See the #fireworks I created by blogging on #WordPressDotCom. My 2014 annual report..

See the #fireworks I created by blogging on #WordPressDotCom. My 2014 annual report..

Week 6

It seems like every week it’s the Denver Broncos making all of the headlines so let’s give someone else the lead lines this week.
To highlight the week, we’ve got the first NFL tie, we’ve got a shutout in professional football, which is equally difficult to find in this game, and we’ve got 1-2 game scores that a year or so ago, never would have happened (Cleveland beat Pitt and Dallas beat the Super Bowl champs).

Titans 16, Jaguars 14

Tennessee finally snaps their losing skid, at the expense of the team that still hasn’t won.
Even though the game was a sellout, 1000s of empty seats greeted 2 of the NFL’s worst teams. Titans gave their fans a reason to stick around to the end by making things more exciting that they should have been.
Jacksonville’s Clay Harbor ran a 20-yard dash with .37 seconds left in the game to cut the Titan lead to only 2 points. An onside kick attempt could have put the ball right back into Jacksonville’s possession however it didn’t work.

Baltimore 48, Tampa Bay 17

Baltimore scored 28 points in the first quarter and another 10 in the second quarter, all of which went unanswered as the Raven lit up Raymond James Stadium on Sunday.
Tampa got an impressive outing from their quarterback, and that doesn’t happen very often as Mike Glennon threw 314 yards including 2 touchdown passes and 1 interception.

Denver 31 NY Jets 17

And now here we go with Denver, the team with the highest-rated quarterback in the entire NFL. He had the
Jets coach so worried heading into Sunday that the coach actually told the media that he was hoping for a hurricane or something to deter the Peyton Manning pass attack.
What wound up happening was he got that pass attack: 3 TDs and 237 yards passing. Ronnie Hillman and Demaryius Thomas provided 225 yards running between them as Denver finally won a game at MetLife Stadium (remember what happened the last time they played there??!)
“Any time you win on the road in the NFL,” Manning said, “it’s a good thing.”
Manning is now just 2 TDs shy of Brett Favre’s career mark for passing TDs. Favre has 508, Manning is at 506.
Manning’s next opportunity will be this Sunday night at home, against San Francisco.

But he displayed his methodical best at times in his return to MetLife Stadium, where he and the Broncos (4-1) were blown out by the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl last February.
This wasn’t nearly the blowout that many expected coming into the day, and the Jets (1-5) had a chance to tie when they got the ball deep in their own territory with less than a minute left. But after a sack put the ball at the 1, Geno Smith was intercepted by Aqib Talib, who returned it 22 yards for a sealing touchdown that sent New York to its fifth straight loss.
Decker’s 2-yard touchdown catch, his first against his former team, cut the Jets’ deficit to seven at 24-17 with 7:56 left. Decker finished with six receptions for 54 yards, while Amaro had 10 catches for 68 yards for the Jets, who play at New England on Thursday night.

Detroit 17, Minnesota 3

One team hurt badly this season by injuries and suspensions, the Minnesota Vikings, have been getting dummied on the scoreboard. Sitting at 2-4 following a 14-point defeat at home to the Detroit Lions.
Rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, despite a huge upside with his style of play, could not get anything going all day long and had 3 interceptions to prove it. The Minny defense held Detroit in check for an entire 3 quarters, and they sacked Bridgewater 8 times.
Joique Bell put the game completely out of reach with a TD late in the4th quarter.
Detroit QB Matthew Stafford wasn’t at his best, missing his three-time All-Pro wide receiver and finishing 19 for 33 for 185 yards. Theo Riddick caught five passes for 75 yards and a touchdown, the latest running back to work his way into the game plan this season. Riddick later hurt his hamstring.

NE 37 Buffalo 22

A loss here for New England would have been almost as detrimental for the team as a loss last week at home vs the Bengals, but they won that game and they won this game so maybe everything is back to normal now?
Tom Brady had 361 passing yards and he threw 4 touchdowns, New England scored at least 10 points in each of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters.
Brady became the NFL’s 5th player with 60 300-yard performances.

Carolina 37, Cincinatti 37 OT OVERTIME

How somebody did not manage to win this game is beyond me. Cam Newton for Carolina vs Andy Dalton for the Bengals, two QBs that have really gotten it going for their teams. I guess the one thing that is not surprising is that they combined to produce over 70 points.
Kicker Mike Nugent had a chance to win it for the Bengals with 2 seconds left as he attempted a would-be winning FG. He missed and they had to settle for a tie.

“It’s a weird feeling,” Dalton said. “I’ve never been part of a tie. You didn’t lose, but you didn’t win. We had our chances, and when you don’t win, it’s tough.”
“That was the worst ball I’ve ever hit in my career,” Nugent said. “My plant foot was way too far forward. I think there was a little excitement. I was a little too quick.”
Nugent made a 42-yard field goal that put Cincinnati (3-1-1) up after the opening drive of overtime. Carolina (3-2-1) tied it on Graham Gano’s 36-yarder with 2:19 left.
Nugent had 2 FGs in the game, both were good, and both came from 40+ yards out.

Cleveland (3-2) 31, Pitt (3-3) 10

For the first time in like 10 years, it had to be one crazy night at the place nicknamed the Dawg Pound, the home of the NFL Cleveland Browns. For the first time, Cleveland beat Pittsburgh, and they looked good doing it.
In fact they held the Pittsburgh Steelers out of the end zone for three quarters.
Cleveland managed to beat Pitt for only the 3rd time in 23 games. Cleveland had not beat Pitt this badly since 1989, a 51-0 win.
Ben Roethlisberger suffered just his second loss in 20 games against Cleveland. The Steelers (3-3) never found a rhythm on offense and their defense, missing two starters, gave up too many big plays.
“We failed in all three phases,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “We got to play better. We got to swallow this one and we will.”

GB 27 Miami 24

Pack Quarterback Aaron Rodgers saved the day for the cheeseheads with only 4 seconds left in the game when he threw a 4-yard TD pass to put Green Bay past Miami in NFL action Sunday afternoon.
Green Bay twice gave up leads and trailed 24-17 before Rodgers directed consecutive drives of 68 and 60 yards for the victory. He overcame a fumble and a fourth-and-10 on the Packers’ final possession, and faked an intentional spike before throwing a completion that set up the touchdown.
The Pack remained tied with the Detroit Lions for top spot in the NFC North.
The 4th quarter saw 24 points racked up, 14 by the Dolphins, 10 by GB.

SD 31 Oakland 28

Among the surprises of Week 6, the upstart Chargers, one of only 2 NFL clubs to knock down the Super Bowl champion Seahawks, needed every single point they could score in order to beat Oakland? Oakland of all teams.
The Raiders were only 3 points away from sending this game into overtime, sitting winless in the standings, not much has gone well for the Raiders, but they looked really good against the 5-1 Chargers.
Rookie Raider QB Derek Carr threw 4 touchdown passes and at one point, held a 28-21 lead.
Carr’s first TD pass to Holmes (a 77-yarder) was the longest scoring throw for the Raiders since JaMarcus Russell and Zach Miller connected on an 86-yarder on Oct. 10, 2009.

Dallas 30 Seattle 23

And now the game that most of the nation has waited all day for (including us Denver fans), the Cowboys in Seattle.
I don’t know how they did it, but they did it.
Both teams scored points in each of the 4 quarters, except Seattle, who was held pointless in the 2nd quarter, and Dallas QB Tony Romo had only 251 yards in this blockbuster win but will still take it as the Cowboys now sit at 5-1 while the defending champs drop to 3-2.
Dallas RB DeMarco Murray ran for 100-yards for the 6th straight game.
Seattle did jump out to a 10-0 lead but the lead did not last long.

“I think our team now understands that we do a lot of things pretty well, and I think we have the ability to kind of impose yourself on other teams,” Romo said.
Rallying from the early deficit, the Cowboys relied on running back DeMarco Murray and a defense that confused Russell Wilson in a 30-23 victory Sunday.
Murray then broke free for 25 yards and a six-yard run to the Seattle 15. He capped his record day by cutting back against the defense and rolling through Richard Sherman at the goal line.

Arizona 30, Washington 20

Redskins QB Kirk Cousins threw more interceptions than touchdowns and it wound up costing his team. Arizona jumped out front early and maintained the attack all night long as they improve their league record overall to 4-1, while the RGIII-less ‘Skins fall to 1-5.
Arizona is also proving to be unbeatable on home turf.
QB Carson Palmer kept the ball in his own team’s hands all night, including a pair of TDs and WR Larry Fitzgerald caught 6 passes for 98 yards.

All of Cousins’ interceptions came at the worst possible time…the 4th quarter.
“The turnovers were costly,” Cousins said. “They just didn’t give us a chance to stay on the field.”
Palmer had not played since damaging a nerve in his throwing shoulder in the season-opening win over San Diego. He returned to Denver after Friday’s practice for a second treatment session, and was not announced as the starter Sunday until just before kickoff.

Eagles 27, NYG 0 SHUTOUT

Week 6 proves that Eli Manning is no Peyton as Philly earns their 1st league shutout in nearly 20 years.
From start to finish, the Eagles dominated the New York Giants on offense, defense and special teams.
Nick Foles threw two touchdown passes and LeSean McCoy had a season-high 149 yards rushing to help the Eagles beat the Giants 27-0 on Sunday night for their first shutout in 18 years.
“As a collective unit, as an entire team, we did a tremendous job in all three phases,” cornerback Cary Williams said.

A rough night for the Giants (3-3) became worse when wide receiver Victor Cruz tore the patellar tendon his right knee while leaping for a pass on fourth down from the Eagles 3 in the third quarter. Cruz, a 2012 Pro Bowl pick, was crying and holding his hands to his face as he was carted off the field with an injury that’s expected to end his season.

Week 5 NFL

BY: JEFF Schneberk
@Game7overtime

The game on everybody’s mind has come and gone and I don’t think anybody is shocked at the end result. I know I am not.
The New England Patriots won a game they pretty much had to win. Following their most embarrassing loss in years.
Here is the rest of what happened in a crazy Week 5 of the NFL
Panthers 31, Bears 24
Ten unanswered points in the 4th quarter by Carolina tied the game then gave them the win as Cam Newton came roaring back from an injury to help give his team its 3rd win of the season.
Jay Cutler was able to respond to everything that Newton threw at him (pun intended) but Cutler and company could not finish the job, leading by 3 points heading into the 4th quarter and allowing the Panthers to charge right back.
Browns 29, Titans 28
What in God’s name is going on in Cleveland? First they take Johnny Manziel out of the draft, now they are actually winning their games?!?!?! What the hell? Lol. Manziel isn’t even playing yet and here they are winning games.
In this case the Browns did something they may have not done in the past 12 years…rebound from a 25-point deficit. This also happens to be an NFL record for a visiting team. Crazy eh?
Manziel is still sitting on the sidelines while Brian Hoyer is throwing for 291 yards and 3 TDs. Hoyer’s counterpart on the Titans was nowhere near those numbers ( 194 yards and 2 TDs).
Hoyer led his team to 16 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to give Cleveland the win, and some credibility to the nickname ‘Believeland’.
This wasn’t just a win…this was an NFL record for largest comeback in league history by a road team.
Exciting times to be a fan of the Dawg Pound.
Every Browns games this season has been decided by 3 points or less. To come back from down 26 points is phenomenal.
Cleveland also stopped a seven-game road losing streak. Another reason for optimism flowing through Cleveland like Lake Erie.
NO HEART ATTACK TODAY!
“It’s just good to win,” Hoyer said. “I said when we broke it down, `Let’s just win one by two touchdowns one week and not give everybody a heart attack.’ It’s great to always win, but to win coming back and know that you battled your butt off is a great feeling.”
For the record, titans QB Jake Locker was injured in the 2nd quarter and X-rays were negative.
Eagles 34, Rams 28
Shots were fired all night long in Philly including 14 unanswered points in the 4th quarter by the rams, however it was insufficient as the Eagles roared to 4-1 on the season, while St. Louis dropped to 1-3.
After building a 27-point lead, Philly needed a defensive stand to win the game. QB Nick Foles threw 2 TD passes while the defense and the special teams each scored as the eagles held on for the win.
Austin Davis rallied STL from a 34-7 deficit by throwing 3 straight TD passes yet somehow they couldn’t complete the comeback.
The Rams had a chance for the win when they got the ball at their 7 with 1:47 left. Davis threw a 43-yard pass to Quick on first down, but Philadelphia’s defense finally made a stop. Davis was under pressure when he threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-13.

NY Giants 30, Atlanta 20
Somehow Eli Manning outplayed Matt Ryan and the Giants climbed to 3-2 on the season.
Ryan threw for over 100 yards more than Manning did but couldn’t win the game.
These haven’t been the greatest game s for Falcons faithful.
Saints 37, Buccaneers 31 OT
The days that the Saints lose to the Buccaneers is the day the Saints are removed from any talk of the Super Bowl, or even the playoffs.
But Tampa Bay matched New Orleans point for point almost all night long but in the end, fell short by 6 points.
In overtime.
This must be how good the Bucs must be getting.
New Orleans QB Drew Brees threw more interceptions than touchdowns. That might be a first.
It was not a win-win for the Saints however.
NFL’s top tight end Jimmy Graham got hurt. That is not good.
Before getting hurt on Sunday, he had 112 all-purpose yards and 2 TDs before he got hurt.
Tampa Bay quarterback Mike Glennon was 19 for 32 for 249 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted once in the first half and sacked by Junior Galette for a safety in the fourth quarter.
In addition to the injury to Jimmy Graham, New Orleans also lost C Jonathan Goodwin (knee) and LB Ramon Humber (ankle) in the same game.
Dallas 20, Houston 17 OT
Receiver Dez Bryant made a huge catch which set up the winning 49-yard field goal as Dallas won AGAIN, after blowing a 10-point lead late in the 4th quarter.
This time, the victim: the Houston Texans.
“Just got to come down with it, come down with it,” said Bryant, who had game highs with nine catches and 85 yards. “That’s something I always tell Tony. If the ball is in the air, I’m going to try my best to come down with it.”
Houston scored twice in the last 2:27 of the 4th quarter.
Dallas QB Tony Romo threw for 324 yards with 2 TDs and an interception.
Dallas has won its 4th straight game for the 1st time since 2011.
NFL rushing leader DeMarco Murray had 136 yards for the Cowboys. This is his 5th straight 100-yard game to start the season.
If you can do one thing tomorrow afternoon (Friday), tune into ESPN’s First Take and watch Steven A. Smith and Skip Bayless go at it on who might win this weekend when the Cowboys travel to CenturyLink Field and play one of the hardest teams in the league, in arguably the hardest stadium to win in from here to Kingdom Come (I don’t know where Kingdon Come is but I bet it’s far).

Bills 17, Lions 14
Buffalo is above .500 again thanks to this 3-point win at ford Field in Detroit as Kyle Orton got a win in his 1st game leading the team since EJ Manual got replaced at the QB position.
Colts 20 Ravens 13
How Andrew Luck and the Colts only won by one touchdown is beyond me. Some analysts believe that at the age of 25 he is a lock for the Hall of Fame. Baltimore is not as good as they used to be.
To show how boring this game must have been, Luck threw for the game’s only touchdown; Joe Flacco is a recent Super Bowl Champion, yet he could not complete a TD pass.
Steelers 17 Jaguars 9
Had the Steelers found a way to lose this game, it would be time for the entire team to switch professions. Pittsburgh’s famed D-line held the Jaguars to no touchdowns and instead, 3 field goals. Pittsburgh found a way to score a pair of TDs and add a field goal.
Broncos 41, Cardinals 20
Peyton Manning threw his 500th touchdown of his famed career and nearly hit 500 passing yards at the same time. He also threw 4 touchdowns and is sitting might pretty right now.
After getting his touchstone touchdown — a 7-yard dart to tight end Julius Thomas — out of the way early, Manning helped Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker make history, too.
Demaryius Thomas set a franchise record with 226 yards on eight catches, beating Shannon Sharpe’s mark of 214 yards set against Kansas City in 2002.
Welker’s seven receptions moved him past Rod Smith for the most catches in NFL history by an undrafted player. He has 854, five more than Smith caught for Denver between 1995-2006.
Denver handed Arizona their first loss of the season.
The Broncos’ offensive output was their best in franchise history. They had 567 yards against Atlanta in 2004.
Manning’s 500th TD throw came in his 244th career regular season game, 49 fewer games than it took Favre. It came against two of his mentors: Arians, who was his first QB coach in 1998, and Cardinals assistant head coach Tom Moore, who was his offensive coordinator during his 13 seasons in Indy.
49ers 22 Chiefs 17
There were 2 games on everyone’s mind on Sunday. This was one of them. QB Alex Smith takes his new team in to play against his old team.
Smith threw 2 TD passes and picked up 175 yards but it was not enough to beat San Fran. Smith and the Chiefs were held off of the scoreboard for the entire 4th quarter and fell by 5 points.
The 49ers converted a gutsy fake punt from deep in their territory and leaned on five field goals from Phil Dawson to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 22-17 on Sunday, quieting the drama around Harbaugh’s future for at least one more week.

Chargers 31 Jets 0
The blowout of the night occurred right here. Shutouts don’t happen very often in the National Football League but it happened right here in Week 5. The NY Jets have had their share of problems and they don’t appear to be getting much better. This team is a work in process with Geno Smith who is still very young, and very mistake-prone.
His replacement for the time being is Michael Vick, a very mobile quarterback who has plenty of experience. The way I see it, only he can be the one to salvage the season, somehow.
Patriots 43, Bengals 17
Was there ever any doubt? Tom Brady and the Patriots, the most accomplished team of the last 10 years, had to win this game.
Most people were worried that that they would not; as it turned out, they did to Cincinnati what Kansas City did to New England last week. Must have been a fun night in Foxborough.

KEY MATCHUPS NEXT/THIS WEEK
-Pittsburgh at Cleveland should be fun (1pm on CBS)
-Dallas and Seattle should get most of the ratings (4:25pm on Fox).
-And for all of us Broncos fans, the Denver Broncos vs Eric Decker (1pm on CBS).

@Game7overtime.

Week 4 is done now and the highlight of the night took place out at the Louisiana Superdome.
Where everyone is wondering what the hell is happening to the New Orleans Saints? And more importantly what the hell is happening to the Dallas cowboys?
The Cowboys are 3-1 on the season now and they actually look like a playoff team.
And the Vikings prove there may be some life without Adrian Peterson.
UPSET OF THE DAY: Pittsburgh vs Tampa Bay

Dallas (3-1) 38 New Orleans (1-3) 17
Tony Romo threw 3 touchdown passes and DeMarco Murray continued to tear it up on the ground with yet another 100-yard game; Dallas had a 31-3 lead at one point.
The Dallas defense kept the Saints out of the end zone for the entire first half. Not too many teams have been able to do that.
Drew Brees had 2 touchdown passes in the 4th quarter to Josh Hill and Jimmy Graham to cut the deficit to 31-17 but Dallas would only make things worse from there.

“I think we’re a different team than we were last year,” Romo said. “What you find is you forget it’s the Saints and Drew Brees and just go play.”
Dallas reached 3-1 for the first time under coach Jason Garrett after also starting 2-1 the three previous seasons. The Cowboys are tied with Philadelphia for the NFC East lead.
The Saints lost to the Cowboys for the first time since 1991.

The Saints turned the ball over 3 times, Dallas did not turn the ball over.

Vikings 41, Falcons 28
The Falcons were supposed to win this game. They did not even come close. The Falcons are better at almost every position.
It wasn’t all good news for the Vikings though, they lost QB Teddy Bridgewater and are now in a quarterback conundrum, as both of their main guys are on the Injury Reserve (Bridgewater and Matt Cassel).
Bridgewater played a pretty good game. The rookie passed for 317 yard and connected on a key 2-point convert.
“I was confident in the play calling. I was confident in the guys. And I felt that they were still confident in me,” said Bridgewater, who completed 19 of 30 passes with no turnovers and ran five times for 27 yards and a touchdown.
Then he sprained his ankle.
The Falcons gave up 558 yards to a team playing without its best player…and a rookie QB.
The Falcons lost 3 offensive linemen to injuries and wound up playing a tight end at right tackle. That is never a good sign when you have to do that.
The Vikings had 351 yards by the half.
The game was quite close until the 4th quarter when Minnesota scored 14 unanswered points.

49ers 26 Eagles 21
If SF found a way to lose this game (and in the 2nd quarter it didn’t look good), there may be hell to pay in the Bay Area. Brand new multimillion dollar stadium and the team still somewhat resembles a PeeWee team.
SF was that close to losing their 3rd game in a row.
Frank Gore had a 55-yard TD and ran for 119 yards in his 1st 100-yard game of the season, and it saved the day.
Passing-wise, both quarterbacks were less than stellar, each hovering around the 200-yard mark.
The 49ers now 2-2 avoided their first 3-game losing skid under coach Jim Harbaugh.

Chargers 33, Jaguars 14
Chargers have successfully kept the Jaguars as the only team without a win this season.
Philip Rivers had 377 yards and 3 touchdowns as the passing game compensated for the running game, which is nonexistent these days in San Diego.
“We weren’t as balanced but we were rolling pretty good in the passing game,” Rivers said. “We spread the ball around today and that was pleasing. It was a collective effort.”
Rookie out of UCF Blake Bortles found himself starting his 1st NFL game, threw a touchdown pass and twice had Jacksonville in the lead in the first half.
Jacksonville has been outscored 152-58 this season.
Packers 38, Bears 17

The Pack are Back.

After suffering some strange losses already this season, the Packers got their record back on even terms, beat the Bears by 21 points.
Aaron Rodgers had 302 yards of passing and 4 touchdown strikes as the Pack shook off their worst offensive performance in years last week when they scored only 7 points in Detroit.
“I just wanted to remind everybody that it’s a long season, and at some point, we’re going to get this thing figured out,” Rodgers said in Detroit that night.
He had all the answers in this one, which allowed Green Bay to join the Bears (732) as the only teams with at least 700 regular-season wins.
Rodgers posted a 151.2 rating and completed 22 of 28 passes, he would have had his 5th TD pass but it was called back due to a penalty.
Jay Cutler and the Bears were matching Rodgers TD for TD until Cutler started throwing picks.

Texans 23, Bills 17
Should the season begin to take a terrible turn and the Bills not make the playoffs by one win, you could look back to this game and place all the blame right here.
This was a game that Buffalo should have come out on top in.
The reason it happened was a mistake by quarterback EJ Manual which resulted in a touchdown the other way by JJ Watt.
Texans QB Ryan Fitzpatrick threw 2 interceptions.
Manual threw 2 picks as well but also had the 2 TD passes, one was a 90-yard pass so you know the kid can throw.
Buffalo has beaten Chicago and Miami so far this season and lost to SD and Houston. They will attempt to climb back over .500 next weekend vs the Lions.

Indianapolis 41, Tennessee 17
Indy scored so often last night, it looks like Peyton Manning was still on their team. They scored 14 in the 1st and 3rd quarters and Reggie Wayne picked up 119 yards and a TD.
Andrew Luck had 393 yards and four touchdowns which is a season high
After starting this season with back-to-back losses, Indy (2-2) has now won twice by more than 20 points and has extended its league-high streak of consecutive wins over division opponents to nine.

In both wins, Indy allowed 17 points.

Ravens 38, Carolina 10
Well Cam Newton was brought back to earth yesterday, used to having his way with most defenses, but not this time.
Newton only completed 14 of 25 passes and collected 197 yards and got sacked twice. Backup Derek Anderson also got some playing time, and went 6-9 for 71 yards.
Joe Flacco on the other hand was perfect, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Steve Smith had 139 yards and 7 catches, scoring twice.

Lions 24, NY Jets 17
One of the biggest moves of the off-season was the moving from Denver to NY for WR Eric Decker. I don’t claim to be a football expert by any means, but I don’t think that move has quite paid off for NY, at least not yet.
Decker did catch one touchdown pass, but this is a WR who was the go-to guy on the Denver Broncos last year.
In this game, that wasn’t even the least of their worries in NY, after getting pulled, QB Geno Smith lost his cool with a couple of fans and now his name is all over the place for all of the wrong reasons.
Detroit scored 14 unanswered points in the 2nd quarter and that put them up 17-3 at the half.
As anyone who follows NFL now knows, Smith didn’t deny anything afterwards: “Before we start this off, first of all I want to apologize if any kids saw me saying any negative remarks walking off the field,” Smith said to open his postgame news conference. “I kind of let my temper get the best of me in that situation, and it’s a part of my learning process.”

Tampa Bay 27 Pittsburgh 24
If there was one game this past Sunday afternoon that I really wish I had been home to witness, it would have been this one.
Because I still have a tough time believing that this actually happened.
Ten unanswered points in the 4th quarter resulted in a Steeler fan’s worst nightmare…a loss to the Bucs.
And they lost the game at home, in Pittsburgh, in front of their own faithful.
That’s bad. That’s worse than a loss to Cleveland anywhere last season.
QB Mike Glennon had a great night out in terms of passing yards and touchdowns, throwing for 302 yards and scoring a pair of TDs.
Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger had an even better night with 314 passing yards and 3 touchdowns but the defense didn’t show up.
Tampa scored the winning touchdown with .5 seconds left on the clock.

Dolphins 38 Raiders 14
It seems like playing the Raiders these days pretty much guarantees a win. The Miami Dolphins proved that Sunday with a 20+ point win in a neutral site game played in London.
Miami scored more points in the 2nd quarter (21) that Oakland did in the entire game.
The Raiders have become one of 2 remaining NFL teams without a win.

Miami QB RyanTannehill took advantage of a depleted Oakland defense, throwing plenty of short passes for big gains. The third-year quarterback completed 23 of 31 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns.

The Dolphins are now 1-1 at Wembley Stadium, the home of England’s national soccer team.

MONDAY NIGHTER
Kansas City (2-2) 41, New England (2-2) 14
There have never been as many unanswered questions around the New England Patriots locker room as there are now. Nobody seems to have any clue what the hell is going on. There are plenty of questions, and for once, they do not surround often-injured TE Rob Gronkowski. New England has taken as much of a hit lately as Denver took in the first half of the Super Bowl last year.
QB Tom Brady had only 2 touchdown passes but they both game when the game out of reach.
He also threw 2 interceptions – very un-Bradylike. KC scored at least a touchdown in each of the 4 quarters, and now the Pats are at 2-2.

KC RB Jamaal Charles did most of the damage himself, scoring 3 running touchdowns.

KC QB Alex Smith threw 20 completions out of 26 attempts, which was good and had 248 yards passing to go along with 3 touchdowns.

The 41-14 score was Bill Bellichick’s worst loss as coach of the Patriots.
If there could possibly be a good point coming out of a game like this, it’s giving a backup QB a chance to play. Bellichick played Jimmy Garoppolo in the 4th quarter to give him some playing time. God knows Brady can’t play this game forever, so it gives a 20-something a chance to see what it’s like to play in a game.
Garopollo was taken 62nd overall in April’s entry draft out of the University of Eastern Illinois.
@Game7overtime

Well Week 3 of the NFL is now officially finished and I like to start my roundups with a line of 2 about the best games of that weekend so here it goes.
Somehow San Francisco lost to Arizona, Aaron Rodgers could only score one touchdown vs Detroit of all teams, and the Super Bowl that we had all hoped for back in January actually occurred this past Sunday afternoon.

Bears 27, Jets 19
It is a good thing that Jay Cutler helped put up 14 points in the first quarter and it’s a good thing that Geno Smith was error-prone in the 4th quarter because it led to the bears winning the game.
Smith who has been declared Jets’ starter even with Michael Vick now on the team, threw for 2 interceptions and had 4 shots at the end zone in the final minute and missed on all of them
Bears improve to 2-1 on the season, Jets drop to 1-2.

Pittsburgh 39, Panthers 19
The Sunday nighter was another potential thriller, and it turned into one too. Cam Newton somehow topped Ben Roethlisberger as the game’s top passer.Carolina held Roethlisberger to only nine points in the first half (3 FGs).
Pittsburgh’s Le’Veon Bell and Legarrette Blount both ran for more than 100 yards each. That hasn’t happened in the same game since 1986.
The Steelers had gone eight quarters without a touchdown before Big Ben’s two scoring drives in the 3rd quarter. They were set up by Newton’s fumble and Bell’s 81-yard run.

Seahawks 26, Broncos 20 OT
I never thought that I would be writing a Bronco blurb after a loss (first time for this since the Super Bowl) but here it goes anyway.
The one game that has been dubbed ‘Super Bowl rematch’ wasn’t really a re-match because at least one of the teams has gone through a lot of changes since that cold night back in February, plus the logic that games played in Week 3 aren’t that important because a lot of teams in the league are still feeling themselves out.
However, this game is the matchup of probably the 2 best teams in the NFL. And it’s interesting because one of the teams really did have home field advantage.
Unlike the Super Bowl game, both team’s top players played like it for at least parts of the game. Denver’s defense took a pounding in the first half but woke up in the second half. Seattle’s offense was rolling for the first 3 quarters. Denver’s offense stopping sleeping right in a nick of time.
And, for the first time in many years, the Denver Broncos played into overtime.
Battling back from huge deficits is nothing new to Peyton Manning. When he led Indianapolis to the Super Bowl in 2007, he played against the Patriots in order to get there. Manning fell behind by 21-3 and came back in the 2nd half to light everybody up and won the game by a field goal.
It looked like that might be the story of the game Sunday in Seattle too.
On this night, he went 80 yards against by far the league’s best defense and he did it mistake-free. Of course we all expect him to do stuff like that. Then he hit WR Demaryius Thomas on a two-point convert. It is very easy to mess those up. But he didn’t.
Denver was able to do what nobody else in the league has, and that is expose the weaknesses in the Seattle secondary. We only wish that they could have done it back in New Jersey in January, but it’s still a bit of a moral victory for Seattle. The good news (asides from not getting blown away again) is that Denver proved to everybody that they can beat Seattle’s defense. They even beat CB Richard Sherman on at least 2 plays, the last of which tied the game and sent the shell-shocked crowd into overtime.
That entire drive was captioned by Peyton Manning without the aid of any time outs. Impressive.
Manning finished the game going 31-49 with 303 yards and 2 touchdowns, and had one extremely costly interception late in the game as his (brutal) pass to Wes Welker was picked off by Kam Chancellor.
Both quarterbacks in the game were 2-1 touchdown to interception ratio.
Chiefs 34, Dolphins 15
QB Alex Smith shook off 5 sacks in this game and threw 3 touchdown passes and succeeded on a 2-pt conversion pass as the Kansas City Chiefs improved to 2-1 on the season; Miami dropped to 1-2.
“Momentum’s a funny thing,” Smith said. “It’s hard to put your finger on it, but certainly this helps. This is what you’re looking for — a win on the road. A tough win, I thought. This is how you get started, for sure.”
Smith led touchdown drives of 62 yards, 76 and 66 in a span of only 4 possessions and the defense took care of the same offense that beat up New England in Week 1.
KC’s defense also sacked QB Ryan Tannehill 4 times. Quarterbacks in this sack hit the turf a total of 9 times.
“I forgot how good winning feels,” Chiefs linebacker James-Michael Johnson said on Twitter.

KC also played without 7 starters including Jamal Charles.

Arizona 23, SF 14

Every week of action in the NFL has its upsets and this is one of them. To show just how bad this was, QB Colin Kaepernick threw only 1 touchdown against one of the worst defenses out there.

Arizona won against SF for only the 2nd time in their 11 meetings.
SF put together 2 80-yard touchdown drives in the first quarter then they went and showered and left the building, blowing a halftime lead for the 2nd week in a row.
Former Notre Dame receiver Michael Floyd caught five passes for 114 yards in the Arizona win.

San Diego 22, Buffalo 10

In this AFC matchup, both teams traded shots all the way through but in the end the visiting team came out on top as no one player stood out on either side.

Technically it was a mismatch of quarterbacks as the younger EJ Manual faced the experience veteran in Phillip Rivers. Manual finished with nearly 250 yards passing but missed 16 of 39 pass attempts.
Rivers was bang-on on all but 7 of his pass attempts.
Buffalo missed an opportunity to go 3-0 for the first time since 1993.
Despite a strong performance last week, rookie WR Sammy Watkins was limited to only 2 catches for 19 yards, he was targeted 8 times.

New England 19 Raiders 9
Needless to say this was not one of Tom Brady’s best performances. The New England quarterback should have shredded the Raider defense to nothing, but instead his team almost lost.
As if it wasn’t bad enough that this game was played in New England in front of all their fans, the visiting Raiders nearly found a way to tie the game as Darren McFadden thought he had the game-tying touchdown, only to have the play called back due to a penalty.
The game was also the home opener for the Pats, who managed to carry on their 12-year tradition of winning their home opener, the team’s play however, left much to be desired.

Dallas 34, STL 31
Had Tony Romo found a way to lose this game, he may as well find a new place to live. He and the Cowboys found themselves down 21 points before they finally took their heads out of their asses.
The St. Louis Rams blew more coverages than you would believe, including leaving Dez Bryant wide open for a touchdown pass that tied the game.
“No one ever comes that wide open,” quarterback Tony said of the 68-yard touchdown pass that was among the big plays that helped the Cowboys erase a 21-0 deficit and stun the St. Louis Rams 34-31 on Sunday. “You want to make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”
This 21-point deficit that Dallas overcame also happens to be the 21st time that Tony Romo has put together a comeback in either the 4th quarter or in overtime.
Sunday’s comeback started back in the 2nd quarter when DeMarco Murray ran one yard for a TD.
For the Rams, It tied the second-largest lead blown by the Rams (1-2), who slowed Murray but got burned everywhere else. Among other breakdowns was a flubbed snap by center Scott Wells, who didn’t realize Austin Davis was in the shotgun, resulting in a lost fumble, and a dropped touchdown pass by Jared Cook that could have put the Rams up 28-21. They settled for a field goal.
Dallas is now 2-1 for the 4th straight season. They have a pretty good chance of going 2-1 on the weekend when they host the struggling Saints on Sunday night at 8:30pm EST.

Eagles 37, R’skins 34
The PhiladelphiaEagles are on a roll. For 3 straight games, they are winning games.
Scoring at least 2 field goals in every quarter on Sunday against Washington was enough for a win, coincidentally by 3 points.
The 2 quarterbacks (Nick Foles and Kirk Cousins) combined to score 6 touchdowns.
The nasty game was marred by a fourth-quarter brawl near the Washington sideline after Eagles quarterback Nick Foles was blindsided by defensive lineman Chris Baker during an apparent interception return. Baker and Eagles left tackle Jason Peters were ejected — and then the INT was overturned by video replay. That led to Maclin’s 27-yard touchdown to break a 27-27 tie.

NY Giants 30, Texans 17
It seems like forever since the NY Giants won a football game but they did on Sunday, and it came against a team that is above .500.
Eli Manning did not have his strongest game, and was shown up by Houston’s Ryan Fitzpatrick.
The Giants were apparently desperate to finally get a win so coach Tom Coughlin did something to lighten the mood.
Manning did throw 2 TD passes and now avoids another possible 0-6 start, which usually means missing the playoffs too.
Fitzpatrick threw for nearly 300 yards but also threw 3 picks.

Saints 20, Vikings 9
It’s about time New Orleans finally beat someone, for a team that has expectations higher than the New York Yankees, it’s about damn time! And the first victim is the Minnesota Vikings, who’ve been getting creamed this season too.

Bengals 33 Titans 7
Count Tennessee among the teams expected to fall quickly now that the fall is upon us. Tennessee may have been shut out of this one completely had it not been for a defensive lapse that led to the Titans’ only score.
The Bengals are off to their best start in 8 years now, and probably still have last season’s playoff performance in the back of their minds.
Meanwhile the Titans remain an example to the NFL of what not to do: The Titans committed a safety for holding in the end zone on a punt, missed those two field goal attempts, snapped the ball before Jake Locker was ready in shotgun formation, and whiffed on the game’s defining play.
Next game is a trip to Foxborough for Cincy on Oct. 5. This week will be their bye week. The Pats will be a test.

BY: JEFF Schneberk

Bears 28, San Francisco 20
We’ll start off with the last game on the schedule where arguably one of the big upsets of the day took place. The 49ers with their big-money quarterback and equally expensive new Levi’s Stadium took on the Chicago Bears. The bears have never been that great a team but they played well enough to win. SF quarterback Colin Kaepernick was not at his best. There is no reason why the niners should not be 2-0.

Houston 30, Oakland 14
Two teams that last season had abysmal records. You almost don’t know what to expect when they play against each other. I sure wouldn’t have guessed 44 points. Both teams go through QBs like McDonald’s goes through napkins. Between the 2 QBs, the top passing performer (David Carr) had more interceptions than touchdowns. The Texans lost their last 14 games last season, getting humiliated in most; have now started the new season at 2-0. Oakland had two fumbles on the exact same play, one right after the other; it was that kind of day for the Raiders. Houston led 27-0 heading into the final quarter.

Packers 31, Jets 24
Had the score been reversed, it may have been the league’s ultimate upset however Green Bay picked things up in the third quarter with 15 points to escape with the slim win, in what should have been a blowout win. New York would have tied the game after scoring a late touchdown to tie it at 31-31 however their offensive co-ordinator called for a timeout right before the snap and that negated the score. Not a great way to start off the week New York. Three team members insisted they didn’t know who called the time out. Both teams are now at 1-1.

Denver 24, Chiefs 17
Chiefs QB Alex Smith actually outthrew world-class QB counterpart Peyton Manning by 13 yards in this game but would not out score him. Manning had three touchdown passes in the game and the defense takes the rest of the credit for stopping KC on the goal line with .35 seconds left. Denver jumps to 2-0 on the season while KC falls to 0-2. This time last year, KC was at 2-0. Manning actually spent most of the game on the sidelines, Denver only had possession for 10 minutes in the second half.
The number one biggest game of the season will be next week when Denver goes to Seattle.

St. Louis 19, Tampa Bay 17
Kicker Greg Zuelien kicked his fourth field goal of the game which pushed the Rams to a two-point victory Sunday afternoon. QB Austin Davis recorded his first win as a starting QB.

Chargers 28 Seattle 21
If the 49ers losing to Chicago qualifies as an upset, which is does, than Seattle who blew everybody away last year, losing to the Chargers, that is definitely an upset. Seattle’s famed defense is not what it was last Sunday and sure as hell wasn’t what it was all of last year, and San Diego found ways to win. That included WR Antonio Gates scoring 2 majors and that kept the Seattle offense off the field for quite some time. Philip Rivers has thrown 65 touchdown passes to Antonio Gates, the most in the NFL between a QB and a tight end.
“I hadn’t seen him from the early days, but I can tell you he is a good tight end,” Kam Chancellor added. “First thing is he had a good quarterback. A quarterback that looks for him that knows him. They have that bond, that quarterback-tight end bond. And he is very crafty. He is a crafty tight end.” Chancellor is one of the members of Seattle’s Legion of Boom line.
San Diego also dominated the game in terms of time of possession….over 42 minutes with the football compared to less than 20 for the world champion Seahawks.

Bills 29, Dolphins 10
This is one of those games I would stay the hell away from ProLine for because there is never any way to determine who may come out on top. Two of the most unpredictable football teams I have ever seen collide, and you can only hope it will be somewhat entertaining. Both teams can be brutal at times to watch. Miami was held off the scoreboard for 3 of the 4 quarters while Buffalo put up points in each quarter. Sammy Watkins, Buffalo’s top draft pick in April, had a good outing, 8 receptions, 117 yards and a touchdown. The loss was actually a double-blow for the fish, who lost Knowshon Moreno, a big offseason addition from Denver, who hurt his elbow 11 minutes into the game. Head coach Joe Philbin had no update on Moreno at the end of the game. That can’t be good.

Redskins 41, Jags 10
The one and only time when a win does not feel like a win. Despite taking control of the game and winning it soundly, the Washington Redskins lost their quarterback (again) and they also saw WR DeSean Jackson injure his AC joint in his left shoulder in the first quarter.
Other than the 2 significant injuries, Washington dominated the entire game, scoring 21 points in the first 2 quarters and 20 in the final 2 quarters. Washington’s defense also had some fun, sacking Chad Henne 10 times, four of them were by Ryan Kerrigan.
Robert Griffin III has now suffered a major injury in four different seasons going back to his college days at Baylor.

Dallas 26, Tennessee 10
It is never too late to record your first win of the season and the way things normally go for the Dallas Cowboys, it could come at any time. For the good of their fan base it came yesterday in Week 2 action. Dallas avoided an 0-2 start thanks to a solid performance from DeMarco Murray as well as their defense.
“DeMarco ran really well,” Dallas coach Jason Garrett said. “He ran hard and he ran downhill. When you can do that, drive the football again, again and again and control the football and control the game it gives you a great chance to win.”
“Starting 0-2 is a very, very big hole you don’t want to be in,” Tony Romo said.
The Dallas defense had two sacks and two interceptions that led to 10 points.
Romo easily shook off his three interceptions in the season-opening loss to San Francisco. With Murray running so well, Romo was 19 of 29 for 176 yards and a TD.

Arizona 25, NY Giants 14
Arizona improves their record to 2-0 while the Giants drop to 0-2. Arizona managed to win the game without the services of their top QB Carson Palmer. The game was a one-score affair until the Cardinals kicked it up a notch and scored 15 unanswered points in the 4th quarter.
NY QB Eli Manning had 2 touchdown passes and 2 interceptions.

Patriots 30, Vikings 7
Adrian Peterson was not dressed for this game. That is reflected in the score of the game. Nobody on Minnesota’s side will admit that, but it is true, when your top player is not playing, you probably will lose. QB Matt Cassel threw 4 INTs, that did not help their case either. He had 202 yards but most of them probably went the wrong way.

Cleveland 26, New Orleans 24
Now the day that the Browns beat New Orleans is the day that pigs fly, the gas price drops for good, and I become a millionaire for my writing. None of those will ever happen but one of them actually did!!
Cleveland the heavy underdog beat New Orleans at home thanks to a last-second field goal from kicker Billy Cundiff. New Orleans drops to 0-2. Cleveland sits at 1-1.
For the first time in 10 years, Cleveland is 1-0 at home. Hoyer went 8 of 11 for 78 yards on the last drive and finished 24 of 40 for 204 yards and a TD. He came out for a few plays as Manziel, the hyped rookie, handed the ball off twice and had one incompletion.

Cincinnati 24, Atlanta 10
I would still take Atlanta over Cincy any day however yesterday was not the day to do that. Cincy exploded for 14 points in the third quarter to get the better of the more experience Atlanta Falcons.
Cincinnati’s biggest challenge was to shut down Matt Ryan, coming off the best game of his career. Ryan threw for a club-record 448 yards and three touchdowns in an opening 37-34 overtime win over the Saints.
The Bengals’ blitzing defense got to him. Ryan was 24 of 44 for 231 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions, one of which set up Hill’s 1-yard touchdown run for a 24-3 lead in the third quarter.

Carolina 24, Detroit 7
Cam Newton showed he has no intention of changing the way he plays the game.
The fourth-year quarterback shook off some early rust and returned to his fearless style of play, helping Carolina defeat the Lions 24-7 on Sunday, capping a distraction-filled week for the Panthers.
In his first start since fracturing his ribs in a preseason game, Newton threw for 281 yards and a touchdown and ran for 19 yards on four carries, He helped the Panthers improve to 2-0 for the first time since 2008 and grab sole possession of first place in the NFC South.
“I felt like I was getting antsy early on and that comes from a lack of playing time,” Newton said. “… I was getting my feet back under me and as the game went on I started feeling more comfortable and it showed.”

BY: JEFF Schneberk
Well it seems like the Super Bowl 48 game in New York was just last week but it wasn’t, and the new season is now well underway with two final games being played right now.
The first official Sunday afternoon and night of NFL took place yesterday and what a crazy day it was. The Broncos won a bit of a thriller, the Steelers won, the Browns nearly won, the Dolphins won and the Patriots lost. The Pats lost an opener for the first time in ages, I never would have believed that. And the Buffalo Bills are 1-0.
Let’s see, where to start…think I’ll start in Denver where the day ended with Manning and company happy.
First overall pick Jadeveon Clowney got hurt and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.

Denver 31, Indy 24
Peyton Manning joins Brett Favre as the only QBs that I know of to defeat every single team in the National football League. Now we gotta hope that one day the Pats deal Brady for some young talent then maybe he can join the club too! Lol, won’t happen but fun to think of anyways.
Manning beat his former club on his second try, so that had to feel good. Andrew Luck is known for making comebacks late in games and he almost did it last night. However, the revved up defense the Broncos have on display proved to be equal to the task.
Denver did jump out to a 24-0 lead though, which is kind of sad considering that they had me thinking overtime when the Colts started to climb back into it. Denver GM John Elway spent over $100M to re-tool his defense and last night, they made him look good for it.
Manning however blamed himself, and his offense for not being able to shut down the Colts’ attack. “We’ve got to find a way to play all four quarters as an offense. Thank goodness the defense picked us up when the offense wasn’t doing their job quite as well.”
Had Indy capitalized on all of their red-zone opportunities last night, they would have destroyed Denver in front of their own crowd.
“It wasn’t the best win, but guess what, it was a great opener,” said DeMarcus Ware, who had 1 1/2 sacks in his Denver debut after franchise-high 117 in nine seasons in Dallas.
Luck brought the Colts within a touchdown when he found Hakeem Nicks for a 9-yard scoring strike with 3:26 remaining. And they got the ball back 28 seconds later after Denver went three-and-out.
Indy’s last drive for the tying TD stalled at midfield when rookie Bradley Roby broke up a fourth-and-6 pass to Reggie Wayne.
Julius Thomas made most of the noise for the hometown crowd, scoring three TDs. One was for 3-yards, another saw him scamper 35-yards and the third was a 5-yarder.
“I feel like it’s my responsibility to make big plays when my team needs it,” Thomas said. “Something I pride myself on is being ready for man coverage. It’s like backyard football with your little brother or cousins. I don’t believe you should be covered 1-on-1.”

Carolina 20 Tampa Bay 14
For the first time in a lot of years, Derek Anderson threw a touchdown pass! The former horrible Cleveland Brown QB who was stuck in a 3-way fight for starting quarterback with Charlie Frye and Brady Quinn, finally appears to be getting a chance. He had a good day yesterday for his new team, the Panthers, who obviously won a game without their big gun, Cam Newton.
Anderson also threw for 230 yards. Anderson is in his 10th year of pro and has appeared in just four games and threw the same number of passes over the previous 2 seasons playing behind Newton.
He finished the game 24-34 and did not get sacked.
“I’ve been through a lot of different things. I haven’t been out there in four years. Just to play a solid football game and get a win was big for me,” Anderson said.
The Buccaneers lost their debut with former Bears head coach Lovie Smith.

San Francisco 28 Dallas 17
Colin Kaepernick got the better of Tony Romo, scoring 21 points in the first quarter to start the season 1-0 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.
Room pretty much gave this one away too, tossing three picks even though his defense shut down the Niners through the entire second half.
Colin K led SF to 80 yards in only three plays on their opening drive, shaking off a pretty rusty pre-season for SF.
SF scored 3 TDs in the first quarter alone while Dallas could only counter with a FG.

Atlanta 37, New Orleans 34 OT
In one of the many surprises on the day, the Falcons beat the Saints in overtime, thanks in part to nearly 450 yards throwing from QB Matt Ryan.
“He’s played a lot of games, made a lot of plays for us,” coach Mike Smith said. “But I was really impressed with his ability to extend some plays by moving around in the pocket. And he was very, very accurate. When you have (568 yards) of total offense and 448 through the air, your quarterback is playing well.”
Atlanta beat New Orleans for only the 4th time in 17 meetings.
Atlanta won on a 52-yard FG by Matt Bryant.

Minnesota 34, St. Louis 6
Minnesota scored points in each quarter and held St. Louis to only two FGs as the Vikes open the season 1-0. And they did it for the most part without the help of RB Adrian Peterson. Corradelle Patterson ran for 102 yards on only 3 carries, including a 67-yard scoring run.

Pittsburgh 30, Cleveland 27 ***
One of the biggest surprises on the day came at Heinz Field. Cleveland was in good position to ‘steel’ a win from Pittsburgh in the season opener for the first time possibly forever, but unfortunately for them, Pitt has one of the best quarterbacks in the game and he showed why.
Ben Roethlisberger put up 27 points in the first half before Cleveland responded with 24 in the second half after scoring a FG early in the game.
I don’t recall a Cle/Pitt season opener being this close before.
Still, in the end it was Roethlisberger doing what he always seems to do when he faces the Browns. Roethlisberger improved to 18-1 against Cleveland after one last audible set up Wheaton for a 20-yard gain.
Cleveland hasn’t beat Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh in 11 years.
Cleveland’s second-half rally came without receiver Josh Gordon (suspension), running back Ben Tate, who left in the second quarter with a knee injury, and tight end Jordan Cameron (shoulder).

Philly 34, Jacksonville 17
Jax opens up a 17-0 lead on Philly but that was not enough as the Eagles scored 34 unanswered points to win the game in the second half.
Nick Foles played quite the game, leading his team to 14 points in the 3rd and 20 in the 4th quarters. Foles also overcame three turnovers in the first half. He threw a 68-yard TD pass to Jeremy Maclin which gave them the lead.

Bills 23 Bears 20 OT
I don’t follow the Bills too closely but starting off the season with a win, to me, is a shock.

Bengals 23 Ravens 16
I do know that this is the second year in a row at least, that Baltimore loses their season opener, last year it was to the high-powered Broncos. Joe Flacco outthrew Andy Dalton, but not by much.

Texans 17 Redskins 6
All Houston needed was a 2-TD outbreak in the second quarter and that was enough to knock off Washington. RGIII was good with his pass attempts going 29-37 but could not score.

Titans 26 Chiefs 10
The Chiefs are not the team they were last year. Tennessee does not appear to have much in their favour this year but still had enough to get out to a 1-0 start.

Dolphins 33 Pats 20
One of the top surprises of the day, this has to rank as one of Tom Brady’s biggest embarrassments. He only threw 29 completions on 56 attempts.

Panthers 20 Buccaneers 14
Former Cleveland Browns reject QB Derek Anderson has been given new life in the NFL (last year sometime) and even though it happens to be under the same spotlight that Cam Newton gets, Anderson finally had his day in the sun when he got the start vs the Buccaneers as Newton has been nursing sore/broken ribs. For the first time in nearly 10 years, Anderson didn’t make any mistakes.

49ers 28 Cowboys 17
Finally this would be been the biggest disappointment of Week 1 had the score been reversed. SF had an 18-point lead in the first quarter before Dallas started to make their comeback, they cut the lead to 11 but no further.

Broncos host Colts tonight at Mile High

JEFF Schneberk
@Game7overtime

Today is the start of the day where we can hopefully put the happenings of February 2 somewhere where we will never have to see it, read about it, or hear anything about it for good because now we finally have something to hopefully talk about that does not involve the Seahawks, or the Super Bowl.

Today is back-to-work day, which is fitting because only six days ago, it was back-to-school day for kids across the continent.

Today, actually, this evening, it is the first look at our Denver Broncos since that winter night, and we get to see how this revved up defense is going to fare in their first test of the season.

Now like most good reporters do, they give you all the stats and stuff from that memorable season when they begin writing previews like this, however I don’t want to do all that because quite frankly, nobody cares, and everybody already knows anyway.

OFFENSE
For a team with a guy like Peyton Manning running the show, obviously not a lot needs to be done for the offense. The only real notable absence on tonight’s offense will be TE Wes Welker, who as far as I know, is going to be serving the first game of a four-game suspension for some kind of drug use. The drug type is something that starts with an ‘A’. The growing joke out of Denver is that Welker mistook whatever he took for some Advil. The guy is 33 years old, he is susceptible to headaches, I guess lol.

He will be back, as good as he was before, too.

All of the other pieces from the puzzle on offense remain intact. In fact, since most of these players will be playing tonight, the expectations for them have shot up.

There will be a fun competition this year to see who racks up the most touchdowns, between the two Thomases, Demayrius and Julius. And will Emmanuell Sanders will have a good chance to take Welker’s job away by the time he returns from suspension?

Will Ronnie Hillman be able to take advantage of more carries this season now that Knowshon Moreno is out? The last two seasons have not been kind to Hillman but now he has an opportunity to really show his stuff.

DEFENSE
The defensive line and the secondary units, for the first time in ages, will be getting more of the spotlight than an offense led by Peyton Manning.

Manning could light it up for another seven TD passes like he did in last season’s opener vs the Ravens and he still wouldn’t get the press attention should the defense completely shut down Andrew Luck and the Colts tonight in Denver.

Imagine that!

It is going to be real interesting to see what DeMarcus Ware DE, Aqib Talib CB, TJ Ward S can do for the defense tonight and this season. I hope I am not forgetting anyone.

There is actually this new guy named Bradley Roby that they selected in April’s entry draft, in the first round. Roby had some interesting experiences in college from what I hear, but with Champ Bailey gone, and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie joining him, the opportunity for Roby (a former OSU Buckeye), could present itself, even as a starter, early too.

THE SCHEDULE
Denver no doubt will have at least a couple of tests in the first month. First it’s home to Indy tonight at 8:30pm EST. Then next week, it’s the Chiefs also at home, then it’s off to the west coast where they will play the Seahawks in Seattle. How many of you are relieved that the guys that work out the schedules for NFL teams did not put the Broncos in Seattle for the S’Hawks opener on Thursday night. That woulda been slightly brutal, although there is probably some rule that prevents Super Bowl opponents opening the season against each other.

Anyways, the only thing I do not like about the Broncos schedule this fall is that the bye week comes in Week 4. I don’t like that, not one bit. This team is like a super-charged little diesel engine. I don’t need a break from work most of the time and neither to these Broncos. Following the bye, they play Arizona, the Jets (hello Eric Decker), the 49ers and San Diego.

Denver plays once on a Thursday night (Oct. 23 vs SD) and they end the season on a Monday Night date in Cincinnati (Dec. 22).

Finally, what we do at the end of these writeup is talk about how many games we (Denver) is going to win, how many games we are going to lose, some writers even talk about the margin of victories. I say who cares about all of that. Sometimes I think it is good to lose a couple games because sometimes it makes you focus a little harder and work a bit smarter.

For this team, once again, it is a make-it-to-the-Super Bowl-type season because they/we already know they have what it takes to do it. Actually, now they have that added incentive to actually win the whole thing this time around, and I bet none of us ever thought they would have THAT kind of motivation!

@Game7overtime

This morning on my way into my 3^rd day on my newest sports job, I listened to a discussion on the radio station 107.9 in Hamilton talking about some of the nicknames for major North American sports stadiums. They didn’t mention much hockey or baseball, but the topic arose following the grand opening of the state-of-the-art facility right here in the wonderful city of Hamilton, Ont.

On Labour Day as most sports junkies already well know, it was decided that the Labour Day CFL game between Hamilton and Toronto would go ahead (as we all had hoped) right here in Steeltown.

The new facility is called Tim Hortons Field.

It officially replaces Ivor Wynne Stadium (speaking of which, Ivor Wynne’s nickname was I Never Wynne).

The radio station was apparently looking for appropriately-named funnystuff nicknames for Tim Hortons Field.

There were a bunch of them thrown around by the VJs, such as coffee time and coffee grind, but neither VJ seemed to approve of anything.

I then took it upon myself to come up with as many nicknames for as many stadiums on the entire continent of North America. Trying to cover all 4 of the major professional sports leagues, plus a few others that came to mind in the process.

Here is what I came up with, listed by the nickname of the stadium, the team that plays there, and the league they play in. Most of these are well known, and I came up with a bunch of them myself, including Tim Hortons Field:

Enjoy (and feel free to send me anything I am forgetting via Twitter or email)!:

 

AT&T Park San Francisco Giants (MLB)     the phone booth

Air Canada Centre Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL)       the hangar

United Centre Chicago Blackhawks (NHL)/Chicago Bulls (NBA)  the Madhouse on Madison

Tim Hortons Field Hamilton Tiger-Cats (CFL)        the Donut Shop

Lambeau Field Green Bay Packers (NFL)                 the cheese house/the Frozen Tundra

First Ontario Centre/Copps Coliseum Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL)   the Kennel

Amway Centre Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL)            the igloo

Mellon Arena Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL)                the igloo

Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame Football team (NCAA)  God’s House or the House that Rockne Built

Michigan Stadium Michigan Wolverines      (NCAA)          The Big House

St. Pete Times Forum Tampa Bay Lighting (NHL)               the beach

American Airlines Arena  Miami Heat (NBA)                      the furnace

Staples Centre Los Angeles Clippers/Los Angeles Lakers (NBA)                           the barber shop

Rexall Place  Edmonton Oilers (NHL)                                  the Oil Rig

Pengrowth Saddledome Calgary Flames (NHL)                   the fire pitt

Sports Authority Field at Mile High Denver Broncos (NFL)           the rodeo

Gillette Stadium New England Patriots (NFL)                                 the battlefield

Lucas Oil Stadium Indianpolis Colts (NFL)                                      the ranch

FedEx Field Washington Redskins (NFL)                                         the reserve

Levi’s Stadium/Candlestick Park San Francisco 49ers (NFL)          the gold mine

Sun Life Stadium Miami Dolphins (NFL)                                        SeaWorld

FirstEnergy Stadium  Cleveland Browns (NFL)                               the dawg pound

New York Jets (NFL)                                                       the launch pad

Paul Brown Stadium Cincinnati Bengals (NFL)                               the jungle

Angel Stadium of Aneheim                                                  the Big A

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Florida Gators (NCAA)                            the Swamp

BMO Field Toronto FC (MLS)                                                the quake on the lake

Carisbrook Stadium, Dunedin, New Zealand                                    the House of Pain

Heinz Field Pittsburgh Steelers         (NFL)                                      the mustard palace

HP Pavillion San Jose sharks (NHL)                                                 shark tank

Hubert h Humphrey Metrodome Minnesota Twins (MLB)              the thunderdome

Memorial Stadium Clemson University Clemson Tigers (NCAA)  death valley

Minute Maid Park Houston Astros (MLB)                                        the juice box

M&T Bank Stadium Baltimore Ravens (NFL)                                 the vault

And finally on the note of popular nicknames, Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback has just filed for a trademark to his newest nickname, ‘Johnny Cleveland’. This would go along with other popular nn’s for the football player which include ‘Johnny Football’ and Johnny Cleveland is the 10th trademark filed by the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner’s company. Earlier this year, he reached a resolution with an investment firm he was battling with for the Johnny Football mark, although it is still not registered with the USPTO. Manziel has since signed an endorsement deal with Nike, which has used the mark on T-shirts.

Other trademarks filed for include JFF, ManzIIiel and The House That Johnny Built, a reference to the newly renovated Kyle Field at Texas A&M that will be completed next season.

Manziel is still battling the family of his onetime confidant Nate Fitch over the trademark The House That Johnny Built. Fitch’s family and Manziel’s company separately filed for the mark, which the USPTO says would require Manziel’s permission.

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