Musings on the NFL: Week 3

This third weekend of professional football was a dandy, providing fans with a number of nail-biting finishes and heroic performances.

First stop: Foxboro, Massachusetts, where the Brady-less Patriots have been on a little bit of a roll with backup Matt Cassel at the helm. Having worked out wins in the first two weeks, they had a cupcake Miami team coming into town, fresh off a 21-point drubbing at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals last week. Easy "W" of course. In the words of Lee Corso, "Not so fast, my friend."

The 'Phins came in ready to play -- or at least one of them did. Ronnie Brown had a career day for the visiting team, putting up gaudy numbers. He ran for four scores, three of which were direct snaps straight to him. The best way to keep Chad Pennington from messing up is to just bypass him entirely, apparently. The longest of those plays resulted in a 62-yard scamper to pay dirt. Brown also threw for a score, taking yet another direct snap and lobbing it left-handed to an open Anthony Fasano in the end zone. As far as I can tell, there is no need for Chad Pennington to even bother suiting up for the next game. Brown accounted for all five touchdowns then, as the Dolphins posted a stunning 38-13 upset on the road.

In Philadelphia, the Steelers and the Eagles played a blue-collar game in the trenches. Brian Westbrook left the game with an ankle injury early, after stepping on the leg of a blocker. He would not return to play, leaving the primary work to Correll Buckhalter, who stepped into the role nicely. He only ran for 12 yards, but he caught six passes, including a Donovan McNabb touchdown pass, which was a very important touchdown pass indeed. It was the only one scored in the contest, and it was #176 for McNabb, moving him into first place all-time among Eagles' QB's. May I remind you that he is the pride of... Syracuse University.

The home team's defense was all over the field today, and all over visiting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. They sacked him eight times and picked off one of his passes, shutting down the Steelers offense entirely. Eagles get the win 15-6.

The injury to Brian Westbrook seems to be minor, relatively speaking. The word is that it is a strained ankle, and he will have a precautionary MRI today.

Elsewhere, we had some real barn burners going on in the last two minutes. In a game that truly proved Oakland's suckiness, they blew a 16-point lead with eight minutes remaining to lose to the Buffalo Bills 24-23. Ryan Lindell directed a 38-yard field goal in between the posts as time ran out to put his team on top.

The Bears know a thing or two about blowing leads as well. Last week, they fell to the Carolina Panthers after having them down 17-3 in the second half. Fast forward one week, where they are on top of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-14 in the fourth quarter. All of the sudden, a 35-yard Mark Bryant field goal and an inspired 79-yard game-tying Brian Griese touchdown drive later, the Bears find themselves in overtime, trying to block a game-winning 21-yard chip shot. They couldn't, and they end up dropping their second straight game in fall-from-ahead fashion.

Another OT game, Bengals at Giants. After a back-and-forth affair, Cincinnati stormed down the field at the end of the regulation to tie things up 23-23 on the foot of Shayne Graham. He was outdone by New York's kicker though. Backup John Carney tallied four field goals, including the big one from 22 yards out to give the G-Men the win in the extra period.

Kickers were the story of the day, and it was no different in Denver, where the Broncos held off the New Orleans Saints 34-32. The visiting kicker, Martin Gramatica, had a 43-yard try with less than two minutes remaining to put his club in the lead. He pushed it wide right though, and the Broncos held the ball as the clock expired.

And one more close one, a disappointment to me. In the match between Jacksonville and Indianapolis, both of the Jaguars' running backs -- Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew -- topped 100 yards on the ground. Their team possessed the ball for a whopping 41 minutes, controlling the pace of the game with a few solid drives. Despite that, they found themselves trailing as the clock worked against them in the final minutes. Having made it down to the 34-yard line, kicker Josh Scobee lined up for a field goal try with four seconds on the clock. Just as he did in 2004 -- the last time the Jags beat the Colts -- Scobee drilled the long try, giving Jacksonville a big road win and moving both teams to 1-2 on the year.

Tidbits:

• Tenessee Titans defensive back Cortland Finnegan had a 99-yard interception return for a touchdown, eclipsing the franchise record by one yard. Houston QB Matt Schaub was the one who threw the bad ball.
• The Steelers have lost their last eight games in Philadelphia, dating back to 1965.
• Baltimore defensive back Ed Reed returned a Derek Anderson interception for a touchdown in the Ravens' win. The franchise is now 29-5 when scoring a defensive TD.
• Ed Hochuli was the referee in charge of that Browns/Ravens game, one week after blowing the big call for San Diego. The Hoch is the still the league's best ref, and hopefully we have moved on. The NFL has, officially asking Ed to quit talking about the botched whistle.
• Gus Frerotte got the start at QB for Minnesota this week, relegating Tavaris Jackson to the bench after two miserable games. You know you're struggling when Gus Frerotte is a better option for your team.
• Larry Johnson now has 4,981 career rushing yards, moving him ahead of Christian Okoye and into second place on the Chiefs' all-time list.
• The Patriots' loss ends their incredible string of 21 straight regular-season wins. The 25-point margin was the biggest defeat in seven seasons at Gillette Stadium. Ellis Hobbs set a franchise record though, with 237 yards on six kickoff returns. Setting a kick return record is a good indication you have lost the game.
• Buffalo's win marks the first time a team other than New England is on top of the AFC East since Week 4 of 2005. The Bills are now solely in the lead.
• Including the preseason, Indianapolis is now 0-4 in their new home, Lucas Oil Stadium.