Things I Noticed: Week 7

Is it just me or does it seem like there have been a lot more tightly contested games this year?  11 of the 13 games this week were decided by one score, with many of them coming down to the wire.  Only one of the games can really be considered a blow out and it came in a game featuring two teams that were expected to be the AFC's best.

The league wants parody and that's what they currently have.  Only undefeated Atlanta has more than a 2 game lead in their division, but even the Falcons haven't been steamrolling opponents.  4 of their 6 wins have come in one score games.

The league still has it's fair share of awful teams to occupy the basement of each conference, but the top teams all have flaws.  There are no juggernauts like last year's Packers or the 2007 Patriots.  Atlanta and Houston are the top teams right now, but have they showed enough yet to make us confident that they'll stay at the top?

Bye Weeks: Atlanta, Denver, Kansas City, Miami, Philadelphia, San Diego

Here are some things I noticed this week

• The 49ers won a slugfest over Seattle to take sole possession of the top spot in the NFC West.  Two of the stingiest run defenses in the league each allowed an opposing RB to top 100 yards against them, with Frank Gore and Marshawn Lynch both bouncing back from sub par performances last week.
• San Francisco has rarely allowed an opposing RB to rush for over 100 yards against them at home in the Jim Harbaugh era, but have now allowed it to happen in two straight home games.
• The ending to the game turned out to be a little bizarre.  With Seattle trailing by 7, facing 4th down deep in their own territory with under a minute to play, Russell Wilson connected on a pass to Ben Obomanu right near the first down marker.  Officials marked the ball just short of the first down.  It was close, but on replay I think the ball got just far enough to get the first down, but it didn't matter because not only could they not have challenged the spot (that decision would have to come from the booth with under two minutes left), but a chop block penalty in the end zone resulted in a safety.  Now here is where it starts to get weird.  Harbaugh made the obvious decision to decline the penalty and take the turnover on downs instead.  After a kneel down, the game was over.  Yet the commentators on NFL network (not the best crew to begin with) seemed puzzled why the Niners weren't taking the safety.  Harbaugh was even questioned by the media about his decision after the game, as if it was a controversial choice.  It was the obvious choice!  Had they accepted the penalty they would have gotten the two points to make it a two possession game, but also would have forced Seattle to punt them the ball.  Too many things could go wrong in that situation - a fumbled punt return or a penalty that could give Seattle a first down, for instance.  Why risk it?
• Here's why.  The spread on this game was Niners by 7.5, so by declining the two point safety they didn't cover.  Think that maybe anyone that openly questioned Harbaugh's decision making may have wagered on this game?  It was a gambling disaster, but Harbaugh is trying to win the game.  He made the right choice.
• Once again the Patriots offense failed to chew up the clock late in the 4th quarter, giving the Jets the chance to come back, but this time at least they managed a late FG of their own to tie the game at the end of regulation and managed to go on to win in OT.  New England now sits alone at the top of the AFC East.
• Devin McCourty made an impact with a first quarter kick-off return for a TD, but his fumble on another kick-off in the final two minutes of the 4th quarter allowed the Jets to temporarily take a late lead and nearly led to another frustrating loss for the Pats.
• After the Patriots opened the OT period with a FG, the Jets needed a score to extend or win the game.  Surprisingly enough, it was the Patriots defense that made a play to win the game by forcing a Mark Sanchez fumble, which they recovered to seal the victory.  
• Wes Welker now leads the league in catches and receiving yards.  His 54 receptions puts him on pace for 123 for the season, which would tie his career high.  That would also give him his 5th career 100+ catch season, breaking a record he currently shares with Jerry Rice and Marvin Harrison.
• The Patriots pass defense is so bad that they even made Mark Sanchez look good!  After completing close to 68% of his passes in the game, Sanchez finally broke past the 50% mark for the year.  His 53.2% is still the worst in the league, but not by much.
• Sanchez had a chance to make his stats look even better and potentially put the game away late in the 4th quarter, but rookie receiver Stephen Hill dropped an easy pass when he turned to look up field too early, taking his eyes off the ball before he had secured it.  The catch would have given the Jets a first down deep in New England territory, made the Patriots burn at least another time out and could have even resulted in a TD on the drive.  Instead, the Jets settled for a FG, which Brady and the Pats had time to match to force OT.
• You just had a feeling that we were in for a wild one in Buffalo when the Bills and Titans scored a combined three TDs in a span of 30 seconds in the first quarter and the end of the game did not disappoint.  Matt Hasselbeck threw for the game winning score with just over a minute remaining to give his team their second straight last minute victory.  
• Chris Johnson showed flashes of his old self in running wild for 195 yards and 2 TDs - one of which came on a big 83 yard run.  Despite the big game, I'm far from ready to consider CJ0K back to his former elite level, as this performance is at least partially due to facing Buffalo's league worst rush defense.  
• Despite giving Mario Williams the richest contract for a defensive player in league history and spending multiple high first round picks on defensive players in the past few years, Buffalo's defense has only a 31st rank defense in both yards and points allowed to show for it.
• Facing 3rd and 7 with the lead and only about three minutes left in the game, the Bills decided to try to throw for the first down.  That led to Ryan Fitzpatrick throwing a costly INT, which gave the Titans great field position for their game winning drive.  Fred Jackson averaged nearly 8 yards per carry in the game, while the explosive CJ Spiller averaged close to 6 against a Titans defense not known for getting stops.  Maybe gaining 7 yards on a run isn't a given, but it's certainly a safer option when the alternative is to put the game in the hands of your turnover prone QB.  Even if they failed to pick up the first down, they could have punted the ball away and forced the Titans to score a TD on a long drive with only one time out remaining.  Instead, the Titans were able to capitalize on a short field with a quick score for the win.
• Last year a rookie QB picked first overall burst on to the scene with 14 rushing TDs - the most ever for a QB.  No, Andrew Luck is no Cam Newton when it comes to running the ball, but this year's top overall pick did manage to scramble his way to the end zone twice this week.  That gives him 3 rushing TDs on the year, which happens to be the same as Newton currently has.

• While the rushing scores are nice, Luck's TD:INT ratio of 7:7 leaves a lot to be desired and his completion percentage (53.6) has sunk to nearly Mark Sanchez levels of awfulness.  The rookie has shown some flashes of brilliance this season, but clearly has some growing pains he's still struggling with.  On the bright side, he's already led the Colts to more victories then they had all of last season, so their decision to tank last year in order to draft him has already paid off!
• Trent Richardson tried to tough his way through a rib injury, but after gaining only 8 yards on 8 carries he was yanked from the game.  Let's hope it was just the ribs that were to blame for that performance.  A measly 1 yard per carry against the Colts?  The same defense that just allowed 161 yards and 3 TDs to Shonn Greene the previous week?
• Wow, two unprovoked shots against Jets players in a row.  Can you tell who the Pats almost lost to this week?
• Aaron Rodgers (342, 3 TDs) continued to roll as the reigning MVP led the Packers past the Rams.  Now before you assume that this type of performance is nothing to be excited about against a Rams defense that was all kinds of awful last year, note that the Rams are actually one of those sneaky, might be good teams this year.  Before getting shredded by Rodgers (hey, he does that to a lot of teams) the Rams pass defense was surrendering only 206.1 yards per game, which made them one of the best in the league at defending the pass.  Rodgers bumped them all the way down to middle of the pack, but the point is, they are no push over these days.
• James Jones was held without a TD for the first time in about a month, but Randall Cobb took over as the multiple TD guy for the Packers this week.  Cobb is such a versatile weapon that is able to line up in multiple different areas of the field, but he sometimes gets overshadowed in a loaded Packers offense.  That explains his inconsistent production this season, but he now has over 80 yards in each of his last three games, including 3 TDs in that span.
• In case you were worried about Rams rookie kicker Greg Zuerlein after last week, he got back on track by nailing both of his FG attempts this week, including one from 50 yards.  Greg the Leg will be just fine.
• The Vikings managed to hold off the reeling Cardinals despite Christian Ponder completing only 1 pass for a total of 4 yards in the second half.  He finished with only 58 yards on the day with a TD and 2 INTs.  Adrian Peterson carried the load with 153 yards and a TD.
• Peterson leads the league in games with 100+ yards from scrimmage with 5.  Teammate Percy Harvin is right on his trail with 4 games, but didn't come close to adding to that total this week.
• John Skelton may have been off the mark with plenty of his throws, but he rarely had time in the pocket to even attempt a good throw.  He was sacked 7 times in the game.  With Kevin Kolb already sidelined with an injury, Arizona's offensive line needs to be able to keep Skelton healthy by not letting him get hit so much.  Their inability to block is the most glaring weakness that has derailed their promising start to the season and led to three straight losses.
• RG3 had another brilliant game in doing his part to stun the Giants with a scoring drive to take the lead with about a minute and a half left in the game.  Unfortunately, the rookie QB can't play defense too.  Two plays into the next drive, Eli Manning found Victor Cruz for a 77 yard game winning TD.  Cruz burned his defender off the line of scrimmage and the safety help was late coming in cut him off over the top.  I counted four defenders in the area when Cruz caught the ball, but none of them were able to catch up to him as he sped toward the end zone.
• Washington had a chance for a last minute come back, but Santana Moss fumbled it away after a reception that would have put his team near mid-field with enough time to run at least a couple more plays.

• RG3 is having a rookie season comparable to what we saw last year from Cam Newton, with his ability to make plays with his arms and legs.  The rookie QB is 12th in the league in rushing and second in rushing TDs.  Defenses adjusted to Newton last year, leading to a drastic drop off in the second half of the season.  Will the same happen to RG3?
• Drew Brees threw 4 TDs in the first half to lead the Saints to a rare road victory.  The game was the last this season with an interim-interim coach.  Next week they get to upgrade to an interim coach when assistant coach Joe Vitt returns from suspension.
• Jonathan Vilma played for the first time this season.  Vilma was allowed to return while he appeals the ruling on his season long suspension for his role in the Saints bounty scandal.  Roger Goodell has deferred the ruling of the appeal by Vilma and other suspended players involved to his mentor, former commissioner Paul Tagliabue.  It certainly makes sense for the appeal to be heard by someone other than the guy who handed out these punishments, but it's a bit surprising to see Goodell relinquish his power in this situation given how firm he's stood on it.  Perhaps this is a sign of him allowing for some of these suspensions to be reduced without having to admit he was wrong himself.
• Vincent Jackson had a monster game (7 catches, 216 yards, 1 TD), but he came up a yard short of the end zone on a 95 yard reception that ended up being a huge turning point in the game.  The Bucs were stuffed on four straight rush attempts, failing to score in a game that was decided by only one score.
• Tampa thought they had tied the game on the last play of the game when Freeman connected with Mike Williams for a TD, but the score was nullified by an illegal touching penalty.  Williams was pushed out of bounds on his route and therefore was not allowed to be the first player to touch the ball.  The fact that he was pushed out doesn't matter because Freeman was out of the pocket, so there would be no penalty for illegal contact with the receiver.  Tough luck for the Bucs, but the right call was made.
• Carolina failed to close out another close game to drop to a disappointing 1-5 on the season.  Needing only a FG to take the lead late in the 4th quarter, Cam Newton tried to catch the Dallas defense off guard by hurrying to the line to run a quick play on 4th and 1 that would have given the Panthers a first down close to mid-field approaching the two minute warning, but the play was negated by a late Dallas time out.  The Panthers then failed to convert when Morris Claiborne broke up a pass from Newton to Louis Murphy.  Claiborne appeared to have hit the receiver early, but no flag was thrown and the ball turned over on downs to Dallas with great field position.
• Terrell Suggs made a shocking early return from injury to help boost a depleted Ravens defense, but he wasn't able to prevent the Texans from rolling over them.  Houston cruised to an easy win to secure the top spot in the AFC.

• JJ Watt wasn't able to add to his league leading sack total, but he continues to add to his case for defensive player of the year honors.  The master of deflecting passes tipped another one this week that led to an INT, which was returned by Jonathan Joseph for a pick-six.
• Baltimore continues to struggle away from home, adding to a growing concern regarding their chances as a legitimate contender.  Most other AFC contenders are filled with flaws as well, but if the road through the conference goes through Houston then it's hard to imagine the Ravens making it to the Super Bowl.
• The Jaguars suffered a crushing loss to the Raiders.  Not the fact that they lost the game - that much was expected.  However, they lost Maurice Jones-Drew and Blaine Gabbert to injury during the game.  They then lost the game when Cecil Shorts lost a fumble on the opening possession of OT, which led to a game winning FG for Oakland.
• Gabbert reportedly has a torn labrum, but it's to his non-throwing shoulder, so he hasn't been ruled out for next week yet.  MJD on the other hand could be out a while.  He finished the game on the sidelines, sporting crutches and a walking boot, while presumably putting a waiver claim in for Rashard Jennings in all his fantasy leagues.
• Is it almost time to give up on Darren McFadden as an elite RB for this year?  On a per game basis he has been a beast the past couple of years, but could never stay healthy.  This season he's shockingly stayed healthy for all 6 games so far, but is averaging only 54 rushing yards per game and a rather pedestrian 3.1 yards per carry.  He was right around that average (19 carries, 53 yards) this week, which came in a close game against Jacksonville's 29th ranked rush defense.  A change in offensive scheme shouldn't be impacting a player with his talent this far into the season.
• Ben Roethlisberger overcame a bad bout of receivers dropping passes (looking at you, Mike Wallace) to lead the Steelers to a win over the Bengals.  Their 26th ranked rushing attack actually pulled their weight this week as well.  After injuries depleted the top half of the depth chart, Jonathan Dwyer stepped up to contribute 122 rushing yards, while seldom used rookie Chris Rainey delivered the game winning score on an 11 yard burst to the end zone in the 4th quarter.
• The Steelers defense did a great job of shutting down AJ Green.  While Green did find his way to pay dirt, the 8 yard reception was his only catch of the game.  With his top receiver taken out of the game plan, Andy Dalton really struggled to find a groove.  He completed only half of his 28 pass attempts and didn't crack the 100 yard passing mark until late in the 4th quarter, finishing with only 105 yards.
• The Bears defense suffocated the Lions in a game that wasn't nearly as close as the final score suggests.  Thanks in part to four turnovers in the game, Detroit's offense couldn't do any damage until they finally scored with 30 seconds left to make it a one score game, but by that point it was far too late. 
• Is it disappointing that the Bears defense allowed that late garbage time TD?  Prior to that they had only allowed 5 TDs all season - which happens to be the same amount of TDs their defense has scored.  They can no longer boast that impressive accomplishment - at least for now.  Detroit nearly put an end to it earlier in the game, but Joique Bell lost a fumble trying to plunge into the end zone.  Had he crossed the goal line before the ball came loose, the last minute score that followed later could have won Detroit the game.
• Ndamukong Suh has a reputation for being a dirty player, but his hit on Jay Cutler that injured the QBs ribs was clean.  Brandon Marshall may not like it (as he tweeted after the game), but Suh didn't drive Cutler into the ground, so he won't face any fines for the hit.
• Cutler did return to the game, but still needs to be re-evaluated later this week before determining if he can be ready to go for the next game.
• Calvin Johnson (3 catches, 34 yards) may still be the game's best receiver, but he was shut down pretty well by the Bears.  Despite several of his 11 targets coming in the end zone, Megatron wasn't able to come up with any of them and still has yet to catch a TD from Matthew Stafford all season.  They nearly connected on a pass over the middle that would have gone for a huge gain, but Johnson dropped it, leading to yet another stalled Lions drive.
• New England joined Houston and Baltimore as the only AFC teams with winning records.  Five others are 3-3.  The AFC West looks like it may once again send a team to the playoffs without a winning record, with both Denver and San Diego looking too mediocre to be much better than 8-8.
• Four teams have only 1 win, but Kansas City has the league's worst point differential (-79) despite already having their bye week.  Cleveland is actually the only one of those 1 win teams that hasn't had their bye yet, but they have the best point differential of the group (-33) despite having lost one extra game.