9 comments ...Our Pets' Heads Are Falling Off!: Week 6

This past weekend of NFL games certainly made up for the sort of boring weekend before that and the average one the two weeks before that. It was a nice weekend for football, as long as you weren't a fan of one of the teams that lost of course.

Tennessee Titans 26 Pittsburgh Steelers 23

I certainly didn't expect the Titans to win this game. I pretty much counted the Titans out before the game began. The Titans managed to completely shut down the Steelers running game, though it wasn't that hard once Rashard Mendenhall left the game with an injury. There was criticism of Bruce Arians when he was the Steelers' Offensive Coordinator saying that he relied too much on passing the ball (or at least I remember thinking there was), but the Steelers tried to run 22 times in this game and only got 56 yards. Passing the ball with one of the best quarterbacks in the game was the Steelers' best chance to win this game. Chris Johnson has now run the ball well in two games this season. Clearly he is exhausted from all of his success, and feeling he has earned his contract will probably gain 250 yards total for the rest of the season. The media seems to enjoy the narrative that the Steelers can't win away from Heinz Field, which I'm not entirely sure is the truth or not. The Steelers have lost all three games that were on the road this year though, so while I'm not sure there is truth to this narrative it certainly sounds good right now. The good news about this game is that Mike Tomlin tried to ice Rod Bironas and it actually worked this time. Okay, I am kidding it didn't work at all. I think it has gotten to the point with the whole "icing the kicker" issue that the kicker expects to have a timeout called which would interrupt the first kick he makes, so coaches may be better off not icing the kicker now. At this point, not calling a timeout would be the most unexpected thing to throw a kicker off his game.

Atlanta Falcons 23 Oakland Raiders 20

The Falcons are still living right it seems. I really am having a hard time deciding if the Falcons are just a great team that keeps pulling out victories or are just a good team that somehow manages to avoid being upset on a weekly basis. The Falcons drove to get a field goal with less than a minute left in their past two games at home to beat a very bad Panthers team and to beat a very below average Raiders team...again, at home. Last week on the road they took advantage of Robert Griffin getting injured to beat the Redskins by seven points.  I don't know if I am buying this is a different Falcons team quite yet. They are clearly the best team in the NFC South, but I don't see them as being one of the best 2-3 teams in the NFL. A win is a win, that's for sure, but the Falcons have needed fourth quarter comebacks and stupid mistakes from the past two teams they have played in order to win their last two games at home. Carson Palmer, who still isn't worth a first round pick in a trade, much less a first round AND a second round pick, couldn't stand prosperity and threw a pick-6 to Asante Samuel which helped get the Falcons back in the game. The better team won, but Michael Turner didn't have a very good day because he wasn't going against a defense that is like a sieve against the run and I am not sure the Falcons luck can continue to hold out against a better quality opponent. I think the Falcons will win 13 games, but don't be surprised when the Wild Card team in the NFC beats the Falcons in the playoffs.

Cleveland Browns 34 Cincinnati Bengals 24

Speaking of teams that I am not taking seriously, let's talk about the Cincinnati Bengals. Playoff teams shouldn't lose to the Cleveland Browns. I'm pretty sure that is in the Bible or Constitution of the United States somewhere. The Bengals have already played four road games this year, but let's talk about the bigger issue, which always seems to be the bigger issue with the Bengals. Who exactly have they beaten to get to their three wins? They have gotten blown out by the Ravens, beaten the Redskins, Jaguars, and the Browns. They have lost to the Cleveland Browns and also to the Miami Dolphins. The Bengals are a team who still (at least in my mind) are an 8-8 team. Brandon Weeden celebrated his 29th birthday with the first Browns win of the season. Weeden told you all of that maturity, learning from losing all the time and having life beat him down would benefit the Browns. They won one NFL game, which felt like winning the Super Bowl said Joe Haden:

"A big weight was lifted off our shoulders," said Haden, who intercepted a pass by Dalton in third quarter to set up a field goal. "It felt like we won the Super Bowl. We just didn't give up."

Unfortunately, I am guessing some Browns fans had given up on the team prior to the win against the Bengals. Maybe these fans will have some hope no. The Browns took advantage of four Bengals turnovers and a part of me wonders if the Browns struggle simply because they just have such a young team, outside of their quarterback of course. Their quarterback is older than Aaron Rodgers by the way. I can't decide if this game says more about the Browns having a young team or the Bengals still being "the Bengals" and not being able to be consistently consistent on a consistent basis to defeat the teams they need to be defeating.

Miami Dolphins 17 St. Louis Rams 14

In the "Both teams wanted to hire Jeff Fisher this last offseason Bowl," the Dolphins won this game with 192 total yards. This tells me the Rams' defense is very good and the Dolphins aren't quite becoming an offensive powerhouse yet. The Rams had 12 penalties for 94 yards and Ryan Tannehill threw a pass for a loss of 17 yards. Even Jimmy Clausen was impressed by that ineptitude. This is one of those weird games where the team that lost the game seemed to be the team that played better. Peter King's Offensive Rookie of the First Quarter of the Season Greg Zuerlein missed a 66-yard field goal to tie the game, which probably sent Peter King into either a seizure or shock. After all, Zuerlein is just so damn precocious he probably didn't even know he was in the game to kick a field goal, he probably thought he was a contestant on the "Price is Right." The precociousness of that Zuerlein knows no bounds. The Rams defense is what impressed me in this game. They limited the Dolphins to 1.1 yards per carry, yet they gave up touchdowns when the Dolphins defense didn't give up touchdowns. This was a pretty ugly game for the Dolphins, but they still managed to win.

New York Jets 35 Indianapolis Colts 9

This was another Jets blowout, which unfairly raises expectations for the Jets offense over the rest of the season. Now the New York media will expect the Jets to play like this every week. The Jets found the way to win a football game is for Shonn Greene to run all over teams and limit the amount of times Mark Sanchez has to throw the football to 18 times in a game. Limit the amount of throws Sanchez makes and the Jets can win. What an easy formula, if only if it was repeatable every single week. Rex Ryan typically took this win  over a team with a rookie quarterback coming off a 2-14 season and probably made too much of it,

"We want to be a team no one wants to play," Ryan said. "And, we're on our way."

Are you on your way though? This is the second really great performance of the year for the Jets. Does this game mask the problems they have or have these issues been magically cured over the last week? I know what I believe on that issue. Andrew Luck played like a rookie with two interceptions and a fumble, which contrary to the media's popular belief, he is a rookie so this is to be expected. Since Peter King thinks God was involved in the Colts win last week, I wonder if Peter wants to know where the heck God was this week? God probably had a bye week this past week. That explains it. This game will set unrealistic expectations for the Jets over the next few weeks and better teams aren't going to let the Jets run the ball at will over them, so I don't expect the Jets to put up 35 points again this year. So for one week it seems like all is right in Jets-land, but they aren't going to be playing a rookie quarterback on the road nor a young defense missing one of their best defensive players every week of the season.

Detroit Lions 26 Philadelphia Eagles 23

At the beginning of the year the Eagles turned the ball over and it didn't cost them wins, but now the Eagles are still turning the ball over (including two interceptions by Mike Vick) and it is helping to cost them games. It is obvious to say, but turnovers will always cost a team wins. Mike Vick is especially a turnover machine. He has 13 turnovers in six games. There were 25 penalties called in this game, so it was either especially sloppy or the officiating crew kept a tight lid on the how the game was played. Matthew Stafford threw for over 300 yards, but he didn't complete 50% of his passes and only threw for one touchdown pass. He's sort of started the 2012 season off in a slump. Of course, it doesn't really matter because the Lions won, so all is forgotten except for the win. It's about time to start the "Fire Andy Reid" trumpets in Philadelphia and if I am not wrong I heard Curt Menefee ask if it was time to start Nick Foles. Look, it's never time to start Nick Foles. This is what I get for accidentally watching a postgame show for three minutes, subjected to idiocy like that. Fortunately, every other person on the 35-man Fox postgame show panel shot the idea down quickly, all while talking over each other and screaming as loudly into the camera hoping the camera operator focuses on him. In case you were wondering, Jimmy Johnson won this plea for attention and the camera operator focused on his comments. Mike Vick will turn the ball over, that is just one of the things you have to live with when he is playing quarterback. You don't bench him for Nick Foles.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38 Kansas City Chiefs 10

Last week Brady Quinn said the Chiefs could be a pretty good team if they stopped dropping the ball all the time. It doesn't seem they dropped the ball a lot this week, but it does help a team win if their quarterback doesn't throw two interceptions, including one that was returned for a touchdown. If this game was Brady Quinn's last chance to be an NFL starting quarterback, then the Brady Quinn era as a starter is officially over. 22-38 for 180 yards isn't going to impress a lot of people and it certainly didn't help the Chiefs couldn't run the football very well. Be careful what you wish for Chiefs fans. You want rid of Matt Cassel, but the alternatives to Cassel aren't looking so hot either. Josh Freeman had a pretty good day and the Bucs defense was able to take advantage of the Chiefs offensive ineptitude. The Bucs have a pretty good receiving duo in Vincent Jackson and Mike Williams. I know Greg Schiano wants to run the ball with Doug Martin, but I think it is a good idea to pass the ball and that can help open up the run. Martin is now somewhat sharing carries with LeGarrette Blount who has punched his way into earning more carries. Oh, and Ronde Barber returned an interception for a touchdown and the entire NFL sports media had to go change their underwear upon hearing/seeing this. Ronde is like Tiki, just with more charisma. He has a huge future in television and will probably get a television gig after he retires, at which point people will realize he is as boring as his twin brother. Maybe Ronde will look to make an NFL comeback a few years after he retires. Hopefully Peter King will still be around to serve as Ronde's personal publicist like he served for Tiki's NFL comeback.

Baltimore Ravens 31 Dallas Cowboys 29

The Ravens won this game despite being very embarrassing in run defense. I feel bad for the Ravens they may have lost Ray Lewis for the season, but he's 37 years old. If they don't have a decent contingency plan in place for him then that is their own fault. That's why you have backups. Ozzie Newsome is a genius (as I am told) and so I'm sure he thought about the fact his 37 year old Hall of Fame linebacker could get injured and he may need a contingency plan prior to this game. The story of this game was Tony Romo failing to catch the pass Tony Romo threw to him on the two point conversion, Tony Romo's terrible play calling after the Cowboys got the onside kick and the missed field goal by Romo which would have won the game for the Cowboys. Those really weren't Romo's fault, but I figure since he seems to get the blame for every Cowboys loss we may as well stay consistent and blame him for this one. Is there any doubt Jon Gruden won't be coaching in Dallas after this season is over? Jason Garrett will be fired and Jerry Jones is going to want to make a splash and get a more disciplined coach. I see him opening up his wallet for Jon Gruden, who will be forced to stop loving absolutely everything every single NFL player does or says by the amount of money Jerry Jones offers him to coach "the greatest franchise in the history of sports" (as Gruden will inevitably say at his introductory press conference). The Cowboys recovered an onside kick and then Jason Garrett was conservative in his play calling to where the Cowboys ended up with a 51 yard field goal attempt. I feel like you have to get closer than that if you want to win the game. Fortunately for the Cowboys, they can run all over the Panthers next week when they play them. Perhaps that will get some of the frustration out after two straight tough losses.

Buffalo Bills 19 Arizona Cardinals 16

I had no doubt the Cardinals would start struggling as soon as I defended their position in Peter King's "Fine Fifteen" power rankings. There is only so much success Kevin Kolb can handle as a starting quarterback in the NFL. It's all too much pressure. The Cardinals need to let John Skelton start a few games and then have Kevin Kolb start again once the pressure is off and expectations are lowered. Jay Feely could handle a 61 yard field goal attempt to tie the game, but couldn't hit the partially tipped 38 yard attempt to win the game. Feely missed it and I don't think the Bills even "iced" him before the kick. How did that happen? One little note you won't find in Gregg Easterbrook's TMQ this week is that the Bills decided to punt from the Arizona 35 yard line instead of attempting the field goal in overtime. Since "fortune favors the bold" the Bills needless to say went on to lose the game from there...wait, they didn't lose the game? The Bills were conservative in punting and won the game? What do the football gods have to say about this? They are shockingly quiet. Needless to say, this won't be mentioned in Gregg's TMQ this week. Kevin Kolb was sacked five times in this game, but the Cardinals certainly didn't need offensive line help in the last draft because they got Michael Floyd, who now has seven receptions on the season. Ryan Fitzpatrick has a typical "Ryan Fitzpatrick" day. He likes to do as much harm as good and in this game he didn't throw an interception, but he didn't throw a touchdown pass either.

Seattle Seahawks 24 New England Patriots 23

This game is going to be portrayed as "The Russell Wilson game," but the Seahawks excellent defense still gave up 475 yards. They did hold the Patriots to field goals, which always helps a quarterback's comeback effort. As a further entry in the "Fortune doesn't always favor the bold" category, Pete Carroll showed faith in his defense by punting the ball with 3:20 left in the fourth quarter, which could have led to the Seahawks never getting the ball back, especially against an offense that had racked up nearly 500 yards on the day. It turns out the Seahawks did get the ball back and were able to win the game. You won't find Gregg Easterbrook mentioning this in his TMQ either. He will be glad to tell us instances of when teams punted and never got the ball back though. Russell Wilson is showing he has that fictional "clutchiness" statistic that GM's are always looking for. Of course considering the Seahawks defense shut down the Patriots on their last couple of possessions this game was won mostly because the Seahawks defense was able to do that. It's no fun to give the defense credit though, so I will say the credit lies totally with Russell Wilson.

New York Giants 26 San Francisco 49ers 3

It's easy and it probably goes without saying, but if you shut the 49ers running game down and get a lead on them, they are a much different team. Alex Smith threw three interceptions and was sacked four times in the game. The 49ers are a great team with a great defense (they held the Giants to 342 yards and Eli Manning only threw for 193 yards), but they aren't a team which is good at coming back based on their offensive strength. It's not a knock on them, but they aren't built that way and Alex Smith isn't the kind of quarterback who can sit back in the pocket and sling the ball around in an effort to bring his team back. The Giants ran the ball on the 49ers, which is always difficult to do, and nearly every secondary in the NFL looks different when the front seven can't stop the run. I know it is old-school and boring, but teams that can stop the run and run the ball (while still throwing of course) can win games. The 49ers are built around this principle and Sunday was another reminder that Alex Smith seems like a different type of quarterback, but he is still Alex Smith. He's a game manager-type quarterback at heart and in skill level.

Washington Redskins 38 Minnesota Vikings 26

All last week I heard NFL experts talking about how Robert Griffin will be surpassed by Andrew Luck because Griffin has gotten one concussion already and his running style will only lead him to more concussions. While there may be some merit to this point of view, there is a reason Griffin runs the ball and that is because he is very good at it. I have to say that Griffin acted like a little bit of a bitch during this game though. The second week of the season he was publicly complaining the Rams were being too rough with him and were hitting him excessively hard and then in this game against the Vikings he "earned" a roughing-the-passer call when Erin Henderson knocked him over and Griffin acted like he had been shot and then complained to the official. If you don't want the defense to hit you very hard then leave the acting skills at home. Some quarterbacks do tend to act a bit when they get hit in the pocket, but these quarterbacks generally don't go public in complaining about how physical teams are playing him. If you don't want to be played physical, don't be a football player. If you don't want defensive players to hit you especially hard, don't piss the defense further off by acting in order to draw a penalty. Christian Ponder turned the ball over three times in the game and the Vikings couldn't punch the ball in the end zone at the beginning of the game. You would think with Adrian Peterson on the roster that wouldn't be an issue. You (I) would be wrong. Much like Mike Vick, Griffin's running is a part of what he does as a quarterback so the Redskins are going to have to take the good with the bad. Reining himself in at this point in his career will only serve to change him in a negatively.

Green Bay Packers 42 Houston Texans 24

Hey, remember Aaron Rodgers? He was pretty good last night. I take more away from this game based on how the Texans played than how the Packers played. The Texans had not played great teams as of yet. They had beaten the Jags, Dolphins, Broncos, Titans and Jets. The win at Denver is clearly the most impressive of those. It's nothing against the Texans, but they are in some ways the AFC equivalent of the 49ers. That's a compliment and an insult. The Texans don't have an excellent receiving group, outside of Andre Johnson, so teams who can stop the Texans running game are able to better control them offensively. Obviously the Texans are still a great team and it isn't easy to shut their running game down. Next week the Texans are facing the Ravens and their porous run defense, so I am guessing the running game bounces back on a week. I don't think the Texans are as great on defense as they have shown so far this year, and while I could be wrong, this game proves this assumption correct. If these two teams play again, the Packers probably won't play as well and the Texans won't play as poorly. The Texans also won't make stupid penalties and the Packers won't immediately capitalize on these mistakes. I think these two teams are probably on the same level as each other right now and the next game they hypothetically would play would end up showing that. I'd like to see that game.