Sunday Football Afterword: Falcons vs Patriots

New England's young receiver corps of Boyce, Dobson, Edelman (11)
and Thompkins (not pictured) are improving drastically every game.
With Gronk and Amendola due back soon, the Patriots are in a good spot.

Cory Puffett

The final score of this was not what most of America expected, especially New England’s score in the Georgia Dome. No disrespect intended to the Patriots, but the Falcons aren’t a team that gets beat at home very often. It is only the eighth time Matt Ryan has lost in the Georgia Dome during the regular season.

Tony Gonzalez had a big game for Atlanta, catching almost every ball thrown his way and scoring twice. But the Patriots were willing to let him get his while shutting down the rest of Atlanta’s receiving corps, and they did just that.

The Falcons are a depleted offense, but it was still easily the best offense the Patriots have faced to this point in 2013, and they handled them quite well. The final score was closer than the game was due to some garbage time points and a recovered onside kick leading to even more garbage time points for Atlanta. It should be interesting to see how they do in Cincinnati next week against an offense that really struggled against the Browns on Sunday.

Atlanta is in serious trouble now. They were one of only two teams to be unanimously voted as division winners by ESPN experts and yet they will be three games behind the Saints if New Orleans beats the Dolphins on Monday Night Football, and only four games into the season no less.

Atlanta’s offense is hurting and this might be the worst Atlanta defense since Matt Ryan has been with them. The Falcons are already in serious trouble, but the NFC is looking as bad as it’s ever been. 8-8 could get the first wild-card spot at this rate, so it isn’t time to panic yet. Still, Matt Ryan has struggled in big spots, not just making bad passes but bad decisions, too. That will have to change if he wants a chance to compete for career playoff win number two.

Final Score:

New England Patriots – 30

Atlanta Falcons – 23

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Sunday Football Afterword: Chargers vs Cowboys

Philip Rivers completed 35 of 42 passes (83%) for 401 yards,
3 TDs and 1 INT in a big home win for the Chargers.

Cory Puffett

Dallas had a golden opportunity this week to put a lot of pressure on the rest of the NFC East and to show that the division isn’t completely void of talent.

Personally, I feel that they accomplished that by being competitive against a San Diego team that is probably being underrated by too many expert NFL analysts. Tony Romo has thrown 8 touchdown passes versus just one interceptions through a quarter of the season and the team has a running game that is not only complimenting him but is keeping the pressure off the often overwhelmed quarterback.

Unfortunately, they didn’t fully take advantage of their opportunity. With a, just being honest here, likely loss to Denver next week, Dallas will be in a spot where a loss to Washington in Week 6 would put the previously 0-3 Redskins in the drivers seat of the division.

For San Diego, they’re trying to make it a 3-way race in the AFC West, though early season losses to Houston and Tennessee are going to make it tough. Denver is the unmatched class of the AFC through the first four games and Kansas City is also sitting pretty at 4-0. But Philip Rivers is definitely looking much more like his 2010 self than the version we saw in 2011 and 2012.

Final Score:

Dallas Cowboys – 21

San Diego Chargers – 30

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Sunday Football Afterword: Texans vs Seahawks

In a defensive battle, the Seahawks defense won. They sacked Matt Schaub
five times and Richard Sherman left his shoe behind while returning this
interception for a score late in the fourth quarter.

Saswat Misra

In a game that lived up to the hype, the Seattle Seahawks prevailed against the Houston Texans on the road in comeback fashion.

The Seahawks trailed by as many as 17 points, were down 14 points to start the fourth quarter. But, as they did many times last season, they came back due to some timely defensive plays. Down 7 with less than three minutes to go, Richard Sherman intercepted a Matt Schaub pass and returned it for a touchdown.

The game went into overtime and after a few good defensive possessions by both teams, Steven Hauschka nailed a 45-yard field goal to win it.

This is a huge win for the Seahawks as many questioned if they can beat good teams on the road. Seattle is almost unstoppable at home but this big road win should be enough to show that they are a legit contender and possibly the best team in the NFL. This win also keeps the Seahawks two games ahead of San Francisco in the NFC West even though it is still early.

Houston is still showing how inconsistent they can be. Their offense couldn’t put the game away in the fourth quarter and they have yet to have a great performance this season, as their wins have been very close. If they can’t get it together soon, look for the Colts or even the Titans to challenge them later in the season for the AFC South crown.

Final Score:

Seattle Seahawks – 23

Houston Texans – 20 (OT)

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Thursday Football Afterword: Rams vs 49ers

After two rough weeks, the 49ers finally got Anquan Boldin involved
in their game plan again as he hauled in 5 catches for 90 yards and a TD.

Sean Kennedy

Thursday night the 49ers bounced back from their recent slump with an impressive win over the Rams. They crushed a bad team like they should have and the team looked much better overall.

Kaepernick threw two touchdowns as opposed to the four picks from the past two weeks. He is starting to regain his confidence but still has some work to do. Frank Gore tore through the Rams defensive line for 153 yards and a score. The defense terrorized Sam Bradford for five sacks and the Rams never were able to get much going.

This was a good test for the 49ers to show that they can still play well against bad teams. The 49ers defense held the Rams to only 18 rushing yards, which I think was very impressive. The defensive line looked solid and they did not give up any big plays throughout the game.

I like this 49ers team and I’m positive they will continue to improve these upcoming weeks. If they want a shot at the playoffs or even the Super Bowl, they need to keep stepping up their game each and every week.

Final Score:

San Francisco 49ers – 35

St. Louis Rams – 11

Keep up with the Football Freaks by liking The All-Sports Crew’s Facebook page and listen to their live shows on WMUC Sports as well as their podcasts on iTunes. You can listen to their predictions of the upcoming weekend’s games on PodOmatic right now, too.

2013 NFL Predictions, Week 4

This preseason, with the help of my co-hosts on The All-Sports Crew, I premiered Football Freaks, a two-hour talk show each Friday evening where we talk all things pro football.

Every week, my three co-hosts and I will make predictions for every game. Bonus games, in bold, are worth two points while all others are worth one point.

Week 4 Byes: Carolina Panthers, Green Bay Packers

Bonus games (i.e. BOLD games) are:

• Sunday Night Game
• Cory’s Pick (c)
• Eric’s Pick (e)
• Sean’s Pick (k)
• Saswat’s Pick (s)

Pick for Sunday and Monday games will be added after Football Freaks on Friday.

Day/Time	Game	CORY PUFETT	ERIC MEYER	SEAN KENNEDY	SASWAT MISRA
Sept. 26 – 8:25p	SF at STL (k)	STL	SF	SF	SF
Sept. 29 – 1:00p	BAL at BUF	BAL	BAL	BAL	BAL
	ARI at TB	ARI	ARI	ARI	ARI
	PIT at MIN	MIN	PIT	PIT	PIT
	NYG at KC	KC	KC	KC	KC
	IND at JAC	IND	IND	IND	IND
	SEA at HOU (s)	HOU	SEA	SEA	SEA
	CIN at CLE	CIN	CIN	CIN	CIN
	CHI at DET	CHI	CHI	CHI	DET
Sept. 29 – 4:05p	NYJ at TEN	TEN	TEN	NYJ	TEN
Sept. 29 – 4:25p	WAS at OAK	WAS	WAS	WAS	WAS
	PHI at DEN	DEN	DEN	DEN	DEN
	DAL at SD (c)	DAL	SD	SD	SD
Sept. 29 – 8:30p	NE at ATL	ATL	NE	ATL	ATL
Sept. 30 – 8:40p	MIA at NO (e)	NO	NO	NO	NO

	CORY	ERIC	SEAN	SASWAT
Wk 4 Record	8-7	11-4	9-6	11-4
Total Record	40-23	45-18	41-22	45-18
Wk 4 Points	9	16	13	15
Current Totals	52	62	54	61

Some of our listeners are competing with us to score the most points on game predictions this season. Below are their week 3 totals:

	JAKE D.	EVAN A.	DANNY H.
Wk 4 Record	10-5	10-5	9-6
Total Record	36-27	37-26	40-23
Wk 4 Points	14	14	12
Current Totals	50	50	54

Listen to our show live every Friday at 7 p.m. (unless otherwise announced) and stay updated on our schedule by visiting our Facebook Page. We are having a blast putting this show together and hope you all are having as much fun listening to us.