The crowd barely had enough time to absorb their good fortune before “it” started again.  “It.”  That inescapable fourth quarter collapse that had stalked the fortunes of the San Diego Chargers all season.  Having already lost four games this season due to fourth-quarter mishaps, the crowd watched in horror as history began to repeat before their eyes.

One week before, a potential game-tying drive against Oakland was foiled when holder Drew Kaiser fumbled the snap on what might have been a 35-yard field goal.  The misplay sealed a 34-31 loss.

The week before that, they held a 34-21 lead over New Orleans with 5 minutes left in the game before two late San Diego fumbles deep in their own territory paved the way for two late touchdowns in a 35-34 loss.

The week before that they held a 22-20 lead right up till the last 1:17 of the game, when a missed tackle on a simple hook route resulted in a 63-yard touchdown pass for T.Y. Hilton and the Colts, sending Indianapolis on to a 26-22 win.

Their season had begun two weeks before that with Kansas City erasing a 27-10 deficit with less than ten minutes remaining in the game – a game the Chiefs would win 33-27 in overtime.

Now it’s last Thursday night.  The Denver Broncos were in town and the season sort of hung in the balance.  Again, playing very well for three quarters, the Chargers took a 19-3 lead into the last period.  Three minutes into the fourth quarter, San Diego forced Denver tackle Russell Okung into a holding call in his own end zone – the safety pushed the Chargers’ lead to 21-3 with 12 minutes left.  Insurmountable against most teams.

And then Denver free kicked.  While the partisan crowd was still giving itself high-fives, Riley Dixon’s short punt sailed in the direction of offensive lineman Kenny Wiggins around mid-field.  For some reason, all offensive linemen attempt to return kicks.  Rather than let the ball bounce safely, Wiggins attempts the catch.  Predictably the ball slips through his hands and Denver re-takes possession on its own 49 with 11:57 left and down by three scores.

The suddenly muted crowd watched the Broncos effortless advance of the football.

On second-and-four, Trevor Siemian droped a short pass off to Emmanuel Sanders for 8 yards.  First and ten on the Chargers 37 yard line.

Three plays and a false start later, Siemian drills a 20-yard pass into the hands of Sanders in between two defenders along the left sideline.  First and ten on the 21 with still 9:15 left in the game.

C.J. Anderson churns up the middle to the Charger 12.

Finally, with 8:13 left, a blown coverage leaves Bennie Fowler all alone in the middle of the end zone for a five-yard touchdown pass.  Now its 21-10.

Two runs and a sack have the Chargers punting back to Denver, and the Broncos set up on their own 37 with 5:45 still to play.  And here they came again.

Fowler got open again in the left flat.  His ten-yard reception moved Denver into San Diego territory with 5:03 to go.  Sixteen more yards on a toss to John Phillips put the ball on the 31, and Anderson took a handoff up the middle for eleven more yards.  Denver was on the Charger 20 with still 4:24 to go.

It all led to this predictable moment.  Anderson, curling out of the backfield, took a short pass, bounced off a would-be tackler on the ten, and cut crisply into the end zone.  There was 4:13 left on the clock and Denver was a two-point conversion away from cutting San Diego’s lead to 21-18.

At least it sure looked like they were.

For the entire game – but especially throughout the second half – the Bronco offensive line was pretty much eaten up by a determined Charger front seven.  Jatavis Brown, Melvin Ingram, Joey Bosa, Tenny Palepoi and Corey Liuget were constant presences in the Bronco backfield.  On the apparent touchdown play, another Charger lineman – Brandon Mebane – outmaneuvered Okung (his former teammate in Seattle) and drew another holding call.  Among Denver’s 10 second half penalties for 93 yards were four offensive holding calls – including one for a safety and one that took away the game-changing touchdown.

And then, as soon as the apparent uprising began, it was quelled.

On the first play after the penalty, Jatavis Brown stormed up the middle to sack Siemien for a ten-yard loss.  Brown – who finished with 13 tackles and the sack – then sealed the deal on the next play.  Trying to at least get close enough for a field goal, Siemien hit Demaryius Thomas over the middle.  Making the tackle, Brown put his helmet squarely on the ball and it popped free, bouncing directly to teammate Craig Mager who was already on his knees as though he were expecting the direct bounce.

And the Chargers had their victory.

The decisive sequence that breathed life into the Chargers’ season and helped scramble the AFC West standings was made possible by Mike McCoy’s most boring game plan of the season.  With their season hanging in the balance, the Chargers displayed almost inhuman patience and discipline on both offense and defense.

Even as it appeared that Denver was going to fight its way back into the contest, the defense never got splashy or aggressive.  They sat in their soft zones and waited for Denver to make some mistake to interrupt its drive – a starkly different approach than most teams have taken toward the Broncos and their rookie quarterback.  Most other teams have contested the short throws, daring Tevor Siemien to beat them deep.  The Chargers took away the deep ball, stopped the run (the Broncos ran for 84 yards) and waited.

Even more impressive was the offense.   Determined not to let the super-bowl caliber defense make the plays that would tilt the game, San Diego ran the ball (29 times even though they only averaged 3.4 yards per) and threw short.  Of Philip Rivers’ 29 throws, only 3 travelled more than 15 yards in the air.  Even in the end game, when some teams would be tempted to throw for that clinching first down, the Chargers played safety first and ran time off the clock.

The game didn’t actually end on Thomas’ fumble.  The Broncos would, in fact, get the ball back two more times, driving for a field goal and then recovering an onside kick.  The game actually ended with Siemien throwing toward the end zone.  But so thoroughly in charge was the San Diego defense by that point that there was never a reason to believe that Denver could make the necessary plays down the field.

All the Broncos could muster was a series of five-yard dump passes – with the receiver most of the time tackled in the field of play.  The final score of 21-13 didn’t reflect how thoroughly out-coached and out-played the Broncos were.

One of the most fascinating moments of this upset occurred much, much earlier.

With 5:38 left in the first quarter, and San Diego already ahead 7-0, the Chargers took over on their own 6 after a Denver punt.  They then proceeded to mount an 18-play, 75-yard drive that consumed the next 10:03 of playing time.  It was reported that this was the longest drive of Rivers’ career.

Think about that.

Philip Rivers – now in his thirteenth season – has started 166 games in the NFL.  If he averaged 7 drives a game, that would put him at 1162 drives for his career.  But his second drive (following a 7:00 minute opening drive) was his longest.  Of course, ten minute drives are few and far between.  There are probably a lot of QBs who never manage a ten minute drive, so in that regard it’s a believable number.

But more compelling is the fact that it’s Rivers leading the drive.  Philip is an exceedingly talented quarterback and holds a splendid 95.9 passer rating over 5540 career passes.  But patience has never been one of his primary virtues.  For as good as he has been, his career has been highlighted by that one egregious, impatient mistake that would cost his team a game here and a game there and ultimately keep them out of the playoffs or eliminate them early.

Frankly, for most of his career, Rivers has lacked the focus necessary to lead his team to the mountaintop.  He has always seemed more interested in trash-talking the other team than focusing on what he needs to do to beat them.

Now 35 years old, I don’t see Philip jawing with opposing players anymore.  I see him with all the energy, passion and love for the game that he has always had.  But it seems now that he is more concerned with leading his team.  I also don’t see the egregious mistake anymore.  Two-hundred and one passes into his 2016 season, Rivers has tossed only 3 interceptions.

And on Thursday last he led an 18-play, ten-minute and three second drive.

For the first five games of their season, the San Diego Chargers have endured an enormous amount of adversity – some of their own making, some not.  Age and adversity can temper a man and a team.  I will have to see this new Philip Rivers a little longer before I finally buy into it, but it looks for all the world like he’s maturing into the leader he always could have been.  Could be that the Chargers are growing up with him.

A Word About the Seattle-Atlanta Game.

The Seahawks are annually in the playoff discussion.  The Falcons have faded from importance in recent seasons, but are starting to look like contenders again.  Seattle is always very difficult to beat in Seattle, so the 26-24 Seahawk victory isn’t much of a surprise.  But did you notice the Falcons in the third quarter?

Down 17-3 at the half, the Falcons opened the second half with a 75-yards drive right through the Legion of Boom for a touchdown (36-yard toss to Julio Jones over Richard Sherman).

After a Seattle punt, Atlanta marched through the storied Seattle defense again – 79-yards ending in a touchdown pass to Mohamed Sanu.

After a subsequent Seahawk punt pinned the Falcons on their own three-yard line, they once again blew through the Hawks for 97 yards and another touchdown pass.

Three drives, three touchdowns against the ‘Hawks in that quarter.  I’m not sure how many other teams in the league could do that to Seattle in Seattle.

The Falcons last gasp came on a fourth-down heave from quarterback Matt Ryan to Jones with 1:39 left in the game.  Had Jones caught the ball, the Falcons would have been in field goal range.  Of course he would have had to catch it with just his left hand as Sherman was pulling down his right hand.

It would be very unfortunate if a playoff berth or seeding would be decided by a pass interference call that wasn’t made.

Week Seven is already upon us.  Football season flies by.  Here are four games that deserve a little extra attention:

Minnesota Vikings (5-0) at Philadelphia Eagles (3-2) – Early Sunday

One week into the season the Philadelphia Eagles traded an extra quarterback named Sam Bradford to a team (Minnesota) that had just lost its starting quarterback for the season.  With command of the offense fully given to rookie signal caller Carson Wentz, the Eagles won their first three games convincingly, before coming back down to earth the last two weeks.

Now at 3-2 and already 1.5 games behind the front running Cowboys, the Eagles are preparing to face the Vikings and the QB they traded away.

That’s the 5-0 Vikings, if you please.  As pleased as the Eagles have been with Wentz, the Vikings have been just as pleased with Bradford. Wentz has completed 65% of his passes.  Bradford has completed 70.4% of his.  Wentz has averaged 7.55 yards per pass attempt, while Bradford has averaged 7.92.  Wentz gets a touchdown on 4.5% of his passes – just slightly behind Bradford’s 4.8%.  Wentz has thrown only one interception all year – which is exactly one more than Bradford has thrown.  Wentz’ passer rating is an excellent 99.9 – pretty close to Bradford’s 109.8.

Both have played very well.  But the stories in both Philadelphia and Minnesota have been on the defensive side.  The Vikings have yet to allow more than 16 points in a game.  They are the league’s top scoring defense and second overall in yardage allowed (number 4 against the run and number 6 against the pass).  They have allowed only 7 touchdowns in five games.

The Eagles looked like that same team through four weeks, but were a little exposed last week as they spit up 230 rushing yards (and 493 yards of total offense) in a 27-20 loss to Washington.

It’s still early in the season, but this game will let us know a little better who Philadelphia really is.  And, maybe a little better who Sam Bradford and Carson Wentz are.

New England Patriots (5-1) at Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2) – Late Sunday

This one was going to be a great game.  Perennial contenders in New England and Pittsburgh set to face off in a game with serious playoff implications.  After doing without their All-Everything quarterback for the season’s first four weeks, Tom Brady has returned with a vengeance as the Patriots have blown by Cleveland and Cincinnati these last two weeks.  Brady has completed 76.0% of his passes and carries a passer rating of 135.5 into this matchup.

For their part, after a humbling defeat at the hands of the Eagles, the Steelers had bounced back to trounce the Chiefs and the Jets behind their elite quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.  But Ben’s knee injury in last week’s surprising loss to Miami has re-written the script for this game.

Into the breach is third-year pro Landry Jones, veteran of 56 NFL regular season passes and five more at the end of last year’s messy divisional round win against Cincinnati.

The expected thing would be for Pittsburgh to focus on their ground attack.  The Patriots have been pretty stout against the run (allowing 92 yards a game and 3.7 per carry), and would likely be even better on Sunday if they thought they could focus on the stopping the Steelers’ ground attack.  This would have the domino effect of forcing Jones into passing situations.

Steeler Coach Mike Tomlin knows all of this.  And that’s why I believe he will put the ball in Landry Jones’ hands and let him fling the ball down the field.  In fact, I expect Tomlin’s most aggressive game plan of the year.

And I expect that New England’s Bill Belichick will expect the same thing.  If Tomlin and Jones succeed in lifting this wounded offense past the Patriots, they will have to do it with execution.  They won’t surprise the Patriots.

In the meantime, the Pittsburgh defense – which is allowing a completion percentage of 65.7 and has only dumped 8 quarterbacks all year will have to do much, much better than that against Brady and his receivers.  Otherwise the Steelers won’t keep this one close enough for their Landry strategy to have any effect.

San Diego Chargers (2-4) at Atlanta Falcons (4-2)

For the moment, last Thursday, the Chargers saved their season with a gritty 21-13 conquest of the Denver Broncos.  At 2-4, their position is hardly enviable.  And now they must go on the road to face the electric offense that is the Atlanta Falcons.

With 199 points scored, the Falcons are the league’s top ranked offense both for yards and points per game (33.2).  One hundred and twenty-two of those points came in a three-week deluge against Oakland, New Orleans and Carolina.  While they have only managed 23 and 24 points the last two weeks respectively, it should be noted those games were against elite defenses in Denver and Seattle (both on the road).

And San Diego’s defense?  Before its stellar performance last Thursday, the Chargers had allowed 33, 14, 26, 35 and 34 points in their games.  They rank twenty-third in scoring defense (25.8 ppg) even after the Denver game.

But this number comes with an explanation.  In the 1-4 start, the Chargers invented ways to yield points – most frequently through creative fumbles.  The Chargers have fumbled the ball away 10 times so far this season – the most in the NFL.  Judged on their own merits, San Diego’s defense hasn’t been that bad.  The pass defense allows just 6.81 yards per attempted pass and just 10.6 yards per completion.  Only 3.8% of the passes thrown against them result in touchdowns, and San Diego has intercepted 7 passes – 2.7% of the passes attempted against them.  They face Atlanta with 14 sacks and an 85.4 passer rating against.  Against the run, they allow only 83.5 yards a game (the fifth best in the NFL) and 3.8 yards per attempt.  Solid numbers across the board.

But will they be solid enough to slow down the Falcons?  That is the question.

Another good question that may not be getting asked as much is: can Atlanta slow down San Diego’s offense?  While their offense has been lighting up scoreboards, the Falcon defense has been surrendering points almost as fast.  In their six games so far, Atlanta has held only one opponent (Denver) to less than 26 points and only one opponent (Denver again) to less than 261 passing yards.  They have allowed 166 points (27.7 per game) and carry the NFL’s twenty-fourth rated defense into the contest against the Chargers.  Opposing passers have flourished against the Falcon defense to the tune of a 99.1 passer rating and a 68.5% completion percentage.

And San Diego and quarterback Phillip Rivers are more than capable of exploiting that weakness.  The Chargers – who have the league’s #3 scoring offense (28.8 ppg) have scored at least 21 points in every game so far and have been over 30 three times.  Rivers comes into the matchup having completed 135 passes at a 67.2% rate.  He has thrown for 1647 yards, averaging 8.19 yards per attempt and 12.2 yards per completion.  His 3 interceptions are offset by his 12 touchdown passes.  His passer rating is an excellent 105.9.

The way this plays out on paper is two explosive offenses having their way with two less than stellar defenses.  San Diego’s defense is notably better than Atlanta’s, but the Falcon’s offense is more diversified.  The Falcons are the home team, but the Chargers have to have this game.

There is something going on with the Chargers.  I hope to write more about them tomorrow. Their season could not have started out any worse.  Between their own fourth quarter collapses and an injured reserve list that already has 14 names on it – many of them prime contributors like Manti Te’o, Danny Woodhead and Keenan Allen – 2016 has been a nightmare.  But in spite of all that, they are hanging together.  The AFC West is going to be a wild ride this year, and won’t be decided early.  If San Diego can stay relevant, it’s hard to say how things could yet play out.

Winning this game – if they can manage that – will be a huge step in that direction.

Seattle Seahawks (4-1) at Arizona Cardinals (3-3) – Sunday Night

The Seahawks got bumped from the ranks of the unbeaten fairly early – an exceedingly ugly 9-3 loss to the LA Rams.  This followed an unimpressive 12-10 conquest of the Miami Dolphins.  Seattle didn’t look so hot coming out of the gate.

The Arizona Cardinals (who, you’ll remember, played in the NFC Championship game last year) also struggled at the beginning of the year.  They lost 3 of their first 4, scoring less than 22 points in each of the three losses.

Since then, both teams have righted their course.  The Seahawks have toppled San Francisco (37-18), the New York Jets (27-17) and the Falcons (26-24).  They have resumed their customary spot as the top ranked defense (in yards allowed) – number three against the run.  In five games, only the 49ers have more than 64 yards running the ball against the Seahawks.

But Seattle’s own running game has been largely absent.  With Marshawn Lynch retired and Thomas Rawls out with a broken fibula, the ‘Hawks rank twenty-fifth in rushing, averaging just 88.8 yards on the ground per game.  They totaled just 138 rushing yards in their last two games.

This has had an unbalancing effect on the offense, forcing them into being more of a pass-first offense.  Nonetheless, they have adapted and – with quarterback Russell Wilson and his 97.0 passer rating leading the way – have scored 90 points in the last three games.

Among the NFL’s 3-3 teams (there are six of them) Arizona gets my vote as the most dangerous.  They boast a solid run defense (allowing 104 yards a game) backed by an elite pass defense.  The passer rating against them of 65.8 is second in the NFL, barely behind the Vikings 65.3 rating.  They also rank second in yards per pass (6.05) and third in lowest completion percentage against (58.2).  They are also tied for third in sacks with 19.

The inconsistency in Arizona has been with the offense.  After the best year of his career in 2015 (his passer rating was 104.6) quarterback Carson Palmer has been hot and cold so far in 2016.  In the most indicative two-game span, he followed a 304-yard, three-touchdown performance in a 40-7 win against Tampa Bay with a 4-interception game in a 33-18 loss in Buffalo.

But the difference for Arizona in the last two games (33-21 over San Fran and 28-3 over the Jets) has been the re-discovered running game.  They ground up the 49ers to the tune of 172 yards and then followed that with 171 more against the Jets.

All of a sudden, the Cardinals have the fourth-ranked run offense in football.  Probably this showdown in the desert will be decided by the clash between Arizona’s run game and Seattle’s run defense.  If the Cardinals can punch their way through the Seahawks’ run defense, they will pretty much control the game.  If, however, Seattle smothers the running game, it will force Palmer into the air.  And the Arizona passing attack has been far too error prone this year to be able to beat Seattle and their secondary alone.

Tyron Smith.  Ronald Leary. Travis Frederick.  Zack Martin.  Doug Free.

None of these gentlemen is necessarily a household name – even in households that watch a considerable amount of football.  But these five gentlemen – who collectively man the offensive line for the Dallas Cowboys – are at the heart of what is suddenly a very scary team.

Tyron Smith was a first round draft choice out of USC in 2011 (the ninth player chosen).  He has gone to three Pro Bowls and was named a First Team All-Pro following the 2014 season.

Ronald Leary signed as an undrafted free agent out of Memphis.

Travis Frederick was also a first-rounder out of Wisconsin in 2013 (thirty-first player selected).  He has since gone to two Pro Bowls.

Zack Martin was the Cowboys’ first-round pick the next year (sixteenth overall) out of Notre Dame.  He joined Smith as a First Team All-Pro in 2014 and has also been to two Pro Bowls.

Doug Free is playing in his tenth season after being drafted in the fourth round in 2007 out of Northern Illinois.

They are five very large and very athletic men, and what they did last Sunday afternoon to an opposing collection of large, athletic men from Cincinnati had to be seen to be believed.

Since their last losing season in 2010, the Cincinnati Bengals have been playoff regulars and have won at least ten games in each of the last four seasons.  Last season they ranked eleventh in overall defense and seventh against the run.  They were expected to be a competitive match for the Dallas offense and came into the game into the game fairly confident that they could at least limit the Cowboy running attack.

For the first 33 minutes and 22 seconds of the contest, the Dallas offensive line manhandled the highly regarded front seven of the Bengals.  The first time they had the ball, the Cowboys marched 64 yards in 7 plays for a touchdown.  They never faced a third-down in the drive.  Then, after a Cincinnati punt pushed them back to their own 11, they mounted an 11-play, 89-yard touchdown drive.  After another Cincinnati punt, Dallas made it three-for-three as they marched 80 yards in 8 plays for the touchdown that pushed the halftime lead to 21-0.

They trotted into the locker room at halftime having already piled up 117 rushing yards on just 17 carries (6.9 yards per).

Then, on their first play of the second half, that offensive line crumpled the Bengal front like so much pie crust as rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott sprinted 60 yards untouched up the middle for the touchdown that pushed the score to 28-0.

There is a revival in Dallas these days.  The Dallas Cowboys are finding new names for an old formula – an electric running back running behind a dominant offensive line.  The running back is this year’s first-round draft pick, Elliott – the former Ohio State back was the fourth overall player taken.

But the story of the revival doesn’t end there.  With a pre-season injury sidelining starting quarterback Tony Romo, the Cowboys have given the ball to another rookie.  Former Mississippi State signal caller Dak Prescott has stepped in to the breach and taken the NFL by storm.  Lightly regarded coming out of college, Prescott is completing 69.0% of his passes, averaging 7.99 yards per attempt and 11.6 yards per completion.  He has done this with a poise and polish beyond his years as he routinely finds second and third receivers and delivers passes to them with pinpoint precision.

Prescott has reached 155 passes in his career now, and has yet to suffer his first interception.  His passer rating of 101.5 perfectly complements Elliott’s league leading 546 rushing yards and 109.2 yards per game.

As good as the numbers have been, though, the most impressive thing about the revival in Dallas is the energy.  Last Sunday the Cowboys fell on the Bengals as though they couldn’t wait to get their pads into them.  They playoff veteran Bengals had the game taken away from them before they could blink.  It was, to say the least, an impressive showing.

Should the NFL be very, very afraid?  Maybe, but there is a lot of season left.

As good as they’ve been there is the question of how they will look when (if) they run into a defense that can bottle up the running attack and put pressure on Prescott (something he hasn’t had to deal with too much).

But to do that, someone will have to contend with that offensive line.  As good as the rookies have been, the long-term story of the Dallas season will begin and end as this post has.  With Tyron Smith.  Ronald Leary. Travis Frederick.  Zack Martin.  And Doug Free.

With five weeks in the books, the NFL landscape is starting to take shape.  Week six provides us a few compelling matchups worth thinking about:

Denver Broncos (4-1) at San Diego Chargers (1-4) – Tonight Night

At 1-4, the Chargers have been kind of left for dead in the complex AFC West.  But the AFC West is never that cut and dried.  They are currently looking up at the 4-1 Broncos and Raiders and the 2-2 Chiefs.  But the Chargers have put 152 points on the board (30.4 per game), which ranks second in all of football to Atlanta and their 35.0 points per game.

Defensively, they allow opposing passers just 11.3 yards per completion and have intercepted 7 passes – the passer rating against them is a very modest 87.1.  Meanwhile, opposing running attacks have averaged just 83.4 yards per game and just 3.6 yards per attempt.  But somehow this team has surrendered 142 points (28.4 per game) – tied with Tampa Bay for the fourth highest in the NFL.

They blew a 21-point lead before losing in Kansas City in overtime; lost in Indianapolis in the last two minutes after a missed tackle turned into a 63-yard touchdown; spat out a 13-point lead against New Orleans with less than five minutes to play on a couple of late turnovers; and lost last week to Oakland when they missed a field goal with two minutes left.

Clearly the Chargers are a team with issues, but they’ve probably played better than their 1-4 record indicates, while the Raiders and Broncos haven’t really played as well as their records indicate.  Kansas City has issues as well.

While the division looks like it’s starting to separate into the haves and have nots, my feeling is that this division is far from settled.  Right now, Denver and Oakland are closing games while the Chargers are inventing ways to lose games.  If the West is going to get wild, a San Diego victory tonight could be the starting point.

To do that, San Diego’s excellent offense will have to cope with Denver’s sometimes dominant defense.

Philadelphia Eagles (3-1) at Washington Redskins (3-2) – Early Sunday

In Philadelphia, all eyes have been on rookie quarterback sensation Carson Wentz – and why not.  At the season’s quarter pole, Carson is already one of the league’s “name” passers.  He is completing 67.4% of his passes (91 of 135), averaging 7.46 yards per pass (on 1007 passing yards), is tossing 5.2% of his passes for touchdowns (he has 7), while throwing just 1 interception for a very low 0.7 interception percentage.  Working behind excellent pass protection, Carson has gone down just 7 times which works out to just 4.9% of his drop-backs.

Less noticed – but possibly more responsible for the Eagles resurgence – has been the surprising Eagle defense.  The Eagle defense has been tough to throw against (194 yards per game and a 80.1 QB rating) and worse to run against (3.9 yards per carry and 73.3 yards per game – the NFL’s third best figure).

They ride into Washington to face a Redskin team that has also focused, perhaps, too much on its quarterback.

Kirk Cousins – fresh off the big contract – has performed similarly to Wentz (except he has chucked 5 interceptions in five games).

The real story, though, in Washington is defense – the lack thereof.  The 130 rushing yards they surrender per game is the league’s third-worst figure and the 5.1 yards they allow per running attempt is the worst in the league.  The pass defense isn’t anything to write home about, either.  Opponents complete 68.8% of the passes they throw at Washington’s soft zone coverages (the fourth worst percentage in the league) on their way to a 91.0 passer rating.

This game doesn’t set up very well for the home team.  They can’t really afford to sit back in their zones and let Wentz dunk away at them, but it’s uncertain if they have the personnel to play a lot of man coverage.  With little hope of establishing much of a running game of their own, the Redskin defense must figure it out quickly or this will be a long afternoon for them.

Atlanta Falcons (4-1) at Seattle Seahawks (3-1) – Late Sunday

What a hoot it’s been to watch the Falcons so far.  After losing 31-24, Atlanta has gone on to win 35-28, 45-32, 48-33 and 23-16.  They have been one of football’s most electric offenses and one of its leakiest defenses.  Usually, this kind of football will work well enough against lesser competition but will be woefully insufficient against better teams.  However, the Falcon’s victims have included Oakland, Carolina and Denver.  Two of the league’s once-beaten teams owe their single losses to the Falcons.

Highlighting the Falcons’ pin-ball offense has been the lethal passing combination of Matt Ryan to Julio Jones.  I wonder how many fans noticed that in their victory over Denver Atlanta ran the ball 32 times and passed only 28 times (30 if you count the two sacks).  I wonder, further, how many realize that the Atlanta ground game averages 124 yards a game and 4.5 yards a carry.

This balance is a fairly new concept in Atlanta and has been a boon to both the passing and running attacks.

On Sunday, they will be facing a Seattle team that is 3-1 on the strength of Russell Wilson’s charisma and their elite defense.  Much has been ragged in the Emerald City so far his season, but they have played determined, gritty football.  Now their semi-legendary defense will face what has been (for the first five weeks of the season) the NFL’s most balanced and lethal offense.

Should be a compelling matchup.

Dallas Cowboys (4-1) at Green Bay Packers (3-1) – Late Sunday

I hope to have time to write a bit more about the Cowboys tomorrow, but for now suffice it to say that the Cowboys are one of the “it” teams here at the beginning of the 2016 season.  Led by their first-round running back Ezekiel Elliott – who has been everything they could have hoped for – and their fourth-round quarterback Dak Prescott – who has been one of the league’s biggest surprises, the Cowboys have taken the NFL by storm.

If I had told you at the outset of the season that the Cowboys would face Aaron Rodgers in a week six matchup with an unheralded rookie quarterback whose passing numbers across the board would be far superior to Rodgers’ you would have called for a drug test – yet that is precisely what Green Bay will be up against in young Prescott whose completion percentage (69.0-56.1), average per pass attempt (7.99-6.30), yards per completion (11.6-11.2), interception rate (0.0-2.2) and passer rating (101.5-87.7) are all significantly superior to Rodgers.

While much of this is the terrific start by Dak, a lot of it is a surprisingly pedestrian season so far by Rodgers – whose numbers are much lower than we’ve come to expect.  Now in his twelfth season, Rodgers has made 123 starts, leading Green Bay to an 83-40 record during his tenure.  Along the way, Aaron has tossed 4,186 regular season passes, completing 64.8% with a 266-68 touchdown-to-interception differential.  His lifetime passer rating is an impressive 103.6 and includes 7 seasons over the 100 mark (including six in succession).

Some years it takes a while for things to come together offensively.  To this point, the Packers are averaging only 24.5 points per game.  It is reasonable, I think, to expect that number to rise over the course of the season.

But this game is compelling for more than just a pairing of two of the league’s storied franchises in a storied venue matching a legendary quarterback against some hot-shot rookie.  While Green Bay Wisconsin has been fretting over an inconsistent offense, they have quietly been treated to a remarkable performance by the team’s defense – especially the run defense.

Green Bay began the season holding Jacksonville to 48 yards on 26 rushes.  In their narrow Week Two loss in Minnesota, the Packers yielded 30 rushing yards on 22 carries – including limiting Adrian Peterson to 19 yards on 12 carries. In Week Three they beat Detroit, holding the Lions to 50 rush yards on 23 carries.  After a Week Four bye, they came back last week to allow the New York Giants 43 rushing yards on 15 carries.

It’s only four games and there is a lot of football to play, but at this point 86 running attempts at the Green Bay defense has seen 171 yards gained – an average of 42.8 yards per game and an unheard of 1.998 yards per attempt.  For the first five weeks of football, this statistic is as phenomenal as any offensive number put up anywhere.

And so now here come the Cowboys, whose offense (Prescott notwithstanding) is driven by an elite offensive line and a heretofore unstoppable running attack (155.2 yards per game – 4.6 yards per rush).  The Cowboys have 11 rushing touchdowns already this year.  The Packers have allowed only 1 all year.

It’s the irresistible force vs the immovable object coming to a TV near you.

Buffalo 16 – New England 0.

So, there was some expectation that New England might struggle during Tom Brady’s exile.  He was, after all, being replaced by two quarterbacks who had never thrown passes in the NFL before.  In spite of this fairly embarrassing result, the Patriots weathered Brady’s absence with a 3-1 record – certainly acceptable under the circumstances.

Where Was the Balance?

Still there was something more than a little bizarre about the game.  Not only did the Patriots never find any kind of balance on offense, they never even tried.

This isn’t entirely unusual in New England.  Frequently, with Brady under center and facing a team with a significant run defense, it’s not at all uncommon to see Bill Belichick to abandon the running game out of the gate and attack with his devastating short passing game.  However, this was an animal of an entirely different color.

Opening drive of the game.  The Patriots, after a penalty (which wiped out a 90 yard pass play) and two running plays sat at third-and-five on their own 14.  Quarterback Jacoby Brissett hands off to LeGarrette Blount up the middle and then the Pats punted.

Well, that’s a little un-Belichick-like, but OK.  It’s a young quarterback backed up deep in his own end against a very aggressive defense.  Whatever.  Play it safe and let the defense set the tone.

They punt and Buffalo drives 65 yards for a touchdown in 12 plays and 7:11 of clock time. Buffalo 7 – New England 0.

Now it’s New England’s second drive.  After a short completion and a shorter running play, the Patriots are third-and-two from their own 22.  They run again – James White loses a yard off right tackle – and New England punts again.

Hmm.  Well, Brissett did hurt his thumb last week.  Maybe he can’t really throw the ball, and he’s only back there to keep Julian Edelman from playing quarterback.

Buffalo takes the punt and moved 52 yards on 10 plays and kicked a field goal.  Buffalo 10 – New England 0.

New England’s third drive.  They open with a first down on a short pass – all of Brissett’s passes so far have been short.  Then two more running plays and a false start made it third-and-fifteen on the New England 30.  James White gains 4 yards on another run and the Patriots punt again (and Buffalo moves in for yet another field goal).

When the teams jogged off the field at halftime (with Buffalo up 13-0), New England’s Jacoby Brissett had thrown all of three passes.  The Patriots had run on all five of their third-down opportunities, failing on all of them (although Brissett did drop back on one third-and-eleven, but pulled the ball down and ran with it).

This is more than just conservative.  Brissett had thrown 19 passes in the previous game against Houston, so it wasn’t that Belichick didn’t trust him to know where to go with the ball.  He has to be hurt worse than the Patriots had let on (also not uncommon for New England).

So, the Patriots come back out in the second half, trailing by only two scores, and start throwing the ball all over the place.  Brissett is now chucking the ball downfield.  He’s zipping the ball on the intermediate routes.  He throws the ball 24 times in the second half.  He is also sacked twice and scrambles three other times.  From the 13:06 mark of the third quarter till the first snap of the fourth quarter, the Patriots dialed up 13 straight passing plays.

Although they never trailed by more than two scores, they called only six running plays the entire second half.  They thus abandoned the offensive stable that they worked so hard to establish in the first half in favor of a scatter-armed rookie (Jacoby was only 14 for 24 for just 130 yards in the second half).

Or the Urgency?

When the Patriots set up on their own 24, trailing 16-0, with 7:02 left in the game they, then, returned to their running game.  They called three running plays during a leisurely 12-play drive that consumed 4:16 of the games last 7 minutes.  It was exactly the kind of drive you might expect from New England if they were the team ahead 16-0.

The Patriots are always a little mysterious, but however they were expecting things to play out last Sunday, they didn’t.

Regarding Carolina

The Panthers have lost three of their first four games this season.  Common to all three loses was the lack of the running attack.  Denver and Minnesota stuffed the running game with excellent defenses.  The Falcons put points on the board in such rapid succession that Carolina couldn’t stay with its run.  Cam Newton (when healthy) is a dangerous passer and a significant downfield threat.  But Carolina’s passing attack can’t sustain its offense.  They are built to run the ball and struggle when they can’t.

A substantial aspect of that running game is quarterback Newton.  Removing Cam’s legs from the equation will remove much of the charisma of the offense.  And yet, quarterbacks run at considerable risk.  Newton left last Sunday’s game to undergo concussion protocol, even though he seemed unfazed by the hit.

It is a reality of the NFL today.  (And I’m not saying this is a bad thing!)  But, you don’t have to knock the quarterback out of the game to knock him out of the game, anymore.