Tuesday's Reflections on the NFL - My Kind of Religion

I have long believed that the NFL itself, is a religion.

For starters, it kicks-off Sunday mornings at 10am out here on the West Coast; prime Church startin' time. There are GODS (LaDanian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson), SAVIOURS (Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Brady), HEROES (Peyton Manning, Brian Urlacher), VILLAINS (Chris Henry, Pacman Jones, Michael Vick), SINS (Excessive Touchdown Celebrations), and PRODIGAL SONS (Brett Favre).

Week 6 in the NFL was the kind of week that makes the patrons giddy with excitement.

Four teams went into the week win-less and only two remain with a goose egg. There were upsets everywhere, injuries, spectacular performances by rookies & veterans alike, and FIVE games that were decided in the last minute, or overtime. It was the kind of week that makes an avid NFL patron, such as myself, delirious.

Losers No Longer:

Detroit, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Houston (see Tuesdays Reflections on the NFL - Sage Rosenfels is a Jackass) all entered Week 6 as basement dwellers without a victory. The Lions & Bengals are the final two who will enter week 7 without a win. Houston and St. Louis each needed the full 60 minutes to pull off big victories. St. Louis handed out one of the biggest upsets of the week by defeating the heavily favoured Redskins in Maryland. With the score 17-16 Redskins, the Rams relied on a 49-yard field goal from Josh Brown as time expired to capture the road victory. In Houston, the Texans, who looked destined to win in Week 5 against the Colts, only to choke in the 4th quarter, won on a Matt Schaub rushing TD with :03 seconds on the clock. In Detroit, the Lions lost a heartbreaker with :09 seconds left, as Ryan Longwell kicked a 29-yard field goal to lead Minnesota to the 12-10 victory and send the Lions to 0-5. Perhaps the worst team in the NFL, the Bengals never even came close in a 26-14 loss to the New York Jets. The Bengals own the leagues worst record at 0-6.

Who Dat? Josh Brown Celebrates

Last Minute Heroics:

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the Rams, Vikings and Texans all won games in the final :10 seconds of their respective games. But there were more! The Falcons won on the last play of the game and the Cardinals needed overtime to capture victory. Longwell, Brown and the Falcons' Jason Elam all kicked last second field goals to get the W. Schaub's 3-yard run ended the Texans' 4-game losing streak to open the season, and I'm sure the fans in Houston were breathing a sigh of relief that Schaub was back after a week off due to illness. The Cadinals' Special Teams were the key in a 30-24 win over the Dallas Cowboys. J.J. Arrington returned the opening kickoff for a Touchdown, and Sean Morey and Monty Beisel teamed up to block a punt and return it for the game-winning TD in overtime. These aforementioned games are those likely to give the more senior fans a hasty meeting with a defibrillator.

Down & Out:

The Cowboys didn't just lose a game on Sunday, they lost 3 players to injury, and most likely, lost some ground in the leagues toughest Division, the NFC East. Staring QB, Tony Romo (Broken Pinkie Finger on Throwing Hand) is out for 3-4 weeks, Running Back and Return Man Felix Jones is gone for 3-4 weeks with a Torn Hamstring, and Punter Matt McBriar is gone for the season after he broke his foot on the blocked punt that led to the Cardinals' game winner. This could be disastrous for the 'Boys heading into a tough stretch in their schedule. Next weeks matchup against the St. Louis Rams doesn't seem that tough, but the Rams are coming off their first win of the season over a Redskins team, who beat the Cowboys earlier this year. Also, the Rams will be looking to build off of this weeks momentum and climb back into the race for the NFC West, perhaps the leagues weakest division. The Cowboys then play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 8, then the Division leading Giants in Week 9. Week 10 is Bye week for Dallas, at which time they should have Romo & Jones back on the field.

Injury Season - Jones, Romo & McBriar all go down

In the meantime, the Cowboys will have to rely on Veteran QB Brad Johnson to take the reigns. Johnson has not started an NFL game since December 12, 2006, while he was playing for the Vikings. In that season, Johnson threw 9tds and 15ints while garnering a record of 6-8 before being benched for the final 2 regular season games in favour of Tarvais Jackson. Johnson has never been a go-to kind of Quarterback, and has usual relied heavily on his defense to win games (and Superbowls - see 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers). The problem with this, is that the Cowboys D isn't the '02 Bucs, and are susceptible to giving up huge point totals. If Johnson isn't able to move the ball as Romo is, the 'Boys could see themselves fall farther behind in the chase for the NFC East.

Also, on a lesser note, but still a problem for Dallas, is the loss of Felix Jones. This means that Marion Barber will have to carry even more of the load, and as with his crashing running style, could mean trouble for the oft-injured running back.

As well, in recent weeks, TO has been visibly angry, most likely due to his lack of production (4 catches for 36 yards last week). If Johnson is unable to find Owens, the animosity may grow in the big D. Watch this storyline to evolve.

Game of the Week:

The game of the week, was without a doubt, Atlanta's 22-20 victory over the Chicago Bears. The largest lead of the game was in the 3rd quarter when the Falcons took a 12-3 lead. The Bears scored later that quarter to close the gap to 12-10 entering the wild & crazy 4th quarter. After Roddy White caught a TD pass from Matt Ryan for Atlanta & Robbie Gould kicked a field goal for Chicago, the Falcons looked to have a comfortable 19-13 lead late in the game. A goal-line stand by Atlanta's D with time winding down looked to be the deciding factor. However, things are not always that easy. After the Gould field goal, Jeroius Norwood took a kick return 85 yards, deep into Bears territory. After a 3 & out, Jason Elam came on to the field to kick a relatively easy 33-yard field goal to put the game out of reach. Elam, remarkably, missed the kick, his first in 31 attempts. Chicago took the ball back down the field and scored a touchdown with just :11 seconds on the clock. The Falcons took over and Ryan threw a 26-yard strike to Michael Jenkins to put Atlanta in field goal range. Elam came back out and, as they say, went from goat to hero, after hitting a 48-yarder as time expired.

Highlights from the Game of the Week

Performances of Young & Old:

The two top performers of the week had to be Atlanta Falcons Rookie QB Matt Ryan and seasoned veteran Colts QB Peyton Manning. Ryan has led his team to a 4-2 record, a team that only won 4 games all of last season, splitting the signal caller position between veterans Byron Leftwhich and Joey Harrington. Ryan, however, had pulled off big wins over the likes of Detroit and Kansas City (combined records of 1-9). Last week he beat the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, probably the toughest place to get a road win in all of football. And this week he answered back again by throwing for 301 yards and a touchdown against one of the NFLs premier defenses. Ryan has definitely silenced critics who said he wasn't ready to start in his rookie season.

Manning has been uncharacteristically terrible in the early going this season, and had prompted me to call him the new Eli. After Sunday's 31-3 trouncing of the Ravens, the #1 ranked defense in the NFL, he is back to his old self. A lot of Mannings sluggish play has been attributed to his off-season knee surgery. The man they call Archie's Son threw for 271 yards and 3 touchdowns in the blow-out and has his Colts back on track after back-to-back victories.

Good Ol' Eli:

In what had to be the weeks worst performance, Eli Manning was Eli Manning again. After a stellar start to the season that had the younger Manning getting serious considerations for the early season MVP. On Monday night, playing against a 1-3 Cleveland Browns team, and with his own teams' undefeated streak on the line Manning threw for 3 interceptions as the Giants lost big, 35-14.

It's a week like this that keeps me coming back to the Church of the NFL week after week. In this religion, everyone is welcome, beers flow freely, pizza and Chinese food are passed around ceremoniously. And at the end of each week, whether the Disciples you cheer for win, or lose, everyone can go home, with a sense of belonging and faith. Now, that is what Sundays are all about.