NFL Week 5 In Review

After watching Trent Edwards get knocked out 3 plays into the game and the ensuing dismantling of my Bills in the desert, I’m having a hard time looking at what happened in Week 5. But I’m a professional, or at least pretend to be two days a week, and will have to push on with what was ultimately another great week of football.

Games of the Week

Atlanta 27, Green Bay 24: I hate to keep piling on Wisconsin, but what a week for them. The Brewers barely show up in the baseball playoffs and then another loss for the Packers to the Falcons at home. This is probably worse than the whooping they took in the playoffs to the Falcons a few years back. At least then they had Michael Vick, not Matt Ryan and Michael Turner gashing their defense.

Miami 17, San Diego 10: So how do those Super Bowl-bound Chargers look now? I know that everyone will blame the cross-country trip, but no one mentioned it prior to the start of the season. The Chargers do not look very good, and LaDainian Tomlinson has been average all year. Without Michael Turner to spell him, the Chargers could be in for a disappointing season.

Washington 23, Philadelphia 17: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; how in the world is this the same team that got dismantled in Week 1? Jim Zorn’s learning curve is apparently one game, as he has this team clicking right now. Philly looked like they were for real out of the gates, but after some divisional losses they’re going to have to tread water and hope that the rest of the division falls back to them.

Indianapolis 31, Houston 27: Twenty-one points in 4 minutes. Listening to the announcers for the first three and a half quarters you would have thought that Peyton Manning was done for the year, the team was out of the playoffs, and maybe they decided to move back to Baltimore. All that changed with 4:04 left in the game and Manning pulled another one out of his hat. You can look at this team and say they could be 0-4 or they could be 3-1. Just a really tough team to figure out. But as long as the Colts keep finding a way to win, does it really matter?

Denver 16, Tampa Bay 13: This is the game that probably ticked off more fantasy owners than any other (with the exception of anyone who started Trent Edwards this week). Denver suddenly found a defense, but lost their offense along the way. A win is a win, but this one will hopefully show the Broncos that they can win ugly instead of needing a shootout every week.

Pittsburgh 26, Jacksonville 21: No Willie Parker, no Rashard Mendenhall, no Najeh Davenport to drop the deuce on the Jags. Apparently, no problem. The Steelers got nearly 100 yards from Mewelde Moore and more importantly got “Ben” going, too. The Jaguars have had every game decided by 7 points or less so far this year, but unlike last year have seen themselves on the short end of most of those games. They have got to get this figured out quickly before Tennessee runs away with this division.

Other Thoughts

• Matt Millen may be gone, but his team still remains. Now Detroit fans are calling for Roy Williams to be traded. What a mess!
• Kansas City had 127 yards of total offense. How is that even possible?
• Tennessee got a gift win from the refs in this game. If you didn’t see it Terrell Suggs tapped Kerry Collins on the head on a play that was blown dead on a false start and was called for roughing the quarterback.
  
  I can not remember a season where refs had more bad calls in such a short period of time. We’re very close to another scene like in Cleveland a few years ago with the fans pelting the field with beer bottles after another blown call.
• I never thought I’d say this, but Chris Carter made a very insightful comment on 'Sunday Countdown' yesterday. Everyone in the media is complaining about TO and Ocho Cinco talking too much, and saying ridiculous things. Carter made the observation that it’s the media’s fault for seeking them out for comments when they are not needed. Stop creating controversy and start actually reporting on something that’s happening. There are plenty of interesting storylines out there without the media needing to create one.

Monday Night Football

Two underachieving teams meet in New Orleans tonight. These two teams are polar opposites of one another. The Vikings can definitely play some defense, but can’t score consistently, and the Saints have the opposite problem. The problem is that the Vikings defense hasn’t been nearly as dominant as last year, and is not able to hide the deficiencies on offense. I’m taking the Saints at home and waiting to see the “what’s wrong with the Vikings” articles to start tomorrow.