Although its always dangerous to read too much into the early season the Dallas Cowboys & the Minnesota Vikings will both be a little concerned with their starts given they have both had games they were expected to win.
The Dallas offense looked somewhat suspect again on Sunday night as once again they failed to turn yards into points. Gaining 36 yards rushing is also a big concern as although the Bears are strong on the defensive line an average of 1.8 yards per carry is not good. With a trip to Houston nest on the schedule its not inconceivable that they will go into the bye week 0-3.
Minnesota continued to stutter, looking more like a preseason team than one ready to compete in what is looking an increasingly tough NFC North. Again they dominated the yards but you cant win with only one score from 5 trips to the red zone. Four turnovers didn’t help either and although they will iron out the mistakes in time the division might be long gone by then if then Packers continue on their tear up. They have a home game against the Lions before the bye week but then they have an ugly 4 game run comprising trips to The NY Jets, Packers and New England punctuated with a home game against Dallas. Their schedule gets a whole lot easier there after on paper at least but they will need to get something from these games or they can forget even making the Wild Cards.
Result of the night has to go to the Houston Texans, who built on last weeks tremendous win over the Colts with a great comeback win against the Redskins. Trailing 27-10 deep in the 3rd quarter Matt Schaub managed to rally them throwing 2 touch downs and the 2 Neil Rackets field goals (One of which was in OT) sealer a 30-27 win. Unlike last week this win was all done through the air with only 58 of their 526 yards of offense coming on the ground. The Skins fared no better with the rush managing a partly 18 yards – 12 of which came on a single Clinton Portis dash.
Sunday Nights Results:
Pittsburgh 19 Tennessee 11 *
Miami 14 Minnesota 10
Atlanta 41 Arizona 7 *
Cincinnati 15 Baltimore 10
Kansas City 16 Cleveland 14 *
Chicago 27 Dallas 20
Philadelphia 35 Detroit 32 *
Green Bay 34 Buffalo 7 *
Tampa Bay 20 Carolina 7 *
Denver 31 Seattle 14*
Oakland 16 St. Louis 14 *
Houston 30 Washington 27 (OT) *
NY Jets 28 New England 14
San Diego 38 Jacksonville 13 *
Indianapolis 38 NY Giants 14 *
* Our picks week 11-4 so far with the Saints to come.
