-Thursday Night-

Packers 42, Vikings 10

-Did you see Julius Peppers outrun Jerick McKinnon (who is a freak athlete, in case you were wondering) on his way to his pick-six? Even at 34 years old, Peppers is still one of the best athletes in the game.

-Minnesota’s offense should have run through Cordarrelle Patterson in this game. I really wanted to give Norv credit because I’ve really liked what he’s done this season in spite of calling plays for three different quarterbacks and without Adrian Peterson, who was a mainstay of this offense up until very recently, but this game just didn’t make much sense. Give the most dangerous player on the field more touches, please. Especially when going against Aaron Rodgers.

-Sunday-

Panthers 31, Bears 24

-Probably Charles Johnson’s best game of the year. And Cam Newton has quietly thrown the ball really well this season.

-I’d like to see Chicago’s defensive line be more dominant. But on offense, those little middle-screens to Matt Forte were pretty cool, and highly effective.

Cowboys 20, Texans 17

-Are the Cowboys kinda good?! Their offense is loaded, and their defense is playing disciplined right now. Their defense isn’t very talented, but good coaching can mask that. Props to Rod Marinelli. Also, catch of the year by Dez Bryant.

-Deandre Hopkins is pretty good. I’m hoppin’ on the Hopkins train.

Bills 17, Lions 14

-Kyle Orton basically just has to NOT be EJ Manuel, which is what he did on Sunday. He got the ball to Sammy Watkins, limited his mistakes and got out of the way. I’ve liked the Bills’ talent (except at quarterback) since before the season started, mostly because of their awesome defensive line, so don’t be surprised if the Bills are able to rattle off a few wins under Orton.

-If the Lions are going to be a playoff team, they really shouldn’t lose games like this. Calvin Johnson should be rested to get healthy, but they have plenty of weapons to survive without him. Golden Tate has quietly had the best season of his career, and he along with Eric Ebron, Joseph Fauria, Jeremy Ross, Reggie Bush and everyone else should be more than capable of carrying the offense. And isn’t Matt Stafford supposed to be great too?

Colts 20, Ravens 13

-Vontae Davis played a helluva game against Steve Smith. The Colts defense in general played very well, but part of that definitely had to do with Bjoern Werner going up against undrafted rookie James Hurst to the tune of two sacks.

-The Ravens interior offensive line is very good. Also, nice to have a player like Pernell McPhee coming off the bench. He’s versatile, and a huge luxury to have as Baltimore’s fourth outside linebacker.

Steelers 17, Jaguars 9

-It was kinda ugly, but the Steelers got it done. Staying in contention in the up-for-grabs AFC North is all that matters right now.

-Blake Bortles pick-six :( Can't do that when you're a young team trying to stay in games. As a former member of the Seahawks coaching staff, Gus Bradley knows that as well as anyone.

Saints 37, Bucs 31

-The offense finally put up some points, but three picks by Drew Brees didn’t make it pretty. Pierre Thomas finally got some touches though! New Orleans should get back to more formation diversity to create matchup problems, something I want to watch closely in the coming weeks.

 

-Vincent Jackson is pretty awesome, but the Bucs defense isn’t. After their defensive line played very well against the Steelers (more on that this week), not as much was done against the Saints. Also, the safeties aren’t great. Mike Glennon should have been starting since week one though.

Giants 30, Falcons 20

-Eli Manning, man. I thought he was done. I’ll probably write about him and the Giants’ offense as a whole later this week. A nice game from rookie Odell Beckham Jr. as well.

-Down 27-20 to the Giants, Atlanta faced a 4th-and-1 from its own 29-yard line. Instead of punting it, at that point with about five minutes remaining, Smith chose to go for it. He called a pass play, Matt Ryan was sacked, the Giants came out of it with a two-possession lead, and that was essentially the end of the game. Smith clearly does not trust his defense, and rightfully so. Atlanta’s pass rush is nonexistent, which was a foreseeable issue long ago because Atlanta didn’t address the problem in the offseason.

Eagles 34, Rams 28

-The Eagles have had a non-offensive touchdown in three straight games. Which is good, because I’m not sure they win this one without the blocked punt returned for a touchdown. I trust that Chip Kelly will get his offense in order, though.

-Aaron Donald is so good. I wish they’d line up him and Robert Quinn at defensive tackle more.

Browns 29, Titans 28

-Cleveland just keeps finding ways to stay in games. Jabaal Sheard is pretty good. And I can’t wait for Josh Gordon to come back.

-Can we get Bishop Sankey some more touches please? At least Justin Hunter is getting some. He’ll be a good player. But Jake Locker probably won’t be the guy throwing to him next year.

Broncos 41, Cardinals 20

-Von Miller had a fantastic game, and I’m glad to see such a talented player look like his old self.

 -Antonio Cromartie was just torched by Demaryius Thomas. One of the things that makes the Cardinals defense so good is their man 

 

coverage over the middle of the field, and excellent play by Jerraud Powers and Tony Jefferson so far this season has been a huge part of their defense’s success. But against Denver’s superior athletes, that didn’t hold up.

Chargers 31, Jets 0

-When San Diego tried to run early with Donald Brown, their offensive line was simply blown up by the Jets’ front three. But discovering Branden Oliver could be one of the most important things the Chargers will do all season. Olver provides a decent replacement for Danny Woodhead, and the type of checkdown player Philip Rivers has used so much throughout his career.

-Calvin Pace is amazing. Even at 33 years old, he’s still getting it done. He’s probably the Jets best edge rusher. He looks like he’s slimmed down, but he can still bull rush the crap out of big DJ Fluker, set the edge against the run, and get pressure on a regular basis. Too bad the offense is laughable. Geno Smith is much better than Michael Vick, which says something. About Vick.

49ers 22, Chiefs 17

-With the 49ers offensive line not playing the dominating football like they have in the past, I noticed a lot of zone running on Sunday, with offensive linemen cutting down Chiefs defensive linemen on the backside. I love seeing coaches making adjustments based on the strengths and weaknesses of their teams. Jim Harbaugh may be a controversial figure, but he can coach. If I was the Raiders, I’d pay him whatever he wants.

-KC lost, but Justin Houston and Dontari Poe played fantastically. I honestly don’t know what makes Houston so good—he isn’t particularly quick or fast, but he’s technically sound and strong as hell. He just gets it done, and he played an excellent game containing Colin Kaepernick.

-Sunday Night-

Patriots 43, Bengals 17

-A lot more 2 tight end, 1 running back sets from New England, which I absolutely loved because it got Tim Wright more involved. I mentioned on Twitter (follow

me here) during New England’s blowout loss to KC last week that Wright should have been busted out, and I’m glad he finally was. Matchup players on the Pats offense like Wright and Shane Vereen haven’t been used enough this season.

-The Bengals defensive line is surprisingly kinda bad. Their run defense is 32nd (out of 32) in DVOA, and their pass rush just isn’t getting home. Geno Atkins isn’t the same player he was two years ago, and Carlos Dunlap can’t do it all himself. Wallace Gilberry had a nice year last year, but he seems to be more of a sack guy and less of a pressure guy (hint: pressure guys are more important even though they don’t always show up on the box score). Cincinnati’s pass defense has been able to hold together the defense as a whole up until last week, so we’ll see if the unit can rebound.

-Monday Night-

Seahawks 27, Washington 17

-Russell Wilson has to be in the MVP conversation, but many don’t realize that he does stuff like this every single week. It’s amazing to watch one person carry an offense like he’s capable of doing. The offensive line was not great, but Wilson was able to mask that pretty effectively. If the offensive line played an average game (skill and penalty-wise), this game would have been a blowout.

-Kirk Cousins made some terrific throws. He was scarily accurate at times, dropping throws to his receivers over the outstretched arms of Seahawks defenders on multiple occasions. As long as he doesn’t turn it over, he gives Washington a shot at winning every week.

Reach Staff Reporter Andrew McKagan via e-mail here or on Twitter here.