Colin Kaepernick’s return to the starting role was one to forget. From the moment he took a knee for the national anthem, that got the Buffalo crowd so riled up they rocked the stadium with chants of “USA!USA!” to the 49er run defense coughing up over 300 yards on the ground, Kaep didn’t stand a chance.

Buffalo continued their roll since firing their offensive coordinator early in the year and Chip Kelly’s high octane offense continues to misfire and sputter along.

Jacksonville Jaguars 17 Chicago Bears 16

A sloppy game highlighted by a Jaguars go-ahead touchdown scored on a play where the wide receiver, Arrelious Benn and Bears cornerback Tracey Porter both fell down before the whistle blew and Benn had his first TD in five years. Neither club is ready for prime time just yet, but at least the Jaguars now have a two game win streak going for them.

Los Angeles Rams 28 Detroit Lions 31

 

Want to talk about scoring consistency? These teams each scored one touchdown in every quarter to near the end with a 28 all tie, before Detroit kicker Matt Prater  nailed a go ahead field goal for Detroit. The Rams have now dropped their last two while the Lions have their own two game win streak brewing.

 

Pittsburgh Steelers 15 Miami Dolphins 30

 

In the shocker of the day, the Miami Dolphins out played the high flying Steelers in every facet of the game, injuring pro bowl quarterback Ben Roethlisberger early on and holding the Steeler defense to a measly 15 points. Big Ben is scheduled to have surgery for a torn meniscus on Monday and will probably miss at least one, if not several games.

 

Cincinnati Bengals 17 New England Patriots 35

 

In a game that was shocking to no one at all, New England’s Tom Brady continued his surgical assault on the state of Ohio as he dismantled the Cincinnati defense to the tune of 29 completions out of 35 attempts, 376 yards and three touchdowns.

Next up for New England? A team playing on the Ohio border most likely without their quarterback, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Carolina Panthers 38 New Orleans Saints 41

 

The Carolina Panthers continue to do their best impression of the 2003 Oakland Raiders as they continue trying to shake off the super bowl hangover fog. The NFC South has become the scene for some really high scoring games this season and this one was no exception. This one was knotted at 38 with 11 seconds left when New Orleans kicker Will Lutz booted his team to a victory on a 52-yard field goal. If you get a chance to see an NFC South divisional matchup later this year, don’t miss out!

 

Baltimore Ravens 23 New York Giants 27

 

Odell Beckham took this game by the collar and dragged it up and down the field until no one questioned what he did off of it (which is an entirely different story of love, a young man and his kicking net…)

Cleveland Browns 26 Tennessee Titans 28

 

Marcus Mariota’s three touchdown passes almost weren’t enough to hold off the Cleveland Browns in the battle for “Worst Professional Football Franchise” yesterday.

The Tennessee defense gave up over 350 passing yards to Cody Kessler, a quarterback with the unenviable task of trying to lead the now 0-6 Browns out of the worst hole they’ve been in since their first year back in the league.

The Titans are just happy to have gotten even – with their win total from 2015 – at 3-3.

Philadelphia Eagles 20 Washington Redskins 27

 

Carson Wentz continued his Icarus-like fall back to earth and probably didn’t “like that” one bit. His defense was much worse, giving up 463 total yards to the Redskins, who are now 4-0 since starting the season 0-2 (that puts them at 4-2 for those who haven’t had their Monday morning coffee yet).

 

Kansas City Chiefs 26 Oakland Raiders 10

 

In a game many expected to go the other way, Kansas City dominated their hated division rival Oakland Raiders from the onset and never looked back. For the first time in weeks, Oakland’s offense looked mediocre at best, and their defense continued to struggle against a superior offensive unit. The Chiefs bye week has them at 3-2, while Oakland now shares the division lead with Denver at 4-2. One thing’s for sure, the AFC West is rapidly shaping up to be the toughest division in football.

 

Dallas Cowboys 30 Green Bay packers 16

 

On a day when the Green Bay community honored one of the greatest quarterbacks in Packer history, Brett Favre, his replacement, another all time great, performed like a confused rookie. Aaron Rodgers turned the ball over twice, misfired on several throws and overall seemed out of sorts the whole game.

Dallas rookie QB Das Prescott, however, continued to make the most of his opportunities in the shadow of Tony Romo (during a week where most of the Cowboy conversations on Romo taking the team back as soon as he was cleared to play again). Prescott threw for three touchdowns while fellow rookie Ezekial Elliot contributed 156 yards on the ground.

 

Atlanta Falcons 24 Seattle Seahawks 26

 

This week’s installment of Poor Officiating Wrongly Influenced the Outcome of a Key Game, the Atlanta Falcons had their comeback drive ended by a blatant pass interference penalty on Richard Sherman, who had no chance to stop Falcon receiver Julio Jones without pulling Jones to the ground with his right arm, effectively preventing Jones from reaching for a perfectly catchable pass put right on the money by Joe Flacco.

For Seattle fans, a wins a win, for Atlanta fans, this was highway robbery. The NFL really needs to get this abysmal officiating under control because the number of games altered by poor officiating seems to be growing at a disturbing rate.

Not to mention a “shut down” cornerback such as Sherman shouldn’t have to resort to cheating to preserve a win.

 

Indianapolis Colts 23 Houston Texans 26

 

Arguably the ugliest game of the week pitted the two “powerhouses” of the AFC South against one another in front an an unsettled home crowd in Houston.

Reports out of Texans camp this week had whispers of head coach Bill O’Brien and struggling quarterback Brock Osweiler arguing while the rest of the team complained about the negativity coming from the Texans fanbase due to the ugly nature of their games to this point in the season.

Indianapolis tried their best to remove the “worst defense in the league” tag by holding Houston’s seemingly inept offense to 9 points until late in the game when Lamar Miller decided to carry the team on his back long enough for Osweiler to get it in gear and tie the game late in the 4th quarter. Houston defense took over to shut down the Colts offense on consecutive drives setting up a game winning field goal by kicker Nick Novak, who had missed an extra point earlier in the game – a point that proved to be the one that would have given Houston a regulation win had it been on the board at the end of the 4th quarter.