Week 7 in the NFL

#NowPlaying "Welcome to the Winner's Circle" @CurrenSy_Spitta as an ode to the fourth quarter winners, Cam Newton getting a monkey off his back, and yes, I sadly have to include the second coming of Christ Tim Tebow here.

Due to the fact that tonight's game is going to be awful, I'll get this out of the way today. This past Sunday was a mess in the NFL. Between quarterback carousels, running back injuries, fourth quarter collapses, and a final score of 6-3 (seriously...) there was a lot that went wrong.

A fair amount of teams had bye weeks this week so match ups were a bit limited. The only games that really interested me was the Detroit Atlanta game and of course the Chargers Jets game.

Atlanta finally found their running back this week! Its been on a bit of a vacation. Michael Turner came out and rushed for 122 yards on 27 touches (no touchdowns) while the Lions without any sort of rushing attack due to their loss of Jahvad Best were forced to throw a lot; and the Falcons' were able to hold Stafford to a relatively human game. *Note* Although he did throw to Calvin Johnson for 115 of his 183 yards and the 1 touchdown he did have. Matty Ice had a typical day in the office with 218 yards and a touchdown without the help of rookie wide receiver Julio Jones. Fortunate for Matt Ryan the two interceptions he threw were only converted to three points by the Lions offense.

This is the second straight loss for the Lions after a tough loss and royal rumble with the San Francisco 49ers. The loss of Jahvad Best is going to be big for the Lions come playoff time. For Stafford, who has yet to play a full season, his arm and football IQ are going to be tested by teams if their running game continues to be this poor.

Now I don't know what the San Diego Chargers are doing anymore. Every season they suck up until say week 5 or 6. This year they were 4-1 through week 6. Here's my logic on this matter. Ok you do good through the portion of your season where you tend to struggle and are entering the period where you usually have a winning record. Winning record + winning record = Win games. So when you have a lead in the fourth quarter you shouldn't be shooting for the end zone right? Well Phillip Rivers decided to throw that strategy out and go for gold against the Jets. Yeah... didn't really work out in his favor as he threw two consecutive interceptions to close out the game.

As I previously stated, I do not understand Norv Turner and the San Diego Chargers. They have great players, big names now on defense after this past offseason, and a fairly easy division. I hear it every year, "I like the Chargers as a Super Bowl Contender". There's a reason this always comes up. Come playoffs though the team always comes up short. They've never actually won a Super Bowl sadly.

So down to the things I learned this week.

1) I don't want to be a running back this season
And now people are wondering why this season is a throwing season. Have you seen the injury list of running backs throughout this season across all teams? I'm surprised Goddell hasn't eliminated the running back position altogether yet. I'm sure this offseason he will try and implement a new league rule to prevent injuries like players must stay 3 yards away from a running back while he is carrying the ball or something stupid like that.

Anyways back to real life.

Through week 7, there are now 18 out of the 32 NFL teams that have lost one of their top two running backs for at least one game. This week alone 6 running backs went down with seemingly serious injuries. Coaches and quarterbacks not being able to trust their running game or not wanting to risk injury to their rushers have caused running backs to get the call only 41.5% of the time, an all-time low.

On a positive note, there were 7 running backs that went north of 100 yards rushing; including rookie DeMarco Murray who had 253 yards on the ground and Arian Foster who put together 115 yards on the ground as well as 119 yards receiving, only the 32nd time in NFL history that a player has put up a 100-100 game. Fantasy owners also got a good taste in their mouth with Shonne Greene of the Jets who put up 112 yards on the ground.

2) And the Wheel Goes Round
This week was a fantasy nightmare personally. In a 12 team, 2 QB league, things can get a bit dicey. Once going from having three quarterbacks to losing two (one to trade one to injury) I got desperate. I'm sure this is how coaches and managers are feeling in real life football too.

Oakland losing Jason Campbell is a huge blow to their playoff chances after seeing the display put on by the tandem of Kyle Boller and Carson Palmer who threw 3 interceptions... each... against the Kansas City Chiefs.... enough said. I didn't see the point in starting Boller though. Granted, Palmer was only with the team for four days before this weeks game. But still, you can't put Boller in ahead of Palmer. It's just common knowledge.

Minnesotta went with their rookie pick Christian Ponder this week against the red hot Packers and I will admit, I was a little impressed. First play from scrimmage he hooks up with Michael Jenkins for a 72 yard bomb that was ruled a touchdown but then was reversed and placed on the 1 yard line. He eventually went on to throw a touchdown to his tight end. Overall Ponder was able to keep the Vikings in the game but they fell in the end by a final of 33-27. Rogers is just too good to stop.

Then there's Tim "Jesus" Tebow. I'm going to get a lot of hate for this one; but I honestly think he didn't play well at all. Granted his stats say he completed almost half of his passes for 161 yards and had 2 touchdowns and added to that 65 yards on the ground which are pretty good stats for a first game. Even in my fantasy league he put up 16 and a half points, which is higher than both of my quarterbacks combined (screw you Whitehurst). People are already calling this a historic game. Slow your roll there.

First off, they were playing the horrible Miami Dolphins (0-6) in Miami. Tebow built the entire state of Florida so throw out the home field advantage.  Then the Terrible Dolphins went ahead the entire game and were leading 15-0 entering the fourth quarter. Being the Terrible Dolphins, they got lazy and figured oh well we can give up a score and still be winning. Come 5:23 left in the fourth quarter until Tebow finally puts together a scoring drive. So now its 15-7. Then Tebow pulls the God card and the Broncos recover an onside kick. Cheapskate. So the Broncos get the ball back with a short field and the Dolphins being as bad as they are let up another touchdown and BY THE GRAE OF GOD... not really I just like these religious associations to Tebow... they convert the two point conversion and oh what do you know, tie ball game. Go into overtime, Broncos win on a 52 yard field goal. Yippie.

Our final stop on this wheel of shittiness... wait what do you mean he wasn't shitty? John Beck actually had a solid game for the Washington Redskins replacing the Rex "I Lost My Sexy" Grossman. Granted his team lost but I would put that on other factors; such as Cam Newton, Mike Shanahan not knowing how to use a running back, and the woes of the Redskins. He put up a solid performance of 22/37 for 279 yards and a touchdown and kept plays alive with his feet even though he hasn't started a game in the past four years. Good signs for the Skins going forward if they decide to keep starting him.

3) Sweet Baby Breesus
So someone forgot to tell Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints that A) they are not a basketball team and B) the Colts don't know how to play football without Peyton Manning so you're supposed to go easy on them. With a 62-7 laugher in the Superdome the Saints were really clicking on all cylinders, which surprised me. My surprise factor for this game was an injury sustained last week to a key member of the team. I'm talking about head coach Sean Peyton of course. Last week he suffered a huge knee injury and underwent surgery this week to repair his meniscus and knee in general. Unable to move along the sideline and not even being able to attend a practice until Thursday this past week I thought that Brees might have been a bit flustered with play calling. Turns out I was dead wrong. Brees tacked up 325 total passing yards along with 5 touchdown tosses. However, he wasn't alone. The entire group of running backs that the Saints have collected racked up 236 yards on the ground; split between Darren Sproles, Pierre Thomas, and Mark Ingram.

The Colts continue their journey towards a new era in Andrew Luck, now sitting at 0-7. If this trend continues this will be an interesting offseason for Peyton Manning. To retire, to be traded somewhere after an entire career spent with this team, or maybe to stay with the Colts and be a mentor for the new young quarterback. Who knows that's way too far away.

Next week will be an interesting one as the Patriots come off their bye to face the Steelers and the Eagles are back in action against the Cowboys. Next week is the halfway point in the season as well. I'll put together my thoughts/predictions on award winners, playoffs/Superbowl, and maybe some offseason moves if I feel ambitions.

Until then keep giving me some feedback here or find me on Twitter at @iedlund.

Chill Bro

All I have to say after this week is "You Mad, Bro?"

Going into and even during some of the games this past weekend there was a lot of frustration, anger, disappointment by both players and coaches alike. First I'll start with Brandon Marshall, who, unfortunately, did not live up to the hype. Claiming to reporters before his game on Monday night that his mission was to be ejected from the game by the second quarter. He was planning on fighting the likes of Bart Scott or cornerback Antonio Cromartie but no such festivities lit up my television :(

Normally not the best plan for an all-pro receiver.

But his passion is understandable. The Miami Dolphins are now 0-6, the team's coach doesn't know what he is doing, their quarterback is some guy named Matt Moore, and the team's in shambles. With the type of talent that Marshall has he expects to win and wants to win every game. So when the team loses he puts it on himself as a leader of this offense. Saying he was going to get ejected or start a fight was his way of telling the Jets that he was taking his game up a notch or six.

Good for him to carry this burden. He knows he is a role model for some of the players on the Dolphins and can really be an impact player to help get their new quarterback comfortable throwing the ball.

Now of course I have to talk about the WWE Raw Sunday Matinée that broke out at the end of the San Francisco 49ers Detroit Lions game (watch the scuffle here). My reaction to it all? Hey Jim Harbaugh, chill bro. Jim Schwartz NAILED IT during his press conference afterwards in saying:

"When you win a game like that you're excited and things like that but I think there is a protocol that goes with this league" 


Exactly. Sure you just had a huge game and a great win and all that. But show some composure. Act like you've done it before. Don't body bump the opposing coach to say good game. And in the turmoil don't be an arrogant shithead and say "I must have shaken his hand too hard." Yeah you did, as well as yell in his face, push him out of the way, and have absolutely no respect in that his team made you earn that win. I am glad to see that no fines were handed out by Communist Commissioner Roger Goodell though. It was a heat of the moment thing, there's no previous incidents between the two, just emotions run high.

Onto what stuck out at me this week around the NFL.

1) The Patriots Defense Does Exist


This is the more aggressive defense that I have been waiting to see from the Patriots. The cover teams are still a bit questionable but they faired well against great receivers in Jason Whitten (4 catches 48 yards and 1 touchdown), Dez Bryant (4 catches 78 yards), and Miles Austin (7 catches 74 yards) and Kyle Arrington had an interception.

However, my focus is on the "should be dominant" Patriots front seven. FINALLY there was some pressure on a quarterback! Andre Carter is slowly making a case for being one of the top defensive ends in the NFL by adding 2 sacks to his total on the season and Wilfork continues to be a turnover machine with a forced fumble on running back Tashard Choice. Tony Romo ended up being hit 4 times through the game which shows some sort of pressure being created by New England's front line.

Overall, the 32nd ranked New England defense was able to hold the 4th ranked Dallas offense to 16 points and even better hold them in the red zone for only a 33% touchdown conversion rate with only goal to go for yards. Certainly a stepping stone for this defense to build on and hopefully can continue to produce this sort of result.

2) One Lucky Winner


I think it's official. The race for Andrew Luck is on. If you look at teams with a very losing record; I'd say Indianapolis, Miami, and Minnesota; the one thing they need desperately is a quarterback. With the Colts, they have officially proven that without Peyton Manthang they cannot win games.

Curtis Painter is a third year backup quarterback and wasn't expected to have to play when the Colts brought in interim quarterback Kerry Collins, who is now out with concussion like symptoms. He's starting to show some poise and starting to build some chemistry with the receivers but he isn't a star and has yet to win a game. I would hope that with the severity of Peyton's injury and how much work he has had on it he would retire. Dude's set for the Hall of Fame, won a Super Bowl, is in the record book, and has plenty of endorsements and money. Surely would make a case for Andrew Luck in the 2012 Draft.

Next we have the Dolphins. They lost the Chad! Chad Henne had season ending surgery a few weeks back on his shoulder and put the Dolphins in a bad spot. They were forced to turn to Matt Moore, their fifth year backup out of Oregon State. Thank god he sucks or else I would have lost my fantasy matchup this week. After watching him this past Monday night he just didn't look comfortable with the receivers and his Football IQ didn't look off the charts. Desperate need to start a new era for this franchise. Maybe with a new head coach and a new all-american quarterback?

And then the Vikings... I feel bad for them. Actually I feel bad for their quarterback Donovan McNabb. Why does absolutely everyone hate this dude? He consistently took the Philadelphia Eagles to the playoffs and won games there, always played hard, never really had media issues (that I recall). What's to hate? Then he gets banished from the Eagles on bad terms and sent to the Washington Redskins where he had a bad season and was sporadically benched throughout the season by coach Mike Shanahan and then desperately shipped off to the Vikings, where he is still struggling. Their number 2 quarterback is Christian Ponder, a rookie out of Florida State. My thought on this one is that he is tradable. Granted he was a first round draft choice and trading him would essentially be a waste of pick from the 2011 Draft. But the prospect of grabbing Andrew Luck off the board could be well worth it.

3) Don't Call It A Comeback


Ok finally. Up is up and down is down again. The Eagles walked into the team friendly FedEx Field where they have won 10 of their past 12 match ups and won their second game on the season against the Redskins. The Redskins have been playing surprisingly well this season at 3-2 and sitting about average across the board in all stats. However, "Sexy Rexy" Rex Grossman decided to try and lose his starting position (see Donovan McNabb) by tossing a total of 4 interceptions before heading to the bench in the fourth quarter.

Andy Reid put together a safe and conservative game plan just to ensure his job at first priority, but the short routes, three step drops, and limiting Vick's need to run produced a win to stop the team's bleeding. The Eagles are going into a bye week sitting at 2-4 and the NFC East is wide-open for the taking. I am looking for them to keep with this three step drop system and maybe start converting to a west-coast style offense.

That's all I really have for this week. I could talk about the Giants going back to their strong running game (finally) and beating the Bills or Jason Campbell breaking his collarbone and the idea of Terrell Pryor starting (won't happen and I'm looking for Carson Palmer to come back). I could also talk about the trade deadline and what happened during it (what did happen...?) or how the Steelers keep hobbling to victories. But I don't feel like it.

Apparently Third Is Better Than Second

It is upon us.

His Holiness Tim Tebow has finally assumed the position of starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos.

I have never seen so much support for an athlete that has done next to nothing during his time in the NFL. Do you know what the most selling player jersey was last season? You guessed it. Tim Tebow. The man had never taken a snap during a regular season game, yet stores couldn't even keep up with the demand for his jersey. It to this day baffles me how someone who had never played in the NFL has so much support.

I understand he's a great guy and he tries really hard during practices and he's great with the media. But that's what he gets paid to do. Every player in the NFL, starter or not, is expected to participate fully in practices and handle the media appropriately. "Oh but he loves Jesus!" And? Is that supposed to make me wish that this kid was a team's starting quarterback?

Going into the 2011-2012 NFL season, the Denver Broncos had three quarterbacks on their roster; Kyle Orton, Brady Quinn, and Tim Tebow. In the offseason there was an open competition for the backup roll behind Kyle Orton between Quinn and Tebow. Now Brady Quinn won this competition fair and square. He was listed as the number two quarterback on their depth chart.

After a dismal 1-3 start for Denver and another game heading down the drain, John Fox said screw it, it's Tebow Time. Let me remind you; Brady Quinn is the backup quarterback, Tim Tebow is the backup quarterback for the backup quarterback.

So what happened to Quinn? That's really all I pulled from this entire season in Denver. What about Brady Quinn? He proved his value, proved he deserved the backup quarterback spot, has never been in the media speculating why he wasn't given a chance on the field, and doesn't have plays just for him in the offensive playbook. Yet he doesn't work as hard as Tebow or isn't a good enough person to be named the starter? Give me a break.

He has more NFL experience than Tebow and he already proved that he was better than Tebow during the offseason. Quinn was actually a starter on the Cleveland Browns for 12 of their games in the 08 and 09 seasons and put up numbers expected by a young quarterback on a struggling team. But why wasn't he put in this past Sunday and why is Tim Tebow now the official starter for the team?

There are only three possible scenarios: 1) Somewhere during this season John Fox decided that Tebow was better than Quinn; 2) Fox is giving up on the season and plans to use both quarterbacks and plan for the future; or 3) Peer pressure got the best of the coach and he put in Tebow for the fans.

If the crappy campaign efforts on behalf of Tim Tebow got him this starting role, then by god that opens a lot of possibilities.

Week 5 NFL Rundown

Here we are. Two weeks strong. Such a meaningful accomplishment. I'd like to thank... oh screw that you just want some football talk.

Week 5 was a very emotional week around the league for players, coaches, owners, etc alike. The passing of a football legend occurred on Saturday when Al Davis passed away at the age of 82. Al Davis was the longtime owner of the Oakland Raiders and lived by the montra "Just Win, Baby", and his team took that to heart going up against the Houston Texans this week. They did their late owner proud and came away with the win. Granted, Oakland did not play one of their best games. But they stayed with it and showed their true colors winning by a final of 25-20. Going into an easier stretch of their schedule, don't be surprised when you hear the words Oakland and playoffs in the same sentence coming to the close of this season.

The passing of Al Davis is truly a tragedy for this league and its effects will be felt for weeks to come. He was always the person everyone loved to hate. Always making very questionable calls and odd draft picks (kicker Sebastian Janikowski was a first round draft pick for the team) people always took shots at him. But over his tenure as the owner of the Oakland Raiders he has built a very respectable franchise and worked with greats such as John Madden and Jim Plunkett.

A Hall of Fame owner that will not soon be forgotten.

Elsewhere around the league, the presence of the saying "Just Win, Baby" was heavily felt. Big upset wins by the Bills and the Seahawks shook up the league a bit and created some headlines that I will get into further down the article.

But first I gotta talk about my Patriots.

Big Week 5 match-up for them facing off against bitter rival and divisional opponent the J-E-T-S SUCK SUCK SUCK (god that feels good every time). With the Bills, another AFC East team, pulling an upset over the Philadelphia Eagles during their 1 o'clock game, the Patriots match-up had a lot greater implications.

Scenario 1: Patriots win and Jets lose. Puts the Patriots in a tie for first place in the toughest division in the NFL (I think) and technically in second behind Buffalo (the Patriots one loss) and the Jets fall to 2-3 and have a big hole to crawl out of.

Scenario 2: Patriots lose and Jets win. Would have dropped the Patriots into a tie for second place (technically third because of losses to the Jets and Bills) at 3-2 and given the Jets momentum in the division and, as Tim Thomas would say, pump their tires going forward in their schedule.

Thank god scenario one happened.

All week, per usual, the Jets were talking about their game-plan to stop Brady and how their offense was going to show its dominance and players were saying how much they hated Brady or the Patriots in general. The Patriots took all that chatter and turned it around on Rex Ryan and his team. Brian Schottenheimer and Rex Ryan wanted to go back to their "ground and pound" style of offense and just grind out runs and ware out the defense.

Bill Belichick said hey we can do that too.

Led by Benjarvis Green-Ellis, the Patriots out grounded and out pounded the Jets defense to a 30-21 victory. "The Law-firm" (Green-Ellis) had a career day with 136 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns on 27 carries. This running back is a quiet little stud. Since the beginning of last season, he is leading the league in touchdowns with 18 and averages 4.3 yards per carry for his career. He got a heavy workload this week with Woodhead out with an injury. He took over Woodhead's role as pass protection this week and delivered.

Over the course of the game, the play selection for New England was relatively 50/50 with 35 running plays to 33 passing plays, unexpected after the type of numbers Brady has put up the first four weeks of the season. But Coach Bill was smart and went all the way back to that stupid playoff loss last season and studied that defense. They frequently put six or fewer players in the box, practically encouraging the Patriots to run the ball. But with a lacking run offense, they would come out throwing, and play right into the Jets' defensive strength. He knew he needed to build up the running squad for this game. And it paid off well.

I'm going to end this rant with a follow-up to my post last week about GQ Jr. Mark Sanchez. After his the absolute beating he took last week against Baltimore he had a chance to show his mental toughness this week. That didn't happen. This entire game and in articles I've read this morning I have come to this hypothesis.

Mark Sanchez is a baby.

Reference number one to back up this theory. During the broadcast of this game, one of the commentators said that during practice this week, the offensive coordinator and coaches took away Sanchez's privileges of reading the defense and making play calls at the line and left those duties to veteran center Nick Mangold.

Reference number two. In this article by Rich Cimini right here he talks about how Sanchez's ability to change play calls or make audibles were limited in order to "reduce his mental burden." Where's Ochocinco when I need him. CHILD PLEASE! If Mark needs to be babied like this week to week then he's more of a princess than I thought.

Anywho now onto what I learned from this weeks games.

1) Heisman Part 2?


Jesus Christ Cam Newton. We get it. You wanted to prove that you were an NFL caliber quarterback. No need to go ape shit all over the league and put up numbers saved for future Hall of Famers.

This week Newton and his Carolina Panthers faced off against the offense heavy New Orleans Saints. Anyone see that kind of shootout coming? The final score of the game was 30-27 and it really did come down to the final possession for Drew Brees and his offense. Newton put his team ahead in the beginning of the fourth quarter. Unable to get any sort of drive going with 10 minutes left in the fourth, there was more than enough time for Brees to get his team downfield and score the game winner.

Carolina has been a struggling franchise for a few seasons now. To see the addition of Cam Newton have this sort of ability to keep them in games against such top-tier teams really means something. The addition of a few more pieces and they could be the next Detroit Lions. Granted, their record says 1-4. However, consider the fact that their 4 losses have been by a combined of 22 points... that's a step in the right direction if I've ever seen one.

2) Speaking of 1-4


Hey Philadelphia. Uhhhh whatcha doin over there? Oh losing more football games? Ok that's cool have fun with that. Us analysts are just going to sit here and rip you a new one if that's cool.

Yet another loss for the dream-team Eagles. I don't know if I can agree that this is an upset by the Bills though. On paper, the Eagles should be the best team in the league hands down. But so far it hasn't worked out for them. The Bills on paper should be one of the worst teams in the league. But so far they are 4-1 and people are beginning to bandwagon. The Bills have started to prove their legitimacy as a playoff contender being led by MVP candidate Fred Jackson and the Eagles have proven they have a lot to work on. I've always been a fan of Mike Vick (not the jail and dog stuff) and loved watching him play. But he's being asked to do too much to make up for other holes in their program. All this extra work he is being asked to carry is causing him to lose his focus. Already Vick has thrown for 7 interceptions over the season.

So who/what is to blame for the Eagles lackluster season thus far? Is it team chemistry, coaching, player ego? I would say the blame has got to fall on Andy Reid their head coach. His players don't look like they are well disciplined at all, example Juqua Parker jumping offsides on fourth and inches with little to go in the fourth quarter to extend Buffalo's drive and eventually end the game, they're unorganized, and haven't quite gelled yet. So here is the proposal.

If not now, then when?

They have got to step up their game and start winning or a lot of that staff will find themselves on the hot seat by the end of this season.

3) Quiet Thunder


Has anyone been watching the San Francisco 49ers? Well just a heads up, they're 4-1 and 2 games ahead of the Seattle Seahawks in their division.

This past Sunday they laid a 48-3 smackdown on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At this point last season, the 49ers were 0-5, players were revolting, and Mike Singletary was shooting lasers out of his eyes at anyone that got in his way.

Enter new head coach Jim Harbaugh.

He has taught his team patience, encouraged them to learn the reason why they run certain routes or why they need to be in this specific spot for this play, and formed a single unit that plays together. And as Delanie Walker said after the game "You act like your coaches." Harbaugh wants to know everything about everything pertaining to his team. He attends all meetings that pertains to his players, he spends time with his players, he is a piece of this squad.

Their quiet efficiency has gotten them this far. This week, quarterback Alex Smith only threw 19 passes and completed 11 of them for 170 yards... but 3 touchdowns. Oh and he sat out the entire fourth quarter. Frank Gore, the most important piece of their offense, has found himself back on the right track with a 100 plus yard game for the second week straight. But their defense if just as quiet as their offense. No huge names, no flashy plays. Just the ability to shit down a team's run game and the ability to turn the ball over.

It's no wonder why they have been winning games.

4) The Tim Tebow Watch


Grantland has recently become one of my favorite sports blog collections to read. In their weekly wrap-ups for the NFL they include something called The Tim Tebow Watch. It's a collection of Tebow's actions at different points through the four quarters. Up until this point it has shared things such as:

"Tebow is fully suited, mouthpiece in, and helmet on. Waiting for the coaches call."

"Tebow is stretching again on the sideline. Man this guy stretches a lot."

"Tebow is on the sideline by John Fox (head coach) with helmet in hand and a properly fitted and adjusted hat on."

Well wait no longer. The Tim Tebow Watch is in full effect. He finally got the chance that all of Denver has been asking for. Starter Kyle Orton was benched after halftime and replaced with Tim Tebow to see what would happen. Orton has yet been able to inspire any sort of spark in this Denver Broncos' offense and has quite frankly been terrible (record of 6 and 22 in his last 28 starts). Tebow came into the third quarter behind by 16 points to the San Diego Chargers and somehow managed to give his team a shot by the end of the game.

As in he almost won the game.

As in he showed promise of actually having some sort of talent.

Tebow scored two touchdowns in his two quarter span of commanding the team and they looked alive and glad to see him on the field. It came down to a hail mary at the end of the game and it was almost caught in the back of the endzone, but Denver fell 29-24.

So now after seeing this game fans and coaches have got to be saying it's time for some Tebow. With the team sitting at 1-4 going into a bye week this week, John Fox has got to make the swap. For the sake of his team. For the sake of the team's fanbase. For the sake of all humanity! Too much? Maybe. It'll be interesting to see how he fits into this offense and what types of changes the Broncos make to their playbook to adapt to his style as a quarter back.

Quick Hits


The frail Pittsburg Steelers beat the Tennessee Titans this week off of Roethlisberger's 5 touchdown tosses. Big Ben powered through a sprained left foot and rallied his injury ridden troops to pull out a big win... The Seattle Seahawks upset the New York Giants despite a minor pectoral injury to starting quarterback Tavaris Jackson. Despite Charlie Whitehurst winning this game, coach Pete Carroll stated that Jackson will still be the starter after this weeks bye... In Houston's loss to Oakland, they lost key defensive figure Mario Williams to a pectoral injury. It was confirmed today that he could be done for the season. The Texans are now 20-24 in games decided by 7 points or fewer... Rookie Andy Dalton out dueled other rookie Blaine Gabbert in a 30-20 win for Cincinnati.

Week 4 Rundown

So I'm going to give this a shot. A weekly rundown of the week's games in the NFL. Be prepared to give it a read on Monday or Tuesday (depending on the MNF game).

Week 4 seems like an appropriate and fair start for critical evaluations. Chemistry should be pretty well built, new players should know the new playbooks *cough* Ochocinco *cough*, and there should be some fair feeling as to the rankings/standings through the league. 


This week's match-ups featured a lot of coaches or players returning to where it all began. Rex "I Love Feet" Ryan going back to face the tenacious defense that he created in Baltimore, Richard Seymoure seeking his vengeance against the Patriots for trading him to the, at that time, abismal Oakland Raiders, and long time Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren, now president of the Cleveland Browns, and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, now throwing for the Tennessee Titans, got to face off. Going into this week I had my eye on a few games; Pittsburg at Houston, New York (Jets) at Baltimore, San Francisco at Philadelphia , Detroit in Dallas, and Minnesotta playing in Kansas City.

I saw a lot of comeback wins and last second heroics as well as some surprising victories (Cincinnati over Da Bills?!?). 6 of sundays games all were won in the fourth quarter actually, most impressively Detroit coming back from double digits to stay undefeated over the Cowboys. Some pretty entertaining t.v right there. This week also featured the return of Arian "I'm Still A Fantasy Stud" Foster and the surprising fast-track recovery of Marques Collston's collarbone.

*Sidenote* I stupidly sat Foster this week expecting more of a split carry strategy from Houston but now we know he's the go to guy.

Anyways, let's get into what I learned this week from the games besides comebacks and Arian Foster's dominance.

1) MoTown is starting to Boogie

Detroit is on a special sort of track. 4 and 0 this season, 8 and 0 including the preseason, and (I think) 11 and 0 if you go back and include December's games to end last season. This young team is really starting to blend together and show a lot chemistry. Stafford is proving that when healthy he has a hand cannon and can compete with any other gunslinger. Certainly worth that overall first draft pick in 2009 this season. And with a target like Calvin "Megatron" Johnson they always have a chance. This receivers abilities are freakish. Playing like he is as tall as Yao Ming and having hands like Randy Moss (circa the Minnesotta days with Dante Culpepper) it's incredible to watch. On the other side of the ball they have Ndamukong Suh, and unfair presence on the line. Bulldozing through offensive linemen like he pounds through stacks of pancakes at iHop shows the future of upcoming linemen yet to be drafted or developed.

But veteran receiver Nate Burleson has it right. "We haven't done anything yet." It's been an amazing first four weeks for this team and they have truly inspired the struggling city of Detroit. But this team can't let this be the highlight of their season. It needs to stay on this track of improvement and show that they are actually a playoff team.

2) The Miami Eagles

I call it Lebron Syndrome. It should be medically validated and put into a journal. Anything that Lebron touches, speaks about, or if something symbolizes him or his way of life, consider whatever it is to fail.

Example A: Miami Heat. Spent a couple extra dollars to create the tandem I like to call the "Super Friends". That experiment failed. Only the Yankees can buy championships let's get real here.

Example B: The Boston Red Sox. There are actually 2 parts to this one, hence why it crashed and burned like it did in September. First came this offseason in the aquisition of A-Gon and Carl Crawford. Great additions to the team but really stirred up the clubhouse and messed with some good things that Tito had going with his players (we will miss you). Part two involved Lebron directly. The Boston Red Sox front office took some wild turn somewhere and went out and bought an English Premere soccer team, Liverpool. After the partnership was finalized and settled, Lebronbron comes into the picture and is allowed to purchase a minority share of the team. Chain reaction, and boom goes the dynamite (2:28) the Sox pull of the worst collapse in history.

Now here we have the 2011-2012 Philadelphia Eagles. They made the biggest moves this offseason signing big names like Nnamdi Asomugha, Steve Smith (Giants), Ronnie Brown, Jason Babin, and Cullen Jenkins. Then having names already like Desean Jackson, Mike Vick, LeSean McCoy, and Jeremy Maclin the Eagles front office went out attempting to build a super team. If only I wrote this article  a few months ago. They would have known it's a recipe for disaster.

3) Houston Might be Legit/Dallas is Still Fake

It is all on the shoulders of the Houston Texans to lose the AFC South. With the helpless Colts in the running for the Andrew Luck draft and Jacksonville still rebuilding (wouldn't need to if you kept my man Garrard!) it's between Houston and the surprise 3 and 1 Tennessee Titans. Depending on how serious this Andre Johnson injury is, I have to give it to Houston. Foster proved he's still legit, Schaubb can win games and not have to put up Rogers/Brady type numbers, and their defense has a tremendous amount of potential. With 5 more divisional games and fairly easy opponents otherwise, they should pull away with it. However if Johnson is out for an extended amount of time then some pressure could fall on Schaubb to get on his high horse and move the ball downfield.

Since everything in Texas is bigger, including the state itself, there's another team there. However, clearly not as promising as the Texans. Yes I'm talking about the team that plays in a mansion only big enough to hold Jerry Jones' ego; the Dallas Cowboys. Yet again the incredible teamwork of Tony Romo and Jason Garrett found a way to watch a lead slip away and eventually become a loss. This could potentially be the most confusing team in the NFL. On paper they are crazy good. Romo has great stats, his targets are Dez Bryant, Miles Austin, and Jason "Chasin' Kittens" Witten, and they have players like Demarcus Ware and Terence Newman on defense. Lots of all-stars, not a lot of playoff wins. They had a 27 to 3 lead over the Detroit Lions with 12:23 left in the third quarter. Then Romo throws 2 interceptions for touchdowns and Jason Garrett thinks it's a good idea to leave Calvin "Megatron" Johnson in single coverage on the final drive of the game (hint: the result was a touchdown for Detroit to win). I don't think I need to provide examples of when this has happened before (just look through this season's games).

4) There Can Only Be One GQ Model in This League

It was good to see the Baltimore defense back to it's old self. Reminded me of their 2000 team (which Rex Ryan was a part of). Blitzing about 75% of the game, causing 3 turnovers, scoring 21 of the Ravens' 34 points, and KILLING Mark "Dirty" Sanchez. God that was great to see. Granted his offensive line was in shambles going into this game without center Nick Mangold. But after that first Jets possession, which resulted in Ed Reed stripping Sanchez and the Ravens recovering for touchdown number one, Mark had no confidence in the pocket and it only got worse for there. Here is the GQ model comparison; Sanchez vs. Tom Brady. Granted any day Brady is the better man under center but here is the point I want to make. Whenever an NFL player models for a magazine, they always get shit from teammates and reporters and analysts. However, Brady has the swagger and confidence to handle both situations. He will go shoot an UGG comercial and then come back and tear apart a defense. Or he will go out and have a terrible game statistically (e. week 3 against the Bills) but still give his team a chance at winning. Sanchez showed last night that as soon as things are no longer going for him, he doesn't have the mental ability to get back on the horse and progress forward.

That's all I really wanted to cover this week.

I got a kick out of watching the Kansas City vs. Minnesotta game. Someone has to come away with a victory and it just so happened to be KC.

Sucks to see Bradford and the St. Louis Rams sitting at 0 and 4 after such a promising season in 2010 but without someone to throw to Bradford will continue to struggle.

How the San Francisco 49ers are at 3 and 1 boggles me, especially after the terrible start Frank Gore was off to.

Patriots defense I don't even want to talk to you right now. Just be thankful Tom Brady is your quarterback and not on the other team. Granted Belichick has always preached that it's about points not stats, but when Vince Wilfork listed at a solid 6' 2" and 325 pounds is leading your team in interceptions that is not a good sign.

Hope I can keep this up every week for your reading enjoyment. Leave some comments of something you might like to see in here or what you think about the article. Find me at @iedlund on the twiterverse.