NFL: Week Six Observations

Week Six of the NFL provided plenty of surprises and classic endings.

After their past two victories over the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys, the Washington Redskins suffered a classic letdown in their home game against the lowly 0-4 St. Louis Rams. After Washington fought back with 10 points in the fourth quarter to take a 17-16 lead, Marc Bulger drove his team down the field and Josh Brown hit his third field goal of the day to seal the 19-17 victory as time expired.

So much for Washington’s four game winning streak.

The Skins, as well as the media, might have gotten a bit ahead of themselves with their lofty revised expectations for Zorn’s crew—some stating that they were the best in the league—and the reason being is that we found out Dallas isn’t nearly as good as most expected.

The Cowboys went into Arizona and played a terrible game.

I haven’t heard the postgame yet but I’m sure Terrell Owens was whining for not getting the ball thrown his way enough. The Cards began this game with a kickoff return for a touchdown and ended it with a blocked punt in overtime that was recovered for a touchdown, giving Arizona a 30-24 victory.

The game shouldn’t have been so close but Dallas was aided by some horrific calls early on.

Trailing 7-0 in the first quarter, Tony Romo—who was harassed all day—was sacked and stripped of the ball, which the Cards recovered at the 20-yard line.

Only it didn’t count.

The referee inexplicably blew the whistle and ruled him down, giving possession back to the Cowboys. On another play, with Romo in the end zone, he made a jerk of the body motion as he was sacked and the ball came loose, which the Cards recovered for a touchdown.

However, after a review, the call was overturned as the ref ruled in favor of the infamous “tuck” rule. I’m not sure what the league has to do with the refs—it’s been an issue for years now—but the officiating is getting worse and worse each year, and a lot of games are adversely affected because of it.

If not for some high school tackling by Arizona late in the fourth quarter, allowing Marion Barber to catch a short pass and run 70 yards for the touchdown, the game would’ve ended for Dallas with a 10-point loss.

This team has a lot of problems.

Wade Phillips is an average coach and they lack the continuity of a champion. And what was predicted before the season as a walk through to the NFC East Championship looks as if it’s going to be a dogfight for a wild card, between the Skins and perhaps the Eagles.

In Indianapolis, at least for one Sunday, the Colts of the past decade reappeared.

Against a tough, stingy defense like the Ravens, Peyton Manning’s line gave him time to pass—something it had been unable to do in the first five weeks of the season—and Manning torched Baltimore for 270 plus yards and three touchdowns. He had a fourth called back on a questionable call.

The defense, playing without standout safety Bob Sanders came up big today against rookie signal caller Joe Flacco. The Colts buried the Ravens 31-3.

It was much the same down in San Diego.

In a game where the Chargers had to win, they came out and played a strong game. Rivers was on fire from the get-go and took advantage of the New England Patriots short corner backs by targeting and connecting with his big receivers early and often. The defense played solidly as well making life miserable for Matt Cassel and company, who really had no answer for the Chargers aggressive game plan.

Although the score was 30-10, I wouldn’t necessarily jump to conclusions that it’ll be smooth sailing from here on out for San Diego.

Matt Cassel is still only playing in his fourth game as a starter, so his less than stellar performance was to be expected playing in a hostile environment. And while Rivers was solid again this evening, Tomlinson was still pretty much shut down outside of two or three runs which netted 10 plus yards. Until he gets going again and is consistently picking up four to five yards with some long runs sprinkled in there, it’s going to be a hot and cold season for this team. At least being .500 takes some heat off Turner in the papers this week.

Is a Brad Childress watch on yet?

This guy is horrible. Supposedly a great offensive mind, it just shows you that it was Andy Reid calling the plays in Philly when Childress served there as offensive coordinator. It took a very questionable call—late pass interference against Detroit CB Leigh Bodden—to get his team in range to kick the game-winning field goal and beat the lowly Detroit Lions 12-10 in a game at home, facing a third string quarterback.

The offensive plan was unimaginative and the game was a snoozer. I’d have to imagine he’s on a short leash with all of the money that the Vikings’ owner spent this past summer.

Lastly, it was truly a day of epic comebacks in the NFL. We’ve already discussed the finishes of the Redskins, Vikings, and Cowboys, but there were others.

After the Bears rallied furiously to take a 20-19 lead with 11 seconds left in Atlanta, impressive rookie Matt Ryan threw a beautiful 30-yard pass to his receiver on the sideline with one second left. Jason Elam then nailed the 48 yard field goal to give the Falcons a 22-20 win.

In Houston, after Miami took a 28-23 lead with just under two minutes to play, Matt Schaub, helped by a great Andre Johnson catch on fourth down, took Houston down the field and ran the ball in from the second on fourth down. The Texans notched their first win of the season, 29-28.

So as Week Six winds down, I think we’ve learned a few things.

While the NFC East is still the best division in football, anything can happen on any given Sunday and that’s exactly what happened today. And in the AFC, a few sleeping giants—Indianapolis and San Diego—just might have awakened after stellar performances on their home turfs.

For more great NFL analysis, from top stories, to fantasy tips, to betting lines, check out www.profootball101.org