Notes around the NFL

Panthers at Falcons

Cam Newton finally had a pretty bad game, throwing three interceptions. The Panthers have to be ecstatic that it took this long for Cam to have a bad game…Michael Turner is an absolute beast, rushing for 139 yards and 2 touchdowns, but it was the way that he was using the truck stick and running people over that looked so impressive…What’s up with Roddy White? He’s been a tremendous disappointment this year after his amazing season last year.

Indianapolis at Cincinnati

The Bengals are a respectable 4-2 after beating the Colts, who maintain pace for the Andrew Luck sweepstakes. I haven’t gotten to see the Bengals play very much, but this kid A.J. Green looks special. At 6-4, 207 pounds, could Green be the next Calvin Johnson?

San Francisco at Detroit

This was the game of the week, as San Fran moves to 5-1 after beating the previously unbeaten Detroit Lions, who are now 5-1 as well. Frank Gore rushed all over the Lions, totaling 141 yards while Jahvid Best rushed for a grant total of 37 yards. San Francisco had 5 sacks while the uber-talented pass rushers of the Lions only totaled 2 sacks. It’s clear who won the battle of the trenches in this game, and the winner of that battle normally wins the game.

St. Louis at Green Bay

At this point, you have to wonder if Green Bay is going to lose this season. Granted, they beat a winless Rams team, but it just doesn’t appear to be any answer for Aaron Rodgers and his bevy of receivers, even if they can’t run the ball.

Buffalo at New York Giants

As I mentioned last week, when the Giants don’t turn the ball over, they can be as good as any team in the league. They beat a very good Bills team with a field goal very late in the game. Eli Manning looked good and Ahmad Bradshaw backed up his talk of wanting more carries by running for 104 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Jacksonville at Pittsburgh

Is Jacksonville better than we thought, or is Pittsburgh just very inconsistent? After taking a 17-3 halftime lead, the Steelers allowed 10 unanswered points to make it a close 17-13 game. Rashard Mendenhall came back from injury and rushed a more than respectable 146 yards. While Big Ben didn’t throw 5 touchdowns like last week, he didn’t have a single turnover.

Philadelphia at Washington

The Eagles bounce back with a win against a division rival. Let’s be honest, this was probably a must win game for the Eagles; they couldn’t afford to go to 1-5. And yet, I’m still surprised they didn’t play better. They scored 20 points in the first half but didn’t score a single point after halftime. Andy Reid took my advice and finally let LeSean McCoy carry the team, letting him run the ball 28 times. McCoy running the ball leads to victories and a healthy Michael Vick.

Cleveland at Oakland

Do you know what a Pyrrhic victory is? Oakland won the game, but Jason Campbell got injured. Now that Jason Campbell is out for the rest of the season, I think it's safe to say that they have little to no chance seeing as how they have to start Kyle Boller (believe me, I know). In other news, I love it when teams do fake punts/fake field goals. Good for Oakland, who successfully turned a fake field goal into a touchdown.

Dallas at New England

Tom Brady did it yet again, throwing a touchdown pass with 22 seconds left to win the game. This was the first game in 13 games that the Patriots have been held to under 30 points, so perhaps everybody should watch the game film and see what the Cowboys did to disrupt that offense.

New Orleans at Tampa Bay

I’m confused. Wasn’t Tampa Bay the team that got beat by the 49ers 48-3? And now they beat the Saints and are 2-0 in the division? Will the real Tampa Bay Buccaneers please stand up?

Houston at Baltimore

This game was a lot closer than the score indicates. Houston was only down by 5 points with the ball pretty late in the game, but the Ravens pulled it out. My love/hate relationship with Joe Flacco continues. To a person just looking at the box score, you’d think Flacco had a good game, passing for over 300 yards and completing 20 of 33 passes. You just have to watch him in order to understand how much he can suck at times. He continues to hold on to the ball too long and pretend like he’s Ben Roethlisberger. I'm very happy to see Anquan have a very good game; I’m sure that he’s been very frustrated during his time in Baltimore where games of 8 catches and 132 yards are rare, whereas they were pretty common when he was in Arizona. The truth is, he’s one of the best receivers in the NFL; Joe Flacco just needs to get him the ball and make the passes. Ray Rice had another ho hum day of 161 yards of offense.

--Adam Janet