2012 NFL Grades, Week 5: Sloppy Sunday obscures some strong storylines
Sunday was a really, really sloppy day for the NFL. A few teams looked good, but for the most part, we didn't get a ton of drama, and the afternoon games kind of got out of hand.
Don't get me wrong: Football's still plenty of fun to watch. But this was a pretty "meh" week in terms of the games we got. That's why you're not going to see a ton of great grades below. One key thing to note, though: A lot of good teams played bad, close games and still managed to come out with wins.
The Falcons and Ravens all come to mind, especially because those two teams went on the road and picked up a win despite not playing that well. (Although Atlanta were much better than Baltimore.)
But that's not to say that we didn't have some fine football Sunday. Several teams decimated their opposition, and we got to see a Chuck Pagano-inspired drive from Andrew Luck that we'll remember for quite some time. The Dolphins also went on the road and picked up a win against a good Bengals team.
There were strong efforts, but overall it felt like a pretty sloppy Sunday.
| Team | Grade | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Rams 17, Cardinals 3 | ||
 | B- | Losing Danny Amendola is a disaster for the Rams, but at least he's all right. Their defense absolutely destroyed the (possibly non-existent) Cardinals offensive line, sacking Kevin Kolb nine times. Niiiiine times. 7-for-21 sounds like a decent week for David Freese, not passing stats for Sam Bradford. |
 | D | Arizona's defense continues to be very good. But if the offense stalls, they can't win many games. With that offensive line, it is easy for the offense to stall. Here's hoping that Ryan Williams is OK. |
| Ravens vs. Chiefs | ||
 | C- | Road wins are always nice in October, but 9-6 isn't what you want to see if you're a Ravens fan. We've seen too many inconsistent stinkers from Joe Flacco over the years and this was a prime example. Kansas City kept bailing Baltimore out, and the Ravens will take it, even if it wasn't impressive. |
 | F | Jamaal Charles piled up yards, but this was a terrible team effort from the Chiefs. Three fumbles (two lost), including a goal-line drop by Matt Cassel helped let Baltimore off the hook. Cassel also threw two picks. At least he wasn't in the stands booing an injury to a player though. |
| Steelers vs. Eagles | ||
 | C+ | Rashard Mendenhall's performance was amazing, considering how recently he tore his ACL. Ben Roethlisberger wasn't great for much of the day, but he and Antonio Brown abused Nnamdi Asomugha, and Ben engineered a game-winning drive. (Plus, he did his usual thing where he avoids a billion sacks by extending plays.) |
 | D+ | Did point differential finally catch up to the Eagles? Why are they running quarterback draws in the red zone with Michael Vick when he has fumbling issues and they have LeSean McCoy? |
| Packers vs. Colts | ||
 | C- | Six points in the second half for the Packers, who seemed to disappear after Cedric Benson suffered an injury. The defense was shredded by Andrew Luck and Reggie Wayne. Green Bay was up 21-3 at halftime on the road and coughed up a lead against an inferior team. That's unacceptable. |
 | B+ | This was a signature, emotional win for Indianapolis. Inspired by Chuck Pagano, who was diagnosed with leukemia this week, the Colts defense played like a great unit in the second half. Andrew Luck wasn't perfect all day, and made some big mistakes, but that final touchdown drive was a big-boy moment. Reggie Wayne is looking like a steal of a signing right now. |
| Bengals vs. Dolphins | ||
 | C- | Brutal loss for the Bengals, who needed to keep pace with Baltimore in the AFC North. Andy Dalton made some mistakes and Marvin Lewis calling for a field goal (which Mike Nugent missed) down four points with three minutes left was a head-shaker. |
 | A- | The underrated defense kept Cincinnati from finding the end zone until the fourth quarter. Not a huge offensive effort, but Ryan Tannehill didn't make any mistakes and Reggie Bush ran well. Big win for a team that's played better than their record indicates. |
| Browns vs. Giants | ||
 | D | What happened here? Cleveland took a 14-0 lead five minutes into the game and decided to stop covering Victor Cruz. Pat Shurmur should've used Kevin Gilbride's game plan and ran the ball into the ground. Instead Trent Richardson finished with 17 rushing attempts, while Brandon Weeden threw the ball 35 times. |
 | B+ | What a bounceback from a big deficit by the Giants on Sunday. This looked a classic, random train wreck of a home game New York inexplicably loses to a bad team. Instead they stayed patient and let Ahmad Bradshaw wear down the Browns, rushing for 200 yards. Nice step-up effort for rookie Rueben Randle as well. |
| Falcons vs. Redskins | ||
 | B | Matt Ryan's MVP press clipping from the last week didn't look so smart for much of this game. What's so impressive about Atlanta is that if you double Roddy White, Julio Jones and Tony Gonzalez can combine for 23 catches. There are some defensive concerns here, especially since Kirk Cousins threw a bomb on them. 5-0 for the first time in franchise history is pretty impressive though. Road wins aren't always easy. |
 | B- | Surprisingly impressive effort by the Redskins defense for most of this game, but they eventually just got worn down. Robert Griffin III's injury should be a major concern for this team. Alfred Morris continues to run the ball very, very well. We might very well find out how smart the Kirk Cousins pick was last week. |
| Bears vs. Jaguars | ||
 | B+ | This was a close game for the first half, but then Chicago took off, scoring 38 points after the break. 14 of those came on defensive touchdowns, Brandon Marshall finished with 144 receiving yards and Jay Cutler managed not to get in a fight with anyone! |
 | D- | What a freaking beat-down, and it got handed out in Jacksonville no less. It's really difficult to look at Blaine Gabbert and think he's going to make the progress it appeared he was making during the preseason. Maurice Jones-Drew was bottled up. Jacksonville had a single sack and one pick on a bad throw by Jay Cutler. And that was the most positive thing of the afternoon. |
| Seahawks vs. Panthers | ||
 | B | The Seahawks defense dominated Carolina across the board on Sunday. The offense didn't have a great game, but Russell Wilson completed 76 percent of his passes and only really deserves one of his two interceptions. A little sloppy, definitely low-scoring and extremely close, this was a pretty typical NFC West victory. Fantastic call by the coaching staff to take the safety late. |
 | F | Their 191 yards was the lowest number since Ron Rivera took over. The play call on the final fourth-down attempt -- as well as Cam Newton's throw -- was perplexing and unnecessary. Maybe Ryan Kalil should take an ad out in the Charlotte Observer to alert Ron Rivera and Rob Chudzinski that sneaking Cam will get them a yard pretty easily. Luke Kuechly was the only bright spot for a Carolina team that is regressing badly from last season. |
| 49ers vs. Bills | ||
 | A | Looks like losing to the Vikings made San Francisco angry. Over the last two weeks, the 49ers have outscored opponents 79-3. On Sunday SF became the first team in NFL history to rush for 300 yards and pass for 300 yards in the same game. This was a disemboweling of Buffalo. |
 | F | The Bills went up against a good defense and they got dominated. Ryan Fitzpatrick doesn't so much as "throw" deep passes as he "punts" them. None of the running backs were effective. The defense was obliterated by the 49ers in every facet of the game. |
| Vikings vs. Titans | ||
 | B+ | Christian Ponder threw his first two picks of the season but it's all good, since Minnesota continued to look like a playoff contender. Adrian Peterson gets stronger every week and Percy Harvin had a monster game including two sick touchdowns. The defense stifled Tennessee completely. |
 | D | So much for a Chris Johnson bounceback -- CJ?K reverted to form Sunday, rushing for 24 yards on 15 carries. Kendall Wright had a nice game, and Jared Cook caught a touchdown late, but there wasn't much to love from the offense the entire day. The defense picked a pair of balls but was primarily dominated by Minnesota. |
| Broncos vs. Patriots | ||
 | C+ | Strong effort from Peyton Manning and DeMaryius Thomas, but the running game never got going and those three fumbles were pretty huge. Broncos have still only lost to good teams, but their defense against those teams, including the Patriots on Sunday, leaves a lot to be desired. |
 | B+ | Ho-hum. Just another 200-yard rushing game from the Patriots. The offense is starting to click as Wes Welker's re-emerged as Tom Brady's primary target. The defense piled up a lot of fumble recoveries, but they also got lit up by Peyton and DeMaryius. Still a huge win for the Patriots who have been particularly strong over the past six quarters. |
| Chargers vs. Saints | ||
 | C+ | What a waste of a good game from Philip Rivers: San Diego could've moved two up on the Broncos in the West and instead caved late. Ryan Mathews looked explosive at times, but didn't get a ton of touches. The pass protection left something to be desired. The roughing the personal foul on Melvin Ingram probably could've put the Saints away for the day. San Diego's probably got a pretty good complaint about the officiating in this game. |
 | B | Drew Brees got his Johnny Unitas record and the Saints finally got in the win column. The Saints defense actually showed some life, especially in getting after Rivers and sacking him five times. Monster game for Marques Colston. |
| subtitle | ||
 | INC | |
 | INC | |
