NFL Week 5 and 6

Week 5

Fantasy Football is back! Thanks largely to Herbert lighting it up for over 42 points in a crazy game against Cleveland, my team got back on the winning trail. I managed to beat Jay who was lying second in the table before that game, the fact that two of his players scored no points was a big help. A new running back picked up on a waiver helped me out, Hubbard at Carolina was filling in for McCaffrey and scored me 18 points. Kelce chipped in with seventeen points as did my Buffalo defence. In the end it all ended up to a relatively comfortable 128-101 victory to move me to 3-2.

Much of my Sunday was spent getting often updates on Herbert’s score as the Chargers beat the Browns 47-42. That was the first game in NFL history when the losing team scored over forty points and did not turn the ball over. It was one of those games where every time there was a redzone update there was at least one more touchdown that had been scored. I was loving every score in that game, because even when Cleveland scored it meant that Herbert was going to keep throwing and taking risks to score again, which he did in brilliant fashion. Have to admit that when I drafted him, I was thinking he would be a useful back-up for Tannehill, but forget quarterback controversy, Herbert is now my undisputed number one.

The Cardinals remained the only unbeaten team in the league, as they ground out a win against the Forty-Niners. Washington look like they are going to treat me to another year of mediocrity. This week they lost to New Orleans to drop to 2-3 for the season and it would appear they will do well to win more games than they lose this year. It also looks like that sort of season will not be enough to get a divisional title ahead of Dallas, as they continue to look impressive as they advance to their fourth win in a row, with a comfortable win over the Giants. Both teams with my fiver on got back to winning ways, the Rams with an important win against division rivals in Seattle. Whilst Tennessee picked up a straightforward win against the Jaguars to move to 3-2 and a two-game lead in their division.

As well as the Chargers versus Browns game, there was another crazy game this week in Cincinnati as the Bengals went up against the Packers. Two good teams went head to head throughout, and it came down to a close finish. Then the craziness happened, when four field goals attempts to win the game were all missed, two from each side. Eventually with his third attempt Mason Crosby kicked the winner at the end of the over time period to win the game for the Packers. Showing the importance of not dwelling on your mistakes and staying positive.

Buffalo continued their dominant run, with an impressive 38-20 win in Kansas City. The Chiefs are looking a shadow of their former self, or maybe it is more that teams have worked out how to play them after the Bucs showed how to do it in the Superbowl last season. Either way it will be fascinating to watch how they react to starting 2-3 and being bottom of their division. Speaking of the Bucs, they blew Miami away this week, moving ominously to 4-1 and Brady threw five touchdown passes as he continues to look not just like he’s not getting any older, but as if he is Benjamin Button aging backwards. The Patriots, Vikings, Steelers, Eagles and Bears all eked out close wins to keep some momentum in their season. Whilst the Ravens produced a big come from behind win against the Colts on Monday night Football. The Ravens are one of the most difficult teams to rate at the moment, on the one hand I can see them winning the Superbowl, on the other I can see them getting found out against better teams and not even making the play-offs and if they do then losing the first game.

Off the field the big news story was the resignation of Las Vegas Raiders head coach John Gruden. I am not going to comment too much because of not knowing the full details of exactly what happened. What I will say is that I do believe any sort of language used by people in positions of extreme privilege, needs to not involve anything that is racist, homophobic or misogynistic. Language is important as are the messages attached to them. Words are so powerful and should be used to bring people together rather than push them apart.

Week 6

The only downside to going to the NFL London game (see my separate article on my NFL London experience) was that it meant I missed all of the TV action that evening, whilst driving home. Fantasy football wise, the non-selection of Waddle was a sign of things to come as I suffered another big defeat, this time at the hands of Claudia, dropping me back to 3-3. Each player has a predicted score for each week, giving each team a predicted total. In all six weeks so far my team has been ahead of my opponent according to those predictions. So the only crumb of comfort so far this season is that whoever does those predictions is having an even worse season than me.

As I was slowly making my way up to the Northwest of England, there were some excellent games going on in America. The Cardinals keep on winning, stretching the only unbeaten record in the league to 6-0 with an impressive win in Cleveland. If they have not already then soon the Cardinals will have to feature strongly in the conversation about who is the favourite for the Superbowl.

Just when they looked like they might be about to establish themselves as the dominant team in the AFC, Buffalo had an upset loss to Tennessee, which obviously pleased me as my fiver on the Titans to win the Superbowl does not look as much like completely wasted money anymore. That match let both teams on 4-2, only Baltimore’s 5-1 is better than them in the AFC, after the Ravens pulled off an impressive, big 34-6 win over the Chargers. The Chiefs continue to be able to beat average teams, this time their victim was Washington. That left them at 3-3 but did nothing to convince me that they can get back to beating the best teams yet. Whilst the Patriots lost another close one, this time to the Cowboys, they look like the are better than last year but are unable to turn that improvement into many wins yet. The Bengals, Chargers and Raiders are also on 4-2.

Whilst the AFC is looking even and wide open at the moment, five teams are looking like separating themselves from the crowd in the NFC. With the Buccaneers, Rams, Packers and Cowboys all 5-1 just one game behind the Cardinals. It is difficult to see anyone outside of those five representing the conference at the Superbowl in February. Picking which one of those five will make it to the last game of the season is much more difficult. In Brady, Murray, Rogers, Prescott and Stafford, all five have outstanding quarterbacks playing at a level that could see them win the MVP of the season award. The Cardinals look to have an excellent all around team and their six wins are no fluke. In Dallas the Cowboys are looking on their way to having the swagger back from the 1990s, with an explosive offence and a defence capable of making big plays. The Bucs still look at least as good as they did last year, especially on offence and if they can get healthy on defence, they could still be the team to beat in the play-offs. Harmony seems to have been restored in Green Bay and Rogers seems to be happy which means another excellent regular season looks to be assured. Even with all that I am still happy that the Rams will give me a good run for my money. They have an excellent defence and plenty of offensive toys for Stafford and McVey to play with.