Monday 22 October 2012 14:25, UK
Week 7 in the NFL provided the usual twists, turns and late drama, but what stood out for me on Sunday night was the outstanding play of several quarterbacks.
Patriots head to London with a win The St. Louis Rams arrive in London on Tuesday, while the New England Patriots get into town on Friday morning. While there is no guarantee that Pats head coach Bill Belichick will be in a good mood, his team did get a vital overtime win against the New York Jets on Sunday, eking out a 29-26 win. Any win - particularly a hard-fought effort against a division foe - should be applauded but I think it's clear this Patriots team is flawed like so many other clubs around the NFL. It's hard to build the perfect NFL team and that's why we are enjoying such a wide open race to the playoffs. Quarterback Tom Brady always gives New England a chance to win but their defensive backfield is a mess and allows way too many big plays. Perhaps most worryingly, the Patriots appear to have lost their killer instinct. They allowed Seattle to record a come-from-behind win last week and almost blew a game they were in total control of against the Jets. The Patriots head to London with a winning record at 4-3 but they still have many areas of their team to address as we approach the midway mark of the 2012 campaign. Texans bounce back I know form can be a week to week thing in the NFL but I think we have to assume the Houston Texans are the class of the AFC at the moment following their 43-13 demolition of the Baltimore Ravens. The Texans were coming off an embarrassing home loss to Green Bay the previous week but clearly won the battle of 5-1 AFC leaders in emphatic fashion. Sure, the Ravens are in the process of being decimated by injuries, but this was a good, old-fashioned beat-down and the Texans re-discovered their pride in front of their own fans. Houston ran the ball, they threw efficiently when they needed to and they found the pass-rush from several players, rather than relying solely on premier defensive end J.J. Watt. That made it a very long night for Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco, who continues to play well at home and not so impressively on the road. Cam he fix it? The 2011 Carolina Panthers were exciting to watch as they lit up the NFL behind the passing and running of rookie quarterback Cam Newton. The 2012 Panthers - led by the very same quarterback - have been one of the major disappointments of this campaign. Newton looks a shadow of the player who burst onto the scene and took the NFL by storm a year ago. And his entire team is out of sorts. Carolina lost 19-14 at home to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday and have now lost four in a row to drop to 1-5. That's not good enough for a team many picked to be a playoff dark-horse. Worryingly, it appears as if Newton is not working as hard in his second season and is believing his own hype. There have been whispers coming out of the Panthers locker room about his lack of work ethic and he was even publicly called out by respected team leader and Pro Bowl wide receiver Steve Smith, who has never been one to mince his words. The Panthers are in a slump and it doesn't matter how hard the other 52 guys on the roster pull in the coming weeks. With the quarterback position being so vital, it's up to Newton to lead from the front - and there is not much evidence to suggest he has the stomach to do that at the moment.
