Falcons 21 Â Saints 31
Giants 7 Eagles 27
Like fumbles? Enjoy interceptions? Then this week’s Monday Night Football episode was just right for you. I knew this game may suck going in with both teams being inconsistent this year. I was right.
Seven turnovers is not exactly a thing of beauty in the world of football.
The Eagles seem to be turning the corner with their offense although NY is not an impressive defensive unit. DeMarco Murray did gain over 100 yards as the O-line showed improvement.
Eli helped Philly get on a roll by tossing a pick six to Nolan Carroll, and it was downhill from there.
Eye-popping stat: Odell Beckham‘s mediocre 61 yards receiving.
Fantasy Carnage: The Eagles defense racked 20 points in standard leagues.
Panthers 27 Seahawks 23
Cam Newton turned in his best performance ever as he brought Carolina back from the dead to get the win over Seattle. The Superman impersonator leads back to back 80-yard drives in the fourth quarter against the vaunted defense of the Northwest.
Newton’s heroics had the Legion of Boom bickering on the field after the last score. Greg Olsen was the better tight end on the day even though Jimmy Graham was finally effective for Seattle. Olsen grabbed the winning touchdown while Graham had 140 yards on eight catches, but no scores.
Seattle is making a habit of losing leads late. Their last five losses all involved losing a lead in the fourth.
Eye-popping stat: Cam’s two picks, but kid somehow finds ways to win.
Fantasy Carnage: Take your pick of Panthers. Cam, Olsen, or Jonathan Stewart.
Broncos 26 Browns 23
Peyton Manning led his team to victory with three interceptions! That is the weekly narrative in 2015. Manning and his offense are being outscored by the Denver defense and special teams, hence the 6-0 record.
Denver got the win over a game Cleveland team in overtime with a field goal from Brandon McManus.
Josh McCown came back to earth from last week’s huge passing day as he threw two interceptions along with his two TD passes. The duck he hung up like a punt in the fourth quarter was inexcusable and easy pickings for the Broncos defense.
DemaryiusThomas had two ugly drops late in the game that did not help his struggling quarterback.
Denver is undefeated but will not stand up to a good playoff team in the dead of winter.
Eye-popping stat: McCown, two INTs and a fumble.
Fantasy Carnage: Denver’s defense is a solid fantasy option every week.
Bengals 34 Bills 21
The Buffalo Bills somehow managed to stir up a QB controversy before this game as Tyrod Taylor sat injured. Concerns about Taylor’s height arouse in pregame reports that may have been fueled by Sammy Watkins’ complaints earlier in the week.
On the field, there was no drama, just an ass kicking by Cincinnati. Andy Dalton had too many weapons and carved up the overrated Bills defense with three TDs and 243 yards passing. Marvin Jones was the go-to guy in this game with 95 yards receiving, and the rushing game totaled 112 yards.
The Bengals are now 6-0.
Watkins can’t stay on the field and left this one on crutches. That may have more to do with his production than any Bills quarterback problem.
Eye-popping stat: Shady McCoy was back with 90 yards on the ground when it looked like he was a wash for 2015 with his hamstring holding him back.
Fantasy Carnage: Dalton. Steady fantasy man.
Packers 27 Chargers 20
Philip Rivers had 503 yards passing, so that tells me right away his team lost. He had no choice but chuck it all over the field after getting behind Green Bay. Keenan Allen had a monster game before leaving the game after the third quarter, ending up with 14 catches.
Green Bay is still winning, but injuries to the receiving corp are catching up to them. Eddie Lacy does not look 100%, but lucky for Pack fans James Starks is always ready with a big game.
Eye-popping stat: Starks nearly doubled San Diego’s team rushing total.
Fantasy Carnage: Keenan Allen handcuffed to Rivers in daily fantasy play.
Steelers 25 Cardinals 13
All of a sudden Arizona is not so hot. Pittsburgh got the win over Carson Palmer and company without a real starting quarterback.
Mike Vick went out of the game with an injury and may not return to the starting role. He has not been trusted to open up the Steelers offense and when Landry Jones came in it was a different game. He threw two TD passes where Vick managed just one yard passing the entire first half!
Palmer had a nice game until a late interception. He had little help from his run game and needed the 400-yard passing day just to stay close.
Le’Veon Bell had a down game as the Card defense just piled up in the box daring Vick to throw it.
Eye-popping stat: Vick’s avg. per throw in the game .8 yards.
Fantasy Carnage: GPP winners likely had Martavis Bryant on their roster. He and Landry Jones must be roommates or something. Vick doesn’t even know the wideout’s name I’m guessing.
Vikings 16 Chiefs 10
Yes, I’m required to recap this yawner. The Chiefs have no offense without Jamaal Charles, and Minnesota didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard.
Why does KC not target Kelce 15 times a game? There are no other options. Maybe they should just run the Notre Dame box with Alex Smith running it 42 times a game.
Teddy Bridgewater was average again, doing enough to beat a team with zero weapons.
Eye popping stat: 16-10 final score. ZZZZ…..
Fantasy Carnage: Stefon Diggs was a dark horse for GPP play.
Jets 34 Redskins 20
Ryan Fitzpatrick ran for one score then tossed two more to get his Jets over the top of Washington.
The Skins were missing six starters, so it’s no surprise how this one turned out. Cousins was not missing, and there is no other option even though he is not playing great. Tally two more INTs for him in this one.
Revis picked Cousins and the DB now has six takeaways in 2015. The Jets defense is in the top three in the League and helped the team overcome three offensive turnovers in the first half alone.
Chris Ivory is a top five back at this time and rolled to 196 total yards against the Redskins.
Eye-popping stat: 221 rushing yards for the Jets.
Fantasy Carnage: Ivory. Glad to have him in my ESPN league.
Lions 37 Bears 34
How could a game between two awful teams be so good? Lots of scoring is entertaining so this one was a fun watch. The Lions ended up winning on a very late FG with just three minutes left in overtime.
Matt Stafford had over 400 yards and Calvin Johnson benefited with 166 of those yards receiving. .
The Bears stayed in the game with always reliable Matt Forte, and they also had Alshon Jeffery back in action. The wideout had 147 yards and a score in the loss.
The lowlight of the game was another rendition of “WTF constitutes a catch in the NFL.” Golden Tate looked to bobble the ball in the end zone, and a Lion defender snatched it out of the air for the INT. However, the ruling was reversed, and Tate credited with a TD catch.
Eye-popping stat: 4 TDs, 1 pick for Stafford. Bad Bears defense gets the credit here.
Fantasy Carnage: Stafford.
Ravens 20 49ers 25
How bad do you have to be to lose to San Francisco? Worse than Michigan’s punter I guess. The Ravens used to have several good receivers. Now, Joe Flacco is a multi-millionaire, and all those receivers are gone, a couple to the Niners side.
Steve Smith is the best receiver Baltimore has, and his back is broken. Still ballin, he had seven catches and a TD. Damn!
This game saw more turf issues at Levi Stadium and, unfortunately, this place will host the Super Bowl this year.
Kaepernick had a decent game with two TD throws, and he didn’t do anything reckless.
Eye-popping stat: Kaepernick’s QB rating of 128.
Fantasy Carnage: Steve Smith is up and down in fantasy play. This week was an up one.
Texans 31 Jaguars 20
The Jags have a nice young offense with a talented quarterback and two very good receivers in Hurns and Robinson. They just are a year away from knowing how to win.
Houston should just send Ryan Mallett packing for the CFL. Hoyer is playing the position like a pro. It may not last, but he is ten times better than Mallett. Hoyer had three touchdown passes and got help from a healthy looking Arian Foster. DeAndre Hopkins is straight killing defenses and had ten more catches in this game to add to his blistering pace this season.
Bortles was Jacksonville’s leading rusher, and that sums up the reason for JAX ‘s loss if no other stats were available.
Eye-popping stat: Hopkins 15 targets again this week.
Fantasy Carnage: Hopkins.
Dolphins 38 Titans 10
Talk about a turnaround on the Miami defense. Firing their coach did wonders for this team. Either that or they got their best defender back from injury as Cameron Wake recorded four sacks by himself.
Lamar Miller decided to put forth an effort and gained over 100 yards on the ground as well. Tennessee never got going, and Mariota was hobbled by a dirty looking hit from a Dolphin pass rusher.
Look for Miami to keep some “interim momentum” in the short term. I’m not sure that will result in more than four wins the rest of the year, however.
The Titans fall to 1-4 and Mariota was pulled from the game after being battered much of the contest that was out of hand.
Eye-popping stat: Tannehill’s two picks on an otherwise decent game.
Fantasy Carnage: Dolphins defense.
Patriots 34 Colts 27
This game could have ended up 300 – 7 according to Jim Rome. Pretty funny but the revenge factor was overplayed this week. It was just another game for Tom Brady. He wants to win every single time he takes the field. This was not much different.
The Colts hung with New England much of the game but eventually fell behind as Brady threw for over 300 yards and three touchdowns.
Andrew Luck was back for this game and back to himself as he stayed away from turnovers but couldn’t get his team past the bullies of the northeast.
By now you have seen the idiotic trick play attempted by the Colts. I have no idea what they were thinking. Sure it was a bad design, but worse execution. I would have faked insanity had I been the center on that play before I ever snapped the ball.
Eye-popping stat: Colts outrushing New England was shocking.
Fantasy Carnage: Blount and Luck were solid fantasy point providers.