From the Press Box: Week 7 Recap

Garda makes up for missing Friday's Press Box by recapping the Sunday that was for you Monday morning perusal.

So Friday was ridiculously busy and I figured "hey write the Press Box piece on Saturday" so I wouldn't go insane cramming too many things in one day.

And then Saturday night I hit "publish" on the Wordpress dashboard and got an error message. And all my work went buh-bye.

And so, exhausted I said "screw it" and went to bed—at that point, I figured you folks might get more use out of a Monday article anyway.

That's the excuse I'm using for watching television in bed instead of re-writing the article again, and I'm sticking to it.

It was an exciting weekend, though one filled with a significant amount if injuries (we'll discuss that in a second) and there is a lot to talk about.

We'll do a few general thoughts and then I recap all the games at the bottom.

So here they are—my thoughts on the action from Sunday.

"Going Pat Mcafee" is the new "Going HAM"

Seriously - Pat McAfee is clearly a dirty player and even Ndamukong Suh said "DAMN SON" with that hit yesterday.

Really, seriously—you have to love a punter who can hit. Also, there's a certain Broncos player who shall remain nameless who might get clowned in film study for letting a punter truck him.

Injuries

So, is Roger Goodell really going to push for 18 games or, after yesterday's avalanche of potentially season-ending injuries, can we put it to bed?

Reggie Wayne, done. Brian Cushing, done. Doug Martin, waiting for an MRI. Sam Bradford, done. Jermichael Finley in the hospital.

I'm sure there are more, plus all the bumps, bruises and cumulative owies which you get over the course of an NFL season.

Yeah, sure, we need that 18 game schedule right?

Here's hoping all the above return to health and especially for Finley who is still hospitalized as I write this.

Recaps

Here are my thoughts on yesterday's action.

Atlanta 31, Tampa Bay 23: I don't think Mike Glennon is the answer here, but at least he found Vincent Jackson. Sure, it took 22 passes for Jackson to catch ten, but still..... Also, Matt Ryan is pretty damned good even without half his weapons. Atlanta isn't good this year overall though.

Carolina 30, St. Louis 15: Bradford had been looking a little better before he tore his ACL, but overall this offense (and its quarterback) has been underwhelming. Cam Newton had an outstanding game and actually has looked good several in a row. This is Newton—starts off slow, gets better as the season progresses. A better team might be able to carry him to start the season. Also, dear lord, please save us from the "Tebow to Rams" nonsense.

Cincinnati 27, Detroit 24: Tough loss for Detroit, but holy crap what a Calvin Johnson catch. I couldn't get the .gif to upload so you can go see it here, but even if you don't trust me—is insane. I'm still not buying what Andy Dalton is selling, but I have to say he looked pretty good Sunday.

San Diego 24, Jacksonville 6: Justin Blackmon killed a security guard and that was the highlight for the Jaguars.

Meanwhile, can you say enough about the job new Chargers coach Mike McCoy has done with Philip Rivers? He's almost his old self.

Buffalo 23, Miami 21: The rails have come off in Miami. After loving Tannehill (and there is a lot to love) this is the state of the Dolphins fanbase:

 

 

You're drunk Miami—go home.

Also this Thad Lewis kid isn't half bad.

Jets 30, New England 27: All of New England is salty because of the "push the pile" penalty which gave the Jets another chance on a much shorter field goal in overtime, but all you really need to say is "Tuck Rule" and that should quiet them down. Geno Smith continues to improve most weeks, but you can expect roller coaster like highs and lows the rest of the way. Chris Ivory is a great running back—if he can stay healthy. And Tom Brady is human too and could really use more weapons—but even Gronkowski wasn't enough.

And yes, I am a Jets fan.

Dallas 17, Philadelphia 3: What a terrible game by the Eagles. Actually both teams stunk up the joint for most of the day, but the combination of Nick Foles sucking and Matt Barkley flailing was hard to watch. Foles did leave the game due to injury, but let's be honest—he was bad before then. What a mess.

Washington 45, Chicago 41: I forgot to mention Jay Cutler as one of the potentially "done for the season" guys up above, but he is. And once again the Bears really don't have an answer behind him, though Josh McCown was serviceable. With the weapons they have, he should be. Griffin is starting to look more like RG3, by the way and while the secondary is still a debacle, the offense is catching fire. We all know the NFC East is wide open so, it should be interesting.

San Francisco 31, Tennessee 17: Jake Locker is BACK! And it didn't help, though he played well so that's good news on a Titans team bereft of it. Colin Kaepernick is still struggling, though he ran the ball really well and threw the ball OK. Frank Gore is ridiculous for an AARP member. And tne Niner defense is pretty darn good.

Green Bay 31, Cleveland 13: The site has a lot on this so I won't repeat much. This game might be a reminder of how much better the NFC's best are than the AFC. I thought it would be more of a game, but Brandon Weeden just is so bad. SO bad. Eddie Lacy is a the real deal (we knew that) and Jarrett Boykin, after looking "meh" last week in place of Randall Cobb and James Jones looked like the week of practice with the first team was helpful. Of course, we're all pulling for Jermichael Finley and hope he recovers soon.

Kansas City 17, Houston 16: I need to watch this game more closely but I still just can't sell myself on the Chiefs as a great team. Or even an undefeated team. Houston is a mess and yet they can only eek out a one point win? If Alex Smith has to win a game in the playoffs, it doesn't happen. And we've great defensive teams with no great offense collapse under the weight of playoffs football. Also, I hate cut blocks. I know they're part of the game but I hate them and Jamaal Charles' helmet hitting Brian Cushing's knee is exactly why.

Man is Houston a mess of a team, though Case Keenum was surprisingly solid.

Pittsburgh 19, Baltimore 16: This was an awful game to watch. Baltimore's offense is lackluster with equal moments of "suck" and "wow", though the former outnumbered the latter on Sunday. Pittsburgh should be very excited by rookie Le'Veon Bell, who ran very well behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league. By the looks of these teams though, Cincinnati should close up shop of they can't win this division.

Indianapolis 39, Denver 33: After Manning was strip sacked in the first half he never again looked right. That's not to excuse his performance which was often not good, but perhaps explain the flight of ducks he threw after that. Andrew Luck is getting a lot of hype on Monday but I wasn't as impressed as others were. Don't get me wrong, the kid is the Truth, but it just wasn't his arm that won that game. Defensively, the Colts have issues and the Broncos receivers blew them up far too often, but the strip-sack in the end zone and Denver's own defensive issues were a huge difference and enough to overcome the other problems. Also, it was abundantly clear that the Fighting Mannings miss their left and right tackles. Manning can usually overcome a poor offensive line. Last night was anything but normal.

And that's it—we have the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants going tonight. I have the Vikings winning because the Giants can't get a pass rush going to save their lives and won't have an answer for Adrian Peterson. The injured and underwhelming Vikings secondary and Josh Freeman make this intriguing as well but Eli Manning will throw at least two brutal interceptions (they might not be his fault but they will be brutal) and that will be the difference.

We'll be back (I hope) to the normal schedule this Friday. Until then, enjoy whatever it is you do when Monday Night Football is horrific and we'll see you back here soon.

0 points
 

Log in to comment and more!

Not a member yet? Join free.

If you have already commented on Cheesehead TV in the past, we've created an account for you. Just verify your email, set a password and you're golden.