By TLarner
It was another exciting Sunday in the NFL. Two games had to be decided in overtime. Check the scores to see how your team played, and prepare for Monday Night’s contest between the Titans and Jaguars.
San Diego Not-so-Super Chargers
I bet LaDainian Tomlinson is glad he got out of San Diego when he had the chance. The Chargers are now 2-4 after their second consecutive loss, this time to the Rams. Before the season, if you told me the Chargers would lose to Kansas City, Seattle, Oakland, and St. Louis, I might call you crazy. St. Louis rookie quarterback Sam Bradford found fellow rookie Danario Alexander for a 38-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter to take a 10-0. Steven Jackson topped off a 17 play drive with a seven-yard run, and the Rams led 17-3 going into the half. San Diego running back Mike Tolbert finally reached the end zone in the third quarter on a three-yard run. Still down 17-10 in the fourth quarter, the Chargers and kicker Nate Kaeding attempted a 49-yard field goal, but Kaeding slipped as he kicked the ball. The missed field goal would end up being the difference in the game. Rams’ kicker Josh Brown would successfully connect on another field goal before Philip Rivers found Patrick Crayton on a five-yard score, but Rivers wouldn’t get another chance. St. Louis, who won only one game last year, jumped to 3-3 with the 20-17 win.
Bradford finished with 198 yards and one score with no interceptions. Jackson had 109 yards on the ground, 32 yards short of Eric Dickerson’s franchise record. Alexander, appearing in his first game, had a team high four catches for 72 yards. Defensive ends Chris Long and James Hall, as well as linebacker Larry Grant each had two sacks, and tackle Fred Robbins added a seventh for St. Louis. Rivers threw for 249 yards with a touchdown and a pick. Ryan Mathews ran for 64 yards on 12 carries. Crayton led the Chargers with 117 receiving yards. Antonio Gates had only two catches before leaving with an ankle injury.
Big Ben’s Return
Both quarterbacks in this game were making their first starts this season. Rookie Colt McCoy was thrown it the starting role when both Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace went down with injuries. Ben Roethlisberger returns after his suspension to lead his Steelers to another win. On his first drive, Roethlisberger was picked off by Browns’ first round pick Joe Haden, which led to a Phil Dawson field goal. After that, Big Ben found Mike Wallace and Hines Ward for touchdowns. Pittsburgh didn’t abandon the ground game, which won them three games without Roethlisberger. In the fourth quarter, the Steelers took a 21-3 lead on a Rashard Mendenhall run, his fifth touchdown of the year. McCoy threw his first career touchdown to tight end Benjamin Watson on a 12-yard pass. Roethlisberger capped off the day by hitting tight end Heath Miller for his third score of the day.
Roethlisberger went 16-27 for 257 yards with a 122.7 passer rating. Mendenhall ran for 84 yards. Wallace caught three passes for 90 yards, Ward caught five passes for 54 yards, and Miller had only two catches for 50 yards. Linebacker James Harrison knocked Cleveland receivers Joshua Cribbs and Mohamed Massaquoi out of the game in the second quarter with blows to the head. McCoy threw for 281 yards in his debut, but replied heavily on his tight ends. Only six of his 23 completions went to wide receivers. Watson had six catches for 88 yards, and fellow tight end Evan Moore caught four passes for 84 yards. Peyton Hillis was third on the team with 49 receiving yards in addition to 41 yards on the ground. McCoy also ran for 22 yards.
Game of the Week Results
This week’s Game of the Week between the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots was one of two games decided in overtime on Sunday. The Patriots came back from being down 10 at the start of the fourth quarter, and scored 13 unanswered points. The Ravens, who had aspirations of repeating last season’s playoff victory, played well most of the game, but couldn’t hold on down the stretch. Tom Brady didn’t miss Randy Moss, as he and Deion Branch continued where they left off before Branch went to Seattle.
The Patriots took a 7-3 lead in the first quarter on a short run by the “Law Firm”, BenJarvus Green-Ellis. Joe Flacco, who played his best game of the year statistically, found Todd Heap and Anquan Boldin for touchdowns in the second and third quarters respectively. Down 20-10 in the fourth quarter, Brady connected with Branch for a score on his only touchdown pass of the night. Stephen Gostkowski connected on a field goal with less than two minutes left in regulation to tie the game at 20. Each team had three possessions in overtime before Gostkowski booted his third field goal of the day, and the Pats won 23-20.
Brady threw for 292 yards, and doubled his interception total on the year as he was picked off twice. Danny Woodhead lead the team on the ground with 63 yards on 11 attempts, and Green-Ellis added 20 yards on 10 carries. Branch caught nine passes for 98 yards after being virtually ineffective in Seattle. Rookie Aaron Hernandez continued to impress with four catches for 61 yards. Wes Welker added 53 yards through the air, and Woodhead followed up with 52 yards. As I predicted, Flacco had a good game against the New England defense. He completed 77% of his passes for 285 yards with no interceptions. Ray Rice ran for 88 yards on 28 carries. Derrick Mason led the team with 100 yards receiving. Haloti Ngata sacked Brady twice. The Ravens’ defensive backs recorded their first two interceptions on the season as Chris Carr and Ken Hamlin each picked off Brady.
Remaining Scores from Sunday:
Miami 23, Green Bay 20 (OT)
Kansas City 31, Houston 35
Detroit 20, New York Giants 28
Atlanta 17, Philadelphia 31
Seattle 23, Chicago 20
New Orleans 31, Tampa Bay 6
New York Jets 24, Denver 20
Oakland 9, San Francisco 17
Dallas 21, Minnesota 24
Indianapolis 27, Washington 24
Monday Night Football: Tennessee at Jacksonville
AFC South rivals meet tonight as the Titans and the Jaguars try to keep pace with the Colts and Texans within the division. Currently, both teams are 3-2. The Jaguars are coming off two big wins over the Colts and the Bills, while the Titans loss to Denver in Week 4 before defeating Dallas last week. Both teams have run oriented offenses. Jacksonville is third in the league with 146.8 rushing yards per game, and Tennessee is fifth with 138.2.
The visiting Titans are 2-0 on the road. They are fourth in the NFL in points per game (26.4). Vince Young has a 95.1 passer rating so far this season. He has thrown for 684 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions, and has run for 88 yards. He hasn’t turned the ball over since Week 2 in a loss to the Steelers. Chris Johnson continues his hunt to set the NFL rushing record this week. He was been the key to the Titan’s success again this year. In the three games Tennessee has won, Johnson has at least 125 yards and has scored twice in each game. In the two losses, he averages only 43.5 yards with a 2.5 yard per carry average. The Titan’s leading receivers Kenny Britt and Nate Washington both have three touchdown catches. Defensively the Titans have a NFL best 22 sacks. Defensive end Jason Babin leads the team with five and a half, and end Dave Ball is close behind with four and a half.
The Jaguars have been riding on the tide of quarterback David Garrard’s arm. In their three wins, Garrard averages a 129.7 passer rating, and is completing 78% of his passes. He has 10 touchdowns (one rushing) and only two turnovers (one interception and one fumble lost) in those three games. On the other hand, in his two losses, Garrard has an average 50.8 passer rating with a 53% completion rate. He has only one touchdown pass compared to five interceptions, and was sacked nine times in losses to San Diego and Philadelphia. Maurice Jones-Drew has 406 rushing yards but only one rushing touchdown. Mike Thomas has a team high 21 receptions for 258 yards, and tight end Marcedes Lewis already has a franchise record five touchdown catches. The Jacksonville defense is 29th in points allowed (27.4) and passing yards surrendered (282.2) per game.
Prediction
This will be Tennessee’s first game within the AFC South division. Their two losses have only been by one touchdown each, one coming to a stingy Pittsburgh defense. They average over 33 points a game in their three wins. On the other hand, Jacksonville has played poorly on defense. Although they did defeat Indianapolis, they gave up 352 yards to Peyton Manning. Philip Rivers and a terrible Chargers team scored 38 points against them, and Rivers threw for 334 yards. Even Buffalo was able to score 26 points, and they made Ryan Fitzpatrick look like a Pro Bowler with a 121.5 passer rating. Although both teams have run first offenses, they are both in the top half of the league in run defense. The Titans are 10th with 101.8 yards allowed per game on the ground, and the Jaguars are 12th with 102.8. This game will be decided by the quarterbacks, and I prefer Young over Garrard, especially if the Titans continue to harass opposing QB’s. Tennessee will stay tied with Houston and Indy at 4-2 with a win tonight in Jacksonville.
Have any NFL Splinters? Share them here.
Deion Branch catches as many passes in one game as Randy Moss did all season? Something tells me the Moss-Brady relationship tasted more like lemons than blueberries.
If we were to put together a list of the most overrated professional athletes in the history of American sports, where would Tony Romo sit?
Just when you thought Norv Turner was getting a shot at redemption, then comes this season. Didn’t the Chargers start slowly last year?Oh yeah, another win for …the…GEEEEEEEEEEEE-Men! Not an impressive win, but at least they didn’t need a crappy call in the end zone to win.
What a week in the NFL (especially for myself as well as all other Steelers fans)!
After week six, we are finally starting to see who some of the dominant teams this year. At the beginning of every year it’s always a toss up to see what teams will be pusing for the playoffs and which ones will end up in the basement.
The biggest surprise of this season is definitely the poor performance of the Dallas Cowgirls–I mean Cowboys. Here the Super Bowl is being held on their home turf this year and they had huge expectations, and yet, they have completely folded. At least its not too late, but they’ll still have to make a huge push if they have any chance of survival in the 2010 playoff picture.
Best Division in the NFL is arguabley the AFC South. Three of the four teams are 4-2 through week six and the other is 3-3. When it comes playoff time, three of these teams could potentially have great seasons and not even have a shot in the playoffs.
How about the NFL proposing rules regarding hard hits to the head? I truly think that this takes away from the game. Yes, some of these hits are RIDICULOUS and cause temporary pain but as James Harrison says “I don’t try to injure people, I try to hurt people…when you get hurt, you’re off for a series or a game and shake it off”. The NFL is taking away from some of the best players in the game such as hard hitting safties and linebackers who are notorious for dishing out punishment. With rules being proposed that lead to suspensions for hard hits, these intense players that are delivering these blows won’t be able to do what they do best. Who knows what’s next? Maybe a two hand touch rule?
I’ll disagree with you there Jeff, on the hitting issue. I watched Stuart what’s his name on ESPN this morning screaming at Steve Young, saying, “it’s part of the game!!,” and I think it may have been the steroids talking. I don’t have a problem with hard hits per se, but when guys, as they seem to be doing as of late, aim for the head intentionally, that’s a hit that’s not designed to take a man down, but take him out. If you can’t tackle a guy, and need to spear him in the head to stop him, then there’s something wrong. I’d guess I’m in the minority here, but concussions and cripples aren’t too sporting from my point of view.
Casey —
On that list, Romo would sit just below …. several Duke basketball players. Ha! 🙂
Jeff —
The Cowgirls are toast … the fork is already in them. Regarding hits to the head … if a defender leads with his head to a “prone player” (defenseless), then it should be a personal foul and a fine.
That’s obviously spearing. But the NFL officials must discern more carefully that the defender “led with his helmet”. Helmet simultaneous with shoulders etc should not be a penalty.
The other thing I want to see them legislate against are the spearings and generally late hits when a ballcarrier is essentially already on the ground … or in the process of going down where knees have already hit. This occurs and is allowed way too often.
I think they’ve gone overboard on calling late or illegal hits against the QB … We’ve all seen some love taps and excuse me’s on QBs called as late hit penalties and it’s taking away from the game. Let ’em play. Also, the “hits out of bounds” are overly legislated. Draw a dotted line along the sidelines that is 2 ft out of bounds and parallel to the sideline. That’s the “no-hit zone” … anything else is fair game.
You play to win the game!
How ’bout dem Cowboys!
Jimmy Johnson … aka “The Pork-faced Satan” … should be banned from this site.
Herm … aka “Captain Obvious” … should also be banned.
https://search.espn.go.com/mark-schlereth/
I couldn’t have said it any better
watch this
Banning Jimmy and Herm? I’ll see what I can do.
Heard an interesting stat today: on seven occasions thus far this season, quarterbacks have thrown for over 400 yards in a game. 6 of those qbs lost the game in which they threw for over 400 yards.
Am I still allowed to comment?
Maybe that proves why teams need a good running game. Every game that Chris Johnson has ran for over 100 yards, the Titans have won. In Week 1, Peyton Manning threw for 433 yards, and Matt Schaub had 107 passing yards. Who won the game? Houston, because Arian Foster ran for 231 yards. For those teams who don’t have a good quarterback, get a good offensive line, and a stud running back. The Steelers were able to start 3-1 with Charlie Batch at QB because Rashard Mendenhall ran all over opposing defenses.
Three yards and a cloud of dust! That is what I am talking about!
Ouch: https://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/240610-ex-cowboy-critical-of-phillips?eref=sihp