What to make of the NFL

Wow...usually as you get five weeks into the NFL season you start to have a pretty good idea of what is going to happen every week. If you're like me, just when I feel I have a good grasp, I get thrown several curveballs. Let us just take a look at what just happened today:

1. Arizona Cardinals defeated the defending Super Bowl Champions New Orleans Saints, 30-20. Yes, they were playing at home but guess who their QB was...any ideas? Yeah, that stud named Max Hall. You know, the 2010 undrafted player from BYU that was battling for 3rd on the depth chart at the start of training camp. He wins his first ever career start with the following stats: 17-27 for 167 yds and an interception. They failed to score an offensive touchdown and had 12 first downs the entire game. In fact, they managed just 194 total yards of offense! However, they returned 2 fumbles for touchdowns as well as put the final nail in the coffin with a 28-yard pick six by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Who on earth predicted that, especially given the Cards porous defense? If you did, congrats...or stop lying. And what on earth to make of the Saints? Here is a team that was widely considered one of the top contenders for the Super Bowl. They fall to 3-2, but there is cause for concern. Their 3 wins have been by a total of 10 pts, while their 2 losses have been by 13. Yes, that high octane offense has been outscored on the year to date. I guess I should have taken note when they only managed to win at home 16-14 last week over Carolina...I will now.

2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers go on the road to beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 24-21. The Bucs may just start making a believer out of people...though I'm still not buying and thus I will probably still struggle to figure out the league. Yes, they have a great defense, but that offense, man...I am having a hard time accepting Josh Freeman being a successful starting QB in the NFL. My thinking was that they had defeated Cleveland by 3 and lowly Carolina but then got destroyed by Pittsburgh. For Cincy, here is a team that had AFC title thoughts coming into the year after a very good 2009 season and the addition of Terrell Owens. They got totally outplayed in the season opener against the Patriots but rebounded with wins over Baltimore and Carolina. However, I should have got the message last week when they lost to Cleveland, who is improving but is nowhere close to playoff aspirations. Today, the Bengals are up 7 with less than 3 1/2 minutes in the game and what do they do? Carson Palmer manages to throw 2 picks in that time frame and allow the Bucs to come back and win. Unbelievable...stupid...ridiculous...and now they are 2-3 and have a HUGE hole to climb out of in the very competitive AFC. By the way, I think I can hear the TO/Ocho crying getting louder, can you?

3. Oakland Raiders over the San Diego Chargers, 35-27. Seriously, Oakland scored 35 pts...yeah, I know, I'm still in complete shock as well. Of course, when you basically spot a team 12 points in the first 4:27 of the game, you have a tendency to try too hard. Oakland is another team that relied on defense/special teams as they returned a blocked punt AND a fumble for touchdowns. Poor Philip Rivers...all he did was throw for an amazing 431 yards (213 of them to Malcom Floyd - Vincent who?) and yet he can't get any help. The Chargers themselves have dropped to 2-3, with all 3 losses coming on the road. As a sidenote, they were coming off last week's butt-kicking of the aforementioned Arizona Cardinals, 41-10. And yes, here I was thinking that the Saints were better than the Chargers...foolish me.

4. Tennessee Titans won AT the Dallas Cowboys. I admit, I bought the "Super Bowl talk" coming out of the Cowboys camp from the beginning. Romo, Austin, Witten, Barber, Felix Jones, Williams, the hotshot rookie Bryant - all the offensive fire power you could want coupled with a very stout defense. Now, they get that brand new, ridiculously beautiful new stadium so they are poised to play in there for the right to be Super Bowl Champions. At this rate, they will be sitting in the nose bleed section watching it with everyone else. Romo played well (406 yds, 3 TD's & a very costly 3 INT's), the Cowboys outgained the Titans by nearly 200 yards, but shot themselves in the feet with the turnovers and 12 penalties!!! On the positive side for Dallas, they did finally get the ball in the hands of Felix Jones who got his first 100 yard rushing game of what I hope will be many more...I love the way he plays and think he has been severely underutilized. I haven't been sipping the Titan Cool-Aid, but I just may now as they are the anti-Chargers, 2-0 on the road but 1-2 at home. They are now 3-2 in a surprisingly open AFC South.

5. Lastly, the New York Giants absolutely pummeling the Houston Texans in Houston. Yes, this is the Houston team that totally dominated the Indianapolis Colts, which is the team that absolutely crushed the New York Giants. So, as logic would have it, the Giants crush the Texans. Man...where the hell did the Texans offense go? They had 11 first downs...11...in 60 minutes of game time. Arian Foster, the leading rusher in the NFL to date, rushed 11 times for 25 yards. You can do the math...that's not a very good ypc. Would the Matt Schaub of last year please come back? Pretty please...he won me a title last year and now he is costing me in not 1, not 2, not 3 BUT 4 friggin leagues!!! Certainly he can do better than 16-34 for 196 yards and an interception. I'm just sayin'...meanwhile, Eli decides to play like his brother who shall remain nameless (I'm NOT a Colts fan) and goes all psycho, throwing for 297 yards and 3 touchdowns. Hakeem Nicks - another player I figured would be pretty good but man, he is just a beast. He only had 12 catches, 130 yards and 2 TD's, which I think he had all that in the 1st quarter!

Anyway, I think this is just another example of why we all love the NFL. Every week brings us something we didn't expect and it just keeps us coming back to see what will happen next.

Until next time...

- The Sports Nut
RIP John Wooden, the greatest coach in history