Top 5 / Week 4 Recap

Weekly Roundup

Top Five

1. Indianapolis Colts 4-0
The Colts are the NFL’s best team through four games.

2. Cincinnati Bengals 4-0
The Bengals face their toughest test next week in Jacksonville.

3. Philadelphia Eagles 3-1
An impressive comeback in Kansas City and three straight wins for the NFC champs.

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 4-0
The Bucs made it without a ride from their Cadillac.

5. Denver Broncos 3-1
The Cleveland defensive imports are proving to be worthwhile additions.

Week Four

Bengals 16 Texans 10
The Bengals were able to win despite not playing their best game. They have only allowed 38 points in their four games. A trip to Jacksonville next week will tell us more about the Bengals. The Texans were much more competitive coming off their bye week, but they are still winless on the season. The Texans are averaging just eight points per game.

Stat of the game: The Bengals tallied seven sacks for the game. Houston has four sacks all season.

Colts 31 Titans 10
The Colts offense finally caught up to its defense. Manning threw four TDs and was 20 for 27 on the day. Marvin Harrison caught nine passes for 109 yards and two TDs. The Colts were also able to produce at least 100 yards on the ground for the third straight game. The Titans averaged only 7.9 yards per completion while the Colts averaged over 13 yards per catch.

Stat of the game: The Colts have allowed only 26 points in four games this season.

Chargers 41 Patriots 17
This was the upset of the day as the Chargers dominated the champs in Foxboro. The Chargers outscored the Pats 24 – 0 in the second half. LaDainian Tomlinson ran for 143 yards while the former champs could only manage 73 rushing yards as a team. The Patriot defense allowed Drew Brees to complete 19 of 24 passes and didn’t produce a turnover.

Stat of the game: The 41 points allowed by the Patriots were the most they’ve allowed since November of 1998.

Saints 19 Bills 7
The Saints finally got a “home� game and the results were positive. Playing in San Antonio, the Saints got their running game going against a good Bill defense in front of over 58,000 fans. Deuce McAllister ran 27 times for 130 yards in easily his best game of the season. The Saints took care of the ball posting their first game without a turnover on the year. The Bills only produced 67 yards passing.

Stat of the game: Bills QB JP Losman has only one TD pass this season.

Giants 44 Rams 24
Plaxico Burress is still open. Burress caught ten passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns against the overmatched Ram defense. When Burress wasn’t catching the ball, Tiki Barber was carving the Ram’s run defense for 128 yards. Mark Bulger had 442 yards passing in a losing effort as the Giant defense picked him off three times.

Stat of the game: The Giants held the Rams to just 42 yards on the ground.

Buccaneers 17 Lions 13
The Bucs got a big reversal to help them hold on against the Lions. The Lions appeared to have the game won after Joey Harrington found Marcus Pollard for a TD with just 13 seconds left to play. The play went upstairs for review and was overturned as it was ruled Pollard was touching the sideline before he had possession. The Lions kept themselves close by holding Carnell Williams to just 13 yards on 11 carries. Brian Griese was able to connect on long TD passes to Michael Pittman (41 yards) and Joey Galloway (80 yards). The Lions couldn’t get the ground game going as Kevin Jones was held to just 38 yards.

Stat of the Game: The Bucs defense held the Lions to just 2 – 12 on third down.

Redskins 20 Seattle 17 (OT)
The Redskins are a surprising 3-0 after an overtime win in Washington. Seattle kicker Josh Brown barely missed a game-winning field goal as the clock expired in the fourth quarter. Brown was just 1 –3 on field goals for the day. The Redskins had their best offensive effort thus far as they ran for 141 yards and Mark Brunell tallied 226 passing yards.

Stat of the Game: The Redskins converted on 13 of 18 third downs.

Broncos 20 Jaguars 7
Denvers defense made another statement in Jacksonville. After shutting down the Chiefs on Monday night, Denver allowed just seven points to the Jaguars. Denver limited the Jags to just 12 rushing yards and turned the home team over four times in the win. The defensive effort was more impressive when you consider the Broncos played without both starting CBs due to injury. The Broncos piled up 188 yards on the ground while controlling the line of scrimmage against a good Jaguar defense.

Stat of the Game: The Jaguars were penalized 15 times for 119 yards. That is nearly ten times as many yards as they rushed for in the game.

Atlanta 30 Vikings 10
It was a total mismatch in Atlanta. The Falcons sacked Dante Culpepper nine times while building a 27-0 lead after three quarters. Warrick Dunn had 126 of the Falcons 285 yards on the ground. The Vikings head into the bye week with serious questions on both sides of the ball. They rank 23rd in total offense and 29th in total defense.

Stat of the Game: Culpepper had two more INTs Sunday. He now has just four TDs and ten picks on the year.

Eagles 37 Chiefs 31
This was the game of the day. The Eagles roared back in Arrowhead Stadium. The Eagles outscored the home team 37–10 after falling behind 17–0 early in the second quarter. Donovan McNabb threw for 369 yards and three TDs on the day. The key play was a fumble by Chiefs RB Larry Johnson. The play turned the momentum, which was decidedly in favor of the Chiefs to that point. Terrell Owens caught 11 passes for 171 yards for the Eagles.

Stat of the Game: The Chiefs have allowed 67 points in their last two games after allowing just 24 in their first two.

Raiders 19 Cowboys 13
The Raiders do have a rushing game. After being held to just 148 yards on the ground in the first three games, LaMont Jordan plowed through the Cowboys for 129 yards on Sunday. The Raider defense stood tall against a last second drive by the Cowboys to seal the win. The Cowboys had the ball inside the Raiders five with under two minutes left but couldn’t push it over the goal line.

Stat of the Game: The Raiders held Julius Jones to 76 yards rushing, his lowest total of the year.

Cardinals 31 49ers 13
The NFL likes Mexico so much; it sent the 49ers and Cards to play there. Those lucky Mexicans! The foreign audience must have wondered if the object was to give the ball away after the 49ers scored two TDs on Cardinal turnovers in the first quarter. The Cards went on to dominate the game outscoring the Niners 31-0 after the opening quarter. The Niners treated the Mexico City fans to a whopping 8 first downs and 168 yards of offense for the game.

Stat of the Game: Cardinal QB Josh McCown had a career game going 32 for 46 for 385 yards and 2 TDs.

Panthers 32 Packers 29
The Panthers were able to hold on Monday night against the Packers. The Panthers built a 26-7 lead by the third quarter, but Brett Favre rallied the Packers to within three points in the fourth quarter. The Panthers stopped the Packers on fourth down within under two minutes left in the game to seal the win. The Panthers shut down the Green Bay running game forcing Favre to do it all through the air. The Packers had just 58 rushing yards.
Stat of the Game: The Packers are 0-4 to open the season for the first time since 1988.

Ravens 13 Jets 3
It was another difficult day for the Jets offense. The Ravens held the Jets to just eight first downs and 28 yards rushing. The Jets had more yards in penalties – 39 – than they did on the ground. Neither team was able to get much done offensively until the Ravens put together a 71-yard drive in the third quarter ending with a Jamal Lewis 1-yard TD run. Brooks Bollinger, starting for the injured Chad Pennington, was 14 for 28 for 149 yards. Bollinger and the Jets avoided turnovers, but they could not take advantage of two give-aways by the home team.

Stat of the Game: Last year’s rushing champion, Curtis Martin, is averaging 2.8 yards per carry in 2005. He has not scored a touchdown after running for 12 and catching 2 TDs in 2004.