Monday, October 22, 2012

Sunday Football Afterword: Week 7 Late Games



I’ll start with the early evening game I didn’t get to watch – Jacksonville at Oakland. I expected the Raiders to win, and they did. I didn’t expect Jacksonville to make a game of it, and I certainly did not expect so after MJD went down early in the first quarter with an injury. Jones-Drew may miss extended time, and despite a close loss to Oakland, they should be worried. Oakland did not play very well. They should have blown Jacksonville out of California. They let the Jaguars stay close and it took a QB sneak by Carson Palmer late in the game to even force overtime.

The game I got to watch was, thankfully, the good one. As always, the Jets proved that Rex Ryan builds his team specifically for this matchup. It hasn’t worked consistently against anyone but New England. The Patriots escaped. Giants’ players said that’s how they felt against RGIII and the Redskins, and the Patriots should feel the same way about the Jets. Mark Sanchez played a really good game, but a couple key drops killed drives and kept New York from putting the game out of reach. Predictably, the Jets held a lead late in the fourth quarter and Tom Brady let his team on a drive to a game-tying field goal. As in Oakland, an overtime field goal gave the home team the victory.

The late game was pretty exciting during the first half. Cincinnati showed up in the first half after being the Browns’ first victim of the 2012 season. Pittsburgh also seemed spurred on by their embarrassing Thursday loss against Tennessee. But the second half was all Pittsburgh. They stuck with Jonathan Dwyer, who broke several big runs to keep dives going. Roethlisberger didn’t play great, but he made enough plays and took enough downfield shots to keep the running game open. After a decent first half, Andy Dalton did nothing in the second half as he continues to be inconsistent.


Wow, only having three games certainly does keep posts short. Check back tomorrow for my Afterword on tonight’s Monday Night Football matchup between the Lions and Bears in Chicago. Thanks for reading!

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