Week 5 in Review

This was the first week of the season that I was able to just sit down and watch the slate of games, although I will miss most of tonight's game as I will have to call it an early night with early morning work looming. Man, I missed this through the first four weeks.

I'm not sure whether to say the Giants were very impressive, or the Raiders were very horrendous. With a 44-7 final score, I suppose you could say both, but wow, the Raiders were awful. They looked like they have to be the worst team in the league, but then I remembered the Rams still exist.

Speaking of looking horrendous, this was a week in which the bad looked even worse. Looking at the bottom eight teams in my latest Power Rankings, only the 29th ranked Browns won, in what was a pathetic 6-3 win over the 26th ranked Bills. The Lions were most impressive as the Steelers' second-half defense allowed them to bring the final score to within eight with their substitute quarterback (will Culpepper remain the starter when Stafford is healthy?). The Chiefs forced overtime with the Cowboys, but that was more a reflection on the need for Dallas to be ranked among this lower tier than any accomplishment by the Chiefs. The Redskins also played a close game in which they led most of the way, but again, I think that was the Panthers showing their true dull colors more than anything. The Raiders, Bucs, and Rams all lost big to very good teams. The Titans and Dolphins, who round out that bottom ten, are yet to play, but their combined 1-7 record faces the Colts and Jets with a combined 7-1 record.

It's amazing how much different the Seahawks are with Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback as opposed to Seneca Wallace. Of course, you should look good playing in Seattle hosting the Jaguars, but with Hasselbeck, they are a contender for the NFC West title. With Wallace, they were just about bottom of the barrel. And how about the Jaguars, who started to look decent after beating the Texans and Titans, losing this game 41-0? They may have one of the best teams in the league in the Colts, but if the Jaguars are the second best team in this division, then the AFC South is looking like the worst division in football this year.

How good are the Bengals and Broncos? If there were any doubters left, they should be gone by now (though I still don't understand how the Bengals nearly lost to the Browns, but even the best of teams can slip up sometimes; the Giants lost to the Browns last year). On the other hand, the 49ers bandwagon should be emptying out a bit after getting embarrassed by the Falcons.

Getting back to the Giants, I am getting a bit frustrated in their inability to get the running game going with Brandon Jacobs. He's averaging 71 rushing yards per game, which doesn't seem too bad, but it's coming on an average of 3.55 yards per carry (he averaged 5 ypc in the last two seasons), and he's only managed one touchdown all season. He hasn't exactly been facing good defenses, especially the past three weeks. Most notably in today's game, with the Giants at a first and goal at the 5, Jacobs ran for three on first down, one on second, and no gain on third down. Ahmad Bradshaw then came in for the one yard goal line touchdown on fourth down.

Bradshaw has done more on much less carries than Jacobs this year. However, with such a great contrast in running styles between Jacobs and Bradshaw, I have no way of telling how much the power of Jacobs allows Bradshaw to come in and surprise the defense with his agility. The point is, the Giants are 5-0, so I should not be too worried at this point. However, they face the undefeated Saints next week, will have a huge divisional matchup in Philadelphia in Week 8, and you cannot overlook the Cardinals in between. If the Redskins and Cowboys are really as bad as they have shown to be so far, then the Giants have not had a test even close to what they will face in these upcoming games.