For those of you that stayed up to watch the end of the Eagles-Bears’ game on Sunday night, you might have caught a glimpse of a full moon rising.
Chicago wideout Devin Hester might want to invest in a belt!
I don’t know what’s more disturbing, the fact that I have now seen what Devin Hester’s ass looks like or the fact that people actually taped this, posted it on YouTube and then slowed it down so everyone can see the receiver’s derriere.
Even though it pitted two, one-win teams against each other, the Browns-Lions matchup on Sunday produced the most thrilling game of Week 11.
With his team trailing 37-31 with only eight seconds remaining, rookie Matthew Stafford threw a desperation “Hail Mary” pass into the end zone, which was intercepted by Browns safety Brodney Pool. Cleveland started celebrating before Hank Poteat was flagged for pass interference and the ball was placed at the Browns’ 1-yard line for one last un-timed down.
The wild part is that Stafford was hurt on the “Hail Mary” throw after taking a shot after releasing the ball. Daunte Culpepper came in to run the final play but following a time out, Stafford re-entered the game and threw a touchdown to fellow rookie Brandon Pettigrew for the winning score.
Stafford, who finished 26-of-43 for 422 yards and five touchdowns, was in clear pain after the touchdown pass as he grabbed his left shoulder. Apparently he re-entered the game against the advice of team doctors and the Lions originally feared that he had fracture his collarbone. But X-rays revealed otherwise and he’ll likely be a game-time decision for Thanksgiving Day.
For those that haven’t seen Stafford play yet, you’re missing out. He takes tremendous abuse because his offensive line couldn’t block Jabba the Hutt, yet he stands in the face of pressure and delivers passes. He takes lick after lick and continues to get up despite the pounding. If he hasn’t endeared himself to the blue-collar fans in Detroit, I’d be very surprised.
On a side note from this game, Brady Quinn was outstanding. I’ve been highly critical of his play this season, but I’ll be the first to admit that he torched the Lions today. Granted, Detroit’s defense isn’t very good but a quarterback doesn’t throw for 304 yards and four touchdowns on 21-of-33 passing on accident. It’s too bad Cleveland’s defense couldn’t sustain the lead Quinn got for them, because he was exceptional.
For much of the 2009 season, the San Diego Chargers’ running game has been non-existent. But in the past two weeks, it has helped the Bolts recapture first place in the AFC West.
One week after rushing for 119 yards in a win over the Eagles, the Chargers racked up 203 rushing yards in a dominating 32-3 victory on Sunday. LaDainian Tomlinson was solid, rushing for 73 yards with a touchdown on 20 carries while Mike Tolbert finished with 58 yards and a touchdown on seven totes.
The Chargers revived another part of their game today too: Their pass rush. They sacked the combination of Kyle Orton and Chris Simms three times and intercepted Orton once when they blitzed a defensive back on the play. If they can get a similar effort from their pass rush moving forward, than this is going to be a tough team to beat over the final month of the season.
Denver is in a free fall right now. In their current four-game losing streak, they’ve allowed 29.3 points per game after allowing just 11 PPG in their six game winning streak. They couldn’t stop the Chargers’ running game and even when San Diego put the ball in the air, Denver got zero pressure on Philip Rivers.
Offensively, Simms started but was brutal again. Orton came in and immediately started moving the offense, but the drive stalled when Knowshon Moreno fumbled at the goal line and killed a scoring drive. After that, Orton failed to move the ball the rest of the contest and the Broncos’ offense fell flat.
Considering Denver is only one game behind with six remaining, I don’t want to overstate things. But San Diego has completely seized control in the AFC West and they look like they’re going to roll to another division title.
For the second straight week, the Dallas Cowboys sputtered offensively. Only this time, they were fortunate enough to notch a victory because their opponents happened to be the Washington Redskins.
The Cowboys beat the Skins on Sunday in an ugly, 7-6 victory. Dallas rushed for 153 yards, but Tony Romo was ineffective outside of the eventual game-winning touchdown drive that came late in the fourth quarter. In fact, Romo didn’t complete a pass to a wide receiver until the last play of the third quarter because Washington did such a good job of keeping everything in front of them. They didn’t allow Romo to test them vertically.
This is the wrong time of year for the Cowboys to be struggling offensively. They’ve scored only 14 total points the past two weeks and while their defense is playing well, Dallas needs Romo and the passing game to step up down the stretch.
Not to get ahead of myself, but if the Cowboys make the playoffs, then they won’t be able to compete with the Saints and the Vikings in the NFC if they can’t move the ball. Obvious statement I know, but it’s worth noting after their brutal effort today. If the Cowboys can only muster seven points against the Redskins, how are they going to do against other postseason teams?
The Indianapolis Colts have been flirting with defeat for the past two weeks, but they beat the Baltimore Ravens 17-15 to earn a hard fought victory on Sunday. The win allows them to stay undefeated on the season.
The keys to this game were turnovers and inefficiency in the red zone. Indianapolis turned the ball over three times to help keep this contest close throughout and Baltimore couldn’t convert in the red zone and had to settle for five Billy Cundiff field goals.
The turning point came when Joe Flacco threw a crucial interception deep in Indianapolis territory with just three minutes remaining. If nothing else, the Ravens would have came away with a field goal on that drive to give them an 18-17 lead. Granted, Manning would have had the opportunity to lead the Colts to victory even if the Ravens did convert on that drive, but at least Baltimore’s defense would have had the chance to come up with a hold.
Now the Ravens will probably have to run the table or win at least five of their final six games to make the playoffs. They play the Steelers next week and a loss would almost knock them out of postseason contention.
The Giants’ 34-31 overtime victory over the Falcons might have made for a nice highlight piece for ESPN, complete with a rousing effort by Eli Manning and a fourth quarter comeback engineered by Matt Ryan. But the truth of the matter is that one very average team beat an equally average team today.
Both of these teams have noticeable holes, namely on the defensive side of the ball. Manning completed 25 of 39 passes for 384 yards with three touchdowns, but he accomplished all of that against cornerbacks that wouldn’t start for most teams in the NFL (Chris Houston is brutal). Ryan completed 26-of-46 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns (he also drove his team down the field for a game-tying touchdown with only 38 seconds remaining), but he too faced a suspect secondary dealing with injuries.
Both the Giants and Falcons can move the ball offensively, but neither team has a defense that is ready to take on the likes of the Saints or Vikings in the postseason. New York is a tad better on that side of the ball, but that’s only because they can rush the passer. (They’re also dealing with injuries, whereas the Falcons defense is what it is – average at best.)
Nevertheless, this was a big win for the Giants because it came against a conference foe. This may not be a team ready for the postseason, but a win is a win and now the G-Men are in the right position to at least win one of the Wild Card spots in the NFC.
As for the Falcons, they’re still very much in contention for a Wild Card spot themselves, but they need a better defensive effort going forward. They can’t generate any pressure, they can’t make plays in the secondary and they can’t force turnovers. Mike Smith and coordinator Brian VanGorder better come up with a better scheme because they just don’t have the playmakers on that side of the ball to go toe-to-toe with opponents.
One week after playing inspired in a 28-19 win over division rival Atlanta, the Panthers laid a dud in a 24-17 loss to the Dolphins on Thursday night in Carolina.
After they beat the Falcons, some pundits started believing in the Panthers again. Hey, why not? They beat the Cardinals in Arizona in Week 8, hung with a powerhouse Saints team in New Orleans in Week 9, and beat a good Falcons team in Week 10.
But after their performance Thursday night, it’s hard to believe that John Fox’s team will play consistent enough throughout the rest of the season to make a postseason run. Jake Delhomme is too mistake-prone, the loss of Jordan Gross kills the offensive line (the Dolphins sacked Delhomme four times), and the defense can’t stop the run.
At best, this is a 7-9 Panthers team. They’ll play hard enough for Fox to stay somewhat alive in the Wild Card race, but they blew a huge opportunity this week to earn a victory at home and put pressure on the Falcons to win in New York (vs. the Giants) on Sunday.
On the other side, the Dolphins still have a pulse at 5-5. Granted, given that they play in a tough AFC they don’t have much of a pulse, but considering they’re still alive without Chad Pennington and Ronnie Brown is quite an accomplishment.
Ricky Williams really stepped up in the absence of Brown, rushing for 119 yards with two touchdowns on 22 carries. He also caught two passes for 19 yards and a touchdown, which proves he can be multi-dimensional.
My TSR cohort John Paulsen made a good point the other day in that Williams doesn’t have the same wear and tear on him as most 32-year olds, given that he was out of football for a couple years. He won’t have the opportunity to face a suspect Carolina front seven every week, but if he continues to run the way he did on Thursday night then he’ll give Miami a chance to win on most game days.
