Monday, October 21, 2013

2013-14 NFL Season Week 7 Review

The big game this week was clearly between the undefeated Denver Broncos and the 4-2 Indianapolis Colts. It was the past legendary quarterback for the Colts visiting Indianapolis for the first time with his new team, taking on the quarterback of the future for the Colts.

And the game started out the way you might expect, with the mighty Denver Broncos offense taking charge early with a touchdown in the first quarter. Much of the game was a shootout, which was also something expected.

What was not expected were all of Denver's mistakes. They made some uncharacteristic mistakes in the game that greatly contributed towards this being their first loss of the season.

It was a legendary quarterback duel that provided a lot of buzz, and was guaranteed to generate even more headlines no matter what the result, come Monday morning.

Peyton Manning, in a losing effort,  went 29 of 49 for 386 yards and three touchdowns, although he was picked off at a crucial point in the fourth quarter, which helped to effectively ice the game for the Colts. Luck, in the meantime, completed 21 of 38 pass attempts for 228 yards the three touchdowns, with no interceptions. This was probably the single biggest victory in his professional career, and helps him get the monkey of the shadow of Manning off of his back, and in front of his home fans, to boot! Very sweet victory for him.

Manning was all class before and after the game, predictably.

And would anyone really be surprised if these teams happen to meet again in January? Not I, not I.

In Kansas City, for the second time this season, the Chiefs hosted a Texas team. For the second time, they came away with a narrow, 17-16 victory. For the second time, the victory over the visiting Texas team preserved their undefeated start to the season.

This time, it was the Houston Texans who, despite the loss, played their best game in quite some time, putting up a valiant effort, even if it fell short.

Unfortunately for the Texans, it was also their fifth straight defeat, a prospect that seemed unthinkable before the start of the season. Their starting quarterback has been benched, and their starting running back has been injured. Their vaunted defense, which has been one of the elite units in recent seasons, has been vulnerable. And everything just seemed to spiral out of control in a hurry. The Texans now are 2-5, a game behind the Titans, and three games behind the division leading, and red-hot, Indianapolis Colts. This, for a team that some (including yours truly) expected to be a serious Super Bowl contender. I took a look at their schedule and, frankly,  I'm not sure that they can recover. they have a bye week next weekend, and not a minute too soon.

Houston will next play Indianapolis, then travel to Arizona, before returning home to Oakland. We all know the Colts will be tough, although what's good for Houston is that it will be at home. Arizona could be a tough place to play, and even though Houston should believe that is a winnable game, the Cardinals likely will think the same thing for the Texans. So that could be tricky. But the last five games for the Texans is brutal, featuring such opponents as the Patriots and Broncos, and road trips to Indianapolis and Tennessee. Hate to sound skeptical, but I'm going to go out on a limb, here, and suggest that, as talented as Houston is, and as good as they should be, they will not recover in time to qualify for the playoffs, or even make a serious playoff run.

As for Kansas City, who could have foreseen this? A 7-0 start, after a horrendous 2-14 season last year? Nobody could have predicted this. I've always had a lot of respect for Andy Reid, but this is surreal! The last remaining unbeaten team this season. Is that surprising? Well, believe it or not, the Chiefs have been the last remaining unbeaten team three times since 2003, when they sprinted out of the gates to a 9-0 start, en route to a 13-3 regular season record, tops in the AFC. Unfortunately for them, they did not follow that up with any success in the postseason. Let's see if that changes this season. Also, in 2010, the Chiefs started off 3-0, and although that might not sound nearly as impressive, they were, technically, the last remaining unbeaten team that season. The only other team that were the sole remaining unbeaten team as often during the same time period would be the Indianapolis Colts, the same team that officially gave the Chiefs that distinction yesterday, by beating their division rival Denver Broncos, thus doing them a double favor. Now, the Chiefs will host the Cleveland Browns next, and then go to visit the Bills up in Buffalo, before enjoying a bye week off. I know that anything can happen on any given Sunday, but the way that the Chiefs have played lately, they have a realistic chance at reaching 9-0 again, and then having a bye week to look forward to, before a really tough mid-November game at Denver. Now, that's going to be an incredible game!

So, Kansas City is the last remaining undefeated team of the season, at 7-0. The Broncos did not make it past the Colts last night. But I will say this much: I have never seen two division rivals both start off the season with undefeated records that lasted so late into the season.

In a game that I watched a decent part of, the New York Jets pulled off a huge victory against Brady and Co., knowing off the Patriots in OT, as Jets placekicked Nick Folk kicked a 42-yard field goal to clinch the victory for Gang Green.

In the first half, it looked like the Patriots were going to blow out the Jets, as they took a sizeable lead of 21-10, and seemed to be completely outplaying the Jets. A victory for them at New York would have effectively clinched the division title for them, as they would have received a three game lead over the Jets and the Dolphins, by virtue of Miami losing to the Bills at home yesterday. Instead, with the Jets victory, New York pulled to within a game of new England's lead in the AFC East division. It also provides more legitimacy for the reversal of fortune for the Jets, because many people (like yours truly) are not entirely convinced that they are for real. They have a tough couple of games coming up, against Cincinnati and New Orleans. After that, however, the have the bye week, and then get some relatively beatable opponents (at least on paper). I was impressed with the Jets win! Let's see what they do against the Bengals next week, though.

Speaking of Cincy, the Bengals went on the road against Detroit, and managed to hand the Lions their first home loss of the season. given that the Bengals have struggled to beat winning teams, especially on the road, in recent seasons, this victory was tremendous for them! It continues their strong momentum, and coupled with Cleveland's bad loss at Green Bay, and the Ravens falling at Pittsburgh, the Bengals, all of a sudden, hold a two game lead in the AFC North. Looking at the remainder of their schedule, the Bengals look like they should be able to finish strong and earn a playoff game with home field advantage, which I think they badly need, if they want to end their current streak of no playoff wins since the 1990 season, which I believe is the longest such active streak in the league right now. It looks like they are on their way.

The Bears were at Washington today, and what a shootout that was! With the Lions loss, the Bears had the chance to take sole possession of first place. But Washington, trailing late in the fourth quarter of a back and forth game, managed to pull together a touchdown drive to take a 45-41 lead very late in the game. Chicago simply was unable to answer with such little time left, and they fell. It was not their only loss for the day, either, as Cutler was injured again. And in the meantime, Green Bay, with a solid performance all around, and especially by star quarterback Aaron Rodgers, now find themselves in sole possession of first place in the NFC North, despite trailing for a long time following some early season struggles. Once more, they are in the familiar position of first place.

In other games, the 49ers ripped apart the Titans, while the Dallas Cowboys made the Eagles look horrendous. Not surprisingly, San Diego shut down the Jaguars, and Carolina stopped the St. Louis Rams, with Bradford getting injured in that one. Atlanta got back on track against (who else?) the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And, of course, on Thursday Night Football, the Seahawks got a huge road win against the Cardinals.

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