Cowboys 31, Giants 20
The line of the day came from Ron Pitts, who did the play-by-play for the Lions-Cardinals game. After FOX showed a highlight from the Giants-Cowboys game of Terrell Owens scoring a 50-yard touchdown pass, Pitts says, “I’m a little older now, but I think I could play in that Giants secondary.” Ironically, the Giants defense has played quite well up until Owens (6 rec., 125 yards, 2 TDs) and Tony Romo (247 yards, 4 TDs) rolled into town. This was an exciting game until midway through the third quarter when things started to unravel for the Giants secondary, as Pitts humorously pointed out.
Steelers 31, Browns 28
The biggest take away from this game is that the Browns are for real. Did they win? No, but they had the Steelers on the ropes for most of the game and really outplayed them in some areas. This game seemed to come down to in-game adjustments and big plays. Ben Roethlisberger and the defense made the plays when they had to, and Cleveland just couldn’t adjust to the changes Pittsburgh made after halftime. Get the Browns anything that remotely resembles a defense, however, and there’s a great chance they win today.
Packers 34, Vikings 0
Do the Packers remind anyone else of the Broncos in terms of finding free agent running backs and turning them into somewhat productive performers? Samkon Gado? DeShawn Wynn? Ryan Grant? Seriously though, nice game by Grant (119 yards, 1 TD). Brett Favre, however, once again stole the show by throwing for 351 yards and three touchdowns. You know things are going your way when you should have been intercepted on an underthrown pass to the end zone, yet the ball pops up into the air and comfortably in the arms for one of your wide outs for a touchdown…I seriously hope Adrian Peterson isn’t badly hurt. He’s off to such a fantastic start to his career; I’d hate to see his first season end this way.
Jaguars 28, Titans 13
I don’t know how anyone can feel like they have a pulse on either of these teams. Jacksonville gets stomped by New Orleans last week, only to turn around and score 28 points on a very good Tennessee defense. Not too mention, rush for 166 yards in the process. Vince Young had a nice day through the air in terms of yardage (257), but threw two interceptions in the process. He now has a touchdown to interception ratio of 3:8, yet the Titans are still 6-3. Weird.
Cardinals 31, Lions 21
This is what we call a trap game in the gambling world. The Lions had been hot and Arizona has been inconsistent. What do you get? A Cardinals blow out of course. It’s hard to get in an offensive rhythm when Jon Kitna has nowhere to throw and the defense doesn’t have to respect the run (Detroit rushed for –18 yards). The Cardinals were just more physical, more energetic and overall, the better team on this given day. Rookie Steve Breaston turned this game on its head with a couple of nice returns, too.
Rams 37, Saints 29
Who saw this coming? Make no mistake about it, the Saints were handed their ass today, plain and simple. Marc Bulger (302 yards, 2 TDs) was outstanding, Steven Jackson finally had running lanes, and Torry Holt (8 rec., 124 yards) was open all day. Everyone who broke their necks trying to jump back on the Saints bandwagon recently, is currently sacrificing their ankles jumping off again.
Eagles 33, Redskins 25
How do Gregg Williams and the Redskins defense allow Brian Westbrook to go hog wild on them? Did they not think that the Eagles were going to try to get the ball to Westbrook? Seriously, that’s all Philly does! Washington hasn’t looked the same since getting smacked in the mouth by New England three weeks ago.
Falcons 20, Panthers 13
He wasn’t overly impressive by any means, but give Joey Harrington credit for finally leading a team to victory with less than a minute to play and the game on the line. He took quite a hit after he released the ball, yet Harrington did a nice job on the 30-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Alge Crumpler with less than a minute to play. Was Steve Smith crying after this game? Come on Steve, I know you’re ultra competitive, but you can’t cry after a regular season game, big guy. Super Bowl, yes. Week 10 loss to the Falcons, no.
Broncos 27, Chiefs 11
There’s the Denver defense we’ve all come to know and love. The Broncos kept things simple today by loading the box against the run and changing their looks to confuse Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard. Without Larry Johnson playing, however, it’s tough to measure how good a win this is for Denver. Are they back? Probably not, but a win is a win and up until these last two weeks, KC was playing pretty well.
Bills 13, Dolphins 10
This was an ugly win, but it kept Buffalo in playoff contention and that’s all that matters. What a kick in the teeth for the Dolphins, who finally got a solid game out of their defense, yet the offense fails to show up. Jesse Chatman (124 yards) looked real good, but it was a lack of big plays that doomed Miami. The Fish may have to wait another two weeks before having another legitimate shot at their first win (vs. Jets, Week 13).
Bengals 21, Ravens 7
Here’s the bottom line. If you can’t generate more than seven points against the Bengals defense, you’re automatically deemed the worst offensive team in the league. Period – end of story. Shayne Graham kicked seven goals and none of them were longer than 35 yards. What a brutal game.
Bears 17, Raiders 6
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The Bears offense struggles for three and a half quarters, yet manages to score on a long touchdown pass and wind up winning an ugly game. Rex Grossman deserves some credit for dealing with a tough situation and turning it into a positive when he got another chance to play. He fumbled on the very first snap he took, yet came up with the big play (59-yard touchdown pass to Bernard Berrian) at the end of the game to get Bears fans thinking, “Hey, maybe this kid deserves another shot!” Okay, maybe not.
