Week 5 Rewind
By Brian Edwards
Nine years after the Jets beat the Dolphins 40-37 in one of the greatest Monday Night Football games in NFL history, these bitter rivals played another classic to cap Week 5. This time around, Miami won a 31-27 decision as a three-point home underdog, improving to 2-0 in the Chad Henne Era.
And make no mistake, the ‘Fins have found their future quarterback in Henne, who was terrific on the game-winning drive that ended with Ronnie Brown plunging into the end zone from two yards out on third and goal with six seconds left. Henne connected on 20-of-26 throws for 241 yards and two touchdowns without an interception.
Tony Sparano’s team outscored the Jets 21-14 in the final stanza. Brown had a pair of touchdown runs and ran the Wildcat Package to perfection for most of the night. The ‘Fins hooked up money-line backers with a plus-145 return (risk $100 to win $145).
Although the Jets lost for the second time in as many weeks, they had to be thrilled with the play of their new acquisition, Braylon Edwards. Seve days after being traded from Cleveland, Edwards had a monster game for his team. He finished with five catches for 64 yards and a touchdown. The wide receiver from out of Michigan was known for a chronic case of the dropsies in recent years for the Browns, but he made several acrobatic grabs in traffic against the 'Fins.
Edwards also drew a pass interference call – that, to be clear, was a horrible flag against Miami cornerback Will Allen – that was the equivalent of a 49-yard gainer to set up a Thomas Jones’ TD run one play later. That gave the Jets a 27-24 advantage with 5:12 remaining.
But that simply paved the way for an epic Miami drive in which Henne looked like Dan Marino on several clutch third-down conversions that required perfect throws from the strong-armed Michigan alum.
Rex Ryan’s team returns home to face Buffalo next week, while the ‘Fins have an open date before hosting the Saints. Now let’s take a look back at Sunday’s results…
While grieving the sudden passing of defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer’s wife this past Thursday, the Cincinnati Bengals went into Baltimore and won 17-14 thanks to a last-second touchdown pass from Carson Palmer to Andre “Bubba” Caldwell (Gator!). Marvin Lewis’s team garnered the outright victory as a nine-point underdog, hooking up money-line backers with a plus-260 payout (risk $100 to win $260).
I wouldn’t say I told you so, but I did back in June. The Bengals are for real. If not for their fluky loss against Denver in the opener, they would be 5-0. Nevertheless, Cincinnati is in first place in the AFC North with a one-game lead and a head-to-head win over both Pittsburgh and Baltimore.
Four teams – Indianapolis, Denver, Minnesota and New York – improved to 5-0 over the weekend. New Orleans, also unbeaten at 4-0, was idle in Week 5.
The Broncos are the league’s biggest surprise. Owner Pat Bowlen had the stones to fire two-time Super Bowl winner Mike Shanahan after last season’s December collapse, and then he traded Jay Cutler when his relationship with new head coach Josh McDaniels went sour quickly.
When WR Brandon Marshall was suspended during training camp, Bowlen’s decision to hire McDaniels was looking shaky to say the least. Before coaching his first regular-season game, the 33 year old was dealing with a lot of heat.
At least it seemed so, didn’t it? Whatever the case, the Broncos stayed unbeaten by rallying to beat New England 20-17 in overtime. They won as three-point home underdogs for the second straight week. Kyle Orton threw his first interception of the year (albeit on a Hail Mary right before halftime), but he also completed 35-of-48 passes for 330 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Unlike the win at Cincy in early September, there was nothing fluky about Denver’s win over the Pats. The Broncos had more first downs (27-18) and yards (424-305) than Bill Belichick’s squad. Marshall had both TD catches from Orton, finishing the day with eight receptions for 64 yards.
How easy was the Giants’ 44-7 win over the miserable Raiders? This easy: Eli Manning was given the rest of the day off in the second quarter. The G-Men put up 483 yards to Oakland’s 124 and there was never a doubt if they would cover the ‘chalky’ 15 ½-point number.
Manning’s heel, the source of much speculation all week, held up just fine. The Ole Miss product clearly shook off the pimpslap his alma mater took from Alabama on Saturday, posting a perfect QB rating. Manning hit 8-of-10 throws for 173 yards and a pair of touchdowns without an interception.
Peyton Manning was equally lethal in the Colts’ 31-9 spanking of the still-winless Titans. He connected on 36-of-44 passes for 309 yards and three touchdowns, as Indy easily covered the spread as four-point road favorites.
Minnesota dealt out woodshed treatment against the hapless Rams. The Vikings went into St. Louis and cruised to a 38-10 victory as 10 ½-point road ‘chalk.’ Adrian Peterson ran for a pair of TDs and Brett Favre threw for 232 yards. Jared Allen returned a fumble 52 yards for a TD.
Donovan McNabb returned to the lineup for the first time since the opener to lead Philadelphia to a 33-14 home win over Tampa Bay. The Eagles took the cash as 15 ½-point home favorites. McNabb completed 16-of-21 passes for 264 yards, three TDs and no interceptions.
Kansas City cashed tickets for the first time all year, but the Chiefs couldn’t get their first win in a 26-20 overtime loss to Dallas. KC covered as a seven-point home underdog.
In the extra session, Tony Romo found Miles Austin for a 60-yard TD pass to lift the Cowboys to 3-2. Austin enjoyed a record-setting day, hauling in 10 receptions for 250 yards and two scores. Romo threw for 351 yards and most importantly, zero interceptions.
Carolina finally picked up a win by capturing a 20-17 triumph over Washington. However, the Redskins took the money as 3 ½-point road underdogs. The Panthers outscored the ‘Skins 11-0 in the fourth quarter, as John Kasay booted a 43-yard field goal and Jonathan Stewart scored on an eight-yard TD scamper.
Matt Hasselbeck returned to the Seattle lineup and threw four TD passes in a 41-0 thumping of Jacksonville. The Seahawks easily hooked up their supporters as 1 ½-point home favorites.
Arizona knocked off Houston by a 28-21 count thanks to a goal-line stand in the final seconds. Kurt Warner found Larry Fitzgerald on a pair of scoring strikes to lead the Cardinals to victory.
Atlanta might have had the best performance of the week, crushing San Francisco 45-10 as a 2 ½-point road underdog. Michael Turner ran for 97 yards and three TDs, while Matt Ryan threw for 329 yards and two TDs to Roddy White, who had eight catches for 210 yards.
The Falcons, who are 3-1 and one back of New Orleans for the NFC South lead, will host the Bears in the prime-time game this Sunday at the Georgia Dome.
**B.E.’s Bonus Nuggets**
Even though it didn’t work, I agreed with Ryan’s decision not to use his timeouts after Henne’s third-down completion to give Miami a first-and-goal situation with 50 seconds remaining.
Buffalo has lost to winless teams in back-to-back weeks. The Browns won a 6-3 decision over the Bills in a snoozer at Orchard Park. The winning QB, Derek Anderson, completed just two passes in 17 attempts for 23 yards. And that’s not a misprint.
Pittsburgh is back above .500 following a 28-20 win at Detroit. The Lions, who were playing without rookie QB Matthew Stafford, covered the spread as 11-point underdogs.
Michael Vick’s numbers against the Bucs: four rushes for 10 yards and one completion for one yard on three pass attempts.
Goat of the Week: San Francisco veteran CB Dre Bly, who intercepted Matt Ryan and then put his hand behind his head like Deion Sanders would do when he knew everyone was beat and a touchdown was looming. Unfortunately for Bly, Roddy White was on his tail and caught him to cause a fumble recovered by Ryan. Making matters even more embarrassing for Bly, the 49ers were trailing 35-10 at the time. When Sanders was with the Falcons early in his career, he pulled a similar goatish stunt in a blowout loss at Buffalo. Sanders wasn’t caught form behind but looked just as stupid with Atlanta trailing by more than 30 points.
My Top 15
1-Giants
2-Vikings
3-Saints
4-Colts
5-Eagles
6-Falcons
7-Bengals
8-Ravens
9-Patriots
10-Steelers
11-Broncos
12-Chargers
13-Jets
14-Cardinals
15-Bears
vegasinsider.com.