NFL Week 8 Review

Recapping the week that was in the NFL:

Baltimore 35, New Orleans 22 - New Orleans finally fell back to Earth. The Ravens defense has a tendency to do that to opposing teams. The Saints couldn't do anything offensively, Reggie Bush injured his ankle, and the Ravens used two defensive touchdowns to jump out to a 35-7 lead over the now 5-2 Saints.

Kansas City 35, Seattle 28 - With the Seahawks playing without Matt Hasselbeck, Shaun Alexander, Sean Locklear and Bobby Engram on offense, they needed the defense to step up yesterday in Kansas City. As they did, the Chiefs offense just ran right by them. Actually, they ran through them, throw over them and generally spent 42 minutes abusing the "talented" Seahawks defense.

Green Bay 31, Arizona 14 - At 1-7, and on a bye week, the fate of Denny Green may well be determined this week. That Arizona lost isn't a surprise (the Cardinals haven't won in Green Bay since 1948, when the team played in Chicago), but with the way the Cardinals are playing, a change is necessary. It'll be interesting to see if ownership wants to still pay Denny Green not to coach the team. They're notoriously cheap, so don't be stunned to see Green coaching out the string.

Atlanta 29, Cincinnati 27 - What has gotten into Michael Vick? The usually "run first/pass second" QB has tossed 7 TD passes in the last two games, guiding Atlanta to two wins over AFC North teams. If Vick keeps playing like this, it just might justify his salary and drown out all those people calling for Matt Schaub. For the Bengals, Chad "Ocho-Cinco" Johnson got into the end zone, which preserved his Golden Mohawk. I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

Chicago 41, San Francisco 10 - I don't care if it was against the lowly 49ers, the Chicago Bears are 100% for real. They are definitely the best team in the NFC, and the margin isn't even close.

Tennessee 28, Houston 22 - The Titans did it with defense, forcing 5 Texans turnovers, knocking David Carr from the game, and scoring two defensive scores. Wasted was the 3-TD effort from back-up Texans QB Sage Rosenfels. Oh, and where did Owen Daniels come from??
Jacksonville 13, Philadelphia 6 - Got to hand it to the Jaguars defense. They didn't give up the big play, held the Eagles to just 6 points (half of which came on a harmless FG with 30 seconds left in the game) and escaped Philadelphia with a "W". David Garrard wasn't spectacular, but he kept some drives alive (and Philly off the field) with some runs. That's an element that Byron Leftwich simply doesn't provide.

NY Giants 17, Tampa Bay 3 - With the windy conditions at the Meadowlands, the last thing a team wants to do is throw the ball a lot. The Giants stacked up Cadillac Williams and made rookie Bruce Gradkowski throw the ball 48 times. He completed slightly more than 40% of those throws. Little more needs to be said...

San Diego 38, St. Louis 24 - Too much LaDainian Tomlinson for the Rams to handle. "LT" touched the ball 28 times, racked up 240 yards of offense and crossed the end line 3 times. No amount of production from Marc Bulger (who was excellent) can overcome that.

Oakland 20, Pittsburgh 13 - We know about the curse where Super Bowl losers don't make the playoffs the following season, right? Well, maybe the "Creative Officiating" from Bill Leavy's crew last February means that the curse is hitting the team that probably deserved to lose that game. Just a theory I have. Whoever watched this game should know that Ben Roethlisberger is not himself.

Indianapolis 34, Denver 31 - This was one of those games where even people who are not fans of either team enjoyed watching it. Back-and forth, all afternoon long, and you just knew that whoever had the ball last, was going to win. That's especially true now that the Colts have the best clutch kicker in the history of the NFL on their sidelines. That kick would've been good with Arena Football League goalposts.

Cleveland 20, NY Jets 13 - Call me crazy, but you can't convince me that Chris Baker wouldn't have come down inbounds on that 4th-and-4 play. His right foot was nearly on the turf, and he had plenty of room to get the other one down, before Brodney Pool asserted himself. Good play by Pool (it was a ferocious hit), but I think the Jets got hosed on that one. Tough break, Coach Mangini. Tough break.

Dallas 35, Carolina 14 - Did anyone see this one coming? What has happened to the Carolina Panthers? What was the girl who broke up with Tony Romo 7 days ago thinking? Wasn't the worst Brett Favre impersonation? Why would Tony Romo ever agree to do that on camera?

Questions are all I have after last night's game. I don't think Dallas is that good, nor do I think Carolina is that bad.

Mac's Game Balls

Offense: (tie) Larry Johnson, RB, Kansas City and LaDainian Tomlinson, RB, San Diego: Two of the best running backs in the NFL showed why on Sunday, as both torched the top two teams in the NFC West.

Defense: Shawne Merriman, LB, San Diego: Since he'll likely be taking November off, Merriman went out with a bang on Sunday. "Lights Out" only had 5 tackles, but 3 of them were sacks. The guy, steroids or not, is a beast.

Special Teams: Adam Vinatieri, K, Indianapolis: Yesterdays game-winning FG is why I couldn't understand why New England would ever let him go. 4-4 on FGs, on the road, and one near the final gun is why Vinatieri will one day be enshrined in Canton.

MNF Prediction

I'm not faring too well in the predictions department, so take this for what it's worth:

Patriots 27, Vikings 20

MSRP: $0