New York Giants 26, San Francisco 49ers 3
Yeah, we all saw this coming. San Francisco couldn’t have possibly played a more inept game that what we saw Sunday against the defending champs. Alex Smith made poor decision after poor decision while the play-calling seemed to be up to Friday Night Lights levels. They were, by all accounts, atrocious in this game. Offense, special teams, coaching and even defense.
Meanwhile, New York ran rough-shot over a 49ers’ team that had won their previous two games by a combined 79-3 score. Consistency is the issue for New York, but if they continue to play like this no one has a shot to unseat them in the NFC East. It really is that simple.
Buffalo Bills 19, Arizona Cardinals 16
Not a good game here by the Cardinals. Not only did they lose to a struggling Bills team, they lost Kevin Kolb to what appears to be somewhat of a serious injury. This team is reeling following two consecutive losses and could soon find themselves in the midst of a long-term losing streak due to their upcoming schedule. Arizona takes on the Minnesota Vikings, San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons over the course of their next four games.
Buffalo seems to have righted the ship, but still did get destroyed on the defensive side of the ball. Arizona, without the services of either Ryan Williams or Beanie Wells, still put up a ridiculous 182 yards on the ground. If they don’t get that fixed soon, Buffalo has no shot in the AFC East.
Seattle Seahawks 24, New England Patriots 23
We all know that Seattle is much different team at home than they are on the road, but their performance against New England on Sunday sent a strong message to the rest of the NFC West. Trailing by 13 points with less than a half of quarter remaining, Russell Wilson led Seattle to two touchdown scoring drives and a surprising 24-23 win over the Patriots.
Seattle now takes their stout defense and improving young quarterback to the Bay Area to take on the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night in what promises to be a sock em, knock em type of football game.
Meanwhile, New England fell to 0-2 against the NFC West....Yeah, we all saw that coming. They are now in a four-way tie for first place in the AFC East and appear to have hit the bump in the road that every team goes through at some point in the season. They now have what has to be an important divisional game against the New York Jets next week before having to travel to St. Louis to take on a vastly improved Rams team.
Miami Dolphins 17, St. Louis Rams 14
St. Louis wasted a golden opportunity to be in a four-way tie for first in the NFC West after losing a closely fought contest with Miami on Sunday. While it appears that the Rams dominated the game, at least in terms of stats, they just couldn’t come away with touchdowns, therefore allowing Miami to stay in and eventually win the game.
Considering how vastly improved the NFC West is, this could be a huge loss moving forward.