Week 12 of the NFL season, a week littered with games that appeared to be very dull, turned out to be pretty darn exciting. For those of you who like scoring (That would be well……everyone I’d imagine….) through the Sunday Night game all teams combined to put up 731 points. The average for a full slate of NFL games is a bit over 684 points. We saw a couple of overtime games, a few upsets, and a few games that went down to the wire. To add to that, for those of you that like pass wacky offenses, my theory that teams that have the higher percentage of rushing plays wins the game got blown out of the water with seven winning teams with a higher pass to run ratio with teams running on only 43% of their possessions.
Packers over Lions or “Note to Calvin Johnson: If you are going to demand the ball you’d better catch it.” Thanksgiving afternoon gave us the two top teams in the NFC trying to get to 10-1 before playing each other the following Thursday. Not too long ago, this game was actually looking to be a big factor in deciding the winner of the NFC North…..now it was a fight for the Lions to stay in the wildcard picture. Losers of three straight, they are dropping faster than Jon Kitna in the pocket. Once again opposing defenders were harassing him all day long and dropped him four more times, ensuring that the Lions stayed on top of the “Sacks allowed” heap.Rookie Calvin Johnson, the fourth most productive receiver on the team, whined about his role in the offense earlier this week. The Lions decided to oblige him and although his stat line was ok, he dropped quite a few balls and ran some busted routes. Calvin, accomplish something before demanding that you get the ball.I thought the Lions did look good early with Kevin Jones running the ball. After giving up completely on the run, it’s a positive thing that they made strides to balance out their offense. Unfortunately, they ran into a buzz saw that is the Packers offense. The Packers put up over 30 for the fourth game in a row and chewed up nearly 500 yards. Earlier in the season the Packers seemed like just a cute story that was getting lucky on some games and would fizzle out eventually. With the defense playing well, Brett Favre getting in sync with his wideouts, and Ryan Grant emerging as an actual NFL caliber running back, they are certainly looking like a team that could represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Statistical Notes – Greg Jennings certainly is starting to look like he has a nose for the end zone. In nine games this year he has nine TD’s. Ryan Grant has gone over 100 yards three times in his five career starts. Aaron Kampman had two sacks to bring him into double digits and put him on pace for 16 this season. The Lions top three wideouts: Roy Williams, Mike Furrey, and Shaun Mcdonald combined for five catches and 40 yards.
Cowboys over Jets or “Who do these guys think they are? The Patriots?” I personally have nothing against the “Running up of the score” issues with the Patriots, but why are no other teams ever exposed? Facing a 2nd and 8 with 6 minutes to go in the game holding a secure 24 point lead, Cowboys franchise QB Tony Romo found Cowboys franchise WR Terrell Owens for a 22 yard TD on a deep corner route. I mean, I’m as afraid of the high octane Jets offense as anyone (The Jets had 127 total yards on the game up to this point) but I think the Boys lead was secure.The Term “Beast” is starting to become overused in the NFL Lexicon. Any running back that luckily finds a few holes and has a big game or two is suddenly a beast. Well, Marion Barber III, he’s REALLY a beast. The guy is small, isn’t that fast, looks pretty clumsy…pretty much everything you don’t want in an NFL back but he has the heart to make up for it all. The guy plays every down like it’s the most important in his career. He’s one of the best reasons to watch a Cowboys game and is rapidly becoming one of my favorite Non-Packers in the NFL.32 year old OLB Greg Ellis, a decent role player for the Cowboys in his ten year career recorded two sacks to give him 8.5 on the season in only eight games played. His career high is 9. The Jets? Uhm, what can I say? They didn’t get shut out! Oh boy. Beat the Steelers one week, look like the wrong side of a practice squad scrimmage the next. Given Mangini and Billichick’s rocky relationship, I can see people laying 30 on the Patriots when they play again. Statistical Notes – Any people who doubted Tony Romo after last season have to be in hiding. He is on pace for 4412 yards, 42 TD’s and 19 INTs. Wow. Terrell Owens has 10 touchdowns in his last six games and is on pace for 18 on the year. Marion Barber III has 24 TD’s in 27 games dating back to last season.
Colts over Falcons or “Another compelling reason to get the NFL Network.” All those predicting the downfall of the Colts were probably going crazy in the first quarter of this game, as the lowly Falcons got off to a 10-0 lead. Of course, reality sunk in after that. Peyton Manning looked like his old self as did Joey Harrington.Even more alarming than the losses of Dwight Freeney and Marvin Harrison may be the problems with injuries on the Colts offensive line. Peyton Manning was sacked four times on Thursday (Three by third year OLB Michael Boley, whom doubled his career sack total in one game). Statistical Notes – Peyton Manning has been sacked only 16 times this year…..but 11 have come in the last 4 games. Following in the heels of Fred Taylor, Warrick Dunn became the 22nd player in NFL history to rush for over 10,000 yards. We are seeing some really great players hitting career milestones and nearing the end of their careers as of late. Falcons Receiver Roddy White had his third 100 yard game of the season and is on pace for 1120 yards. The Falcons havn’t had a 1000 yard receiver since Chris Chandler was tossing the ball to Terrance Mathis in 1999. Peyton Manning has thrown an interception in 6 out of the last 7 games.
The NFL Network – Denying fans the right to watch games since 2006… Most of the games aired on the NFL network up until this point have been dull matchups with lopsided scores. Next week, the NFL Network is hoping to have finally scored one to hammer the point home about “Needing” the NFL network. I am not sure about Texas, but the only places in Wisconsin where the game will be aired on regular TV are Green Bay and Milwaukee. Anyone else that wants to see their beloved 10-1 Packers play the hated 10-1 Cowboys must scramble to find a bar or friend with Direct TV. This is a disgusting predatory practice that the NFL is employing here to try to bully people into buying a dish network or lobbying for their cable companies to carry the channel at an unreasonably high rate.
Jaguars over Bills or “When did David Garrard decide he was going to be one of the most mistake free passers in the game.” Fans of the Jaguars have to be delighted by the Jags decision to cut Byron Leftwich this offseason. It seemed like it could be a mistake at the time but David Garrard has stepped up to the plate in a big way. Through eight games (209 pass attempts) he has thrown….ZERO interceptions. Sure he doesn’t have gaudy passing numbers but for a team with a pretty solid defense (Don’t let their low rank in total yards fool you. They are #7 in the league in points allowed…..the stat that matters.) and an excellent running game, Garrard has been the perfect fit. The Jags are actually 7-1 when Garrard has played the entire game. The biggest area of concern right now is the Red Zone. I think the Jaguars are missing a tight end that is reliable in those goal to go situations. The three they currently have that get onto the field…..Marcedes Lewis, George Wrighster, and Greg Estandia …have two TD’s this season and 11 in their combined 8 years in the league. Josh Scobee ended the day with 5 field goals….four of them from inside the 20 and three inside the five (One was due to time constraints at the end of the first half…but they had several opportunities to punch it in). If the Jaguars are going to win at Indy next week they can’t let opportunities like that slip away.Speaking of Interceptions, the “No-Name plus Rashaen” defense, who were without Rashean Mathis tacked on two more picks to give themselves 14 on the Year. Tack on the 8 fumble recoveries and you have a defense getting you the ball twice a game. The Bills, trying to stay alive in the wildcard chase, were seriously outmatched. I’ve noted in prior weeks that the Bills are on odd team. Their statistics make them look like they should be duking it out with the Dolphins for the number 1 but in the real world they find ways to win games. Of course, they only beat the bad teams. With the exception of the Broncos, they have lost to every team they played that has a winning record, and beat every team they played that has a losing record. Marshawn Lynch missing his second straight game didn’t help, but Lynch couldn’t have made enough of a difference as the Bills have been outscored 92-24 in the last two games. I do think J.P. Losman, despite throwing the two picks, has been looking better since his awful, awful start giving this team some hope for the future. They aren’t going to make the playoffs this season but they still have some winnable games on the schedule and a few chances to ruin the chances of some other teams that are on the bubble. Statistical notes – Fred Taylor had his first 100 yard game of the year this weekend, and only the third combined between himself and Maurice Jones-Drew. Sounds like they are having a bad year, right? Nope. They are third in the league in rushing yards. Reggie Williams has three catches in the last two weeks with two touchdowns, giving him six on the season. The rest of the team has a total of seven. In a similar comparison, Marshawn Lynch has 6 touchdowns total. The rest of the team has seven. Yup that’s right. The Bills only have 13 offensive touchdowns this season.
Buccaneers over Redskins or “How to lose a game despite outgaining your opponent 412 to 192 in six easy steps…” Fumble, Fumble, Fumble, Fumble, Get picked off, Get picked off. See? Easy. Clinton Portis put the ball on the ground twice, Santana Moss once, and Jason Campell turned the ball over three times on a sunny day in Tampa. The Redskins, now losers of 4 of their last five, really needed this game to put themselves in a good position for a wild card spot. The defense certainly did their part.Jeff Garcia was injured early on in the game which forced Tampa to put in second year QB Bruce Gradkowski. The result? Check out the numbers. Total Yards – 192. Third down conversions – 1/12. First Downs – 9. Of course, when four of your first six drives begin deep in enemy territory who needs yardage? The Bucs started drives at the Redskins’ 18, 19, 19, and 32 yard line which earned them 16 points. The Redskins defense held them to a total of 31 yards on those four possessions though.Of course, Washington’s most disturbing loss this week wasn’t on the field. Talented young safety Sean Taylor was shot at his house on Monday. The Police are calling it a armed burglary attempt but things don’t sit well with me in regards to that statement. First, the assailant stole nothing after the shooting and it isn’t as if he was surprised by Taylor. He burst into the Bedroom and fired and then fled without taking a thing. Second, two weeks ago the house was broken into, the drawers were rifled through (And again nothing was stolen) and a knife was left on his bed. These are not the actions of a random petty thief. Someone was looking for something specific and/or obviously has a vendetta against Taylor. Note – I just found out the breaking news. Unreal. As I said, someone for some reason had something seriously against Sean Taylor. Well I hope they are happy. They took away a man’s life and left a child without a father……as if there aren’t enough of those in the world already. If they catch the guy that did it, they had better put him away for life….and not just the 15 years and then parole that some states call life. I mean LIFE. This was premeditated and premeditated again. Statistical Notes – Chris Cooley is on an absolute tear. He’s caught 23 passes in the last four games and has 7 receiving touchdowns on the season. The rest of the team has five. Clinton Portis, having a great season and averaging 4.2 YPC, was held to just 68 yards on 20 carries. Third string running back Earnest Graham scored a touchdown for the third straight game and is averaging over 100 rushing yards per game in that span. Between Jeff Garcia and Bradkowski, Tampa QB’s have thrown only 4 INT’s this season…..about one every three games.
Vikings over Giants or “I told you this was the team nobody wants to play…” The Giants were red hot winning six straight heading into the bye week. Since then they are 1-2 and didn’t look that great in their victory over the Lions. This week, the offense and especially Eli Manning, looked downright awful. Eli threw four touchdowns, three of which went all the way in the other direction for six points. The worst part of the ordeal is that it did not appear to me that there was a ton of pressure on him, and three of the four INT’s were poorly thrown balls into double coverage (A fourth was tipped). Eli ended up completing less than 50% of his passes and had 273 yards….a LOT of which were a gift from his receivers in the form of yards after the catch. The Giants defense put a lot of pressure on young Tavaris Jackson, but Jackson had what I would consider his best day as a pro, even if he only threw 12 passes. He set the pace of the game finding Sidney Rice on a deep touchdown early in the game and had a few highlight reel scrambles over the course of the game, one in which he was wrapped up in the backfield for a sack but somehow escaped and turned the play into positive yardage. I don’t know if Jackson will ever be a reasonable quarterback at the NFL level, but he showed some flashes of talent this Sunday.Speaking of highlight reel plays, do yourself a favor and check out Chester Taylor’s touchdown run. He gets hit behind the line of scrimmage. There is a mob of about 8 or 9 players all around and suddenly Taylor emerges running for the end zone. As I’ve mentioned before, the Vikings probably won’t make the playoffs this year, but they aren’t a team to scoff at if they are left on your schedule. Especially when Adrian Peterson comes back, they have some young and explosive players on offense and a stout, opportunistic defense. The Vikings are not that far off from returning to being a playoff contender.Statistical Notes – The Vikings are averaging nearly 6 yards per carry on the year! The Giants held them to 3.3 YPC this Sunday. Chester Taylor has five touchdowns this season, all in the last four games. Tavaris Jackson threw more TD’s than INT’s for only the second time in his short career. Eli Manning’s four INT’s put him at 15 for the season. He had 18 in 2006 and 17 in 2005. It’s really hard to say he’s showing progress. Plaxico Burress found the end zone ending a four game draught. He has nine TD’s on the year and is on pace for 13-14.
Running back injuries You have to wonder if the Giants game would have gone any differently with Brandon Jacobs in the lineup. Heck, you have to wonder if the season would be any different if there weren’t so many RB injuries. Here is a list by division just off the top of my head of starting RB’s that have/will have missed time.NFCEast – Brandon Jacobs, Brian Westbrook, Clinton PortisNorth – Brandon Jackson, Kevin Jones, Adrian Peterson, Chester Taylor, Cedric BensonSouth – Cadillac Williams, Michael Pittman, Deuce MccallisterWest – Shaun Alexander, Frank Gore, Steven JacksonAFCEast – Laurence Maroney, Marshawn Lynch, Ronnie BrownNorth – Rudi JohnsonSouth – Joseph Addai, Lendale White, Ahman GreenWest – Travis Henry, Selvin Young, Larry Johnson, Lamont JordanA lot of injuries this season to a lot of good backs. 1000 yard rushers have been very common In recent years but we should see a significant drop in that number for this season.
Seahawks over Rams or “St. Louis team doctors asked to review the procedure for the Heimlich Maneuver.” An upset in the making was thwarted by Gus Frerotte having a horrible last drive. Twice he missed a wide open Isaac Bruce before finally mishandling the final snap on Fourth and goal from the 1 yard line. The entire sequence seemed like a microcosm of the Rams season. A backup player, in for a superstar level player, just can’t get the job done and the Rams lose another game.As I stated last week, I give the Rams credit. You have a guy like Steven Jackson out there…anticipating a HUGE HUGE year but injury problems to himself and the offensive line completely derailing that plan is still out there playing hard and getting excited. When he busted that long run for a touchdown in the first quarter to put the rams ahead 9, he jumped around like it was he first time there and several team mates greeted him. It’s little consolation to Rams fans who still have a 2-9 team…..but the fact is the team has guys that aren’t quitters, despite being all pros in previous years.The entire city of Seattle breathed a huge sigh of relief when Gus pulled his last second bumbling act. They avoided the fate of many of the other NFC playoff contenders that lost this week and gave themselves a two game lead in their division with five games left….And those games are against questionable teams. With the Eagles, Cardinals at home, Panthers, Ravens at home, and Falcons on the schedule, the Seahawks should end up a ten win team.Just two year ago, Shaun Alexander was the franchise on offense. That focus has undoubtedly shifted to Matt Hasselbeck. The Seahawks should be a bit concerned about the fact that a hardly ferocious Rams pass rush was able to record five sacks against the Hawks. The Rams have 20 sacks on the year. Hasselbeck still performed well, spreading the ball around to recently activated Deion Branch, surprise star Bobby Engram, and one of Carnage’s hot fantasy sleeper pick D.J. Hackett (yeah, yeah….I’m not doing very well in my leagues this year……in my defense Brandon Marshall was my other sleeper). More importantly, the Seahawks running game got going…not under former franchise player Shaun Alexander, but under Maurice Morris. Morris flirted with 5 YPC…something that Alexander hasn’t done since week 3. Statistical Notes – Matt Hasselbeck is having a great year. He’s on pace to shatter the 4000 yard mark for the first time and to tie his career high of 26 TD’s in a season. Bobby Engram’s production was anticipated to drop, but he still grabbed 7 balls and is on pace to catch 100 for the first time in his career. Had Frerotte connected on the first blown throw to Isaac Bruce, Bruce would have surpassed Cris Carter to move into fifth on the all time receiving yards list. Steven Jackson is starting to find the end zone again….scoring his third touchdown in four games.
NFC Wild card spots….who wants one of those, anyway? The Cardinals, Lions, Giants, Eagles, and Redskins, those making the strongest post season bids, all lost this week while the Saints, Vikings, and Bears all won to bring themselves to 5-6, putting them just two games out of the chase.
Bengals over Titans or “Speaking of teams trying to give away playoff spots…” The Titans jumped off to a strong start to the season by employing a power running game coupled with a solid defense. Let’s check the box score this week, shall we? Chris Brown and Lendale White combined for only 16 carries and 55 yards. The Bengals scored 35 points and put up 400 yards of total offense. I’d say that neither of the two keys to the Titans early success were applicable this Sunday.At 6-2 heading into a home game against the Jaguars, the Titans were riding high. Three weeks and three losses later, they are behind the Browns for a wild card spot. In those three games, the Titans running backs carried the ball 17, 16, and 11 times. The average number of carries for those same backs over the first 8 games……and I’m not kidding here….32 carries a game. Over that six game stretch, Vince Young threw the ball 151 times. Over this three game stretch? 113 times. I have an immense amount of respect for Jeff Fischer and simply cannot understand why he would deviate from his very functional game plan.On the defensive side of things…..why didn’t anyone cover Chad Johnson? On at least 6 of his catches, he was wide wide open. Touchdown one, a flag type route towards the side of the end zone saw the deep safety “Help” trotting slowly towards the Superstar Wideout that just burnt the cornerback. A solid hit by the safety likely would have jarred the ball lose. Touchdown two – shockingly, another pass to the side of the end zone. The Corner gave up on the coverage, with no safety in sight. Touchdown three, a pass at the back of the end zone. It looked uncatchable so the Titans safety once again is seen trotting slowly towards the superstar receiver who just burnt the cornerback. Johnson makes a very very good catch…..but he certainly wouldn’t have held onto that ball if he was delivered a solid hit by said safety. The safety is supposed to take care of things when a wide out gets behind the corner, not give up on the play!Obviously the Bengals had a very impressive outing. Carson Palmer, T.J. Houshmanzadeh, and Chad Johnson had outstanding games and Rudi Johnson played well enough for me to get off his back for this week. I do feel for Palmer, Housh, and Johnson…..they form an elite core to this team that without all the insane legal distractions may have had a much better season.Statistical Notes – As a raw rookie on a supposedly dismal team, Vince Young had 12 TD’s and 13 INT’s last season. As a highly touted future star, he has 13 INT’s already this season with only 5 TD’s to show for it. In the last three games, Justin Gage has 17 catches for 254 yards. His best full season prior to this year was 31 catches for 346 yards. Carson Palmer is on pace for 30 TD passes, which would give him 90 in the last three seasons. Chad Johnson doubled his season touchdown total and is on pace for 1500+ yards receiving. T.J. Housh is on pace for 120 catches.
49ers over Cardinals or “The 49ers FINALLY heeded my advice and gave the ball to Frank Gore….” For the last several weeks, I have been going berserk about the 49ers insane refusal to get Frank Gore 20 carries. I noted that in the past 24 games that the formula was simple. Gore carries 19+ times, 49ers win (Except one game). Gore Carries less than 19 times, 49ers lose (With no exceptions.) Gore carried the ball 21 times and caught 11 balls….being very instrumental in the 49ers victory. Trent Dilfer still threw nearly forty passes, but the fashion he did it didn’t bother me. They were short controlled passes off of three step drops instead of trying to take the ball downfield off of five to seven steps. You may see some big gains listed, but they were all Yards after the catch. This led to gaining yardage, moving the chains, and most importantly…no turnovers.Kurt Warner had an absolute insane day throwing the football, racking up 484!!!! Yards in the air. They were all for naught though, as the last play of the game was Warner having the ball stripped with his back to his own end zone in overtime. Still, it was a lot of fun to watch and Larry Fitzgerald jumping over everyone to come down with the Hail Mary to end the first half was just unreal. I cannot pin all the blame on Kurt Warner of course. You have the ball 2nd and five at the opposition’s five yard line. You have one of the most sure handed running backs in the NFL in Edggerrin James. Pound the ball two times to get as close as possible. You likely end up on the two or three, if not the end zone. You probably don’t end up with a delay of game and a Neil Rackers shanked 32 yarder. Play to win. Statistical Notes – Frank Gore was responsible for 214 of San Fran’s 374 total yards. That is his second best career performance in terms of yards gained. Larry Fitzgerald has 25 catches and 5 TD’s in his last three games, putting him on pace for a 110 catch, 1500+ Yard season. Edgerrin James opened the season with two 100+ total yard games and hasn’t had one since.
Chargers over Ravens or “Baltimore is really not good.” It’s been proven this year that Baltimore cannot play offense, and they didn’t play much defense this week either. 332 yards allowed. Zero Interceptions. Zero Forced Fumbles. Zero Sacks. 32 Points allowed. Phillip Rivers, who has struggled as of late, looked brilliant against the “vaunted” Ravens defense. Touchdown pass 1, Antonio Gates……the Chargers biggest receiving threat….runs a deep seam pattern and the entire Ravens defense forgets to cover him. Touchdown Pass 2. Chris Chambers…the Chargers best receiver, is left wide open in the back of the end zone without a Ravens defender near him. Touchdown three. Gates runs a deep out pattern. Ray Lewis was the sole defender and half heartedly was jogging along with Gates and gave up on the play when it was apparent that the play was actually to him.The Chargers defense had little problem containing the Ravens. Three Forced Fumbles, four sacks, 210 yards, and 14 points and it was game over. It’s pretty crazy to think that these two teams lost a total of five games last season. The Ravens have lost five games in a row at this point.Statistical Notes – Gates broke a three game slump where he caught only 7 ball for 90 yards and one touchdown to record his fourth 100 yard game of the year. Ladainian Tomlinson failed to crack 100 yards rushing for the fifth straight week. Phillip Rivers threw more TD’s than INT’s for the first time since week 8 against Houston. Derrick Mason is on pace to catch 115 balls. Willis Mcgahee has a touchdown in each of the last six games.
Saints over Panthers or “Things just look worse and worse in Carolina”With Vinny Testeverde sitting out this week due to aches and pains associated with old age, the Panthers leaned on David Carr to lead the team. The Panthers turned the ball over 4 times, Deshon Foster carried the ball 9 times for -5 yards (He had a “Long” run of six yards, meaning he had 8 carries for -11 yards.) The Defense forced one turnover, had zero sacks, and allowed 31 points and 373 yards. Steve Smith “Led” the team in receiving yards with 47. Does that tell you anything? Reggie Bush was somewhat injured going into this game, but I found it curious the number of carries they gave Aaron Stecker and Pierre Thomas. It seems that the Saints may be trying to find a change of pace like they had when Deuce was still healthy, as Bush hasn’t been all that effective running the football. I don’t think it’s a bad plan as the Saints could still make a playoff push if they play excellent football down the stretch. Drew Brees has been playing well but they need to find a running game.Statistical Notes – Drew Brees completed 24 passes to a total of nine different players. Jake Delhomme had 8 TD’s and 1 INT before his injury. Panthers QB’s have combined for 6 TD’s and 11 INT’s since then. Marques Colston has been red hot the second part of the season. In five games he has 42 catches, 584 yards, and 4 TD’s. After throwing only 1 TD in his first four games, Drew Brees has 17 in the last 7.
Browns over Texans or “Cleveland is going to the playoffs!” Six months ago Jamal Lewis was being cast away from his playoff caliber team….a shell of his former self who put up back to back poor seasons. He was being demoted to the Browns….a “Rebuilding” team so Brady Quinn would have a veteran back to hand the ball off to when he was put into the starting position for the 4-7 team. Fast forward to now. He finds himself rejuvenated, averaging over 4 YPC for the first time in three years and part of a high octane offense for a 7-4 ball club. His old team? They are the 4-7 gang. This game didn’t give us the best the NFL has to offer but I found myself watching it intently. Two teams with new quarterbacks and rising young stars. Three University of Wisconsin (My Alma Mater) Alums. Of course, one of those UW Alums had a big impact on the game…in a negative way. Although the stat line will show you some big numbers for Owen Daniels, I thought he had a pretty poor game. Several Broken Routes, several dropped passes, several blown blocks, one fumble. Still, he remained Matt Schaub’s go to guy for the game. Andre Johnson was uncharacteristically quiet. The Browns came out and played a solid offensive game again. Derek Anderson, Braylon Edwards, and Kellen Winslow Jr. all played well, in addition to the big game by Jamal Lewis. I think that this game was their most difficult game that remained on the schedule and they overcame it. The other team in the hunt for the last wildcard spot, the Titans, fell a game behind and have a bit harder of a schedule than the Cardinals, Jets, Bills, Bengals, and 49ers. I fully expect the Browns to bring their aerial circus to the post season.Statistical notes – Braylon Edwards is on a Tear this year, on pace for 16 touchdowns! As good as he’s been, he doesn’t lead the team in catches and barely leads the team in yards. Tight End Kellen Winslow is on pace for a huge 90 Catch, 1250 yard season. Derek Anderson, with his seventh multiple TD pass game, could go over 30 TD passes and 4000 yards in his first year as a starter. “Who Dat” Wideout for the Texans, Kevin Walker has managed to maintain relevancy even with Andre Johnson returning and leads the team in receptions and receiving yards. Mario Williams chalked up his sixth sack of the year and third in the last four games. He’s improving as a player and may not be the bust people think he is.
Bears over Broncos or “Lovie Smith’s Thanksgiving Prayer: I am thankful for Devin Hester, and Devin Hester, and Devin Hester…….” Unreal. With a punt and kick return for a touchdown this weekend, Devin Hester has 12 in his 20 game career. The Record for career return touchdowns is held by Freddie Mitchell. A longtime Veteran that played in over 220 games. He had 14 returns in his career. Now granted, the holes were there for Hester, but the holes are there for a lot of players who return kicks. What Hester did on both of those returns was pick the hole and run at it as hard as he could in a straight line…never hesitating…..and kept his eyes focused the entire time on the end zone. Too often I see guys try to run backwards, stutter step, change directions, and get slowed down by rubber necking trying to find any potential pursuers. I realize he did misplay a ball early….something he does do here and there, but his contributions to the team have been good enough to overlook that fact.Best High School play of the week – Jay Cutler took the snap and immediately took off running to his right. He was pursued by a fair amount of Bears when he pitched the ball several yards farther right, where Andre Hall was waiting to take the option pitch 23 yards to the house. Later in the game, Jay Cutler faked a roll left and backhanded the ball to his right to Cecil Sapp, who took the ball 12 yards to the house. I love option and misdirection plays like this in the NFL. Speaking of Broncos running backs, it is getting bizarre how they can plug anyone into the lineup and turn them into a decent back. Andre Hall is the third string back behind Travis Henry and Selvin Young…who have both had good games this season.With this loss the Broncos fall two games out of the wild card and one game behind in the divisional title race. They have started to play good football as of late and I wouldn’t be surprised if they push the Chargers until the end of the season. I still expect them to come up short. In other news, the Bears lost Cedric Benson for the season. I’m not sure if that is good or bad. The Bears still have an outside shot at the playoffs if Devin Hester would get off his lazy rear and return 2 or maybe 3 kicks a game for TD’s the rest of the season.Statistical Notes – Bears WR Bernard Berrian had 3 catches for 24 yards and a touchdown. He has 54 catches for 733 yards and 3 TD’s on the season. When asked about his expectations for a contract, he insinuated that he should get “Top Ten WR Money”. Yeah. Put Him right up there with Terrell Owens, Reggie Wayne and the bunch. Right. In Rex Grossman’s three games back from the bench, he has 2 TD’s and 1 INT. He had 1 TD and six INT’s as the Starter. Two weeks ago I commented that Brandon Marshall has been Mr. Consistent, putting up between 72 and 96 yards for five straight weeks. He put up 97 this week and is on pace for a 1200+ yard season.
Patriots over Eagles or “My goodness! They might be human!” The Patriots not only failed to cover the 22 point spread that Vegas laid out, they also were trailing the Eagles going into the fourth quarter. Tom Brady was held to a single touchdown pass, and Randy Moss had 5 catches for only 43 yards. How did they do it? The Eagles tried what no other team has this year…they jammed Randy Moss at the line. Let’s face it. You let Moss get into the open field….he’s bigger than you and faster than you. He’s going to get the ball. Don’t let Moss start his route and he cannot finish it.Of course, that leaves the problem of what to do with Wes Welker, who really had his coming out party this week with 13 catches. Geez is the guy fast. I had to laugh watching him. It reminded me of some of those really old highlight films they have where the Cameras didn’t capture very many frames per second and made it look like the players were running faster than they actually were……only now Welker really WAS running that fast.The Eagles really needed this win and they gave it all they had. Even with Journeyman A.J. Feely running the offense. I still can’t figure out this team. One week they’ll lose to Chicago or Bearly (Haha) squeak by the Dolphins. The next week they are giving the previously invincible looking Patriots all they can handle. They have a tough road ahead, but if they can play as hard as they did this week, they can still make the post season.
Steelers at Bears or “Due to the conditions of the playoff field, I refuse to review what was supposedly a football game…” Seriously, I’m all for football in inclement weather. It looks like real football, but when the field is so poorly maintained that it is practically stripped bare and a punt lands and simply sticks in the mud…..it isn’t very entertaining. Even the infamous “Monsoon Bowl” of a few years back…..where there was several inches of standing water at one point in the game…..left a better field behind than this game did. The conditions were an injury threat to every player on that field. I honestly think the game should have been postponed or something. Besides, there isn’t much to write about. Steelers win in the lowest scoring Monday Night football game ever….3-0.
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