Redskins at Jets

Believe it or not, the Redskins led this game 13-10 going into halftime, before the Jets remembered they had a guy named Chris Ivory in the backfield who rumbled his way to a 146 yard day on 20 carries, with a touchdown, as the Jets won this game 34-20. The Redskins looked awful on offense in the second half, especially when Kirk Cousins was forced to throw into the buzz saw that is the Jet defense. The highlight for the Redskins came late in the first when Cousins completed a touchdown to Pierre Garcon with Darrelle Revis covering Garcon on the play. For the Jets, Ivory was terrific, Brandon Marshall was terrific, and Ryan Fitzpatrick limited his mistakes (While adding an 18 yard touchdown run in the 3^rd quarter). The same could not be said for anyone on the Redskins offense, the defense, however had one bright spot: cornerback Bashaud Breeland, who had a spectacular interception on the day, and looked like a building block for that defense.

Cardinals at Steelers

Here’s good news and bad news for both teams in this game. For the Cardinals, the good news is that Carson Palmer threw for 421 yards, and John Brown had 196 yards receiving on 10 catches, the bad news is that all of those yards resulted in a grand total of 13 points in a loss. For the steelers, the good news is that they won the game 25-13, Landry Jones came in and threw 2 touchdowns to Martavis Bryant (who had 6 catches for 137 yards) and Chris Boswell attempted 4 field goals, connecting on all 4. The bad news is that the Steelers had to settle for 4 field goal attempts, and it appears as if Landry Jones will get the start next week while Big Ben continues to recover from his ankle injury.

Chiefs at Vikings

The Vikings found a way to win this game 16-10, despite a 2 interception game from Teddy Bridgewater and only 60 yards rushing from Adrian Peterson, but playing against the Chiefs without Jamaal Charles certainly makes that possible. At one point in this game, the chiefs had 7 straight punts before getting a field goal with 13 minutes left in the 4^th quarter. The Chiefs defense has enough talent to keep them in games, however, that defense hasn’t played up to its potential, and the offense is sputtering at best right now. Now sitting at 1-5, do questions start about Andy Reid’s job security?

Bengals at Bills

With Tyrod Taylor out due to a knee injury, EJ Manuel got his opportunity to start for the Bills against the 5-0 Bengals. How did he do? He completed 66.7% of his passes for263 yards and a touchdown (also added a rushing touchdown) in a losing effort. LeSean McCoy returned to the lineup and added 90 yards on 17 carries in a good overall offensive performance by the Bills. As for the Bengals, their offense rolled, as Andy Dalton (potential MVP Candidate at this point in the season) threw for 3 touchdowns in a 34-21 win. The Bengals have an embarrassment of riches at the skill positions, and look like they’re among the best teams in the AFC.

Bears at Lions

Congratulations to the Lions for getting their first win of the season, even if it came on the heels of a controversial play on Golden Tate’s touchdown grab late in the second quarter. In this battle of coaches who both took a careful approach, especially in overtime, turned this entertaining battle of division rivals into a metaphoric “I can be more conservative than you” battle between Jim Caldwell and John Fox. Both Matt Stafford and Jay Cutler looked good in this game, each throwing for over 350 yards, and leading their teams to 34 points each within regulation, with the Lions coming out on top 37-34.

Broncos at Browns

This Denver defense is legit, could you imagine how good the Broncos would be if they had their 2013 offense right now? It’s amazing how a team can go from an all-time great offense to an all-time great defense in just a matter of 2 years (4 defensive touchdowns this year alone.). The Browns gave the Broncos everything they could handle, especially with the Cleveland defense matching Denver’s defensive touchdown. 60 minutes was not enough to decide this one, as the teams were locked at 23. All seemed lost for the Broncos when Peyton Manning threw the last of his 3 interceptions, however, the defense forced a 3 and out of Josh McCown and the Browns offense, allowing Manning a chance to redeem himself for the early mistakes, leading Denver on a 13 play drive to set up a Brandon McManus field goal.

Texans at Jaguars

Brian Hoyer and Blake Bortles each threw for 3 touchdowns in this game, it helps that Hoyer had DeAndre Hopkins and Arian Foster and Bortles had Julius Thomas on the field. Neither of these football teams are world beaters, but it’s an important divisional game that could determine tiebreakers in the case that the Colts forget how to play football (That may have already happened, but more on that later). The Jaguars offense has potential, as long as they can limit the turnovers going forward, as for the defense, they have a lot of work to do. The Texans remembered that they had playmakers in Foster and Hopkins, going to them early and often in the 31-20 win.

Ravens at 49ers

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, this would have been a primetime game, Harbaugh versus Harbaugh, 2 great defenses, a reliable veteran against an exciting playmaker at QB and so on. The stakes were much lower this time than the last time these two teams met in a meaningful game (2^nd win of the season versus a super bowl title previously). The Ravens defense is among the worst they’ve had in franchise history. How bad is it? Colin Kaepernick had 340 yards and 2 touchdowns on the day. As for the Ravens, Joe Flacco had 343 yards of his own, but it wasn’t enough as the Ravens fell to 1-5 on the season, losing 25-20.

Patriots at Colts

Chuck Pagano, what are you even doing? Did you attempt to trick Bill Belichick? Al Michaels said it best “What in the world?” Why all the criticism? If you haven’t seen the fake punt the Colts attended, look up the highlights for this game and please leave a comment if you think you can figure out the logic behind the playcall. The Colts ended up losing the game, however, it was only by a touchdown this time around, 34-27 to be exact, unlike the previous few meetings, which were…. Ugly to say the least. I give the Colts a lot of credit for fighting hard and giving the Patriots everything they could handle, despite the fake punt. The Patriots are still the Patriots though, and seem to be rolling through the early part of their schedule, but with the Jets upcoming, we’ll get to see a real fight for supremacy in the AFC East.

Giants at Eagles

There was a terrific highlight in this game that I encourage everyone reading this blog to watch, because it was that good. It occurred just after the second quarter ended and….. wait, that was just the new Star Wars trailer being aired for the first time. Seriously folks, that was the highlight of this game, which turned out to be an ugly affair of 2 mediocre NFC East teams fighting it out for first place in a division where Kirk Cousins and Brandon Weeden have taken meaningful snaps this season. As for the game, the story was the Eagles defense swarming and overwhelming the Giants offense, as for the Giants, they had a fullback in at defensive end to rush the passer, and was the best pass rusher on the field for the G-men. The worse news for the Giants is that they looked great in the early goings, Eli Manning started 10-10 and was well on his way to leading the Giants to a 14-0 lead, until DeMeco Ryans stole the ball from Larry Donnell’s hands for an interception. The Eagles took over from there, scoring the rest of the game’s points, winning 27-7. One thing to note: DeMarco Murray ran for over 100 yards, the first time he’s done that as an Eagle.