Great Games at 1PM Today

There was an abundence of excellent matchups that took place earlier today at 1.  In the 8 early games 7 were decided by a touchdown or less.  There were some upsets.  Coming into today’s games both Buffalo and Detroit were facing long winless streaks against their inner division opponents.

Minnesota looked like they would roll through 2-0 Detroit going up 20-0 in the first half.  But, the Lions had an outstanding comeback anchored by players like tight end Brandon Pettigrew who had 11 receptions.  Detroit won 26-23 in overtime after Minnesota made a late field goal in regulation to tie.  Buffalo and Detroit are both 3-0.  The Bills made a comeback of their own.  Tom Brady threw four interceptions and Buffalo made a last second field goal.  My moms’ Bills win 34-31.  How’s that for parity?

My Cleveland Browns won in a valiant effort without running back Peyton Hillis due to strep throat.  Montario Hardesty did well in his first NFL start after missing last season with a knee injury running the ball 14 times for 67 yards.  The Browns defense recorded five sacks and defensive tackle Athya Rubin stayed in the Dolphins backfield and finnished with 9 tackles and 1.5 sacks.  The Browns picked up the win with a back of the end zone touchdown reception by Mohammed Massaquoi with less than a minute left.  Browns go 2-1, Dolphins fall to 0-3 final score 17-16.

In other action Houston and New Orleans got into a shootout.  Andre Johnson had 100 yards receiving at halftime, but Drew Brees threw for 370 yards as the Saints won 40-33.  Eli Manning threw for 4 TDs in an impressive road divisional victory for the Giants.  Michael Vick injured (broke) his non-throwing hand in the Eagles 29-16 loss to the Eagles.  Cam Newton leads his Panthers to their first win of the season.  He only threw for 157 yards, but his Panthers made fellow rookie QB Gabbert’s Jaguars debut a loss.  Panthers won 16-10.

The Bengals lost to the 49ers 13-8.  The Titans beat the Broncos 17-14.  Matt Hasselbeck was 27-36 for 311 yards with 2 TDs.  Today’s games made me appreciate how much any team can win any given Sunday.