Sunday Football Afterword: Week 3 Early Games

Christian Ponder threw two touchdowns and ran for another
as he led his Vikings to a huge upset over San Francisco.

The Redskins hosted the Bengals in their home opener yesterday, so of course a lot of my attention was focused on that game. There was, however, too much madness going around the league to ignore it all completely.

As those of you who paid close attention know, I only correctly predicted two of the nine 1:00 games played on Sunday. I correctly predicted the Redskins game and the Bills game. The other seven didn’t go so well.

The Redskins went down early as the Bengals kicked the game off with a long touchdown pass, and it wasn’t Andy Dalton who threw it; he was lined up as a receiver. Instead, the opening score was a 73-yard pass from Mohamad Sanu to A.J. Green. The Redskins tied it when Rob Jackson picked off Dalton in the end zone for a touchdown (yes, you read that correctly, nothing I can ever remember seeing before in my life).

The Bengals then scored 17 unanswered points, after which the Redskins returned the favor to tie the game at 24 in the third quarter. When Dalton threw touchdown passes on the next two Cincinnati drives, the lead was just too much for RGIII and the Redskins to come back from. Instead the Bengals won their second game of the season and they are in a tie for first in the AFC North while the Redskins are all alone in the cellar of the NFC East.

Bradford wasn’t terrible, but Danny Amendola didn’t come close to the success he had against the Redskins a week ago and the Rams were not able to make much of a game out of their contest in Chicago. Cutler was a little better than last week against Green Bay, but the key was a huge defensive effort from the Bears. That carried them to a 23-6 victory.

C.J. Spiller went down in the first quarter of the Bills game in Cleveland. He already had 58 total yards and a score when he left. Right now the report is that he should miss only a couple weeks and that he avoided anything to severe. Ryan Fitzpatrick finally had a good game after struggling much of last season. He threw three touchdown passes in the game. With the 24-14 loss, the Browns are now on a nine-game losing streak dating back to last season.

I really thought the Buccaneers had a legitimate shot at beating Dallas, and they did. But apparently Tampa Bay plays their hardest when the other team is in the victory formation. It’s like running a six-mile race but only running hard the last quarter mile. It isn’t going to win you games.

I am having a difficult time explaining what happened to the Colts. They led 14-3 at halftime; Andrew Luck was playing very well (both 1^st half touchdowns came from him). But their defense is clearly still suspect, and Jacksonville shut down the Indy offense in the second half. The Jaguars outscored the Colts 19-3 in the second half for a 22-17 victory. The winning score came on an 80-yard touchdown pass from Gabbert to Cecil Shorts III with less than a minute left to play.

In a bizarre finish, the Jets beat the Dolphins in overtime. Last year it took the first installment of Tebow Time for the Broncos to beat the Dolphins; this year all it took for Tebow’s new team was Joe Philbin. With a few minutes left in overtime, Nick Folk lined up for a field goal to win the game. Philbin called a timeout just before the snap, but the Dolphins blocked the field goal. The attempt to ice Folk backfired and he knocked the next one in to win the game.

The shocker of the week in a Sunday full of them was the Minnesota Vikings. Christian Ponder had a fantastic game. I think most of us knew he’s a talented young passer, but to lead this team to a victory over the 49ers seemed too much to ask. After the 24-13 victory, apparently it wasn’t. Nobody gave Minnesota much chance, considering they lost to Indianapolis last week and the 49ers had already beaten two much more formidable NFC North teams in Green Bay and Detroit.

In another wild finish, Kansas City kept their matchup against New Orleans close through the first half. In the third quarter it looked like the Saints were finally pulling away until a 91-yard touchdown run by Jamaal Charles. The fourth quarter saw four scored, all by the Chiefs, to tie the game up and send it to overtime where a 31-yard field goal by Ryan Succop, his sixth field goal of the game, won it and sent the Saints to 0-3.

The third overtime of the day came in Tennessee where a rehash of the Music City Miracle gave the Titans a 10-6 lead in the first quarter. Jake Locker completed 29 passes for 378 yards, two touchdowns and no picks. Chris Johnson still looks like he’s sleepwalking, but the Titans overcame it for their first win of the season. Tennessee scored five times on plays of over 60 yards, an NFL record! They had a punt return TD, a kick return TD, a fumble return TD, and two passing TDs from Locker, all over 60 yards. And it still went to overtime despite Matthew Stafford going down with an injury and Shaun Hill, the Maryland grad, taking over. The final was 44-41.

Be sure to check in later when my afterword on yesterday’s later games is published, and of course keep an eye on the status of this week’s The All-Sports Crew show where we will talk more about Week 3.