Finally I have the chance to sit down and bring you all my round up from week four, with that said please accept my apologies for the delay this week. My week has been super busy with the International Series weekend and some big developments in the world of Women’s Gridiron. For more information on the developments please see our new ‘Women of the Gridiron’ page.
So back to the NFL, can you believe that we are now officially a quarter of the way through the regular season and I am no further forward with knowing who I think will make it to this year’s Superbowl.
Week four in the NFL saw the great sport hit these fair shores for the first International Series game of the 2014 season between the Miami Dolphins and the Oakland Raiders. For our coverage of the international series and interviews with hall of famers including Dan Marino and Andre Reed please check out this weeks ‘Spitball’ podcast as the blog will be devoted to all of the other action from around the league.
Let’s start with Thursday Night Football between the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins. Washington appeared to have a new lease of life with Kirk Cousins under centre and their defence was also starting to force sacks and turnovers whereas the Giants have had a spluttering start to the season.
The game started in true NFC East style with the defence taking centre stage as the New York Giants were forced to punt after their opening drive went three plays and then out. The Redskins first drive didn't look much better either as on the sixth play the Giants defence got to Kirk Cousins and striped the ball forcing a fumble giving possession back to the Giants. A few plays later the Giants had the ball in the endzone courtesy of a five yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Larry Donnell. It wouldn't be the only time the two would combine for big plays on the night but more about that later.
The next three combined possessions led to punts by each team and neither team seemed willing to take the upper hand until on their fourth drive when Eli Manning was able to cap off a six play, 75 yard drive with another touchdown pass to Larry Donnell, this time for six yards putting the Giants up 14 – 0.
The Redskins managed to answer back on their next drive with an 18 yard touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Andre Roberts but unfortunately for the Redskins it was all downhill from there. The Giants managed to score 10 more points before halftime including yet another touchdown to Larry Donnell from six yards out again, my guess is that they used exactly the same play as before.
As if conceding the ten points before half time was not bad enough the Redskins or more appropriately Kirk Cousins threw three interceptions in the third quarter sealing the Redskins fate. The final score in this one was 45 – 14 and you can see the highlights of the game by clicking on the picture below:
The next game we move onto is the clash between the New Orleans Saints and the Dallas Cowboys. Both teams have started the season quite badly with New Orleans having lost to both Cleveland and Atlanta whilst Dallas had won its last two games. The game itself was played in the magnificent AT&T Stadium in Texas and for those who have never seen it, check out the picture below:
The Stadium looks immense and if nothing else you can say that the Cowboys owner Jerry Jones sure knows how to build magnificent stadia. Again I have digressed and apologies for that, back to the game we go………
The first half was all about Dallas with them scoring 24 unanswered points and keeping the Saints off the scoreboard for the entire half. This is first time this has happened since back in 2011 and like most of the Saints fans I was in complete and total shock. Not only had the Saints not scored but they were losing so badly to Dallas who despite my negative views of them at the moment are quickly becoming the team to watch this year.
Into the second half we go now and the Saints managed to score a few times including the usual touchdown from tight end Jimmy Graham but it was always going to be the Cowboys day as they went on to close this game out 38 – 17. You can see the highlights from the game by clicking on the picture below:
Finally before we check out all of the scores from week four I just want to also talk about the Monday night game between Kansas City and New England. Both teams this year have had indifferent starts to the season but even still I had no idea of what was to come.
For those new to the game even this season when they have not been playing well it is very rare for teams to be able to stop Tom Brady and New England from scoring for long periods of the game and yet this week that is exactly what the Kansas City Chiefs did for the best part of three quarters. Not only did they stop New England from scoring, they were also able to score plenty of points themselves thanks to the return of running back Jamaal Charles to the offense and some lovely catch and run plays by tight end Travis Kelce. It is fair to say that Kansas put on a bit of football clinic on Monday night and you can see them in action by clicking the picture below:
Now let’s catch up with all of the scores from week four:
New York Giants 45 vs 14 Washington
Carolina 10 vs 38 Baltimore
Green Bay 38 vs 17 Chicago
Buffalo 17 vs 23 Houston
Tennessee 17 vs 41 Indianapolis
Detroit 24 vs 17 New York Jets
Miami 38 vs 14 Oakland
Tampa Bay 27 vs 24 Pittsburgh
Jacksonville 14 vs 33 San Diego
Atlanta 28 vs 41 Minnesota
Philadelphia 21 vs 26 San Francisco
New Orleans 17 vs Dallas 38
New England 14 vs 41 Kansas City
New York Giants 45 vs 14 Washington
Carolina 10 vs 38 Baltimore
Green Bay 38 vs 17 Chicago
Buffalo 17 vs 23 Houston
Tennessee 17 vs 41 Indianapolis
Detroit 24 vs 17 New York Jets
Miami 38 vs 14 Oakland
Tampa Bay 27 vs 24 Pittsburgh
Jacksonville 14 vs 33 San Diego
Atlanta 28 vs 41 Minnesota
Philadelphia 21 vs 26 San Francisco
New Orleans 17 vs Dallas 38
New England 14 vs 41 Kansas City
As you can see from the above week four was also the first bye week in the NFL which means that some teams had the week off.
I shall start with the teams that have surprised me so far and they are the only two teams in the NFL to have not lost a game so far and that is the Arizona Cardinals and the Cincinnati Bengals. To be fair to the Bengals they do have a good all round squad and you get the feeling that when it matters their defence will come up with a big play, the only question mark is whether or not Andy Dalton is capable of performing on the bigger stage of the playoffs should they get there. Arizona on the other hand sitting alone at the top of the NFC West is by far the bigger surprise.
Arizona are in the same division as San Francisco and the defending champions Seattle so for the to be unbeaten having played one of these two teams shows how far they have come as a franchise, either that or it highlights how bad the other teams are playing?
We also have a couple of teams struggling at this stage of the season in New England who are 2 – 2 and the New Orleans Saints who are 1 – 3. Before the season started I would have had these two making to the later stages of the playoffs but after this start they may not even make it to the final twelve!
I think that is enough from me this week but if you would like to share your thoughts on the season so far or have any questions you would like answered then please leave a comment at the bottom of the page.
Until next time football fans stay safe, take care and ‘Thanks for Stopping By’