Tagged As: NFL, Cowboys, Patriots, Philadelphia, McNabb, Moss

I was sitting at home watching the first slate of games and monitoring my fantasy scores when I was simply struck by the scores running along the bottom of the screen. They were falling somewhere between Arena Football and the typical NFL week. Eight teams reached the 30s, two teams scored in the 40s, and one team reached the 50s. Call it a result of a pass happy league, call it inflated scores because of several defenses that went MIA, call it the NFL front office’s wet dream, or simply call it a scoring bonanza.

The Buffalo Bills scored 54 points. That is right the Bills, a team that has had problems scoring since Week 4, posted 54 points. I know they scored 27 points last week, but 54 is simply ridiculous, even against the Kansas City Chiefs. Trent Edwards threw two and ran two in this shocking display of what may be the end to the Era of Parity in the NFL. The Chiefs, Lions, Bengals, and Rams have become the trash of the league needed to support powerhouses like the Giants, the Titans, and the Steelers.

The Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots scored 40-plus points. The Falcons scored with the help of a four touchdown for another huge game by Michael “The Burner” Turner and his journey out from the shadow of LaDainian Tomlinson. The Falcons destroyed the Panthers to bring them into a tie for first place. The stats do not fully explain the domination, but Atlanta managed to come away with big plays (thanks in large part to rookie Harry Douglas on special teams and a few trick plays) that helped turn 392 total yards into 45 points with only one takeaway.

The Patriots came up big against the Miami Dolphins in another game with playoff implications for both sidelines. Randy Moss apparently made a pact with the Dallas Cowboy’s Owens to remind the NFL why they are two of the most feared receivers in the game. I am continually confounded and in awe of the Patriots ability to pick unlikely stars at the quarterback position, first Tom Brady and then Matt Cassel. It’s kind of like how Democrats can hate Karl Rove with all their heart, but they must respect him for the efficiency of the political machine he created.

The week had more games. The trouncing the Bucs put on the Lions was foreseeable, though not to the degree of the final score. The big news in Philadelphia is that McNabb was benched in the second half of the truly embarrassing 36-7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The honeymoon after the Phillies World Series is officially over and the fans can go back to being bitter, the way we like our Philadelphia sports fans.

The other huge game was the New York Jets 34-13 win over the previously undefeated Tennessee Titans. The Titans let Brett Favre get the ball moving to the end zone much too quickly. For all the strength of the Titans, their Achilles heel is their inability to come back from a deficit. This was a team that was in the middle of the pack in scoring at 23 points a game. Their offense was the product of a terrifically managed game with a focus on the running game. When a wild card like Favre enters the fray and throws off plan, then things start to fall apart. Now the Titans look very beatable as long as the opponent has a cowboy behind center.

This week in NFL football defied convention and proved that the calm that almost lulled the league to sleep for the past few seasons during the second half of the schedule is over. Now instead of parity, shock and awe will set in as the best rise to the top quickly, leaving the struggling half of the league behind to aspire to be spoilers instead of thinking playoffs. Be sure to get your NFL tickets to see all the games for the next five weeks of frenzy that act as a prelude to the postseason.