NFL Sunday: All Five Undefeated Teams are on the Road This Afternoon
By Jason Lisk
Five teams currently stand at 4-0. By the evening, that number may be greatly diminished. All five teams go on the road this afternoon, with four of them basically considered even contests with lines of a field goal or less.
The other one–Denver at Dallas–features Peyton Manning seeking to add to his record pace at touchdown passes. That game will be one of only two in the late afternoon spot, and the featured national game.
The other four kick off at 1 p.m. Seattle travels to Indianapolis for back to back road trips in the AFC South, after coming from behind in dramatic fashion last week in Houston. Seattle is an underdog, partially because the Colts have had two weeks to prepare since they won at San Francisco, while Seattle has been traveling.
Kansas City goes to Tennessee as a slight favorite, in a game that features some athletic defenses. Expect turnovers and key third down conversions to decide this one. Tennessee has to go to Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback with Jake Locker’s injury. Fitzpatrick has had some of his best games against the Chiefs, but those were in Buffalo, and those Chiefs teams were not what is on the field now with Andy Reid at head coach.
New Orleans is in Chicago as the Bears must find a way to slow down Jimmy Graham. It is the other side of the ball that likely holds the key, though. The Saints have had a dramatic turnaround defensively in pass defense. Jay Cutler is coming off a poor performance at Detroit, and will need to be sharp to keep up with Brees and the Saints offense.
Finally, New England plays on the road against the Bengals, in the first game after Vince Wilfork’s season ending injury. The Patriots defense has stepped up with the offense (relatively) struggling, and Brady should get Danny Amendola back today.