Fraser's Favorites Week 5


Philadelphia at Buffalo

No one said that the dreams had to be good! The Eagles “Dream” team is just 1-3 after being projected as an automatic playoff lock and potential Superbowl candidates. But let’s not get too carried away. We can talk stats and percentages all we want about 1-3 teams not making the playoffs, but this is still an extremely talented football team. There is one reason why the Bills have been so good this season and one reason why the Eagles have been so bad: turnovers. This game is easy. Turn the ball over, you lose. Don’t turn the ball over, you win. The Bills are in second place in the league in takeaways, while the Eagles are last in the league in giveaways. Mike Vick and company have to take advantage of redzone opportunities and hold on to the football. They will against the Bills, and they will demonstrate why they had such high hopes before the season. Eagles Big.

Philadelphia- 35

Buffalo- 17


New Orleans at Carolina

This is the first game within the NFC South for both of these teams. Will Cam Newton continue his unprecedented rookie season at home against the Saints? Will Cam Newton shine in his first NFC South game? Will the Panthers continue to keep every game they play within 7 points? The answer to all three of these questions is NO! The Panthers currently stand at 1-3, but have not yet lost a game by more than 7 points. This will be the first blowout that Cam Newton suffers and we might actually even see something other than a smile on his face! Drew Brees will welcome Newton into the NFC South and illustrate what an elite quarterback in the league should look like.

New Orleans- 42

Carolina- 21

Oakland at Houston

Three years ago if you asked about the Raiders-Texans game, the answer would have been “Who Cares?!” Now, no team in the NFL wants to play the Raiders and the Texans. The Raiders are relevant again and Al Davis is still alive and well. I swear I have had nightmares of that man…But anyway…The Raiders have been keeping games close with their speed. Speed on offense and speed on defense. Jason Campbell’s ability to keep plays alive with his feet, Denarius Moore’s ability to get down field and get open in space, and Darren McFadden’s big play abilities truly make this a scary offense. With Andre Johnson sidelined with a leg injury, the Raiders will tame the Texans offense enough to get the win.

Oakland- 30

Houston-27




Kansas City at Indianapolis

The Chiefs and the Colts. It is hard to believe that just 8 months ago these two teams were in the playoffs. Playoffs?! These Colts aren’t talkin’ about the playoffs! Well, neither are the Chiefs. Peyton Manning should win the Most Valuable Player award for sitting up in the coaches box the whole season! The failure of the Colts really just shows how important he is to this team. Over/Under 127 times Manning was caught on camera shaking his head in disgust at the Colts on Monday Night Football?

Chiefs- 24

Colts-20

Cincinnati at Jacksonville

Pre-season predictions for leagues best defense: the Steelers? the Ravens? the Jets? the Packers? the Bengals? Wait, the Bengals??? That’s right. The Bengals have only conceded an incredible 276 yards per game holding their opponents to 19 points a game. They were even able to shut down the high-powered, high-flying, high-scoring Buffalo Bills! Despite all of the Carson Palmer distractions Marvin Lewis has this team playing at a high level; a high level for the Bengals that is. The second week in a row the Jaguars will play a rookie quarterback, and the second week in a row a rookie quarterback will beat them.

Cincinnati- 20

Jacksonville- 16




Arizona at Minnesota

A combined 1-7 record between the Cardinals and the Vikings. These teams are in the bottom half of the league in scoring even with weapons like Larry Fitzgerald, Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin. These are some of the most dynamic and explosive players at their positions. The coaches on either side in this match-up need to find creative ways to get the ball into their playmakers hands. Adrian Peterson will simply not allow his team to lose their fifth straight game to open the season. It’s too bad that he can’t play in the secondary too…

Arizona- 23

Minnesota- 24

Seattle at N.Y. Giants

When NFL teams see Seattle on their schedule they have to be thinking “Please make that a home game”. The Giants got their wish. You could not even hear the commentators in the Atlanta-Seattle game last week. One of the real undervalued players in the league is playing in this game: Jason Pierre-Paul. In only his second year in the league, Pierre-Paul has been dominant with 4.5 sacks, 22 tackles and a forced fumble. This is a player who is still learning how to play the game! On the other side of the ball, Eli Manning is on absolute fire and will continue with a three touchdown performance against the Seahawks.

NYG- 35

Seahawks- 14 





Tennessee at Pittsburgh

Are the Steelers too old? Come on. It’s not like the entire Steelers defense is out playing shuffleboard and bingo on the weekends. No, this Steelers defense is not too old. They have lost to two extremely talented football teams in the Ravens and Texans. Meanwhile, the Titans are surprisingly 3-1 and a threat in the AFC South and the AFC wildcard race. After this game, it will be Matt Hasselback who will look like the old man, as the Steelers defense gets after him for 5 sacks.

Tennessee-17

Pittsburgh-27




Tampa Bay at San Francisco

Maybe the 49ers can be labeled the dream team. What an unbelievable start for a team who seemed destined to have Andrew Luck start in 2012. This is a game that will demonstrate which of these teams is a pretender or a contender. Josh Freeman is becoming known around the league for his ability to make 4th quarter comebacks. Which is great. But that also means that for the first three quarters you are not playing at a high enough level to get your team ahead. The emotions of last week’s amazing win over the Eagles will carry over to this Sunday for the 49ers and they will find success against the Bucs.

Tampa Bay-14

San Francisco- 24


San Diego at Denver

Top ten in jerseys sold. Billboards created in his name. Tim Tebow is the third string quarterback for one of the worst teams in the league and he is still getting these honors. Why? Please, someone answer this for me. In Denvers pre-season games , which is where we have seen the most out of Tebow, he isn’t even close to his targets. John Fox go right ahead and play Tim Tebow. I think America could use a good laugh this weekend.

San Diego- 28

Denver-13


N.Y. Jets at New England

There should be Greg McElroy billboards throughout New York this week. The amazing thing: this is the best year Sanchez has had in his NFL career. This is a defensive football team. And this is a running football team. But what does a defensive, "ground and pound" football team do when it can’t “ground and pound”? It’s simple, nothing. They literally did nothing on offense last week against the Ravens and will continue to do nothing until they can start running the ball, or find a quarterback who can throw. Greg McElroy can, or maybe Jared Lorenzen’s number can be found in the New York phone book. The Patriots will avenge their playoff loss to the Jets from last year. This could get ugly. Who knew a game with Mark Sanchez and Tom Brady could get ugly….

NY Jets- 16

New England- 38

 Green Bay at Atlanta

48-21. Numbers that have haunted a Falcon fans memory for close to a year now. Matt Ryan’s first half pick-six last year was a key turning point in the game, but what really hurt the Falcons was their inability to take down Aaron Rodgers. Watching highlights of the Falcons try to catch Aaron Rodgers last year was like watching Rocky Balboa try to catch a chicken. In a couple of key third and long situations, Aaron Rodgers dodged several sack opportunities and completed those passes for first downs. Unfortunately, the Falcons defense which was supposed to have gotten better, has been much worse this season. That really does not bode well for the Falcons against a Packers team that scored at will against the Broncos. Somehow, some way, Matt Ryan will keep the Falcons in this game until the fourth quarter. Matty “Ice” will reclaim his throne as the leagues best 4th quarter quarterback.

Green Bay -33

Atlanta-35



Chicago at Detroit

So much for the Detroit Lions being the luckiest team in the league. Actually, I’m still not taking that back yet. Tony Romo throws three interceptions to hand the Lions that game. Alright. Maybe not the luckiest team, but they certainly have thrived on other teams misfortunes. There is no way that if the Bears get ahead in this game that the Lions have enough strength to get yet another fourth quarter comeback.

Chicago- 27

Detroit- 23

Fraser's Findings Week 4

1. Cam Newton has such poise in the pocket. For a quarterback who was known as a dual threat QB in college at Auburn, Newton has already demonstrated he can play in the NFL as a pass-first QB. I have to admit I was not a believer when he was drafted first overall in April, but after 4 weeks he has changed my opinion. The game seems to come slower to him than most quarterbacks in the league, and he is only a rookie….Scary.

2. The Bengals had a lot of holes to fill when the draft came this year in April and they decided to add an offensive weapon in A.J.Green. Green is an explosive talent with the speed and agility to find space in the secondary. He showed that explosiveness against the Bills this past week as the Bengals threw screens and end-arounds to get him more involved in the offense. If Andy Dalton turns out to be the franchise quarterback in Cincinnati, him and Green could be a fun duo to watch for the next decade.

3. “We want the ball and we’re going to score!”- Matt Hasselback. This is a phrase that will forever be remembered in playoff history. Hasselback got the ball (twice) against the Packers and ended the game by throwing a pick 6. Hasselback, a three time pro-bowler, received absolutely no media coverage before the season started as the new QB in Tennessee and the Titans were forgotten. Matt Hasselback connected 4 times for over 50 yards against the Browns and has rejuvenated the Titans offense. The next two games, @ Pittsburgh, and @Houston will be the true tests as to how far the Titans will go this season.  

4. With about 10 minutes left in the 3^rd quarter, the Cowboys had the ball and a 27-3 lead. And then…disaster. What an absolute collapse by the Dallas Cowboys. They were dominating this game, offensively, defensively, and were winning the field position battle. Tony Romo handed this game to the Detroit Lions. Now, the Lions took full advantage of the myriad opportunities handed to them; returning two of the interceptions for touchdowns and scoring on almost every drive in the 2^nd half. I noticed two key plays in this game. The first play came at the beginning of the fourth quarter on a 1^st and 10 from the Cowboys 23 yard line. Stafford scrambles to the left and throws into triple coverage to Calvin Johnson. You could barely see Johnson in the crowd of Cowboys, but he comes down with the ball. Amazing. The second play is with about 4 minutes left, Cowboys ball on their own 30 and 4 minutes left. What was Romo thinking? Throwing off his back foot 25 yards downfield into double coverage to Witten. Take a sack, throw the ball away…Do something other than throw the ball there.

5. Two years. Two years is all it takes for Mike Shanahan’s zone-blocking scheme to start working. It really did not even matter who was running the ball this game. The team averaged 7 yards a carry…What was even more impressive in this game though was the play of the Redskins defense, particularly rookie linebacker Ryan Kerrigan. This guy is a tackling machine and made several key tackles in open space against the Rams. They held the Rams to just………

6. Ben Roethlisberger is the toughest player in the NFL. You can argue with me all you want, but when someone gets back up again and again from the beatings he takes every single week, there is no doubt. Toughest player in the NFL. On that note, is there an answer for the Steelers offensive line?

7. Maybe Minnesota really is this bad. They seemed to live on the Chiefs side of the field, but could never capitalize on their field position. With so many weapons on offense like Peterson, Harvin, even a pass-catching tight end like Kyle Rudolph, you have to start to question the play-calling.

8. Upset of the week: San Francisco. Goat of the week: Alex Henery. Alex Henery kicks those two field goals and the Eagles win this game. This is a huge loss for the Eagles in the competitive NFC East. They had multiple opportunities to put this game away but never did anything with them. The Eagles 28% scoring percentage in the redzone is really sad. Ronnie Brown literally threw a pass falling to the ground, Vick throws an interception, Henery misses two fields goals. It’s still a long season, but the “Dream Team” needs to figure out how to put away games.

9. The Falcons were lucky to come away with this win in Seattle. After dominating the first half, Atlanta seemed to, once again, lose its identity. Not only did they lose their identity, but they also lost all ability in the ground attack. Michael Turner was running into a brick wall after halftime.

10. Denver was no match for Green Bay. Whenever the Broncos appeared to draw a little bit closer, the Packers made a big play. One player to point out for the Broncos though was rookie Von Miller. He is going to grow into a force onto defense and illustrated the start of something special with two sacks on Aaron Rodgers.

11. The Giants finally decided to show up in this game with about 5 minutes left in the 4^th quarter. They got an extremely lucky call when Arizona could not challenge the ruling that Cruz was never touched. That may be the rule right now, but it needs to be changed. Despite the call, the Giants made plays when they had to and came away with a key win to make them 3-1.

12. The turning point in the Raiders-Patriots game came late in the 2^nd quarter when Campbell threw the interception in the endzone. The Patriots followed going on a 17-3 scoring run. If Campbell doesn’t turn the ball over there, the Raiders at least stand a chance in this game.

13. One thing I have always loved about Philip Rivers is his ability to throw the deep ball. Not only his ability to throw the deep ball, but his willingness to throw it deep. Rivers did not turn the ball over this Sunday either, which he has done twice in each of the last 3 games.

14. I know the Jaguars were playing the Saints and had to air the ball out at times, but their play-calling was skeptical. It’s inexcusable to get Maurice Jones-Drew only 11 carries. They were still in the game and did not have to panic and pass the ball as much.

15. I have had the opportunity to watch Mark Sanchez quarterback for the Jets for the past three seasons. Someone please save me. "He" may have won playoff games and "he" may have brought the Jets to AFC Championships, but it was definitely not him. The team is all defense. If they turn the ball over or make special teams mistakes, they will not win games. The "Sanchize" will not win a Superbowl in this league as a starting quarterback.

Fraser's Findings

Sunday is for Football and what a Sunday it was. An exciting day of comebacks, close games, and huge upsets. Visit the blog tomorrow to see my week 4 record and findings from each week 4 game!