We All Worship At The Altar Of Gus Johnson
Week 5 is in the books and four teams stand at 5-0, while four other teams stand 0-5. So much for parity. The Mannings continued their dominance, while Donovan McNabb did not appear to be rusty in his comeback. Both the AFC North and the NFC West got a bit more intriguing as well. Here is your round up of the top stories in week 5, in case you missed it.
KYLE ORTON WINS GAMES!
Best Quarterback...Or Best Quarterback Ever?
It’s been written about plenty of times already, but who would have expected the Broncos to be 5-0? Hell, who would have expected them to win more than 3 games all season? Josh McDaniels lost a franchise quarterback for Kyle Orton, alienated his best offensive skill player, and seemed to piss everyone off this off-season. Well, Orton has 7 TDs to 1 INT on the season and looks competent, Brandon Marshall and McDaniels have managed to reconcile their differences, and everyone loves McDaniels now. How the hell did this happen? Much of the success of the Broncos should also be given to defensive coordinator, Mike Nolan. After having one of the worst defenses in the last 10+ years, the Broncos have emerged as one of the elite defenses in 2009. Champ Bailey has also been playing at a high level, and Elvis Dumervil is tied for the league lead in sacks with 8. Perhaps this requires some more research?
The “Cardiac Cats” Comeback Again
It looks like the Bengals are the real deal this season. If not for the fact that KYLE ORTON WINS GAMES, the Bengals would be 5-0 right now. The Bengals went into Baltimore and pulled out a close victory against one of their most hated rivals. In the process, Cedric Benson ran for 100+ yards on the Ravens. In doing so, he became the first running back in 39 games to rush for 100+ yards against the vaulted Ravens defense. At this point in the year, Benson leads the league in rushing yards! The Bengals are even playing good defense this year. With the Steelers struggling out of the gate, it’s possible that both the Bengals and Ravens finish ahead of Pittsburgh this season.
Browns Win One!
Just A Terrible Game For Anderson
This is a game you may have skipped this Sunday, and I can’t blame you for doing so. The Browns, however, managed to win their first game of the season with a 6-3 win over the Bills. Can we set the over-under for games coached by Dick Jauron at 9? The Bills are terrible this season! Derek Anderson did his best to lost the game for Cleveland, going 2-17 on the day. He completed two passes all day and his team won the game. Jamal Lewis made an appearance in the game, rushing for 117 yards. Good for him.
49ers Collapse
The Falcons showed up in a big way on Sunday. Matt Ryan threw for 329 yards and 2 TDs, Michael Turner scored 3 TDs, and Roddy White had over 200+ yards receiving against the 49ers tough defense. The 49ers have played very well this season, but Sunday’s game exploited their weaknesses. Once the Falcons were up 21-10, Shaun Hill had no chance of leading the comeback against Atlanta. This 49ers team is pretty similar to the Chicago Bears of past seasons. They can win games with a good running game and defense, but once they get down their passing game cannot respond. Shaun Hill might be serviceable, but he is far from the answer in San Fran. The Falcons, however, look like an offensive juggernaut. It should make for an interesting Monday Night in week 8, when the Falcons and Saints meet for the first time in 2009.
#1 by tonysoprano on October 14, 2009 - 8:39 am
A weird NFL anomoly/stat: Going into week 5 the New England Patriots had played 4 games and none of the 4 teams had a lose at the time of that game. On the flip side, the Washington Redskins went into week 5 having played teams that had not won as of yet. The sad part for Washington is they lost to both the Lions and the Panthers to end those teams losing streaks. New England beat both Atlanta and Baltimore to give them their first defeats.