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| 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.
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