Nick Ortiz, WGMU Director of Sports Media
October 20, 2015
Photo Credit: Michael DeMocker
This week in football saw one of the six undefeated teams register their first loss of the season. Starting us off in New Orleans where we had an upset come fruition on Thursday night football. Cam Newton leads the undefeated Carolina Panthers to victory in Seattle. Detroit got its first win of the season and after being a playoff team last year, this team has vastly underperformed. Eli Manning continues to struggle in Philadelphia. Houston finally allows one of the its two backup QB’s to finish a game.
Why not begin how week 6 did and boy was the Thursday night game a shocker. I smelled trap game from the beginning. And as soon as I saw Steve Gleason in the house, I knew that New Orleans was going to come out guns blazing.
Drew Brees started the game red hot, throwing a touchdown in the Saints first possession. Gleason’s presence in the dome seemed to have an effect on the players as Michael Mauti blocked a punt early on in the game. This created a frenzy in the stands. The Saints never looked back as they defeated their rivals . the win was even sweeter considering that Atlanta game into this game undefeated.
On last week’s show, I predicted that the Carolina Panthers would be the first undefeated team to lose a game. Going up against the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle, I was almost certain that Seattle would get their season back on track.
After having the lead for the majority of the game, and having Marshawn Lynch back from injury, this seemed to be a sure thing, right?
WRONG. Cam Newton and the Panthers are a team that matures and grows by the week. The game winning touchdown to Greg Olsen was nothing short of perfection. In fact, Newton was perfect on that drive. As for Seattle, they need change things up because what they have been doing so far this season just isn’t working.
The Detroit Lions got their first win of the season at home against division rivals, the Chicago Bears. Keep in mind that the Lions were a playoff team a year ago. For fantasy football owners, Matthew Stafford was a steal in the draft. Or so you thought. He finally put up his best statistical game of the season and it only took him six weeks to do so.
Megatron was finally unleashed and burned the Bears defense, which is nothing to boast about. In order to salvage this season, the Lions must get red hot right now.
It will be a difficult task considering how well the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rogers have been playing. Don’t count out the Vikings and Teddy Bridgewater either. For me, the season is over for the Lions. Sorry Detroit fans, but start thinking about next year.
How about that Monday night game? Eli manning and the Giants looked incredible for the first drive. With manning going 5 of 5 and a touchdown, it looked like it was going to be a long game for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Fortunately for Philly fans, that is all Eli Manning and the Giants brought on Monday night. Penalties that kept drives alive. Undisciplined play, no pass rush, and I mean absolutely NO pass rush allowed the Eagles to get the win in front of their fans in Philadelphia. The Eagles defense kept the two- time super bowl MVP under pressure all night. Sacking him three times and picking him off twice.
It is safe to say that the most entertaining part of the Monday night game was the Star Wars trailer. The force was not strong with the Giants last night.
