$.01--The game of the week, and one of the gams of the year so far, took place in Foxboro. The New England Patriots scored a dramatic comeback win over the previously unbeaten New Orleans Saints. The win was capped off when Tom Brady found Kenbrell Thompkins in the back of the end zone just beyond Saints corner Jabari Greer, who was in good position but failed to make a play on the ball.

This was such a great game that Bill Belichick even joked at his postgame press conference that it took five years off his life. If so, it likely took double that from Sean Payton, who was outcoached by Belichick down the stretch. The key was in the attention to detail and one critical poor choice in plays.

New Orleans all but had the game in the win column. While holding a 27-23 lead, the Saints picked off Brady with 2:24 left. New England had just one timeout, which the Saints forced them to burn with a run on first down. An uncreative run on 2nd down took it to the two minute warning. It’s here where Payton started to outthink himself. He called a naked bootleg for Drew Brees on 3rd and 7, and the quarterback got flattened by Chandler Jones for a loss of five.

It was a play which never had a chance. Payton consciously chose to just give the ball back to Tom Brady with over a minute left instead of trying to pick up the first down. That’s not a good decision. When Thom Morstead’s punt quickly flared out of bounds, the Patriots took over needing 70 yards in 76 seconds.

No timeouts, no problem. Here is where Payton’s defensive lieutenant, Rob Ryan, took some years off his life. Ryan is noted for being hyper-aggressive on defense. I’ve frequently criticized him for wanting the hot fudge sundae with sprinkles, whip cream, nuts and a fruit salad on top when the smart play is for simple vanilla. In this case, Ryan went the opposite direction. Brady picked apart his vanilla sets, and a mental error by Keenan Lewis to tackle Aaron Dobson out of bounds to stop the clock set up Brady. Giving him extra chances to win is like loading the gun and putting it down your own throat. When he found Thompkins behind Greer in the corner with just six seconds left, it was a fitting end. All game New Orleans had gone full throttle all game, but lost when their offensive coach relied on the defense and the defensive coach broke character. That’s a tougher loss for New Orleans than it is a great win for New England.

$.02--Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for the Houston Texans…

The St. Louis Rams absolutely destroyed the Texans 38-16 in Houston. The game started poorly for the home team and quickly went downhill from there. There were four Houston turnovers, including yet another pick six. This one was thrown by backup TJ Yates, who replaced an injured Matt Schaub. 

Kubiak should be feeling the heat, as Jason La Canfora said on Twitter during the middle of the game. His Texans looked completely disinterested and unprepared for what the Rams, who are not a good team, threw at them. Kubiak will point to the efficient yardage on offense--his bread and butter--but almost all of that came in garbage time. He can point to holding the Rams to 117 yard passing and just 15 first downs, but St. Louis didn’t even need that much production to smoke the Texans.

Houston is now 2-4, but they are less than a minute from being 0-6 on the season. This is a team that entered the season on a mission to achieve nothing less than two playoff victories this year. Anything less was going to be considered a failure. Now they sit a game behind the Titans in third place in the AFC South, well behind the Colts. Their starting quarterback has a leg injury on top of his shattered confidence. The backup quarterback, T.J. Yates, isn’t any good. The defensive backfield has been a disastrous letdown; I could embed tweets from twenty different people ripping the play of corner Kareem Jackson in this game. Even the special teams are a major problem, as Keshawn Martin fumbled away a punt.

I don’t believe owner Bob McNair will drop the axe on Kubiak during the season, but the oilman has to understand the public outcry. Kubiak has never been popular with the fans even while the team was winning the last couple of years. He was very nearly fired after the underachieving 2010 season, after all. Still, with Wade Philips on the sideline having head coaching experience, a move is not out of the question.

$.03--Congrats to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who escaped the ranks of the winless by knocking off the Jets 19-6. It was not a pretty win, but when you’re 0-4 you care not about style points. This was no great rising by Pittsburgh. Instead, the Jets played down to the Steelers’ low level of play. Pittsburgh still has no ability at all to run the football, netting just 73 yards on 26 carries. They struggled converting drives into Jets territory into touchdowns, scoring just one and settling for four Sean Suisham field goals while going 0-2 in the red zone. The offensive line continued to give up way too much pressure, allowing four sacks and several hits on Ben Roethlisberger.

The Steelers were bailed out by Jets QB Geno Smith having a rookie game. Smith threw two costly interceptions, one of them forced when fellow rookie Jarvis Jones pressured him late in the fourth quarter and the game still undecided. Smith produced just 201 yards passing on 34 attempts, and with the two INTs his rating wound up at 48.8. That’s not going to win many games. A lot of circumstances conspired against the Jets here. The Steelers were coming off a bye, while the Jets played on Monday night in Atlanta. Extended rest, meet a short work week. Several Jets left the game with injuries, including running backs Mike Goodson and Bilal Powell. The Steelers were long overdue for forcing a takeaway, entering the game as the only team without one. And Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Dick Lebeau feasts upon rookie quarterbacks. According to ESPN, he’s now 16-2 when facing a rookie.

Don’t get too excited, Pittsburgh fans. This is still a very flawed team destined to finish in the AFC North cellar. But at least this first win soothes some of the tension. We’ll see if the momentum can carry over next week, when the hated Ravens visit Heinz Field. Win that game and maybe things are really looking up.

$.04--It’s safe to say my preseason prediction of the New York Giants winning the NFC East is shot down in flames. They’ve been thunderstruck on defense, while Eli Manning is throwing too many big balls to the opposing defense.

Yes, the 2013 New York Giants are one big, bad AC/DC song. Just like that band in the Brian Johnson era, every song has the same underlying beat. If you’ve heard "Money Talks", you’ve heard "Shoot to Thrill" and you’ve heard "Big Gun". If you’ve seen one Giants game this year, you’ve pretty much seen them all.

Sure, the situations fluctuate a little bit. Some, like Thursday’s loss to Chicago, are a little better than others, like "For Those About to Rock" being a little more palatable than "Who Made Who". Sometimes the Angus Young guitar solo, or a Brandon Jacobs G-power run, spice things up and nearly pull off the victory. But then the Eli Manning interceptions or the pedantic rhythm guitar and drum line that a deaf toddler can replicate just blow it all up for the worse.

Fans of the Giants have to be wondering what in "Hell’s Bells" they did to deserve this level of suffering. This is the worst Giants team of my football cognizance, which extends back to when I once got three Joe Pisarcik football cards in a pack as a kid. It’s a lost year but not a completely hopeless year. It sure looked bleak for AC/DC when Bon Scott tragically died, but quickly rising from the ashes came the brilliant "Back in Black", still their best song to date. The Giants will almost certainly have to replace Tom Coughlin and overhaul both lines, but they have the playmakers on offense to still threaten defenses. Give them Anthony Barr as a pass rusher or Jake Matthews as a stud left tackle with the 3rd overall pick and they can quickly get back in tune. But this year is one that will be spent like Bon Scott’s final days, drowning in a pool of vomitous misery.

$.05--The Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns met on the shores of Lake Erie. This was the first time since 1970 that these two teams have met while both have winning records.

Only Detroit ended the day with a winning record. They can thank Matthew Stafford for that. There were two game-shifting plays in this 31-17 Detroit victory. The first was early in the third quarter with the Browns holding a 17-7 lead. Stafford had struggled in the first half, just 10-for-22 for 83 yards. Several of the incompletions were drops by his receivers, including two by Calvin Johnson. On third and six on Detroit’s first drive of the second half, Stafford pulled down the ball and scrambled up the gut of the Cleveland defense for seven yards. At the end of the play, he let out an unusual show of vocal emotion, spiking the ball and exhorting his teammates. He earned a flag for delay of game, but it was well worth it.

This is exactly what Lions fans have been clamoring for, the proverbial next step by Stafford. He’s been much more consistent all season, but this is the first game he’s really taken over on his own. On a day when Calvin Johnson was not as good as Kris Durham, Stafford found a way to throw four touchdowns and lead a 24-0 second half wave over the Browns. The fiery leadership, the poise under pressure, the pinpoint accuracy, it was the complete package by Stafford.

And then there’s his Cleveland counterpart, Brandon Weeden. Unlike Stafford, Weeden wilted under the pressure of the second half. There was no greater sign of that than one of the worst decisions you’ll ever see a NFL quarterback make. If you must see it, here’s a link to watch it courtesy of the Yardbarker Network. Don’t let your kids watch it though, it might give them nightmares. That was DeAndre Levy’s second interception on the day, and it effectively iced the game for Detroit. Just as Matt Stafford proved beyond any doubt he can be a franchise quarterback, Brandon Weeden threw away whatever credible claim he had at ever being a quality starter.

$.06--The Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles both won on Sunday, effectively turning the moribund NFC East into a two-team race.

The Eagles kept the Buccaneers winless thanks to an efficient performance from backup QB Nick Foles. He spread the ball around judiciously but also nailed DeSean Jackson with a long touchdown strike. Fols even scored with his own legs. How very Mike Vick of him. Just as important for Philly was the improved play of the defense. The Eagles' secondary and linebackers tackled better and stayed more disciplined in coverage than they’ve played so far. It still wasn’t great, but even getting up to competent makes the Eagles dangerous enough to win the NFC Least.

In order to do that, they must go through the Dallas Cowboys. They improved to 3-3 by pummeling the Ethnic Slurs 31-16 in the Sunday night affair. Tony Romo played well, hitting a variety of receivers on a variety of crosses and outs. He only threw one INT after his legendary boner a week ago. Dallas won despite losing Demarcus Ware to an injury, further depleting an already-thin defensive front. Their game ball goes to special teams ace Dwayne Harris, who accounted for over 200 return yards including an 85-yarder that broke the game open.

These two teams meet next week in Philadelphia with sole possession of first place on the line. That comes as a real disappointment to the Ethnic Slurs, who played much better defensively but continue to struggle to string positive plays together. The reigning NFC East champs are now 1-4 and looking at three games in a row where they will be decided underdogs. Remember they started slowly a year ago as well, but this Washington team just doesn’t seem to have the cohesiveness or joie de vivre that personified last year’s rally.

$.07-- I haven’t done a power poll yet, but it’s time. Keep in mind I’m concocting this as the Sunday night game ends.

1. Denver, 2. New England, 3. Seattle, 4. Kansas City, 5. Indianapolis, 6. San Francisco, 7. New Orleans, 8. Cincinnati, 9. Green Bay, 10. Detroit, 11. Chicago, 12. Baltimore, 13. Miami, 14. Dallas, 15. Philadelphia, 16. Tennessee, 17. New York Jets, 18. Cleveland, 19. Arizona, 20. San Diego, 21. Carolina 22. St. Louis, 23. Buffalo, 24. Washington, 25. Atlanta, 26. Oakland, 27. Houston, 28. Pittsburgh, 29. Minnesota, 30. Tampa Bay, 31. New York Giants, 32. Jacksonville.

I believe there is a clear demarcation between the top-8 and the next tier of six teams. Green Bay would rank higher if not for the litany of injuries, including the two wideouts injurd in the win over Baltimore on Sunday. Numbers 14-22 are essentially interchangeable; they could very well be inverted next week. The bottom nine were a little too easy to separate from the teams above them.

$.08--5 NFL Quickies

1. It’s only six weeks but right now the Defensive Rookie of the Year is Bills' linebacker Kiko Alonso. He probably won’t win because he doesn’t get sacks, but Alonso is the same sort of instinctive, rangy tackling machine that Luke Kuechly was for Carolina a year ago. Alonso was a first round talent coming out of Oregon but slid because of character concerns; even Oregon teammates openly wondered if he was right in the head. So far in Buffalo he’s kept his head on straight and is racking up tackles. In Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati, he had 22 of them. That’s not a misprint: 22 tackles for Kiko Alonso.

2. Since I’m in the giving mood, how about an easy one…thus far the clear choice for Coach of the Year is Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs. They are 6-0 a season after going 2-14 and securing the first overall pick. That pick, tackle Eric Fisher, has been awful. It doesn’t matter. Reid has reinvigorated the existing talent and smartly augmented them with reliable players like Alex Smith and Mike DeVito. It’s hard to argue with 6-0 when even the most optimistic Chiefs fan would have happily accepted 4-2.

3. The curious case of Rob Gronkowski continues to raise eyebrows. ESPN’s Ed Werder reported that some teammates are growing frustrated with Gronkowski’s apparent unwillingness to play in games despite doing great things in practice. Gronk is recovering from both a badly broken forearm and recurring back issues, and he has yet to play. It seems as if his teammates believe he is ready. The tight end is a major talent but has a rep for marching to a drummer not heard outside his own thick skull. The last thing he, or the Pats, need is for his ongoing health issues to create fissures. He already wasted a roster spot by not going on the PUP list for the first six weeks, even though he’s still Physically Unable to Perform. If he doesn’t play next week, things could really start to get interesting.

4. It was a nightmarish week for Adrian Peterson. His two-year-old son was savagely beaten and abused by the boyfriend of the mother of the child, which caused his departure from the team during the week. I cannot imagine that level of anguish or personal hell. He returned to the team to try and gut out a cathartic performance, but instead wound up on the wrong end of a 35-10 blowout home loss to Carolina. I echo the millions of others who wish their heartfelt thoughts and comforting prayers to AD.

5. Raise your hand if you’re surprised that Pats wideout Danny Amendola departed yet another game early with an injury, this time a concussion. If your hand is raised, you’re an idiot. The Patriots rolled the dice with Mr. Glass and cannot be surprised. He has already missed three full games and part of another with an unrelated injury. In the preseason I set the over/under for Amendola games played at 6.5 and I still like the under.

$.09--College/Draft Quickies

1. I’ve been bullish on Oregon QB Marcus Mariota as a top-5 overall draft pick. I still believe that happens, but his game against Washington gave me some concerns. Even though Oregon win and Mariota had a great stat line, I saw some legit issues. He left a clean pocket a few times to try and instigate action. I noted several times that I felt like he was aiming the ball instead of throwing it, though his aim is quite good. It’s a subtle difference but easy to spot on film. I didn’t like how he stared down his primary read for far too long, even on the move. The good news is that pretty much everything wrong with Mariota is coachable, and he has the athletic potential to remind coaches of RG3 or Michael Vick as runners. If he can become more of a passer than an improvisational runner-as-passer, Mariota is going to be very good in the NFL. He’s not nearly there yet though.

2. Penn State knocked off Michigan in four overtimes. The Nittany Lions escaped at home thanks to passive, conservative play by the Michigan offense that makes Ted Cruz seem flippantly liberal. Michigan continued to play for the field goal even though their kicker is abysmal and had a potential game-winner go wide…twice. And another one blocked. More Devin Gardner turnovers are a legit reason for Brady Hoke to be scared of his own offense, but the Wolverine defense is not stout enough to handle that kind of pressure.

Also notable from this game was the premature departure of Michigan left tackle Taylor Lewan. By my count, this was the 6th game he’s left during the game for an injury issue. He almost always returns and has never missed a game, but Lewan appears to either embellish the injuries or get hurt pretty easily. Take the Akron game, where he appeared to be dead on the field for a few minutes before being helped off in obvious agony. And then he returned on the subsequent drive like nothing happened. He’s done nothing but play his way down my draft board this year, and this latest issue and his propensity for leaving games certainly doesn’t help.

3. It was a big win for Texas in the Red River Rivalry, whipping up on Oklahoma 36-20. My most notable takeaway from this game was that the Sooners scoring issues were not Texas’ great defense but more about their own ineptitude throwing the ball. OU QB Blake Bell really struggles with the forward pass, and the Longhorn defense sat short on everything. And I wholeheartedly agree with this take:



4. Last season there were no running backs taken in the first round. Many attribute that to a lack of demand for using such valuable draft resources on the position. While that’s not untrue, it’s not the full story either. There simply weren’t any overwhelming RB talents in the 2013 draft. That is going to change in 2014. At least three running backs look like legit first-round talents. Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon, Baylor's Lache Seastrunk, and Bishop Sankey from Washington are all going to wind up with higher ratings from me than the top RB from 2013 (Giovani Bernard). For a great profile on Seastunk, check out what my colleague Darren Page wrote here.

5. You really have to feel for both quarterbacks in the Missouri/Georgia game. Bulldogs QB Aaron Murray was playing without their top running back and three of their top four wideouts, and it showed. Murray was gutty as always but just didn’t have the horses to run with Mizzou. James Franklin guided the Tigers to an unexpected road win and keeps them undefeated in the tough SEC East, but it will be his last appearance for Missouri. Franklin suffered a separated shoulder which will end his season and his college career. With back-to-back games against Florida and South Carolina on the docket, no Franklin means the Tigers are extremely unlikely to remain undefeated. It’s too bad because he’s been one of the more entertaining players to watch over the past few years.

$.10--Saturday night I ventured out and about. Well, as out and about as one can in sleepy Holland, Michigan. Anyways, it was a busy sports night and I wanted to spend it with the public. The Michigan-Penn State game dominated the early evening, as befits a college game of local intrigue that goes to four overtimes. Wolverine fans were enthralled, and Spartans fans were enjoying watching those folks squirm. As the game droned on and on, it bled into the coverage of the Tigers baseball game and NASCAR race.

A strange thing happened when the Michigan game mercifully ended. I expected the bar to immediately shift all its focus to the Tigers/Red Sox game. This was Game 1 of the ALCS, and the Tigers enjoy a strong presence here in West Michigan. Instead, more people were interested in the end of an early season hockey game between the Red Wings and the Flyers.

This is not good news for baseball. Anyone here in Michigan can tell you the sports pecking order is Red Wings, college football, Lions, Tigers, college basketball and the Pistons. But to see so many more people paying rapt attention to the 5th game on the NHL schedule than to a playoff baseball game, it’s stunning. It led me to do a quick inventory of my own sports knowledge. I decided to try and name as many Tigers and Red Wings as I could without looking up. I got to seven Red Wings and had just five Tigers.

It’s not just that the Astros are horrible. My beloved Cleveland Indians, proud holders of over 400 consecutive sellouts in the 1990s, struggled to draw 20,000 fans to Progressive Field during a September pennant race. The playoff game in Tampa Bay appeared to have more empty seats than occupied ones. Tickets for playoff games in Oakland and Atlanta were going for below face value on Stubhub.com in the hours before games, and buyers had a wide variety of seating choices.

Also striking was the contrast of the action. The Michigan game was thrilling even though the execution on the field was sloppy at best. The Red Wings and Flyers were up and down the ice, firing shots and making line changes on the fly. The Texas A&M game on a TV in the corner had a couple of eyeballs enrapt with the constant drama that is Johnny Football. And then there were the Tigers and Red Sox. Neither team had any sort of offense. Boston kept striking out, and Detroit batters continually stepped in and out of the batter’s box. Unless you are a huge fan of either team, it was boring. Anytime there is enough dead space to air four replays of the prior pitch before the next pitch is thrown, there is a pacing problem.

Here are two things baseball can do to win back the departed fans like me. First, enforce a play clock on every pitch. From the moment the prior pitch ends, the pitcher has 25 seconds to throw the next pitch. I’d prefer 20 but I’ll acquiesce a little to tradition. If the pitch isn’t commenced before the 25 second clock expires, it’s a ball, no matter the count. If the clock expires more than once in any inning on a pitcher, the other team automatically gets an extra out. For the batter’s side, he must be ready to hit in the batter’s box by the 15 second mark on that clock. If they’re not ready, the pitcher can throw it at all any time after that point. Secondly, start games no later than 7 PM Eastern. My 8-year-old son goes to bed at 9 PM. On Saturday that would have allowed him to see 1.5 innings. Kids are the life blood of any sports. If kids don’t want to play it, or go see it, the sport is going to wither and die. If they can’t ever see it because it starts too late, well, it doesn’t take the wizardry of Tim McCarver to tell you what happens next.