The Chiefs stand alone, The Patriots make history, and the Bears run into a familiar problem.

Hello and welcome to the fifth down. I am your host adam glass, alongside my partner Ryan My Giants finally got a win Jones. We are breaking down all the great action from week 7 in the NFL and getting you set for week 8 and the halfway point for many teams. As always follow us on Twitter @FifthDownNFL and like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/FifthDownPodcast. The website is The Fifth Down.org, check it out, leave any questions or comments, what you like, what you dont, whatever. OK, lots to talk about from this past weekend, from the thrilling lions/Bengals and Skins/Bears games to the fall of the Broncos and finally the snoozer of a victory this past monday night by the Giants.

Cutler goes down. McCown comes in. they lose. tell me if you’ve heard this one before.

-Since coming to the Bears in 2009 he has had a bit of Michael Vick syndrome. He hasn’t been able to start all 16 games in any season. He hasn’t had a history of missing a large chunk of games, but hasn’t been able to stay on the field all season or all post-season for 4 quarters. This week was no different as he went down early against the Skins. They managed to stay in the game because of great play by Devin Hester and the Special Teams, good defense and Matt Forte carrying the offense. McCown played well, 14/20 204 1td, but wasn’t a star. I don’t think they would be comfortable with him the rest of the way if Cutler’s injury was serious. This brings us back to something we’ve spoken about on this show every season we’ve been around. The Beats ignored their offensive line concerns for years. They ignored their depth chart for years, evident that when their stars went down they turned into a truly awful team. They’ve made improvements to the offensive line but have not added a quality back-up qb, unless they really think highly of Josh McCown. I look around the league at teams that have either injury prone qb’s or qb’s with some question marks and I look at their depth chart and the success of their #2’s. The Jags, while still winless, played better with their backup Chad Henne. The Browns sat Wheedon and put in Hoyer and won 3 games. The Redskins last year rolled with Kirk Cousins for a few games and he looked brilliant. They have all the confidence in the world in Cousins. The Eagles went to Foles when Vick went down and won with him the past 2 weeks. We’ll get into this week later in the show. The Bills lose EJ Manuel and Jeff Tuel and Won with Thad Lewis. The 9ers last year lost Alex Smith and went to the Superbowl with Colin Kaepernick.

The patriots make history

In 2001, the Patriots, with newly anointed QB Tom Brady riding the coattails of a terrific defense and outstanding special teams anchored by a one Adam Vinatieri, made history by beating the Oakland Raiders in the playoffs with one of the most infamous calls in NFL history, the Tuck Rule. They had no problem with the application of the so-called rule nobody ever heard of because it benefited them. They went on to win 3 Superbowls.

In 2007 the Patriots went undefeated in the regular season. One of those games took place on December 2 against the Baltimore Ravens. This was a game in which the Ravens were winning with 1 minute left and Brady had the Ball. 4th down. The Ravens stop them. out come the flags. Holding. 1st down. 1st, 2nd, 3rd. 4th down AGAIN. The Ravens stop them AGAIN. out come the flags. Pass Interference. 1st down. then comes the touchdown and the Pats win.

Fast Forward to 2013 and the Patriots made history again. This time on the other side of the ball. We all saw or heard about what happened so im not going to get into it. After the fact however, they all behaved like classless babies. Making excuses, blaming others, not accepting responsibility etc. Get over it. Its a regular season game in October. You’re still in first place. You still have division title after division title. You’re probably still going to be relevant in January when the Jets aren’t. Have some humility and take the loss like an adult. You got beat. Guess what, you got beat for 3 quarters of that game including the entirety of the second half. they held Brady to under 50% completion, 0 td’s and 1/12 on third down and only held the ball for 23 minutes. the Pats got dominated and were still in position to win. They didn’t win, they got caught doing something they were explicitly told not to. forgive me if i don’t feel at all sorry for belichick and co.

Case Keenan gets his first nfl star against the best defense in the league. And he played well. In fact the texans played better and better as their stars went down. First Arian foster, the Brian Cushing and finally jj watt. However, they played well and gave the chiefs a run for their money until the very end. Case keenum ended the day with a 15/25 271 and a TE in their 1 point loss. They have their bye week coming up buy as of now Kubiak is saying schaub is the starter. Loyal? Foolish? Unfair to keenum?

The Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks were the odds on favorites to make it to the Superbowl this year. Both are still in position to do so and are clearly two of the dominant teams in the league, however there is one team that has done what nobody else has…beat both of them. The Indianapolis Colts came to play Sunday night and took Manning and the Broncos from the ranks of the unbeaten, playing a good solid game of football, actually trying to stop Manning, rather than just go toe to toe in scoring.

Very annoyed with the #BRONCOS. I don’t care that they lost but I feel like they were predictable and one dimensional. The colts may have one regardless but I feel like the broncos played this game Lkke the patriots and not like a smart football team. I think the colts definitely deserve the win because they came to play football.  They were too pass happy and tried to turn the game into a shootout. The scoreboard may have said that they were In the game but the play on the field said the colts had their number. This wasn’t only Manning’s fault but Del Rio and Jeff fox:s fault. We all know Peyton is a field general scratch that, he’s the Erwin Rommel of the air attack but he doesn’t seem to adjust to a more traditional ground and pound game. I feel like with the looks they were getting they should have run a lot more and mix in some more screens and draw plays. That’s what heavy man coverage dictates because it give your receivers a good opportunity to run block. I also feel like Peyton wasn’t playing smart football in that on a few short yardage plays he had run lanes. A yard or two is enough in a man scheme the defenders more than likely are not looking at the quarterback they are concentrating on their guy

As the league continues to preach player safety, we are coming off a weekend which saw an enormous amount of serious injuries. Doug Martin:out, possible for season. Jermichael Finley: out, possibly forever. David Baas: done for season. Cutler: done for a few weeks. Lance Briggs: 4-6 weeks Freeman: concussed. Reggie Wayne: done for season. Sam Bradford: done for season (again). Brian Cushing: done for season (again). Nick Foles: concussed.

Bad luck? time for developmental league? A look at the CBA regarding conditioning and practice restrictions? I know we’ve been down this road before and there’s no real answer. Injuries are a part of the game and will never be eliminated, but there was a slew of them in one week. Which team stands to be the most impacted by their respective injury, and which teams stand to benefit.

Packers are now down 2 wr’s and 2 te’s, following an offseason in which they did not retain the services of Donald Driver and Greg Jennings. Jarett Boykin is now the expected #1 and has some big shoes to fill. Eddie Lacy also has to remain consistent. despite this, they remain atop their division by half a game, with the Bears reeling from injuries of their own. The Lions can come back and take this division. Packers do have an easy game coming up against the Vikings, and the Lions play Dallas, who is tough, so they can gain a game in the division.

Rams qb depth chart now consists of Keller Clemens, Austin Davis, and Brady Quinn, who was let go by the jets in favor of David Garrard.

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