New England Patriots 31, Denver Broncos 21
For all the hype surrounding this game as a passing extravaganza, the Patriots took care of their opponent in an extremely uncharacteristic manner. The Patriots are well known for what they can do through the air, but this season they are starting to build a reputation for what they can do on the ground. The Pats showed off their new style of offense Sunday against Peyton Manning and the Broncos.
What looked to be an early lopsided New England victory, turned out to be a thrilling well-fought game by both teams. Denver mistakes let New England jump out to a quick 7-0 lead. By halftime the up-tempo Patriots increased their lead to 17-7 and had the Broncos in a deep hole. Late in the game the Broncos could not find an answer to the lightning fast New England tempo and fell further behind and were now trailing 31-7. The Broncos managed to step up their play late and Manning nearly lead the Broncos back. A costly Willis McGahee fumble deep in New England territory sealed the victory for New England. The gritty Broncos rallied to nearly pull it out in the end, but fell short losing to the Patriots 31-21.
Brady was an efficient 23 of 31 in passing attempts and threw for 223 yards. He is now 9-4 all-time versus Manning. Manning threw for 345 yards and had three TD passes, but the Patriot backfield proved to be the real story. The running back combo of Ridley and Bolden rushed for over 200 yards in the victory over the Broncos.
The Broncos put up a valiant effort and Manning kept the Broncos in the game till the end, but the Denver defense could not seem to find an answer to Brady and the Patriot ground game. New England’s newfound ground attack is reminiscent of the Cory Dillon days in New England. Ridley rushed for a career high 151 yards and a TD and Bolden contributed a respectable 54 yards on the ground.
Miami Dolphins 17, Cincinnati Bengals 13
The Miami secondary has allowed nearly 300 yards passing per game up to this point in the season. Surely the Bengals’ potent aerial attack would be more than the Miami secondary could handle? Think again. In the battle of first and second year quarterbacks, the Dolphins’ Ryan Tannehill came away an unlikely victor as the Dolphins upset Andy Dalton and the favored Bengals 17-13.
Miami started the game sloppy turning the ball over twice giving the Bengals two field goals and an early 6-0 lead. The Dolphins quickly found their offensive rhythm and drove down the field finishing with a Daniel Thomas touchdown run. Miami took a 7-6 lead heading into halftime.
In the second half Tannehill played well and the Dolphins scored another 10 points in the third quarter. The Cincinnati offense could not seem to get anything going and Miami cornerback Sean Smith held Bengals’ WR AJ Green in check for most of the game. In the final quarter Dalton and the Bengals finally found an offensive rhythm and capped a scoring drive with a jump ball to Green for the Bengals first and only TD of the day. A late rally by the Bengals fell short when Dalton was intercepted with less than two minutes left in the game.
The Dolphins’ rookie quarterback has been impressive through the first four games thus far and continued his veteran like play Sunday against the Bengals. Tannehill threw for 223 yards and has the surprising Dolphins playing well early in the season. On the other side Dalton had a respectable day throwing for 234 yards one TD and two interceptions. The Miami defense held the Bengals to only 80 yards rushing and is allowing an NFL best 61.4 rush yards per game.
The Dolphins finally got over the hump this week, after dropping the last two games in tough overtime losses to the Jets and Cardinals. This victory moves the Dolphins into a three-way tie for second place in the AFC East, while the loss drops the Bengals to 3-2 and second place in the AFC North.
Houston Texans 23, New York Jets 17
The Heavily favored Houston Texans made it a closer game than most people expected, in the victory Monday night against the New York Jets. The Jets were coming off a humiliating defeat last week at the hands of San Francisco. The banged up gang from New York pulled out the entire playbook against the undefeated Texans, but it was not enough falling 23-17 on Monday Night Football.
The Texans started the game hot with and impressive opening drive culminated by a perfect play action pass to TE Owen Daniels. The Jets on the other hand started out slow missing on a couple deep balls that could have put them up early. Gang Green’s defense stepped up by intercepting Matt Schaub allowing the Jets offense to quickly get back on track with a strike from Sanchez to TE Cumberland. In the end the Texans offense proved to be too much for the Jets to handle and outlasted the J-E-T-S for their fifth consecutive victory.
The Jets kept it close for most of the game. Jets offensive coordinator Tony Sporano pulled out the bag of tricks including a fake punt, onside kick, Wildcat plays and even playing CB Antonio Cromartie on offense, but it was not enough to beat the high octane Texans. Running back Arian Foster led the way for Houston rushing for 152 yards and scoring one Touchdown. Schaub was solid all game passing for 209 yards and a TD. Daniels led the Texans in receiving with 79 yards and a TD.
The Texans look like a powerhouse playoff team and have yet to drop a game. Next week they look to stay unbeaten as Green Bay travels to Houston for what could be a Super Bowl preview. The Jets now have lost two straight and are struggling to find an identity. Next week they take on the heavy hearted Colts team and try to stay afloat in a suddenly jumbled AFC East.
San Francisco 49ers 45, Buffalo Bills 3
See NFC West story here
Sources: NFL.com