Panthers 23-20 over the Saints: In a messy divisional Thursday night game marred with injuries, QB Cam Newton did enough to win this game thanks to his defense stopping the high powered offense of the Saints, plus his run game showed up. 1. He had one 1 TD but was clean with no picks as WR Ted Ginn JR and RB Jonathan Stewart had the two TDS. 2. Despite QB Drew Brees having 2 TD passes and over 280 yards he fumbled and threw a pick. He also led a comeback of sorts as they were down 23-3 before he threw 2 late TD passes to WR Brandon Coleman and TE Coby Fleener 3. The Saints also lost starting RB Mark Ingram to a concussion in the game and Carolina lost LB Luke Kuechly to a concussion along with three other players. 4. It was mostly a field goal game before the 2 late TDs with 5 total among both teams.
Steelers 24-9 over the Browns: 1. The Browns again had QB carousel with Cody Kessler leaving the game with a concussion but Josh McCown wasn’t any better with a fumble despite a late TD pass to TE Gary Barnidge. They missed the extra point on that TD and that fumble that McCown had was recovered for a TD. 2. The Steelers didn’t have to do much vs. the Browns since only Le’Veon Bell was the only player to show up with a TD and over 200 all purpose yards. It’s not hard to lose to Cleveland as the rest of the game was a field goal game.
Cowboys 27-17 over the Ravens: The Ravens might win their division based on how Pittsburgh and Cincinnati is playing but they ran into an unmovable force that is the Cowboys offense. 1. RB Ezekiel Elliot was stopped from scoring despite his 120+ all purpose yards but it was QB Dak Prescott’s day. Prescott had over 300 yards and 3 TD passes, two of them going to WR Dez Bryant. 2. WR Steve Smith SR is showing he isn’t done yet with just less than 100 yards with another TD pass while RB Terrance West is trying to hold off his backup by scoring another TD. 3. With Dallas controlling the tempo of the game with the run game they are keeping off the other team’s offense off the field as Baltimore didn’t get enough chances to score and were surprised how good the defense with two fumbles.
Lions 26-19 over the Jaguars: With this win the Lions stay tied for first place. 1. QB Matthew Stafford didn’t have a great game but his team saved him as there was a punt return TD and an interception TD. Also the TE Eric Ebron had a rushing TD which was surprising. 2. Again QB Blake Bortles was uneven with 2 TDs passed but had 2 interceptions. The team also fumbled the ball a few times which is never good when it happens more than once.
Colts 24-17 over the Titans: 1. QB Andrew Luck led his team back to .500 with a 2 TD performance with one of those going to WR TY Hilton who had just under 100 yards, and backup RB Robert Turbin scored a rushing TD. 2. Despite a 290 yard game with 2 TDS it wasn’t enough as they were playing from behind early. RB DeMarco scored but it was a passing TD. 3. Kicker Adam Vinatieri missed a field goal which is shocking.
Bills 16-12 over the Bengals: In a low scoring game with 3 field goals by the Bills it wasn’t a boring game. 1. WR AJ Green left the game early and so did RB Gio Bernard where both will miss the rest of the season. On both TDs they scored they missed the extra points. 2. QB Andy Dalton didn’t have a great game despite his rushing TD since he had 2 interceptions and a fumble, and even though they had more TDS they still lost as Buffalo kept the other RB Jeremy Hill and TE Tyler Eifert quiet. 3. The Bills only had one TD a LeSean McCoy rushing TD, but he left the game with a thumb injury, so they won but it doesn’t mean squat if they are without their starting RB.
Buccaneers 19-17 over the Chiefs: 1. Tampa Bay pulled off the upset behind a career day by rookie kicker Robert Aguayo as he had 4 field goals which accounted for nearly all of the offense plus a TD pass by QB Jameis Winston who had 330+ yards along with WR Mike Evans 105, which weren’t even factors based on the score. 2. TE Travis Kelce also had over 100 yards as it didn’t matter since QB Alex Smith had a rushing TD and one throwing TD but had an interception. Guess the only way for KC to win is to play perfect and they didn’t.
Giants 22-16 over the Bears: In a game full of injuries the Giants run game showed up and QB Eli Manning didn’t turn the ball over. 1. Eli had 2 TDS while RB Rashad Jennings had a TD and 85 yards. 2. The Bear lost TE Zach Miller who was having a great game with a TD when he left and QB Jay Cutler is out for the year hurting his shoulder during the game. They also lost rookie LB Leonard Floyd, LG Josh Sitton, and CB Cre’Von LeBlanc who couldn’t finish the game. 3. Both teams’ kickers missed extra points and Chicago’s Connor Barth missed a field goal as well. It was a messy game where the better team came out on top, that’s all.
Vikings 30-24 over the Cardinals: After going 5-0 and losing four straight the Vikings finally won a game over another underachieving team. 1. The Vikings had an interception return TD and kick return TD. 2. RB Matt Asiata now has back to back games with a TD while QB Sam Bradford didn’t throw the ball away. The defense had 2 interceptions and a forced fumble. 3. RB David Johnson again had a monster game with 160 all purpose yards and 2 TDS one receiving and one rushing, but it wasn’t enough since QB Caron Palmer turned the ball over two times and TE Jermaine Gresham had a fumble cancelling out his TD.
Dolphins 14-10 over the Rams: The Dolphins have a five game win streak after their comeback win over the Rams and rookie QB Jared Goff making his debut. 1. Despite being down 10-0 QB Ryan Tannehill overcame his early interception by throwing 2 TD passes to his two best receivers Jarvis Landry and DeVante Parker. 2. It didn’t matter if it was a rookie or a bad backup the Rams didn’t score enough to win despite a TD by RB Todd Gurley.
Patriots 30-17 over the 49ers: The Patriots were given another cake walk team. 1. QB Tom Brady had 4 TD passes and 280 yards. As he got everyone involved as WRS Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola scored, while backup RB James White caught a TD pass despite people’s worry that Dion Lewis was going to take away scoring attempts from him. 2. New England didn’t need Rob Gronkowski to win this game who was sidelined with an injury to his lung. 3. Despite QB Colin Kaepernick’s 2 TD performance, it wasn’t good enough to overcome an insurmountable lead.
Seahawks 26-15 over the Eagles: 1. Seattle after getting RB Thomas Rawls back from injury cut Christine Michael since they had rookie CJ Prosise, but after scoring an early TD Prosise left the game and will be out for awhile. So you never really have enough players at any given moment. 2. Despite the low yardage and only 1 TD pass to TE Jimmy Graham QB Russell Wilson did have a great game since he caught a TD pass from WR Doug Baldwin, you heard that right. Baldwin wasn’t happy about the trick play since he had over 100 yards and rather be catching the ball then throwing it. 3. Rookie QB Carson Wentz had an uneven game which is common for rookies but after his start many thought he would sustain it all year. He did have 2 TD passes with one of them being in the 4th quarter but had two interceptions and a fumble.
Redskins 42-24 over the Packers: 1. Again Aaron Rodgers had a good game with 3 TD passes and no interceptions, but as usual he had no run game despite RB James Stark being back for consecutive games with a receiving TD but nothing on the ground as Rodgers led the team in rushing. His defense clearly didn’t show up giving up 42 points to QB Kirk Cousins and the Redskins. It doesn’t matter who you are if your team can’t play defense and you have to throw it 40-50 times. 2. Kirk Cousins has been described as lucky for the talent around him and the coach’s good offensive mind. So when a defense gives up 375 yards and 3 TDs all of the naysayers will say it was the Packers bad defense which is why Rodgers can’t win, but Cousins has been good since the 2nd half of last season. If he keeps it up he will get paid long term as two of his receivers had 102 and 116 yards respectfully. 3. RB Robert Kelly was the 3rd string RB coming into the year and he had over 130 yards and 3 TDS!? That is impressive no matter whose playing defense.
Raiders 27-20 over the Texans: 1. QB Derrick Carr threw 2 4th quarter TDs to rally vs. the Texans in Mexico City and had 3 in total with the game winning one to WR Amari Cooper. 2. RB Lamar Miller had over 120 all purpose yards and 1 TD. QB Brock Osweiler had another uneven game with a TD but an interception which is key as Carr was the better QB in this one. 3. FB Jamize Olawale had a huge game with a TD and 90 yards which is rare in today’s game as there are not many FBs out there.
Bye Week: Jets Broncos Chargers Falcons