Hello and welcome to week nine of the NFL roundup brought to you by the Ballhawk Adri Mallows. Firstly before we get into the action I would like to apologise for the lack of blog last week or the Ballhawks bye week shall we say, I was taking a much needed break in Chicago which started off with amazing weather but by the end of the week I had seen weather from all four seasons!
Also during my trip to Chicago I was able to meet up with the good folks (Phil, Mike and Mark) at the Brit and Yankee podcast who invited me to ye old Pub for a beverage and to make an appearance on their pubcast. It was great to meet the guys and step foot in a pub I had heard so much about courtesy of my boss on The Garbage Pod podcast Mr Mark Taylor. Phil and the guys made me feel incredibly welcome and I had an amazing night, it’s fair to say that they also got me nicely drunk and running for the last train back downtown, Thanks Guys ;)
Okay so now we get back to the action and we kick things off this week with episode 16 in the Tom Brady vs Peyton Manning saga as the Patriots played host to the Broncos. Now as some of you may know it gets a little cold around this time of year in Boston and Sunday was no different with the pre game snow looking quite spectacular!
In the previous games between these two future hall of fame quarterbacks, Tom Brady was leading the series 10 - 5. For me this is just one of the many reasons why I believe Brady is the better quarterback out of the two but if you want to know more about my thoughts on that then why not shoot me a tweet @ballhawksnest
Back to the game itself and on paper Denver have the better all round team with both offense and defence ranking in the top ten of both categories however in the past four games Tom Brady had thrown 14 touchdowns and no interceptions.
The game started slowly as the Patriots only managed to pick up two field goals whilst Denver had managed a touchdown thanks to a one yard run from Ronnie Hillman. In the second quarter though things really picked up, well for New England anyways!
In the second quarter New England scored 24 unanswered points and was turning into the Julian Edelman show as he caught a five yard touchdown pass from Brady and he also returned a Broncos punt 84 yards for the score. I was watching all this unfold whilst cringing as I had recently dropped him from my fantasy NFL lineup.
After halftime Denver looked to be getting back into the game as the scored on an 18 yard pass from Peyton Manning to Julius Thomas. This was also Julius Thomas’s first reception of the entire game. Unfortunately for all Broncos fans this was the only spark in what finished off as a total domination from the New England Patriots proving that when it comes to AFC supremacy you always have to think about the Patriots. One of the commentators summed up the situation with the two teams as he mentioned that Denver have assembled a squad to beat Seattle but New England have assembled a squad to beat Denver. The question is when they inevitably meet in the AFC championship game who will come out victorious, Brady or Manning?
Whilst we talk about elite quarterbacks in Brady and Manning, these last few weeks have also seen a resurgence from both Tony Romo and one of the best quarterbacks from the 2004 draft in Ben Roethlisberger. I would have found it very difficult to write this weeks blog without talking about Big Ben and the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers!
In week eight against the Indianapolis Colts Roethlisberger throw a mesmerising 540 yards and six touchdowns and when you look at how the Colts have been playing this year, no one saw this coming for sure.
This week Ben was up against the sturdy Baltimore Ravens defence which over the last few weeks has been starting to look the Ravens defence of old thanks to C J Mosley at linebacker. I had the choice before this weeks game to pick up Roethlisberger in my fantasy league as I needed a replacement for Romo but do you think I took it!!! Anyway before I digress too much take a look at what happened next by clicking the picture below to watch the highlights.
Simply unbelievable I think, talk about lightning striking in the same place twice, big Ben was just on fire. In his last three games Big Ben now has now thrown 14 touchdowns and no interceptions, what’s that I hear you say ‘get him off the waiver wire this week’, don’t worry I'm already ahead of you on that one ;)
Before we take a look at all of the other scores from this week I just wanted to talk about the game between the Miami Dolphins and the San Diego Chargers. This game had all the makings of a great watch with both offenses starting to warm up and both sides also have a very solid running game which always makes for a close game, doesn't it?
Well I thought this would be a close game but from start to finish it was the Miami Dolphins who were clearly the better side as they shut down the Chargers completely and even finished the game without letting San Diego score a single point. You can watch the highlights of this game by clicking on the picture below:
We come now to all of the scores from week nine in the NFL with the exception of the game to be played later tonight:
New Orleans 28 vs 10 Carolina
Jacksonville 23 vs 33 Cincinnati
Tampa Bay 17 vs 22 Cleveland
Arizona 28 vs 17 Dallas
Philadelphia 31 vs 21 Houston
New York Jets 10 vs 24 Kansas City
San Diego 0 vs 37 Miami
Washington 26 vs 29 Minnesota
St Louis 13 vs 10 San Francisco
Denver 21 vs 43 New England
Oakland 24 vs 30 Seattle
Baltimore 23 vs 43 Pittsburgh
To be played Monday 3rd November 2014
Indianapolis vs New York Giants
New Orleans 28 vs 10 Carolina
Jacksonville 23 vs 33 Cincinnati
Tampa Bay 17 vs 22 Cleveland
Arizona 28 vs 17 Dallas
Philadelphia 31 vs 21 Houston
New York Jets 10 vs 24 Kansas City
San Diego 0 vs 37 Miami
Washington 26 vs 29 Minnesota
St Louis 13 vs 10 San Francisco
Denver 21 vs 43 New England
Oakland 24 vs 30 Seattle
Baltimore 23 vs 43 Pittsburgh
To be played Monday 3rd November 2014
Indianapolis vs New York Giants
To finish off this week I thought we should take our first look at the playoff picture as it stands at the moment. Now for those of you new to the game the playoff structure is six teams from each conference (NFC and AFC) make it to the postseason with the two best records receiving a first round bye. The six teams are made up of the four division winners who are seeded one to four with the next best two records making up the two wild card slots or seeds five and six.
In the AFC you have 12 teams who will be realistically fighting it out between now and the end of the season but here are the teams in pole position given their current records:
AFC North: Cincinnati 5 - 2 - 1
AFC East: New England 7 - 2
AFC South: Indianapolis 5 -3
AFC West: Denver 6 -2
Wildcard Positions: Pittsburgh 5 - 3 and Kansas City 5 - 3
AFC East: New England 7 - 2
AFC South: Indianapolis 5 -3
AFC West: Denver 6 -2
Wildcard Positions: Pittsburgh 5 - 3 and Kansas City 5 - 3
I think if you're a betting man it will be very difficult to look past New England and Denver winning their divisions but the remaining positions could go anywhere.
The current picture in the NFC looks like this:
NFC North: Detroit Lions 6 - 2
NFC East: Philadelphia 6 -2
NFC South: New Orleans 4 - 4
NFC West: Arizona 7 - 1
Wildcard Positions: Green Bay 5 -3 and Seattle 5 - 3
NFC North: Detroit Lions 6 - 2
NFC East: Philadelphia 6 -2
NFC South: New Orleans 4 - 4
NFC West: Arizona 7 - 1
Wildcard Positions: Green Bay 5 -3 and Seattle 5 - 3
The NFC is a lot tougher to call this year although realistically there are only 10 teams who you can see having a shot at the playoffs.
To see who all of the other contenders are not mentioned above check out the standings listing at www.nfl.com/standings
To see who all of the other contenders are not mentioned above check out the standings listing at www.nfl.com/standings
Well that wraps it up from me for another week but be sure to check out our podcast Spitball which will be available later in the week and until next time football fans stay safe, take care and ‘Thanks for Stopping By’.