Things I Noticed: Week 4

The refs are back!!  After three embarrassing weeks that culminated with one of the biggest officiating travesties in recent memory, it's time to say good-bye to the replacement refs.   Sure, they were good for a few laughs and their incompetence led to more than a few hilarious Facebook posts and parody videos. Then again, they also brought up valid questions about the legitimacy of the league and severely damaged its integrity.   So, glad that's over with!

This week also starts the beginning of bye weeks, with Pittsburgh and Indianapolis getting a rest.

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• After the official word had gone out early Thursday morning that the referee lockout was being lifted, the league scrambled to get a crew of real officials in to Baltimore for the game that night. The officials were welcomed warmly with a standing ovation from fans that had become frustrated with their far from qualified replacements.  The returning heroes are sure to be showered with affection this week - at least until they make a mistake.  
• While we all seem to have learned a valuable lesson about how hard the officials job is and how under appreciated they were, it seems only a matter of time until we go back to complaining about every missed call or questionable decision.  
• If Baltimore is supposed to have this new and improved up tempo offense, why did they have so much trouble scoring against a Cleveland defense missing it's best player?  Joe Flacco was able to take advantage of a Joe Haden-less secondary, but it took them a while to get going.  A scoreless first quarter was concerning and Cleveland managed to hang around until a pick six late in the third quarter sealed the victory.
• The Patriots offense continued to look sloppy through the first half.  It certainly didn't help that Gronkowski dropped two passes that should have been TDs and he and Welker both lost fumbles.  But the Pats would come out angry and looking to punish the Bills in the second half, scoring TDs on 6 consecutive drives in the second half to turn the game into a blowout.
• Gronk (104 yards, TD) and Welker (9 catches, 129 yards) recovered nicely following their miscues in the first half to make big impacts.  It's not how you start, but how you finish, right?
• You don't think of the Patriots as being a running team, but two young RBs played a pivotal role in the Patriots steamrolling the Bills in the second half.  Undrafted rookie Brandon Bolden ran for 137 yards and a TD, while the Riddler stomped for 106 yards and 2 TDs.  It's the first time since 1980 that the Patriots have had two RBs top the century mark in rushing in the same game.
• Fred Jackson and CJ Spiller made surprising early returns from injury to suit up for this game, but neither was able to get much going on the ground.  They both ended up losing fumbles as part of a 6 turnover day for the Bills offense.
• Matt Ryan (369 yards, 3 TDs) led another brilliant last minute drive to keep the Falcons undefeated.  Roddy White (8 catches, 169 yards, 2 TDs) was his main target on the day.  His 59 yard catch to start their final drive, which began on their own 1 yard line, was key to helping to set up the winning FG. 
• Cam Newton overcame last week's pouting incident to throw for 215  yards and 2 TDs, while rushing for 86 yards and adding another TD on the ground.  His team came up just short, but through no fault of their young QB.
• Christian Ponder couldn't get much going for the Vikings offense, but only because he didn't need to. Percy Harvin opened the game with a 105 yard kick-off return for a TD and Marcus Sherels would later add a punt return TD.  That left Adrian Peterson (122 total yards) to do the heavy lifting for the offense to help grind out the clock in the narrow victory.
• The Lions broke out last season with their first playoff appearance in over a decade, but the early results from this season seem to point toward them falling short of getting back to the postseason this year.  Brandon Pettigrew's dropped pass in the endzone was just one of several drops that hurt the Lions offense.  Their offensive line acting like a sieve by allowing Matthew Stafford to be hit 9 times, sacked 5 times and hurried several more times certainly didn't help.
• Through the first 4 games of the season, Stafford has thrown only 3 TDs and 4 INTs.  The yardage is still close to last year's pace, but that ratio is still troubling.
• 6 turnovers, including a pick six, buried the Chiefs chances against the Chargers.  Jamaal Charles fumbled twice, but the Chiefs have no choice but to keep him involved on offense due to his big play ability.  He showed that side with his 37 yard TD run.  Besides, what else are they going to do, let Matt Cassel throw it?
• Dwayne Bowe is becoming the king of garbage time TDs.  All three of his scores this season have come in the 4th quarter of games when his team trailed by a wide margin.  Not particularly helpful for the Chiefs, but great for fantasy football owners.
• Are the Chargers working Ryan Mathews back in slowly after the injury that shelved him the first couple weeks of the season, or is he being punished for his tendency to fumble the ball?  Jackie Battle got the majority of the carries (granted it was only one more than Mathews got) despite averaging a meager 2.6 yards per cary.  Mathews (4.4 per carry) was much more efficient, but it's clear that Battle will at least get the goal line carries (which may partially account for his lower yard per carry numbers).

• Norv Turner claimed after the game that his decision to give Mathews the majority of the carries in the 4th quarter is a sign that he hasn't lost confidence in his young RB.  Somehow I don't see limiting Mathews until the game has essentially been decided as a good sign.
• The Rams used a bit of trickery to beat the Seahawks.  As they lined up for a field goal, Danny Amendola jogged toward the sideline, stopping just short of the edge of the field.  The defense paid no attention to him as the Rams faked the field goal attempt as the holder lobbed a pass to the uncovered Amendola for the 2 yard score.  The play was so sneaky, even the refs were confused.  They initially threw a flag for illegal substitution before realizing what happened and picking up the flag.  Who knows what would have happened if we were still stuck with replacement refs!
• Seattle coach Pete Carroll ran out on to the field trying to call time out prior to the snap, but just as his defense was blind to Amendola, the refs missed seeing Carroll in time.
• Is it possible for a kicker to be the game's MVP?  If so then the award goes to Rams rookie kicker Greg Zuerlin.  He connected on all 4 of his FG attempts, including a 58-yarder and a 60-yarder.  He set a franchise record for the longest FG in team history, then broke his own record in the same game!
• Russell Wilson got a lot of luck (and one terribly blown call) in last week's win over the Packers, but his late game magic ran out at the end of this one.  An INT (his third of the game) with a minute remaining ended Seattle's comeback attempt.
• Tim Tebow was supposed to be the dangerous wild cat weapon, but while he did next to nothing (2 rushes for 0 yards - but did complete a 9 yard pass!), Colin Kaepernick contributed 50 rushing yards and a TD.  The 49ers ran the ball with 9 different players for a total of 245 yards to pound the Jets.
• As impressive as the 49ers run game was, the defense may have been even better in shutting out the Jets, while also contributing on the scoreboard with a fumble returned for a TD.
• The Jets lost Darrell Revis for the season last week and this week lost their best offensive player in Santonio Holmes to a serious foot injury.  The Jets have enough trouble scoring points as it is, so they can't afford to be without their top receiver for too long.  On the bright side, if Holmes misses significant time, that's one less person on that offense to complain about Mark Sanchez's poor play.

• After a 2-2 start to the season, is it time for the Jets to start considering using Tebow as their QB?  For all the criticism Tebow gets for not being a conventional passer and struggling to complete even half of his passes, it's worth noting that Sanchez is completing only 49.2% of his passes - easily the worst in the league.  At least Tebow brings some other qualities to the table that Sanchez doesn't have.  The problem is, the Jets are paying Sanchez far too much money to have him hold a clip board.  Benching him now would destroy both his confidence and trade value, both of which are currently hanging by a thread.  Expect the Jets to stubbornly hang on to Sanchez for at least a few more weeks before the deafening cries of their fan base force them to make the awkward change.
• The Texans remain the AFC's lone undefeated team after routing the Titans.  They may not have the explosive passing attack like some of the other top teams from recent years, but it's solid.  Their running attack and defense are among the league's best, leaving few holes for this team.  The Texans are the early favorite to be the top seed in the conference.
• Jake Locker left after only two pass attempts with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder.  Matt Hasselbeck relieved him, but his 3 turnovers were part of what helped the Texans run away with this game.
• Chris Johnson (141 yards) finally broke out with a good game.  He had totaled only 45 yards through 3 games coming into this week, so his production has to be a huge relief for the Titans, especially if Locker misses more time and forces the Titans to rely more on their running game.

• Now that he's gotten our hopes up with one big game, it's inevitable that fantasy football owners everywhere buy into him as an elite RB again, only to be quickly disappointed.  Sell now if you can.
• Peyton Manning (338 yards, 3 TDs) put on a vintage performance in his best game of the season as the Broncos crushed the Raiders.  He may still be a long way from his prime form, but he has shown steady improvement and is starting to answer some of the questions about his arm strength by completing cross field passes.  He'll stick mainly to the short slants and screen passes, but he's showing he's still capable of getting the job done.
• We'll see if that continues once the weather gets colder.  Manning is used to playing most of his games either indoors or in warm weather cities against his former AFC South foes.
• Darren McFadden (13 carries, 34 yards) had another dud of a game for the third time in four weeks.  Maybe the blow out on the scoreboard contributed to his lack of production, as he wasn't given as many touches in the second half when Oakland fell far behind, but McFadden didn't do much with the carries he was given in the first half when the score was close.  When healthy, he's considered one of the game's elite RBs, but he hasn't shown it yet.  It begs the question - is he healthy?
• It took OT to do it, but the Cardinals remain undefeated after a game winning FG. Andre Roberts caught his second TD of the game with 22 seconds remaining to force OT and give Arizona the chance to win.
• With Beanie Wells out with an injury it was Ryan Williams stepping in as the starter.  The best thing you can say about Williams is... he's not Beanie Wells.  After a lackluster debut as the starter (13 carries, 26 yards), he may not prove to be any better.
• Brian Hartline exploded onto the scene of relevance with an outstanding performance (12 catches, 253 yards) that included this 80 yard TD catch on which he couldn't have been left more wide open.  Seriously, there wasn't a defender within 20 yards of him.  His big day accounted for most of the production from the biggest passing game in Ryan Tannehill's young career. 
• I don't think we can keep calling the Arizona defense underrated anymore.  Not when a rookie QB from Miami passes for over 400 yards against them.  They are still a solid unit, getting pressure on Tannehill and creating turnovers, but wow, that's a lot of yardage to give up to a passing attack that strikes fear into no one.
• After going without a fumble for his entire career, BenJarvis Green-Ellis has now fumbled in two straight games.  Looks like the Patriots got rid of him just in time!  I'm kidding, Law Firm, don't sue me.  This time his fumble came right at the goal line, robbing the Bengals of a score.  Luckily they played the Jaguars, so they got plenty of other opportunities to score again.
• Did you know that Blaine Gabbert didn't throw an INT through the first three games of the season?  Never would have guessed that.  Well, he threw one this week, so that streak is over before we even had a chance to get excited about it.  Oddly enough, it was still by far his best game of the season in terms of completion percentage, which came into the week at under 50% (up to 55% now!  Take that, Mark Sanchez!).
• While it's great that the real officials are back, you'll have to excuse the Packers for not noticing.  Despite not having the replacement officials to blame, a few bad calls nearly doomed the Packers again.  Darren Sproles clearly lost a fumble on a 4th quarter kick-off, but the refs claimed he had been down by contact (he wasn't).  Unfortunately, Green Bay had already used both of it's challenges by that point (they were right on one of them and the other probably should have been overturned, but wasn't).  The blown call allowed the Saints to stay alive on a drive that nearly ended with a game winning FG. 
• Garrett Hartley's initial attempt actually soared through the uprights for the win, but the play was negated by a holding penalty that pushed the Saints back further.  He missed the second time, sealing the win for the Packers.  So in the end, the refs actually did help them win!
• Drew Brees tied the all time record held by Johnny Unitas with 47 straight games throwing for at least one TD pass.
• Billy Cundiff missed his first three FG attempts, but managed to kick the one that counted in the end to give the Redskins the win.  So pretty much the opposite of how his season ended last year (sorry Ravens fans, had to say it).  RG3 showed impressive poise for a rookie QB by leading the offense into range in less than two minutes for the 41 yard attempt.
• Eagles fans got to celebrate victory twice Sunday night.  The first coming after a missed Giants FG appeared to have ended the game, only to find out that Andy Reid had called time out prior to the play.  Leave it to Reid to call time out to negate a play that would have won his team the game.  After a few more stressful moments, Lawrence Tynes got a second chance to kick the game winner, but again missed.  This time the Eagles got to celebrate for real!
• The Giants final drive was aided by two costly pass interference penalties on the Eagles defense.  The first one came on 4th and 1, extending the life of the Giants comeback attempt.  The second penalty came on 3rd and 10 and pushed the Giants well into FG range.  That is, until an offensive pass interference call on Barden pushed the Giants back.  That left them with their last chance being a long 54 yard FG attempt that failed (twice).
• How many times now have we seen teams commit penalties just before clutch FG attempts late in games that ended up pushing the offense out of range?  It happened twice this week and cost Washington and New England games earlier this year. 
• What's the real reason the Eagles managed a win over the Giants?  Michael Vick managed to make it through the game without injury or a turnover.  When's the last time that happened, 2010?
• When Tony Romo is on his game he can be very good, but when he's not he can be very bad.  This week was the latter.  Romo tied a career high with 5 INTs, two of which were returned for TDs by an opportunistic Bears defense.  With the game out of hand and Romo's confidence shattered, he was forced to the bench, only to watch backup Kyle Orton lead a nearly flawless scoring drive in the final minutes.
• Considering his obvious talent and all the hype that projected Dez Bryant to become a star receiver, it's surprising to realize that this was his first career game with over 100 receiving yards.  Despite reaching the milestone, it's hard to consider Bryant's game a success.  He dropped a couple of third down passes that stalled drives, committed a lazy penalty and ran the wrong route on a play that resulted in an easy pick six for the Bears.  Romo may have been awful, but he didn't get much help.
• The Bears defense leads the league in total take-aways (14).  Tim Jennings leads the league with 4 INTs and his teammate, Major Wright, is right behind him in a tie for second with 3.
• Wright had two INTs in this game.  I bring this up mostly because I like saying his name.  With Major Wright on the field, things went major wrong for the Cowboys!
• Matt Forte returned to the field this week and was nearly knocked out again on his first carry of the game.  He appeared to tweak his injured ankle on the run and limped to the sideline.  He later returned, but the Bears wisely limited his carries, which ended up with a near even split with Michael Bush.  With the defensive TDs and great field position provided by all the turnovers, the Bears weren't forced to lean too heavily on their running game anyway.
• Now that the real officials have returned, it's nice to have them back.  Games were played at a faster pace and with less confusion.  Best of all, there weren't any blown calls that made national headlines.  The disaster is over!  Unless you're on one of the teams that lost this week.  Then you're still probably trying to blame the refs.  Such is the life of an official.  They just can't win.  Welcome back guys!