"The Stack" 10-15-18
The Patriots outscored the Chiefs in the most entertaining game of the NFL season Sunday night. 30 points were scored in the fourth quarter and despite three touchdowns by Tyreek HIll, the Patriots won 43-40 to hand the Chiefs their first loss of the year.
The Stack is back on this Monday and yesterday was an overall kind of blah day for football. The late afternoon didn’t produce any good games. The early kickoff had a couple of good games. Thank goodness the Sunday night game was epic. Picks weren’t great this week as we went just 7-7 with only the Packers able to save us tonight. Let’s get to some to reaction from week six in the NFL in “the stack” for today, Monday, October 15th:
Bucs 29 Falcons 34
A high-scoring, back and forth game as we expected. Atlanta jumped out to a 21-6 lead before Tampa Bay battled back. Both Matt Ryan and Jameis Winston were tremendous in this one. Ryan isn’t the reason the Falcons are 2-4 on the year. That would be their defense. And their defense nearly gave up the game-winning touchdown when Winston ran right up the middle with no time remaining and then lateraled the ball back to Adam Humphries who couldn’t handle it. Mike Evans got it and threw it back to DeSean Jackson who would have had had an open lane to the endzone if he could have corralled it, but he did not. Alas, the Falcons won.
Steelers 28 Bengals 21
Cincinnati. Oh, Cincinnati. The Bengals bungled a chance to beat the rival Steelers when they allowed the Steelers to go on a game-winning touchdown drive after the Bengals scored with 1:18 left in the fourth quarter. The Bengals blitzed the Steelers and Big Ben hit Antonio Brown for a 31-yard touchdown to win the game with ten seconds left. I don’t get the call from the Bengals and unfortunately for the Bengals, this game proved that they are not the team to beat in the AFC North.
Chargers 38 Browns 14
I went out on a limb thinking the Browns could beat the Chargers in large part because the Browns have played so well this year. They looked like the Browns of last year in this one. Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers hit Tyrell Williams for two long touchdowns and Melvin Gordon continued his big season with three rushing touchdowns and 132 yards. He was great. This game proved that the Browns still have a ways to go and hopefully those that jumped on the bandwagon last week like Snoop Dogg will stay with the team.
Bills 13 Texans 20
What a stinker of a game. The Texans offense was awful in this one, but the Bills were worst. Nathan Peterman, remember this guy? He had to come in for an injured Josh Allen and though he did throw a touchdown pass he made a bonehead decision late and threw a pick-six to Jonathan Joseph and the Texans escaped. This is why Peterman shouldn’t be in the league and why Kaepernick should be in as at least a backup.
Bears 28 Dolphins 31 (OT)
The line in this game jumped to Bears favored by six in the moments leading up to the Dolphins deactivating Ryan Tannehill. The bettors were all over the Bears. This is why Vegas is so good, because they took in a lot of money on this game. The Bears offense looked terrible in the first half and when they picked it up in the second half, the Bears defense inexplicably gave up two long touchdown passes to Albert Wilson. The Dolphins bailed out running back Kenyon Drake after he fumbled on the one-yard line in overtime when they kicked a game-winning field goal with no time remaining. Here’s the stat of all stats though: the Bears are winless against Brock Osweiler at 0-3. Yup.
Cardinals 17 Vikings 27
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen is truly the NFL’s best wide receiver. That sideline catch he made was unreal. Make it six straight games with over 100 yards receiving for him. He and Kirk Cousins have a major connection. The loss of cornerback Mike Hughes to a torn ACL will stink no doubt about it. And Kirk Cousins needs to hang onto the ball, but at least they were able to run the ball. Lavatius Murray had 155 yards rushing. Full on beast mode. That was quite the stiff arm. Good win for the Vikings.
Colts 34 Jets 42
If you had kicker Jason Myers on your fantasy team yesterday, well congratulations. He got 24 points yesterday. What a back-and-forth battle between the Jets and the Colts. It was entertaining. And the Jets are now .500. The Colts are not.
Seahawks 27 Raiders 3
Looks like only one team made the trip across the pond to play. That would be the Seahawks who pummeled the no-show Raiders. Russell Wilson had three touchdowns. The Raiders looked listless and they are overall just a terrible team. Must have been a long flight back to the Bay Area.
Panthers 17 Washington 23
Washington’s offense looked much better than they did Monday night. Alex Smith played well, Adrian Peterson ran well and they took advantage of several Panthers mistakes to get the win and stay atop the NFC East.
Rams 23 Broncos 20
On a cold October day, the snow didn’t stop the Rams, Todd Gurley in particular. Gurley ran for over 200 yards and held off a Broncos comeback to remain undefeated. Emmanuel Sanders cost his team a touchdown in the first quarter when he taunted the Rams defender and was ruled down at the one-yard line. The Broncos only got a field goal and that ended up costing them.
Jaguars 7 Cowboys 40
Speaking of no-shows, how do we explain the Jaguars? That was an impressive offensive showing by Dak Prescott who ran and threw great. He was hooking up with Cole Beasley a lot. The Jaguars defense has been non-existent the last two weeks and Blake Bortles looks awful. The Jaguars are in trouble.
Ravens 21 Titans 0
Eleven. That is how many sacks the Ravens defense had against the Titans yesterday. Ten. That is how many completions the Titans had the whole game. You won’t win any games like that.
Chiefs 40 Patriots 43
Game of the day, game of the year no question. Pat Mahomes was phenomenal in the second half with four touchdowns, three of which went to Tyreek Hill and destroyed any chance I had of winning fantasy football for the week. The Chiefs left the Patriots too much in the end and Tom Brady went down and kicked the game-winning field goal with no time remaining.
San Francisco 49ers @ Green Bay Packers 8:15 PM ET ESPN MNF
Even if Aaron Rodgers isn’t healthy, he’s still ten times better (a low estimate) than C.J. Beathard who the 49ers will be throwing out. Packers win going away.
Prediction: Packers 31 49ers 13
Coming up Tuesday: 2018-19 NBA season preview
