The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Week 4 Edition

The Good
Kansas City – This was a team consistently lodged in the Ugly. Even though they gave up almost 450 yards of offense they were good when they needed to be, holding the Broncs out of the end zone all but once. The normally impotent offense put up 370 yards of its own and took advantage of short fields to the tune of 20 points. For that, the Chiefs escape the Ugly and finally make the Good.

New York Jets – The good news is the Jets scored 56 points in two quarters. They took advantage of every opportunity. The bad news is they gave up 35 in two quarters and a ton of yards. Still, given they did far more good than bad and the results speak for themselves. Six TD passes from Favre (and one from Warner) make this a Good effort.

New Orleans – The Saints racked up over 450 yards of offense and never went three-and-out. Their defense was good enough to keep the 49ers out of the end zone until just over four minutes remained and the game was decided. Unlike the rest of the Good, this is a game they should have won and they did so decisively enough to earn a slot here.

Washington – This is the no-brainer pick. In Dallas, the Redskins played an impressive game balancing 380 yards of offense (roughly 160 on the run, 220 in the air) while making the Cowboys one-dimensional, allowing less than 45 yards on the ground. They shortened the game by holding the ball for more than 38 minutes. Combined with no turnovers, that resulted in a hard-earned divisional road win and a slot here.

The Bad
Denver – The Broncs managed to gain their obligatory offensive yardage, but turned the ball over 4 times and gave up 370 yards to an offense that does not remind anyone of last year’s Patriots. In fact, the Broncos allowed the Chiefs to score more points in four quarters than they had in their first three games.

Oakland – The Raiders started well. Unfortunately, most of that ended when they got up 12-0. From that point on they were outscored 28-6, leaving points on the field by turning a TD into a FG with a holding penalty, missing a chip shot 76-yard FG (we can only hope that was Al Davis’ bright idea) and walking away scoreless due to an interception after starting on a short field. The Chargers tried to hand them this game. The Raiders even outgained the Chargers with the overwhelming majority of their yards by something called the forward pass. Losing by 10 to the Chargers is not noteworthy, but blowing a 15-0 halftime lead by giving up 25 in the 4th at home pushes it to Bad. Worse, it probably pushes Mr. Senility to fire Kiffin, probably thinking he is going to lure Belichick away from the Pats in his own little world. And what’s with the white jerseys at home?

Green Bay – The Packers must have thought this was still Chris Berman’s “Bay of Pigs” era with Tampa. Losing to the Bucs in Tampa is not a shocker (I almost overlooked it when researching this). 8 first downs, 181 total yards, 28 yards rushing, 3 interceptions and a lost fumble led them to defeat. Not even interceptions of their own could negate that.

The Ugly
Arizona – How does a team gain 468 yards, 33 first downs, give up less than 90 yards on the ground and score 35 points in the second half and still lose? When you are Ugly, tossing up 3 interceptions (one returned for a TD), losing 4 fumbles, allowing 5 sacks and giving up 6 passing touchdowns, 34 points in one quarter and 22 in another will do it.

Cincinnati – What can you say? To paraphrase Rene Descartes, himself an NFL fan in the 1600s, “they exist, therefore they are ugly.” Ugly loss in an ugly game.

Honorable/Dishonorable Mentions
The Steelers were firmly in “The Bad” until they woke up enough on offense to get a win.

The Rams are always a contender for bad or ugly, but they actually hung in there against the Bills and the end result was expected.

The Browns were bad, but they won (granted against someone Ugly, but a win without devastating injuries is a win).

Tennessee was good, but they should have been against the Vikings.

The Vikings were bad, but not beyond expectations for a road game in Tennessee.

The Bears were good, but only really good on one side of the ball. Had that win been on the road it would have been worth mention.

The Panthers were good, but not overwhelming so and since they are “my team” I probably hold them to a little higher standard than the Saints, who were good.

Had the Eagles put the ball in from one yard out, they would have been good.