10 Things You Need to Know: NFL Regular Season Week 6

Hall of Fame QB Troy Aikman had some choice words
for Dallas fans. Read on to see what he said.

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10.            Alex Karras dead at 77.

Karras was one of the greatest defensive linemen in the 1960s, playing the tackle position for the Detroit Lions. He died Wednesday morning in Los Angeles after suffering from dementia. He was among the few thousand former NFL players suing the league for their past treatment of head injuries.

9.            RGIII to Play in Week 6, Cundiff out for Washington

Robert Griffin III practiced on Tuesday and expects to be ready to go on Sunday when the Redskins host the Vikings and look for their first home win in over a year.

Billy Cundiff, after missing five of six field goal attempts in the last three weeks, was cut on Tuesday. Washington signed former UCLA kicker Kai Forbath as a replacement after working out him, Olindo Mare and Josh Brown.

8.            Playoff Picture

Week 5 just ended, so why not go ahead and start looking at the playoff picture? I’ll tell you why: because it’s ridiculous!! Anything can still happen, and some of the teams that are on the edge right now will go on 8-game losing streaks and fall way out of contention. Why else? Well, because everyone is still technically in contention right now. Not one team is mathematically out of the playoff hunt.

All the same, it is fun to look at which teams would be in if the season were to end today. Houston would have the highest seed in the AFC with Baltimore earning the other bye. Pittsburgh would play in San Diego and Cincinnati would play in New England for the wild-card games. In the NFC, the other undefeated team, Atlanta, would hold the top seed and Minnesota would be the other team straight through to the divisional round. The Cardinals would host San Francisco and Chicago would visit Philadelphia for the wild-card playoffs.

7.            Fantasy Disappointments

There were plenty of fantasy disappointments this week, so I’ll just list a few that stood out to me.

• Joe Flacco had only 6 points against the Chiefs, but that’s what happens when your team doesn’t put the ball in the end zone.
• Andre Johnson was nowhere to be found on Monday Night, making just one reception for 15 years – 1.5 points in my PPR league.
• After a breakout performance against Houston, CJ3K came crashing back down, carrying 15 times for 24 yards and a fumble against Minnesota. He had 0.5 points in my PPR league for one short reception.
• Mike Wallace, the Steelers receiver, had just 2 points in my league. 

6.            Fantasy Surprises

• Drew Brees had a great, 34 point game on Sunday Night, but we’re used to that. His receivers, though, usually don’t have those scores because he spreads it around so much. Marques Colston caught all three of Brees’ touchdown passes and got 35.5 fantasy points.
• Reggie Wayne had a huge game, playing through emotions and cramps to 33.5 fantasy points.
• When you think of QBs who can put up 30+ fantasy points, you don’t think of Alex Smith, but he scored 33 this weekend.
• Aaron Rodgers scored 27 fantasy points this weekend, and though that shouldn’t be surprising, considering he’s done to poorly so far this year, it’s cause of excitement.

5.            Games to Watch

Like last week, I’ll be more specific on why these are the biggest games to watch in my predictions post tomorrow.

• Cincinnati Bengals at Cleveland Browns (Sunday, 1:00 p.m.)
• Detroit Lions at Philadelphia Eagles (Sunday, 1:00 p.m.)
• New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers (Sunday, 4:25 p.m.)
• Minnesota Vikings at Washington Redskins (Sunday, 4:25 p.m.)
• Denver Broncos at San Diego Chargers (Monday, 8:30 p.m.)

4.            Power Rankings

For the sake of space, I will list just the top 6 and the bottom 6 here. You can see the rest on NFL.com.

1. Houston Texans	27. Kansas City Chiefs
2. San Francisco 49ers	28. New Orleans Saints
3. Atlanta Falcons	29. Jacksonville Jaguars
4. Baltimore Ravens	30. Tennessee Titans
5. Chicago Bears	31. Oakland Raiders
6. New England Patriots	32. Cleveland Browns

A lot of teams get to stay at or near the same place this week. The top 4 all stayed the same, as did the bottom 3. Several teams moved one or two places, but there were a handful that got huge jumps…or huge drops. The Dolphins jumped 6 places, as did the Rams and Steelers, but no one jumped more than the 8 spots the Colts did after their home defeat of the Packers. For that loss, the Packers dropped 9 spots, five more than any other team – the Broncos, Chargers and Bills all lost five places.

On the NFL.com Power Poll, the Texans are still #1, but no longer unanimously. No, the Falcons didn’t steal votes, the 49ers did - one vote. The Texans took 12 of 13 and still sit on the top of the pyramid. AFC teams hold seven of the bottom eight spots.

3.            New England Patriots

The Patriots used a big win over Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos to vault themselves into the top 6 of the NFL.com Power Rankings. Other than a couple of turnovers that nearly let Manning lead his new team to a victory, the Patriots played a brilliant game with a brilliant game plan. The defense struggled slightly at times, but played well, and the offense moved the ball efficiently, making the still-solid Broncos defense look like amateurs.

2.            Houston Texans

The Texans continue to lead the NFL.com Power Rankings and Power Poll, and it’s getting to where there is only so much I can find to write about them. This week, my topic is injury. Brian Cushing is out for the season, so don’t hold your breath for a perfect season. The Texans haven’t even gotten into their NFC schedule, where they play the North division. I don’t think they’ll beat the Packers, Bears and Vikings. And they’ve got plenty of tough opponents left in the AFC. Still, this is a team to be feared, and they have a target on their back now. This is a new position for Houston to be in.

1.            Troy Aikman Spits the Truth!

Troy Aikman had some strong words for Dallas fans. I’m not from there, so I can’t tell you for sure, but it certainly seems to be about right from my vantage point. Read about it here and tell me what you think.

Sunday Football Afterword: Week 4 Late Games

Brian Dawkins was honored during pregame and at halftime,
but looked like he wanted to suit up and play last night.

I just missed a perfect Sunday evening with my predictions because of the Sunday Night matchup, but I got every game correct that started in the 4:00 hour.

Arizona narrowly retained their status as an unbeaten with an overtime, 24-21 victory at home against Miami. The ‘Fins owned a 13-0 lead at halftime, but Arizona came alive in the second half as Kevin Kolb threw three touchdowns, two of them in the fourth quarter, including a 15-yarder to Andre Roberts inside of 30 seconds to play in regulation. Kolb finished with 324 passing yards while rookie Ryan Tannehill threw for 431 for Miami, 253 of which went toward Brian Hartline’s single-game team record.

New Orleans offense finally did what we thought it could do when the season began – keep them in games despite their crippled defense. Unfortunately, the Packers rode the same train and did so slightly better. The Packers held on for a 28-27 victory in what was a must-win game for both teams. Drew Brees threw for three scores, throwing a touchdown in his 47^th consecutive game, which ties an all-time NFL record. Rodgers threw for over 100 fewer yards, but one more score in the game.

The other exciting early-evening game was a blowout after the first half. Washington led Tampa Bay 21-6 at halftime. But three missed field goals by Billy Cundiff on stalled Redskins drives allowed the Buccaneers to battle back to a 22-21 lead. With three seconds left, Cundiff ‘redeemed’ himself with a 41-yarder that barely made it through the uprights, to win the game. RGIII played very well, rushing for a touchdown (nearly two) and didn’t turn the ball over at all.

Andy Dalton has now thrown an interception in each of the first four games this season, but they keep pace with the Ravens in the AFC North with another win, this one a 27-10 victory over Jacksonville. The Jaguars could not get anything going offensively and the win was even more lopsided than the final score suggests.

Granted it was at home against an awful defense, but Peyton Manning looked better than he has all season, even looking back at their opener against the Steelers. He finished 30/38 for 338 yards, 3 touchdowns, and, most importantly, no interceptions. Willis McGahee contributed to the offensive attack with 19 carries, over 100 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground.

The Sunday Night game was as exciting as I’ve been waiting a nationally televised game to legitimately be this season. At the two-minute warning in the first half, the score was tied at 0. At halftime, it was 7-3 Eagles. The scoring picked up a little from there, but it was a close one to the finish. The lead switched hands a couple times late, and the Giants even grabbed a late 17-16 lead. The Eagles drove but were held to a 26-yard field goal by Alex Henery with just under two minutes left in the game. The Eagles committed two pass interference penalties on the Giants’ final drive, including on a 4^th & 1 downfield pass. However, offensive pass interference a few plays later moved the Giants out of Lawrence Tynes’s range.

Andy Reid needs to take a note from mistakes made by the likes of Jason Garrett and Joe Philbin and stop icing the kicker. They Eagles got lucky last night. Reid called a last-second time out and his defense blocked the field goal attempt. Lawrence Tynes took his second opportunity and made a beautiful kick, perfectly down the middle of the hash marks. He just didn’t have the leg from 54 yards and the Eagles held on to win 19-17.

With the regular officials back in place, this was the most exciting week of the season so far and I look forward to 13 more weeks of the same. For now, we have a big matchup on tap for tonight as the Cowboys host the Bears at 8:30. Be sure to check out my afterword on that game tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!