NFL Week 7: Inconsistent

Usually, when you rack up 224 yards and 3 touchdowns, you've earned a starting role on your team. But Vikings coach Brad Childress seems to be the only man not on the Adrian Peterson bandwagon. Because after destroying the Bears in Week 6, Childress limited Peterson to just twelve carries. Chester Taylor, who has been relegated to "the other guy", was granted ten carries. Stop with the 50/50 already! AP is one of the most exciting players in the league, he needs to get the ball. And if the last few weeks weren't enough, Peterson ran for a twenty yard touchdown at the end of the first quarter. What that mean is, after AP's touchdown, he was given the ball a total of eight more times, while Taylor had seven carries. Well, that's one way to lose.

Stats from around the league:

1. The top three defenses in the league gave up 78 points on Sunday, while the bottom three defenses gave up only 61. Nice to seem some parody again.
2. New England averages more points per game (39.9) than all but five teams have scored in a single game all season.
3. The only quarterbacks with a better rating than Jeff Garcia are Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.
4. Jared Allen is tied with Osi Umenyiora for leading the league in sacks, with eight. Allen was suspended for the first two games of the season, and Umenyiora recorded six of his sacks in one game.
5. Randy Moss has ten touchdowns in seven games. Notre Dame's entire offense has seven total touchdowns in eight games.
6. Tony Gonzales has the same amount as yards as Kevin Curtis and Kellen Winslow Jr.
7. Coming off of bye weeks since 2002, Peyton Manning is 4-1, outscoring opponents 161-109. Off of bye weeks on Monday Night Football, Manning is 1-0, that win coming at New England. His only loss is against Jacksonville, who he plays tonight.

Due to problems with the server, I did not give score predictions last week. A (+) signifies a correct line, and a (-) with signify an incorrect line.

Washington at Arizona, 21-19, -
I'm not too upset with picking Washington to cover the -8, since at that time Kurt Warner wasn't playing. What I am upset about is that this game was decided by a missed extra point. Also, what was Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt doing by having Anquan Boldin throw a pass for the game-tying two point conversion? Boldin had two scores in the game, and the Cardinals came out with Boldin in the shotgun and backup QB Tim Rattay in the slot. Joe Gibbs is a smart coach, and did not call a timeout, but rather opted to play defense against a guy who hasn't thrown a pass since high school.

Atlanta at New Orleans, 22-16, +
The Saints, who were 1-4, should not have been 8 1/2 favorites against anybody, not even the lowly Falcons. Six would have been a perfect number (three for home field and three for being slightly better), and they indeed won by six. As for Atlanta, they should be happy that they are "stuck" with Joey Harrington again. It's not his fault that the Falcons' receivers are unable to catch any pass that comes to them. It was that way with Vick, and it will always be that way until they bring in some new personnel.

Baltimore at Buffalo, 14-19, -
This wasn't that all surprising, seeing as how the Ravens were only three point favorites for a reason. What was surprising is how bad this Baltimore offense played. Buffalo has one of the worst defenses in the league, and the Ravens never got into the red zone until the 4th quarter. And trailing by five with 1:49 left in the game, on the Bills' 49 yard line, fourth and one, with a running back who had over 100 yards on the day - the Ravens threw a pass incomplete.

Minnesota at Dallas, 14-24, -
This game crushed gamblers across the country, as Dallas were 9 1/2 point favorites who won by 10. I've already discussed my anger with the Vikings, so let's turn to Dallas. If they can get to the Super Bowl, they have as good of chance to beat New England/Indianapolis as anybody. Their two leaders, the coach and the quarterback, smile more Hugh Hefner. This team is loose, which is key while preparing for Media Week. In this game, Tony Romo had five times as many completions as Tavaris Jackson, with only twice as many attempts.

New England at Miami, 49-28, +
The only team in the modern era who has scored more in their first seven games than the Patriots were the 2000 Rams. We all know what happened that year. Not much to say about this one. New England covered yet another huge spread.

San Francisco at New York Giants, 15-33, +
We are getting close to the Manning Bowl. I wonder what Papa Manning would do during that game? Would he root for his favorite, for both, or none? Anyways, just like the two-headed monster in the AFC, it seems to be the Cowboys/Giants against the field. Perhaps we need a BCS-like system in the NFL? OK, maybe not. Giants were -9, and covered.

Tampa Bay at Detroit, 16-23, +
Even though they were a one fumble away from going into overtime, fumbles are part of the game, so my seat on the Lions bandwagon is still warm. The fact that they are winning games without having to score 30 is a big deal. The finally used rookie Calvin Johnson, who had a 32 yard rush for a score. On the other side, it's still hard to figure out Tampa Bay. They're good, but not all that great. They lost to Detroit, who was only a two point favorite at home, and they got destroyed by the Colts.

Tennessee at Houston, 38-36, +
Another gambler's special, since the 1 1/2 point favorite Titans won by 2. You have to be worried if you're Jeff Fisher, because nobody should be giving up four touchdowns in the fourth quarter to Sage Rosenfels. And setting the single game record for most field goals might be nice for Rob Bironas, but the fact that eight different trips into enemy territory never resulted in a touchdown has to be worrisome as well. Good fight by Houston, but in the AFC South, they are done.

Kansas City at Oakland, 12-10, +
When you beat a team nine straight times in this league, it's a big deal. No story line was better than the fact that Priest Holmes got on the field, and he was actually productive. I would've liked to see them use Holmes more, but I understand why they didn't. Seeing him run for a first down was like watching my son graduate from college or something. It was a great game by both teams, even if Herm Edwards made his usual mistake by burning timeouts early in a close game. Why Oakland was favored, I have no idea.

New York Jets at Cincinnati, 31-38, -
This game makes me angry just thinking about it. The Jets had this game, and if nothing else, they definitely should have covered the +6 1/2, but no, they lost by seven. The Bengals shouldn't feel good about this though, because they had to rally to beat one of the worst teams in the league at home. It doesn't help that Cincinnati are themselves, one of the worst teams in the league. Good bye, Marvin Lewis.

Chicago at Philadelphia, 19-16, -
What a dismal performance by the Eagles. Donovan McNabb has a lot of work cut out for him if he wants to stay in Philly, but really, why would he? There's been talk about him actually going to Chicago, which if you think about it, isn't that bad of an idea. He's a winner, obviously, and Lovie Smith looks like a superior coach to Andy Reid right about now. Reid knows how to build a team, but if Sunday was any indication, his game planning skills have diminished greatly.

St. Louis at Seattle, 6-33, +
Yes, the Rams are bad. Simply awful. But Shaun Alexander isn't doing that great either. If you can't get 100 yards against St. Louis, then who are you going to get it against? And yes, I know he's not running behind the same offensive line, but neither is Larry Johnson, and he's starting to figure it out. You would think a fantasy team with Alexander, AP, MJD, Stephen Jackson and Drew Brees would be doing well. You would think.

Pittsburgh at Denver, 28-31, -
I cannot believe that the Steelers lost this game. Then again, you have to remember that Mike Tomlin is a first time head coach, and that Mike Shanahan has rings. I hate when coaches call a timeout before a field goal, but if you;re going to do it, do it right. Tomlin called his before Jason Elam's game winning field goal right when Denver got, nowhere close to when they were going to snap the ball. Like I said, first time head coach.


I went 7-6 this week, not counting tonight's game. That makes me 24-25-2 on the season. Hey, almost .500! It works for Kevin Youkilis.