A week after being named the New York Jets starting quarterback, Mark Sanchez rewarded his first year NFL coach with a victory. Rex Ryan got his first win as coach of the Jets as his team nipped the rival New York Giants 27-25. Both teams are now 1-2 in NFL preseason play.
Kyle Boller filled in for an injured Mark Bulger, and the St. Louis Rams improved to 2-1 on the NFL preseason with a 24-21 victory over the host Cincinnati Bengals. The Rams led 24-14 heading into the fourth quarter, but a Bengals TD early in the frame made for some drama down the stretch.
The Washington Redskins are a mess right now. Head coach Jim Zorn has a tenuous hold on his job at best and after Sunday’s—6 loss to Kansas City was stripped of his offensive play calling duties. Management installed newly hired ‘offensive consultant’ Sherman Lewis as the new offensive play caller and the team has set up an awkward arrangement for him to get the plays to the quarterbacks. For that reason, starting QB Jason Campbell has some serious misgivings about the efficacy of the setup.
Carolina Panthers’ quarterback Jake Delhomme struggled on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and was fortunate that his running backs bailed him out. Delhomme threw for only 65 yards with two interceptions, but D’Angelo Williams (152 yards) and Jonathan Stewart (110 yards) kept the chains moving as the Panthers won their second straight game defeating the Bucs 28-21. Tampa Bay has now lost ten straight dating back to last season and are 0-6 for the first time since’85. The fact that they ended up starting that year 0-9 on their way to a 1-15 record doesn’t bode well for the rest of the season. Carolina improved to 2-3 with the victory.
The Indianapolis Colts, finding their offense shut down by a relentless Jacksonville Jaguars attack, fought back in kind. The often maligned Indy stop unit matched the ferocity of their Jaguars counterparts play for play, and one touchdown pass from Peyton Manning proved to be enough to earn victory by a 14-12 margin in the NFL season opener for both teams. The victory was Manning’s 118th in a Colts uniform, tying the legendary Johnny Unitas for the franchise lead.
LaDanian Tomlinson is still not fully recovered from a sprained right ankle, and as a result hell miss his second consecutive NFL regular season game this Sunday. Tomlinson was hurt in the San Diego Chargers season opening victory over the Oakland Raiders and didn’t play last week. The Chargers are slated to host the Miami Dolphins on Sunday afternoon.
It wasn’t a game for the ages by the Buffalo Bills, as they blew much of a 17 point lead to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Still, they did what they had to do and put some offense on the board en route to a 33-20 National Football League victory. The Bills shot out to a 17-0 first quarter lead before Tampa Bay answered with 14 of their own in the second quarter.
Carolina Panthers’ quarterback Jake Delhomme is having a season he’d like to forget, and things got even worse on Sunday at home against the Buffalo Bills. Despite dominating the Bills on the stat sheet, Delhomme threw three interceptions that allowed Buffalo to take a 20-9 victory over the struggling Panthers. Delhomme threw for 325 yards, though without any touchdowns. His three picks pushed his total for the year to- which leads the NFL.
The Denver Broncos are for real. The NFL’s most surprising undefeated team certainly answered any remaining doubters on Monday Night Football as they used a fourth quarter surge to put away the San Diego Chargers 34-23. Denver upped their record to 6-0 while San Diego dropped to 2-3. Denver’s special teams also excelled, with Eddie Royal becoming only the 11th player in NFL history to return a punt and a kickoff for touchdowns in the same game.
The offensively struggling Kansas City Chiefs have finally found a way to win-play a team with a more stagnant offense than their own. The Chiefs gave Todd Haley his first win as a NFL head coach on Sunday with a—6 win over the Washington Redskins. Kansas City won despite not scoring a touchdown, compiling their– points via 4 Ryan Succop field goals and a game ending safety. Kansas City is now 1-5 on the NFL season, while the Redskins slumped to 2-4.