There are now just three undefeated team in the league after as many weeks of play this season. The Green Bay Packers record surprises few people. The defending Super Bowl champions were expected to make another run to the playoffs after going the distance with several players being on IR last season.
The other two, Buffalo and Detroit surprise most people, including their own fans. Detroit was expected to be a vast improvement on the Lions teams of the past decade, but 3-0 was nowhere near an expectation, and only a few people seriously considered them to be a potential playoff team. There is still time in the season for the team to tank, but after handing Minnesota their third consecutive loss after holding a double-digit halftime lead, few doubt Detroit’s legitimacy as a top team.
The Bills, on the other hand, were in a position slightly different than Detroit’s. Nobody really knew what to expect from this year’s team as compared to last year’s Bills. They lost Lee Evans, and though Steve Johnson really emerged as a top tier receiver during the second half of last season, during which the Bills went 4-4 to finish 4-12, their options were not so obvious. In fact, I predicted another 4-12 record for Buffalo this season. As with Detroit, I still do have a chance at being wrong, but after Buffalo’s impressive come-from-behind win against New England, picking off four of Tom Brady’s passes, this seems very unlikely.
The Giants also upset a division rival this weekend. New York defeated the Eagles in Philadelphia. The game was pretty close through much of the game and the Eagles led 16-14 heading into the final quarter. But for the second consecutive week a late-game injury to Michael Vick forced Kafka into the game, and a 15-0 fourth quarter gave the Giants a 29-16 win.
Baltimore converted their second blowout win of the season a week after being upset by Tennessee. This week they were in St. Louis. Flacco had a very good game, but even more impressive was rookie receiver Torrey Smith of my own University of Maryland. He caught five passes for 152 yards and was on the receiving end of all three of Flacco’s touchdown passes. This came after being targeted just once and having no receptions in Baltimore’s games against Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Kansas City was finally part of a close game, and despite a fairly poor performance by Philip Rivers, Ryan Matthews gave San Diego a lift over the Chiefs. The final in San Diego was 20-17.
Green Bay helped many Bears fans relive the sorrow of last year’s NFC Championship Game loss by winning in Chicago 27-17. Atlanta, meanwhile, falls to 1-2 after a 16-13 loss in Tampa.
In Sunday Night Football, the Colts finally treated their fans to a good game. Though they lost to Pittsburgh 23-20, their defense finally looked more like the disciplined and, well, good unit Indianapolis had during their Super Bowl run in the 2006-07 season.
Last night’s game was not particularly exciting, but it was a very close game in Dallas, where the Cowboys out-kicked the Redskins 18-16. Washington scored the lone touchdown of the game, but a bad hold on an early field goal try took three points off the board for Washington that could have potentially changed the outcome of this game by a three or six point swing. Instead, Dallas’s six field goals were just enough to hand the Redskins their first loss of the season and force a three way tie between these two teams and the Giants, one game ahead of Philadelphia. Grossman again looked good, but the offensive line never got into a groove and he was forced to make several quick throws, many of which sailed over receivers’ heads.
I will be back later this week with my predictions for this weekend’s games. This week will be the last week with 16 games until week 10.
Thanks for reading!
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