NFC East Round-Up; Eagles, Skins Fall While G-Men Win
Bradshaw ran for 200 yards in the victory over Cleveland.
The New York Football Giants fell behind early to winless Cleveland 14-0 on Sunday and just as quickly the ‘here we go again’ thoughts were resonating in the minds of Giants’ fans everywhere. Obviously this appears to not be those Tom Coughlin New York teams of the past who would lose to inferior opponents as the Giants ran roughshod over the Browns en route to a 41-27 win in MetLife Stadium.
Ahmad Bradshaw carried for 200 yards on 30 attempts with a touchdown while Victor Cruz caught just five passes, but three of them were for touchdowns. The Browns got decent performances from rookies Trent Richardson and Brandon Weeden but got little help elsewhere. Cleveland has now lost five straight and 11 straight dating back to last season.
The Standings: New York Giants 3-2, Phialdelphia Eagles 3-2, Dallas Cowboys 2-2, Washington Redskins 2-3
Philadelphia 14 at Pittsburgh 16 – Steelers’ kicker Shaun Suisham knocked through a 34-yard field goal as time expired to give the Steelers a huge victory moving them to 2-2 on the year. Pittsburgh led 10-0 at half following an ugly first half filled with Steelers’ penalties and Philadelphia turnovers to which both belonged to Michael Vick. The Steelers benefited from a return to the team by Rashard Mendenhall who saw his first action of 2012. He ran for 81 yards and a touchdown.
LeSean McCoy had 53 yards on 16 carries and picked up a touchdown receiving but was never really able to get going consistently. The longest play of the day for Philly was a 26-yard pass from Vick to DeSean Jackson which set up the go ahead touchdown to Brent Celek with under seven minutes to play. The Eagles would not possess the ball again.
Atlanta 24 at Washington 17 – The biggest news to come out of this one besides the Falcons moving to 5-0 on the season was the loss of rookie QB Robert Griffin III to a head injury. It looks as though he’ll be able to go against Minnesota this coming week. Atlanta QB Matt Ryan threw for 345 yards and two scores, but did throw one pick-six that defensive end Ryan Kerrigan batted and caught before returning for the score. ‘Skins running back Alfred Morris had 115 yards rushing on 18 carries to lead Washington.
Dallas was on their Bye Week
Looking ahead to Week Six
Dallas at Baltimore - The Cowboys are coming off their bye week while the Ravens are returning home after a hard-fought 9-6 win in Kansas City. I expect that Dallas will be able to move the ball against a Ravens defense that gave up a bunch of yards to the Chiefs. Meanwhile, Baltimore will need to do a better job of protecting Joe Flacco than they have recently with DeMarcus Ware and company pass rushing the way they do. The difference in this one is Ray Rice. The Ravens will get out with a win.
Detroit at Philadelphia – The Lions come off their bye week and have to deal with an Eagles’ team smarting from a physical and close loss to the Steelers. No-brainer comment of the week is that Michael Vick has to take better care of the ball after he turned it over twice in Pittsburgh. With the Lions struggling in the special teams department, look for the Eagles to exploit this and get some big returns. I also think Andy Reid is starting to see that getting McCoy the ball more often pays big dividends. I love the Eagles in this one
Kerrigan will another huge performance for the Skins to have a chance against Minnesota.
Minnesota at Washington – Percy Harvin is having an MVP-like season to this point and Christian Ponder is settling in nicely at QB for the Vikings. If RGIII cannot go, that means rookie Kirk Cousins gets the start. Cousins has the ability to do good things if he can take care of the ball and let Alfred Morris grind out the yards which is easier said than done. If Griffin plays I like the Skins to pull this one off, if not, go with the Vikes.
New York at San Francisco – Think the Niners have been waiting for this one? The teams meet for the first time since their epic playoff battle last season where the Giants prevailed and went on to capture the Super Bowl. The G-Men will need to make Alex Smith prove he can beat them by his lonesome. That means taking away the running game of San Fran and that has proven to be no easy task. Look for the Giants to establish some semblance of a running game themselves in order to keep pass rushers off Eli Manning. I thinkwe’re looking at another tight one, but the Niners are hot so I’ll ride their wave with a close victory.
