The RedZone: Week 8 in the NFL

Ryan's Top 5

5. Dwight Freeney - 2 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 FF. Matt Schaub was not allowed to settle as the Colts' defense dealt immeasurably better with the Texans at the second time of asking in a 30-17 victory. Freeney embodied the spirit of his defense with some big hits on the Houston QB, including a decisive turnover late on. Manning got points on the board as usual and for once, thanks to this defensive performance, the Texans were unable to rally back in the 4th quarter.

4. Mike Williams - 4 catches, 105 yards 1 TD. No, not the old rubbish Mike Williams that Graeme selected last week, this is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers new star, and Josh Freeman's new favourite receiver. Williams has made a mockery of his 4th round draft selection, supposedly for attitude issues, with some excellent plays all season, standing up and being counted when it matters, as it did here with a 47 yard TD grab in a 38-35 win over the Cardinals, amazingly giving the Bucs the best record in the NFC.

3. BenJarvus Green-Ellis - 17 carries, 112 yards, 2 TD's; 1 catch, 11 yards. So good they named him four times. It's a well known fact that New England don't really have a running game. Or at least they didn't until Green-Ellis popped up - he now has TD's in his last 5 games in a row and this effort in a 28-18 win over the Vikings was the best yet. The Patriots' secondary, led by rookie Devin McCourty did a great job of covering former favourite Randy Moss, so much so that Minnesota waived him after the game!

2. David Garrard and his O-Line - 17/21, 260 yards, 4 TD's; 3 sacks allowed. Admittedly, 3 sacks in a game doesn't look great, but when this O-Line clicked, Garrard had so much time to pick his pass in a 35-17 humbling of the Cowboys. And therein lies the Jags' problem this season - consistency. As Graeme has mentioned in the past, this line is young and clearly has a load of potential. Coach del Rio needs to keep working with these guys and Garrard may actually live up to his potential after all. All said, the Boys' defense looked amateurish once again. Jerry Jones' patience must be wearing very thin. Backup QB Jon Kitna also had a nightmare.

1. The Lions' young stars - Matthew Stafford - 26/45, 212 yards, 4 TD's, 1 INT; Calvin Johnson - 9 catches, 103 yards, 3 TD's; Ndamukong Suh - 4 tackles, 1 assist, 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovered for a TD. Great to see Stafford back after missing 6 weeks with another shoulder injury. Also great to see how his presence really galvanised the Lions' offense in a 37-25 win over the dysfunctional Redskins. He is beginning to fulfill his status as a No.1 draft pick and franchise QB. It always helps when you have a classy receiver like Megatron by your side as well, much as namesake Johnson has flattered Matt Schaub in recent times. Rookie Suh threw his considerable weight around once again and also recorded his first career TD as he took a Rex Grossman fumble 17 yards back to the house, which is about as far as you can realistically expect a D-Lineman to go! Grossman was only there because it transpires that Donovan McNabb IS a flawed QB after all (but still better than Kevin Kolb!).

Graeme's Top 5

5. Antonio Gates - 5 receptions, 123 yards, 1 TD - The Titans have a good defence against Tight Ends, coming from a divison containing Dallas Clark, Owen Daniels and Mercedes Lewis (side note; he has been very good this year). Gates was playing with a serious foot injury for the second week in a row (incidently, the same kind of injury that hampered him last year) and his Chargers have bad WR issues. So for him to be a gamechanger once more reafirms his status as the best TE in football.

4. GB's D in NYC - Sanchez 0 TD's and 2 INT's, no rushing TD's allowed, achieved a shutout - Stopping an NFL team from scoring is an achievement (yes, even the Bills), so to do it to the Jets in New York with a D that has been chastised previously this season and starts 3 undrafted blokes is more than worthy of praise.

3. Drew Nice N' Brees-y - 34/44, 305 yards, 2 TD's - Sorry for the 'joke' title! Brees and the Saints are another lot who have been criticised and doubted recently. They deserved it; they lost to Max Hall's Cards after all. But if you are going to prove the doubts to be premature, and defend your Superbowl title, you do it by beating the excellent Steelers in the Dome. Brees had his first really good, 2009 level game of the season.

2. David Garrard - 17/21, 260 yards, 4 TD's - Ryan has already summed up Garrard's day pretty well, so I'll just add in a few more points. Firstly, and as I mentioned already, Mercedes Lewis has improved greatly this year. His size and skillset is finally being utilised properly by shifting him about the field and by playing him in the slot to match him up against smaller defenders, and he is undoubtedly helping Garrard out. Second, the receiving corps is basically the same as the one branded hopeless last year, so the continued success of Jacksonville's passing game this year suggests that Garrard has put in a lot of work with these receivers to get the most out of them.

1. The Chiefs' running game versus Kyle Williams - Jamaal Charles 177 yards, Thomas Jones 77 yards - Kyle Williams of the Bills deserves mention due to his 9 tackle, 2 sack game against Kansas. Considering he is ideally suited to the 4-3 defense and is really undersized for the 3-4, he is performing admirably this year and had Duracel batteries in his motor on Sunday. His effots alone were not enough, though, to halt the Chiefs running attack. Another case of a young offensive line coming good, the current trend amongst personnel departments is to create entire offensive lines from scratch who will mature and perform together in the future. The current Kansas line is doing a great job and allowing the Chiefs to win the time of possession battle (and thus mask the team's deficiences). Kansas City had a brilliant line and running game at the start of the decade (Willie Roaf, Will Shields, Casey Wiegmann, Brian Waters and, ahem, Jordan Black blocking for Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson and protecting Trent Green). This current edition seems to be trying their best to emulate those lads.

GM and RM