Wednesday Morning QB (NFL Week 5)
The young quarterbacks continued to take over in Week 5 of the season but they were not the ones making the most noise this week. Instead it was a quarterback that is widely considered one of the two best quarterbacks in the league for the last decade. Tom Brady has been one of the best stories in the league after being drafted in the 6th round of the 2000 NFL Draft. From there he became the backup to Drew Bledsoe until Bledsoe was hurt in 2001. From there Brady wrote his name into the history books where he led the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl after taking over for Bledsoe and never looked back. Since 2001 he has been the starting quarterback for one of the best teams of the decade winning two more Super Bowls and winning two MVP awards while getting invites to the Pro Bowl 9 times. Along with Bill Belichick, Brady has led the Patriots to becoming one of the most feared teams in the NFL. Yet this year that role has been taken away from the usually strong Patriots. They came into the year with plenty of hype surrounding them as one of the better teams in the league for another year. The year started with a shocking loss to the Miami Dolphins in their opening work but seemed to veer back on track after that. Then in Week 4 they suffered a massive 41-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in which the Patriots offence, led by Brady, could not get anything going. Brady himself suffered in the loss with two interceptions and 2 fumbles, 1 lost. The Patriots were not used to losing and certainly not used to losing by such a margin. The fans began to panic, as fans of every team do when a team struggles, and the calls to bench Brady began in earnest. The performance of Brady was definitely one of his worst in his career but he is still Tom Brady. It is hard to see a world where the man who led the Patriots to three Super Bowls and countless playoff appearances wouldn’t get a second chance, or a third or a fourth, to show that he is far from over the hill. In Week 5 he didn’t quite get there though throwing for only 159 yards and two touchdowns in a 43-17 win. It was not the game that Brady wanted to bring after the blowout loss and it only continued the rumours that are swirling in the Northeast. The calls over his benching continued and he became even more of a topic of debate in the NFL. The questions surrounding the Patriots and Tom Brady only continues and the moves that have been made are bringing up a lot more questions than were there at the start of the season. First of all the Patriots drafted what is becoming the heir apparent to Brady in Jimmy Garoppolo. The young QB from Eastern Illinois was not the best quarterback in the draft but the Patriots liked what they saw and made the Illinois native their second pick in the draft. After the disaster in Week 4 calls for Garoppolo to start his career in the NFL grew and the talk about whether or not the Patriots were prepared to give him the reins began. Did the Patriots draft Garoppolo as the heir-apparent to Brady? If they drafted Garoppolo for that reason did they think that Brady was ready to step down in the near future? Do the Patriots still have a commitment to Brady or is he there only to bridge the gap until Garoppolo can take over? These question and plenty more have surfaced as of late and the Patriots are not making it easy to determine the answers. Aside from their usual tight-lipped press conferences they have done a number of things that are questionable. A trade of Logan Mankins early in the year was not a good move for the Pats and when Brady found out he was clearly upset. When they waived Kenbrell Thompkins, one of the few receivers with a history with Brady. The moves were strange and did Brady no favours as the commitment to the veteran QB seemed waning. There is no QB controversy in New England but is seems that a message has been sent that the Pats are ready to move on as Brady continues to get up in age and they eye the future, whether right or wrong in doing so.
Fifth Quarter:
(Thoughts on Week 5 in the NFL)
Sherman at it again
Richard Sherman is as known for his mouth as for his play on the field and after a few weeks where he has done little thanks to no action on his side of the field he continues to talk, claiming thar Pierre Garcon doesn’t matter in the league
Geno’s Frustration
Geno Smith has been one of the more talked about young QBs this year as fans begin to call for him to be benched in favour of Michael Vick and now he made new again for bad reasons swearing at a fan after Week 5’s game
Testing Begins
HGH testing will finally make its appearance in the NFL as they will begin testing for the drug after a lengthy debt between the NFLPA and NFL over whether they were going to do it or not as the NFL tries to find the cheaters in the game
Key Scores:
Cleveland Browns 29 – 28 Tennessee Titans
– It was the biggest comeback by a road team in the history of the NFL as the Browns were down by 25 points early to the Titans but completed the improbable comeback to show that there is life in the Browns
Dallas Cowboys 20 – 17 Houston Texans (OT)
– The battle for the Governor’s Cup is not an every year thing but it would make an appearance this year and was a classic as the Cowboys got ahead early only to let the Texans back in through the fourth quarter but eventually beating them with an overtime field goal
Buffalo Bills 17 – 14 Detroit Lions
– The Detroit Lions were without Calvin Johnson for most of the game while their kicker missed three field goals including a late one that would have put them ahead as it was the Bills led by Kyle Orton who kicked a last-minute field goal to win the game
New England Patriots 43 – 17 Cincinnati Bengals
– After a terrible week where the Patriots were only able to score 14 points and allowed 41 they wanted to make a statement and despite Tom Brady not have the best day the Pats made their statement with a 43 point performance against a very good defence
Next Week:
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cleveland Browns (Sunday October 12th; 1:00 pm ET)
– The Cleveland Browns are coming off of a great comeback and are looking for another statement game as they take on the Steelers looking to make some noise in the division and prove they are here to stay
New England Patriots vs. Buffalo Bills (Sunday October 12th; 1:00 pm ET)
– The Patriots are still not the team that many thought they were and now they try to make a move in the division when they take on the Buffalo Bills who have one of the best defences in the league and will try to shut down Brady and the Patriots
Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings (Sunday October 12th; 1:00 pm ET)
– The Lions are without Calvin Johnson making their offence questionable while the Vikings are hoping that their offence gets a boost from last week’s debacle when Teddy Bridgewater returns under centre
Dallas Cowboys vs. Seattle Seahawks (Sunday October 12th; 4:25 pm ET)
– The Cowboys are having a great season after a slow start but now they will try to show exactly where they stand when they take on the Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks in their toughest game so far
The Sport Addiction 