Monday, October 1, 2012

Sunday Football Afterword: Week 4 Early Games

Roddy White pulled in a critical 4th quarter bomb,
leading to Matt Bryant's game-winning FG

What a Sunday! My predictions have gone extremely well this week, and it couldn’t have come at a better time than the week after a dismal 3-13 week, the first time I’ve been under .500 in any week as far as I can remember.

While it might make sense that a week when I get most of my picks correct would be boring and too predictable, it really hasn’t been. There have been some fantastic finishes; even to the games I’ve gotten right.

I was tuned in to FOX yesterday at 1:00 o’clock, only occasionally flipping over to CBS for the Bills/Patriots game. That game reminded me of too many instances last year when a team like Buffalo would play a fantastic first half against the Patriots, holding them defensively and taking advantage of all their opponents’ mistakes in order to generate points of their own, then let it all slip away in the second half. New England scored 45 points in the second half of their 52-28 victory over the Bills, the most second-half points scored in an NFL game in four decades.

The game I got to watch for a fair portion of the afternoon on FOX was the 49ers/Jets matchup, and what a lopsided affair that was, so much so that FOX switched games in the third quarter. The Jets offense was terrible and their defense appeared lost without Darrelle Revis. San Francisco’s defense frustrated me because they scored 38 fantasy points in my league and were chilling on my bench (thankfully I still won my matchup or I would’ve been furious). The Jets were the first time to get blanked in a regular season game this year, falling 34-0.

The game FOX switched to was Carolina at Atlanta, and boy was I glad they did when the game ended. It was a battle to the end, but Matt Ryan kept his cool and delivered some nice passes, trusting his receivers to make acrobatic catches and dumping passes off when he looked certain to be sacked. The game winning drive, capped by Matt Bryant’s 40-yard game-winning field goal, was one of the most exciting finishes I had seen up that that point this season.

In another exciting early game, which I am proud to say I predicted correctly, the Detroit Lions failed to defend their home turf against Christian Ponder and the Minnesota Vikings. Ponder took a step back from his electrical outing against San Francisco last week, but Adrian Peterson carried the ball 21 times for over 100 yards to keep the ball with the offense, milk the clock, and limit the opportunities the Lions had to come back from the huge special teams plays they gave up. Percy Harvin returned the opening kickoff to the house and Marcus Sherels scored on an early-second half punt return, leading Minnesota to a 20-13 victory.

The only early game I failed to pick correctly was Seattle’s game, where they fell in St. Louis, 19-13, in their first game after the “Monday Night Fiasco” in which they beat Green Bay on a controversial final play. Russell Wilson threw three interceptions and Marshawn Lynch, as good a game as he had, was not enough to give the Seahawks the win in a tight contest.

Houston crushed Tennessee, 38-14, in their matchup. Jake Locker went down early with an injury and Matt Hasselbeck played well, as did Chris Johnson for the first time this season, but their defense was dismal and the Texans remained undefeated with the blowout.

The Chargers charged out of the gate quickly, scoring 17 points in the first quarter, and it was enough to beat the Chiefs, who entered the game, unbelievably, as the #1 ranked offense in the NFL. That final was 37-20.

Check back a little later in the day for my afterword on the six later games from Sunday! Thanks for reading everyone! Happy October!

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