Neil Reynolds' Pick Six: Wembley, perfect Patriots, RGIII and much more
Monday 26 October 2015 13:00, UK
The NFL came to town this weekend, taking over Regent Street on Saturday before a sell-out crowd saw the Jacksonville Jaguars defeat the Buffalo Bills at a wild and rocking Wembley Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Jacksonville's thrilling 34-31 was the headline act but it was just one of four live NFL games screened on Sky Sports on Sunday night in an historic day for British television coverage of American football. Our first-ever quadruple header will live long in the memory and here are the major talking points to come out of the weekend.
Jags clear final hurdle
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley talked to me this week about how his young team had been having trouble getting over that final hurdle in close games.
I thought the Jags were set for another crushing fall on Sunday. They scored 27 unanswered points to lead the Bills 27-3 and slowly but surely, Buffalo worked their way back. When Corey Graham scored on a 44-yard return of a Blake Bortles interception, I thought the Jags would be so heart-broken that there was no way back.
But Bortles showed some steel in leading the Jags to one final score. Bortles evaded pressure and rolled to his left and laid out an inch-perfect 31-yard touchdown strike to wide receiver Allen Hurns, who made an incredible diving catch. Wembley erupted and the Jags had finally won a close game. And don't look now but this young team is now just a game out of first place in the AFC South Division.
Young stars to build around
I was struck on Sunday afternoon by just how young these Jaguars are in NFL terms. Running back T.J. Yeldon is a rookie, Bortles and the dynamic receiving duo of Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns are all in their second seasons and key defenders such as linebacker Telvin Smith and cornerback Aaron Colvin have also only been in the league since 2014.
The Jaguars took to the field at Wembley Stadium with 21 of their 53 players only in their second NFL seasons. That is the exciting part about this team - and is also another reason why they almost blew this game against Buffalo.
The Jags are most definitely a work in progress and there are always going to be ups and downs with such a youthful squad, but I think they are only going to get better as they grow through tough times together. That was certainly a tough test on Sunday and the Jags made hard work of it, but they did pass.
Silver and back?
Speaking of young stars on the rise, let's turn our attention to the Oakland Raiders, who recorded a 37-29 win over the San Diego Chargers to improve to 3-3 on the season. Don't be fooled by the score-line - this was one-way traffic until Oakland eased off and San Diego scored some consolation touchdowns.
Like the Jags, the Raiders have some exciting young stars they can build around in second-year quarterback Derek Carr, rookie wide receiver Amari Cooper and second-year pass-rushing ace Khalil Mack.
Carr was outstanding in Week 7 as he completed 24 of 31 passes for 289 yards and three scores. I'm looking forward to taking a closer look at the Raiders on Sky Sports soon because I definitely feel they are heading in the right direction.
Campbell for Coach of the Year?
Okay, so his team have only beaten the disappointing Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans, but it is the manner with which the Miami Dolphins have turned things around that has interim head coach Dan Campbell receiving many plaudits.
Miami hammered Houston 44-26 in another deceptive score-line. This was an embarrassing beat-down as the Dolphins led 41-0 at the half. The Texans only made the final score look relatively respectable when Miami took the third and fourth quarters off.
The Dolphins rushed for 248 yards (Lamar Miller had 175 of those) and recorded another four sacks. They now have 10 in two games after recording just one in the first four outings. This team has gone from down-trodden and disinterested to fired-up and dangerous - and Campbell has to take a lot of the credit for that.
Patriots keep marching on
What is it going to take for the New England Patriots to lose a game this season and for Tom Brady to look really uncomfortable? First, the result - New England beat the New York Jets 30-23. But that doesn't tell half the story.
The Patriots were facing a tough Jets team that had only lost once all season, they were missing two of their top three offensive tackles, they got just one rushing yard from their running backs and their receivers dropped an uncharacteristic nine passes.
A recipe for a defeat, you might think? Not with Brady at the helm - he stared down a tough New York defence to the tune of 355 passing yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions and has now thrown just one pass to the opposition in 251 passes. They faced some serious adversity on Sunday but these Patriots remain perfect and are most definitely charting a course for a Super Bowl return.
RG who?
The soap opera surrounding the Washington Redskins in recent seasons has centred on the drama of failing quarterback Robert Griffin III. Well, we hardly seem to mention him these days as this is very much Kirk Cousins' team.
Cousins is not perfect and the Redskins still have some areas of their team that need to be fixed, but they are showing signs of improvement this season, and are very much alive in the race for the NFC East crown. They have a true gamer at quarterback in Cousins.
He has delivered a couple of last-minute victories this season and did so again on Sunday as Washington overcame a 24-0 deficit to beat Tampa Bay 31-30. And Cousins was the plucky star of the show, completing 33 of 40 passes for 317 yards and three scores.
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