Article by Mark Brown
Green Bay Packers 10 – 29 Denver Broncos
Denver's Offense in heaven as they make it seven
This week Peyton Manning was good, very good and for me proved that rather than being finished he could actually, now, be getting used to the new way of playing under Kubiak. Manning chose this game to equal Brett Favre's record with his 180th regular season win.
Playing in their famous alternate blue shirts from the 1997 Super Bowl win over the Packers Denver finally got both Defense and Offense working in tandem. Manning threw for 340 yards going 21 of 29 and the bootleg that some experts have said Manning can't do worked just fine. Although Manning didn't throw for a touchdown, actually neither quarterback did, he finally looked the five time MVP that we all know he is.
On the other side of the ball Denver's defense, now the tightest in the league, managed to restrict the Packers to just 140 yards all game. In fact this would have to go down as one of the worst games of Aaron Rodgers' career. He was sacked three times and hit four times on the Green Bay's first drive.
For Denver Ronnie Hillman got two touchdowns, CJ Anderson another and Demarius Thomas caught eight passes for 168 yards. Green Bay just had no answer to the best defense in the league and their usually fast moving offense that had scored sixty six first quarter points previously looked somewhat ineffective.
Green Bay's coach Mike McCarthy said after the game - " That's a humbling loss. I haven't had my ass kicked like that for a long time. Gary Kubiak had his team playing a lot faster than I had my team playing tonight and I don't feel good about how we performed"
I for one am still smiling as this was one game that had me worried but if this performance is a yardstick for what the Broncos are capable of then I will say it now – Don't bet against them finishing the season unbeaten. As far as the Super Bowl goes I will wait and see but if I could afford it I would be booking my tickets now.
Next up for the Broncos the Colts on Sunday 8th November.
New York Jets 20 – 34 Oakland Raiders
Carr superb again as the Jets crash and burn
Oakland quarterback Derek Carr threw for 333 yards and four touchdowns in this one and sometimes it is easy to forget that it wasn't that long ago that he was a somewhat inconsistent rookie. The Raiders are now 4-3 and have a winning record for the first time since 2011 – largely thanks to, in my opinion, the superb Carr and if he has his way things will only improve after he told waiting reporters - "We want more. We are not satisfied with we're .500. We are not satisfied with that at all. I'm not built that way."
Latavius Murray ran for 113 yards, Andre Holmes caught two touchdown passes and Michael Crabtree had 102 receiving yards and a score. Everything just seemed to click for Oakland as they exposed the Jets time and again. Surprising really as the Jets' defense had been very resolute in the first six games.
New York's Geno Smith threw for 265 yards and two touchdown passes of his own – not bad since it was his first action since being punched by teammate Ik Emenkpali but they just had no answers to an impressive Oakland offense and Carr in particular. Oakland's defense also got in on the action though shutting down the Jets running game, restricting them to a paltry 17 yards on 15 carries.
If only Oakland could shake off the inconsistency demons – with Carr in this kind of form who knows what they could achieve?
Next up for the Raiders is the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday 8th November
Detroit Lions 10 – 45 Kansas City Chiefs
Wembley Stadium witnesses a thrashing as the International Series concludes for 2015
If anybody wanted confirmation that American Football is big business here in the UK then they need look no further than the attendance figures for this one. A whopping 83,624 turned up in force to watch this one at Wembley – it was just a shame that it turned out to be such a one sided affair.
The unusually limp Lions just seemed to turn up and roll over for this one and the Chiefs ran out comfortable winners. Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith looked comfortable and moved the ball around nicely and if anyone of the players were still suffering jet lag he wasn't one of them.
I have already said in recent weeks that given time, Kansas under new head coach John Fox are going to be a force to be reckoned with and this just confirms my suspicions. I for one liked his philosophy at Denver and was somewhat sad to see him go. The old saying goes "you can only beat what's in front of you" and although the Lions did not play well the Chiefs didn't just beat them they completely thrashed them.
Some would argue that the Lions were just bad on the day – Matt Stafford was sacked an incredible seven times, three of which were in three consecutive plays in the second quarter and a string of errors on the ball mixed with some downright awful defending would certainly confirm that but I would like to think that just perhaps it was a bit of both. That perhaps the Lions looked so bad because just maybe the Chiefs were that good.
Chiefs RB Charcandrick West shined again here leading the team in rushing yards and any worries that the rookie wouldn't be able to fill injured Jamaal Charles' boots must surely be disappearing.
Just how good the Chiefs are becoming we will all know soon enough given their next opponents, the date of which is already in my diary.
Next up for the Chiefs is the Denver Broncos on Sunday 15th November
San Diego Chargers 26 – 29 Baltimore Ravens
Heartache again for the Chargers as Ravens finally see a game out to win in dying seconds
Philip Rivers must be wondering what more he can do as the Chargers lose again for the third time in the games final play. This was a record setting performance for Chargers quarterback Rivers as he went 28 of 37 for 301 yards – a franchise first fifth consecutive 300 yard game.
Rivers told the waiting press after the game - "It's been tough losing this way again
. Whatever the answer to the problem is – we haven't found the answer" San Diego's losing streak this season has consisted of games that they have lost by margins as close as 4,7,8 and now 3 points as they just can't seem to score a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
So as the Chargers sink further to the bottom of the division the Ravens are hoping this win might kick start their worst start to a season. Joe Flacco went 25 of 37 for 319 yards and scored a touchdown after a neat 38 yard drive. The down side for Baltimore was the loss of veteran Steve Smith for the season with an achilles injury and given that he has already said this would be his last season in the NFL it probably means we won's see him play again unless he has a change of heart.
This was a real back and forth kind of game which ultimately ended in heartache again for the chargers and quite what they have to do to get over this alarming slump is anyone's guess but how they must be wishing for the end of the season to come quickly so they can go back to the drawing board. The only glimmer of hope is they have the Bears next and in my opinion are more than capable of winning that one.
Next up for the Chargers is the Chicago Bears on Tuesday 10th November
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