Monday Night Matchup
With DeMarcus Ware close to signing a huge contract extension and Alex Smith being named the starting San Francisco QB, Leon Washington being placed on IR and Braylon Edwards being charged for assault a lot has gone on in the NFL today but week seven still has one game left. Monday Night Football features a division battle between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins with both teams desperately needing a win to keep up with New York and Dallas in the NFC East. What does each team have to do to win?
Philadelphia- Washington is good against the pass and has a halfway decent pass rush, so the offensive line will need to give Donovan McNabb a ton of time to throw. The Skins are 24th in the league against the run, and Andy Reid may need to go against his philosophy on the road and pound it in there with Brian Westbrook and LaSean McCoy. DeSean Jackson needs to step up for the Eagles because Jeremy Maclin won’t be able to carry the load all by himself along with Brent Celek.
Washington- An anemic offense with a bingo caller for an offensive coordinator could use a break, but won’t get one with Philadelphia’s third ranked defense. The Skins aren’t really settled on who their QB is and I expect both Jason Campbell and Todd Collins to get reps. Clinton Portis needs to bounce back with a strong performance because of the team’s banged up offensive line and the fact that Asante Samuel will be matched up with Santana Moss. That makes Chris Cooley exceptionally important in this game, because the Eagles have given up big games to tight ends, most notably Zach Miller in their loss to Oakland just last week. So Portis and Cooley need to get it done so perhaps those Raiders comparisons will cool for at least a few days.
Bottom Line- Eagles 20-Redskins 13
NFL Week 7 Rapid Recap
One sentence synopses on Sunday’s games. Lots of blowouts, but a few really good ones worth discussing.
-Ryan Grant ran for 148 yards and a TD, and Green Bay scored 21 second quarter points as the Packers went to 4-2 with a 31-3 crushing of the 1-6 Browns.
-Alex Smith replaced Shaun Hill midway through the game for the 49ers and threw three TD passes to Vernon Davis but still fell to 3-3 as Owen Daniels had 123 yards receiving and a TD in Houston’s 24-21 win over San Francisco to improve to 4-3 on the season.
-Phillip Rivers threw for three TD’s, Vincent Jackson had 142 receiving yards and Matt Cassel threw for 97 yards and three interceptions as the Chargers got back to .500 with a huge 37-7 thumping of the 1-6 Chiefs at Arrowhead.
-The Colts cruised to 6-0 as Peyton Manning threw for three TD’s and routed the 0-7 Rams 42-6 despite 134 on the ground from Steven Jackson as St. Louis lost its 17th straight game.
-New England went to Old England and got three TD’s and 308 yards from Tom Brady, 107 of those yards to Wes Welker, and forced three Josh Johnson picks as the 5-2 Patriots pounded the 0-7 Bucs 35-7.
-Pittsburgh returned a Brett Favre fumble and a Favre interception in the 4th quarter for TD’s as Pittsburgh went to 5-2 with a 27-17 win at home over 6-1 Minnesota, who threw the ball 51 times and ran it with Adrian Peterson 18 times for just 69 yards in defeat.
-Carolina threw the ball 44 times and ran it 25 times, leading to 325 Jake Delhomme yards but also three picks as Ryan Fitzpatrick won his second straight game 20-9 for the 3-4 Bills over the 2-4 Panthers.
-Bruce Gradkowski replaced JaMarcus Russell in the second quarter, Thomas Jones ran it for 121 yards and Shonn Greene rushed for 144 and two scores replacing the badly injured Leon Washington as the Jets scrimmaged the Raiders 38-0 in the Black Hole to go to 4-3 while Oakland fell to 2-5.
-Cedric Benson’s revenge against the Bears was sweet as he ran for 189 yards and a TD and Carson Palmer threw 5 TD’s, two to Chad Johnson as 5-2 Cincinnati blitzed the 3-3 Bears 45-10 with Jay Cutler throwing three interceptions.
-Miles Austin showed he was no fluke, catching six balls for 171 yards and two TD’s as Tony Romo threw for 311 and three TD’s and Dallas held Michael Turner to 50 yards rushing and forced two Matt Ryan picks in a 37-21 win for the Cowboys as both teams are now 4-2.
-Miami got off to a 24-3 lead on unbeaten New Orleans, but the Saints used their running game to scored 36 second half points as the Dolphins late comeback fell short as New Orleans went to 6-0 with a wild 46-34 comeback win over 2-4 Miami, who got three TD’s from Ricky Williams.
-Arizona held the Giants to 107 yards rushing, got great pressure and forced three Eli Manning picks, including one with 68 seconds left to ensure 4-2 Arizona’s 24-17 upset win in New York over the 5-2 Giants.
