2017-18 NFL (Week 6)

Games I watched (some of):
Eagles 28-23 Panthers
This was a good game, two good teams going at it. Thought Cam made some weird passes, he wasn't as crisp as he could've been but I was still generally impressed with the Panthers on both sides of the ball. Thought the Eagles were even better, a really good win for them. The Panthers were fine but their limitations show against good teams.

Packers 10-23 Vikings
I was watching this game when Rodgers got hit and I was kinda shocked that there wasn't a flag; I was similarly shocked when came up gimpy and stayed gimpy, I fully expected him to come back out til they carted him off. You knew the Pack was in trouble when even the defense seemed out of sorts for a while. The Vikings were good enough to win but you gotta feel like Rodgers would've pulled the game out. Rodgers has been covering up a rickety offensive line, gonna be tough for a backup to get up to speed; that said, I was reasonably impressed with backup QB Hundley: he scrambles and thinks on his feet like Rodgers, I think he's got a shot at being pretty good. But it'll take at least a few weeks for Hundley to turn into something, so for now the Vikings are the team to beat in the NFC North.

Browns 17-33 Texans
This game was over pretty quick. Fun to watch Deshaun Watson, though, that guy's a for-real badass. The Browns benched DeShone Kizer and now they have to go back to him. Yipes! Didn't think it could get worse for them but it has. The Texans, on the other hand, finally got some offense going and even though they've taken some hits on defense, looks like they're still the team to beat in the AFC South.

Steelers 19-13 Chiefs
The Steelers finally figured out to stop relying on Roethliesberger and get Le'veon Bell going. And the pass rush got after Alex Smith, making him look like the old time Alex Smith. If the Steelers can keep this game plan going, perhaps they can get back to the top of the table in the AFC, but its still a work in progress. The Chiefs had looked pretty unstoppable until this game, but I'm going with the notion that they just can't beat the Steelers. I still think the Chiefs are the best in the AFC.

Giants 23-10 Broncos
The Giants can't be as bad as they've looked so far, right? Well, I wasn't convinced of that but they looked pretty strong on both sides in Denver the other night. The Broncos on the other hand still look lost on offense and I have no idea why the D couldn't stop the Eli attack. Oh well. The Giants are still out of it, still playing for a draft pick, but don't be surprised if they accidentally win a few games along the way. Not sure what to make of the Broncos, I think they're a middle of the road team that could figure it out by the end (but I have less and less faith that they will).


Other results (surprising):
Bears 27-24 (OT) Ravens
The Ravens still have a good defense and not much offense but they should still beat a rookie QB, rookie RB at home, right? Guess not. The Bears have nowhere to go but up and they'll be a fun team that might win a few games.

Lions 38-52 Saints
As the score for this went by on the ticker at one point the Saints had 38 points and Brees had like 120 yards passing....wtf? These are not defensive squads, this is clearly a toss-away game.

Dolphins 20-17 Falcons
The Falcons have now dropped two non-conference home games in a row? That's not good. They should be dominating on their home field, clearly they still have to get used to a new offensive coordinator. The Dolphins are the AFC Redskins: they're actually pretty good when they're not going out of their way to look bad. I'm not saying they're good, I'm just saying they're not as bad as they look most of the time.


Other results (not so surprising):
Pats 24-17 Jets
Yeah, the Pats didn't dominate but they don't always dominate and division games can go sideways at any time. This game will be forever remembered (seriously, this one will hang around for a while) for the non-TD of Seferian-Jenkins (how does bobbling the ball a little bit equal a fumble? And how does coming down cleanly with the ball equal a touchback?). The Jets, Dolphins, Bills are all fairly similar teams and it kinda feels like the Pats are ever so slowly drifting back to them.



Niners 24-26 Redskins
I caught the last few minutes of this and I gotta say the Redskins deserved to lose (though I can't say the Niners deserved to win).

Bucs 33-38 Cards
Two teams with all defense and no offense (is that really even true any more of either of these teams?) ended up topping 70 points on the board? No, they're both just lame.

Rams 27-17 Jags
The Jags need a QB badly--okay here's the test case: could they use Kaepernick? Couldn't be worse than Bortles but does he make them competitive in that division? Maybe. The Rams are good and getting gooder each week.

Chargers 17-16 Raiders
Chargers finally win a game late instead of losing one. Not inconceivable that the Chargers are still in the playoff hunt. Not so for the Raiders, who have looked pretty awful for 4 straight weeks (71 points in first two games, 53 games in the last four). Coming into the season the Raiders were everyone's favorite but looking back on it, why? They're not particularly strong at any phase of the game and if Carr is hurt, they become a lower half of the league kinda team.

Colts 22-36 Titans
Looks like it took the Titans a while to get going but this score looks about right.


Won (covered): Eagles, Dolphins, Vikings, Saints, Bears, Texans, Cards, Rams, Steelers, Chargers, Giants, Titans
Won (didn't cover): Pats, Redskins,
Push: (none)
Lost (covered): Jets, Niners
Lost (didn't cover): Panthers, Falcons, Packers, Lions, Ravens, Browns, Bucs, Jags, Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos, Colts