Randy Moss makes his Titans debut and it’s the Battle of the Big Hair in Pittsburgh.
They don't call Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan "Matty Ice" for nothing.
Ryan's third touchdown of the game with 20 seconds left to play in the fourth quarter was the difference as the Falcons beat the Baltimore Ravens 26-21 in the Thursday night game.
I hope the rest of the NFC was paying attention because the Falcons improved to 7-2. They have won three straight and are now 5-0 in the Georgia Dome.
Now, looking ahead to some weekend action:
The Return of the Great American Badass Game
Vikings-Bears in Chicago
After being mired in a slump the last month, Vikings defensive end Jared (Badass) Allen exploded with two and half sacks in last week's win over the Cardinals. The Vikings dearly need Allen to revert to his 'Badass' ways of 2009 to keep this season alive.
As tight end Greg Olsen told me last week, the Bears offence is still a work progress. So now Jared Allen and the Vikings will go up against the much-maligned Bears offensive line with the goal of rattling Jay Cutler and forcing turnovers.
Adrian Peterson and the Vikings are facing a stiff challenge because the Bears are one of the toughest teams to run against in the NFL. This means Brett Favre will be called upon to make some plays down field. If you are Lovie Smith and the Bears, that is exactly what you want. Thanks to his "close" friend Brett Favre, Brad Childress survived another week as the Vikings head coach. Favre isn't a big concern for Chilly this week; his biggest worry is receiver Percy Harvin and his nagging migraines.
The Hell in a Cell Game
At halftime, Rex Ryan and Eric Mangini should be forced to take part in a 10-minute Hell in a Cell match. The winner's team gets to receive the kick-off in the second half.
Game planning for this one shouldn't be a huge problem for Ryan and the Jets coaching staff. Mangini is going to unleash 250-pound Peyton Hillis early and he's going to keep riding that horse until the Jets stop him.
An interesting sidebar to this game is the fact that Rex's twin brother, Rob, is the Browns' defensive coordinator. Rob Ryan's emerging Browns defence held Tom Brady and the Patriots offence to 14 points and a mere 3-for-11 on third down conversions last week. In their win over the Saints, the Browns defence forced four turnovers and held them to 17 points.
Just adding to the atmosphere for this game is the return of Braylon Edwards to Cleveland. Mr. Edwards will not exactly be welcomed back to the Dawg Pound with open arms.
The Return of Randy Moss Game
With all due respect to rest of his Titans teammates and the Dolphins, the story of this game is the debut of Randy Moss as a Titan. Moss is a lot of things, but he's no dummy. He is well aware that if he screws up with Jeff Fisher and the Titans, he will never make the kind of money he feels he deserves. Now if Moss takes on the part of the loyal soldier and plays a role in the Titans getting into the playoffs, then his stock will go up.
With all this talk about Moss, no one has mentioned that Chris Johnson has gone the last two games without gaining at least 100 yards.
For the Dolphins, this is desperation time. They need to win some games to keep pace with the Jets and Patriots in the AFC East. To that end, Tony Sparano finally had enough of Chad Henne's inconsistent ways and has named Chad Pennington as his starting quarterback for Sunday's game. Dolphins offensive tackle Jake Long will earn his paycheck Sunday trying to protect Pennington.
The Titans will unleash their underrated, yet very productive defensive end tandem of Jason Babin and Dave Ball. The duo have combined for 13 sacks and are a big reason why the Titans are one of the top teams in the NFL at creating turnovers.
The Jason Garrett Era Has Begun Game
The good news for Jason Garrett is that he is finally a head coach in the NFL. The bad news is that his first game is against a roving gang of thugs from New Jersey known as the Giants. The Giants have been downright dominant during their five-game winning streak. On average, the Giants are scoring over 32 points a game while only allowing 15 per game during their current streak.
What has teams across the NFL a little worried is that Osi Umenyiora and the Giants defensive line looks like the same crew that terrorized their way to a win in Super Bowl XLII. The Giants are now ranked No. 1 in the entire NFL in defence and their offence is ranked fourth. Unless Jason Garrett is the second coming of Tom Landry, the Cowboys are in big trouble this weekend.
The Battle of the Big Hair Game
This is the one the folks at Head and Shoulders have been dreaming of: Steelers safety Troy Polamalu and his flowing locks going head-to-head with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and his wannabe Justin Bieber look.
Mike Tomlin has a lot more to worry about in this game than Brady's hair. Three of his players suffered concussions in their win over the Cincinnati Bengals and offensive tackle Max Starks suffered a serious neck injury and he is done for the year.
Bill Belichick and the Patriots were seething after the way they were physically pushed around by the Browns last week. The curious thing about the Patriots this year has been the less-than-amazing production from Brady. In 2009, Brady had seven 300-yard passing games. Through eight games in 2010, Brady has yet to have a single 300-yard game. Meanwhile, the Steelers defence has only allowed one 300-yard passing game this season.
The "let's to go Las Vegas and steal Mike Tyson's tiger" lock of the week: The odds makers in Vegas have made the San Francisco 49ers six-point favourites to beat the Rams. I like Sam Bradford and the Rams to cover that spread in a big way. (BTW -- How in the hell did that chicken ever end up in the hotel suite in The Hangover?)
Finally, we have a battle of the American Rust Belt as the Detroit Lions take on the winless Bills in Buffalo. Greg Brady at the Fan 590 (@gregbrady71 on Twitter) thought about taking the Bills in his suicide pool but chickened out and took the Giants. C'mon Greg: no guts, no glory!
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