Pats 38-31 Bears
Fun game! Pats were the better team and I never thought the Bears would pull it out but they did manage to keep things interesting. Weird play: last minute, Pats up by 7, the ball on the Bears 34-ish yard line, why not go for it on 4th down? They punted, Bears get the ball at the 20, but who cares about that 10 yards? Why not throw it at the end zone, go for either the game winning TD, the game finishing pass interference call or you give them the ball at 35 instead of the 20? Trubisky is actually much more dangerous as a runner than a passer, I like his instincts when he tucks it and takes off; as a passer he was sailing passes all day, he's got skills, but we have expectations that dudes are just gonna kick ass as soon as they take the field, I'm not sure he'll get the time to develop the way he clearly needs to. The Pats are still the class of the AFC but they're certainly not untouchable. That D is savvy but slow.
Panthers 21-17 Eagles
For the first three quarters I saw a Panthers D-line that could not hang with the Eagles O-line. Then in the 4th, the Panthers did whatever they wanted and the Eagles looked like a turtle flipped over in the sun. The Eagles are gonna be up and down all year, I think that's who they are, and that's what they looked like here (up for three quarters, down for one). The Panthers are mercurial: when they want to look good, they do, so why don't they want to look good more often? They've got the talent on both sides, they just don't have the effort. I don't see them being better than the Saints throughout the regular season, but I can see them getting hot in the post-season.
Cowboys 17-20 Redskins
Division rivalry. The Redskins were generally the better team, the Cowboys came back late to make it look close (actually just a kick off the post away from sending it to OT) and I guess that means it was a close game. But it never felt like it. Not that the Redskins are awesome but I think they're better than the Cowboys on both sides.
Bengals 10-45 Chiefs
I kinda liked the Bengals chances in this game not because I thought they'd keep the Chiefs from scoring (they did not), but that the Chiefs D is pretty sorry and would give the Bengals a chance to run up some points of their own. I do think the Chiefs can be beat--if they turn the ball over--but we've seen the flipside of that, too: if you turn the ball over to them, the game is over because you have to score pretty much every time in order to hang with the Chiefs. I was kinda shocked by the Chiefs pass rush, they made plays and kept Andy Dalton from getting going, which might've kept the Bengals in this game. Instead it got kinda chippy near the end. The Chiefs are the best team in the AFC, the Bengals are in the muddled middle (and very much in danger of falling behind the Steelers).
Other results (surprising):
Lions 32-21 Dolphins
These two strike me as kinda similar, but the Lions have an air of renewal about them suddenly whereas the Dolphins...do not. The Dolphins should've won this game at home but they didn't. The Lions are downright plucky, if the Bears have trouble scoring and the Packers can't get going, the Lions may well sneak a few unexpected W's and be in the playoff race (I wouldn't bet on it but not impossible).
Titans 19-20 Chargers
I wasn't surprised by this score until it dawned on me that this was in LA, not in Tennessee. Huh. If the Titans had a plucky performance, kept the Chargers from taking off and clawed back to make it close at home, that would've seemed reasonable to me; but at home I would think the Chargers would jump on a weaker team early, pile up points and keep the pressure up til the spread was comfortably covered. The Titans aren't bad, they're good enough to stay in games but unlucky enough to come up short more often than not, I doubt they're a playoff team, they kinda have 8-8 written all over them; but the Chargers offense is reliable and efficient and it is how they can win games, for them to sputter at home to a mediocre conference opponent is troubling. This is a game the Chargers should've won handily.
I wasn't surprised by this score until it dawned on me that this was in LA, not in Tennessee. Huh. If the Titans had a plucky performance, kept the Chargers from taking off and clawed back to make it close at home, that would've seemed reasonable to me; but at home I would think the Chargers would jump on a weaker team early, pile up points and keep the pressure up til the spread was comfortably covered. The Titans aren't bad, they're good enough to stay in games but unlucky enough to come up short more often than not, I doubt they're a playoff team, they kinda have 8-8 written all over them; but the Chargers offense is reliable and efficient and it is how they can win games, for them to sputter at home to a mediocre conference opponent is troubling. This is a game the Chargers should've won handily.
The Texans....but the Jags....yeah, typical day in the AFC South. The Jags D is crumbling, the offense has no consistency...but the Texans are not exactly firing on all cylinders. I dunno, division game. I shouldn't say I was surprised because any result would've surprised me.
Other results (not so surprising):
Broncos 45-10 Cards
The score doesn't really tell the story--this game wasn't that close! Man, I didn't watch too closely but all I saw was Broncos making plays and Cards getting unlucky. The Broncos are not good on the road but they looked like the '27 Yankees against Arizona.
Bills got a safety, not bad.
Vikings 37-17 Jets
Yeah, the Vikings should throttle bad teams.
Browns 23-26 (OT) Bucs
I thought the Browns had this one, but they tried to bungle it even harder than Tampa Bay did. The Browns are moving in the right direction, at least, not sure I'd say the same about the Bucs.
Saints 24-23 Ravens
The Saints live on the 2-minute offense, they're built to snatch games away from the other team. And the Ravens are kinda built to get snatched, so, yeah.
Rams 39-10 Niners
The Rams brought a little more than I thought they would but they're a much better team than the Niners.
Giants 20-23 Falcons
The Falcons don't blow people out, the Giants have enough talent and savvy to hang around. If I were a Falcons fan I'd really want them to score more against sorry squads like NYG, but realistically, this is about right.
Week 6
Games I watched (some of):
Eagles 34-13 Giants
Man, NYG is like that friend that dresses nice so you keep inviting him to events but he otherwise has nothing else to offer, so he just kinda stands around: you still wanna like him but what's to like? Saquon Barkley is one of the most exciting players in the game right now and he's stuck on this sorry team, hurts my heart. As for the Eagles, they're kinda what I thought they'd be: good one week, crappy the next, up and down with no flow. They'll still win the division, they just need to get hot at the right time and they might be defending their championship (yeah, still very possible).
Steelers 28-21 Bengals
The Bengals scored late, took the lead, but you knew the Steelers still had enough time left to get it done. Even the play itself: you saw the blitz coming, so did Roethlisberger, the middle was wide open, easy TD. The Steelers are sloppy but still have the talent to get hot and win games, the Bengals are pretty good but you never can tell whether they'll finish a game or not.
Ravens 21-0 Titans
Yeah, this was every bit as boring as that score indicates. When the Ravens 'dominate' a game, it's like watching really good paint dry.
Chiefs 40-43 Pats
Great game! Felt like Mahomes was a little nervous early on, the Chiefs kinda struggled in the 1st half. But once he settled in, the Chiefs machine just did whatever it wanted against the Pats' D. Good work by the Pats to pull out the W.
Other results (surprising):
Bears 28-31 (OT) Dolphins
Brock Osweiler pulling out the late win over one of the better defenses of the last few years? Yup, that happened.
Colts 34-42 Jets
Where did the Jets get 42 points? The Colts are one of those teams I wanna like because Andrew Luck is becoming a little Rodgers-ish these days but there's just not enough around him to give the Colts any consistency. As for the Jets, I dunno, they've got nothing to lose every time they take the field and that's occasionally dangerous.
Bills 13-20 Texans
I still can't wrap my head around the Texans: it feels like they've got plenty of offense to win games and plenty of defense to hold the leads. So why did they need a lucky play late against arguably the worst QB of the last 10 years (Nathan Peterman--even the Bills haven't had worse than him!) to snatch a late win?
Jags 7-40 Cowboys
The Cowboys let it all hang out. Good for them, though they might've wanted to save some of those points for the rest of the season. As for the Jags, they're going in the wrong direction, that D does not look so fearsome and the offense is sputtering right when it ought to be in a groove.
Other results (not so surprising):
Bucs 29-34 Falcons
Falcons at home ought to outscore most everyone but especially a goofy division foe.
Chargers 38-14 Browns
The Chargers have won me over: I finally believe these guys can win games (well, perhaps it's more realistic to say the Colts, Bengals, Jags, Texans and Dolphins have not won me over). As for the Browns, they're gonna hang with a lot of teams this year but the Chargers are one of those that can fly right by them. And that's what happened.
Seahawks 27-3 Raiders
I forgot this game was in London. Not that that matters but I would've given the Raiders a slightly better chance at home. As for the Seahawks, they're competing through inertia, I'm still convinced they're not any good (and this result doesn't change my mind).
Cards 17-27 Vikings
I thought the Vikings would struggle early but once they get going, they're gonna be just fine--and I think they're getting to that groove. Yes, they probably should've beaten a crappy team like the Cards more convincingly but veteran squads that are ready to win are not worried about style points. I think this is a solid win for the Vikings.
Panthers 17-23 Redskins
Yeah, these two teams have enough talent to be good but enough fuck-up in their DNA to keep them from getting ahead. So when this game came down to the final drive, it really could've gone either way. Fun finish but somebody had to fuck it up (it was the Panthers this week).
Rams 23-20 Broncos
The Broncos are not bad at home. The Rams are good everywhere. This looks about right.
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