Favre flopped and Forte was the man this weekend in the NFL.
Brett Favre's performance in the Vikings loss on Monday night to the Jets was a perfect snapshot for his entire career: some good, some bad, and some very ugly. Favre, the good, threw three touchdowns in the second half and gave the Vikings a chance to win. Favre, the bad, fumbles twice and was sacked four times as he suffered through a miserable first half. Favre, the ugly, threw a backbreaking pick six to Dwight Lowery with 1:30 to go in the fourth quarter. While all of this was going on in the Meadowlands, the ugly allegations that Favre texted photo's of his junk to Jenn Sterger simply won't go away like the Vikings quarterback would prefer.
With each passing week, it is becoming painfully obvious that Favre will not be able to recapture the magic of the 2009 season. After four weeks last year, the Vikings were 4-0 and Favre had thrown eight touchdowns, one interception, one fumble and his quarterback rating was 106. Through four weeks in 2010, the Vikings are 1-3 while Favre has thrown seven touchdowns, five interceptions, fumbled four times and his QB rating is 67. Favre just isn't the same quarterback this year, and because of that, the Vikings aren't the same team.
The only saving grace for Minnesota is that they still have some time to turn things around. For that to happen, the focus of the Vikings offence has to shift away from Favre's battered right arm and on to the powerful legs of running back Adrian Peterson.
Star of the Week
Hard to argue with Giants receiver Hakeem Nicks. Playing on the road against a supposedly-solid Texans team, Nicks came up with 12 catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns.
That being said, the undisputed Star of the Week was Bears running back Matt Forte. Bears quarterback Todd Collins was a feeble six of 16 for 32 yards and four interceptions but the team still won largely due to Forte. He ran for 166 yards, two touchdowns and added another 22 yards receiving. The Bears had 247 yards of total offence and Forte accounted for 188 of those or a whopping 76 percent of the team's offence.
Stiff of the Week
My good buddy Arash Madani would love for me to name Brett Favre as the stiff of the week, but that would be too easy and it hits a little too close to home considering his current situation.
Chargers coach Norv Turner also deserves to be nominated for the Stiff of the Week award after the Raiders blocked two punts in one quarter.
Classic Norv Turner quote after this loss: "there were a lot of plays that kept us from winning the game." Thanks tips.
But Favre and Turner pale in comparison to the ultimate Stiff for Week 5, Browns quarterback Jake Delhomme.
Mike Williams. A fourth-round pick out of Syracuse, Williams played a big role in the Buccaneers upset win over the Bengals, Williams had seven catches for 99 yards and a score. Williams touchdown was huge as it tied the game with 1:26 to go in the fourth quarter.
Through four games, Williams has scored three touchdowns. Through five games, Bengals receiver Chad Ocho Cinco has scored once. After four games, Williams has emerged as the Bucs undisputed go-to receiver and is developing wonderful chemistry with quarterback Josh Freeman.
One more note about Williams that is sure to infuriate Bills fans -- he was born and raised in Buffalo and played his college ball in Syracuse. And to think the Bucs stole this guy in the fourth round.
Team on the rise
Playing in a wide open NFC East, the Washington Redskins have reeled off back-to-back wins over the Eagles and the Packers. Under the stern, guiding hand of coach Mike Shanahan, the Redskins have done it with defence, special teams, a power-running game and some timely passing from Donovan McNabb. Not to take away from McNabb's impact on the Redskins, it's just that he's been good, but not great this year.
One player who has been great for the Skins is safety LaRon Landry. In the last two games, Landry has 18 tackles, an interception and a forced fumble. Landry was a big reason the Packers were only two of 13 in third-down conversion attempts. I am really interested to see how McNabb and the Redskins fare on the road against the Colts next week. I am quite sure Shanahan won't start the game attempting an onside kick.
What Were They Thinking?
Chiefs coach Todd Haley called for an onside kick to start the game on the road against the Colts. What in the hell where you thinking man?
Haley's blunder aside, Alex Smith takes the What Were You Thinking Award this week. To be honest, Smith provides enough "what were you thinking?" moments in the course of a game to make a religious man like Mike Singletary drop F-bombs like Rex Ryan.
It got so bad Sunday night in San Francisco, that 49ers fans were chanting, "we want Carr!" As in they would rather have David Carr running the offence than Smith. Smith officially jumped the shark in the fourth quarter when he basically fumbled the ball into the waiting hands of the Eagles defence and Quintin Mikell promptly returned the gift for a 52 yard backbreaking touchdown. Coach Singletary must have the patience of Job, because he's already declared that he will be sticking with Smith as his starting quarterback for the time being.
The Race for No. 1
Oh those Buffalo Bills, as in, oh, could the Bills actually go 0 and 16? Nobody thought the Bills would be a contending team in the AFC but how many people truly thought the Bills could go winless?
After their loss to the Jaguars, the cold, hard facts regarding the Bills demise are scary to look at. The Bills have now allowed 161 points in five games, meaning they're on pace to give up 515 points this year. The Bills have let opponents rush for a staggering 912 yards so far this year. Put another way, opposing teams are averaging over 180 yards a game on the ground against the Bills defence.
After their bye week, the Bills go on the road to play two teams that love to run the football, the Ravens and the Chiefs.
Meanwhile Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck has thrown 16 touchdowns in six games and has a quarterback rating of 166.86. I'm just saying.
The Ronnie Lott award
This week, the award goes out to Redskins fullback Mike Sellers for his punishing special teams tackle on the Packers Tramon Williams. It is one of those hits that really must be seen to be believed.
I have known Sellers for a long time, going back to his days in the CFL, and it always freaks me out just how big of an athlete he is. I interviewed him at Redskins camp this past summer and Sellers is bigger than ever and in amazing shape. So imagine the pain Williams felt when Sellers unloaded all of his 272 pounds into him.
Big Injury of the Week
There were many injuries, but none more troubling for their respective team than the concussion suffered by Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in their overtime loss to the Redskins.
The Packers also lost tight end Jermichael Finley and linebacker Clay Matthews to injuries. Finley had his knee scoped and he's gone for at least three weeks and Matthews suffered a hamstring injury. As a result of all these injuries, the Packers are looking like just another team in a very wide-open NFC.
Meanwhile the Browns lost both Seneca Wallace and Jake Delhomme in their loss to the Falcons.
Monday night, Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis re-aggravated his hamstring injury and is listed as doubtful for their upcoming game against the Broncos.
The unsung hero award
A strong candidate was the entire Giants offensive line. Giants quarterback Eli Manning wasn't sacked once and had time to throw three touchdowns in the Giants big road win in Houston.
The hand's down winner of this week's award is Cardinals quarterback Max Hall. An undrafted free agent out of BYU, Hall beat Drew Brees and the defending Super Bowl champion Saints in his first ever NFL start. Brees struggled, throwing three interceptions. Hall, the raw rookie, only threw one pick and kept the Cardinals in the game.
Afterwards, Cards coach Ken Whisenhunt was pleased with how well Hall played in his first start. "He made some big time throws for us during the course of the game. He missed some things. But what I sense from Max is that he'll get better as he gets more reps and more playing time".
One final note about Hall, according to the Arizona Republic, the kid's signing bonus was a mere $5,000. Compare that to Sam Bradford who earned $50 millionin guaranteed money from the Rams.
Funniest Moment of Week 3
This week's funniest moment comes courtesy of Ravens running back Ray Rice. After the Ravens win over the Broncos, Rice was asked about how his 133-yard, two-touchdown performance would impact fantasy football owners. (Don't kid yourself; players in the NFL know all about fantasy football and some of them play it and Rice's answer backs up that claim.)
The Hot Cheerleader award
In a tribute to the Raiders first win over the Chargers in 13 attempts; we present to you the good reader, the Oakland Raiderettes.
What to watch for next week
The first big game to watch will take place at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh as Ben Reothlisberger makes his return from a four-game suspension. Coming off of the bye week, Big Ben and the Steelers take on an injury riddled Browns team.
The other big game will take place in Minnesota as Brett Favre and the Vikings take on Tony Romo and the Cowboys. Dallas is coming off of a miserable, mistake-filled performance in their loss to the Titans. Romo tossed three interceptions and the Cowboys took 12 penalties totaling 133 yards.
Full disclosure here, I picked the Cowboys to win the NFC East before the start of the season. I realized that the Cowboys went into the season with some issues along the offensive line. But that doesn't explain 12 penalties and three picks by Romo. All the while poor Wade Phillips is standing on the sidelines looking more and more confused by it all with each passing week.
The Vikings are coming off that loss to the Jets and everyone across the NFL is wondering aloud whether or not Favre is done.
I am really interested to see how the Patriots, without Randy Moss, make out when they take on a very tough and physical Ravens team.
