Covenant of the Gridiron 11.05.07: NFL Week 9 Breakdown
Posted by Derek Robbins on 11.05.2007
The Colts and Patriots had a show down, who came out on top? Since there were no winless teams in action today, could the one-win Falcons or the one-win Jets overcome the odds and win? Could the Lions SERIOUSLY improve to 6-2? Find all of this out and more as 411 writer Derek Robbins breaks down week 9 of the NFL.
Hey guys! Before I breakdown week 9 of the NFL, I'd like to talk about a couple of other things:
-Sorry about my absence last week. I was sick Sunday night...and when I tried to send the article Monday...something happened to my computer and all the work I had put into Week 8 had been deleted. So...I just gave up on it. Won't happen again though!
-To all those wrestling fans out there: I think the reason Stone Cold and DX are promised for RAW next week is because the WWE wants to drive up ratings for Jericho's return. I mean, in order to guarantee the best possible ratings for Y2J's return...you probably should have an already packed show planned. I know I'm just being hopeful, but I do think it is a possibility.
Anyways, on to week 9!
Week 9 of the NFL
San Francisco 49ers 16 at Atlanta Falcons 20
Ugh. I knew my 49ers season had hit rock bottom, but I never figured they would lose to a Falcon's team THIS bad. Ahh...but they did. Alex Smith continues to show that he may not be the future of the 49ers by throwing three INTs. Joey Harrington wasn't much better (0 TD, 1 INT), but was certainly more effective than Smith. Warrick Dunn ran for 100 yards also, but right now...I'm thinking anyone could run over this San Fran team. They are pathetic.
What can we draw from this? The 49ers are horrible, and so are the Falcons. This game was pointless. Next please.
Cincinnati Bengals 21 at Buffalo Bills 33
Rookie Marshon Lynch made quite the statement today as he threw a TD pass, ran for a touchdown and had over 150 yards on the ground. Basically, in this game, the Bengals had the same problems they have had all season. Poor defense. overly-conservative offense, and injuries. Chad Johnson was injured in this game. The Bengals are hoping he will be good to travel with them...I'm not sure whether we'll be seeing him play anytime soon though. With the Bengals struggling, why bother risking another one of your talented players?
What can we draw from this? As I said a couple of weeks ago, the Bills are actually a pretty good team and are better than their record would indicate. The Bengals are still...pretty awful.
Denver Broncos 7 at Detroit Lions 44
The surprising Lions blow out the mediocre Broncos in this game. I felt that the Broncos were suspect entering this contest, so imagine how I felt afterward? Two Defensive touchdowns by Detroit and a rather dominating performance by John Kitna doomed Denver. What makes matters worse is that Jay Cutler and Travis Henry were both injured in this game. Jay Cutler may not be so hot...but...his replacement - Patrick Ramsey - makes Cutler look like Montana. Sure, Ramsey's stats looked alright...but when you get behind as far as Denver did...passing stats are easy to come by.
What can be drawn from this? The Lions are looking pretty legit in the NFC. The Broncos are looking pretty dead in the water.
Carolina Panthers 7 at Tennessee Titans 20
Vince Young had pretty pitiful stats...and YET AGAIN the Titans win. Proving my point that VY's stats are pointless and the team seems to believe in itself when Vince is on the field. LenDale White had a good game today also, with 100 yards rushing and a touchdown. The Titans defense held down a pretty average Panthers offense. To be fair, injuries have hurt this team...but in my opinion the Panthers weren't too special to begin with. MAYBE NEXT YEAR.
What can be drawn from this? Vince's talk of Super Bowl is a bit premature, but the Titans are definitely contenders.
Greenbay Packers 33 at Kansas City Chiefs 22
This game was pretty close throughout, despite what the final score may say. The Chiefs had just taken a 22-16 kead with 5:16 left on the clock, but...as they say, it ain't over til' it's over. Bret Favre threw to Greg Jennings on a 60-yard touchdown pass to put Greenbay up 23-22. Then the Packers defense held Kansas City and forced them to punt, and they proceeded to kick a field goal with this possesion. Then Damon Huard threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown to cap Greenbay's 17th un-answered point. The Packers are always finding ways to win, and with Bret Favre at the helm...some people may look at them - not Dallas - as the favorites in the NFC.The Chiefs are still in contention in the AFC West...which is amazing, because going in to today...I would have bet you that San Diego would be alone at the top, but I guess it wasn't meant to be...
What can be drawn from this? Greenbay is probably geared towards great things in the NFC, and despite being 4-4...the Chiefs are in the mix of things in the AFC West.
San Diego Chargers 17 at Minnesota Vikings 35
Wow. That's what I have to say about this game. The Vikings - specifically Adrian Peterson who ran for an NFL record 296 yards - really had a field day against a Chargers team that looked like it was making a turn around from early season woes. The Vikings had over 500-yards of offense compared to the Chargers inability to even get 300. It's absolutley amazing that the Vikings were able to do this against a defense that had been pretty good. In my opinion, San Diego came into this game taking Minnesota too lightly and paid for it. It's amazing that Adrian Peterson has over 1,000 yards in his 8th game. He's on pace for over 2,000 on the year. Unbelievable.
What can be drawn from this? Despite this setback, I think the Chargers are still the class of the AFC West. Oh, and Adrian Peterson is amazing.
Jacksonville Jaguars 24 at New Orleans Saints 41
Before this season, I had always taken the Jaguars too lightly. THIS year, it appears I have given them too much credit as the Saints - who many of us had given up for dead earlier this year - managed to defeat them easily. The 1st quarter may look even, but if you take out that quarter the Jags were outscored 24-7. Usually if you're outscored by that much in any stretch...you're not going to win any football games. It appears Drew Brees has decided "Enough is Enough" and has taken the Saints season into his own hands. I guess that's working well for them. Quentin Gray looked "okay" today...but I have to be honest, I don't see much promise in him or this season. The Jags may make the playoffs, but I don't see them going too far.
What can be drawn from this? The Saints are right back in the NFC south chase, the Jags need to prove something to me next week before I give them anymore credit.
Washington Redskins 23 at New York Jets 20
As much as I hate to admit this (I'm a big Pennington supporter and I think the Jets fans owe ALL of their success in the recent years to him.) Kellen Clemens looked alright today in a game the Jets blew a 17-3 lead in to let the 'skins slip by. Sorry, a team that has offensive issues like the Redskins shouldn't come back from such defecits, I don't care HOW bad your team is. Clinton Portis should be thanked for this victory as he rushed for 196 yards and accounted for the only Redskins Touchdown of the day. They also need to give Shawn Suisham some love as he kicked five field goals. The Jets are so confusing to me...they should by all means be a decent team - they were last year - but for some reason they can't put it together. The redskins don't exactly look like world beaters if you were to ask me.
What can be drawn from this? The Redskins managed to jump back after a tough loss to New England the week before. The Jets are still pretty pathetic.
Arizona Cardinals 10 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17
This was an ugly game by all means. Kurt Warner couldn't do anything, the Cardinals had no running game, and even though the score was relatively close...I felt the Bucs were in charge the whole time. Jeff Garcia was merely 'efficient' today and that was more than enough. The Bucs defense was pretty good today and odds are...they are the current 'favorite' to win the NFC South. Though with the way those Saints have been playing...
What can be drawn from this? Important win for Tampa Bay as it keeps them out in front in the NFC South. Despite everything for the Cardinals, they can STILL win the NFC West. It's a pretty pathetic division.
Seattle Seahwaks 30 at Cleveland Browns 33
The Browns have done this two weeks in a row. They spot their opponents a pretty decent lead - this week it was 21-9 - and then they mount a comeback of somesort. Well, going into halftime that was the aforementioned score...Well...in the second half Cleveland did the same to them outscoring Seattle 21-9. Riding this momentum, they kicked the field goal in over-time to win the game. This game was *ALL* about the QBs as neither team's running game could do much of anything. Yardage-wise at least. Jamal Lewis had four touchdowns. In my opinion Hasslebeck outplayed Anderson, but...you play to win the game and Browns did JUST that. They are 5-3. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!? THE BROWNS ARE 5-3! Oh, and Seattle falls to .500. Uh, "whoo"?
What can be drawn from this Unexplicably, the CLEVELAND BROWNS are in playoff contention in the AFC and the undeserving Seahawks are also in contention in the NFC. If the Seahawks wish to win anything, they need to step it up though. This play won't win them anything other than their horrid division.
- Derek Anderson has the Browns off to a rather surprising season so far.
New England Patriots 24 at Indianapolis Colts 20
The media hyped this game up like mad. Well, for good reason I suppose. It was TOM BRADY versus PEYTON MANNING. THE BATTLE OF THE UN-DEFEATED. BELICHICK VERSUS DUNGY IN A LAST MAN STANDING MATCH...err...well...not exactly. But the game was quite good, as many would expect. The Colts had a 20-10 lead. The Patriots had a little over nine minutes in the 4th quarter to work some magic and they managed to. Brady completed a long pass to Moss to setup a touchdown, and then later in the quarter - after stopping the Colts on offense - Brady completed another long pass to Moss to setup yet another New England touchdown to put the Patriots ahead 24-20. The Colts could not do anything after this, as Peyton Manning ended up fumbling the ball on Indy's last drive to seal the deal. A couple of interesting things about this game: In my opinion, there was some HORRIBLE officiating. A couple of pass-interference penalties occurd where, frankly, none had taken place or...THE COLTS INTERFERED AND THEY CALLED IT ON THE PATRIOTS. Some home cooking perhaps? I also thought it was kinda neat that the game-winning touchdown kept Tom Brady's streak of three TD passes per game alive. Despite the officiating this was a quality game and should set the two teams up well if they were to meet again in the postseason.
What can be drawn from this The Pats are a bit better right now. Still, these two teams are far and away the best two teams in football.
Houston Texans 24 at Oakland Raiders 17
In Sage Rosenfell's first start of the year, he snapped the Texan's three game losing streak against a pretty...below average Raiders team. Oakland as always is pesky...but...they simply can't win. They scored all 17 of their points in the second half, but it simply wasn't enough to stop Houston on this day. Josh McCown got the start today...and it's apparent that he definitely isn't "NFL starter" material. Just...no. Neither of these teams are particularly good, but the Texans have a shot at a .500 record this year which would be their first non-losing season...ever.
What can be drawn from this? Nothing really.
Game in Progress: Dallas and Philly-
Dallas is dominating as I expected. The Eagles REALLY need to fix something. It's just...falling apart this year. I also think Coach Reid should take some time off for personal reasons. The man has a lot going on right now...so he should take some time for himself. If the Eagles won't grant him this (and guarantee his job back)- as his team isn't going anywhere this season anyhow - they really aren't a very classy organization.
Next part: Top 5 and bottom 5 teams.
Top five teams
The numbers in parentheses outside of their record is where they would have been last week. Assuming they would have been on the list.
1-) New England Patriots (9-0) (1) - Beating the Colts proves their the best.
2-) Indianapolis Colts (7-1) (2) - I don't care that they lost today, New England and them are in classes all their own.
3-) Greenbay packers (7-1)(3) - Proving themselves to be true contenders.
4-) Dallas Cowboys (7-1) -assuming they win-(4) - Dominating every non-patriots team
5-) New York Giants (6-2)(NR) - I had to give it to someone, and they have a six game winning streak...so why not?
Bottom Five
Remember: #1 is the worst team and #5 is the, uh, 5th worst team.
1-) St. Louis Rams (0-8)(1) - They really needed this bye week.
2-) Miami Dolphins (0-8)(2) - Ditto.
3-) San Francisco 49ers (2-6)(4) - Ugh. My team is so bad.
4-) Atlanta Falcons (2-6) (3) - Oh hey! They can at least beat San Fran.
5-) NY Jets (1-8)(5) - They ALMOST won today, but they just couldn't pull it off.
- It's been one of those years for New York.
Wrap Up
Hey there! No reader mailbag this week as I didn't get any mail relevant to last week's column since, uh, there wasn't one. You can write to Desipiot@hotmail.com about, well, anything. Also, before I go, here are my quick picks for week 10:
Cleveland over Pittsburgh (UPSET SPECIAL.)
Washington over Philly
Carolina over Atlanta
New Orleans over St. Louis
Buffalo over Miami
Kansas City over Denver
Tennessee over Jacksonville
Greenbay over Minnesota
Cinci over Baltimore
NY Giants over Dallas
Detroit over Arizona
Chicago over Oakland
Indy over San Diego
Seattle over San Fran.
Sorry for the slightly lighter issue this week, I promise it'll be bigger next week. Until next time-
- Derek Anderson has the Browns off to a rather surprising season so far.
- It's been one of those years for New York.
