Time for our look back at Week 5 in the NFL. We'll do an abbreviated version of Protecting the Shield today, but we'll try and be back later tonight with an extended look into why there are so many bad teams in a league that is supposed to feature parity. The inspiration you may ask? Browns 6 Bills 3. Yipes. Hopefully, no Browns or Bills fans will tune in as we examine how they and others around the league have sent football back a hundred years. Onto the rest of Week 5 we go!
Underrated Story Of The Week: The Falcons Are Better Than Last Year
-Yes, the Bengals and Broncos both had huge wins this weekend, but there is no doubt as to who had the most impressive victory: Atlanta. 45 points in San Francisco?? 45!?! Why even the great Brett Favre only mustered 27 points against that stingy 49er defense. Atlanta crushed San Francisco into a cube and then threw it into the dump on Sunday. So far this season it's been Joe Flacco and the Ravens getting all the attention, but Ryan and the Falcons are better than last year's division championship team. If they can get that kind of effort from Turner, Ryan, and the defense on a consistent basis they will make the playoffs easily. With respect to the Giants and Vikings, the NFC's two best teams might reside in the South.
Overrated Story of The Week: Brady Looks Scared
-After the Broncos' win on Sunday over New England, it seemed that everywhere I turned the focus seemed to be on Tom Brady and New England's offense. Multiple "experts" and analysts focused on Brady's tepid play in the pocket as being directly related to his knee injury suffered last season. I don't know about you, but that's a bogus copout. Sure, he might whine to try and get calls, but doesn't every athlete try and get the refs on their side? Funny how Carson Palmer doesn't look scared in the pocket, and yet he's more injury prone than Brady has ever been. The Golden Boy's problem isn't his knee, or his fright of getting hit (I would think playing the QB position is about the safest thing to do in sports right now), his problem is the Pats don't have the superior talent that they once did. On Sunday, it was Denver's D that won the game and played better than Brady and New England, pure and simple.
3 Stars:
3rd Star: Peyton Manning (QB-Colts)
-36/44, 309 yds, 3 TDs... Peyton's making this 3 stars thing a weekly occurrence
2nd Star: Roddy White (WR-Falcons)
-8 rec, 210 yds, 2 TDs... oh, and he embarrassed Dre Bly's primetime attempt, good hustle Roddy!
1st Star: Miles Austin (WR-Cowboys)
-10 rec, 250 yds, 2 TDs... setting the all-time single game receiving record for a franchise that has featured names like Alworth, Pearson, Irvin, and Owens is quite an achievement, especially for a 3rd stringer. Congrats as well for keeping the vultures away from Romo and Wade for the time being.
Fab 5:
1. New York Giants
2. New Orleans
3. Denver
4. Indianapolis
5. Minnesota
-A thought about our rankings: Denver moves way up on the back of 2 huge home wins (and that fluky win against Cincy is looking better and better). We'll finally get our first Fab 5 Showdown of the year next week as the Giants visit N'awlins.
5 Random Observations:
1) As much grief as we give Mark Sanchez for his media adulation, he made some great throws last night at Miami. Surprisingly, it was the Jets D's inability to stop Miami's Wildcat with a little Chad Henne sprinkled in. Henne looked legit as an NFL QB, weird to see him throwing TD passes to former Buckeye Teddy Ginn though.
2) Braylon Edwards showed some flashes of brilliance last night, and had some balls bounce off his hands as well. He might get a break for now, but as the drops become more prevalent will New York fans be able to tolerate his up and down nature? I think not.
3) JaMarcus Russell threw 13 times in a game in which they lost by 37 points. Glad to see Oakland trusts their QB of the future! Oh, and the Tom Cable punchgate details are now out in the public. If the Raiders don't act to fire Cable you can bet that Sheriff Goodell will be at the door sooner rather than later.
4) There are more bad teams out there than you think. Washington (2-3) managing to play a winless team in each of the first 5 weeks. Jacksonville (2-3) lost by 41 points at Seattle. Houston's (2-3) 2 wins are against Oakland and Tennessee. Oakland, Carolina, Detroit, Buffalo, and Cleveland all have 1 win and wouldn't be able to win the Big Sky conference. Can I plug our own upcoming article in our league observations, is that against the unwritten rules of blogging....
5) I think Owen Schmitt bladed himself much like Ric Flair or Dusty Rhodes would for dramatic effect during Sunday's pregame intros. Check out these two tapes and you be the judge. Did Schmitt add the juice intentionally? If so, then a WWE title might be in his future.
"My God! My God! Schmitt's face is covered in a crimson mask! Can he lock on the Figure 4? Can he win the title?"
"To be the man, you gotta beat the man! WOOOOOO!! Diamonds are forever, and so is Owen Schmitt! WOOOOOOOOO!!!"
What Happened In Week 5 That Will Change The Season: The McDaniels/Orton marriage is a good one.... seriously... no, we're not kidding
-It's taken a long time for folks to embrace the reality of what is going on in Denver. Two months ago, Josh McD was over his head and Kyle Orton was getting booed off the field in the preseason. 5 games into the regular season, McDaniels is headed for the Coach of the Year award, the Broncos have a Top 5 D, and Kyle Orton is looking like the next Trent Dilfer (please don't become as annoying in your broadcast career Kyle...). The win over New England validated Denver to the entire NFL. New additions like Dawkins and Davis and Mike Nolan as coordinator have keyed a defensive revolution in the Rockies much like Gregg Williams has done in New Orleans. Kyle Orton isn't Drew Brees, but somehow the guy always seems to do enough to win. Don't expect Denver to do too much long term damage, but then again, they've been doubted all the way so far...
We'll be back with our column about NFL suckiness and tomorrow the Decade Series returns with our list of the Top 10 Flops of the Decade! Yes, it's two days of honoring the boneheaded, busts, and really, really bad here at RSS! Bye for now...
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