These are some previews from www.nationalfootballpost.com
If you still haven't checked that site out do yourself a favor and go there every day. You will thank yourself. The following was written by Mike Lombardi, but they have many fine regular and guest columnists.
49ers (2-4) at Giants (4-1)
The 49ers head to Giants Stadium for the 2nd straight season; last year's game saw the Giants win 33-15 behind 6 sacks and 4 takeaways (Giants scored 24 points off those 4 takeaways).
The 49ers have lost 3 straight games - allowing 33.3 PPG in those losses...San Francisco has allowed 48 points off their 15 turnovers this season; most giveaway points allowed in the NFL
J.T. O'Sullivan has 4 TD, 7 INT in his last 3 games...O'Sullivan is averaging 289.0 pass YPG in 2 road starts this season...the more he plays, the more he will struggle. The ten game rule applies here.
Frank Gore: 91.8 rush YPG in last 4 games...49ers are 12-2 when Frank Gore has 20+ rush attempts...Gore leads the NFL with 720 scrimmage yards (524 rush, 196 rec)...Isaac Bruce: 4 rec TD in last 4 games...
This is the second week in a row the 49ers will face a Jim Johnson based scheme defense.
The Giants have won 5 straight following a loss...Eli Manning is 2-0 in his career as a starter vs. the 49ers...against this secondary I expect him to have a big day.
Brandon Jacobs has a rush TD in 3 straight games (4 total); Jacobs had 107 rush yards in his last game vs SF...
Derrick Ward leads the NFL with 7.4 yards per rush this season... the Giants are averaging 6.1 yards per rush this season; the best single-season yards per rush for the giants all-time is 4.74 in 2006. The NFL record for a single season is 5.74 by the Browns in 1963.
SF NYG
W-L 2-4 4-1
PPG 23.5 28.2
Rush YPG 113.7 181.2
Pass YPG 193.5 238.2
Total YPG 307.2 419.4
YPG allowed 350.5 279.6
Turnover Differential -5 -2
Time of possession 28:36 32:14
Steelers (4-1) at Bengals (0-6)
The Steelers have won 6 straight on the road vs the Bengals. Overall, the Steelers have won 3 straight vs. the Bengals and 6 of the last 8.
Ben Roethlisberger is 10-0 as a professional in his home state of Ohio (5-0 at CIN, 5-0 at CLE)...Roethlisberger is 19-4, including playoffs, as a starter against AFC North teams and has won 8 straight starts (he is 10-1 on the road vs. AFC North teams)
Linebackers James Harrison (6.5) and LaMarr Woodley (5.5) have combined for 12 sacks this season - 7 in the last 2 games-Woodley looks like the real deal.
Ryan Fitzpatrick is 0-5 career as a starter...Chad Johnson has fewer than 60 receiving yards in all 6 games this season...T.J. Houshmandzadeh has 5 TD receptions in last 5 games vs. PIT
Through the years of Bengals horrible starts, notice that in Marvin Lewis' tenure they've had 3 in 6 seasons...this is the 5th time this decade they've gotten off to a bad start. Do you think they have bad starts because of their lack of commitment in the off season?
0-8 in 1978
0-6 in 1979
1-6 in 1983
0-5 in 1984
0-8 in 1991
0-10 in 1993
0-8 in 1994
1-6 in 1996
1-7 in 1997
1-10 in 1999
0-6 in 2000
0-7 in 2002
1-4 in 2003
1-4 in 2007
0-6 in 2008
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Comebacks continue in the NFL. 88 games so far this season, 27 of them have been won by a team trailing at any point in the 4th quarter - that's 31% of the games this year.
Last year only 21.5% of the games were won by a team trailing in the 4th quarter.
The only other season with a 4th-quarter comeback win percentage of at least 30.0 percent was in 1989
Also, more and more games are being decided in the fourth quarter and overtime. Through Week 6, 36.4 percent of games have been decided in those periods. If that percentage holds, it would be the highest in the past five years (33.2 in 2004 and 2006).
