Brandeis University's Community Newspaper — Waltham, Mass.
It was yet another exciting week in the NFL with many close games among some of the top teams. The New York Giants narrowly upset the Broncos 24-23 with a last second Eli Manning touchdown pass to receiver Amani Toomer. The Giants underdog victory improves their record to 4-2, good for first place in the NFC East.
The field of teams in the NFL has begun to sort itself out into three categories: the winners, the losers, and the in-between teams. The winners are obvious, the four teams with 5 or more wins: The Bengals, the Broncos, the Buccaneers, and the undefeated Indianapolis Colts. The losing teams are equally as obvious, especially the winless Houston Texans. However, in the fog are the dozen plus teams with .500 or better records, some of which will make the playoffs, and some of which wont be anywhere close.
Finally, things are beginning to even out in the NFL The Green Bay Packers had an impressive offensive showing against the New Orleans Saints, and the previously undefeated Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell to Vinny Testaverde and the New York Jets. Also, the New England Patriots managed to narrowly avoid their first losing streak since the 2002 season.
This week was one of last-second thrillers, as more than one third of the 14 games played were won within the last 2 minutes of play. The closest of these tight games was an overtime victory by the Jacksonville Jaguars against the New York Jets, setting the Jets record to an unimpressive 1-2. However, the worst news for the Jets this week was the season-ending rotator cuff injury to starting quarterback Chad Pennington, and then soon after another injury to veteran backup QB Jay Fiedler. The loss of Pennington has spurred the Jets to resigning 41 year-old Vinny Testaverde, who started at quarterback for six seasons with the jets before losing his starting job to young Pennington. Testaverde is likely to start in next weeks game against the Baltimore Ravens.
Finally the four thousand plus New Orleans residents who had been living in the Houston Astrodome had something to cheer about as they watched their New Orleans Saints win their first regular season game. Days earlier, Saints players such as Joe Horn visited the Astrodome, where fans made homeless by the hurricane asked for one thing, a victory in week one. While none of the Saints promised anything, they certainly came through with an emotional last second victory with a 47-yard field goal to beat the Carolina Panthers 23-20. Unfortunately, the Saints are still without a home stadium after Hurricane Katrina damaged the Superdome, and they will be splitting their seven home games between LSUs Stadium and the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
