Denver
Broncos 16 – 10 Oakland Raiders
Broncos win
again and now have as many wins as the Chargers, the Raiders and the Chiefs
combined.
Ironic
really, that last year it was Manning
and his Offense that took all the plaudits because this year it seems Manning
and Co are just along for the ride as the Denver
Defense seem to have all the answers.
Five games in and so far the Defense is responsible for 22 sacks, 14
turnovers and three defensive touchdowns.
“We want to
play better offensively. We all want to
do our jobs but somehow, someway it’s about getting a Broncos win” Said Manning after the game.
Denver’s
Quarterback finished the game 22 of 35 for 266 yards but only managed to run
the ball for 43 yards and had two interceptions and two sacks. The most sacks this season since his rookie
year.
Derek Carr’s stats were no better for Oakland
as he threw for 249 yards and three touchdowns and took the defeat hard,
telling the after game press conference “It’s really hard because we feel we have
left something on the field. We’ve left
a win out there”
Personally,
I don’t think, myself included that if you asked the Bronco’s fans they would
care how the wins come as long as they keep coming. Denver have now gone 8 straight wins and call
me biased but I can’t anything other than a Super Bowl berth for Denver this year. Oakland, on the other hand seem to have
fallen back in to their old ways of inconsistency and despite having plenty of
chances to snatch victory just couldn’t manage it.
Next up for the Broncos is the
Browns on the 18th October.
Next up for Oakland is a visit to
San Diego on the 25th October.
Pittsburgh
Steelers 24 – 20 San Diego Chargers
Le’Veon Bell
the hero as Pittsburgh steel the win
Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
With only
five seconds left, down by three and the ball on the one yard line Pittsburgh
needed a miracle and Bell duly obliged.
With voracious Pittsburgh fans roaring their team on making this feel
like a home game Bell took the direct snap, went left, through the traffic and
dived for the end zone managing to get the ball over the line whilst being
dragged down by Chargers Donald Butler.
Chargers
Quarterback Rivers said after the
game “It
was a tough environment tonight, it felt like we were the road team”
This was a
thrilling encounter and actually both teams did enough to win it and either
team was always going to be unlucky to lose but on the day it was Pittsburgh
that had the least errors. Rivers was
intercepted, rookie Lambo missed a
60 yard field goal attempt and the only shining light on the day was the return
of Antonio Gates after a four game
suspension for PED offences. Rivers has
now thrown 74 touchdown passes to Gates – the most in NFL history. Gates looked like he wasn’t far from re-finding
his rhythm and will be key in the coming weeks if San Diego are going to keep
their season going.
Next up for the Chargers is a
visit to the Green bay on 18th October
Chicago
Bears 18 – 17 Kansas City Chiefs
Bears stage
a come back to snatch the win in Kansas.
Quarterback Jay Cutler lead the Bears to two
touchdowns in the closing minutes in Kansas, the second of which was to Matt
Forte with 18 seconds left to get a very big win for Chicago. The reason why it was such a big win was
because they were playing with round pegs in square holes as they were without
WR’s Alshon Jeffrey and Eddie Royal and three starting
linemen. Oh and not to mention they
trailed Kansas 17-3 as late as the third quarter.
What is
going to be even harder for the Chiefs to take after this defeat is that they
lost RB Jamaal Charles with a season
ending ACL injury only months after his return from the same injury. Charles is a massive player for Kansas and
losing him now is only going to make a bad season even worse. Whether Charles is going to be able to return
at all we will only know after preliminary MRI scans this week. Fingers crossed this is only a season ending
injury and not a career ending one.
Chiefs
Quarterback Alex Smith went 16 of 30
for 181 yards and was sacked three times.
That’s now 22 for the season so it’s not hard to see where the problem
lies. Any QB, even the legends such as Elway or Marino needed time to pull the trigger. Being a Broncos fan I can honestly say that
if ex Broncos coach John Fox is given time he will get it right. There is always a transition period when a
new coach comes in to any team. Fox won’t make an impact this season
now but if he’s still there next season – watch this space.
Next up a trip to the Minnesota
on 18th October.
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