was when Rodgers was poked in the eye and left the field for a play and Graham Harrell trotted on the field for his first NFL snap. As he was trying to hand the ball off to Cedric Benson he tripped himself up on Jeff Saturday's feet and fumbled the ball away to Malcolm Jenkins the eye poker. Well that was enough of that.

For New Orleans:

Ladies and gentlemen, your winless Saints. Even with all the bounty gate stuff you really never thought you would see this. You can’t blame Drew Brees in this one as he went crazy with 35 for 54 for 446 yards and three scores. The Saints running game basically did nothing all day.
The Saints defense stunk it up once again. No surprises there. The Saints had a chance to win this on field goal at the end and Garret Hartley even nailed his first attempt, but the kick was called back with a holding call. Hartley’s second attempt sailed wide and the Saints left the field as losers again.

Redskins 24, Buccaneers 22

For Washington:

The Redskins completely and totally dominated the first half of this game. They went up 21 to 6 on the Bucs at intermission. The key was their running game as RG3 and, even more so, Alfred Morris tore up the formerly top ranked run defense. Griffin also had a nice game in the air and hit many of his top targets. He has a nice crew of pass catchers even though there is not a clear cut top guy yet.
The Redskins defense did not look good once again. Josh Freeman and the Bucs offense tried to make them look nice in the first half but tore it up in the second. Billy Cundiff also tried to throw the game with three pathetic field goal attempts that were not even close. I guess Cundiff decided he wanted to keep his job as he nailed the game winning field goal at the end.

For Tampa Bay:

am not sure what to take away from this game. Freeman once again looked like garbage in the first half. Seriously, he threw some of the worst, most inaccurate passes I have ever seen. However, he hit Mike Williams with a deep bomb after halftime and played lights out afterwards.
The Bucs could not pull out the comeback as their defense once again let the team down and allowed Griffin to effortlessly go down the field for the game winning score. Like I said I am still conflicted on some of their players after this game, but the Buccaneers are not a good team either way.

Eagles 19, Giants 17  

For Philadelphia:

Both teams started slow, but eventually caught fire. Philly especially played well later in the game. Vick had his first real good game this season. He attacked the Giants deep and even had some nice scrambles. The Giants normally have been good about defending Vick on the ground, but they did not show good game planning here.
The Eagles finally remembered in the second half they have a star at running back and LeSean McCoy consequently shredded the Giants again for 123 yards. When the Eagles actually use him, he is a real treat to watch slice up a defense. The Eagles offensive line did not play well either and that was a theme for both teams.

For New York:

While the Eagles offensive line was looking to embarrass themselves on national TV, the Giant’s line tried to do the same. Manning played pretty well despite all the pressure. He did, however, have an ugly interception in the end zone where it looked as if he did not read coverage well at all.
Giants running game did nothing all night as they were just stuffed time after time. I know David Wilson has a fumbling problem, and that is annoying, but the Giants have no speed at all with Bradshaw or Andre Brown on the field. Despite the mistakes the Giants were in position to win the game at the end when previously perfect kicker Lawrence Tynes lined up. Tynes had two tries, because people still do the stupid icing the kicker thing, but Tynes missed both of them.