The Whole 9 Yards For Week 4

The first quarter of the season will end for most teams after this weekend’s games. A lot of teams like to look at the season, like the game itself, in four quarters. After the first quarter they gauge where they are at and then adjust moving forward. After this weekend’s games, a lot of teams will have a better measure of where they stand and what they’ll have to do to improve going into the second month of the season. This week is also the first week of byes, with the Eagles, Falcons, Panthers and Cardinals getting the week off. With that let’s take a look at the 9 games to watch this week.

1. Ravens at Patriots. Many people believe that the Ravens are the best team in football right now and it’s hard to argue with them. Their offense is in high gear and their defense, even though it hasn’t played to its potential yet, is usually one of the most feared and dominating units in the league. The Patriots have underperformed but are still 2-1. Bill Belichick loves to attack young QBs and Joe Flacco is just that, yet he has performed more like a veteran in the first few games of the season. If Belichick can come up with a scheme to confuse Flacco and cause turnovers, the Patriots will prevail, but if Flacco is given time in the pocket and their strong running game keeps clicking, the Raves offense should be able to put pressure on the Patriots subpar defense and punish them into submission.
2. Bengals at Browns. Two years ago these teams were the participants in one of the most unlikely shootouts in the history of the NFL. How times have changed. The Bengals are now a run-first football team, behind the resurgence of Cedric Benson and the Browns are simply terrible. I know a lot of people like to point to the Rams and Chiefs as two of the worst teams in football, but in my opinion no one has played worse than the Browns this season. They’ve benched the Ohio golden boy, Brady Quinn, and have went back to the quarterback from that shootout, Derek Anderson. Isn’t it amazing that when a quarterback comes in because the starter is struggling and then does even worse he is still handed the keys to the offense. Not only does coach Eric Mangini take the fun out of football for his players, he ruins it for their fans as well. Look for the Bengals to romp in this one.
   

   What has Derek Anderson gotten himself into?

3. Jets at Saints. Who would have thought that this would be the game of the week before the start of the season? Yet here we are, 3 weeks in, and the Jets and Saints are the talk of the town. Great offense vs. surprisingly great defense. Defensive mastermind against offensive genius. Drew Brees versus Darrelle Revis. Both teams come into the game undefeated and the winner will leave with the burden of being one of the favorites to get to Miami. The saints will be that team if Gregg Williams can come up with a scheme to shut down the Jets running game a force Mark Sanchez to throw the ball a lot. Williams is very good at confusing quarterbacks and coming up with different looks, and if he does that well, the Jets will get run out of the Superdome.  The Jets will win if they can find a way to pressure Brees and throw him off his rhythm. He is so good at making quick reads on three-step drops and firing the ball into tight spots that it’s hard to rattle him. But he is working behind a patchwork offensive line and Rex Ryan is a master at exploiting weaknesses. With the game on the carpet at the Superdome, I expect the Saints to be able to find enough offense to pull it off, but don’t count the Jets out of it.
4. Cowboys at Broncos. Even though the Cowboys aren’t part of the league’s elite, beating them would validate the Broncos start and make them more than just paper tigers. So far the Broncos got lucky on a last second pass deflection and then beat up on 2 very bad teams. But their defense is playing very well right now and Elvis Dumervil is garnering early defensive player-of-the-year consideration. On the Cowboys’ side, they are a little banged up at running back but they are hoping that Marion Barber will be back this week. They’ll need him without their firecracker Felix Jones, who’ll be out for the next few weeks with a strained knee. The Broncos are playing excellent defense right now, but considering this was one of the worst units in the league last year and didn’t make any significant upgrades in the offseason, this will be a game to decide how good they really are. Tony Romo played mistake-free football for one of the few times in his career last week and was simply a game-manager. It’ll be interesting to see how offensive coordinator Jason Garrett utilizes him this week. I’m not sold on the Broncos yet, but if they can beat the Cowboys, they’ll show the league something and prove Josh McDaniels wasn’t crazy after all.
   

   Elvis has been viva la vicous so far this year.

5. Chargers at Steelers. This is a huge game for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They are already 1-2 and can ill afford to drop to 1-3, especially with the Ravens playing lights out and the Bengals in a resurgence. It won’t be easy. Their defense has tended to wear down late in games this year, blowing two double digit leads in the 4th quarter in the last two games. Now they’re going up against the league leader in passing yards. The Steelers defense sorely misses Troy Polamalu and is struggling to create turnovers without him in the lineup. The Chargers are hoping to get LaDainian Tomlinson back for this game because the Steelers defense can be run on, but they’ll need a powerful back to do it. Darren Sproles is explosive, but won’t be able to handle a full workload against this defense. The Steelers will also need to be able to sustain a running game, which they’ve struggled to do so far this year. The Chargers defense was crippled by the loss of nose tackle Jamal Williams so running on them can be done, but the plays will have to be made. Santonio Holmes has to cure his sudden case of the drops and make the big plays when they’re needed. The Steelers have been extremely unimpressive so far, and with the Chargers at home in prime time, its going to be very difficult to beat them. Look for Rivers and Vincent Jackson to connect on a play late in the game to seal the win for the Chargers.
6. Bills at Dolphins. It will be interesting to see the quarterback that the Dolphins settled on when they could have drafted Matt Ryan make his first start. Chad Henne has a big arm but is not very mobile, so he’s similar to Chad Pennington in one respect and very different in another.  The Dolphins have a pretty good running game to relieve him of some pressure. But having Chad Henne in the game should now allow the Dolphins to utilize Ted Ginn to the best of his abilities. H’s a deep threat who never had the quarterback to go downfield. Now he has him and now he has to prove he was worth the 9th overall pick. The Bills on the other hand have all of the weapons in place to be an explosive offense, they just haven’t utilized them yet. If they can’t get them involved this week, Dick Jauron should be fired. I don’t understand how Lee Evans and Terrell Owens can both be afterthoughts on this team. Fred Jackson has been great in place of the suspended Marshawn Lynch, who returns this week, but there is no excuse for Trent Edwards to only get both Evans and Owens a combined 3 catches in the last game. A good running game is supposed to open up the pass, but it has ye to happen in Buffalo this year. Their offensive line is horrific, but Edwards needs to get it done or there will be major changes in Buffalo sooner than later.
   

   Why won't Trent pass me the ball? I mean, that's my quarterback!

7. Seahawks at Colts. Can the Seahawks luck get any worse? After a year in which the team was decimated by injuries, especially at the receiver position, they are once again being crushed by the injury bug. Matt Hasselbeck is once again sidelined, this time with a broken rib suffered at the shoulder of Patrick Willis. But for this game the most troubling injuries are in the secondary. With their best corner, Marcus Trufant, and their nickel corner, Josh Wilson, in doubt to play, they have minimal chance to stop the Colts and their high-flying aerial attack. I predicted the Seahawks would surprise people and win their division, but it’s impossible to continually overcome this many injuries. I don’t see how they can come into Lucas Oil Stadium and stop Peyton Manning with such little reinforcements. Colts roll to 4-0.
8. Giants at Chiefs. The Chiefs suck. The Giants don’t. This is one of the more lopsided games of the week. Giants will run it down their throat and when they start to stack the box, Eli Manning will pick apart their weak secondary. Giants will roll in a blowout.
9. Lions at Bears. The Lions are coming off their first win in more than year. If anybody thinks they may be suffering from victory hangover, don’t. When you don’t win in that long, I’m pretty sure you don’t take anyone for granted. The Bears are 2-1 but have not played great football. They beat the Steelers because Jeff Reed missed two field goals and they beat the Seahawks because Olindo Mare missed two field goals. For a team that some thought would be Super Bowl-bound (me not included) that is not the way you want to get your message across. But they clearly have the pieces to beat the Lions, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Lions ride the wave into Chicago and knock off the Bears. The Bears don’t have an answer for Calvin Johnson so if Matt Stafford can get some time to throw the ball, the Bears secondary can be had. But if Kevin Smith misses the game with a bum shoulder, they could be in trouble. They are not good enough or have enough talent to overcome injuries to their key players.