Sunday Pancakes: Early Game Review, Late Game Preview

Lots of surprises in the early games!

We’ll start with the biggest shocker of all:

DOLPHINS 31, BEARS 13
Ronnie Brown runs for 157 yards, Rex Grossman has a putrid 18 of 42, 3 INT day as the 1-6 Dolphins absolutely stun the 7-0 Bears at Soldier Field.

REDSKINS 22, COWBOYS 19
The Cowboys continue to be consistenly inconsistent. They fold in the fourth quarter and lose on a last second 47 yard field goal by Nick Novak.

LIONS 30, FALCONS 14
Michael Vick was back to being erratic, but the Falcons D was just plain awful. Kitna throws for 321 yards, Roy Williams goes for 138 and a TD, and Kevin Jones rushes for 110 and 2 TDs as another 1-6 team pulls a shocking win out of their ass.

And work our way down to the mildly shocking..

SAINTS 31, BUCS 14
Not quite shocking, but the Saints did make it look awful easy against a team that has been tough at home. Drew Brees has to be considered one of the top 5 QBs in the game. He had his second straight 300 yard, 3 TD game.

CHIEFS 31, RAMS 17
Larry Johnson ran all over the Rams D, as expected. He had 172 yards and a TD. Damon Huard threw 3 TDs, 2 to Tony Gonzalez. I think the Chiefs’ QB job is his to lose now. Marc Bulger had an outstanding 31 of 42, 354 yard performance. Steven Jackson ran for 86 yards and a TD, and caught 13 passes for 133 yards.

RAVENS 26, BENGALS 20
Can I get more Ocho Cinco this week? I really think he isn’t getting enough publicity. I mean, he had 32 receiving yards this week.

And some games werent’ shocking at all:
JAGUARS 37, TITANS 7
What I said about Damon Huard applies to Dave Garrard too. He threw 3 TDs, and the Jags are 2-0 with him under center.

GIANTS 14, TEXANS 10
A workmanlike effort for NYG. Jeremy Shockey’s TD catch in the fourth quarter gives them the win. They await the Bears in Week 10, in a game that now could give the Giants the top seed in the NFC.

BILLS 24, PACKERS 10
Willis McGahee leaves early with an injury, but Anthony Thomas steps in and carries 20 times for 95 yards and a TD.

So thems was the early games, the late games are already in progress, but let’s do a quick roll call:

(4-3) VIKINGS AT (2-5) NINERS
The Niners seem to get worse and worse every week. The Vikings were taken down a notch in a blowout MNF home loss to New England last week. Minnesota really needs this game to remain on track to make the playoffs.

(2-5) BROWNS AT (5-2) CHARGERS
The way today is going, I think you can expect the Browns to win by 30.

(5-2) BRONCOS AT (2-5) STEELERS
The Steelers might already be dead. If they lose this game, they are definitely dead. They are losing 14-0 right now, so I think it’s time to call in a priest.

And, of course, tonight’s SNF Showdown:
(7-0) COLTS AT (6-1) PATRIOTS
Only one team has beaten New England this year, and that team was the Broncos. They did it by running the ball 34 times for 144 yards. The Colts are not going to run it 34 times. They are not going to run for 144 yards. So, that would seem to indicate they are not going to win this game.

That said, if it’s a close game, the Colts will find a way to win it. 5 of their 7 wins this year have been by 7 points or less. New England’s best chance of success is running it against Indy’s pourous run defense. The Pats haven’t run for over 100 yards in a game once in the last month though.
I think they will break that string tonight, and I don’t think the Colts have enough left after last week’s thriller against Denver to come up big again this week.