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After the Giants beat the Packers on Sunday morning (it was morning, in any case, for us in North America), I had the rare opportunity to react with some excitement shortly after the game ended. Usually, I wait until the day after or so, and do all games in one clump. But since it was my favorite team that managed to win a big game, and since that ended well before the other NFL games even began, having been played in London, I figured that it would be good to review that. Plus, as a Giants fan, it was an exciting, and admittedly mostly unexpected, win.
So that said, this is a review of every game from this past weekend in the NFL except for the Giants huge win over the Packers in London. Here goes:
NY Jets 40, Miami 17 - Another New York team produced yet another upset win over a favored 3-1 team. This time, it was the Jets. And while the G-Men understandably struggled to beat the Packers, the Jets actually blew out the Fins at MetLife Stadium. What a win! This was the first time this season that Gang Green did not need to rely on a miraculous comeback in the final minutes for a win. Glad that they managed it. My pick: Inaccurate
Tampa Bay 21, Atlanta 15 - The Bucs won, as expected. Yet, they did not play quite as well, or as dominantly, as I had admittedly expected them to. They still got the win, and improve to 3-2 on the year. More importantly, they stopped the bleeding from their two game skid. Still, they look more vulnerable than many people, myself included, expected by this point. Still, a win is a win, and they got this one. My pick: Accurate
LA Chargers 30, Cleveland 28 - Now this would have been an entertaining game to have watched. A decently, but not ridiculously, high-scoring game that was back and forth, with both teams owning the momentum at some points. It looked like it might be all Cleveland in the early going. But the Chargers got better as the game wound down, and held Cleveland to just one touchdown total in the second half, as they managed to pull off a squeaker of a victory on the road to improve to 3-2. The Browns, meanwhile, are handed another tough loss and fall to 2-3 on the season. My pick: Inaccurate
New England 29, Detroit 0 - This looked a bit like the kind of game you would have expected from these two teams a few years ago, when the Pats were still among the elites. The Lions once again look like they are in for a tough season. losing to the Pats is understandable. Losing in a blowout while failing to score? That has to sting. And they fall to 1-4 on the season, which means that they have one of the worst records in the entire league. A solid win, meanwhile, for New England, as they improve to 2-3 on the season. My pick: Accurate
Houston 13, Jacksonville 6 - There will be no winless teams in the league this year. The Texans managed to pull off a big upset over the seemingly improved Jaguars, who looked listless in this one. Trevor Lawrence is struggling suddenly in recent weeks. It will be interesting to see how he responds. As for the Texans, they finally managed a win and, ironically, almost get back into the race in this division by so doing. Almost, but not quite. My pick: Inaccurate
Tennessee 21, Washington 17 - After dropping their first two games, the Titans are beginning to get hot. They followed a huge win against the Colts at Indy with a big win in Washington. It was a relatively low-scoring, tough game. But the Titans defense managed to do a stand up job, while the offense did just enough to notch their third straight win to remain in first place in the AFC South. As for Washington, this was their fourth straight loss, so they need to try and stop the bleeding before it gets out of hand. My pick: Accurate
Buffalo 28, Pittsburgh 3- Remember when the Steelers managed to pull off a big comeback to stun the Bills in Buffalo early last season? Well apparently, the Bills remembered. And they made sure that history would not repeat in this one. The Bills simply dominated in every way here, scoring a ton of points while holding Pittsburgh to a mere field goal. This, coupled with the loss by Miami, gets the Bills into sole possession of first place in the AFC East for the first time this season. My pick: Accurate
Minnesota 29, Chicago 22 - The Bears made a game of this one, at least, even though Minnesota seemed to be threatening to pull away early on. Still, however, Minnesota has reached an impressive record of 4-1 to this point, and it is for a reason. Meanwhile, Chicago has dropped two straight and fallen to 2-3 on the season, and that, too, is for a reason. My pick: Accurate
New Orleans 39, Seattle 32 - This was a higher scoring game than I had anticipated it being. The Seahawks had looked impressive defensively. And I did not expect either team to light up the scoreboard quite in the manner that they both did. Yet, shootout or not the Saints were frankly overdue for a win, and they earned on here. My pick: Accurate
San Francisco 37, Carolina 15 - This was pretty much as you could expect this game to go. The 49ers just seem like the far better team at this point. Better on offense, better on defense, more disciplined. And this is pretty much the result you would expect, given all of that. My pick: Accurate
Dallas 22, LA Rams 10 - Is it too soon to suggest that the Rams will not be repeating this season? They just have not looked anything like they did last season, when everything fell into pace for an impressive title run. But this season, they just have not looked particularly good or impressive, even when they win. But so far, at least, they usually lose. The Cowboys handed them their latest loss, beating the Rams in Los Angeles, and forcing the defending Super Bowl champs to have a losing record this late into the season, while Dallas improves to 4-1. Brutal for the Rams. My pick: Inaccurate
Philadelphia 20, Arizona 17 - This proved to be a tough and tight contest. But in the end, the only remaining undefeated team left in the league got the job done again. Yes, the Eagles did just enough to secure the road win in the desert against the Cardinals. It was tight, and they flirted with losing at times. Yet, they did what they had to when they had to, and improve to 5-0 on the year. Impressive.. My pick: Accurate
Sunday Night Football: Baltimore 19, Cincinnati 17 - The Ravens managed to exact a measure of revenge for the two embarrassing losses that they suffered to the Bengals last season by hanging on for a narrow win in this one. The Bengals O-Line is depleted, and so that might have been a partial factor in this particular outcome. But yes, the Ravens managed to win this important meeting, which wound up indeed being or sole possession of first place in the AFC North for the time being. The Bengals, meanwhile, fall to 2-3 and once again have a losing record. My pick: Inaccurate
Monday Night Football: Las Vegas at Kansas City - Yes, my prediction was for the Chiefs to win this one at home in Arrowhead. But to their credit, the Raiders played extremely well, at one point jumping ahead by 17. However, we all know that KC is a very tough team to hold a lead - even a big lead - against. And in the end, they did just enough right to come out on top again, and hold onto their sole possession of first place in the AFC West, improving to 4-1. The Raiders, meanwhile, are better than their 1-4 record would suggest.. My pick: Accurate
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