Plenty of surprises on the pigskin plate

What seemed to be cake walk through the Week 5 of the National Football League schedule proved to be more of a walk through a mine field as a number of teams and our prognosticators suffered unexpected losses last week.

It was certainly a painful exercise for Monday Night Football’s competitors as the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens literally beat the snot out of each other. The Steelers prevailed in front of their home crowd with a thrilling 23-20 overtime victory, but it came at a price.

The Heinz Field squad entered the game without starting running back Willie Parker and lost both their second and third stringers along the way. That’s a tough pill to swallow for a team that earns its bread and butter between the tackles.

The Ravens took a bruising last week as well, but they face a completely manageable Titans team on Sunday while the Steelers stare at a slugfest with the Jaguars in Jacksonville. The Jags traditionally play Pittsburgh tough at home and away, so the injured Ben Roethlisberger will have an uphill battle in the Sunshine State.

Speaking of losses, nobody thought that the Washington Redskins would hand the Cowboys a loss in Dallas, but that’s exactly what happened at Texas Stadium. Most analysts had already handed the NFC Championship to “America’s Team,” if not the Super Bowl, before the game. Then Jason Campbell and company spoiled the Jessica Simpson after party with a 26-24 win.

All of a sudden, the NFC East looks somewhat even. The Giants are still undefeated, and the defending Super Bowl champs are a force to be reckoned with. Same goes for the Philadelphia Eagles. The only thing is that they lost what many thought to be a “gimmie” against the Chicago Bears.

Instead of Donovan McNabb smiling his way to first place in the division, the Eagles sputtered to a 24-20 loss on the road to Kyle Orton’s offensively challenged squad of blue collar monsters. If you’re a fan of football at any level, you have to admire the way the Bears held the Eagles late in the game with a goal line stand.

It’s hard to rally the boys early in the season, but the Bears “manned-up” when the game was on the line. Think they have what it takes to get back to the Super Bowl? Eh, maybe not. But Bears fans have to believe they can win any game from here on out based on that goal line stand alone.

Jets fans have to be feeling pretty good, too. Their 56-year-old quarterback led New York to a 56-35 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, and he looked good doing it. Brett Favre threw an interception early, but Vince Lombardi’s older brother quickly recovered and brought the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets back into the realm of respectability once again.

Even though they’re home is Phoenix, Arizona, the Cardinals aren’t looking too hot. Sure, Kurt Warner and company posted 35 points on the Jets, but the fragile quarterback threw three interceptions and fumbled the ball away so many times that it looked like he was doing it on purpose.

If he can control his turnover trouble, Warner might be able to stop the Buffalo Bills. Can you believe that the Bills are 4-0? It’s the first time since 1991 that Ralph Wilson’s team has reached that mark. The last time was en route to their second of four consecutive Super Bowl appearances.

I’m harboring no ideas of the Bills playing at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2009, but anything could happen. The only thing is that the Bills traditionally play poorly in Tampa Bay. But then again, what do I care? I’m happy if they make it to the Super Bowl. Who knows what would happen if the Bills actually won the thing? [B][I](Brad E. Ruszala)[/I][/B]