NFL Week 7 Snap Judgments

This weekend was arguably the best weekend slate of games in the NFL thus far this season.  Seven games had finals within 7 points, 3 of which were determined on the final possession.  My Ravens found themselves on the short end of the stick on one of those last-minute scores which I'll get into in a bit, but it was overall a fantastic weekend with plenty of dramatic conclusions.

1. Geno Smith may not light up the scoreboard the way Cam Newton, RGIII, or Andrew Luck do, but he's got a bright future ahead of him.  Smith's line on game looked unimpressive but efficient: 17 of 33 for 233 yards, a touchdown, and a pick-6, but he looked a heck of a lot more comfortable playing than a month ago.  The Jets' quarterback situation was a laughing stock entering the regular season with Sanchez hurt (and eventually done for the season), and the untested rookie Smith being forced to start.  I thought 4 wins for the entire season would be very likely, but they have 4 wins now, and could well finish around .500 by season's end.

2. It had nothing to do with the game itself, but one Jets fan deserves the Goat of the Week Award for punching a woman in the face.  I don't know who this guy is, I don't know what led to the incident, and I don't know who said what to whom.  But none of that matters.  This guy is a jerk, and I hope he's arrested for his actions.  Take a look:

3. Just when you thought you had forgotten about Josh McCown, he resurfaces yet again.  I had no idea Josh McCown was still playing in the NFL.  If you had asked me even last week who was Jay Cutler's backup, I would never have been able to guess.  He was forced into playing Sunday when Cutler went down with a groin injury, and actually was serviceable while letting Matt Forte carry the bulk of the workload.  Time will tell how much McCown will play going forward, but he may be serviceable as long as he remembers he can just hand the ball off to Forte.  Then again, this is Josh McCown we're talking about.

4. Are ACL injuries coming in greater numbers now than ever before, or is it just me?  Before the season even started, several notable players went down with season-ending ACL injuries.  They included the Packers' Bryan Bulaga, the Eagles' Jeremy Maclin, the Broncos' Dan Koppen, and the 49ers' Chris Culliver.  You can even add Adrian Peterson and RGIII to that list considering they were coming off ACL injuries late last year.  This weekend, Sam Bradford and Reggie Wayne both tore their ACLs, and Bryan Cushing tore his LCL.  I don't recall hearing many reports of injuries like these prior to around 2001, but I'm sure they happened.  How did athletes recover from such injuries before modern medicine had developed reconstructive surgeries and rehab programs?  Were their careers essentially over if they did sustain such an injury?  I highly doubt the NFL could do much to minimize torn cruciate ligaments the way they are trying to minimize concussions and other head injuries, but they are becoming more and more prevalent every season.

5. The Bengals are officially the Cardiac Cats.  That's two last-second, game-winning field goals for the Bengals now, both of which came on the road.  I didn't think the Bengals were quite ready to take the next step to play with the big boys in the AFC, but putting together big wins like those can go a long way to building confidence, and maybe even a home playoff game or two come January.  Given how the Ravens have struggled this season, the Bengals could be a year ahead of where I had expected them to be.

6. Speaking of the Ravens struggling.... Ugh.  The game on Sunday was a typical Ravens/Steelers match up, filled with hard hits, tension, and drama, as well as a last-second play to win the game.  I knew it would come down to one or two crucial decisions or plays to win the game, and even though John Harbaugh has caught a little heat for going for an onside kick with over 10 minutes to go in the 4th quarter, I didn't mind the call.  I thought it was gutsy, and perfectly timed to catch the Steelers off guard.  It just didn't work out the way he had hoped.  If it did work, he'd likely get plenty of kudos and pats on the back this week.

I actually thought the game's outcome was a bit ironic.  After the Ravens had scored a game-tying touchdown with under 2 minutes to go in the game, the Steelers' Emmanuel Sanders returned the ensuing kickoff for a go-ahead touchdown.  However, the play was called back because Sanders had stepped out of bounds around the Steelers' 40-yard line.  It was the right call, and the refs had correctly caught it.  The irony here is that the Ravens would have been better off had the touchdown stood because they would have gotten the ball back with about 1:45 to play in the game with 2 timeouts.  They could have tried for another game-tying drive, and considering Joe Flacco had been 9 for 9 on the previous touchdown drive, the Steelers couldn't stop him.  Instead, the Steelers kept the ball and drove down for a game-winning field goal.

7. Beware the Chargers.  It's amazing what a difference not having Norv Turner as head coach is.  Turner is one of those guys who has long been better fit as a coordinator than head coach, and I'm shocked that he was around in San Diego for as long as he was.  Most of Philip Rivers' best years in the league were relatively wasted under Turner, and I actually thought he would never bounce back with a bad offensive line and depleted group of receivers.  Instead, the Chargers are a respectable 4-3, and Rivers has thrown 15 touchdowns against 5 interceptions already, with a completion percentage of a very impressive 73.9.  I don't expect the Chargers to make a playoff run, considering the Chiefs and Broncos are both in their division, but they are quickly rebuilding.

8. Alex Smith's fake hand off touchdown run might be the best improvised play of the year.  If you haven't yet seen this play, this is something to marvel at.  The Chiefs were driving down to score and had the ball at the Texans' 5-yard line.  Alex Smith was supposed to hand the ball off to Jamaal Charles, but Charles went the wrong way and wasn't there to carry the ball.  Smith was left to fake a hand off to nobody, and wound up running in to score by himself.  If that description doesn't make sense to you - and it probably won't - here's a video to check out.  Kinda makes me wonder what kind of career Alex Smith would have had in an alternate universe where he didn't go through one offensive system after another.

9. Pyrrhic victory: Greg Schiano might have been right about Josh Freeman all along.  Freeman looked like he had no business playing quarterback for any NFL team last night.  A QB whose line on the night is 20 of 53 for 190 yards is pathetic in and of itself, but he also overthrew his receivers sixteen times.  Granted, he had only been with the Vikings for 10 days, so he barely had enough time to learn the playbook much less build rapport with his teammates.  Still, I couldn't even bear watching the game last night for more than a few minutes considering how awful both teams looked.  Schiano will face the chopping block in Tampa soon enough, but at least he knew what he was talking about in Freeman.