How is everybody doing? This is McGreezy, back again with his weekly NFL recap. This time he is going to talk about week six. Once again, a clear-cut dominant team in the NFL has been pretty hard to figure so far this season as no team seems to want to grab the reigns and take over. Is parity a good thing for the NFL? McGreezy says yes. The unpredictability so far this season has been something worth noting. With week seven staring at us now, let's discuss week six.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Pittsburgh Steelers - If McGreezy had to pick one team as his clear-cut favorite to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl through six weeks; it would have to be the Steelers. QB Ben "Hide Your Girl" Roethlisberger made his anticipated return to the Steelers this past Sunday by delivering a whooping to the Cleveland Browns, 28-10. The Steelers are now 4-1 and lead the AFC North as the Baltimore Ravens fell to the New England Patriots in overtime, 23-20 to fall to 4-2. Last year, the Steelers suffered a bunch of injuries on defense (including Madden 10 co-cover Troy Polamalu) and missed the playoffs. This year, the Steel curtain seems to be back and now they have their 2-time Super Bowl champion quarterback back at the helm. PIT will be tough to overcome, no doubt.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Kevin Kolb (PHI) - Kolb was 23 for 29 for 326-yards and 3 touchdowns in Philadelphia's 31-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons this past Sunday. Coach Andy Reid is in an interesting situation now as Kolb is now the hot quarterback while Michael Vick is on the sideline recuperating from a rib injury. If you all remember, in week one Kolb was the starter that was injured which forced Vick to become the starter and he did well in that role. Coach Reid has already said that Kolb will be the starter this Sunday when the Eagles take on the Tennessee Titans. But what's going to happen when Michael Vick is one hundred percent? McGreezy personally would pick Vick over Kolb if they were both healthy simply because Vick is a more threat offensively because he can use his legs more. But it should be very interesting.
SCRUB(S) OF THE WEEK
Jacksonville Jaguars - McGreezy has been saying for too long how the Jaguars are the worst 3-2 team in the NFL. And they proved McGreezy right last night when they suffered a 30-3 beat down to their rival, the Titans, on Monday Night Football. What more is there to say? They couldn't run it, they couldn't throw it and they sure as hell couldn't defend anybody. Even when QB Vince Young went down in the second series of the game with an injury (which we'll get to later), the Jaguars still couldn't get to QB Kerry Collins. Jaguars Coach Jack Del Rio was on the hot seat before the season started and even though they're 3-3 as of now, they haven't looked very good. The Jags drafted a bunch of defensive linemen in the draft this past year, but it hasn't translated into any legitimate pass rush. That needs to change.
SURPRISE OF THE WEEK
San Diego Losing another Road Game - The St. Louis Rams are now 3-3 (3-0 at home) after beating the San Diego Chargers 20-17. Rams QB Sam Bradford is doing a very good job in his rookie year so far, and it looks like they may have something brewing up there in St. Louis. They need to start winning some away games though. Speaking of away games, the Chargers are now 2-4 and find themselves looking up in the AFC West to the likes of the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chargers came in Sunday as the top-ranked NFL offense and the second-ranked NFL defense. James Hall, Chris Long and Larry Grant each had two sacks apiece on Phillip Rivers to send SD to 0-4 on the road. The Chargers have been notorious for getting off to slow starts and turning it up in the second-half. The problem this year is that their division is starting to improve. The Chiefs look to be for real as their defense is great and they have a pretty good running attack. And the Broncos are always a tough team to beat in their place. San Diego has a huge game against New England this weekend and if they lose this game, you can pretty much write them off as Super Bowl contenders. Along with the Dallas Cowboys (1-4 now after committing stupid penalties and costly turnovers against the Minnesota Vikings), the Chargers are the most disappointing team in the NFL so far this season.
CLUTCH PERFORMER(S) OF THE WEEK
Houston Texans Scoring 21 Points in the 4th Quarter - This one was a hard choice because the Patriots were another contender this week due to their comeback against the Ravens. But scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter is worth a mention. The Houston Texans scored 21 points in the fourth quarter on Sunday in their 35-31 comeback win against the Chiefs that was capped off by an 11-yard TD pass from Matt Schaub to Andre Johnson. This is the second game of the season (week two against the Washington Redskins) that the Texans have overcome large deficits in the second-half to win a game. Obviously the defense in Houston is laughable as of now, so their offense is just going to have to outscore people until they can overcome their problems on the other side of the ball. The Texans (4-2) enter their bye this week and have a huge game in week eight against the Indianapolis Colts (also 4-2) in Indy on Monday Night Football (11/1). If the Texans can win that game, they'll be 4-0 in conference and 2-0 in their division. To McGreezy's recollection, the Texans have never won a game in Indianapolis so it's definitely an important game.
SCRATCHING MCGREEZY'S HEAD MOMENT OF THE WEEK
Helmet-to-Helmet Hits - Sunday was a bad Sunday for football. All these helmet-to-helmet hits are pretty sickening. Falcons CB Dunta Robinson nearly killed Eagles WR DeSean Jackson (and himself) this past Sunday. There were so many examples of that throughout the League over the weekend. It's like these linebackers and safeties of today's game are abandoning the fundamentals of how to properly tackle people and are just throwing their bodies like a missile to take out people. For McGreezy, tackling should be like the strike zone in baseball. The strike zone is supposed to be at the "letters" (meaning chest of a player) to the knees. In football, any tackles above the chest or below the knees should not only be a flag but also a fine and suspension. That's the only way this stuff will end.
KEY INJURIES
TE Antonio Gates (SD) Ankle - Gates injured his ankle in the second quarter in Sunday's loss to the Rams. He did not play in the second-half. However, the Chargers are hopeful that he will be able to play this Sunday in a critical game against the Pats. Antonio Gates has started in 85 consecutive regular-season games, so he's trying to keep that streak alive. But more importantly he needs to be on the field for this important game.
LB DeMeco Ryans (HOU) Achilles - DeMeco Ryans tore his left Achilles' tendon in the second-quarter and of course did not return. He is out for the rest of the season as he is already scheduled to go under the knife for surgery. The Texans are going to look within to replace Ryans as LB Kevin Bentley has been tapped to take over Ryans' duties on defense. {*Sigh*} Maybe Bentley will do well, but it irks McGreezy that the Texans in a season of utter importance are intent on thinking that they can look within to replace one of their most important players on defense with another player on one of the worst defenses in the NFL. It's just mind boggling.
WR DeSean Jackson (PHI) Head - Jackson suffered a concussion this past Sunday against the Falcons and it's highly unlikely that he will play this Sunday. CB Dunta Robinson also suffered a concussion and he was the one that delivered the hit. Tremendous loss for Kolb and the Eagles.
QB Vince Young (TEN) Knee - VY sprained his left knee in only the second series of the game in the Tennessee 30-3 victory Jacksonville. In hindsight, the next time Vince tries to recover a fumble; he should just cover the ball up instead of picking it up and trying to run with it. That was what led to his injury. He's lucky that he didn't suffer a broken leg because it looked really bad when it happened. It looks as if Young might be able to play this Sunday, but it's kind of uncertain at the moment.
MCGREEZY'S THOUGHTS HEADING INTO WEEK SEVEN
We're almost to the halfway point of the NFL season and the division races are all pretty close still. There are a lot of teams that still have a chance to make the playoffs and there are only a few that can just hang it up (Browns, Bills, Lions, and Panthers). The NFC is definitely wide open this year with every team in that conference having at least two losses. But until week seven arrives, enjoy the rest of the site.
Check out this hilarious video of a Dallas Cowboys fan ripping the team and its optimistic fans:
