Week Three: Full of Surprises

Let’s start with the Monday Night match up, the Battle of the Ohio River. The Pittsburg Steelers traveled to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals who were not having any nonsense in their house. 

The Bengals thoroughly thwarted the Steelers 20-10 in what would prove the first of many upsets for the week.

Thursday Night saw Andy Reid and his charged up Kansas City Chiefs travel to Franklin Field to challenge Chip Kelly’s Philadelphia Eagles.  In his first return after being released by the Eagles, Andy Reid walked away with a sweet 26-16 victory.

In the Sunday afternoon line-up, the surprises just kept the fans startled and sitting on the edge of their seats.  What do I mean by surprises?  How about the Carolina Panther running up 38 points and shutting out the New York Giants?  Ouch!  

If that wasn’t enough of a surprise, maybe the Detroit Lions 27 to 20 win over the Washington Redskins might have dropped your jaw.  No big deal?  

Miami Coach Joe Philbin looks a little stunned 

as his Dolphins climb to 3-0.    AP/Lynn Sladky

How about the Miami Dolphins beating the Atlanta Falcons 27-23 in a real nail biter?  This game came down to the wire but ended when Miami tight end Sims pulls in a reception to score the winning TD.  Believe it or not the Miami Dolphins are 3-0.  I’m surprised if no one else is.

The late afternoon games were just as surprising.  The San Francisco 49ers fell to the Indianapolis Colts 27 to 7.  The surprise in this game was the number of passing yards Colin Kaepernick was held to. You may recall in week #1, Kaepernick threw for 412 yards. Against the Colts, his passes connected 13 of 27 times for a mere 150 yards.

Quarterback Andy Dalton and the Cincinnati Bengals bested Aaron Rogers and the Green Bay Packers in a 34 to 30 upset.  

Geno Smith starting
to show his worth.
nfl.com

The one pleasant surprise of the day, was the play of New York Jets Geno Smith.  This rookie is finally starting to

demonstrate his true capabilities as an NFL quarterback.  This week when paired against the Buffalo Bills, Smith completed 16 of 29.  He accumulated  a total of 331 yards of passing offense in the Jets 27 to 20 win over the Buffalo Bills.  The play was a little ugly, but a win is a win and the Jets walked away with a good one.

In other games across the league:

Baltimore Ravens 30                                       Houston Texans 9

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3                                New England Patriots 23

Arizona Cardinals 7                                         New Orleans Saints 31

Seattle Seahawks 45                                        Jacksonville Jaguars 17

San Diego Chargers 17                                    Tennessee Titans 20

Minnesota Vikings 27                                      Cleveland Browns 31

St Louis Rams 7                                             Dallas Cowboys 31

In the Sunday night game, the 0-2 Pittsburg Steelers hosted the 2-0 Chicago Bears.  The Steelers, who have been playing well below past capabilities, are decimated by injuries, trades and in the

Bears’ running back Matt Forte (22) is forced out of bounds 

by Steelers' Polamalo (43) after a long gain.       AP/Don Wright

case of Big Ben Roethlisberger, maybe father time. 

The Monsters of the Midway however came to town with business on their minds.  While Jay Cutler and the offense didn’t really put up any impressive numbers, Julius Peppers and the defense was another story. 

The Bears defense pressured Big Ben and crew and forced multiple turnovers including a stripped football that ended up in the grip of Peppers and was run back for a TD. The final score was Bears 40 to 23. Mike Tomlin’s Steelers fall to an unheard of start 0-3.

The Monday Night match-up has the Denver Broncos against the Oakland Raiders.

The Thursday Night game will pair Colin Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers, who will travel to St. Louis to battle the Rams.

Football fans, stay tuned.