| 1 |  |
Last Week: 2 |
Well here you go, Titans fans. All you had to do was take some time off during an upset-filled weekend and you land back in first. Now the Titans can concentrate on their running game. In Weeks 4 and 5, Tennessee only accumulated 127 rushing yards. Can they get back on track in Week 7?
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| 2 |  |
Last Week: 5 |
Big Ben might’ve needed more than a week to rest all of his injuries. Either way, look for this team to come out of their bye week smoking against the Bengals. Pittsurgh has an eye on grabbing a firm hold of the AFC North.
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| 3 |  |
Last Week: 1 |
Um…what the heck just happened here? Eli Manning reverted to 2006 form on Monday night and everything went downhill from there. Eli’s three picks were the most he’s thrown since Week 12 of last year. And then there was the defense. After compiling 15 sacks in their first four games, the Giants didn’t have any against Cleveland. Did I mention this all happened against the previously inept Browns?
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| 4 |  |
Last Week: 3 |
The Redskins committed their first three offensive turnovers of the year and, just like that, their impressive three-game winning streak was over. And against the Rams, of all teams. The Professor doesn’t like to simplify things, but it was clearly all about the turnovers. The ’Skins out-gained the Rams by 168 yards, had 14 more first downs, and even had fewer penalties. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Washington will work on protecting the ball in practice this week.
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| 5 |  |
Last Week: 14 |
Jeff Garcia returned from injury to play mistake-free football as the Bucs routed division rival Carolina, 27-3. You think notorious quarterback-switching head coach Jon Gruden is satisfied with Garcia’s performance? “[Garcia] is going to start this week,” Gruden said. Jeez, coach, don’t get too excited.
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| 6 |  |
Last Week: 12 |
Okay, we’ve reached the point in the season where we have to declare this Falcons team for real. Rookie QB Matt Ryan proved that the Falcons can win without an amazing performance by their stud running back. Michael Turner was held to a measly 54 rushing yards by a tough Bears defense. So Ryan went out and threw for 301 passing yards. In 30 attempts, he had only eight incompletions and showed poise in throwing a 26-yard out pattern to set up the game-winning field goal.
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| 7 |  |
Last Week: 4 |
The Panthers took a significant step backwards against division foe Tampa Bay. A first quarter blocked punt and interception put them in a two-touchdown hole early. After that, the Panthers couldn’t establish DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart in the running game and Jake Delhomme turned it over two more times. That’s life in the NFC South, where there are three 4-2 teams.
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| 8 |  |
Last Week: 8 |
Trent Edwards had the bye week to recover from his Week 5 concussion and is expected to play against the Chargers on Sunday. How well Edwards plays will go a long way towards determining if this Bills team is a real playoff threat.
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| 9 |  |
Last Week: 13 |
It was throwback day for the Colts in their ever win at the new Lucas Oil Stadium. And I’m not talking about their uniforms. Peyton Manning was firing the ball all over the field to Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne (11 combined catches, 3 TDs) on the way to 24 first half points against Baltimore’s tough D. Two tough road games (at Green Bay, at Tennessee) will be followed by a home game against New England. By then we’ll know if we’re going to see these Colts in the playoffs for the seventh straight season or not.
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| 10 |  |
Last Week: 6 |
Their quarterback has a broken finger, their explosive rookie running back has a left hamstring injury, and their big play wide receiver has a big mouth. Backup QB Brad Johnson will step in for the injured Tony Romo. Johnson does have 71 career wins as a starter, but the last of those came in 2006. In other words, there are a lot of big problems in Big D right now.
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| 11 |  |
Last Week: 21 |
Here come the Jags. David Garrard went his third straight game without an interception and Maurice Jones-Drew rumbled for 125 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. This is how they won last year, and it’s how they’ll have to play if they want to keep winning this year.
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| 12 |  |
Last Week: 22 |
The next team on the road to redemption is the Chargers. Unfortunately, their dominating performance over New England only evened their record at 3-3. San Diego has two tough road contests (at Buffalo and Pittsburgh), plus an international matchup with the Saints in London, in their next five weeks.
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| 13 |  |
Last Week: 7 |
The good news is, the Broncos defense is tightening up a bit. The bad news is, the high-powered offense hasn’t scored more than 20 points in a game since Week 3. Denver has dropped two of three. And even more troubling is the fact that they’ve turned the ball over eight times during that three-game span.
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| 14 |  |
Last Week: 20 |
I can’t lie, the Fantasy Wiz was wearing his Arizona Cardinals bandwagon t-shirt yesterday. (Under his Wizard’s robe, of course.) The Cards showed off some serious special teams (one return TD, one game-winning blocked punt) and a menacing pass rush (three sacks, three forced fumbles) in a big win over Dallas. They’re two games in front of the pack in the NFC West and three of their next four games are against teams with losing records.
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| 15 |  |
Last Week: 15 |
They halted their three-game losing streak with a newfound commitment to the running game. Ryan Grant carried 33 times and Green Bay controlled the ball for 37 minutes in Seattle. If Grant can up his yards per carry average (3.4 this year, 5.1 last year), the Pack will be right back on track.
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| 16 |  |
Last Week: 17 |
Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid passed Joe Montana and Bill Walsh as the all-time winningest quarterback-head coach tandem. Fittingly, they pulled off the record-setting victory in San Francisco. More importantly, the Eagles snapped their two-game losing streak heading into the bye week. They have a chance to rest up Brian Westbrook heading into a Week 8 date with Atlanta.
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| 17 |  |
Last Week: 18 |
Congratulations to running back Thomas Jones for his first career three-touchdown game. Just be wary of the ol’ gunslinger Brett Favre. He has the second most touchdown passes in the league but the third most interceptions. Favre’s mistakes kept the Bengals in the game on Sunday. They’ll be costly as the Jets start battling for a playoff spot.
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| 18 |  |
Last Week: 19 |
Something has gotten in to Bernard Berrian. After finishing last year with one 100-yard receiving game, Berrian has ripped off two such games in a row (adding a touchdown in each for good measure). Meanwhile, the Vikings are tied atop the NFC North heading into a pivotal clash with the co-division-leading Bears.
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| 19 |  |
Last Week: 10 |
Don’t look at the offense, Bears fans. The defense and special teams let the team down on Sunday. With a one-point lead and 11 seconds on the clock, Chicago squibbed the kickoff and gave it to Atlanta on their own 44-yard line. Then, with six seconds left on the clock, the D gives up the only play they couldn’t, a 26-yard sideline strike, setting up the game-winning field goal. Thanks to this latest late-game stumble, next week’s game against Minnesota is huge.
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| 20 |  |
Last Week: 23 |
Drew Brees is first in the NFL in passing yards and second in attempts and completion percentage. And starting this week, Brees gets receiver Marques Colston back in the lineup for the first time since the first quarter of Week 1. Yeah, the same Colston who had 2,240 yards and 19 touchdowns over the past two seasons. Scoreboards, take cover!
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| 21 |  |
Last Week: 11 |
At this point in the season last year, Randy Moss had 40 catches for 610 yards and 8 touchdowns. This year? 20 receptions, 300 yards, 2 touchdowns. This Patriots offense is a tad different without Tom Brady, huh? The 17th-ranked scoring defense isn’t helping, either.
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| 22 |  |
Last Week: 26 |
A great man named Drew Carey once said, “Cleveland rocks!” And for one night, he was right. Derek Anderson threw for 310 yards and two TDs, Jamal Lewis rushed for 88 yards and a TD, Braylon Edwards pitched in 154 receiving yards and a score. If those three can build on this performance, the Browns might be able to ride offensive fireworks and their 8th-ranked scoring defense back into post-season contention.
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| 23 |  |
Last Week: 9 |
No close loss this week. One game after pushing undefeated Tennessee to the brink, the Ravens were outplayed from the start in Indy. With five turnovers (three INTs, two fumbles) quarterback Joe Flacco is looking every bit the rookie these days.
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| 24 |  |
Last Week: 16 |
The Dolphins’ latest loss is proof of how tough life in the NFL can be. Seven seconds away from a three-game winning streak, the ’Fins fell victim to a quarterback draw. Now? They’re in last place in the AFC East with three tough games looming (at home against Baltimore and Buffalo, then on the road against Denver).
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| 25 |  |
Last Week: 25 |
Matt Schaub had the most passing yards in the NFL this week (379) and ran for the winning score on a draw play with three seconds left in the game, leading the Texans to their first win of the season. That’s one way to settle a quarterback controversy.
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| 26 |  |
Last Week: 24 |
J.T. O’Sullivan’s fourth quarter miscues turned a close game into a rout. An interception that was returned to the 49ers 7-yard line, a fumble, and then an interception that was returned all the way to the end zone sealed a game that the Niners actually led Philly 26-19 going into the fourth quarter.
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| 27 |  |
Last Week: 27 |
They’re on their third-string quarterback and they’re playing without two starting receivers. No wonder Seattle only had the ball for 22 minutes in their loss to the Packers. It’s still a little early, but this looks like the end of the Seahawks’ four-year reign as NFC West champs.
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| 28 |  |
Last Week: 28 |
I hope the Chiefs enjoyed their bye week, because up next is the undefeated Titans.
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| 29 |  |
Last Week: 31 |
Rams win! Rams win! Three turnovers, including one fumble return for a touchdown, led St. Louis to their first win of the season. (Just don’t focus on the stats, where the Rams still rank last in both scoring offense and defense.)
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| 30 |  |
Last Week: 29 |
It doesn’t matter who’s coaching this motley crew. If JaMarcus Russell doesn’t play up to his Number 1 overall pick status, they’re not going to make any progress. Russell has a 50 percent completion percentage on the season and the same number of lost fumbles as touchdown passes.
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| 31 |  |
Last Week: 30 |
Thomas Jones had three touchdowns against the Bengals in Week 6. He had two touchdowns all last season. With back-up QB Ryan Fitzpatrick running the offense, this defense needs to stiffen up if they’re going to win any games in 2008.
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| 32 |  |
Last Week: 32 |
It’s one thing to give up a safety. It’s another thing when your quarterback (of the future?) gives up a safety by running out of bounds in his own end zone untouched. And with starter Jon Kitna out for the season, Dan Orlovsky can’t afford more boneheaded mistakes like that.
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