Because I'm not perfect at formatting things, you'll notice that the home team is neither on top or on the bottom in every single game you see below. However, I'm happy to inform you that through the first set of games the home team went a whopping 7-1.
That includes the Browns stunning the Bengals (well, some of us saw it coming) and the Jets whipping the Colts (some of us did not). The only team to lose? The Eagles, who are going to have a very, very, very long bye week. At least Andy Reid is awesome following the break, though, ammaright?
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Anyway, the Week 6 team-by-team grades are below. As always, leave your complaints and comments below, or feel free to tell me what a great job I did on Twitter @willbrinson.
| Team | Grade | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Titans 26, Steelers 23 | ||
| B | Chris Johnson isn't "back," but at least he looked OK on Thursday. The Titans were extremely opportunistic when they needed to be and Matt Hasselbeck had a couple impressive drives. They were primarily bailed out by Pittsburgh being awful, but, hey, whatever it takes to win, right? | |
| D | Short week for the Steelers, and good on Ben Roethlisberger for breaking Terry Bradshaw's passing-yards record, but this was a horrid effort in general. A blocked punt, a bad pick by Ben and a defense unable to stop the Titans on their game-winning drive. | |
| Buccaneers 38, Chiefs 10 | ||
| B | Not that this wasn't a beatdown, but it was like the Chiefs repeatedly shooting themselves in the foot did more than the Buccaneers executing, right? Big game for Josh Freeman statistically, and Vincent Jackson caught a pair of teeters. Congrats for stopping Brady Quinn? | |
| F | Everyone in Kansas City should be required to sign a "Get Well Soon" card for Matt Cassel. The Chiefs were destroyed by Mike Williams while Steve Maneri [furiously Googles "Steve Maneri"] was their leading receiver. Jamaal Charles got 12 carries. It's not fair to Chiefs fans, all of this, cheering an injury aside. | |
| Browns 34, Bengals 24 | ||
| A- | I can't give Brandon Weeden anything other than an A on his birthday, right? But, really, nice game for him. Trent Richardson's injury is terrifying, but Josh Gordon's emerging as a guy who could end up justifying his supplemental draft pick. This defense is so, so, so much better when Joe Haden is on the field, the tackling on Jermaine Gresham in the first quarter aside. Maybe even the best in the AFC North. Seriously. | |
| D+ | The Bengals had some nice plays -- the garbage-time bomb to A.J. Green from Andy Dalton was just gorgeous -- but they were run out of town by the Browns in the second half. That's never a good thing. | |
| Falcons 23, Raiders 20 | ||
| C- | Matt Ryan threw three picks, two of which were inexcusable and the rushing attack didn't even exist on Sunday. But the defense was the big concern: they got gashed by Oakland most of the day. Were it not for an Asante Samuel pick-six, they lose this game. 6-0 is great, but they've used up "divisional rivalry," "tough road game" and "trap game" as their excuses the last three weeks. | |
| C+ | An absolutely crippling loss for a Raiders team that was supposed to get blown out in Atlanta. Darren McFadden ran the ball well, Carson Palmer looked good most of the day, Denarius Moore had a mini-breakout and the defense did a good job of pressuring Matt Ryan. What a back-breaking interception from Palmer. | |
| Ravens 31, Cowboys 29 | ||
| C+ | The Ravens ended up winning this game, but it came at a price: They're worried Lardarius Webb could have a torn ACL and Haloti Ngata might have an MCL injury. That's not good for a defense that was dominated on the ground all day long by the entire Dallas running-back depth chart. | |
| D+ | Please don't blame Dez Bryant for this loss. He had a very nice game. Blame Jason Garrett and Tony Romo if you must. The clock management at the end of the fourth quarter was terrible, and giving up a bad pick near halftime that allowed Joe Flacco to march wasn't very smart either. | |
| Dolphins 17, Rams 14 | ||
| B- | Reggie Bush had 17 yards on 12 carries, which is pretty stank, but it's hard to hate on Ryan Tannehill, who went 21 of 29 for two touchdowns. It's not hard to hate on the referees in this game, who seemed to kind of hose Miami out of two fumbles recovered. Impressive job by the defense early (and late), particularly in the red zone. | |
| C | Gah, Greg Zuerlein, you are such a choker. Just kidding -- 66-yard field goals are tough to make. It's clear that Sam Bradford really misses Danny Amendola and it's kind of clear Jeff Fisher likes Daryl Richardson better than Steven Jackson. Not converting when they got near Miami's end zone early ended up costing them. | |
| Jets 35, Colts 9 | ||
| B+ | Couldn't have been more wrong about this game: The Jets showed up on both sides of the ball Sunday, in a big way. I'd like to see them use Tim Tebow in smarter spots, but the faked punt before halftime was an absolute gamechanger. Shonn Greene ran for 161 yards and had three touchdowns. Let that one sink in. | |
| D | Zero effort from the Colts defense on Sunday (see: Shonn Greene). The Jets only needed to attempt 19 passes in this blowout, which is not where you want them. It was a young team, on the road, coming off an emotional comeback win and it was a reminder that Indy's a little ways from being a real contender. | |
| Lions 26, Eagles 23 | ||
| C | There are major issues with the Lions offense right now, but it seemed like the defense came out of a five-week blackout late on Sunday to sack Michael Vick, force overtime and then force a punt. If Detroit plays like they did late, they might actually be able to make a run. First time they've looked inspired the entire season. | |
| C- | At times Mike Vick looked incredibly composed, and he made a few critical runs and throws to put the Eagles in position to win, but the sacks in overtime were just inexplicable. | |
| Bills vs. Cardinals | ||
| C- | Someone had to win this trainwreck and the Bills were the better team, letting Brad Smith take a shot downfield out of the wildcat with a lead and three minutes left not withstanding. Nothing cures a terrible, overpaid pass rush quite like the Cardinals offensive line. | |
| D | Good on John Skelton for getting them in position to let Jay Feely smoke a 61-yarder. Bad on Feely for shanking the short, would-be game-winner. Worse on Skelton for setting up the game-losing field goal with a terrible pick late. Arizona has to be better on defense against bad teams like the Bills, especially at home. | |
| Giants vs. 49ers | ||
| F | The best offensive line in football didn't look so great Sunday, giving up six sacks. But the 49ers aren't built to play from behind -- see: Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter only carrying 12 times combined -- and if you get them down, you can step on their throat. And the Niners got stepped on at home Sunday. | |
| A | My west-coast, money-line, all-Giants parlay lives! Going into San Francisco and beating the 49ers like the Giants did is extremely impressive. The defense we saw Sunday was the defending champs defense, as they hounded Alex Smith (and picked him thrice) and stuffed Frank Gore. Eli Manning and Ahmad Bradshaw did what they needed to do on offense. | |
| Patriots vs. Seahawks | ||
| C- | Tom Brady's intentional grounding to end the first half really sticks out: the Patriots could've been up 24-10 and ended this game. Instead, the offense let Seattle hang around by only scoring six points in the second half. The defense couldn't limit Russell Wilson and the result was a stunning loss for New England. | |
| B- | The Seahawks don't win pretty often and that was the case on Sunday. But can we please quit the "Where's Matt Flynn???" whining out of Seattle now? Russell Wilson looked great against the Patriots. If he grows into his role and Marshawn Lynch really gets going, that defense -- which did a nice job, especially late -- will make this a very dangerous team. | |
| Vikings vs. Redskins | ||
| D | Nothing physical about the defense on this day for the Vikings: Robert Griffin III rushed for 138 yards, including a 76-yard run to seal the game. Christian Ponder finally had a mistake-filled day, and when they got down, there wasn't a whole lot Minnesota could do to come back. | |
| B | This wasn't a perfect game for the Redskins, but finally winning one at home was HUGE. RG3 did some crazy things offensively, and looked fully recovered from his concussion last week. Nice effort from the defense to stymie a heretofore dangerous Vikings offense. | |
| Packers 42, Texans 24 | ||
| A+ | Takes a lot to warrant the old A+, but going on the road and whipping an undefeated team like the Texans will get you there. It helps when Aaron Rodgers throws six touchdown passes and the defense limits Arian Foster to 29 rushing yards on 17 carries of course. Talk about a statement game. | |
| D+ | Don't act like the Texans are "done" or whatever: but they're not built to play from far behind out of the gates. Their offensive line got manhandled and there should be some major concern about Johnathan Joseph being torched the last few weeks. Just a bad week to end up playing against the Packers. | |
| Broncos vs. Chargers | ||
| B | The Broncos would get a higher grade but a better team would've put them away for good. Peyton Manning busted out for a big second half and threw three touchdowns, but that first half was pretty terrible and there's no reason they should've been in this game. The defense, which was bad in the first half, scored twice. They're now in the driver's seat in the AFC West though. | |
| F | Can I give Philip Rivers and Norv Turner an "I" for implosion? Because they put up an A in the first half and an F- times one billion in the second. They lost a 24-point halftime lead as Rivers threw four picks (two returned for touchdowns) in the second half and the defense got tore up by Manning. What an absolute debacle. | |