Two NFC upsets and 1 AFC upset highlight this week’s games. The Bills, Cowboys and Rams all dropped games they should have won this week. Any given Sunday struck again. We are halfway thru the season and there is only one team that has allowed one loss: the Cardinals. Everyone else is two losses or more. The Ravens, Titans, Cowboys, Packers, Buccaneers, and the Rams all have just two losses. All four AFC West teams have 5 wins with the Chargers and Raiders tied at 5-3. The NFC West features the Cardinals at 8-1 and the Rams at 7-2. The NFC West title will likely be decided between these two squads, but don’t count the Seahawks and 49ers out just yet. Russell Wilson is coming back next week. Jimmy G continues to put up 300-yard games and George Kittle is back on the field. If the 49ers can figure out their defense, they will be in the mix again. Speaking of the 49ers, far and away the two biggest disappointments halfway thru the season are the 49ers at 3-5 and the Kansas City Chiefs at 5-4. Both squads have the rest of the season to turn it around.
Now for the rollup!
MNF was the worst officiated game of the week. Chicago ate penalty after penalty yet the kept plugging away staying in the game. Chicago earned some of those penalties though. Justin Fields is growing. He struggles but he doesn’t let it phase him. He just keeps playing hoping his players will execute for him. They started to execute in the second half, as the Bears pulled ahead of the Steelers 27- 26 with 1:46 left on the clock. This is an impressive feat considering they were down 20-6 going into the fourth quarter. He gave his Bears a chance to win but alas, all the Steelers needed was a field goal…so they drained the clock and secured the go ahead score with only 27 seconds remaining. Fields amassed 291 yards thru the air and 45 yards on the ground in his best game of the season. The Bears still have work to do, but there is a lot of potential for their future.
No Love for the Packers. Jordan Love doesn’t look like the answer the Packers are hoping to solve the Aaron Rodgers problem. Granted it was only his first start and hit happened to be on the road I the loudest stadium in the world, but it was a rough outing, nonetheless. Love struggled against a reeling Chiefs defense….or maybe the Chiefs defense finally decided to have some pride and play some ball. Mahomes is still searching for his old self.
Broncos Buck Cowboys at home. Dallas looked like they took the week off. They showed up in uniform but not in mind or spirit. It was the most pitiful performance I have seen all year. The Broncos were up 30-0 with 7 minutes to go in the third quarter. The Broncos barbecued them.
The trade of Von Miller to the Rams had no effect on the Broncos, or the Rams.
No Henry No Problem. The Rams were out muscled by a very physical Titans squad. Coach McVeigh called 11 personnel formations the whole first half. It seems he left his imagination at his highly priced LA residence. The physicality of the Titans cannot be overstated. They beat you up for 60 minutes. The Titans defense gave Matthew Stafford fits.
Jaguars secure win number 2 in the upset of the day. Sports betters the world over hated this result for sure. Jason Allen introduced himself to Jason Allen with a drive stopping sack. Is there really a Manning Bro’s curse?
Ravens edge Vikings. They continue to find ways to win with multiple retired running backs rotating on to the field. I mean they don’t have to do much when the quarterback is the leading rusher on the team. 21 carries for 120 yards were Lamar Jackson’s numbers. The Ravens are the honey badger of the NFL. They fall behind by big, they don’t care. They just find a way to win. Sunday was yet another comeback win. Unreal.
Colts score 45 but allow the Jets to score 30. That’s right, after the Colts knock out the 2nd string Quarterback sensation Mike White, 3rd string journeyman Josh Johnson came out and carved up the Colts defense like a Sunday roast. He tallied 317 yards thru the air and 3 touchdowns. It might be time for the Jets to trade Zach Wilson and just let the backups play because they clearly outperform him.
Dolphins are eight points better than the Texans. Doesn’t mean much. They have a Thursday night meeting with Baltimore on the horizon. OUCH!! If it was Sunday, they might have a chance…
Chargers Edge the Eagles. Justin Herbert got back to his efficient gunslinging ways connecting 38 of 32 passes for 356 yards.
49ers embarrassed at home once again. I have heard a lot about how depleted the Cardinals are. Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins sat with lingering injuries. Chase Edmonds was knocked out of the game. JJ Watt is on the IR. They call that depleted? The 49ers lost their right tackle in the game. They came into the game without both starting safeties and a starting defensive end. Losing Ward really cost the 49er defense. They lost their new starting corner to misconduct on the field in the game. Jason Verrett, Javon Kinlaw, Raheem Mostert, Dre Greenlaw and Dee Ford are all starters and are all on the IR. Coming into the game the 49ers were down at least seven high quality, high production players and they lost an eighth during the game. That is depleted. Still, even with all those injuries, the 49ers still need to find a way to win. They have the talent and coaching to do so. They just need to make it happen. The rest of the faithful needs to believe, and maybe that will help them along.
No OBJ, No problem. Apparently, he was a bigger locker room problem than we thought. Mayfield lit up a surging, quality Bengals team putting 41 points on the board. The Browns finally played to their talent’s potential.
Giants Stun Raiders. Who had this one in their parlay?
Patriots show they still have Sam Darnold’s number forcing three interceptions. Sam isn’t the answer for the Panthers.