NFL week 7 and 8

Week 7

The Cardinals continued their run as the only unbeaten team in the NFL, their seventh win in a row being one of their more routine ones, a 31-5 win at home to the Houston Texans, who still only have one win to their name. At this stage the Texans already look to be in a battle for last place in the league with the Jaguars, the Lions and maybe the Jets – who lost 54-13 in New England this week.

The most eye-catching result of week seven was Cincinnati going into Baltimore and blowing away the Ravens 41-17. At the start of the season many people were predicting that Cincinnati would be more likely to be battling for that last spot with the Texans than a play-off spot. That big win in Baltimore leaves them 5-2 and on top of the ultra-competitive AFC North. More significantly their young quarterback Joe Burrow looks every inch the real deal and someone who could lead a strong Bengals side for years to come.

Kansas City continue to struggle anytime they come up against a good team, this time getting soundly beaten 27-3 in Tennessee by the Titans, who after a bit of a dodgy start to the season are now not looking like quite so much of a waste of a fiver for me as they move to 5-2 and already look almost certain to win their division. Washington continue to put up decent performances, but still look like they are not good enough to challenge the strongest teams. This week they lost 24-10 in Green Bay, by all accounts the score line could have been closer so that was one of their more impressive defeats so far. Miami are another team that keep finding a way to lose, Atlanta squeezing out a 30-28 win in Miami on Sunday.

The Rams, my other pre-season bet, continue to look one of the strongest teams in the whole league, even though there were not as convincing as I expected them to be at home to the Lions, but the 28-19 win still means that they have only lost one game this season. If it was not for the Cardinals being in their division, that start would look even more impressive. The Raiders bounced back from the loss of their head coach by beating the Eagles 33-22 and the Bucs continued to purr classily with a 38-3 destruction of the Bears. Before all of that the Browns had fought out a much needed 17-14 win at home to the Broncos, getting them to 4-3 and still in touch in that tough AFC North division.

My fantasy team had one of those weeks where virtually all of them did okay, but nobody had an outstanding week. Even with that, had I put in Devonta Smith instead of Lockett – who somehow only got 3.2 points, then I would have squeaked out a close win over Bull City, as it was I suffered an agonising seven point loss. Once again the people predicting the scores had me down for a win, according to them I am 7-0, in reality I am 3-4.

Week 8

It is probably too soon to mention to anyone associated with the Cardinals that ‘all good things must come to an end’. Especially as they came so close to snatching a dramatic victory over the Packers with what would have been a game winning 99yard touchdown drive, had there not he been some kind of communication break down between quarterback and wide receiver, turning a touchdown pass into a game clinching interception for the Packers. That dramatic finish meant that Green Bay won the modern-day classic match on Thursday night Football by 24-21, their seventh win in a row meaning they join the Cardinals on 7-1 for the season.

On the Sunday the Saints produced a result to remind us of song from The Breakfast Club, producing a 36-27 win at home to Tampa Bay and moving to 5-2 and saying Don’t You, Forget about Me. The same could also be said of New England, after a few close defeats against good teams, they are starting to put some wins together. This week their most impressive win of the season so far, a win on the road against the Chargers by 27-24 moves them to 4-4 for the season and right in the play-off picture in the wide-open AFC. After eight weeks the team in the AFC with the best record is the Tennessee Titans, their over time win in Indianapolis against the only team that could possibly challenge them in their division, moved them to 6-2. With Derrick Henry in full on beast mode and looking on track to set some NFL rushing records, I was starting to nod sagely and maybe even do a little jig of happiness to congratulate myself on picking them out before the season started. Then I got the news that Henry needs an operation on one of his feet and will be out for 6-10 weeks. Crushing blow. With the gap they have at the top of their division already, I do believe that they will still comfortably make the play-offs without him, but I cannot help thinking that to make the Superbowl then they would need Henry to be back to at least close to his best. It will be interesting to see how they play without Henry, whether they put the game on Tannehill’s throwing arm (which would be good for my fantasy team) or whether they continue to put an emphasis on running the ball. With them signing veteran and Hall of fame bound running back Adrian Peterson it will be especially interesting to see what other running backs can do behind that offensive line. Buffalo still look the most likely team to take over leading the AFC if Tennessee cannot hang on to that position. They produced a comfortable 26-11 win over Miami to move to 5-2 and despite the possible resurgence of the Patriots, they look likely to win the AFC East, whilst both the North and West divisions could still be won by any of the four teams in them.

Cincinnati gave a classic example of the craziness of the NFL, after producing the best result of the previous week with their demolition of the Ravens in Baltimore, they lost 34-31 to the lowly Jets in New York. With Baltimore having a bye week , the winner of the Pittsburgh game in Cleveland would be the team to take advantage of Cincinnati’s slip up. As it happened the Steelers ground out a win in a typically tough AFC North clash by 15-10. Somehow some way Mike Tomlin always seems to get the Steelers to be a competitive team with a winning record. As Osi ‘Two Time’ Umenyiora pointed out on the BBC NFL show, that Tomlin has been able to do that over fifteen seasons shows that he has to be in the conversation about the best NFL coaches of all time.

For Washington it was all just a little bit of history repeating itself. This time Denver were the beneficiaries of a close win. With Dallas producing another good win, this time by 20-16 in Minnesota, the divisional title looks all but gone for Washington and anyone else in the NFC East, apart from Dallas who stand with a 6-1 record.

The Rams had another expected win, 38-22 over the Texans in Houston. That was not the best news for my bet coming out of LA this week, far more pleasing was hearing that they had traded with Denver to get Von Miller, one of the best outside pass rushers in the league for the last ten years or so. That means their defensive line will now include him and Aaron Donald, both of whom almost always get doubled teamed, creating a major head ache for offensive lines and coaches who go up against them. Both Donald and Miller have more sacks than any other players in the league since their own careers started. Having Jalen Ramsey, one of the top cornerbacks in the league, too makes the Rams defence incredibly star studded. They are starting to look more like the Lakers basketball team from LA in collecting super star players to make a super team. One thing is for sure by signing Miller on top of trading for Stafford in the off-season, the Rams are not building for the future, they are building to win the Superbowl this season.

Fantasy Football was a none event for the first time this season, as from the outside looking in it would appear that my opponent Gonzalez has put the cue on the rack and given up on the season. With a few players scoring zero points between them, his team only amassed forty two points. So even though I had one of my worst weeks, my one hundred points was more than enough to get the win and to a 4-4 record. Mixon and Woods combined for almost half my points between them. Mixon proving to be the reliable running back I was hoping he would be, put up a stellar twenty-five-point performance. Whilst Woods, after a poor start to the season, is starting to feature a lot more in the Rams offence, perhaps as teams have started to make special adjustments to stop Kupp. Woods scored over twenty points and is starting to look like my number one receiver.