Denver at New England 8:15 p.m.
QB Jake Plummer has staved off the Jay Cutler Era for another week thanks to an 83-yard TD and 32-yard TD to WR Javon Walker. The 256 yards on 15 completions without an INT is all the Broncos could ask, and all his fantasy owners could ask, too.
The Patriots were forced into passing the ball as the Dillon/Maroney juggarnaut was stopped cold. Niether back broke 20 yards on the game and combined for only 34 on 17 carries.
As a result, QB Tom Brady threw 55 times for 320 yards.
Unfortunately for fantasy owners of his WRs, he spread the ball amongst 7 different players - none of which caught more than six passes nor had more than 65 yards receiving.
As for WR Chad Jackson. he was inactive. This makes the receiving core even more of a avoid-at-all-costs crew because CJax looks like he should emerge as the #1, but looks apparently mean little in the Pats' scheme of things.
Atlanta at New Orleans 8:30 p.m.
So much for a college-style running QB. Michael Vick did have 57 yards rushing, but he needs to go for more than 100 per week with a TD if he is to be a sure-start each week. His passing stats
(12/31/137/0) remain so NFL poor that I may have to stop referring to that type of line as "Bollerian" and change it to "Vicksian".
The Saints, however, played with the intensity every armchair psychologist thought they would.
As I watched on my Sprint NFL Mobile Falcons QB Michael Vick congratulating all the Saints after the game, I couldn't help wondering whether the Falcons weren't overtaken by the emotion and "let" the Saints win.
Deuce McAllister continued to get the bulk of the Rb carries (19 for 81 yards) while Reggie Bush was NFL-successful on 13/53. Both backs caught four passes.
However, that type of workload for Bush is not what his fantasy owners were thinking when they reached for him in the 3rd and 4th rounds.
Rookie WR Marques Colsten looks like he will be made a "star" by QB Drew Brees. He caught 7 passes for 97 yards. That is four more than the nominal #1 Joe Horn.
For the season, Colsten has 15/204 versus Horn's 10/160. For the record, Bush has 19/139.