Monday Football Afterword: Rams vs Seahawks

Rookie RB Zac Stacy had a big game on Monday Night Football.
Unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough for St. Louis to win.

Cory Puffett

The St. Louis Rams defense deserves a lot of credit because they left nothing on the field. Russell Wilson was under pressure all night and was sacked seven times. Chris Long and Robert Quinn each recorded three of those sacks.

Seattle’s offense did nothing late in the game, going three and out on 5 of 6 drives with the lone exception a 2-play 80-yard drive with a long touchdown pass to Golden Tate, who was penalized for taunting as he ran into the end zone.

In addition to the dominant defensive showing, Zac Stacy provided another bright spot for St. Louis. The rookie running back picked up 134 rushing yards on 26 carries. Beast Mode and the Seahawks combined for 44 rushing yards on 15 carries.

The game, shown on ESPN, went up against Game 5 of the World Series on FOX. Both games were played in St. Louis, just a few blocks from each other. But the Rams still beat their average attendance for the season. Their average is 2^nd worst in the league, but their attendance of 55,966 broke that average by almost 600 people.

The Rams get ready for big tests against the Titans, Colts, Bears and 49ers in the next four weeks. At 3-5, their season is not going as well as it could. But considering this game went down to the wire and Kellen Clemens almost led a game-winning drive, don’t count them out from getting some big wins and, if nothing else, being a spoiler down the stretch.

Seattle plays against the Buccaneers, Falcons and Vikings in the next three weeks before hosting the New Orleans Saints in a big matchup between the NFC’s two current powerhouses.

Final Score:

Seattle Seahawks – 14

St. Louis Rams – 9

Sunday Football Afterword: Vikings vs Packers

Green Bay overpowered Minnesota in the second half, but this TD by
Adrian Peterson in the 2nd quarter kept the game close at halftime.

Cory Puffett

You can thank garbage time for the relatively close final score in this game.

I’ll answer the one question that will be debated throughout the week right now: Christian Ponder is better than Josh Freeman. I’ve been supportive of Josh Freeman, and I still think he has a future in the NFL, probably as a starter at some point. But Freeman doesn’t understand the Vikings offense right now and Ponder clearly played better on Sunday night than Freeman did the previous Monday night. So this statement comes with an asterisks standing for “for now,” but that where the Vikings stand right now.

Green Bay got big games from Aarond Rodgers and Jordy Nelson. You would think Minnesota would focus on shutting down Nelson since he is Green Bay’s most experienced healthy receiver, but the Packers got a lot of production from Eddie Lacy and James Starks, who combined for more than 150 rushing yards. Jarrett Boykin also had a nice game, catching five passes for 89 yards.

Christian Ponder completed 14 of 21 passes for 145 yards and no interceptions. He also ran five times for 38 yards and a garbage time touchdown. But there was not much Minnesota could do. Green Bay held the ball for a little more than 40 minutes of game time, leaving the Vikings with only 19:06 to work with.

Minnesota has a really tough schedule coming over the next five or six weeks, so with just one win their season is over. Sorry, just telling it how it is.

Green Bay will play a big division game against the Bears next week, and it’s a great opportunity to take completely control of the division since Jay Cutler is injured. Then they’ll play the Eagles, Giants and Vikings over the following three weeks.

Final Score:

Green Bay Packers – 44

Minnesota Vikings – 31

Puff's Take, Week 8

This may turn into a new weekly thing on my blog, but there were so many story lines today that I wanted to talk about more than just the two games that I covered. At the same time, I didn't feel like writing more, nor did I have time before the Sunday night game began. So here is a short, 7-minute video containing my impressions of the games played today.

Sunday Football Afterword: Broncos vs Redskins

Mike Shanahan returned to Denver, where he won two Super Bowls with
John Elway, for the first time as the head coach of the Redskins.

Cory Puffett

The Broncos outscored Washington 38-0 in the final 26 minutes and change and the offensive outpour resulted in the most points Denver has scored since they visited Dallas three weeks ago.

Washington had a 21-7 lead early in the third quarter, and held a 21-14 advantage at the start of the fourth quarter. After a strong defensive and special teams showing, everything unraveled when Sav Rocca shanked a punt and Knowshon Moreno scored in one play, a short pass from Peyton Manning turned into a 35-yard touchdown to take a 28-21 lead.

Washington defense continued to fall apart and late turnovers sealed the deal, despite Peyton Manning’s four turnovers – three interceptions and a lost fumble.

Still, the Redskins turned in one of their better defensive performances of the season, and among NFC East teams, only the Giants allowed fewer points against the Broncos, who finish 4-0 in interconference play.

The Broncos get a bye week next week, which will allow the team to regroup. They have struggled for the past few weeks on offense and it’s difficult to tell whether their late resurgence on Sunday was more telling of their offense getting back on track or Washington’s defense struggling to play a complete game.

After that bye week they play four tough games in a row, visiting San Diego, hosting the Chiefs, and then visiting the Patriots and the Chiefs in Weeks 12 and 13.

The Redskins face the Chargers next week before visiting the Vikings and Eagles the following two weeks. The Redskins are not out of the division race after losses by Dallas and Philadelphia today, but their defense doesn’t give Washington fans much hope.

Final Score:

Washington Redskins – 21

Denver Broncos – 45

Sunday Football Afterword: Lions vs Cowboys

Calvin Johnson's 329 receiving yards ranked 2nd in NFL history for a single game
behind Flipper Anderson's 336 yards for the LA Rams in 1989.

Cory Puffett

In one of the most exciting endings this football season, a mixture of terrible pass coverage by Dallas and gutsy decision-making by Matthew Stafford helped the Lions become one of the few teams in the Super Bowl era to win a game with a -4 turnover margin.

Matt Stafford led an impressive game winning, 80-yard touchdown drive with less than 1:30 remaining and no time outs. After a completion to Calvin Johnson at the 1-yard line, he called the troops to the line of scrimmage for a spike and then quickly dove over his linemen for the winning score.

Stafford finished the day with 488 passing yards, 329 of which went to Calvin Johnson he had the best fantasy day of the season for any wide receiver despite only scoring once.

Reggie Bush had another big day as well, carrying the ball 21 times for 92 yards and a score in addition to eight receptions for 30 yards.

Dez Bryant, who has made headlines all week comparing himself to Johnson, likely just looking for people to respect his game, had two touchdown receptions on just three catches for 72 yards. Tony Romo barely broke 200 passing yards and his completion percentage was below 50%.

But this loss cannot be pinned on Romo. Despite his poor completion percentage, he had three touchdowns and no interceptions. The Cowboys’ defense, which many experts were under the impression had finally grasped the concept of the Tampa 2 defense they use, struggled throughout the game, especially on the last drive. Stafford was extraordinarily accurate with his throws, but the coverage was neither prevent nor Tampa 2. Whatever it was, Dallas paid for it dearly.

The good news for Dallas is that they play Minnesota next week before their trip to New Orleans, so they should have a relatively easy game. The bad news is that means Jimmy Graham, who had two touchdown receptions on an injured foot, has two weeks to get healthy before the Cowboys porous defense faces him.

Detroit will head to Chicago for the first of a two-game road trip next week before facing the resurgent Steelers, who have won two straight games heading into this weekend.

Final Score:

Dallas Cowboys – 30

Detroit Lions – 31

Thursday Football Afterword: Buccaneers vs Panthers

Cam Newton completed over 70% of his passes for more than 200 yards and
two touchdowns while rushing 11 times for 50 yards and a score.

Cory Puffett

Carolina took over this game from the outset. Their first possession ate nearly nine minutes of game time on a 70-yard touchdown drive. Their next drive lasted less than four minutes but started at their own 20-yard line and ended with a 12-yard touchdown run by DeAngelo Williams.

The Buccaneers lone touchdown came in garbage time, much to Eric’s annoyance (he has Carolina’s defense for fantasy football this week).

I will talk a little more about the Buccaneers tonight on Football Freaks, which will be broadcast live on WMUC Sports from 7-8 p.m., so tune in to hear my take on what the Bucs’ outlook is for the rest of 2013.

The Panthers seem to be on track. Every year since 2011, Carolina goes 1-3 in their first four games. In 2011 and 2012 they followed that up with a 1-3 record in their next four games, as well. They went 4-4 during the second half of the 2011 season and 5-3 last year.

This year, they seem to be picking up the slack a little earlier. Since their 1-3 start, they’ve gone 3-0. A much harder part of the schedule is coming up though. They face the Falcons, 49ers and Patriots in their next three games and then play the Saints twice in their last four. But the rhythm Cam Newton and the rest of his team has found should serve them well down the stretch if they hope to pull out a wild-card spot in the playoffs.

Final Score:

Carolina Panthers – 31

Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 13

2013 NFL Predictions, Week 8

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 8 Byes: Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers, Tennessee Titans

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
Oct. 24 – 8:25p	CAR at TB	CAR	CAR	CAR	TB
Oct. 27 – 1:00p	SF at JAC	SF	SF	SF	SF
	CLE at KC	KC	KC	KC	KC
	MIA at NE (e)	NE	NE	NE	NE
	BUF at NO	NO	NO	NO	NO
	DAL at DET (c)	DET	DET	DAL	DET
	NYG at PHI	PHI	PHI	PHI	NYG
Oct. 27 – 4:05p	PIT at OAK	OAK	PIT	PIT	PIT
	NYJ at CIN (k)	CIN	CIN	CIN	CIN
Oct. 27 – 4:25p	ATL at ARI (s)	ATL	ARI	ATL	ATL
	WAS at DEN	DEN	DEN	DEN	DEN
Oct. 27 – 8:30p	GB at MIN	GB	GB	GB	GB
Oct. 28 – 8:40p	SEA at STL	SEA	SEA	SEA	SEA

	CORY	ERIC	SEAN	SASWAT
Wk 8 Record	11-2	11-2	9-4	10-3
Total Record	77-43	84-36	77-43	85-35
Wk 8 Points	15	16	12	14
Current Totals	102	115	102	114

Some of our listeners are competing with us to score the most points on game predictions this season. Below are their week 8 totals:

	JAKE D.	EVAN A.	DANNY H.
Wk 8 Record	10-3	10-3	10-3
Total Record	76-44	74-46	78-42
Wk 8 Points	13	13	13
Current Totals	103	98	104

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.