Week 5 shocks....

Every week the NFL throws up surprises, with 12 or the 13 games in week 5 done I've ranked my five surprises

5.
Chiefs 28 @ 24 Colts
The Manningless Colts are clearly a bad team but this one can't be pinned on 3rd choice QB Curtis Painter.
He was forced into an aerial assault when Joseph Addia when down which wouldn't have helped the Colts attempts at clock management when they twice led by three scores.
Matt Cassel had one of those days he puts up around every two years and Dwayne Bowe scored one of the most ridiculous TDs you'll ever see.
This will go down as a surprise although Chiefs are slowly improving and are getting used to life without big play starters, Colts go to 0-5, they have Jags and Panthers in week 10 and 11, if they fail to record a win against either of those two they could be staring down a 0-16 barrel.

4.
Bills 31 @ 24 Eagles
Maybe this is the last time an Eagles loss will go down as a shock.
After all, the hot Bills sat at 3-1 before their trip to Philly having brushed aside the Pats and improved Raiders along the way, why would a win surprise us ?
Because for all their issues the self titled 'Dream Team' are still regarded as a talented team, trouble is at 1-4 they can afford very few more blips or their season is done.
The Eagles O-line is leaking bad, Vick is under constant pressure and despite putting up yards yesterday he also turned the thing over 4 times - credit the Bills here, they're rapidly becoming a threat in the league.

3.
Bucs 3 @ Niners 48
The result doesn't surprise, it's the manner that does.
Bucs had quietly moved into a 3-1 position before their trip out West, and when the Niners stormed into a first half lead it seemed the thing was being set up for yet another Josh Freeman 4th quarter comeback.
Then the second half started and the Niners kept piling on the agony and event the most ardent of Buccs fans knew this one was beyond him.
Three turnovers and almost 100 yards in penalties wouldn't have helped but this was a professional demolition by the Niners men who rushed for over 200 yards, threw for over 200 yards, sacked JF 3 times and gained 3 takeaways.
I'll be the first to admit I casted huge doubt on SF before the season started but will now admit they are the force of the West, and despite A Smith they look to have the best Bay team in years.

2.
Raiders 25 @ 20 Texans
OK we all know the Texans keep finding new ways of avoiding the play offs and that this weekend was always set up for a thrilling Raiders win after the sad loss of their legendary owner Al Davis on Saturday.
But here's the thing, the Raiders achieved their first 1st down inside the 2 min warning of the first half.
Texans couldn't put this game to bed and paid for their mistakes amidst a spirited and emotional fightback by the Raiders - the final play of the game was pure comedy and when safety Michael Huff found the ball in his hands in the end zone he must have been as surprised as anyone else.
No-one will begrudge the Raiders organisation a win on such an emotional weekend, but a quick study of all the numbers from this one and it's hard to fathom quite how they managed it.

1.
OK, the Giants have never been a 'get your mortgage on' team, but they had a fit Usi, were playing the unpredictable globetrotting Seahawks from the desperate West in a 1pm start, this had to be a comfortable Giants victory.
Just to make life even tougher for the Hawks they lost Tavaris Jackson early in the 3rd quarter so in stepped Charlie Whitehurst a 6 year veteran with just 8 NFL starts behind him who has twice as many turnovers as he does TDs. Giants got pressure on both QBs recording 6 sacks, Eli had his biggest day for years throwing for 420 yards, but the Hawks kept forcing mistakes out of the Giants offence and Marshawn Lynch ran the ball as well as he had done since his early Buffalo days.
Just maybe these West Coast teams are learning to deal with the long trip East and timezone change.

No doubt week 6 will provide more of the same....

The Bucs looked hopeless last ngiht as did Freeman,he has looked like that this year a lot. His picks have been from poorly thrown balls and some bad choices by him. He was the victim of bad routes once or twice but his passing has been poor this year. A flash in the pan?

Nice write up Grizzly, cheers.

The Giants going down was a huge shock, especially considering the form that Eli's been in the last few games.

I hate the Raiders as much as the next man, but it was good to see them get a win last night. Another great game that went right down to the wire.

The Bucs were abysmal and never looked like contending from the start. Even Ronde Barber had a shocker and that never happens. Coverage was awful and we had no sacks. Aqib Talib is looking like a real liability in the secondary and is getting beaten consistently. Offensively, Raheem can moan about his receivers all he wants, but Freeman is just making bad throws. Even when they have separation, or even when they're completely open, Freeman often misses completely. He's thrown six interceptions in his first five games after throwing six all of last season.

I'm starting to think that last year might have been a fluke.

Thomond wrote:The Bucs looked hopeless last ngiht as did Freeman,he has looked like that this year a lot. His picks have been from poorly thrown balls and some bad choices by him. He was the victim of bad routes once or twice but his passing has been poor this year. A flash in the pan?

Watching the Colts @ Buccaneers game the other week I remember noting in the chat box that I felt Freeman didn’t look that great. His stat line at the end of the game was good, 25/39 (64%), 287, 1 TD but watching him play he made a couple of decisions which I felt were a bit suspect. The other thing I took note of about the Tampa offense was the seeming reluctance to run the ball with Blount, sure they gave him more carries towards the end of the game but I felt at the time he should have been called on a lot more.

I doubt the struggles are all down to Freeman though. Mike Williams is often being bracketed with safety help which is likely an unusual situation for him. Arrelious Benn isn’t picking up many targets, unless it’s on short passes, which suggests he’s struggling to get separation downfield.

Also I haven’t seen any of the 49ers game but if your D# was as bad as the score line suggests then obviously the blame has to fall on them as well.

As said above, Talib was a total liability. Corey Lynch, who has replaced Cody Grimm at FS was beaten a few times, missed a few tackles and had some really bad angles. Geno Hayes and Dekoda Watson were useless at linebacker. I'm pretty sure Mason Foster was the Bucs' only good defensive player.

Tbh the niners D is scary right now, i expected to win a tight game but the turnovers are coming easy right now, how has carlos rogers improved all of a sudden, his hands were always his weakness but now he has three picks in three games. Tampa are really good and i think in flashes it showed but at least we now know any team that is going to beat the niners will need to rely only on their passing attack. I hope detroit v niners is on sky, the american schedule altered in ordered to show this game so hopefully sky follow suit, could a ten win season be on the cards considering the light schedule?

Pr4wn wrote:As said above, Talib was a total liability. Corey Lynch, who has replaced Cody Grimm at FS was beaten a few times, missed a few tackles and had some really bad angles. Geno Hayes and Dekoda Watson were useless at linebacker. I'm pretty sure Mason Foster was the Bucs' only good defensive player.

TBH from what I can gather it sounds like pretty much your whole team had an off day, which happens with young players, so I wouldn't be overly concerned just yet.

I agree these are the surprises this week, but for me the interesting points are:

Colts - They put up good numbers on O and then sucked donkey balls on D. It doesn't matter who you have at QB, and Painter played well, if the opposition can put up 4 scores especially when they are so far behind, its your D you need to worry about.

Eagles - combination of bad luck (Avant's turnover at the end of the game has nothing to do with Vick as he made a good pass), good D from the Bills and decent game management from the Bills O. Everyone is running big yardage against the Eagles as they can;t defend the run, but their pass rush is fearsome at times. Glad to see the Eagles lose after all the pre-season hype and looking forward tot he Hightower/Torrain combo trampling them next week.

49ers - They have somehow built on last years 1/2 decent defense and produced something that could wind up something special. Don't begrudge Smith too much. Sometimes a good player just needs a good coach to unlock their talent. We'll see at seasons end.

Texans - this was emotional for the Raiders, but the Texans, to me at least, showed how much they rely on Andre Johnson. Without him they have 2 good backs and no receivers. They need him back or they won't progress to/far into the playoffs.

Giants - again, not sorry to see them go down like that. Feel sorry for Cruz as he turned from hero to semi-villain in the same game (can't wholly blame a guy who slips and tries his damnedest to catch the ball). Great bobble and catch earlier, lousy bobble and INT later. If he'd caught the second one or batted it into the turf, the Giants win this one comfortably. Funny how one play can change a whole game.

Personally wouldn't count the Bills beating the Eagles as a shock as I predicted it in NFL Mike's competition, but the rest I can agree with. Strange to see the Eagles where they are, I guess we all just agreed with the hype they were getting preseason as 21 of 27 people voted for them to win the NFC East. They need to be close to perfect from now to the end of the season to even make the play offs, but maybe a bad season this year can really help them in the long run. Their team should have had the necessary time to gel by next season, can use the bad experience for motivation, and will have an easier regular season schedule (if you can get easier than having to play the NFC West).

Good article Grizzly, will it become a weekly thing?

I dont see the Bills results as a shock anymore, they came from behind and beat the Pats. They are side coming along and maybe in a year or 2 could make a deep run into the play offs.

For me the shocks are the teams that have been expected to do well, but have struggled Jets, Bears, Falcons.

Here is a shocker which team has one of the best ranked defences in the NFL.....................














The Bengals how many knew that, to me that is a shock, that the Bengals are out performing the likes of the Jets, Steelers and Ravens teams that are known for the Defence.

Derby

When I started out writing this article it was entitled Raiders shock Texans, and I went into a rant about how I had a very large double on Pats and Texans to win - of course I placed this bet last Friday, then Al Davis dies Saturday and somehow I just knew the Raiders would find a way of winning - even when they were 2 scores down and had about 30 yards of offence I just knew.
It's as if the great man himself was looking down and laughing at me.
When I lost all the bitterness I realised it could make a regular feature as, so assuming the NFL keeps producing memorable upsets I'll cover a few here - and I'll attempt to leave bitter and twisted loses aside...

The 49er's win shocked me as did the Seahawks.

I was shocked at how awful my Cardinals played. Very very disappointing.

Philly didn't shock me as much as it dismayed me because Vick is the QB of my fantasy team The Manglers. 4 INTs! The Mangler Curse strikes again....

Leedscowboys wrote: Here is a shocker which team has one of the best ranked defences in the NFL.....................


The Bengals how many knew that, to me that is a shock, that the Bengals are out performing the likes of the Jets, Steelers and Ravens teams that are known for the Defence.

They have been better than I expected but i'm not completely shocked by the Bengals' defense, they have some talent and I never really thought they would be as poor as many expected.

twelve283 wrote:
The Bengals certainly have among the worst quarterback situations in the league IMO but I also agree with Virgil that there is talent on the roster. Jerome Simpson, Jordan Shipley and AJ Green lead a promising young group of receivers to go along with 2nd year TE Jermaine Gresham. Cedric Benson and Bernard Scott are viable running backs. Andrew Whitworth is an underrated LT but the rest of the line isn’t the strongest. They have some promising young players on D# as well-Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap for example. Manny Lawson could prove to be a good signing as I believe he could thrive in a 43. The Bengals may have lost Jonathan Joseph but they still have Leon Hall who, although possibly a notch down when it comes to coverage, might be a better all-round CB. It might not be enough to stop them from ending up with the #1 pick next year but there is some potential.

Quote from PS thread.

was i seriously the only one who expected seattle to win. we are officiatly out of the suck4luck club cause our offencewas smoking hot (best one avalible)
also can anyone name a better undrafted free agent than doug baldwin?

not really a 'shock' per se, but a HUGE blow for the Texans: Mario Williams done for the year.