NFL Week Five Review

Let's look at the action this week in the league, which was not without some surprises!

Surprise No. 1

The Wildcat offense is no joke. The Dolphins are a good football team this season. They are playing with excitement and enthusiasm and are well coached in every aspect now. The running game is solid.

Chad Pennington does not have the strongest arm in the league, but he is very efficient. The defense has stepped up, especially in the fourth quarter Sunday, as they win over San Diego 17-10.

Surprise No. 2

The Colts are struggling with their running game again, and this will hurt them as the season progresses. Defenses will load up against the pass. Only because Sage Rosenfels has never been taught to slide did they escape from a loss in Houston.

Houston totally chokes at home and hands a victory to the Colts, who in all reality should be 1-3. Indy 31, Houston 27. If you bet on Houston this week, you're jumping off a tall building!

Surprise No. 3

Not really much of a surprise to this observer: Aaron Rodgers will never be as good in Green Bay as Brett Favre. Never was and never will be! The Packers have a tough road this year with all the comparisons and especially losing to Atlanta at home.

Green Bay must get their defense untracked to expect any success this season. Atlanta 27, Green Bay 24.

No other major surprises this week as we check in with the rest of this week's action.

The Eagles started off 14-0 then gave up three field goals as Washington clawed their way back in the first half to make it 14-9. The Eagles had a terrible second half as they crashed and burned to lose 23-17.

Washington is for real and sets up a great game when they play Dallas in the rematch, as well as the Giants, who remained undefeated against Seattle as they won easily, 44-6. Seattle cannot win when they travel to the East Coast for the last decade or so.

This division, the NFC East, is the best in football this season without a doubt.

Carolina looked great as they handled Kansas City with no problem, 34-0.

Chicago also had an easy day of it, smashing Detroit 34-7.

Tennessee had a defensive battle with Baltimore, which was expected, but came out on top 13-10. Both quarterbacks had two interceptions, and Kerry Collins rallied his team with a touchdown pass to get the win and remain 5-0.

In the afternoon games, Dallas managed to stay ahead of Cincinnati all afternoon and get the victory, 31-22. The Bengals hung in there all day but stalled out on a two point-conversion attempt, then gave up a touchdown to Patrick Crayton as the Cowboys surged ahead to stay tied for second with Washington in the NFC East.

The New England Patriots came back to beat the 49ers 30-21 in not too much of a surprise.

Arizona went ahead early, and never looked back, winning easily 41-17 with their high powered offense. No surprises on that one either. I thought the offense might be too much for Buffalo this week.

The Denver Bronco defense finally showed up to beat Tampa Bay, 16-13. Tampa Bay played defense well also but could not score enough themselves to get the win.

A decent week of picks without too many upsets got me to 8-4 so far.

Pittsburgh played on Sunday night against Jacksonville, and even though the Jags have won four in a row, I took the Steelers on the road. Pittsburgh wins 26-21 as Big Ben throws for over 300 yards.

New Orleans wins easily on Monday night at home against Minnesota. I am perfect on the Monday night games so far and always get this one right for some weird reason. No pressure New Orleans, go get 'em! If New Orleans wins, I am 10-4 this week and 45-29 overall this season.

I am always very consistent over the course of the season as you will see if you keep track of my picks! Good luck to all your teams next week and thanks for any comments and article picks!

Thomas Moreland aka NFL Mikee