Your choice for 'Game of the Week' was the battle for the lead in the NFC East. This game was also 'Sunday Night Football', and what a game it turned out to be. The first quarter started with a bang as the Eagles jumped out to a 14 - 0 lead, thanks to an 8 yard TD from Brent Celek, and a fumble return of 60 yards from CB Sheldon Brown. The Giants ended the quarter with a huge 15 play drive, but eventually had to settle for a field goal. The 2nd quater began with Hakeem Nicks dropping a sure TD pass from Eli Manning, but a few plays later he broke away from a couple of Eagles defenders for a 68 yard TD. David Akers added a 20 yard FG, before DeSean Jackson had a 72 yard punt return for a TD. The Giants responded with an Ahmad Bradshaw 3 yard TD, then as the Eagles drove down to the 1 yard line, before Michael Vick went in from 1 yard. 30 - 17 Eagles at half time.
The 2nd half started with a Brandon Jacobs 2 yard run, before a 61 yard TD reception by Dominic Hixon. This gave the Giants a 31- 30 lead, as the Eagles had missed an extra point. The Eagles though came up with another big play, again from DeSean Jackson, who caught a 60 yard TD pass from McNabb. The Eagles ultimatley put the game out of reach when, at the end of a 12 play, 7 1/2 minute drive, FB Leonard Weaver went in from a yard out. The Giants did score another TD through TE Kevin Boss, but there was not enough time to complete the comeback.
As you can see this was a very high scoring, entertaining game. But does this show a weakness on each teams defences. If so, will these teams be able to cause any damage in the playoffs, (if they even get there). For the Eagles this is a massive step in the right direction as they now sit at the top of the NFC East, with a 9 - 4 record. They now have a 1 game lead over the Cowboys, and a 2 game lead on the Giants. A large thank you can be sent to WR DeSean Jackson for this win. He had 6 catches for 178 yards in the game and a TD, with a punt return TD also. He is proving hiself to be one of the most explosive players in the NFL, and he will be a handfull for any secondary come playoff time. The NFC East looks to be shaping up well for an exciting finish, keep watching people.
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The Falcons needed to win this game to guarantee that the NFC wouldn’t be clinched by the Saints this week. The chances of this happening were dealt a severe blow in the 1st quarter as Falcons QB Matt Ryan had to leave the game with a turf toe injury. Early suggestions are that he will also miss next week’s game against the Eagles. The good news for the Saints was though that Ryan’s backup Chris Redman came into the game, and did ok. He had 243 yards and 2 TD’s with 0 INT’s. Michael Turner did start the game; he had 12 carries for just 33 yards, before leaving the game in the 3rd quarter. For long periods in this game it looked like the Buccs were going to pull off an improbable win. QB Josh Freeman had 250 yards and 2 TD’s as the Buccs held a 17 – 13 lead until the last 30 seconds, where Redman found Roddy White for a 5 yard TD, to give the Falcons the win. This was hard luck for the Buccs as their defence looked a lot better, and they probably deserved the win. They are defiantly looking better, but the Falcons keep the NFC South open for another week.
This was quite an embarrassing game for all dolphans, including me. I don’t mind this team losing games, they’ve lost plenty this year, but I can’t stand when a team quits late in the game, and allows the opposition to pile up the points against them. The Dolphins lead this game for long periods, and it was actually 14 – 14 until the Bills scored a FG with just 3 minutes left in the game. This was when the Phins fell apart. Henne was intercepted, he had 3 on the day, and on the very next play Fitzpatrick found TO for a 51 yard TD to make it 24 – 14 with just 2.23 left. The scoring wasn’t finished though as Fred Jackson went in from 7 yards to complete the humiliation. Don’t get me wrong, the Bills played well in this game. They played very well on defence and forced 4 INT’s, and the offence looked better than usual under new coach Perry Fewell. The Bills obviously aren’t going to make the playoffs, but now at 5 – 6, with a very difficult schedule coming up, the Dolphins might be struggling to.
This game ended up being a lot closer than expected. The game was very close the whole way through, and was only won in the 4th quarter, when David Akers kicked a 32 yard FG to make it 27 – 24. The Eagles looked flat in this game, and struggled to get anything going on offence. WR Desean Jackson had to leave the game and they are without Brian Westbrook of course. But in the end RB Lesean McCoy got going and had 76 yards. This running gave the Eagles a bit more offensive balance, and made the play action pass very dangerous. They managed to get a few big plays off of play action, and this allowed them to get past the much improved Redskins. The Eagles now will have a great tussle with the Cowboys and the Giants in the race for the playoffs. The Redskins aren’t going to threaten this race, but they are defiantly looking better, and with the solid defence, if they make the right choices in free agency and the draft, could have a lot better year next season.
This game ended up with the result that was expected, but it didn’t get there the expected way. I was expecting Matt Hasselbeck to pass the Seahawks to victory; he only had 102 yards and 0 TD’s. Justin Forsett came up big in this game as he ran for 130 yards and 2 TD’s. Forsett has been playing really well in place of the injured Julius Jones, and it should be an interesting decision on who starts when Jones returns. Steven Jackson had 89 yards and 1 TD for the Rams, and QB Kyle Boller threw for 282 yards, 1 TD and 2 INT’s. The performance of the Seahawks defence was the difference. They were aggressive throughout the game, and managed to sack Boller 4 times as well as the 2 INT’s. This was a good win for the injury hit Seahawks, but neither of these teams will be looking foreward to an extended season.
So the match up of the 2 shaky QB’s turned out in favour of the Jets Mark Sanchez. Panthers QB Jake Delhomme threw for 130 yards, 0 TD’s and 4 INT’s. Sanchez had 154 yard, 0 TD’s and 1 INT’s. But the Jets managed to capitalise on Delhomme’s mistakes, as the Panthers failed to capitalise on Sanchez’s. Also, a huge advantage for the Jets is the performance of CB Darrelle Revis. Revis has had big games against some of the best receivers in the game this year, and had another one here. He followed Panthers deep ball threat Steve Smith around and completely shut him down. So much so that Smith had just 1 catch for 5 yards. The Jets also managed to hold the two headed rush monster of Williams and Stewart to just 75 yards between them. This was a big win for the Jets, who will now feel they still have an outside shot at the playoffs. The Panthers on the other hand, now at 4 – 7, are now not going to make any sort of playoff run.
This was the last game that the Bengals had to win in order to sweep their division. Cedrick Benson was unable to play in the game due to injury, so up step Larry Johnson. He and Bernard Scott had 107 and 87 yards respectively. The Bengals struggled in the pass game, but they had way to much here for the useless Browns. Their best attacking option is still in the form of kick returner Josh Cribbs. QB Brady Quinn still struggles for the Browns, and the organisation may decide to look for another option in the draft. The Bengals will now walk into the playoffs from this division, and will battle for a Wildcard bye. Performances like this, in games like this are what was always lacking for the Bengals. They always seemed to let down against ‘so called’ weaker opposition. Now they are handling this kind of opponent, so, we look forward to the playoffs.
So here it was another chance for the Texans to prove to everyone that they are up to taking down the Colts, and keeping their playoff hopes alive. Also this was a perfect chance for revenge. At the midway point in the 2nd quarter it did look like the Texans were going to pull this off, as they led 17 – 0. The score at the half was 20 – 7, but in the 2nd half, the Colts did what they do best. Reggie Wayne has a 4 yard TD reception to cut the lead in the 4th, before they scored a total of 21 points in the 4th. Manning had another big game (surprise, surprise), throwing for 244 yards, 3 TD’s and 2 INT’s. Schaub also had a good game for the Texans – 284 yards, 2 TD’s, 2 INT’s. The big story again though was the performance of the Colts defence. They sacked Schaub twice, had 2 INT’s and forced a fumble. Clint Session’s INT in the 4th wrapped up the game, and this improving unit will definitely help this Colts team go deep into the playoffs. The Texans though can forget the playoffs for another year.
Well, I thought that the Chargers would win this game, but I wasn’t expecting a margin like this again. The Chargers walked all over the Chiefs for the 2nd time this year. Phillip Rivers threw for 317 yards and 2 TD’s, L.T rushed for just 39 yards but had 2 TD’s and Antonio Gates had a huge 118 yards and 2 TD’s. For the Chiefs Jamaal Charles had 93 yards and a TD, and against his former team Chris Chambers had 70 yards and a TD. The Chiefs obviously aren’t going to be playing in January, but they do look better with the addition of Chambers and Charles. The Chargers just seem to get better and better, and are now on a 6 game win streak, look for them to battle the Bengals for the number 2 seed in the AFC.
This game was ugly for the Jaguars. MJD was held to 75 yards, and he is usually their offence. They also struggled in the end zone, as they went 0 – 4 in that area of the field. Also QB Garrard had 2 fumbles in the red zone. Frank Gore struggled to get the 49’ers ground game going, as expected, but QB Alex Smith and his receivers did their jobs to get a vital win. Smith threw for 232 yards and 2 TD’s, as he spread the ball around. Davis, Crabtree and Walker all had over 50 yards, with Morgan having 43. This was exactly what was required for the 49’ers. This win keeps them in with a long shot of a wildcard spot. The Jags still have a decent chance of a wild card spot in the AFC, but they cannot afford many more performances like that.
This game went exactly as expected. The Vikings had way too much for the sorry Bears, who can now forget any lingering playoff hopes. Jay Cutler had another 2 INT’s (also 147 yards and a TD), and Forte was limited to just 27 yards rushing. This was hardly going to worry the free scoring Vikings. The Bears loaded the box in order to try and slow down Adrian Peterson – but he still had 85 yards and a TD. This tactic though only played into Farve’s hands. The wily veteran threw for 392 yards and 3 TD’s. He is having an unbelievable season for the Vikes, and in my opinion should go to the Pro Bowl. He found the open man at all times in this game with Harvin having 101 yards and a TD, Rice 89 yards, Berrian 74 yards and Shiancoe and Taylor 51 yards and a TD each. This distribution, along with the threat of the run game makes the Vikings a very big player in the post season. I don’t know about you, but a Vikings – Saints NFC Championship game sounds very interesting.
This game turned out to be one of the best games of the day and VY keeps on proving people wrong. I thought this would be the week the Titans run would end, and with a couple of minutes left in the game, and the Cardinals 17 – 13 up, I thought I was going to be right. VY came onto the field with the ball at the Titans 1 yard line, and led the Titans on one of the best drives I’ve seen. On the drive he completed 10 passes for 94 yards, and ran for another 5 yards. He converted in 3 different 4th down situations and found Kenny Britt with a 10 yard TD pass as time expired. This was an amazing win for the Titans, and I am now starting to believe that they still have a legitimate chance of making the playoffs. Kurt Warner did not play in this game for the Cardinals, in his absence, Matt Leinart threw for 220 yards, 0 TD’s 0 INT’s. Tim Hightower had 55 yards on the ground. I think once the Cardinals get Warner back they will be ok, and to be fair they don’t have much to worry about in the NFC West.
The Steelers had to play this Sunday night game without QB Big Ben. Ben was out with a concussion. This was a worry for the Steelers as 3rd string QB Dennis Dixon had to start, due to a broken wrist on Batch. Dixon though did not lose this game for the Steelers. In fact he had a decent game, throwing for 145 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. That 1 INT though in overtime did turn out to be the difference in the game. Dixon just seemed a bit nervous and rattled in the extra period, and made the fatal mistake. Mendenhall had the game he needed to have for the Steelers, rushing for 95 yards. The Steelers defence also played well considering they didn’t have Troy Polomalu. Even though Flacco managed to throw for 289 yards and a TD, the unit defiantly had him rattled. They managed to sack him 5 times and forced 3 fumbles. Ray Rice had another huge game for the Ravens, rushing for 88 yards, and 67 yards receiving. This was a very close divisional battle that went to the wire. These teams will now be battling for 2nd place in this division behind the Bengals and will have to hope thats good enough for a playoff spot. With both teams at 6 – 5 I can’t wait till week 16, when they meet again in Pittsburgh.