The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, Week 6

The Good
Atlanta – The Falcons earned a spot in the Good again this week by playing three good quarters and a handful of very good plays in the fourth. Two of those held the Bears out of the end zone from the Falcon 1 on 3rd and 4th down midway through the final stanza. Later, after potentially falling off the Good list by losing the game, a critical 26 yard pass with 1 second left allowed Elam to reclaim a spot here.

Cleveland – Whoa, stop the presses. The Browns actually showed up and beat a pretty good Giants team at home. Ringing up over 450 yards of offense and not turning the ball over against a normally stout defense pushed the Brownies into Good territory. The defense was not dominant, but contributed three interceptions, returning one 94 yards for a TD when the Giants were on the edge of scratching back into the game midway through the fourth quarter. A Good Monday night performance.

Indianapolis – The obituaries written about the Colts finally look premature. They folded, stapled and mutilated the Ravens to the tune of 31-0 in the first 36 minutes and coasted the rest of the way. The offense finally made some waves racking up over 330 yards against the Ravens’ defense. This was finally a Good performance by the Colts.

Jacksonville – In Denver, the Jags ran up the obligatory 400-plus yards of offense against the Broncos defense. 125 were beneath the feet of Maurice Jones-Drew, who also contributed a pair of TDs on 22 carries. The defense contained the Broncos to a paltry sub-325 yard effort and forced three turnovers. The clincher was a 12-play drive to run out the final 5:46. Overall, a Good performance on the road

Philadelphia – I’ll bite on this one. The Eagles were not good the entire game. But when there season may have been on the verge of swirling down the pipes in San Francisco, the defense put the clamps on and held the 49ers to -2 yards offense in the fourth quarter. That effort included a a pair of interceptions, one returned for a TD in the waning seconds, a fumble recovery, three sacks and a pair of other substantial negative plays. The offense contributed with over 380 yards. But the defense puts the Eagles on the map this week with an Good performance when the game was on the line.

San Diego – They pretty much did whatever they wanted against a group of guys wearing the Pat’s uniforms. Stopping the Pats on four tries from the Charger one and responding with five play, 98 yard drive pretty much sums up how Sand Diego landed here.

Tampa Bay – The Bucs defense manhandled the Panthers, the special teams opened the scoring and the offense efficiently rang up 315 yards against a solid defense. The result was a home pounding of a quality divisional opponent (one could argue all NFCS opponents are quality at this point), a share of the division lead and a spot on the Good list.

The Bad
Dallas – The Cowboys were not terrible. But they are starting to look like the circus some of us have expected. Traveling to the desert, the traveling show mystified the audience by outgaining the Cards by about 100 yards, holding them to 50 on the ground, capturing three turnovers, watching the referees march 12 penalties off in their favor and still losing. Twelve penalties of their own and putting the ball on the turf four times, even though only losing one went a long way to making this bad. Romo’s injury seals the deal.

Seattle – Midway through the second quarter the Seahawks found themselves up 10-3 at home. Over the course of the next 33 minutes they were outscored 24-0, rang up three first downs (one by penalty), threw a pair of interceptions and gave up over 200 yards of offense. They eventually sustained a drive so the scoreboard could pretend to appear respectable. Still, that is not enough to elevate them off the Bad.

Washington – It takes some effort to lose a home game against arguably the worst team in the NFL, despite racking up 368 yards of offense, 181 on the ground and scoring a TD on a 3 yard drive while holding the Rams to 200 yards of their own. Fumbling four times in six possessions, losing three is a good start. Including one where an offensive lineman thought catching a batted ball was a good idea. That fumble was returned for a TD in the first half’s dying seconds. Allowing 59 of those 200 yards on the games final possession also helps seal a performance worthy of a bad rating.

The Ugly
Baltimore – The Ravens didn’t show up until the Colts finished their first drive of the third quarter. By that time, the workday was done for the Colts. Don’t be misled by the Ravens mediocre offensive numbers since most of them occurred after the game was over. The Ravens defense was not a factor in this game. All in all, an Ugly performance.

Carolina – The Panther offense slept through most of this game. Don’t let the stat sheet fool you. Of the Panther’s 282 yards, 123 made the stat sheet in the 4th quarter after the Bucs went up 27-3. Carolina was outplayed in every aspect of the game and once again made no adjustments to what an opponent was doing. The fact that they lost in Tampa is not Bad. The fact that the never showed up is.

New England – Who were these masked men? Add the Patriots or their impersonators to the list of teams that pretty much watched their own game. With a chance to climb back into the game, the Pats offense gave up a yard in four attempts from the Charger one early in the third quarter. The defense then responded by allowing the Bolts to drive 98 yards in five plays to salt the game away. That is an Ugly way to treat a critical point in a game.

Oakland – What can you say? The Raiders are not a good team, but they were at least a competitive team. That short era may be over. The Raiders got a couple of breaks in the first quarter to grab an early lead. They were Ugly after that, to the tune of 34-0 in the final three quarters. If this was any indication, it could be a long final 11 weeks. On the bright side, they can spend the next six months conducting an exhaustive search to find some willing to be the coach in this organization.