THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY WEEK 9

The Good: Joe Flacco and the Ravens down the Steelers for the second time this year.

As usual, this battle between the two AFC North heavyweights was one of the best games of the week, and of the year. However, it was Joe Flacco who came away with the biggest win of his young career. After having never beaten Roethlisberger before this season, Flacco swept Roethlisberger and the Ravens look to take the division for the first time in years. Most impressively, it took a 92 yard touchdown drive with two minutes left in the game against the formidable Steelers defense for the Ravens to secure a win. Flacco has looked extremely mediocre all season long, throwing for only one touchdown in the last 4 games, but this is exactly the type of performance the Ravens’ organization and fan base were looking to see out of him. Flacco has tended to struggle in big games, so his strong performance at the end of the game was the most impressive performance of the week. If the Ravens can keep this momentum up and not lose games against teams they are supposed to beat (i.e. losing to the Jags just two week ago), they could turn out to be the best team in the AFC.

Runner Up: The Jets dominating defense forced three turnovers and held the Bills to 11 points.

The Bad: The Patriots offense fails to score over 20 points… again.

What in God’s name is wrong with the Patriots? We all know their defense is mediocre, but their offense was shut out in the first half for the first time in over 70 games. And it was against a banged up and struggling Giants defense! We excused the offense when they struggled against the Steelers defense, since the Steelers tend to always have one of the best defenses in the league. However, Tom Brady simply looks frustrated with everything that is happening with his offense. With Randy Moss gone and Chad Ochocinco being irrelevant, this offense is lacking a deep threat to stretch the field. This allows defenses to focus on taking away Wes Welker and Brady’s amazing tight ends in the short passing game without being afraid of being burned deep. The Pats need to figure out something soon because they have a flight into New York to face the red hot Jets, whose defense is playing as well as anyone right now.

Runner Up: Michael Vick again fails to make plays when it counts and the Eagles fall to 3-5.

The Ugly: The Chiefs get blown out at home by the previously winless Dolphins.

Imagine this, if the Chiefs had been able to beat a winless Dolphins team at home, they could have been atop their division. However, they did not just lose to the Dolphins, they got blown out by the Dolphins 31-3. While the Dolphins do mysteriously play much better on the road than at home, they are simply not a very good team. They allowed the Dolphins offense, which has been terrible in the red zone for the past two seasons, to score touchdowns on both of their trips into the red zone, as well as give up long touchdowns to Reggie Bush and Anthony Fasano. The Chiefs’ offense also had a horrible day, allowing Matt Cassel to be sacked five times by a defense that as had trouble getting pressing on the quarterback all year. If I was a Chiefs’ fan who paid money to see this game, I would be asking for a refund. This was an ugly loss that shows the Chiefs are not even close to being a legitimate playoff contender. However, as of right now, no one in the AFC West is playing well and it is anyone’s guess who will come out on top of this division. 

Runner Up: The Raiders defense allows almost 300 yards rushing to the struggling Broncos, including 163 yards going to a 30 year old running back with only one good hand (Willis McGahee ran wild with a broken right hand).