Atlanta Falcons beat the San Francisco 49ers 16-14: A new offensive coordinator in San Fran made a difference
early as the 49ers scored all their points in the first half letting the defense hold the Falcons at bay. The Falcons had other ideas and ripped out their guts with two seconds on the game clock. Both teams scored just one TD on offense. The rest came from the toe of Matt Bryant for Atlanta and a score off a blocked punt by San Fran. Keep all sharp objects away from 49ers coach Mike Singletary as his team falls to 0-4.
Baltimore Ravens over the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-14: Charlie Batch didn’t connect with any of his receivers for a score and his only INT on the day, with less than 10 seconds left in the game, sealed the victory for Baltimore. Rashard Mendenhall accounted for all of Pittsburgh’s points. Joe Flacco had found T.J. Houshmandzadeh , a mere few seconds prior for the game winner. The teams even their records at 3-1.
New York Jets take the Buffalo Bills 38-14: The Jets took advantage of this division game as they should. Sanchez threw TDs to Dustin Keller and Braylon Edwards, while LaDainian Tomlinson found the end zone twice. The star of the Bills running game was their QB with 74 yards. He also tossed 2 TDs. News bulletin: the Bills are bad and remain winless at 0-4
New Orleans Saints beat the Carolina Panthers 16-14: The Saints rebounded from last week’s loss to the Falcons and won on the foot of the ageless John Carney. He got the call to come home, earlier this week to take over from kicker Garrett Hartley. Drew Brees could only find one target in the end zone all day and his QB rating was slightly less than that of Panthers’ rookie Jimmy Clausen. The Carolina RBs scored both of the team’s TDs as they fall to 0-4.
Cleveland Browns over the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20: Cincy’s defense had been sharp for a couple of weeks and then they came to play in Cleveland. Seneca Wallace keeps doing enough to keep from stinking up the joint and handing it off to Peyton Hillis for 1 TD and 102 yards on the ground. Carson Palmer went 25-36 with 2 TDs, one to Terrell Owens and the Browns D cut off the Bengals running game for the team’s first win of the season.
Green Bay Packers defeated the Detroit Lions 28-26: The Packers looked great until they stopped scoring at 14:34 of the third quarter. They watched the Lions chip away via 4 FGs by Jason Hanson. Calvin Johnson caught two TDs and the Lions lost yet another game in a sad way. Aaron Rodgers threw for 3 TDs on only 181 total passing yards. The Lions who dominated time of possession and offensive yardage should have had this one.
Denver Broncos took care of the Tennessee Titans 26-20: The Broncos held Chris Johnson in check so the Titans turned to others for offense. They got a kick-off return TD, a receiving TD from Kenny Britt and not much else. Denver clawed its way back thanks to the kicking of Matt Prater, then Kyle Orton tossed a six-yarder to Correll Buckhalter for the game winner with 1:33 left in the game.
St. Louis Rams over the Seattle Seahawks 20-3: The Seahawks couldn’t hold the mighty Rams in check with that whiz-kid QB of theirs, you know, the great Sam Bradford? Oh, he’s only a rookie? Couldn’t tell as he threw for 2 scores with only one pick. Seattle’s offense looked like last year’s model – in other words, lousy. The Seahawks had fewer than 70 net yards running the ball and Matt Hasselbeck was 20-36 with an INT. The Rams won their second in a row and Seattle falls to 2-2.
Jacksonville Jags beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-28: Indy was stunned by a final seconds 59 yard field goal by Josh Scobee, as the Jaguars save their coach’s bacon for one more week, at least. David Garrard was on fire, for him, with a 17-22, 163 yards performance. He tossed 2 scores, one to Maurice Jones-Drew and the other to big tight end, Marcedes Lewis. Peyton Manning was intercepted once, threw for 2 TDs on 33-46 passing and Joseph Addai saw the end zone twice. But it was the final drive by the Jags, culminating in the mighty kick of Josh Scobee that won the day. The Colts fall to 2-2 on the season as the Jags climb up to the same record.
San Diego Chargers over the Arizona Cardinals 41-10: The Chargers got a big early lead, as Philip Rivers threw for 2 TDs and Mike Tolbert ran for 1 in the first half. Then, Holy Matt Leinart… the Cards benched Derek Anderson after he threw a pick-six, ushering in the next great hope in Arizona, Max Hall. The former third-stringer managed to complete only 8 of 14 passes, without a TD for a mere 82 yards. The Cards running game did not pick up the slack with a total 47 yards on the day. Antonio Gates saw the end zone twice and brought in 144 yards receiving – another monster day for the burly tight end.
Washington Redskins defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 17-12: Donovan McNabb returned to Philly and the Eagles lost their starter, Mike Vick to a rib injury early. Was it voodoo, karma or something else? Whatever it was, it ushered in the second coming of Kevin Kolb and made it clear that without Vick on the field, the Eagles struggle to score. The young QB did his best, came alive late in the game with a TD strike to Brent Celek, and was driving in Redskins territory as time expired on the game clock. If Vick is banged up, Kolb, who looked rusty, will take the snaps with the first unit in practice this upcoming week. Donovan McNabb might have won in his Philly debut as a Redskin but he had another poor game. He was only 8-19, 125 yards, with 1 TD and 1 INT. Credit the Redskins defense for this victory.
Houston Texans take the Oakland Raiders 31-24: Bruce Gradkowski did what he does best, complete passes and keep his team in the game. It just wasn’t enough this Sunday. Andre Johnson was out with an injury and the other Houston WRs made up the difference very nicely, thank you. Matt Schaub spread his passes around to six receivers, including RB Arian Foster who caught one for a TD and ran for another. He racked up 131 yards on the ground despite missing the first quarter of the game. The Raiders keep losing but they are much more entertaining than the previous couple of years, with a wide open offense and a decent running game. Darren McFadden had to leave the game with a strained hamstring after gaining 47 yards and QB Gradkowski went 24-39, 278 yards 2 scores and 2 INTs.
Used with permission of the author.
Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles.
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