NFL Week 6 Fallout

It was a Sunday of last second heroics. 5 games were decided in the closing seconds. A few of them killed me in my pick-ems. I went 1-3 in my picks in my weekly dig here! Bah humbug as Ebenezer Scrooge would say. Despite my hideous pick skills again (grr!) it was a good Sunday of professional football. Instead of covering each game like I did last week here, I'll cover the games that were the more 'exciting on the weeks' slate'.

Falcons 22 Bears 20

The Bears took the lead with a half minute left. Falcons fans filed for the exits as the Bears players celebrated on the sidelines. Matt Ryan looked at the scoreboard and the game clock as he and the offense went back onto the field after a 10 yard pouched kickoff return by Harry Douglas put the Falcons on their 44 yard line. Ryan then quickly threw a dart to receiver Michael Jenkins for a gain of 26. Jenkins went out of bounds with 1 second left in the game. The officials reviewed the catch to see if Jenkins stepped out. The catch stood and the Falcons sent out kicker Jason Elam to try and win the game. Elam missed a field goal in the 4th. With 1 sec remaining...the field goal try was up...and good. Elam went from goat to hero in a span of 8 minutes as the Falcons remarkably came back and won the game pushing their record to a surprising 4-2. Falcons are gaining more attention every week now as rookie quarterback Matt Ryan has showed poise and confidence. Ryan on the day went 22-30 for 301 yards and a touchdown throw. RB Micheal Turner rushed 25 times for a measly 54 yards. On the Bears' side QB Kyle Orton threw for 286 yards off a 26-43 day with a touchdown throw. The fourth quarter to this game resembled a roller-coaster. Up, down, sideways...yet the Falcons manged to win (barely), but a win is a win in the National Football League and the Bears are sent out of Atlanta with a bitter bitter loss.

Texans 29 Dolphins 28

The scene looked the same at Reliant Stadium with a little less then 2 minutes left in the game. Ronnie Brown rushed in the end zone putting the Fins up by 5. I myself didn't expect the Texans to be able to score a touchdown to come back knowing the luck we've had the last few weeks, but Matt Schaub and a big clutch-catch by Andre Johnson made me look otherwise. Andre literally took the ball out of the cornerback's hands and came down with it. So here we were with 6 seconds left and 4th down with a few yards to the end zone for the Texans. Matt Schaub stepped back before quickly rushing up the middle before any Dolphins' defenders could bring him down giving the Texans a 1 point lead with 3 seconds left. Schaub let his emotions be heard after the touchdown by slamming the ball against the barricade as fellow Texans players joined him in rejoice. Miami downed the kick return and tried a lateral at the end, but couldn't make anything of it as the Texans managed to escape with their first victory of the season. Schaub finished 22-of-42 for 379 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Houston’s 485 yards is a franchise best and it was Schaub’s second straight 300-yard game. Andre Johnson finished with a total of 178 yards, another franchise best for a position in Texans' history.

Vikings 12 Lions 10

This was ugly. All you need to know is Lions QB Dan Orlovsky ran out of the Lions end zone for a safety in the 1st quarter and the Vikings came back in the 3rd and 4th with a big Bernard Berrian touchdown pass (86 yards to be exact) and a game winning 26 yard field goal from Ryan Longwell making the final score 12-10. You won't see many 12-10 final score folks.

Cardinals 30 Cowboys 24

Never before had an NFL team started a game with a kickoff return for a score, then ended it with a blocked punt in overtime for a touchdown. Infact, it was the first time in NFL history that a blocked punt for a touchdown ended a game in overtime. Dallas scored 10 points in the final 2 minutes of regulation, sending the game into overtime when Nick Folk's 52-yard field goal barely cleared the crossbar as the fourth quarter ended. Cards QB Kurt Warner went 22-30 for 236 netting 2 touchdowns to go along with an interception. Tony Romo had 321 yards from a 34-39 passing day along with 3 Touchdowns. News broke today that Romo will be sidelined for 4 months with a broken finger. We'll see how they play without him.

And that will wrap things up for now. On the football side of things; I'll be back on Friday with my Week 7 predictions (going back to the drawing board again) and I'll return with my Fallout report next Tuesday and every Tuesday for the remainder of the football season. I hope you had a great football watching weekend. If Week 6 is any indication of what Week 7 will be...then throw the experts' predictions out the window because who knows who'll win what game. Especially this season. The NFL world is on its side.