NFL Week 7

       Week seven of the NFL season was the coming out of Tim Tebow, who got his first ever start as the quarterback of the Denver Broncos.  Tebow won two BCS National Championships and the Heisman trophy in 2007, among other achievements in his college career at the University of Florida.  Denver was matched up against the winless Miami Dolphins, but for the first three quarters Tebow and the Broncos had yet to show up, finding themselves down 15-0.
       Tebow had the 4th quarter of his lifetime, throwing two touchdowns to Demaryius Thomas and Daniel Fells and running in a two point conversion himself to send the game into overtime at 15 all.  The Bronco's Matt Prater hit a 52-yard field goal in overtime to seal the vitory and take the Broncos to a record of 2-4.  Tebow got a win in his first ever start as a professional quarterback.
       Another game of importance from last Sunday was the Chicago Bears against the Tampa Bay Buccanears.  The reason why this game was more newsworthy than the others was because it was played at Wembley Stadium (pictured below) in London, England!  The NFL has been playing regular season games in England for the past several years in an attempt to spread the excitement of football overseas and to showcase the talents of our professional athletes.  Chicago won the game 24-18, which put both teams at a record of 4-3.
                       
        The best individual stats of the week belong to Arian Foster, running back for the Houston Texans.  Foster accounted for 234 yards of total offense and three touchdowns as his Texans routed the Tennessee Titans 41-7.  One the opposite side of the spectrum, we saw the lowest scoring game of the season this week as the Browns beat the Seahawks 6-3.
       The Oakland Raiders struggled with their quarterback options this week, after the injury of Jason Campbell pictured in my last blog post.  Raiders started Kyle Boller, who proceeded to throw three interceptions.  They then turned to Carson Palmer, the veteran quarteback who was recently acquired from the Cincinnati Bengals, who also threw three interceptions.  Needless to say, the Raiders were defeated by division rival Kansas City 28-0.
       The defending champion Green Bay Packers managed to remain unbeaten in 2011 by edging out the Minnesota Vikings on the road 33-27.  The Packers advanced to 7-0 heading into their bye week next Sunday.  Green Bay continues to give off the vibe that they my run the table and go undefeated the entire season behind the stellar play of quarterback Aaron Rodgers (pictured below).

NFL Week 6

     The best matchup week 6 had to offer in my opinion was the 5-0 Lions against the 4-1 49er's.  Despite winning both the turnover and penalty ratios, the Lions lost by six points, largely due to the tough 49er's defense causing five sacks and a safety.  This loss makes the Green Bay Packers to only remaining undefeated team in the NFL with a record of 6-0.
      Another surprise victory was the New York Giants handing the Buffalo Bills their 2nd loss of the season, behind the career high three touchdowns by New York's Ahmad Bradshaw.  Bradshaw may sound like a familiar name because he is from Bluefield, Virginia, and he graduated from Marshall Univeristy.  Below is a picture of Bradshaw from when he was the starting running back at Marshall.
                                        
     The previously struggling Philadelphia Eagles knocked off their divisional rival Washington Redskins by a score of 20-13.  The Redskins were plagued by the four interceptions thrown by Rex Grossman, and coach Mike Shanahan made the decision to bench Grossman in the 4th quarter for backup John Beck.
     The New England Patriots managed to beat the Dallas Cowboys 20-16 after a late 4th quarter touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Aaron Hernandez.  Also, the Oakland Raiders defeated the Cleveland Browns by a score of 24-17.  More importantly was the injury suffered by Oakland's starting quarterback Jason Campbell in which he broke his collarbone.  Campbell will be out for at least six weeks after taking the sack which is pictured below.
                
     The Monday night football game was somewhat of a blowout as the New York Jets beat the Miami Dolphins 24-6.  The most exciting plays were the two interceptions made by Jet's cornerback Darrelle Revis, one of which was returned for a 100-yard touchdown.  The Dolphins drop to a record of 0-5, making them and the 0-6 Indianapolis Colts the only two remaining NFL teams without a win in 2011.

NFL Week 5

     The fifth week of the 2011 NFL season proved to be very unpredictable.  The already struggling Philadelphia Eagles dropped another game this week to the Buffalo Bills, despite there late fourth quarter surge, bringing there record to 1-4.  The Bills are one of the biggest surprise stories of this season, jumping off to a 4-1 start with a stunning week three win against the New England Patriots.  This weeks success can be credited to a strong defensive effort which forced Philly quarterback Mike Vick into throwing four interceptions, as well as a solid rushing game anchored by Fred Jackson's 111 rushing yard.
     Another team having early season problems is the Indianapolis Colts, who lost by four points at home this week against the Kansas City Chiefs taking there record down to 0-5.  The Colts are still having quarterback issues with the absence of Peyton Manning.  Kansas City improves to 2-3 behind a massive air strike that saw Dwayne Bowe and Steve Breaston each catching two touchdown passes.
     Week five was not short on rivalries as there were four interdivisional matchups.  The New Orleans Saints edged the Carolina Panthers by a score of 30-27.  The San Diego Chargers beat the Denver Broncos 29-24, even after the Bronco's Tim Tebow threw a touchdown to Knowshon Moreno to cut the lead down to two points with three minutes to play.  Tom Brady led his New England Patriots to a 30-21 win against AFC East opponent New York Jets.  This matchup was a rematch of last years AFC divisonal playoff game in which the Jets defeated the Patriots 28-21 in Foxboro, MA.  Other noteworthy games this week were the Seattle Seahawks over the New York Giants 36-25, and the San Francisco 49ers advancing to a 4-1 record with a 48-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
     The Monday Night Football Primetime game this week was an NFC North battle between the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions.  The Bears came into this game with a 2-2 record led by there notoriously brutal defense and linebacker Brian Urlacher.  The Detroit Lions got off to a 4-0 start to the season, which surprised many fans due to the Lions previous seasons, the worst of which was there winless 0-16 season in 2008.  The Bears were plagued with penalties the entire game, as they were flagged 14 times for a total of 104 penalty yards. 
     Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford hooked up with his favorite target Calvin Johnson for the first score of the game in this 73-yard TD pass.  This was Johnson's only score of the game, however he broke a record as the only NFL player to every have catch nine touchdown passes in the first five weeks of the season.  The game was blown open in the second have with Brandon Pettigrew's 18-yard TD catch and Jahvid Best's 88-yard TD run.  The Lions went on to win 24-13 and improve to a recod of 5-0, making them and the Green Bay Packers the only remaining undefeated NFL teams.

REPLY strugglingathlete.wordpress.com :
Browns 2-3, last in AFC North.  Lions 5-1 suffer first loss to 49ers.  Peyton Manning had neck surgery before the season started.  It will still be several weeks until he is capable, but will the Colts be relevant at 0-6?