NFL Week Six Thoughts

Philadelphia Eagles def. Atlanta Falcons


Perhaps Kevin Kolb isn't a lost cause after all.  Atlanta's secondary takes a beating, although it takes a group of talented playmakers to deliver that beating.  Philly's defense also deserves some credit for holding the birds to 50 yards rushing on the day.
Houston Texans def. Kansas City Chiefs

I'm a little surprised the margin of victory was so low, sometimes I wonder how the Chiefs can struggle against a Colts' defense that's been inconsistent and then come up so big against the Texans with their returning all-pro linebacker.  Matt Cassel and that offense continue to confuse me, but I had faith that Matt Schaub would get the job done.
New Orleans Saints def. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I keep saying that New Orleans' defense is underrated and that Tampa is getting off easy in some of their games, right on both fronts here.  The Bucs are not a playoff team yet, and the Saints still are even if they have yet to prove that they can make a deep run like last season's.
Miami Dolphins def. Green Bay Packers

Once again the Pack loses in overtime, only this time it's so much sweeter since I picked them to lose.  This team clearly isn't as talented as every analyst and their mothers made them out to be in the pre-season, all that hype was based on the presence of a few playmakers and overlooked the absence present at other positions.  Just because they don't live up to that astronomical hype doesn't mean they're not still a good team, we'll see how they bounce back against a division rival in Minnesota.
St. Louis Rams def. San Diego Chargers

It's official, I hate the Chargers.  Everyone's talking about how they always start slow, but I don't base my predictions on that kind of speculation.  I'll start believing in them as a playoff caliber team when they start winning again, until then I'll remain skeptical.  They definitely have problems on defense, although they were only a field goal away from tying it up their defense has to start playing better in terms of holding opponents in the clutch.  They also only had 80 yards on the ground despite a better than 4.5 average per carry, I would say the running game might need to pick up a little.  Something has to change, their gameplan just is not working.
New England Patriots def. Baltimore Ravens

Pats win by a field goal.  I'm a little surprised that the Patriots' offense functioned so well without Randy Moss, I'm also surprised the Ravens' defense allowed as many yards as they did-over 100 yards rushing and almost 300 through the air.  I guess the lesson to take away from this is to never count the Pats out, just when you think they're struggling they hit a bounceback game like this.
New York Giants def. Detroit Lions

Detroit is down to their third QB, yikes.  I've always known Bradshaw was a good rusher, Coughlin stuck with Jacobs for too long as the number one guy.  Other than that not too many surprises.
Pittsburgh Steelers def. Cleveland Browns

I'm only surprised the Steelers didn't have more yards rushing and through the air.  Mendenhall rushes for 80 against Cleveland?  Come on.
Chicago Bears def. Seattle Seahawks

The Chicago ends continue to support my argument that they should've kept Alex Brown on the roster, it's clear that Peppers needs some kind of support in order to get going.  That secondary also became exposed in the way I've said they would since the pre-season, they need to play better against short passing routes.  Danieal Manning was exposed just as I was starting to warm up to the idea of him being a consistent starter, but Charles Tillman really seemed to be the biggest disappointment on that side of the ball for me.

On offense, dear god stop the bleeding.  I dunno if I should be angry at Tice, Martz, or the linemen for this, but I got extremely sick of seeing corners run at Cutler unblocked while the tackles were standing around doing nothing.  Some adjustment has to be made, whether it's one of scheme or anticipation, getting beat on the same plays like that is inexcusable.  I was also thinking during the game that they got nowhere on many of their run plays, but in hindsight they should have run more.  Martz' problem isn't that he can't run the ball, it's that he doesn't know how to commit to it, and perhaps if they had gotten away from the pass they would have worn down that defense.  Finally with the sacks, they do need to execute better in terms of hot reads, that one's on Cutler.
New York Jets def. Denver Broncos

I'm a little surprised as to how successful the Broncos were against the run, but other than that I wasn't surprised.  It's nothing new when the Denver offense fails to put enough points on the board.
San Francisco 49ers def. Oakland Raiders

Two teams that continue to confound me...continue to confound me.  The Raiders have been capitalizing on mistakes lately, and the Niners were one of the most mistake-prone teams out there.  Frank Gore finally showed up big, and Alex Smith's two TD, zero INT game catapulted them to a win.  Jason Campbell's two Interceptions didn't help the Raiders at all.
Minnesota Vikings def. Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys continue to kill themselves with penalties, they had this game within their grasp the same way they did with so many others.  Tony Romo was the leading passer for the game, they held AP to 70 yards, and they still lose.  They have no one to blame but themselves.
Indianapolis Colts def. Washington Redskins

Donovan McNabb put up a fight, but Peyton lit the field up passing.
Tennessee Titans def. Jacksonville Jaguars

Chris Johnson shows up and helps his team beat down their division rivals.