Article by Gordon Dedman
The Baltimore
Ravens are winless no more, while Michael
Vick confirmed he is no Ben
Roethlisberger and the Cleveland
Browns shot themselves in the foot
with a needless offside penalty.
The one dependable element of the division
is Andy Dalton and he is easily the
headline man of the weekend. He looks better than ever and it’s going to be
tough for Cincinnati’s division
rivals to knock them off their perch after their first 4-0 start for a decade.
Cleveland at San Diego
The Browns quarterback Josh McCown had one statistic against
the Chargers that came good again,
although it was bad for Cleveland. McCown was 2-8 when he has thrown over 300
yards. After throwing for 356 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions
Sunday, he is now 2-9.
In a game that both run defenses
dominated, McCown could have even thrown in the kitchen sink, but the win was
always going to evade him. After the Browns put the first points on the board,
the lead changed five times as both teams fiercely chased the win.
As I repeat often; the NFL produces extraordinary
games that climax in exceptional fashion and this was yet another one. Midway
through the final period, the Chargers took a 27-19 lead. McCown then guided
Cleveland to a 10-play drive that finished with his 1-yard pass to Gary Barnidge.
To tie the game, the Browns needed to
succeed with their first two points after attempt of the season. McCown
produced the goods with his pass to Taylor
Gabriel and the scoreboard showed 27-27.
The Chargers Phillip Rivers had the final opportunity to produce the win
with 2:09 remaining. Rivers led his team down the field to provide rookie
Josh Lambo a chance to kick a field goal of 39 yards. Not one, but two twists
in this tale occurred.
Lambo’s kick faded right, but Cleveland’s twelfth
penalty of the game, a senseless offside, allowed Lambo to kick again to give
San Diego the 30-27 win with his 34-yard field goal.
Kansas City at Cincinnati
Although the Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith threw 65
more yards than the Bengals Andy
Dalton’s 321 yards, Kansas was restricted to kicking field goals, while
Cincinnati punched in four touchdowns on the ground complemented by Dalton’s
scoring pass to Brandon Tate.
Andy Dalton showed why he is becoming one of the league’s elite
quarterbacks. Picking the snap from the turf and then making a 36-yard completion
and throwing a 55-yard touchdown while on the run, Dalton’s versatility demands
respect and has raised his statue in the Bengals 36-21 win.
"It's what we expect from this offense," Dalton
said. "We've got everybody back, we're healthy. We've done a great job
so far getting to 4-0."
Baltimore at Pittsburgh
The good news for Steeler fans was Ben Roethlisberger’s appearance with the team, but
the bad news was he didn’t play. The sight of him on the sideline without
crutches can only give encouragement for a quicker return from injury than
first projected.
With Michael Vick in for Roethlisberger, the
Steelers offense was never going to be as powerful as it has been in the first
three games. Antonio Brown’s meagre 42
yards that broke his streak of 35 consecutive games with at least five catches
for 50 yards paints a picture of their stifled offense.
The story of the night was the missed
field goals of Josh Scobee which,
when the game went into overtime, forced Coach
Tomlin to change his game plan and forgo two opportunities to attempt field
goals and go for it on fourth down. Both times the Steelers failed and when the
Justin Tucker kicked a 52-yard field
goal, it gave a 23-20 victory to the Ravens
After the game, Baltimore Coach John Harbaugh said, “In
this league, most games come to three points. We have a great kicker.”
Over the weekend, the Steelers released Scobee and signed Chris Boswell.
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