NFL Week 9 Recap

There were plenty of upsets on what was another wildly unpredictable Sunday in the NFL.

Miami 31, Chicago 13 – Once again, the Bears hopes for an undefeated season comes to an end at the hands of the Miami Dolphins. The more I think about this, the less of a shock it probably is. Chicago, particularly QB Rex Grossman, turned the ball over six times on Sunday. No team can turn the ball that many times and win (just ask Bill Cowher), and this was the second time this season that Chicago has done it. The only difference was that Miami is slightly better than Arizona, and the Bears weren’t able to get the defensive and special teams scores to overcome it.

So what does this mean for Chicago? They’re a still good team, and should still be considered the best team in the NFC. But I do think that the blueprint for attacking the formerly #1-ranked Bears offense exists, and Rex Grossman isn’t experienced enough yet to handle early adversity. That doesn’t bode well for the Bears come playoff time.

Buffalo 24, Green Bay 10 – In need of an example of a play-caller who got “too cute” for his own good? Check out this 5-play sequence by the Green Bay Packers midway through the 4^th quarter, when the Pack trailed by 7 points:

2^nd-and 10 from the Buffalo 49: Ahman Green off right guard for 9 yards.
3^rd-and 1 from the Buffalo 40: Ahman Green off left tackle for 16 yards.
1^st-and 10 from the Buffalo 24: Short pass to Donald Driver for 13 yards.
1^st-and 10 from the Buffalo 11: Noah Herron up the middle for 10 yards.
1^st-and goal from the Buffalo 1: Short pass intended for Donald Driver intercepted by Ko Simpson, who returned the ball to the Green Bay 27.

They just ran down the Buffalo Bills throats, and they throw the ball from the 1-yard line. Naturally, it’s intercepted. Buffalo scores on the shortened field, and the game was out of reach.

Jacksonville 37, Tennessee 7 – Welcome to the NFL, Vince Young. 15-36 and 3 interceptions is an expected stat line for a young QB. David Garrard is making Jack Del Rio look like a genius.

Detroit 30, Atlanta 14 – You knew that eventually Michael Vick would come back to Earth. I just didn’t think it would be against a Detroit Lions defense that was missing 75% of its starting defensive line. I’ve devoted some space to taking some shots at Lions WR Roy Williams, but with his 4^th 130+-yard receiving game of the season, the guy is a stud. Give him a top notch QB, and he’ll break records.

Baltimore 36, Cincinnati 30 – Going down 14-0 within the first 5 minutes proved to be too much for the Bengals to come back from. Did anyone see Chad Johnson do anything on Sunday? The only impact he made was complaining after the game about the way he’s being used in the offense. The only reason I feel bad for Marvin Lewis is because he seems like such a nice guy, I wish he was smarter enough to avoid compiling a team of turds.

(Baltimore has a 2-game lead on the Bengals, and today’s win makes it essentially a 3-game lead. With the way both teams are playing, the NFC North is about to have a new champ.)

Washington 22, Dallas 19 – One of the more bizarre finishes to an NFL game in recent memory. Dallas has a game-winning field goal attempt blocked, during the return, Kyle Kosier grabs hold of Sean Taylor’s facemask, and Washington’s Nick Novak (who?) ends up squeaking a 47-yard field goal inside the right upright on an un-timed down. And all anyone wants to talk about it Terrell Owens’ taunting penalty and him dropping a wide open touchdown.

New Orleans 31, Tampa Bay 14 – This is how you respond to getting your butt kicked. Drew Brees looked phenomenal, and without their most veteran WR, Devery Henderson and rookie (of the year?) Marques Colston combined for 14 catches, 234 yards and 3 touchdowns. The one concerning stat of the day was Reggie Bush. He touched the ball 15 times for just 17 yards, including 11 rushes for just 5 yards.

Kansas City 31, St. Louis 14 – Didn’t I tell you that the Rams would have a hard time with Larry Johnson? 27 carries, 172 yards and a touchdown for LJ, but even that couldn’t out-produce his counterpart, Steven Jackson, who only had 86 yards on the ground, but thanks to solid coverage by the Chiefs secondary, amassed 133 yards on a career-high 13 receptions. That’s 219 total yards of offense for Jackson. Still, the Rams are showing their true colors on defense. They couldn’t get pressure on Damon Huard, couldn’t stop Johnson, and when they don’t force turnovers, they’ll give up 30 points a game.

NY Giants 14, Houston 10 – It wasn’t at all pretty, but the Giants just keep getting the job done. Tiki Barber cracked the century mark on just 17 carries, and the Giants did just enough without two key players (Plaxico Burress and Michael Strahan, who missed the 2^nd half with an injury).

San Francisco 9, Minnesota 3 – When Brad Childress reviews the tape from today’s loss to the 49ers, he’s going to know exactly what unit let him down: The wide receivers. Whether it was dropped passes by Troy Williamson, or the illegal block in the back by Travis Taylor (which negated a beautiful 65-yard catch-and-run for a score by Chester Taylor), this unit has been consistently awful this year. It’s no wonder Koren Robinson was expected to lead this unit.

San Diego 32, Cleveland 25 – Ok, the Chargers absolutely have to make the powder-blue uniforms permanent. The only thing more pleasurable to watch (on a football field, anyways) than those uniforms is LaDainian Tomlinson running in them. Just hand him the MVP trophy right now.

Denver 31, Pittsburgh 20 – Big Ben has played in 7 games, and has a 1:2 TD-to-Interception ratio. Is his QB rating since last year’s AFC Championship a negative number?? This game was never so out of reach that Pittsburgh needed to abandon the run, but they did so anyways. 19 runs against 58 passes is not Steelers football.

I’ll add the recap for the Sunday night game, hand out game balls and toss out a useless MNF prediction on Monday.