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.