Week 4: Top 5 NFL Stories

And then there were five…a viking, a saint, and a giant riding with a colt and a bronco. Sounds like the start of a fairy tale. That or the beginning to some joke going in the wrong direction. Anyways, they are all perfect so far!

Here are the Top 5 NFL Stories from Week 4 in no particular order (except for #1). As always, click on the headlines for the slow NFL.com video highlights (boo the NFL for taking down YouTube clips) or the links for the hidden gems…

1. Favre Defeats the Packers
What? Did I read that right? Yep! On Monday Night Football, Brett Favre led the Minnesota Vikings over his former squad 30-23. In his best game of the seasonn, Brett was 24/31 for 271 yards & 3 TDs. It was a good thing Favre stepped up, as the Green Bay Packers defense held Adrian Petersen to 55 yards on 25 carries and Clay Matthews III ripped the ball out of his hands in the second quarter for a 42-yard score. Jared Allen also dominated for the Vikings as he recorded 4.5 sacks and a safety to seal the victory.

2. Saints Defense Tops Mark & the Jets
After lighting up the scoreboard for the first two weeks, Drew Brees has not thrown a TD pass in his past two games. This didn’t matter as the New Orleans Saints defense outscored the New York Jets 14-10 in their 24-10 victory. It was a rough day for Mark Sanchez, as he threw a 99-yard TD to Darren Sharper (he is on the wrong team) and fumbled the ball in his own endzone. The Jets shouldn’t be too worried though. They get to play the Dolphins, Bills, Raiders, and Dolphins again in the next four weeks (those three teams are a combined 3-9…the Jets are 3-1).

3. Steve is the New Plax
Both teams remained perfect in this affair. How you ask? In a completely lopsided game from the start, the New York Giants moved from 3-0 to 4-0 and the Kansas City Chiefs dropped from 0-3 to 0-4 in a 27-16 game. Many concerns were swirling with the winds in New York this past off-season regarding who would step up for the incarcerated Plaxico Burress, but that has been more than answered. Steve Smith has been an absolute beast. He led the Giants in receptions (11) and yards (134) for the fourth straight week and grabbed 2 TDs in the process. He now leads the entire NFL in receptions (34), receiving yards (411), and receiving touchdowns (4). Not bad for the third year pro out of USC.

4. Peyton being Peyton
The Indianapolis Peyton Manning’s (or Colts) completely owned the Seattle Seahawks jumping to a 34-3 lead before Seattle scored 2 TDs in the final three minutes to close the gap to 34-17. Sure, other people played well and his O-Line bought him time as usual, but Peyton was just picking apart the Seahawks defense. For the fourth straight week, Manning tossed for over 300 yards (surprisingly, his first time accomplishing that feat) with 353 yards & 2 TDs. It looked as if he could have passed for 600 yards. He was unstoppable. He was making some French dude & Mormon guy look like Pro Bowlers. He is easily the best QB in the NFL right now.

5. The Broncos are What?
After that ridiculous 87-yard catch by Brandon Stokley in Week 1, I figured the Denver Broncos would lose the rest of their games. Glad I didn’t put any money on that thought. The Broncos somehow squeaked out a victory over another underachieving Dallas Cowboys team 17-10 to remain perfect with a 51-yard pass from Kyle Orton (and his mustache) to Brandon Marshall. It’s not that the Broncos looked liked they played poorly in the game, it’s just that the Cowboys looked like they didn’t want to win the game. “America’s Team” sucks!

So five teams are undefeated through four weeks? See you all in Week 5…

More rumblings from Casey can be found on BuyAthletes.com.