With a bevy of the good, bad and ugly this week it was hard narrow it down to just three- but when it was all said and done I think there were three specific performances that really typify this week in football.
Drew Brees- The Awesome
It's impossible to deny that Brees isn't doing things we haven't seen in an extremely long time. The Saints still have three games in hand and he's already thrown for over 4,000 yards. There's a very real possibility Brees could finish with over 5,000 passing yards and 40 passing touchdowns, and that is utterly mind numbing.
Yesterday's performance was par-for-the-course for Brees as he completed 76% of his passes for over 300 yards and two touchdowns. It's easy to try and write him off as a system QB, but when that system is unstoppable then what is there to critique?
Tampa Bay- The Abysmal
How do you let the Jacksonville Jaguars hang 300 yards of offense on you? This season the Jags have been one of the most anemic, boring offenses in the NFL and yet they found a way to dominate the Bucs. Blaine Gabbert was allowed to be efficient, MJD got his yards and this was punctuated with other big gains.
The other side of the ball was worse as the Jaguars were able to recover two fumbles for touchdowns in a game where Josh Freeman melted down yet again. It seems Freeman's sophomore slump has come a year late and he looks like a different player this season. The Bucs will hope this season is the exception, not the rule because as it stands he doesn't look like a player they can build around.
Matt Ryan's second half- The Asinine
This spot is reserved for the weirdest of the weekend, and while it was tempting to name Ryan as the best on Sunday, in the end his second half in Carolina has to be the weirdest. Following a terrible first half Matt Ryan came out and decided he was done messing around and he asserted his will.
Ryan completed almost 65% of his passes in the 3rd and 4th quarter while adding over 200 yards passing and three scores.Whether it was short routes, long routes, or in between he was able to carve up the Panthers' defense. It's fair to say Matt Ryan tends to be a streaky passer who thrives on getting in a rhythm and yesterday showed that when he gets into his zone he can be as dominant a passer as anyone in the NFL.