In the early games...
Houston 24 San Francisco 21: The Texans hold off a late charge by the 49ers who bench Shaun Hill in favor of Alex Smith. Owen Daniels has another monster game, hauling in 123 receiving yards and a TD. 
Pittsburgh 27 Minnesota 17: A great defensive performance by Pittsburgh, who get two defensive TDs in the 4th quarter to thwart late attempts by the Vikings to regain the lead. Favre has a fumble returned for a TD and a INT (that should have been caught by Chester Taylor) go back for a TD. Good fantasy days for Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin.
New England 35 Tampa Bay 7: Don't look now, but Tom Brady is returning to post ACL tear form. He threw two picks, but otherwise had easy throws all day against a weak Bucs secondary. This game was played in London and it appeared packed on TV.
San Diego 37 Kansas City 7: My AFC lock pans out as the Chargers dominate in Kansas City. LT had 71 yards rushing and the Chargers D held KC in check all day. "Somewhere over" Dwayne Bowe had the only KC TD and remains the only viable Chiefs fantasy player. Darren Sproles returned a kick for a TD...that dude defines elusive.
Indianapolis 42 St. Louis 6: Another day, another big passing performance by Peyton Manning (235 yards, 3 TDs). He has finally settled in with his new skill personnel and the Colts are the team to beat in the AFC South.
Green Bay 31 Cleveland 3: The Browns are embarrasingly bad and the Packers pushed Cleveland around at Lambeau. Ryan Grant goes for 148 yards and a TD and Aaron Rodgers adds 3 TD passes. Big showdown next weekend as Brett Favre returns in purple.
In the late games...
New Orleans 46 Miami 34: The Dolphins had a 21 point lead just before the half prior to the Saints first TD drive which ended with the above Drew Brees dive as time expired. In the second half, Drew Brees and the Saints roared back to remain perfect. The Saints didn't abondon the run as Mike Bell, Pierre Thomas, and Reggie Bush kept Miami's D on its toes.
Cincinnati 45 Chicago 10: The Bengals and Cedric Benson took it to the Bears. The Bengals are the surprise team of 2009 and appear to be a legit contender. Benson looks like a different back in the black and orange, carrying the rock 35 times for over 150 yards and a TD. Devin Hester scored the lone TD for the Bears who appear to have gotten the wrong end of the trade with Denver (Cutler threw some ducks again today). 
NY Jets 38, Oakland 0: Now that's more like it. The Jets lay it to the Raiders who again looked like a high school team. Jamarcus Russell is proving to not be an NFL QB and was benched in favor of Bruce Gradkoswski. Only bad news for the Jets: Leon Washington breaks his leg and it probably out for the year. Not to worry, rookie Shonn Greene from Iowa steps in and goes for 120 yards and two TDs spelling Thomas Jones. Pick him up now!
Buffalo 20 Carolina 9: The Panthers continue to look terrible as the Bills, with Ryan Fitzpatrick at QB, beat Carolina at home. The Panthers muffed a punt late when they had a chance to drive down the field and get back in the game. DeAngelo Williams scored, but is a shell of his former self after a huge 2008.
Dallas 37 Atlanta 24: Tony Romo gets in a groove at home and he has a new favorite target: Miles Austin. Austin sets a franchise record for receiving yards in back to back games and found the end zone a couple of times. The Falcons are a team on the verge of being good but have not played well the last few weeks.
Rush to the waiver wire to grab: Shonn Greene, RB Jets
Do you have another option than playing: Matt Forte, RB Bears
Biggest injury to watch: Andre Johnson, WR Texans
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ReplyDelete- Is it just me, or is this starting to smell like the good ol' days? New England and Indianapolis keep getting better. Pittsburgh coming on pulling out tight games. And even the Bengals are back. Had to think they had the pieces there all these years. If Palmer doesn't get hurt a few years back, they might have become a dynasty!
ReplyDelete- I noticed in all the early blowouts, teams quickly abandoned the run. The difference is New Orleans really believes in what they're doing. Other teams could learn from the strategy. You can only go 1-dimensional if you have a great qb. These bad teams don't.
- People says it's a weird year in college football. I disagree, I say it's really an odd year in the NFL. There are about 10 really bad teams and about 6 really good ones. 3 teams are 6-0... I say the Saints have a fair chance to go undefeated (they still have St Louis, Washington, and 2 each against Carolina and Tampa on the schedule... two against Atlanta, vs Dallas, and vs New England should be the only true dangers). Meanwhile, there are also still 3 winless teams. And the Chiefs and Lions might well be if not for Washington's "run" through the league's worst. Could certainly have a winless team too!
- Anyone smelling a repeat of last year!?! Denver has built a 3 game lead in the AFC West through 6 games. But San Diego has played a tough schedule and Denver probably gotten quite lucky. San Diego came from 4 back with 4 to play to win the division last season.
- Thank you for the note on Greene! Darn Clark for beating me in our league. I'll have to set it to players on waivers after games for next year...
- Don't look now, the Texans are tied for the Wild Card in the AFC with the struggling Jets. I'd say the Bills may also make things interesting. Too many people have given up on them, and they're playing 0.500 football even as they struggle. They're ready to break out.
- The Falcons will be fine. They've played quite a few good teams so far this year, and after New Orleans next week, it gets much easier. I tend to think they'll easily take a wildcard, and leave the last one for Dallas, Philly, Green Bay, and Chicago to fight over.