Week 4 - Sunday

Tennessee vs Atlanta
The '98 Falcons have been on a roll since their first week loss to ___, and Chandler and company had no problems keeping the magic going against the '08 Titans. Chandler kept things safe with his passing game, but Jamal Anderson had a big game, coming through with an impressive 170 yards and a longest run of 52. But with Tennessee matching Atlanta's touchdowns, it was the 3 FGs from Andersen that made the difference for the Falcons. He was 100% on the day: 1 for 19, 1 for 28 and 1 for 39.

Tennessee, on the other hand, couldn't get in FG range enough. Collins, who looked great on the day with 18/25 and 199 yards, just couldn't do it alone. Chris Johnson tried to help out with 20 carries, but the Atlanta D just wasn't letting him go anywhere, holding him to under 40 yards. Falcons 23, Titans 14

New England vs Buffalo
It appeared as though the  '07 Patriots may have met their match taking on the '90 Bills at New Era Field. With over 80,000 in attendance, neither team seemed to be able to get into the end zone. Both teams looked great on offense and spread their plays evenly. But Brady would break the silence on a 1 yard throw to Welker halfway through the 2nd quarter. There was no momentum gained from that drive, though, as the Bills defense continued to hold off for the rest of the game. It was the New England defense that ultimately stopped the Bills' momentum more than once, keeping them just out of the redzone and relying on Norwood FGs instead. Even had he made both FG's, the Bills would have needed more to win. In one of the lowest scoring games we've had all season, New England wins 7-3.

Oakland vs. Baltimore
Stabler took the '74 Raiders to meet the '68 Colts at Memorial Stadium, and would find themselves in danger early when Morrall hit Hill and Mackey each for TD passes in the 1st quarter to be up 14-3. Both teams traded scoring efforts in the 2nd quarter, and both teams put up over 300 yards passing on the day. But at 24-13 and a stale 3rd quarter, it would seem Oakland was going to need a miracle to move ahead. And with just 5 minutes to go in the game, Stabler would pull one out, hitting Van Eeghan for a 7 yarder, then running in for the 2 point conversion to be within 3. As the 2 minute warning came around, it seemed those 3 points would be in reach, but Stabler didn't settle for a tie. Instead, he found Branch for a 25-yarder and took home the W for the Raiders, 28-24 over the Colts. Let's not forget to talk about the real star of the game, however, #21 Cliff Branch. With 9 catches on the day, as many as the rest of the Raiders team, he had 248 of Stabler's yards, including a 74 yarder. The Colts, having yet to put up a W, now move to the bottom of the league at 0-4. If this kind of performance keeps up, the 49,000 in attendance is bound to drop in half.

Kansas City vs Detroit
The '69 Chiefs grabbed their first win in a 24-10 polishing of the '91 Lions team. Barry Sanders carried for over 100 yards, as expected, but it was the Chiefs had no problem running against the Lions. Garret had 47 yards on the day and Holmes had 56, both with 21 yard plays. Holmes was the one who really shone, however, with 3 brutal 1 yard TD runs.

To be clear, none of the QB's looked good in this game. Both Kramer and Dawson struggled to complete 40% of their passes, and just had over 150 yards. Each QB was picked off 3 or more times. This was just some sloppy football, but the Chiefs made plays when it mattered.

Houston vs Carolina
The Texans had an explosive first week in the league and have found plenty of ways to score, but not so many ways to win. The Texans' bad luck continued against the '2015 Panthers, as they lose by a score of 24-10 against Cam Newton and company. Newton was on fire; despite throwing 2 interceptions, he totaled 272 yards on the day with 2 TDs and was 10 for 56 on his scrambles out of the pocket. He had a total of 8 different receivers on the day.

To be fair, Schaub did well also for Houston, with 212 yards, finding Johnson for 121 of those. Johnson himself averaged 20 yards per catch. But it was likely a taming of Arian Foster by the Panthers that kept the Texans from finding the end zone.

Miami vs. San Diego
The Dolphins are another team that got off to a bad start in week 1 but have been on a roll since. They hosted the undefeated '79 Chargers, and although they got off to a rocky start in the 1st quarter with a missed PAT, the Chargers were only able to match them with a FG, and from there Miami put the Chargers in an uncomfortable spot. They continued to score 3 separate times while their D continued to hold off the Chargers. Up 30-3 at the 2 minute warning, Fouts had no chance of a win, but definitely made an impressive effort, throwing for 2 TD's to make the final score Miami 30, SD 17

As we continue to see Miami's dominance each week, let's talk about the source of that dominance, their rushing game. It was in full force today, with 244 yards being pounded out against the Chargers. The Dolphins had 52 rush attempts spread against 6 different players, and over 40 of those were split almost evenly between Csonka, Morris and Kiick. In fact, we've seen Csonka and Morris both power over defenders, but Morris and Kick would both have over 75 yards after some impressive plays. This is going to be a rushing attack to watch out for. Both teams are now 3-in-1 and likely expecting to see each other in the post-season.

NYG vs Washington
The Giants and the Redskins both took each other on in a division game. The stakes were high, as all teams in the NFC East are 1-2, so any winners this week have a shot at moving ahead.

Giants Stadium hosted almost 70,000 screaming fans, and for 20 minutes of game play there was a standstill. Then, each team found some holes in the D-line, as the running games for each team picked up and they traded TD's before the half to be at 7-7. But in the first half of the 3rd quarter, it was the Redskins who would come out capitalizing on their runs the most, with Byner picking up 2 TDs to put the Redskins up 21-7. From there, both defenses seemed to plug their gaps, but it was too late. Simms just looked out of place, throwing 4 interceptions against the 'Skins D.

We talked about the run game, but what we really mean is this was a showdown between Earnest Byner and Joe Morris. Byner averaged a whopping 9.2 yards per carry, with 157 yards and 2 TDs and a longest of 36. Morris racked up 177 yards, but had only 1 TD on 10 more carries, making his average 6.3 ypc. Washington 21, NYG 7

Cleveland vs Baltimore (Ravens)
The winless '69 Browns travelled to Baltimore to take on the undefeated Ravens, and aside from a sloppy start to the game, would prove to be a good competitor. Unfortunately, the sloppy start was one Baltimore capitalized on to grab all 17 of their points, leaving both teams on their same trajectory. The Browns defense had an impressive showing in the 2nd half but it was too late.

The Ravens now remain one of the only undefeated teams left, and the Browns slip next to last place with the Colts. Ravens 17, Browns 10

Getting into the numbers, Cleveland by all means left it out all out on the field. With 281 passing yards, Nelsen had a decent game. Collins also went for 112 yards with 6 catches, and with just under 100 rushing yards, the Browns certainly were moving the ball. But it was the Raven's defense coming in hot to take 2 away from Nelsen that most certainly cost the game. On top of that, the Ravens offense did not slack, with Banks completing 68.8% of throws for almost 200 yards, spread across 8 different receivers.

Seattle vs. Arizona
The Cardinals got off to a great start at home against the Seahawks, with a 22 yard FG by Catanzaro, and Palmer hitting John Brown on an 18 yarder. They'd go into the 2nd quarter up 10-7 over the Seahawks. But something happened the rest of the game that I don't this has happened all season yet for this Cardinals team. They went scoreless for the last 3 quarters, as the Legion of Boom found a way to stop every drive Palmer tried to put together. They sacked Palmer 4 times and picked him off 3. Arizona came up with almost as few passing yards as rushing yards.

On offense, the Seahawks looked unstoppable, with Lynch running for over 100 yards and Wilson hitting 65% of his throws for 264 yards and 3 TDs. The Seahawks go home happy in this one with a final score of 28-10.

Tampa Bay vs. Los Angeles

Earlier we talked about the New England game as ONE of the lowest scoring ones, and that's because this one turned out even closer at a final score of 6-3. So who went home with the W? It's likely hard to guess, since both teams have been able to score far more points in their regular games.

Let's start with the numbers for Tampa Bay. The Rams D kept the Buccs to just 25 rushing yards all game. Despite being sacked 5 times, Brad Johnson fared much better, completing 24/36 with an impressive 270 yards and 0 interceptions. Unfortunately, he had 0 TD's as well, despite spreading his throws to 7 different receivers.

Looking at the Rams, we see almost the reverse. Hadl only completed 6 of 20 for 63 yards. But on the rushing game, 8 different players carried the ball for a total of 199 yards. So who took home the W? The team with the best kicking game, of course. And both Ray and Gramatica hit the easy 19 yarder when the time came. But while Ray missed on a 40+ yard attempt, Gramatica nailed a 49 yarder. Buccs win over the Rams 6-3

Chicago vs. Minnesota
The undefeated Bears played at Soldier Field against a Vikings team, in a match between 2 top defenses and 2 impressive offenses. Chicago got the first score with a 21 yard pass from McMahon to McKinnon. Minutes later, Tarkenton retaliated with a 22 yarder of his own to Haslerig. The 2nd quarter started off much the same, with each QB trading TD passes again. But before the half, Sanders punched in a 5 yard run for Chicago to put the bears up 21-14.

The 2nd half seemed as though it would go Minnesota's way, when the Purple People Eaters pulled off a safety against the Bears. But they weren't able to capitalize on it, and Chicago would find themselves eventually able to hit a FG to go up 24-16. As the clock wound down for the game, Tarkenton pulled a rabbit out of his hat with an impressive drive to hit Marinaro on a short pass in the end zone. So within 2 points of victory, it was the controversial call to kick the PAT that put the Vikings just 1 point from a tie. And the Bears would waste the clock from there, just barely squeezing out a win against Tarkenton's Vikings to remain undefeated. Final score of 24-23, Bears win.


Jacksonville vs. Denver
Competition in the AFC remained high as the Jaguars traveled to the Mile High Stadium to take on the Broncos at home. And for a while, this game seemed like it would be harder fought than Tampa Bay vs. LA. For nearly 3 quarters, neither team could find a weakness to exploit. But with the clock about to tick over to quarter 4, Jamal Stewart found a hole in the Denver line to run 16 yards for the game's first score. With just 15 minutes of game time left, Elway got in position for Elam to put 3 on the scoreboard. But Jacksonville held him off from there, and with the 2 minute warning just seconds away, Brunell would find McCardell on a goal-line pass.

Both teams put up reasonable offense, with Stewart and Taylor both splitting carries for the Jaguars and running up 126 yards. On the Denver side, Sharpe came up big with 8 catches and Elway had 259 yards passing total. Jaguars 14, Broncos 3

New Orleans vs. Dallas
With so many close games this week, it was a matter of time before we saw a blowout. I'm just not sure anyone would have predicted the direction this one went. One team had over 400 yards offense, the other had over 200. As you can guess, the team with over 400 yards took home the W. But with Emmit Smith being held to just 63 yards and Aikman throwing 3 INT's and only 12 completions, it was the Saints who came up big in a 55-14 slaughter of the Cowboys.

Brees had a tremendous day, completing 80% of this throws for over 300 yards and 3 TD's, his longest throw for over 72 yards to Meachem. Overall, Brees would find 9 different receivers all game. Clearly, the Saints D played a big role as well in holding the Cowboys to such low numbers. The Saints move to 2-2, but with every other NFC South team at 3-1, remain 4th in their division, much the same as the Cowboys in the NFC East.

And that wraps up another big day of LFL football!