Week 7 got underway in London
as the Jaguars and Bills squared off at Wembley Stadium in what was probably the
most exciting of all the International
Series matches. The match was notable for more than the action on the
field. It was the first time that the Jaguars seemed to have a ‘home field advantage’ from the fans.
Perhaps this was helped by an impressive second quarter which saw them score
two defensive touchdowns in quick succession. The Bills must be praying for the
return of Tyrod Taylor after EJ Manuel turned the ball over three
times in 8 plays. But it wasn't all bad for Manuel. With a Bills team that was
missing Sammy Watkins the second
year player generated several scoring drives and at times made some impressive
touch passes. In fact Manuel and the Bills looked to have done enough to
complete an impressive comeback before Blake
Bortles took over and hit Allen
Hurns for the winning touchdown. Finally the Jags won in London.
The Patriots are 6-0 and Super
Bowl bound right? Not so fast. Tom
Brady and the Patriots narrowly defeated the Jets on Sunday. But look at who they've beaten; the Bills, an
improving Jaguars, the downtrodden Colts,
an impressive but stalling Steelers, Romo-less
Cowboys and the Jets. Not exactly the
Power Ranking top 10!
The Eagles continue to improve despite losing to a Carolina team that has an extremely aggressive defence. The Panther’s
linebackers looked quicker than everyone on the field and their defensive line
gave the Eagles fits. On offence the
combination of Mike Tolbert and Jonathan Stewart frequently ran through
the Eagles defence (Byron Maxwell
I'm looking at you) like it wasn't there. The Eagles defence did keep them in
the game with turnovers but in the end the dropped passes and stupid penalties
were too much. Last year’s first round pick Marcus Smith has still yet to contribute in any meaningful way and
seems destined for bust label.
Two first round picks who
definitely weren't busts are Oakland’s
Amari Cooper and St Louis’ Todd
Gurley. Amari seems to catch everything thrown his way and already has 519
yards and 3 touchdowns. Gurley, seemingly fully recovered from his ACL injury
in college, added 128 yards to his rushing total for the year which now stands
at 442 yards. He also scored the first two touchdowns of his NFL career.
The Lions prepared for their trip to Wembley with a loss to the Vikings. Teddy Bridgewater had a fantastic
game and made several plays that suggest he could be an NFL star. Whilst the Chiefs looked impressive at times in
their win over the Steelers was even
more impressive when you consider they were without Jamaal Charles (torn ACL) and Jeremy
Maclin (still recovering from a concussion). It was good to see Eric Berry playing at such a high level
after battling Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
Bill O’Brien
is in the hot seat, and if he's not he certainly should be. The Texans lost yet again and were not
helped by the fact that their supposed starting quarterback this week Ryan Mallett, missed his flight (seriously,
how does that happen to a supposed professional football player?!) and had to
fly commercially. It's not the first time that Mallett has been late. He overslept
and missed a pre-season practice earlier in the season. Personally that's not
the sort of player I want leading my team, and it appears the Texans agree with
me – Mallett was released on Tuesday. Tebow
for the Texans anyone?
The Dolphins won their second straight match and the game was over by
half time! Lamar Miller finally gets
a significant number of carries and how does he respond? He rushed for 175 and
chipped in with 83 receiving yards before being taken out of the game at half
time. Ryan Tannehill passed for four
touchdowns and the much maligned defence chipped in with a touchdown and 4
sacks. Dan Campbell certainly has Miami playing with some intensity.
A year ago running back Chris Johnson was a New York Jet and
only managed to rush for 663 yards in 16 games. Everyone was predicting the end
of his career. A year later and after a drive-by shooting in which he nearly
died, Johnson is looking rejuvenated in the desert. Now with the Arizona Cardinals, he's started the
season with 567 yards rushing in seven games, including 122 yards on Monday night
against the Ravens. Johnson looks to have found his speed and vision after looking
lost at times for the Jets.
Tyrann Mathieu
looks a little bit like Brian Dawkins.
He's got a chance to be a really special player if he can stay healthy. The
guy’s 5’9 but tackles like he's been shot out of a cannon and has instincts in
spades. Arizona say he studies hard too. He's a fun player to watch.
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