Well we thought it would be an interesting night, and it certainly proved to be with the much fancied Green Bay & San Diego continuing their generosity on their travels both losing games it would have been easier to win, and several of the somewhat overlooked preseason teams continue to go well. The results:
Jacksonville 36, Buffalo 26 – The Jags turned the ball over 3 times but still won what was a more entertaining game than one would have expected from these two. Both teams actually played quite well and given the slightly unpredictable nature of the NFL this year the Jags will fancy their chances of a wild card. Whether they get it is a different matter though.
Tampa Bay 24, Cincinnati 21 – A great win for Tampa who scored 10 points in the final 1:26 to snatch an unlikely win. The Bucs are a young team but are growing up quickly and if they continue to progress they will be a play off team in a season or two.
Atlanta 20, Cleveland 10 – Finally a game which went to the script. The Falcons are looking good in the NFC South and no have the lead.
Detroit 44, St. Louis 6 – Finally the Loins have found their roar. we expected them to win but this was quite impressive all be it against the Rams who still have more holes in their roster than a block of Swiss Cheese.
Indianapolis 19, Kansas City 9 The Colts made surprisingly hard work of winning this one, still they have ended KC’s unbeaten start and have maintained their joint lead in the 3-2 AFC South division.
Washington 16, Green Bay 13 (OT) – The Packers are masters of throwing games away, having done it against Chicago and almost managing the feat against Detroit, they once again failed to see out the game against the Redskins. This lack of concentration is slightly worrying for us Packers fans who at 13-3 going into the final quarter could be excused for thinking the game was as good as won.
Chicago 23, Carolina 6 – The Panthers fell to 0-5 and didn’t show much. The Bears seemed to have recovered from their Mauling by the Giants but its too early to read too much into their performance. Still if Green Bay and Minnesota continue to shoot themselves in the foot the Bears could end up sneaking the division. The forthcoming games against the Vikings are starting to take on a whole lot of meaning
Baltimore 31, Denver 17 – A nice steady win for the Ravens which leaves them a game clear at the top of the AFC North. It is already looking like a battle between them and the Steelers for the Division.
NY Giants 34, Houston 10 -The Giants look back to their best, with their defense looking particularly impressive in holding Houston to 24 yards rushing a franchise low. Both are 3-2 and share the lead in their divisions however at this stage we would predict the Giants to end up with the better record. seems that Houston should have a good season but they need to learn how to handle the pressure against the NFL big names.
Arizona 30, New Orleans 20 – Max Hall take a Bow. OK he didn’t exactly set the world alight with his 168 yards of offense, and he had a heap of luck with his fumbles (one resulting in a TD and the other a 1st Down) but as an undrafted free agent he has given a glimmer of hope to all the overlooked players who can now dream with some hope that it could happen to them too. The win was down to the Cardinals defense who really stepped up in this one and given the weakness of the NFC West they could be looking at winning the division for a third consecutive season.
Oakland 35, San Diego 27 – I do believe that San Diego will manage an away win sometime this season, but if they continue to be so generous on their travels it could be a long time coming. 506 yards of offense more time with the ball and clearly the better team (from a neutrals view point) but once again they come up short. They can point to bad luck again including 2 red zone fumbles and an untimely interception, however this will count for nothing come the end of the season when the play off rankings are decided. They will still win the AFC West but with their schedule they should have been looking at home field advantage.
Tennessee 34, Dallas 27 – The Titans could be for real this season especially if they can keep Chris Johnson healthy. The Cowboys racked up 511 yards of offense but Romo threw 3 interceptions and its hard to win with a 3-0 turnover deficit.
Philadelphia 27, San Francisco 24 – The 49ers slump continues and at 0-5 they will need a miraculous turnaround to fulfill their preseason expectations. The post McNabb Eagles are doing slightly better than we expected but the quarter back situation remains a worry.
New York Jets 29, Minnesota Vikings 20 – Randy Moss celebrated his return to the Vikings with a TD but it wasn’t enough as the Jets continued to grind out results with Field Goals and a returned interception securing them their 4th straight win.
So a strange week came to an end with no team left unbeaten and 3 still looking for their 1st win.
We finished with an all time low 6-8 for our predictions leaving us 48-27 on the season.
Related articles
- Super Bowl Teams Not Looking So Super (newyork.cbslocal.com)
