Week 6 Review

Week 6 had plenty of close games, including two OT thrillers and some big upsets to continue the early season trend of parody in the NFL. Unfortunately a lot of the excitement from this week is being overshadowed by the controversy over helmet to helmet hits, which are becoming a huge problem in football.

Let's start out by saying that the NFL needs to do the right thing to protect it's players by taking a stand against hard hits to the head.  Perhaps more than any time in the past, we are now hearing more about the seriousness of a concussion.  This week alone we saw several examples of injuries that could easily have been prevented by clearer rules regarding hits to the head that are strictly enforced. 

Concussions are dangerous injuries that are often not taken seriously enough.  Awareness of the long term brain damage that multiple concussions can lead to would be a big step toward preventing these types of injuries from spiralling out of control, but it has to be a team effort.  The NFL and their refs need to start cracking down on illegal hits to the head.  Enforcement of these rules, along with stricter penalties, will ensure more players will follow the rules.  Coaches need to instruct players on the proper way to make a tackle and not tolerate penalties due to poor fundamentals.  They also need to have a better understanding of the symptoms of concussions and realize that players need to be taken out of the game, and in most cases will need to miss additional games, depending on the severity of the concussion.  Finally, the media needs to be accountable as well.  Hard hits get glorified as highlights while old school commentators make jokes about a guy "getting his bell rung."  It's impossible to set the example that this type of play needs to be eliminated from the game when players are getting praised for it.  It sets a bad example for young players, particularly to college and high school players who will want to emulate their favorite players by doing the same thing. 

Football is a violent sport by nature.  Hard hits and injuries are unavoidable, but they can take steps to protect players, especially when it comes to life threatening brain trauma.  It could lead to extending the careers of some players as well as keeping those players on the field more, improving the product as a whole.

With that said, here are some other things that happened in Week 6.

• Some weeks the Bears look like they could become the best team in a division full of underachievers, and then some weeks they lose at home to a Seattle team that is typically awful on the road.
• Last season Jay Cutler tried to shoot for the league record in throwing Interceptions.  This year it seems he's turned his focus on the record for getting sacked the most.  Sacked 6 times against a Seattle D that isn't known for having a dominant pass rush.  Is it Cutler's fault, the offensive line's, or the system's?  Probably all of the above.
• Marshawn Lynch was a good pickup for the Seahawks, but they can't forget to keep Justin Forsett involved.  Maybe he can't hold up as a featured back all season, but he's more explosive than Lynch.  He produced a lot more than Lynch with nearly half the amount of touches.
• Miami won one of the OT thrillers this week, but it should be pointed out that they shouldn't have allowed it to go to overtime to begin with.  They let Aaron Rodgers walk in untouched for a TD late in the 4th quarter to tie the game.  The Packers spread out wide, leaving a gaping hole in the middle that was left undefended.  They redeemed themselves in the end, but that win was harder than it should have been.
• Greg Jennings, where have you been?  On the bench in my fantasy league this week, so it figures that this is the week he finally goes off, thanks in part to an 86 yard TD reception.
• The Chargers are still the #1 ranked offense and defense in the league, yet after a shocking loss to the better-than-we-expected Rams, they drop to 2-4 on the season.  They also lost Antoinio Gates to an injury, so things are looking pretty bad in San Diego.  I'm feeling better about the Patriots visit there next weekend.
• Welcome back Deion Branch!  He was Brady's go to guy in the 4th quarter and OT, in part because Aaron Hernandez kept dropping passes.
• That Justin Bieber kid needs to shut his mouth about Tom Brady's hair.  When you win 3 Super Bowls and marry a super model you earn the right to have whatever hair style you want.  What has Bieber done that is relevant to anyone outside of 14 year old girls?
• "Sacked like a sacker. Call Mr. Brady. Tell him to leave his hair to that guy who sings 'Baby' ".  Sacked like a sacker?  What does that even mean?  This kid got famous, how?
• Baltimore killed their chances by committing a dumb personal foul to back them up to a nearly impossible 3rd and 19 at their own 10 yard line.  Predictably they were forced to punt after the next play, giving the Pats great field position to allow them to march down the field for the game winning field goal. 
• The Lions continue to lose games despite remaining competitive just about every week.  They were within 4 points until a Brandon Jacobs TD run clinched the win for the Giants with just over 3 minutes to go.
• Early season breakout star Hakeem Nicks layed an egg in this game.  Despite being targeted 7 times he managed only 3 catches for a measly 8 yards.
• The lack of a passing attack didn't matter since Ahmad Bradshaw was able to run all over the Lions for 133 yards on only 19 carries - an outstanding 7 yards per carry!
• Just when it looks like the Falcons are in position to win the NFC South, they get blown out in Philly.  This one was never really that close, after the Eagles got out to a 21-0 lead in the first half.  Matt Ryan was able to connect with a couple of TD passes to Tony Gonzalez to show some signs off life for the team, but it wasn't close to enough.
• DeSean Jackson was off to a monster start early in the game before being knocked out (literally) with a severe concussion.  Dunta Robinson clearly led with his helmet, but the real culprit was Kevin Kolb, who's throw left Jackson vulnerable to the hit.  It's doubtful he plays next week, with their Bye week looming in Week 8.  It's possible he's out much longer than that, which would be a big blow to this offense.
• Kevin Kolb finally showed that he's able to connect on big plays to his dynamic receivers.  The Eagles aren't in a rush to get Vick back thanks to Kolbs strong play the past couple weeks, so they can wait until after their Bye week to make a tough decision.
• Roethlisberger was a bit rusty in his debut, but luckily the Browns are terrible, so he ended up having a good game anyways, leading his team to a decisive win.
• Watch out NFC South - the Saints are starting to find their groove on offense.  Two of Drew Brees' TD passes were for over 40 yards each.  When they are playing well they are the best team in the league at making big plays in the passing game.
• Apparently nobody in Houston watched the Patriots in their Super Bowl years.  They didn't realize that Mike Vrabel needs to be covered when he checks in as an eligible receiver at the goal line.
• Dwayne Bowe had 6 catches, including 2 for TDs.  Is this the first time he's had more catches than drops in a game this year?
• The Texans had an impressive comeback victory by scoring 21 points in the 4th quarter.  How do you let Andre Johnson get the ball in the endzone at the end of the game?  Triple, even quadruple cover him if you have to!
• The Broncos have to feel like they let this game slip away, as the Jets played awful for most of the game.  They kept killing themselves with penalties.  I actually listed to this game on the radio on my way home from New York on Sunday afternoon, and according to the radio announcers the refs made some of the most heinous calls in NFL history against the Jets.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say they exaggerated just a bit.  Maybe at least a few of them may actually have been penalties.  That's still no excuse for how poorly the Jets played, particularly in the 1st half.  Denver wasn't able to put them away and ended up not only squandering the lead late in the game, but fumbling away their attempt at a comeback.
• You have to love being a Kicker playing in Denver.  3 FGs kicked in this game: 59, 56 and 48 yards.
• The 49ers actually won a game!  Their comeback trail to the division title starts here!
• This game serves as a reminder as to why Jason Campbell lost his job in the first place: 8/21 passing, 83 yards, 2 Interceptions, QB rating of 10.7.  Gross!  In Washington they blamed his struggles on the fact that they had so many coaching changes that the constantly changing offensive philosophy was stunting his growth as a player.  Did anyone really think Oakland would provide a more stable environment for him to thrive in??  They would have already had 2 coaching changes this season if Al Davis was still alive (wait.... he is alive?  Are you sure?).
• It was suggested by members of the media that the Raiders should consider trading star CB Nnamdi Asomugha before today's trading deadline.  He's the only player on the roster with enough value to bring back some valuable assets in the form of draft picks, and this team clearly isn't going to contend anytime before they lose him to free agency in a couple years anyway.  But can you imagine how bad this team would be without him?
• Note A: I hope this happens, because making Oakland worse can only improve the chances of New England getting a higher draft pick from them.
• Note B: Would the Pats consider giving Oakland their 1st round draft pick back in exchange for Asomugha?  Unlikely given his outrageous salary, but it's worth pondering given that one of the Pats biggest weaknesses is in it's young secondary.  They don't have a shut down guy that they need to contend for a Super Bowl.
• Once again, the Cowboys win the battle in the box scores, but lose the game.  If you were told before the game that they would have held Favre to barely over 100 yards passing, Peterson to under 75 yards rushing and Moss to only 55 yards receiving, there's no way you'd believe Dallas lost that game.  But they did.
• Tony Romo keeps putting up big numbers, but is also throwing Interceptions at a Cutler-esque rate, which is costing them games.  Is it too early to say that Dallas is out of playoff contention?  At 1-4 they are starting to look pretty desperate.
• The Colts managed to hold off the Redskins despite losing the turnover battle.  You rarely see Payton Manning lose the ball on a strip sack, but it was a nice defensive play in a game where the defense rarely got to Manning.  The fumble on Addai can't really be blamed on him, since he was hit hard in the head on the play and left the game.
• Washington thought the secret to a good running game at the start of the year was to get a time machine to go back to 2006 to get Clinton Portis, Larry Johnson and Willie Parker.  Now those guys are gone, so they thought the fix was to try an unknown commodity like Ryan Torain.  Turns out, the best fix was to get to play the Colts undersized run defense.
• How does a team like Jacksonville get to be featured on Monday Night Football?  I guess the NFL figures that since they blackout games in their own market, this was the only way anyone would see them play all season.
• The Jaguars did everything they could to lose this game.  Can't blame their fans to booing the play calling when they call 6 straight running plays when they are down 20 points with only about 6 minutes left in the game.  The way they milked the clock on that 8+ minute drive you'd think they had a big lead themselves.  Seeing Trent Edwards throw an interception in the endzone to end the drive does help justify that gameplan, but even if they had scored on the drive, they took up way too much time doing it.  There was no chance they'd have enough time to score two more times after that.  The lack of urgency made it seem like they were just trying to wind things down to end the game so that they wouldn't lose by as much as they would if they handed the Titans the ball back with more time.
• The Titans decided to keep scoring anyway though, by letting Chris Johnson run it on 4th and 5.  Why would you run the ball on 4th and 5 when you already have the lead?  When you have CJ2k on your team, and he wants to eclipse the 100 yard mark.  His 35 yard TD run put him over that mark.  He now has 596 yards through 6 games, putting him on pace for 1589 for the season.  He needs to step it up!  Why didn't the Titans try an on-side kick to try to get the ball back and give him a few more carries?!
• Vince Young and David Garrard both left with injuries, making this game even less exciting to watch.  Kerry Collins actually did well enough in relief that the Titans shouldn't be too worried if VY misses more time.  Trent Edwards is just as awful as Garrard, so Jacksonville should hardly notice the difference.
• Buffalo, Cinncinati, Arizona and Carolina were on Byes this week.  If those 4 teams contracted over the weekend and were never seen again, would anyone notice?
• I wonder if TO and OchoCinco spent their Bye week trying to convince Carson Palmer to appear on their reality TV show.  It likely would be in an attempt to distract him in order to keep him off the football field.
• Thanks to the 49ers finally winning a game, there is yet to be an 0-6 team in the league this year.  So Buffalo and Carolina were unable to watch anyone sink lower than they are.
• The Jets are the only team in the NFL with 5 wins.  However, Pittsburgh and New England match them with only 1 loss.  They only remain behind NY because they already had their Bye weeks.
• It's still early, but you can make a case that every team aside from Buffalo, Carolina and probably Detroit are still alive in the playoff chase.  Dallas, SF, and San Diego look like longshots, but they are all too talented to not improve enough to get back into the race.