NFL Week 4 Recap: Giants’ D-Line Saves Their Season; 49ers, Colts Drop Their Chances at W’s

 A quarter of the way through the season and the only unbeaten team left in the NFL is… the Kansas City Chiefs. Add to that the fact that 21 of 32 teams are either 2-2 or worse, and you have quite an uncertain start to the year.

Let’s recap Week 4 and see whose stars shined the brightest!

- The Giants D-line absolutely crushed the Bears on Sunday night, and might have ruined Chicago’s season in knocking out Jay Cutler and Todd Collins. Cutler has not looked good when pressured, and without any semblance of a running game, teams are going to be sending the heat.

The Giants, meanwhile, nearly blew a chance at a quality win by shooting themselves in the foot with turnovers, including a fumble by Ahmad Bradshaw at the goal-line. Unless they get their turnover problems under control, they will continue to be an unpredictable team.

- Both the Colts and the 49ers had their chances at victories snuffed out by missed opportunities at the end of the game. Nate Clements, in a play that defines the Niners’ season so far, fumbled after what seemed to be a game-clinching interception, giving the Falcons second life and leading to their game-winning field goal. A ton of credit goes to Falcons WR Roddy White, who never gave up on the play and caused the fumble – but Clements should have went to the ground much sooner and not worried about the pick-6.

Meanwhile, the Colts had just tied the game on a typical Peyton Manning drive with under two minutes to play when Colts CB Kelvin Hayden had a potential INT fall to the ground. Shortly thereafter, Josh Scobee of the Jaguars knocked through the 3^rd-longest game-winning field goal in NFL history from 59 yards out to knock off the Colts.

While the losses continue to pile up for San Fran, they still are only 2 games out of the mediocre NFC West lead – even if they don’t look like they’ll be contending anytime soon. And the Colts had better figure out how to win on the road if they don’t want to waste a year with Manning at the helm.

- With so many teams .500 or worse, the teams that have the more impressive records didn’t impress this weekend. The Bears got run over at the New Meadowlands, the Packers hung on for a slim win at home (!) against the Lions, the Falcons needed a last-minute gaffe and a last-second field goal to keep the Niners at bay, the Texans got into a shootout with the Raiders, the Saints continued to look surprisingly ineffective on offense, and the Steelers and Ravens stifled each other until the fourth quarter.

- The only two teams to look impressive were the Jets and the Patriots. Ladainian Tomlinson looks like his old self from 3 years ago, running strong and injury-free behind one of the best run-blocking offensive lines in football. Mark Sanchez has continued to look impressive now that he can throw down the field, but will he need to do it this often if the Jets can continue to run the ball this way?

The Patriots, meanwhile, shook off a sluggish start to blow out the Dolphins in Miami. The Pats’ special teams got them two scores, one on the opening kickoff of the second half, and the other on a blocked field goal. The defense forced four interceptions from Chad Henne, who took a huge step back this week after throwing a game-sealing pick last week against the Jets.

- LT wasn’t the only 30+ player to have a throwback game. Terrell Owens had 10 catches for 222 yards and a touchdown in the Bengals’ 23-20 loss to the Browns,  and Carson Palmer had a huge day as well, throwing for 371 yards and two scores.

On the other side of the spectrum, Sam Bradford looks like the real deal after leading the Rams to a win over the Seahawks, and Peyton Hillis might be the solution at RB for the Browns after another 100-yard day.

- Big winners this week have to be the Jets and Patriots, who look like they’ll be the class of the AFC and don’t face each other again until December, when the AFC East might be on the line. With most of the rest of the teams in the NFL looking mediocre, the Pats-Jets battle might be the marquee battle.

- Big losers have to include the rest of the NFC West and the Bears. The Colts also had a shot to stay in the lead in the AFC South and put up a weak performance on defense against the Jaguars.

Big Matchups for Week 5 This Weekend

- Minnesota at the Jets: Don’t expect a friendly crowd for Favre’s return to the Meadowlands. If the Vikings can’t run the ball, this should be another convincing win for Gang Green.

- Kansas City at Indianapolis: The first litmus test for the Chiefs, who put together a great record against teams with losing records. I’m looking for the Colts to bounce back at home against a young team, even coming off the bye.

- Denver at Baltimore: Baltimore is the only team to beat the Jets, but they haven’t looked terribly impressive in the rest of their games (including this week in beating the Steelers). The one area they’ve looked good in is pass defense, and if the Broncos can’t run the ball, this might be the game for the Ravens to get some style points.

I’ll be back next week with all the week’s action across the NFL. See you all then!

NFL Week 3 Recap: Bears, Jets Climbing High; Giants, Niners Fall Flat

Another big weekend of NFL action saw a couple teams save their seasons and a couple take another step towards the draft. We’ll go no-huddle and get right to it!

-Titans 29, Giants 10 – The story all week in the NY area is how the Giants self-destructed a week after Brandon Jacobs decided to shot-put his helmet into the Indianapolis crowd. Eli Manning may have outgained Vince Young, but he made a ridiculous left-handed pick when the Giants were driving for points in the 1^st quarter. Add to that 11 penalties, and you have the makings of a lost season in the inaugural year for the New Meadowlands Stadium. Give credit to the Titans as well: they played more disciplined when it mattered and didn’t turn the ball over. The Giants right now look sloppy and not ready for a good run this year.

-Jets 31, Dolphins 23 – Who would’ve thought that these two strong defenses would allow the offenses to destroy the over for this game? Mark Sanchez took another step forward in his progression, and Chad Henne was the first to blink, with a 4^th quarter pick that sealed the game for the Jets. Proving they are apparently immune to negativity, the winning TD was on a 67-yard catch-and-run by Braylon Edwards, who added more fuel to the talking heads’ fire in NY by dancing afterwards. Simply put, the Jets let their quarterback play, and now they’re taking off.

-Bears 20, Packers 17 – Another game where the loser did themselves in. A lost fumble in the 4^th along with 18 (!) penalties erased a great game by Aaron Rodgers (34 of 45, 316, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 rushing TD) and dropped the Packers a game behind the Bears. In a game where neither team could run the ball – Jay Cutler was the leading rusher in the game with 37 yard – the Bears made the plays that mattered the most. Now, they have to keep the momentum going with a road trip to the New Meadowlands next week in a matchup the Giants will need desperately.

-Falcons 27, Saints 24 – Garrett Hartley better get his resume together. He’s going to be in need of a job sooner rather than later, even with the NFC Championship heroics from last year. Atlanta continued to show that the Saints are playing rather uninspired football, as they ran for over 200 yards, held the Saints to 43 rushing yards and forced 3 turnovers. A major step forward for a young team looking to make the climb to the playoffs, and a tough loss for the Saints, who need to step up and play better football starting next week at Carolina.

-Chiefs 31, 49ers 10 – Speaking of playing better football… Would someone like to let the Niners know that this might have been their season on the line here? The Chiefs absolutely embarrassed San Fran in seemingly every facet of the game, and get to prepare to continue their unbeaten start after the bye in Indianapolis. The 49ers, meanwhile, travel to Atlanta to face the Falcons in a game that they need even more than this one if they want to have any hope of winning the division like their offseason promise held. They might want to start by playing better on the offensive line, as they were held to under 50 yards rushing for the second time in 3 games, and on defense, which was gashed for over 200 yards rushing.

Now we’re going to quick hit thoughts on the rest of the weekend in the NFL:

-Steelers 38, Bucs 13 – That noise you heard was one bandwagon emptying onto another. The Steelers are looking like top contenders, Big Ben or no Big Ben.

-Patriots 38, Bills 30 – Who saw this one coming? The Bills nearly completing a huge comeback against the Pats, in a shootout???? The Pats better get their defense straightened out and fast.

-Vikings 24, Detroit 10/Cowboys 27, Texans 13 – A little bit of nice symmetry for two preseason Super Bowl contenders saving their seasons with 14 point wins.

-Bengals 20, Panthers 7 – A ho-hum win for the Bengals, who would’ve loved to see Carson Palmer play like he was back at USC again.

-Rams 30, Redskins 16 – Wow. A 30-spot to a rookie quarterback in his 3^rd start. The Redskins are a mess.

-Ravens 24, Browns 17 – This game should not have been this close, but Joe Flacco had a very-much-needed good game for the Ravens. Anquan Boldin is looking like the big acquisition of the offseason so far.

-Seahawks 27, Chargers 20 – And there goes San Diego down the tubes. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy than Philip Rivers.

-Cardinals 24, Raiders 23 – Sign that the NFC West is the worst division in sports: When you lose one week to the Raiders, and the “best” team in the division only wins by one.

-Colts 27, Broncos 13 – Peyton Manning can have me and John as his wideouts, and he’d throw for 300 yards and 3 TD’s.

-Eagles 28, Jaguars 3 – Michael Vick continues to impress, albeit against a second-straight bad team. With the Redskins and 49ers on the schedule next, he probably won’t be tested until the Falcons come to Philly in Week 6.

Top Three Match-ups in Week 4

-Ravens at Steelers – Last week for the Steelers before Big Ben comes back, but even if they finish 3-1 in those four games, it’s a huge start for them. Baltimore can’t afford another loss to a division foe.

-Patriots at Dolphins – Expect the Dolphins’ D to bounce back from a poor performance against the Jets. I’m giving a slight edge to the Dolphins, since their offense showed some life against a Jets D that slowed the Pats’ offense in week 2.

-Bears at Giants – I don’t think anyone had the Bears, Steelers and Chiefs as the last remaining unbeaten teams heading into Week 4. Expect the Giants to bounce back from a poor game and give the Bears their first loss of the year.

I’ll be back next Tuesday with Week 4’s best and a preview for Week 5. See ya then!

~ David