This week proved to be a key week for most of the 1-7 teams this week. The San Diego Chargers beat the first place Minnesota Vikings, the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the first place Indianapolis Colts, and the Atlanta Falcons beat the New York Giants. But let’s take a look at the action from the week’s top five games:
5: Dallas Cowboys 10, Buffalo Bills 6
In Irving, Texas, the Cowboys managed to pull out a victory yet again despite an ugly offensive showing.
The Bills, led by quarterback Drew Bledsoe, again failed to score a touchdown and haven’t been able to do so in their last three games.
Not that the Dallas offense looked any better. The Cowboys only managed 236 yards of total offense and seven first downs, but with the excellent play of free safety Roy Williams, the Cowboy defense managed to remain solid to shut down the Bills.
4: Jacksonville Jaguars 28, Indianapolis Colts 23
In Jacksonville, the Jaguars managed to pull off a huge upset thanks to a little motivation from their oft-injured running back.
Fred Taylor called out Colts strong safety Mike Doss earlier in the week, saying, “I am going to punish him. If he hits me, fine, but if I catch him, believe me, I’m going to get the better shot.”
Taylor did exactly that on the winning touchdown run, when he broke loose into the secondary and ran over Doss, looked back, and then cruised into the endzone for the game winning score.
3: Kansas City Chiefs 41, Cleveland Browns 20
At Arrowhead, the Browns were able to keep Dante Hall out of the end zone, but were not able to keep the Chiefs from clobbering them.
Hall, who was a block away from returning his record-breaking fifth kick for a touchdown, still racked up 159 yards returning the ball. Priest Holmes once again gained over 100 total yards, getting 93 rushing and 66 receiving. Quarterback Trent Green also had a good outing, completing 29 out of 42 passes for 368 yards.
2: Tennessee Titans 31, Miami Dolphins 7
In the Music City, the Titans managed to turn arguably the game of the week into a laugher as they systematically destroyed the hapless Dolphins.
The Titans, who now move to 7-2, have now scored 30 or more points for the sixth consecutive week, a franchise record.
Dave Wannstedt now has a quarterback controversy on his hands with the horrific play of Brian Griese. Griese turned over the ball three times in the first half alone and couldn’t manage to get going the entire game.
On the other side of the ball, Steve McNair continues his spectacular play with his 17 for 23, 203 yard performance. The Titans played so well that McNair was pulled early in the fourth when the game was decided.
1: Carolina Panthers 27, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24
In Charlotte, the Buccaneers lost back to back games for the first time under Head Coach John Gruden and gave up a game winning drive to the Panthers,who are now entrenched in first place.
The Bucs, who did an awful lot of trash talking earlier in the week, looked like they had the game in hand when Martin Gramatica made his 39-yard field goal to put the Bucs up 24-20. But the young Jake Delhomme keyed a last second come from behind drive with help from receivers Mushin Muhammad and Ricky Proehl. Delhomme’s quick strike to Steve Smith in the hurry-up offense with just 1:06 left on the clock gave the Panthers all the points they would need.
The Bucs, who are now 4-5, are in serious jeopardy of not making the playoffs. They have been swept by the Panthers and already lost once to the Saints, and are a distant three games back with just seven games left to play.
Player of the Week: Doug Flutie
On Sunday, everybody in San Diego was given a distraction from all their current problems with the play of Flutie. Playing with the joy and enthusiasm of a 12-year old boy, Flutie jumped, ducked, and sprinted out two rushing touchdowns as well as two throwing scores and brought a little joy to the Chargers’ already dismal season.
Flutie has single-handedly managed to inject some excitement that Drew Brees was unable to. LaDanian Tomlinson even went so far as to say, “I believe in magic, Flutie magic.” Even the hapless Vikings couldn’t stop raving about the 41-year old quarterback. Daunte Culpepper said, “I have a lot of respect for him.”
The Chargers season is probably over, but don’t tell Flutie that. If anybody can keep defying the odds, it’s Flutie.
Disappointment of the Week: Brain Griese
What a terrible performance with his job on the line. He showed legions of Denver fans why they got rid of him with his horrific performance against the Titans.
Griese has had only one good game against a terrible Charger defense. Granted, the Titans have one of the better defenses in the league, but that is no excuse for turning over the ball five times in just the first half alone.
This is his second bad game in as many weeks and will probably signal the return of quarterback Jay Feidler. It may be safe to say that Griese’s starting days are over.
Watch out for: Rudi Johnson
A year ago, a Bengal would have only been able to be eligible for disappointment of the week, but Bengals Coach Marvin Lewis has seemed to inject a new life into this team.
For years Corey Dillon has been the only constant on this offense, except for the consistently bad play of every other element. But Dillon, car wreck and all, seem to have been pushed off of the depth chart for now by the spectacular play of Rudi Johnson.
The Bengals seem to key off of Johnson, who had a record 43 carries. He is a total opposite of Dillon, who earlier in the season demanded to have more touches.
If Johnson stays ahead of Dillon on the depth chart, is it safe to say that the Bengals are playoff contenders?
