Weeks 7 & 8

I knew that dubbing Indianapolis vs Denver as “The Unstoppable Force vs The Immovable Object” was going to be trouble. Yes, Indianapolis’ drives were mostly a matter of when and not if they got near the red zone, and the Broncos did put up a very tough defensive effort at times to slow down the Colt’s drives (for their 6 first half points, the Colts spent a total of 14 minutes and 14 seconds driving, though they did seriously up the ante in the second half), and it was a very enjoyable game to watch, but neither team really lived up to those monikers. For Indy’s part on D, they were allowing too many big plays and relatively quick drives, and if it weren’t for the offence controlling the ball as well as it did, Denver may well have routed them as Plummer had a perfectly solid performance, and Mike Bell kept tearing through their lines (ending with 136 yards and 2 touchdowns). It was a turnover near their own end zone that really cost Denver the game, with Reggie Wayne –causing Denver corner Darrent Williams all kinds of problems- getting his second touchdown catch to radically alter the face of the game. By this time it was very much looking to be a simple of case of “whoever gets the ball last, wins,” which proved to be the case as the Colts (with legendary clutch kicker Adam Vinatieri his usual ruthless self) getting the field goal to send Denver down by three at the death.

Elsewhere, the Steelers gave a helping hand to a hardly world-beating Raiders side that put up some atrocious numbers. This included a quarterback performance from Andrew Walter (who himself admitted the offence was “terrible”) that culminated in a grand total 5/14 for 51 yards, less than a hundred rushing yards from four different runners used. The Steelers’ numbers look ok, but then get pretty much turned on their head when you add five turnovers to them, and the Steelers didn’t help themselves by failing to prevent 5 sacks. Initially it’s easy to say that Oakland only won because they got two interception TD returns (including a 100-yarder that Roethlisberger tried to stop but was never going to,) but that wouldn’t give credit to their defence which held strong as the last few minutes ticked down, enabling them to seal their second win of the season. But whatever the story, whatever the circumstances, whatever may or may not have been troubling Roethlisberger (being taken of the pitch last week being just the latest hurt inflicted on his body), this result will never be seen as good enough for Pittsburgh, who are looking less and less likely to even get to the playoffs, let alone retain their Super Bowl crown. They were also in one of the big games of week 7, as they took the trip to Atlanta to face the Falcons, losing by 3 points as the outstanding Mike Vick had a four touchdown-pass performance (on three of those he hooked up with Alge Crumpler), despite the best efforts of the Steelers as Hines Ward caught for 171 yards and three touchdowns off his quarterbacks (Big Ben, and then Batch when Roethlisberger was forced out of the game hurt.) The game would ultimately go to overtime, for veteran Morten Anderson to get the winning field goal.

Other big stories of that week were Houston beating Jacksonville 27-7, Cincinnati battling to a 3-point win over Carolina and Oakland getting their first win of the season over the Cardinals, the first and last of those three scores being just two upsets of many in week 7.

Broncos report
There was little to report in week 7 as the Broncos got another 17-7 win, this time over Cleveland in what a game lacking in much real excitement, but in week 8 with the Colts coming to town it was always going to be a big week whatever happened, and a week that might tell a lot about Denver’s own Super Bowl ambitions. They set out their stall just the same as they had in previous weeks. First and foremost in their game-plan was to shut down the Colts potent offence, and in the first half they reduced them to a mere 6 points (two field goals) and scored 14 of their own. Job done, more of the same in the second half please. However… come the second half, and Peyton Manning had decided this wasn’t at all how he’d planned this game out in his head, and began to exert his considerable force of will on the game, and we all know once he’s doing that and he’s playing his best, there’s not a defence around that can stop him. Denver still held their own, Mike Bell made the most of Tatum Bell’s sore toe and had a great day, and Jake Plummer put in a performance he can mostly be happy with, and the offence overall looked pretty decent (a 31 point tally isn’t to be sneezed at), but during the second half whenever the Colts got the ball, they didn’t look like not scoring. In the end, they got the ball as good as last and got the field goal for the win, but Denver shouldn’t be too down-hearted, they put up a hell of an effort against arguably the NFL’s finest team at the moment, answering some of their critics offensively in the process. Roll on Pittsburgh in week 9.

Draft stars

Matt Leinart didn’t get what you might call a “honeymoon period”… during his first two starts he and his Arizona team-mates lost moral-sapping games to Kansas and Chicago a total of four points, following this up with a defeat against then-winless Oakland, followed by a trip to Green Bay to face a very poor defence and still walking away with a 17-point defeat, things have been tough for young Master Leinart, and he’s going to need to make the most of a week 9 bye to prepare for a visit from the Dallas Cowboys after that.

Vince Young, on the other hand, has seen his team get another victory (with their bye, that makes it two straight wins after their defeat of the Redskins) when they beat the Houston Texans by six in week 8. Young himself only managed 87 passing yards and just under half of his 15 passes completed, but there was a touchdown catch from his efforts and he also got a rushing touch down to compliment two defensive touchdowns as Tennessee got the W. If the Titans and Young are feeling opportunistic, they just might make it three wins in a row as they prepare to visit the off-colour Jaguars.

Bold predictions
Pre-season predictions, eh? Who’d make ‘em? Well, I did, so here’s a look at how those picks are faring.

-As a Broncos fan I’m irritated to say that Indianapolis are still looking firmly on course as a Super Bowl contender just now, having done enough to get by a slid Denver performance, in Denver.

-Cardinals as “most improved” NFL team. Pah.

-A Denver place in the AFC championship game still looks like a real possibility to me. Hopefully somebody else will have disposed of the Colts by that time.

-Last call was that the Redskins would be the most disappointing team in the NFL thus far, and I can happily stand by that… arguably the most confident I am about any of those season predictions.

Random thoughts and predictions

-One of the best rookie performances this week was un-drafted Mike Bell. And yet there are running backs picked in the draft who can’t even see the first team, let alone get near it.

-Terry Romo will have a great game as he starts against the Redskins in week 9.

-Indianapolis will beat the Patriots, and with a bigger margin of victory than against the Broncos.

-Pittsburgh could finish this week 2-6, how insane does that sound?

Game-by-game predictions

I’ll apologise in advance that my picks reasoning is a little light-weight this week. A Thursday deadline is a harsh mistress, and all that.

Atlanta Falcons vs Detroit Lions

I know the Falcons are missing or potentially missing a few players, but I don’t see the Lions being able to contain them. It’ll be high-scoring and surprisingly close, but Atlanta will take it.

Cincinnati Bengals vs Baltimore Ravens

This is of course the cue for the Bengals to go and pound Baltimore, but Cincy haven’t looked quite “there” yet this season, while thus far Baltimore have been a solid unit for the most part. It won’t be pretty, but Baltimore to win by a touchdown.

Dallas Cowboys vs Washington Redkins

One more chance for Brunell to prove he’s not just killing time until Jason Campbell comes in. With Portis, Brunell, Moss and Randle El carrying small injuries (not enough to keep them out of the game, probably, but enough to hinder their performances, perhaps) this one might not be pretty at all for the ‘Skins. Tony Romo will come out of the other side of his first ‘Boys at ‘Skins as a starter with a smile on his first.

Green Bay Packers vs Bufallo Bills

Try as they might, getting back to an even record will elude the Packers for this week, as McGahee racks up some huge stats to help the Bills to a surprisingly comfortable win.

Houston Texans vs New York Giants

This is one of the week’s no-brainers. Carr will put on a reasonable show for Houston when he’s on the field but he’ll be able to do nothing as the Giants do very mean things to the Texans D.

Kansas City Chiefs vs St. Louis Rams

I’m working on the assumption here that the Chiefs will risk Damon Huard for Sunday and he’ll be fine. This will be a very tough game, a lot of points will be scored by both teams, it’ll end up very close, I think it could be a case of the winner will be the team who got the ball last with a reasonable amount of time on the clock. Larry Johnson will carry the burden for this one, and he’ll thrive on it to lead Kansas City to a victory.

Miami Dolphins vs Chicago Bears

Hapless 1-6 Miami vs 7-0 Bears. It doesn’t take a genius to pick a winner here.

New Orleans Saints vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers

New Orleans got beaten bad by Baltimore in week 8, they couldn’t handle Baltimore and they were far too sloppy. Tampa Bay have had a boost with battling triumphs against the Bengals and the Eagles in the last three weeks, and they’ll scrape by the Saints at home here to get their third win of the season.

Tennessee Titans vs Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jags have to get back to the sort of team they looked capable of being at the start of the season sooner or later, and this game should be it. The Titans are feeling good with recent wins under their belt, but Vince Young could struggle to threaten the Jags defence enough for Tennessee to challenge over the course of the game.

Minnesota Vikings vs San Francisco 49ers

There will be very little report after this game. Minnesota contain 49ers, Johnson manages the game competently if unspectacularly. Minnesota get the win. That is all.

Cleveland Browns vs San Diego Chargers

There are better teams than Cleveland who wouldn’t beat the Chargers in San Diego this week, so they’ll have nothing to be ashamed of when Tomlinson and Friends put one over the Browns convincingly.

Denver Broncos vs Pittsburgh Steelers

Not a game that the champions needed this week. Denver will be determined to show after falling short against Indy that they’re not a “nearly” team, while Pittsburgh are desperately clutching at everything within reach as they try to form a semblance of the team that won them the big one at the start of the year. They won’t find it this week though, as the Broncos defence will do it’s thing and the offence will have another good game.

***Game of the Week***
Indianapolis Colts vs New England Patriots

This game promises to be an absolute corker, I mean, if we get Brady and Manning both at their best then pretty anybody can just sit back, relax, and let this one wash over them. Whether we get the shootout we’d all like to see or not, Indianapolis will top the Pats in this one. Beating Denver won’t have quenched their thirst for proving they’re not a team who can’t quite make it. They’d love to add the name of another big AFC rival to the list of teams they beat on the their way to the 2007 Super Bowl. I’m not going to look quite that far ahead, but they will win here.

Oakland Raiders vs Seattle Seahawks

In the past two weeks I’ve picked the Raiders to lose twice and they’ve won twice. In those same two weeks I’ve picked Seattle to win twice and they’ve lost twice. I’m going to ignore the signs and pick Seattle to beat the Raiders at home. Surely they can’t lose? I hope not. And after all, they say third time’s a charm.