Seattle vs. Jacksonville: Seattle pounded on Jacksonville, 41-0. I thought the Jags would probably win that game. It says a lot for what Matt Hasselbeck can do as a leader of a team, and not just as a QB. We know he is a great quarterback. Three or four Pro Bowl appearances attest to that, but uit seems he has a unifying quality and inspires that defense. A good time for the defense to look good, as I was running them in Fantasy Football and picked up a nice 25 points. If Hasselbeck can stay healthy, I think Seattle can surprise people. They have all the tools on offense.
New York Giants vs. Oakland: This was predictable. Even with a bum ankle, Eli Manning picked apart the Oakland defense - if you can call what the Raiders play defense. The old-style Giants smashmouth running football still works. Bradshaw and Jacobs are a powerful one-two punch out of the back field to supplement what Eli is doing through the air. I bet Derrick Ward wishes he'd stuck around. Their next match-up against another 5-0 team, New Orleans, is perhaps the most intriguing game of the season thus far. Is it time Eli Manning was regarded as one of the premier QBs in the league?
Denver vs. New England: Well, the uniforms weren't much at all to look at, but Denver got it done where they needed to, and came away with what could well be looked back upon as a season-defining victory. They are 5-0, to a lot of people's surprise (including mine) and their match-up with San Diego next Monday night just might signal a shift in supremacy out in the AFC West.
Indianapolis vs. Tennessee: Peyton Manning keeps chugging along. It's just as well he keeps throwing 300-yard games because there's been absolutely nothing coming out of the run game. Addai can't get it going, nor can their rookie Donald Brown out of UConn. They'll need to fix this up if they're going to be serious challengers. You need a balanced offense to win playoff games. That said, Peyton is definitely on MVP pace. As for the Titans...well, when your home crowd starts calling for Vince Young in the 2nd quarter, you know you've got issues. They either miss Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz, who went to Detroit as a head coach, or last year was a fluke. This season will be a long one, but not because they'll make the AFC Championship Game.
Pittsburgh vs. Detroit: Things aren't completely right in the Steel City. By all rights, they should have blown the Lions off the park, based on talent, but it was a close game right to the end - and that was with Daunte Culpepper under centre for the Lions instead of Matt Stafford. Still, the Steelers are winning, and at the end of the day, a W is a W no matter how it comes about.
Cincinnati vs. Baltimore: One of the more intriguing games of the weekend. I keep thinking that Cincy would slip up somewhere soon, but they're playing good football on both sides of the ball and deserved the win. Carson Palmer, when healthy, is an elite QB and he has nice wideout options. The run game has come along well this season, too, and I've not seen the Bengals play D like this in years and years. It's the feel-good story of the NFL in 2009.
NY Jets vs. Miami: The Jets looked good up until two weeks ago. They were average on offense against New Orleans behind Sanchez's stinker of a game and their defense had trouble stopping the Miami offense last night. At least Sanchez rebounded. I tell you, Chad Henne looks good. He played a solid game last night, and did what he had to do. Perhaps Pennington's injury will be a blessing in disguise for the 'Phins.
Dallas vs. Kansas City: This was a close game, but it shouldn't have been that close. Dallas are a bad football team right now. Worse, they are sloppy. You can't be sloppy and hope to have success in the NFL. It shouldn't take three lucky plays - blocked field goal and two long-range TDs after poor tackling - for Dallas to beat Kansas City because KC are woeful. That it went to overtime says something about how good the Cowboys are. Or how good they aren't. Wade Phillips is on the hot seat, along with his NFC East coaching cousin Jim Zorn.
Cleveland vs. Buffalo: Ugh. Derek Anderson was 2/17 for something like 23 yards and a pick. Ugh. The Bills weren't real good, either. Ugh. It was like a train wreck: you didn't want to watch, but you couldn't quite bring yourself to look right away. The less said about this game, the better.
Philly vs. Tampa Bay: Tampa Bay are having the season from hell and are my best bet to go through winless. Playing the Bucs is pretty much like taking candy from a baby for any competent offense and the Eagles are rolling nicely. They'll challenge the Giants for NFC East supremacy. The Bucs will challenge St Louis for NFL mediocrity. Jon Gruden is probably thanking his lucky stars he got fired.
Minnesota vs. St Louis: As I said above, the St Louis Rams will battle with Tampa Bay for the position of top NFL cellar dweller. They were terrible again. Minnesota are going along nicely, but the big test will come against some better teams. St Louis is not in that category. Just a practice scrimmage, really. Favre and AP made it look easy. Coach Spags probably wishes he stayed with the Giants. If he were there, he'd be 5-0 instead of 0-5.
Washington vs. Carolina: Jim Zorn was a strange hire right out of the box. Now the rumour is going around that Mike Shanahan will be the new Washington coach, perhaps before the end of this season. I say remove Jason Campbell from QB as well. He's not good enough, and they have a kid there called Colt Brennan who, granted, is on IR right now, but was a star with Hawaii and has an arm like a cannon. He's your QB of the future. Campbell had the 'Skins up 15-0 and they should have won from there, but didn't. Been one of those seasons down in DC and we're only 5 weeks in. People are switching off and starting to talk more about Ovechkin than they are Portis. AO is ripping it up. Maybe he needs to start as a slot receiver for the Redskins?
Atlanta vs. San Francisco: I mistakenly thought this would be a close game. It wasn't. The Falcons ran all over the 49ers. Roddy White had less than a half dozen grabs and came up with more than 200 yards and a couple of scores. Michael Tuner was good on the ground, going for 97. Matt Ryan has all the skills a top-flight QB needs in this league. He and the Falcons are going to be around for a long time to come! The 49ers were woeful. I don't know where they go from here.
Houston vs. Arizona: The reality is that Houston should never have gotten this back to a one-score game in the 4th quarter. Kurt Warner and the Cards should have finished them right off when they were up 21-7. You can't do that and hope to win football games - at least not against the good teams. The Cards are not the team they were last year. They have a lot of work to do.
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