Week 6 in the NFL
About the two-year extension the Chicago Bears gave Jay Cutler today, all I will say is that I am not surprised one bit. As for the rest of the league...
- We knew that Tennesee was a shell of its 13-3 self, but the Titans were as bad as any team I've seen play in a while in their 59-0 loss Sunday at New England. I don't see how coach Jeff Fisher sticks with Vince Young over Kerry Collins at quarterback at this point, but the two combined to go 2-for-14 for minus-7 yards. Tom Brady was, um, a little bit better, going 29-for-34 for 380 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions in snowy conditions. He was facing an atrocious secondary, but it has to scare other teams around the league to see Brady have that kind of production.
- I thought Buffalo coach Dick Jauron would get fired this past week. He wasn't, and kudos to the nicest NFL coach I've ever dealt with for going to New York and stealing a 16-13 overtime victory from the Jets. Jauron won despite having absolutely no offense, but the combination of solid play from his own defense and the awful performance of Jets rookie QB Mark Sanchez were enough for the Bills to win. New York has a nice defense, but it's starting to look like the form they showed at the start of the season was a mirage.
- The Minnesota Vikings are no mirage. I'm convinced they're one of the very best teams in the league after they moved to 6-0 with a 33-31 victory over Baltimore. There are few people in the world I would rather say nice things about less than Brett Favre, but he played a fantastic game. He has transformed the Vikings passing game from a liability into an effective unit, at least as long as teams continue to stack the box trying to slow down Adrian Peterson. The Minnesota defense showed some leaks in allowing the Ravens to rally late, but it was still a very impressive victory.
- Even more impressive than the Vikings' win was the 48-27 beatdown the New Orleans Saints put on the New York Giants. Through the first five weeks of the season, the Giants looked like the best defensive team in football. Drew Brees and company did whatever they wanted against them, with Brees throwing for 369 yards and four touchdowns. Almost as impressive as the New Orleans offense was the job the Saints defense did of slowing Eli Manning and the Giants. The 'D' might just be good enough for the Saints to make a deep run come January.
- Not much was said about Arizona's 27-3 rout of Seattle, but the Cardinals deserve some credit for restealing the pole position from San Francisco in the NFC West. The Seahawks had Matt Hasslebeck back at quarterback, but they probably wished they hadn't, as he was 10-for-29 for 112 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. Kurt Warner gave Favre plenty of competition for the title of best old guy performance Sunday, connecting on 32-of-41 passes for 276 yards.
