The Tampa Bay Buccaneers handed the Minnesota Vikings their first defeat at home this season 36-17.

Rookie running back Doug Martin exploded in his best game yet as an NFL back. Martin led the Buccaneers in rushing and receiving, with 29 carries for 135 yards and one touchdown. His touchdown run came midway through the 4th quarter to help solidify the victory. Martin caught three passes for 79 yards and a touchdown.

Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman continues to pick up his level of play week after week. Freeman competed 19-of-36 passes for 262 yards and three touchdowns. Freeman has thrown three touchdowns in three consecutive games.

Wideout Mike Williams contributed with six catches and 68 yards along with one touchdown. Third year full-back Erik Lorig scored his first NFL touchdown.

Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder bounced back from his 58 yard passing game last week. Ponder completed 19-of-35 passes for 251 yards one touchdown and one interception. Ponder connected with favorite wideout Percy Harvin in the 2nd quarter on an 18 yard touchdown pass.

Harvin finished the game with seven receptions, 90 yards and one touchdown. Harvin compiled 87 total receptions last season; he currently has 60 receptions through eight games and could possibly catch 100+ passes for the first time in his career.

Adrian Peterson had another great game as one of the superior running backs in the NFL. Peterson broke out a 64 yard touchdown run in the 3rd quarter. Peterson averaged 8.2 yards per carry with his 15 carries for 123 yards. AP sits atop the NFL with 775 yards through eight games, and also with the most 20+ yard runs.

With the loss the Vikings fall to 5-3, but remain in 2nd in the NFC North Division just ahead of the 4-3 Packers; they have yet to play. Of the Vikings final eight games, five will be against divisional opponents, which will absolutely be decisive in their efforts in making the playoffs.

Next week the Vikings will be heading west to take on the Seattle Seahawks, who remain undefeated at home. The Buccaneers will also be heading west to take on the Oakland Raiders and look to get back to .500.

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After a 3-3 halftime stalemate, a 38 point second half Chicago Bears scoring eruption led the Bears to a crushing 41-3 victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler completed 23-of-39 passes for 292 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in the win. Cutler connected with rookie Alshon Jeffery for the first offensive touchdown of the game in the 3rd quarter. Jeffery had two receptions for 20 yards along with the touchdown catch. Brandon Marshall led the Bears receiving core with a season high 12 receptions, 144 yards and a 4th quarter touchdown.

As for the Bears rushing attack, Matt Forte led the pack with 107 yards on 22 carries. Forte also caught two passes for 20 yards. This was Forte’s first 100+ yard rushing game of the 2012 season. In addition, running back Armando Allen scored the first NFL touchdown of his career on a 46 yard breakout touchdown.

The Bears offense finished off the game with 501 total yards, compared to the Jaguars 189 yards. Jaguars quarterback Blaine Gabbert struggled completing 17-of-33 passes for 142 yards, was sacked three times and threw two interceptions. This was Gabbert’s first week held without throwing a touchdown pass. Cecil Shorts led the receivers with two receptions for 43 yards.

Running back Maurice Jones-Drew carried the ball 12 times for 56 yards. Jones-Drew has been held under 100 yards in four of this year’s five games.

The Bears defense continues to make opposing quarterbacks and offenses struggle. In the 3rd quarter, cornerback Charles Tillman picked off Gabbert for a 36 yard interception return for a touchdown. Linebacker Lance Briggs also picked off Gabbert for a 36 yard interception return for a touchdown in the 4th quarter. Tillman and Briggs have returned interceptions for touchdowns in two consecutive games. The Bears defense have scored four defensive touchdowns in the past two games.

Chicago improved to 4-1 on the season, and is on a three game winning streak heading into their bye week. The Bears will be back in action against divisional rivals Detroit Lions on Monday night, October 22. Jacksonville will also be on their bye week, and will be back in action Sunday, October 21 against the Oakland Raiders.

For additional player or game statistics click here. 

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Although the contract details have not been made public as of this morning, it is being reported that Peyton Manning has chosen to take his talents to Denver.

The Denver Broncos won out against several other teams who were said to be in the running for the services of Manning who was just released by the Indianapolis Colts. The Broncos won the division with an 8-8 record last year and made the playoffs with young polarizing Tim Tebow running the show. Tebow proved that he can win in the NFL but for the last 14 years, Peyton Manning has proven that he is a future Hall of Famer. The decision was simple, even for supporters of Tim Tebow.

At this point it is clear that Tebow will most likely be on the trading block and probably be shipped to another team before the ink dries on Payton’s new contract.

Peyton chose to go play in the AFC West instead of the NFC West with the 49ers, taking the more difficult route to the Super Bowl — considering how difficult their schedule will be for the upcoming season in Denver. The 49ers who were in hot pursuit would have given Peyton a top ten defense along with an improving receiving corps, not to mention a division with teams like the Rams and the Seahawks. Instead, Peyton will compete with the underachieving but tough San Diego Chargers, Oakland Raiders (who play hard) and the improving Kansas City Chiefs.

It is an interesting decision by Peyton because of what went on in Denver last season with Tebow mania and the talent, or lack thereof, on this roster. The last memory we have of this team is the post season blowout at the hands of the New England Patriots where the defense had no answers for the Patriot offense. Leader of defense Brian Dawkins, too, is a year older and the injuries continue to pile up. Champ Bailey, one of the greatest defensive backs in NFL history, is also not getting any younger. Although he played at a pro bowl level last season, there were times where he looked slow and outclassed. Linebacker D.J Williams might be out for the first six games due to a drug suspension and the defense will most certainly suffer.

It won’t be as easy as people think, especially playing with the toughest schedule, but Peyton will bring balance to this team. We won’t see a tired defense forced to hold teams to 12 points in order to win eight games. The pressure will be high but Manning chose this team and must know what he is doing. It is fitting that he is likely to end his career playing for John Elway, maybe even winning a Super Bowl.

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What a difference five weeks can make in the NFL. A 0-7 start for the Miami Dolphins suddenly seems like a distant memory from a different season. Miami has now won four of its last five after pounding the Oakland Raiders 34-14 on Sunday. “We’ve had our ups and downs,” said Reggie Bush, “but I couldn’t be more proud.”

If this recent run wasn’t impressive enough, the Dolphins nearly shut out their opponent for the first time since a 2006 victory over the New England Patriots. The Raiders were unable to get on board until they scored two touchdowns during the last eight minutes of the game.

“We couldn’t run. We couldn’t stop the run. We didn’t pass very well,” head coach Hue Jackson said. “Just a bad day at the office.” The Raiders offense definitely missed Darren McFadden, Denarius Moore, Taiwan Jones, and Jacoby Ford. All four were inactive due to injury.

Carson Palmer threw for 273 yards, but most of them came in the second half once the game was already out of reach. On top of that, the Raiders rushed for only 46 yards the entire afternoon. It’s even more astounding that Oakland sported the league’s fourth ranked rushing attack before kickoff.

Instead, it was ironic that the Dolphins’ ground game that put up huge numbers. The team ran for a total of 209 yards, 73 of which Daniel Thomas contributed on 13 carries. But the majority of the yardage came from Bush, who has been criticized throughout his career for not being a hard-nosed runner that goes between the tackles to pick up the tough yards. He’s been committed to changing that perception since coming to Miami.

A 100-yard performance on 22 carries certainly helped his cause. For Bush, it was his second 100-plus yard rushing game of the season, and just the third of his career. He also added a one-yard rushing touchdown to his final line. A 21-yard punt return by Davone Bess in the second quarter began what would eventually be their first touchdown drive on their own 37.

Matt Moore led a 63-yard drive that Bess would finish off with a 13-yard touchdown reception that would give them a 13-0 lead. While the Dolphins began moving the ball more efficiently, the Raiders never even brought the ball deep into Miami territory until it was too late. A 77-yard kickoff return by Clyde Gates to open the third quarter would put the Dolphins on the Oakland 25.

A pass interference call against the Raiders in the end zone would set up Bush for his touchdown. Kevin Burnett returned an interception by Palmer on Oakland’s ensuing drive to wrap up Miami’s scoring with 34 points. Palmer would finish up the overall scoring with two insignificant touchdown passes to T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Darrius Heyward-Bey in the fourth quarter.

The loss was severely deflating for the Raiders, as a late Broncos victory over the Minnesota Vikings officially knocked them out of first place in the AFC West. Both teams sit at 7-5, but Denver currently holds the tiebreaker with a week nine victory over Oakland. Meanwhile, 4-8 Miami continues to build toward next season. They have shown remarkable improvement over the last few weeks and hope to win like this in 2012.

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Around the middle of the NFL season, usually week 7-9, teams hit that proverbial fork in the road. Coaching staffs around the league have personnel decisions to make at the most important position, the starting QB. Option A is pretty simple, and it consists of staying with the starter QB you selected at the beginning of the season with the hopes that he will lead your team to the playoffs.

However Option B is a complex situation full of hard decisions and calculated gambles. Option B requires a coaching staff to replace the starting QB with someone on your bench for the remainder of the season. The complex part revolves around why replace the starter, who you do replace the starter with, and when do you finally pull the trigger.

Well in Week 7, six NFL teams have gone the route of Option B and that got my editorial partner, Kristian Winfield, and me to thinking. Which one of these fresh faces will have the better season? The candidates are as followed Charlie Whitehurst (SEA), A.J. Feely (STL), Christian Ponder (MIN), Carson Palmer (OAK), Tim Tebow (DEN), and John Beck (WSH).

It’s almost a loaded question against us because a QB swap is usually only made after a team has had an unproductive 7 weeks. We will admit that there are some exceptions, and injuries sometimes force the hand of a coach. More often than not, the former is the underlying factor in a change at the QB position.

Before we each give you our picks, let’s review why each QB is starting in the first place.

John Beck: John Beck impressed people during the preseason with his picture perfect passes, but because of a single interception thrown, the start was given to Rex Grossman. In five games Grossman might have hauled in 1,132 but it was clear Grossman was driving the Redskins’ offense into the dirt. Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan decided to make a change and Beck was named the new starter.

Carson Palmer: After losing starting QB Jason Campbell for the season because of a broken collarbone, coach Hue Jackson came face to face with his biggest crisis as new head coach, who was going to start at QB. In a surprise move the Raiders traded away multiple draft picks for former “retired” Cincinnati Bengals QB Carson Palmer.

A.J. Feely: Feely was the back up on the St. Louis Rams to Sam Bradford. In last week’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Bradford suffered a high ankle sprain that forced him wear a protective boot during the week. With a 0-5 record and the Rams clearly out of the divisional race there was no need to rush Bradford back, so head coach Steve Spagnuolo handed over the reins to Feely.

Tim Tebow: Late in the season last year Tim Tebow was named the starter on the Denver Broncos after the Broncos’ playoff hopes were dashed. Tebow was supposed to remain the starter this year but due to a coaching change and horrible pre-season play by Tebow, Kyle Orton was given his starting position back.

Under Orton this year, the Broncos went 1-4 and new coach John Fox gave Tim Tebow a chance to reclaim his starting position back. Charlie Whitehurst:  Charlie Whitehurst was given the starting position after Tarvaris Jackson injured his pectoral muscle against the Giants.

Whitehurst had been previously named the starter late into the 2011 season, winning a game against the St. Louis Rams that sent the Seahawks to the playoffs. Christian Ponder: After Donovan McNabb’s abysmal 1-5 start for the Minnesota Vikings, head coach Leslie Frazier made a power move, inserting Christian Ponder into the lineup as the starting QB.

Now for what you’ve been waiting for, our “expert” picks.

Kristian’s Pick

The Vikings season was going nowhere fast, to put things into perspective, Donovan McNabb played absolutely terrible for the six games as the Vikings starter. In the first game of the season, he only threw for 39 yards—worst among starting QB’s in the NFL for season openers. Through five-and-a-half games, McNabb threw for four touchdowns and two interceptions.

I can name some wide receivers that have more receiving TD’s than McNabb has passing. Either McNabb was going to drag the franchise into the dirt, or a change was going to be made. Enter my pick, the pure passing rookie QB out of Florida State, Christian Ponder.

In their win last week over Carolina, Ponder played very well, considering the situation, throwing for 236 yards and a touchdown, while completing 18-of-28 attempts. And the week before, against the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers, Ponder threw for 219 yards and two touchdowns.

He’s still got a long way to go, but for a rookie that was pretty much dumped into the rotation after six weeks, Ponder is a significant improvement from the lackluster performances of McNabb. Ponder IS NOT the short term solution, but by showing promise and glimpses of greatness, he definitely is the Vikings’ QB of the future.

Terrance’s Pick

My pick is the man who can do no wrong, the Christian crusader, the legend himself, Tim Tebow. All of the reasons why I think Tebow will have the better season are not intrinsically football-related.  Tebow has the will to win, and has proven that he can win on every level of football.  You can’t teach a man how to be winner, that is something you have to be born with, and Tebow has it in spades.

For example take his performance in week 7 against the Miami Dolphins into consideration.  Tebow played like absolute crap for 55 minutes of a 60 minute game, but when you have that never-say-die mentality, sometimes five good minutes is all you need. Tebow lead his Denver Broncos to score 15 points in five minutes, throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for a two point conversion.

Being down 15 points and subsequently scoring 15 points in the final five minutes of game a feat that hadn’t been accomplished since the merger of the NFL and AFL in 1970. During the Broncos’ improbable comeback, Tebow consistently made big throw after big throw, performing so well that ESPN analyst Skip Bayless compared him to Steve Young.

However if there is one factor that could trump all of Tebow’s intangibles it would be his poor throwing mechanics. This has been the one gripe about Tebow since he entered the NFL last year. His awkward throwing release causes him to be inaccurate and overthrow receivers.

Before the 2010 NFL Draft Tebow worked tirelessly on correcting his throwing motion, when under pressure old habits tend surface and his team suffers. That same awkward delivery was on display during the first 55 minutes of the Dolphins game; Tebow consistently missed open receivers.

The one upside to Tebow’s glaring flaw is that his throwing motion can be fixed, and there are instances where he has shown that, just not on a consistent basis. Only time will tell us which one these six QBs will have the better season.  The only that is for certain is that each NFL season is highly unpredictable.

For all we know, both Ponder and Tebow could perform miserably the rest of season, and make our expert picks null and void. If that happens let’s just hope that Toonari Post doesn’t swap us out for some fresh journalistic faces.

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It’s the team that nobody saw coming. For the past few years, the Bills have been the laughing stock of the AFC East. They were the one team bringing down a division with the power house Patriots and the better than average Jets and Dolphins.

Not anymore. The Bills have quietly been putting together a good team and this year, we are finally seeing just how good this team and Harvard graduate QB Ryan Fitzpatrick can be. The Bills realize this and recently gave him a big contract extension of 6 years $59 million, locking up their franchise man for years to come. That extension is bad news for the rest of the AFC East.

He’s been worth every penny of that, having a career year, and has the Bills sitting in a 1^st place tie atop the AFC East with the New England Patriots at 5-2. He’s ranked 6^th in the league in quarter back, rating at 97.8 for the season. The Bills are third in the league, scoring 30.1 points per game this year.

While only being ranked 13^th overall in passing at 239.6 yards a game, the running game has received a boost from their QB play ranking 5^th overall at 140.6 a game. Running back Fred Jackson, who is having an MVP type season, is fourth in the league in yards with 721 and is ranked fourth among running backs in receiving with just over 350 yards.

He’s tied for first with Matt Forte of runs over 20 yards ranks second in yards per game with 103.0 and is fourth in yards per carry at 5.5, but is second in running backs to LeSean McCoy. DeMarco Murray and Michael Vick are one and two, but have half the carries of McCoy and Jackson. Jackson also has zero fumbles this season so far.

While the Bills defense isn’t one of the better in the league, they still put fear into a team as they lead the league in interceptions with 18 and three touchdowns off interceptions. This defense has potential the potential to be real solid in the coming years if they can keep everyone healthy. They showed this last week shutting out the Washington Redskins 23-0 and racking up 9 sacks in the process.

To the Bills credit, they’ve also been doing this against quality opponents. They’ve beaten Kansas City and Oakland, both who are tied for first with San Diego for the AFC West all sitting at 4-3. They’ve beaten the Patriots once already and beat a good Philadelphia Eagles team who has recently been turning things around after a horrible start.

They took care of business against an obviously weaker Washington team, shutting them out last week. The Bills only losses come at the hands of the Bengals and the Giants. Both these teams are atop of their divisions and have a 5-2 record. The Bills should have more respect than they do.

Consider that the Patriots have a worse defense in football, giving up 424.1 yards a game compared to the Bills who are 385.9, the Patriots are considered playoff contenders and potential Super Bowl threats. The same could be said for the Packers who rank below the Bills in yards per game giving up 391.0 and currently hold the 31^st spot in opponents passing yards per game, yet they’re widely regarded as being the best team in football.

These teams are led by their quarterbacks and Fitzpatrick has proven he can do that. Add to that a more potent running attack than either Brady or Rodgers has and this is a team that can go deep into the playoffs.

If that’s not enough for you, think about the New Orleans Saints team that won the Super Bowl a few years ago. They are very much like this Bills team in that they have a strong quarterback, a high scoring offense, and a defense that isn’t that great, but forces turnovers and scores points.

This Bills team is as good as they’re record and play this season has been. In a quarterback driven league they’ve found their man in Ryan Fitzpatrick. They are proving they can score points with anyone in the league and if teams with good quarterbacks and bad defenses can be in the hunt for the Super Bowl the same should be said for the Bills.

The fan base has been waiting patiently for this time to come and it has come quicker than expected, but not as a shock at all. So the next time you go to dismiss the Bills as a top team in this league, think about what they’re doing and show them some respect.

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The NFL trade deadline isn’t like that of baseball and basketball where we see names and players flying everywhere for team’s attempts to either dump salaries or gear up for the playoffs. Being that football is so much more of a team and system sport, it’s very hard for players, especially key position players, to join a new team and get integrated in the system quickly.

However, that didn’t stop the Oakland Raiders, who sit at 4-2 in a race for the AFC West, from trading for a quarterback to replace the injured Jason Campbell who’s out 6-8 weeks with a broken collarbone. The QB they landed is Carson Palmer from the Bengals. Palmer, who was once the Bengals franchise quarterback, has been “retired” this season.

He wanted to be traded but the Bengals said no, forcing Palmer to opt for retirement rather than finish out his contract. This was an ugly PR battle between the Bengals owner Mike Brown and Palmer, who were taking jabs at each other in the media at the beginning of the season.

Brown said they wouldn’t trade Palmer and agreed to let him sit at home as the Bengals went and drafted TCU’s Andy Dalton. Dalton has been playing well as the Bengals also sit at 4-2 and it might have factored into Brown’s decision to let Palmer go. However, the main reason was probably that Oakland made an offer he couldn’t refuse.

In return for Palmer, the Bengals get a first round draft pick in 2012 and a conditional second round pick in 2013 that could become a first round pick if the Raiders make it to the AFC title game this season. To many, this seems like a very steep price to play for a QB who many deem to be past his prime and who has been sitting at home, thus far this season.

However, given the Raiders options — either using backup Kyle Boller or sign a free-agent QB — none of whom are very good, they decided to go with the ‘win now’ approach. The Raiders are excited to get Palmer and he represents a dramatic upgrade from Campbell. The question now becomes how quickly he can get up to speed.

“I just know if I was on the streets for a while I’d need about, myself personally to knock the rust off as a defensive lineman, I’d need personally about three weeks to get back into form,” Richard Seymour said. Palmer has been named the starter for their game this weekend against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Coach Hue Jackson worked with Palmer in Cincinnati and said much of the terminology is similar which should help speed up Palmer’s ability to learn the playbook. Palmer and receivers Darrius Heyward-Bey and Jacoby Ford have been staying after practice to get extra reps, in an attempt to have some sort of chemistry when they hit the field this Sunday.

“It’s just a matter of the timing, he has to get that down and get used to the offense and has to get used to new receivers,” Ford said. “Whenever we can do that we’ll be clicking on all cylinders.

The Raiders paid a high price to get Palmer, but if you ask anyone in the Raiders organization or their fans, I’m sure they will tell you that for a team who hasn’t made the playoffs since 2002, when they lost in the Super Bowl, they’d take a trip to the AFC Championship or Super Bowl over a few draft picks any day.

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The first quarter of the NFL season is in the books. Bye weeks have begun and six teams are off: Baltimore Ravens; Dallas Cowboys; Miami Dolphins; St. Louis Rams; Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Browns. Teams are starting to make identities for themselves as we enter week five.

Philadelphia Eagles @ Buffalo Bills: Eagles have lost three games straight for the first time since 2007. Cincinnati handed the Bills their first loss last week. The Eagles defense should start to come together after a nightmare start. Eagles 28-21

New Orleans Saints @ Carolina Panthers: The Saints travel to Carolina in what seems to be a shootout in the making. Cam Newton has been great but the defense hasn’t helped at all. Saints 31-27          

Oakland Raiders @ Houston Texans: The Raiders have been one of the better 2-2 teams. Their offensive and defensive lines match up with anybody in the league. They look to make the Texans one dimensional after Houston lost Andre Johnson to injury for the next three weeks. Raiders 21-14

Kansas City Chiefs @ Indianapolis Colts: Kansas City picked up their first win of the season last week at home and now are looking for a road victory. Colts have played tough the last two weeks but are still win-less. Colts will break through this week behind Curtis Painter. Colts 17-13

Cincinnati Bengals @ Jacksonville Jaguars: The Bengals have been one of the best pass defenses after a month of play. The Jaguars game plan last week was to have Gabbert throw a bunch and limit their best players, Maurice Jones-Drew, touches. That didn’t really work out for the Jags. Bengals 20-14

Arizona Cardinals @ Minnesota Vikings: The Cardinals head on the road, giving up 12 sacks this season. The Vikings have 12 sacks themselves with DE Jared Allen leading the way. Vikings 23-16

Seattle Seahawks @ N.Y. Giants: The Seahawks will have to make the dreadful west to east coast trip. The Giants are hot and have won three straight. They look to take full advantage. Giants 27-14

Tennessee Titans @ Pittsburgh Steelers: The Titans have been solid on both sides of the ball this year and stand at 3-1. The Steelers are in big trouble after injuries to RB Mendenhall and QB Ben Roethlisberger. Couple that with horrible o-line play. Titans will also look to establish the run and get Chris Johnson going. Pittsburgh will compete tough at home but the edge goes to the Titans. Titans 24-17

Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ San Francisco 49ers: The buccs have been on a roll since week one. The 49ers have been good at stopping the run and look to make Josh Freeman beat them Sunday. 49ers 21-17

San Diego Chargers @ Denver Broncos: Vincent Jackson tweaked his hamstring last week but is probable for a week five start. Broncos’ defense has been bad and got lit up for 48 points. Chargers 28-14

N.Y. Jets @ New England Patriots: The Jets are 0-2 on this current three game road trip. They are looking for the keys that got them to two straight title games, the “Ground and Pound”. Patriots get their TE Aaron Hernandez back to add more weapons to Tom Brady’s disposal. Jets should keep the ball out of Brady’s hands long enough. Jets 17-14

Green Bay Packers @ Atlanta Falcons: Aaron Rodgers is making an early case for MVP as he’s been simply amazing thus far. Atlanta has struggled in pass defensive this season and the Packers are second to last in that category. This matchup screams shootout. Matt Ryan has only one career regular season loss at home. Falcons 35-28

Chicago Bears @ Detroit Lions: Chicago ran it up on the Panthers for over 200 yards. That probably will not happen against one of the best defensive lines in football. Detroit also adds rookie DT, first round pick, Nick Fairly who has been sidelined with injury. The undefeated Lions just got better. Lions 23-17
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After his last pitiful performance, New York Jets QB Mark Sanchez is looking a young quarterback again. Except he’s not getting any younger and the Jets can’t afford him to continue regressing. With big expectations on both the team and Sanchez coming into this season, he’s already been on a roller coaster.

After a poor start, Sanchez was able to lead the team back and steal one from the Dallas Cowboys the opening week. The following week the Jets handled business and beat up the lowly Jaguars with Sanchez having a good game. When the team left MetLife stadium, things took a turn for the worse.

Sanchez was abused by the Raiders front seven and seemed unable to complete a pass against Oakland’s questionable secondary. The Ravens gave him even more punishment. Sanchez had 4 fumbles (3 recovered by Baltimore) in Sunday’s game and one interception, but the worst part of the turnovers was that three of them were returned by the defense for touchdowns.

The one-dimensional offense has put a burden on Sanchez, who has nine turnovers in four games. Against the Ravens, he was rattled and completed only 31.4 percent of his passes, the lowest mark in team history for a quarterback with at least 35 attempts in a game. Ryan, who gave a harsh assessment of Sanchez after the game, softened his stance after reviewing the tape.

“I don’t care if Joe Monatana was back there, with that kind of pressure, it’s hard to execute,” Ryan said. The biggest issue has been Sanchez’s lack of leadership and confidence. He’s looking a lot like the kid who was overmatched in his rookie season by the NFL and not like the third year franchise quarterback the Jets need.

While the Jets have issues in the running game and offensive line, possibly adding to Sanchez’s early season woes, a lot of it is on him too. He’s not reading defenses well enough at the line, holding the ball too long, making errant throws when he needs to be more cautious, and fumbling way too many snaps.

Sanchez, who was named captain this season, needs to step up both on and off the field and show the coaches, organization, and fans that he is the player they believed him to be when they traded up to the 6^th overall pick to draft him. If he can’t do that it’s going to be a long season for gang green and Sanchez’s tenure in New York won’t be nearly as long as he or anyone expected.

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This is the question that the New York Jets need to ask themselves. If this was a year or two ago, the answer would’ve been simple: a ground and pound offense and a smash mouth defense. However, this year the Jets look like a team who are searching for their identity, which is not good considering this team is planning on winning it all.

At the beginning of the year, the Jets decided to make Shonn Greene their bell-cow running back and moved last year’s starter, LaDainian Tomlinson, to a third down receiver type back. The only problem is the Jets have been unable to run the ball in their first three games this season. The team that would beat you up with their big skilled offensive line now has to rely on the passing game for points.

Mark Sanchez threw the ball 44 times in the opener against the Cowboys, and has had to throw the ball a lot more than intended because of the inefficient run game, even throwing in a blow out against the Jaguars in Week 2.

Now a lot of this has to do with the Jets interior line who, without center Nick Mangold, is sporting two first year players and second year player, Matt Slauson. This a big difference from the line of last year and from two years ago in which tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson, who is a pro-bowler in his own right, was the weak point.

The spectacular Rex Ryan defense, which should be playing great as 10 of the 11 starters are now in at least their second year in the system, has at times looked bad. The Cowboys were able to expose the defense almost costing the Jets the home/season opener two weeks ago, and it cost them the game on Sunday against the Raiders who torched the Jets defense for 200+ yards on the ground.

Bad tackling combined with a lack of pass rush has plagued the Jets and the mental mistakes aren’t helping either. While I’m sure the defense had a bad game, and will be fine as the season goes on, the real problem is the offense and how the Jets are going to score points. If the Jets can’t find their identity as a team, they can stop all the Super Bowl talk now and kiss their season goodbye.

These next two weeks will really show what the Jets are made of. They travel to Baltimore this week for the Sunday night game against the Ravens, and then to Foxboro to square off with their nemesis, the New England Patriots.

The worse that could happen is the Jets lose both and fall to 2-3 in the season, which will not put them in a good spot considering the Bills, yes, you’re reading that right the Buffalo Bills, right now are atop the division at 3-0 and have easy games. The Patriots, assuming they beat the same Raiders the Jets just lost to, would be 4-1.

While the season is long and a lot can happen, the Jets need to ask themselves who they really are as a team, and they better figure it out quickly. Otherwise the answer to the question, “Who are the 2011 Jets?” will have one answer: a team with all the talent in the world that just couldn’t put it all together.

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For all the Super Bowl talk and two looming games in Baltimore and Foxboro, the Jets should be able to win an easy game against the Raiders right? WRONG. The Jets returned to Oakland, and looked not like a Super Bowl contender, but like a confused team with a lack of identity.

The Jets defense was manhandled all day by the Raiders. On the first drive, they came out and drove 76 yards down the field on five plays to go up 7-0. Darren McFadden tore up the Jets’ “vaunted” rush defense for 171 yards and two touchdowns, proving why he is one of the best running backs in the game right now. The Raiders had 230+ yards on the ground, and Jason Campbell managed a good game for Oakland.

The Jets couldn’t tackle all game as everyone was missing open field tackles that allowed Oakland to break off big plays, the biggest being McFadden’s 70 yard TD run. The only bright spot in the Jets’ defense was Darrelle Revis who had his usual game of shutting down the best receiver, who was Darrius Heyward-Bey this week.

His counterpart Antonio Cromartie, who earlier in the week said he was a better play-maker than Nnamdi Asomugha, was forced to eat those words as he had a horrible game. Committing four penalties, keeping scoring drives alive, and fumbling a ball on a kickoff, which lead to the game-winning score, Cromartie was humbled by the Raiders, who, by the way, don’t have Asomugha anymore. Cromartie eventually left the game with a rib injury and didn’t return.

On the flip side, Mark Sanchez and the Jets’ offense showed flashes of brilliance, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with the Raiders. Everyone thought the problem going into the game would be the absence of All-Pro C Nick Mangold, but rookie Colin Baxter held up in his first career start as the Jets ran better than they had all season at times.

Sanchez posted a career high with 369 yards, but played a terrible game. He looked jittery in the pocket all game and the few times his receivers were open, he couldn’t hit them. The numbers say Sanchez had a better game than what showed as for two quarters the Jets couldn’t get anything done against the Raiders. Sanchez was sacked four times in the second half and took a lot of abuse.

It was also another bad running game by Jets standards as Shonn Greene only had 59 yards on 15 carries. There were a few runs that got broken, but the Jets struggled with their interior running, and were only able to gain a yard or so whenever they ran up the middle.

The Jets showed life on a late drive by Sanchez and company, marching 93 yards to score, but it was too little too late. The Jets now look ahead to the tough part of their road trip, falling a game behind the Bills, no typo, yes, the Bills, for first place in the AFC East.

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Everyone knows about the Jets’ defense. They’re big, they’re strong, they’re good, and they were embarrassed by Darren McFadden and the Oakland Raiders.

The Jets, who believe they have the most intimidating and best defense in the NFL, were given a dose of their own medicine when they went into Oakland on Sunday. The Raiders punished the Jets’ defense physically on their way to 234 yards on the ground, with 171 coming from McFadden.

There have been three games in this young NFL season and this Jets’ defense looks like a shell of the defenses we saw in 2009 and 2010. This may just be a temporary skid or loss of defensive identity, but if you look at the games so far, they’ve had two bad performances sandwiching a beat down of a journeyman quarterback.

Rex Ryan took blame for the defensive performance, saying that Raiders coach, Hue Jackson, out prepared him, but that was blatantly obvious.

On the first drive, the Raiders came out in a no huddle offense. The Jets’ defense looked like it had never heard of a no huddle, let alone seen one before. Oakland marched right down the field for a five play 76 yard opening drive for a touchdown.

“That’s unacceptable for our defense,” said cornerback Darrelle Revis, alluding to the no-show on the game’s opening drive. “That had us on our heels.”

The other thing that’s not a good sign for the Jets’ defensive line is how Oakland simply pushed them around. They exploited the weaknesses in the Jets’ defense around the perimeter as the Jets’ linebackers aren’t known as the quickest bunch and that, combined with poor tackling, led to a long day for the Jets.

They were also fooled on multiple plays. There was the McFadden 27 yard gain on a broken trick play. Then the next play on an end around missed tackles and poor positioning led to Moore’s 27 yard reverse for a touchdown.

“We didn’t play to our identity,” Revis said. “It’s a shocker for a lot of us.”

Well, the Jets better play to that identity next weekend as they face the Baltimore Ravens and Ray Rice who is another back who can make them look foolish. While this maybe just a temporary lapse, this Jets defensive line needs to turn things around quickly, otherwise a season that started with Super Bowl aspirations is going to end with “We’ll get em next year” aspirations.

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Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens: Ravens QB Joe Flacco, including the playoffs, has a record of 2-6 against the Steelers and both of those wins came without Ben Roethlisberger out. It will be a “knock ‘em down, drag ‘em out”-kind of game which comes as no surprise. Steelers 17-13

Atlanta Falcons vs. Chicago Bears: Both teams lost to the Packers last year in the playoffs. After an ugly beating by the Packers, Atlanta bounced back with a good offseason. They drafted the outstanding 6’3 wideout out of Alabama Julio Jones and signed Free Agent DE Ray Edwards. Meanwhile, Bears have OL problems after losing C Olin Kreutz. Atlanta 27-21

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Cleveland Browns: Rookie Andy Dalton plus Rookie A.J. Green equals a promising future. Right now, this isn’t the future. Now the Bengals start on the road in the “Dawg Pound”. The Browns beat up New England at home last year and almost came up with a win against the Jets. Browns 24-10

Indianapolis Colts vs. Houston Texans: With Peyton Manning declared out for week one and maybe longer, it’s time for the Texans to win the division and finally get into the playoffs. Houston has an injury concern of their own. Last year’s rushing leader, Arian Foster, didn’t practice Friday (hamstring) and his status is up in the air for Sunday. Even if he’s out, Houston still has enough to beat a Manning-less Colts. Houston 28-17

Tennessee Titans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: Chris Johnson gets his 4 year $53 million deal with $30 million of it guaranteed. Jaguars cut QB David Garrard only days before the season opener. That’s too quick of a turnaround for the team to overcome. Titans 21-17

Buffalo Bills vs. Kansas City Chiefs: Buffalo might be a better defensive team than people expect coming into the year. And understandably so after being a horrible run defense. They took Marcell Darius with the third overall pick and have a healthy pass rusher in Shawne Merriman. Chiefs may have been exposed after the blowout home loss to the Ravens in the playoffs. Upset alert. Bills 20-16

Philadelphia Eagles vs. St. Louis Rams: The “Dream Team” Philadelphia Eagles finally get to see how good they really are. They will be tested on the road against an upstart Rams team. One free agent the Eagles didn’t sign was WR Mike Sims-Walker who went to the Rams. Rams hope he can help stretch the field in the passing game. Eagles should pass their first test. Eagles 35-21

Detroit Lions vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: This game could mean a lot to both these teams by the season’s end. The winner gets an advantage in the head to head battle as both teams most likely will be battling for a wildcard playoff spot. Stafford is healthy –for now. Raheem Morris will have his guys ready. Toss up. Lions 28-27

Carolina Panthers vs. Arizona Cardinals: Panthers rookie Cam Newton starts week one after winning the preseason QB battle. New team, new offense, new weapons for Cardinals QB Kevin Kolb.  A home start against the league’s worst team last year should be enough for Kolb to get his first win for Arizona. Cardinals 24-17

Minnesota Vikings vs. San Diego Chargers: Everybody is healthy for the Chargers and Phillip Rivers and company are looking for a fast start to the season. Did McNabb get enough time to learn the offense with the shortened offseason? Chargers 30-20

Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers: Is the marquee matchup in this game really between the coaches? The same coaches who last played against each other when they were coaching for USC and Stanford? Jim Harbaugh won last time so we will take him again. 49ers 19-10

NY Giants vs. Washington Redskins: These two division rivals battle in remembrance of 9/11. Giants seem to always get hit with the injury bug. Osi Umenyiora may be out. With that said, they always compete and that defense is good enough to shut down Rex Grossman. Giants 24-20

Dallas Cowboys vs. NY Jets: Tony Romo is back but CB Terrance Newman is out for the Cowboys. A banged up secondary could open the door for Sanchez, Burress and the Jets. Rex looks to take this battle of the Ryan’s’. Jets 26-17

New England Patriots vs. Miami Dolphins: The Patriots usually have their trouble when they come down to Miami. Dolphins get to show off their free agent signed RB Reggie Bush and rookie Daniel Thomas. Pats defense seems to be improved. Patriots 31-14

Oakland Raiders vs. Denver Broncos: The last two teams to play week one in the Monday night double header. All the talk in the offseason was about Tim Tebow, Tim Tebow and you guessed it, Tim TebowKyle Orton is the starting QB. Along with John Fox, Brandon Llyod and what maybe an improved defense with Elvis Dumervil leading the way, watch out. Surprise team? Broncos 23-20

 
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Things are moving extremely fast in the NFL these days; in fact, sports fans haven’t been able to take in every thing that has been occurring in terms of free agency and trades.  The movement throughout the league is not surprising given the small window teams have to accomplish all of their off season requirements.

Free agency is an exciting time and so far it has been great to cover, the moves should have a big impact on other players still considering where they will take their talents next season. Also, these player movements should impact the success and failures we see during the season.

Let’s examine what has happen thus far and where the surprises lie.

Why not start with the biggest name still available—Asomugha hasn’t moved yet, but would the big name defensive back choose to return to Oakland.  He is a very loyal player but loyalty will not necessarily earn you a ring.  He is reaching a point in his career where he must make a move; the question remains though, where will he play.  Will he decide to play with another great defensive back in Revis and a potential Superbowl team in the Jets, play with another team offering the most money or will he return to Oakland? Only he knows at this point, but I know where the sports world hopes he goes.  It just makes sense to be in a jets uniform next year but will he accept that challenge.

The jets have already taken care of primary receiver Holmes and will likely not attempt to resign Braylon Edwards who had a decent year for them last season.

Other notable signings thus far include big named quarterback Donovan Mcnabb, perennial attack dummy for fans and NFL players alike.  He will take his talents to Minnesota this season and mentor their first round draft pick Christian Ponder until he is ready to take over.

Minnesota will also lose big time receiver Sidney Rice who has chosen to sign with the Seahawks.  The Seahawks are taking a chance on him given the fact he has had one productive season with the indecisive Brett Favre and he will be coming off surgery which sidelined him for most of last year.  The Seahawks have also acquired Tavarus Jackson from Minnesota after parting ways with their long tenured quarterback Matt Hasslebeck who will now be taking his veteran talents to the Titans.

The first big time talent to come of the board so to speak is Deangelo Williams, the Panther back has chosen to resign in a 5 year deal with over 20 million in guaranteed money.

The hated Patriots have struck potential gold in their trade with the Redskins in which they acquired Albert Haynesworth for a 6th round pick; once again, coach Belichick gets a possible steal that puts them back on top in the AFC East division. I don’t know how many teams were looking at the troubled defensive tackle, but looking at the potential defensive line, the AFC East along with the rest of the league have been out maneuvered up until this point.

While we already have big movements with quarterbacks, there are still moves to be made– specifically Kolb in Philadelphia and Kyle Orton in Denver.  Also, Vince Young will be released today, we have yet to hear where exactly he will pay, what role he will have on that team or even what teams have shown interested.  The young quarterback’s reputation has been damaged significantly, it remains to be seen if he will recover and get his career back on track.  Speaking of great college players, 3rd down back Reggie Bush has signed with the Dolphins with a 2 year contract worth roughly 5 million; a considerable reduction in value from his Saints days.

ESPN is now reporting that Chad OchoCinco has been dealt to the active patriots; maybe a way to combat the potential addition of Asomugha to the Jets.  It remains to be seen what happens with many more players including receivers, Plaxico Burress, Randy Moss and Terrell Owens. Expect many more announcements in the day’s ahead, things are just heating up as we approach the upcoming NFL season.

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The AFC West hasn’t seen one team dominate for a significant amount of time since the days of John Elway. Those days are long gone now and the division has become significantly more competitive. Kansas City burst onto the scene last season, finally getting back to the playoffs under second year coach Todd Haley. Though they were the story of the division by far, San Diego and Oakland saw quite productive seasons, and Denver has finally figured out who will hopefully be their quarterback of the future. So whose the favorite in 2011?

Oakland Raiders: Oakland has had a solid defense over the past few years. Led by star defensive back Nnamdi Asomugha, few teams were able to torch the Raiders, allowing them to keep games close squeak out eight wins while fighting for a wildcard spot. Unfortunately Asomugha will now hit free agency and Oakland has virtually zero chance of resigning him. They will surely have a gaping hole, one which will need to be addressed immediately. They should be able to lean on Darren McFadden on the offensive end who has finally lived up to the hype he had out of college. He put up 1157 yards and seven rushing touchdowns last year in a tandem backfield with Michael Bush who had eight touchdowns himself. The throwing game hasn’t been the same since the days of Rich Gannon, but if Oakland can control time of possession and play well on the defensive end, they should be able to stay in contention. Besides, nobody wants to play them in Oakland. Those fans are flat out crazy.

Denver Broncos: I find myself at a loss about what to say here. I was never the biggest Kyle Orton fan. He never put up great stats when he was winning in Chicago, but he seemed to find a way to get it done. Someone flipped a switch when he got to Denver by making him throw for almost 7,500 yards in his two seasons as starter. The Broncos should not have won only four games last season. Underachieving doesn’t even begin to describe what they did, but maybe in a way it was a blessing. Toward the end of the year they were forced to turn to highly touted draft pick Tim Tebow. The thought probably was that if he didn’t get a chance now, he might be stuck as a backup for quite a while. He performed fairly well in his short time and proved that he could lead a team the same way he did for so many years at Florida. All the fuss about Tebow’s mechanics? Throw it all away if he can win games. If he can match the results that he had as a Gator remains to be seen, but new coach John Fox seems to have faith in him. Fox has always brought a defensive mind to his teams, and Denver should be no different. We will surely see some changes in the Broncos next season, and I’m sure much improvements on an abysmal 2010.

San Diego Chargers: Well since we’re talking about underachieving, San Diego seems appropriate. How they can be the best offensive and defensive team in the NFL and yet still end up only 9-7, and miss the playoffs at that…wow. Complete inconsistency in finishing games, this team just seemed to forget how to win. Antonio Gates had gotten out to an incredible start to 2010 but was bitten by the injury bug which surely had a gigantic impact on the win column. In fact they saw many of their receivers go down throughout the year, and were without Vincent Jackson for much of the year due to suspension, but there should be no excuse. Philip Rivers still found a way to throw for almost 5,000 yards yet again, so I’m not sure if the receivers really were the problem. There’s not really much to say about them. They don’t need to address very many issues, they don’t need to change very many schemes, they just need to go out and win the games. I wouldn’t be shocked if they had the best record in the league next season, but I also somewhat expect more of the same for them. There’s only one way to shake a reputation of choking: win.

Kansas City Chiefs: Todd Haley is inspiring. Jamaal Charles is a beast. Dewayne Bowe is a touchdown machine. Matt Cassel is…well…adequate. Why did everyone sleep on Kansas City last year? The roster was most definitely there, and now everybody knows it. Maybe that will be a disadvantage for them, having higher expectations going into this year, but I doubt it. This team grew up a lot last year, their young players, namely Charles came into their own and carried this team to the playoffs. If they can add a few pieces they should be able to meet their next goal of notching a playoff win or two. The fear for fans is that they’re one of those “one hit wonder” type of teams, and will be once again overtaken by the Chargers eventually. I don’t think this is true after watching the job that Haley was able to do in close games to get his team over the hump, but I also don’t have all that much faith in Matt Cassel. They need to prove themselves again this year to put their stamp on the division and prove 2010 wasn’t a fluke. 10 wins should be the benchmark for this squad, and hopefully a playoff victory.

The Chargers have the talent, the Chiefs have the chemistry, the Broncos have the poster boy, and the Raiders have the 150 year old owner who will surely do something to mess up the one decent season his team has had in a while. I’d like to see Kansas City win the west again because who doesn’t like an underdog? The tough thing for this division is that the AFC is so competitive all-around that it would be shocking to get two AFC West teams into the playoffs in one year. Divisional games will be dog fights, and I for one, can’t wait to see what happens in those late afternoon games this season.

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