Dolphins 24, Panthers 17
out-smart themselves in this game. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if
John Fox and Tony Sparano met before kickoff and decided, “Hey, we run
the ball really well, right? Let’s fool everyone and pass the ball in
key situations! Ha! We’ll show em!”
Early in the game, both teams dialed up long passes on 3rd-and-1 plays.
Six of Miami’s first nine plays were passes, while Jake Delhomme
finished with 42 attempts. Under no circumstances should Delhomme ever
attempt 42 throws. I don’t care if it’s a five-overtime contest and his
son is safe at home. The Panthers need to run the ball.
Unfortunately, Fox didn’t get the memo. Delhomme finished 19-of-42 for
227 yards, one touchdown and a pick. He also nearly tossed two more
interceptions.
On one sequence in the third quarter, Delhomme put on a clinic on how
to be a horrific quarterback. On a 3rd-and-short, the Dolphins were
caught substituting. Delhomme could have snapped it to give the
Panthers a first down. When he didn’t, Matt Millen had an aneurysm.
Delhomme then scanned the field, pointed out the mike linebacker, but
underthrew his intended target for an interception. It’s been a long
time since I’ve seen so much fail on one sequence.
managed to gain 122 yards. Jonathan Stewart was much less effective on
his 12 rushes, compiling just 43 yards.
was their awful tackling and their inability to stop the Dolphins on
third downs. Miami was 7-of-15 on third downs, while Carolina was just
3-of-13. One of the Dolphins’ conversions was an 18-yard Lex Hilliard
draw on 3rd-and-16.
for 119 yards on 22 carries, caught two passes for 19 more yards and
scored three touchdowns.
stats don’t say much, but he did a great job converting those third
downs.
target six times for 63 yards. Ted Ginn actually caught four balls for
32 yards. He came up with some amazing grabs, which had me yelling at
the TV, “Why the f*** couldn’t you do that against the Saints!?”
Grove limped off with an ankle. Jason Ferguson was carted off with a
knee injury. Backup center Joe Berger also hurt his ankle. Reserve
lineman Nate Garner damaged his knee, forcing Berger back into the
contest. And despite all of this, the Panthers still couldn’t come up
with a victory.
Colts 17, Ravens 15
often times, only consistent weapon) for years. The Ravens decided to
let him go this offseason in favor of Steven Hauschka, who was just
cut. Last week, they replaced Hauschka with Billy Cundiff, who actually
nailed five field goals in this contest, including a 46-yarder.
However, Cundiff whiffed badly on a crucial attempt from just 30 yards.
Stover, meanwhile, nailed the decisive kick for the Colts to send the
Ravens to 5-5. Talk about insult to injury.
for 256 yards and a pick where he misread a sly linebacker. Flacco
played pretty well, but failed to throw a touchdown for the third game
in a row after compiling 12 in his first seven games.
142 yards) and Ray Rice (7 catches, 64 yards). Rice also had 20 carries
for 71 rushing yards.
a touchdown, but tossed two uncharacteristic interceptions. Manning had
a chance to throw another score, but tight end Tom Santi Claus fumbled
inside Baltimore’s 5-yard line.
yards, giving out coal to Dallas Clark owners everywhere. Clark had an
impressive one-handed touchdown from three yards out, but that was the
only reception he made all game.
receptions. Reggie Wayne had seven grabs for 89 yards. Austin Collie
made just one catch (12 yards).
and a score on 19 carries. Donald Brown had only four attempts, as he
was still hampered by a shoulder injury.
Cowboys 7, Redskins 6
It looked like offensive coordinator Jason Garrett listened to his
critics; seven of the first nine plays in this contest went to his
running backs. Dallas moved down the field impressively on the second
drive, but Marion Barber fumbled in the red zone.
This is notable because the Cowboys didn’t reach the red zone again
until there were just four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Dallas simply couldn’t put drives together, going 3-of-11 on third
downs. Tony Romo was just 8-of-19 for 98 yards and a pick prior to the
game-winning possession late in the contest. Fortunately for Jerry
Jones’ sanity, Romo was sharp on that sequence (7-of-8, 60 yards).
Cowboys put up solid numbers. Miles Austin-Jones led the squad with 47
receiving yards on four catches. Jason Witten had five grabs for 43
yards. Roy Williams, meanwhile, didn’t have a single reception, though
he had two drops.
game. In fact, they would have won if Shaun Suisham didn’t miss two
field goals from 39 and 50. Suisham was a perfect 12-of-12 on the year
heading into this contest, but just one of those kicks would have given
Washington its fourth victory of the year.
interception. Not a great game by any means, but the good news is that
he once again kept his turnovers down. This has been a solid trend ever
since Daniel Snyder hired Bingo announcer Sherm Smith about a month
ago.
after just four carries for five yards. Rock Cartwright took over and
finished with 140 total yards (67 rushing, 73 receiving). Get him in
your fantasy league.
anything of note as long as this Campbell-Jim Zorn combination resides
in Washington.
Lions 38, Browns 37
winning their second game of the year. Down 24-3, Detroit battled back
twice. They had just eight seconds remaining in regulation when Matthew
Stafford launched a Hail Mary toward the end zone as he got decked. The
pass was picked off, and the game should have been a Cleveland victory.
However, that’s when the officials took over. The refs called the
Browns for a very questionable pass interference on the Hail Mary,
which I’ve never seen before. Stafford, meanwhile, was down with a left
shoulder injury. Daunte Culpepper ran onto the field to take the snap,
but Eric Mangina foolishly called a timeout.
With the stoppage in play, Stafford was allowed to take the field
again. On the final play of the game, he rolled out and found Brandon
Pettigrew in the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. Good job, officials and Mangina Lions!!
just had a great performance, going 26-of-43 for 422 yards, five
touchdowns and two picks. After that five-interception debaclation at
Seattle, Stafford has turned it around the past two weeks. The good
news is that the injury was to his non-throwing shoulder.
Johnson (7 catches, 161 yards), Brandon Pettigrew (6 catches, 72
yards), Aaron Brown, Will Heller and Kevin Smith. And speaking of
Smith, he had just 45 rushing yards on 12 carries, but managed 104
receiving yards off four receptions.
discovered the forward pass on Sunday. Despite scoring just five
offensive touchdowns in the past 15 games, the Browns posted 24 points
in the first quarter alone. That output was a franchise record for
Cleveland (including the old Browns) for most points in a first
quarter. Brian Sipe and Jim Brown have nothing on Brady Quinn!
four touchdowns, two of which were long bombs to Mohamed Massaquoi (5
catches, 115 yards, TD) and Chansi Stuckey (5-76, TD). I’d say this
gives hope for Browns fans that Quinn can actually develop into
something, but he did this against the Lions. He’ll need to put
together a few decent performances against teams that aren’t devoid of
talent.
yards on 24 attempts. However, against the Lions, that’s downright
horrible. Rookie Chris Jennings took 10 carries for 36 yards. Jennings
also caught five balls for 38 more yards, but he dropped an easy
touchdown.
Packers 30, 49ers 24
this game (especially for -6.5). Green Bay led 23-3 at halftime and
30-10 in the fourth quarter, but allowed two backdoor touchdowns to
Alex Smith. The team simply stopped blitzing and started playing
prevent defense. As they say, sometimes you can have the right side but
end up with the wrong result.
two touchdowns. The big news here is that Rodgers took just two sacks.
The 49ers don’t have much of a pass rush though, so we’ll find out if
Green Bay has really solved its pass protection issues in a few weeks
(we won’t learn anything on Thanksgiving either).
Greg Jennings, who came up with five grabs for 126 yards and an
impressive 64-yard touchdown in which he broke three 49er tackles.
Donald Driver had just five receptions for 40 yards.
carries. Grant had just two catches, as he relinquished all third-down
duties to Brandon Jackson (6 catches, 65 yards).
16-of-33 for 227 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. All three
of those scores came when the game was out of hand, so don’t think that
Smith had a good performance or anything.
managed six grabs for 108 yards and a score. Michael Crabtree,
meanwhile, had four receptions for 77 yards and his first NFL
touchdown.
running game. Frank Gore finished with 59 yards on seven carries, most
of which came on a 42-yard scamper.
Jaguars 18, Bills 15
next few decades, people will watch this game to learn how to be a
crappy NFL head coach.
With stud defensive tackle Marcus Stroud out for Buffalo’s dead-last
run defense, you figured that the Jaguars would try to pound the rock
with Maurice Jones-Drew as much as possible. Well, Jones-Drew didn’t
receive a single carry early on when the team had 1st-and-goal. The
Jaguars predictably stalled.
Right before the Bills went up 15-10, Jacksonville called 22 pass plays to just 10 runs!
The Jaguars as a whole were disoriented. They surrendered multiple
first downs on long-yardage situations, including a 3rd-and-15; they
had careless penalties, including one instance where they had 12 men on
the field when Buffalo was in the red zone; and they fumbled it three
times on top of an interception. If I didn’t know any better, I would
have said that Jacksonville fired its head coach this week; not
Buffalo.
finally realized that he had to run the ball when Buffalo went up
15-10. Drew-Jones gained just 66 yards and a touchdown. Not sure why
Jacksonville couldn’t get him going; it’s as if this team was asleep
the entire afternoon.
otherwise pretty solid, going 21-of-30 for 215 yards and a touchdown to
Mike Sims-Walker (8 catches, 91 yards).
a shoulder. He was pretty ineffective (8 carries, 18 yards, 2 fumbles),
so the injury actually helped new head coach Perry Fewell. Fred
Jackson, a much more talented player, gained 35 yards on nine rushes
and also had four catches for 20 more yards.
to have Ryan Fitzpatrick throw the ball to Terrell Owens as much as
possible. It definitely worked; Owens caught nine balls for 197 yards
and a score, which was a 98-yard bomb. The Bills may have lost, but you
know that Owens is thrilled with the result.
one touchdown and two interceptions (one was late in the contest on a
desperation fourth down). Unlike Trent Edwards, Fitzpatrick didn’t
check it down every play. Still, we’ve seen that Fitzpatrick isn’t the
answer, so the Bills will be looking for a quarterback this offseason,
no matter what happens the rest of the year.
Chiefs 27, Steelers 24
referring to the fact that every team in the AFC North lost Sunday. The
only significant thing to come out of this contest was Ben
Roethlisberger’s injury. Roethlisberger took a knee to the helmet in
overtime and left the game. Bill Cowher reported that Roethlisberger’s
injury was “concussion oriented.”
With all the talk of concussions festering throughout the NFL, there’s
a chance Big Ben could miss a few games. That’ll be huge with a matchup
against the Ravens next week.
32-of-42 for 398 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions that
weren’t his fault. On his second score, Roethlisberger did an
incredible job eluding a Kansas City sack. I know he does this all the
time, but that particular broken tackle was really impressive.
Most of Roethlisberger’s targets predictably went to Hines Ward (10
catches, 128 yards, TD), Heath Miller (7-95, TD) and Santonio Holmes
(7-86). Rashard Mendenhall, meanwhile, gained 80 yards on 21 attempts.
at halftime, as the Chiefs’ only score came on a kickoff return. At
intermission, Kansas City had just 47 total yards and three first
downs. I’ll give them credit for assembling 91- and 80-yard drives
toward the end of the contest. It was clear that Pittsburgh really
missed Troy Polamalu though.
without Dwayne Bowe. Cassel did a great job moving the chains in the
second half. He took only four sacks, which is a low number for him.
yards. Chambers caught a pass along the sideline and ran 61 yards in
overtime to set up Ryan Succop’s decisive field goal.
offense. Charles rushed for 58 yards on 17 carries, and caught two
passes for eight more yards and a touchdown. Best of all, no other
Chiefs running back had more than a single carry. Now, if only Haley
had realized Charles’ talent earlier in the year…
Vikings 35, Seahawks 9
score indicates, which is saying a lot. The Vikings led 28-0 and
benched Brett Favre at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The
Seahawks had just two first downs in the first half. They finished
1-of-10 on third down. It was a disgraceful performance on so many
levels.
Peterson, who rushed for 82 yards on 24 carries. However, they couldn’t
stop Chester Taylor (11 rushes, 73 yards), so it’s not like the
contained the run at all.
and four touchdowns. As far as I’m concerned, Favre and Peyton Manning
are the leading candidates for MVP.
for it with two scores. He finished with six receptions for 89 yards.
The other three touchdowns (one by Tarvaris Jackson) went to Percy
Harvin (5 catches, 79 yards), Visanthe Shiancoe (8-78) and Bernard
Berrian (2-11).
eliminated it. Justin Forsett managed just nine yards on eight carries.
He saved his fantasy owners with eight receptions, 80 yards and a
touchdown.
Hasselbeck had just 63 yards at halftime, so most of his production
came when the game was out of hand.
T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who was daydreaming about playing for the Vikings,
was limited to just four grabs for 36 yards.
Giants 34, Falcons 31
as teams’ psyches are concerned, so even though this game came down to
a coin flip, this victory was huge for the Giants. Having lost four in
a row, New York really needed a victory. The Falcons, on the other
hand, now have to somehow get a win; they’ve dropped four of five.
This game game down to coin toss because either squad would have scored
on its first possession in overtime. The Giants allowed Matt Ryan
(26-of-46, 268 yards, 2 TDs) to put together 65- and 76-yard scoring
drives in the fourth quarter. Ryan was 7-of-11 for 73 yards and a
touchdown to Tony Gonzalez on his final possession, which eerily
resembled Philip Rivers’ game-winning touchdown drive two weeks ago.
Fortunately for the Giants, Atlanta’s defense is even worse than
theirs. Eli Manning easily shredded the Falcons in overtime.
384 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. He heavily utilized
Mario Manningham (6 catches, 126 yards), Steve Smith (4-79), Kevin Boss
(5-76, 2 TDs) and Hakeem Nicks (5-65).
effectively. Both Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw carried the ball 12
times, gaining 39 and 34 yards, respectively. Jacobs found the end zone
in the third quarter.
and Bradshaw did collectively. He compiled 76 yards and two touchdowns
on 25 carries.
Ryan’s scores. Roddy White didn’t get into the end zone and was limited
to four grabs for 45 yards.
Saints 38, Buccaneers 7
The problem for the Buccaneers, once again, was Josh Freeman’s ball security:
– At 7-7, Freeman launched a pick in his own territory that set the Saints up with a field goal.
– Right after halftime, Freeman lost a fumble on a sack in his own territory again, giving Drew Brees a short, 15-yard field.
– A drive and a New Orleans touchdown later, Freeman had another
interception at midfield that led to yet another Saints end-zone trip.
By then, it was 31-7 New Orleans, and three Freeman turnovers were responsible for 17 of those points.
Freeman finished just 17-of-33 for 126 yards, one touchdown, three
interceptions and a lost fumble. He made some nice throws at times and
had two separate scrambles of 15 yards. However, he really needs to cut
down on the turnovers. They really killed the Buccaneers on Sunday.
is worth noting, however, that Antonio Bryant caught three balls for 40
yards. He’ll be more of a factor soon once he’s fully healthy.
chance to pad his yardage numbers – he finished with 187 yards – but he
had three touchdowns in this contest.
get one of those touchdowns. Instead, Robert Meachem had both, though
he finished with only two receptions for 10 yards. Jeremy Shockey did
nothing (2 receptions, 17 yards).
Payton’s house. Thomas had 92 yards on 11 carries, yet relinquished
both goal-line touchdowns to Mike Bell, who had 75 yards on 13
attempts. Though Thomas is much more talented than Bell, it looks like
the latter will continue to be a nuisance. It Payton didn’t have the
title locked up already, he has officially become the league’s worst
fantasy villain, taking that distinction from Mike Shanahan.
Cardinals 21, Rams 13
finish with the wrong result.” Anyone who took the Cardinals and the
points has the right to be pissed.
Arizona established a quick 21-3 lead. Kurt Warner was on fire, going
15-of-19 for 203 yards and two touchdowns. Unfortunately, Warner
suffered a minor concussion at the end of the second quarter. Matt
Leinart took over and was pretty mediocre (10-14, 74 yards), failing to
lead the Cardinals to a single score. The Rams eventually backdoored.
hurt by the quarterbacking switch, as they both posted touchdowns early
on. Boldin and Fitzgerald each caught eight balls for 103 and 87 yards,
respectively. Steve Breaston didn’t log a single reception.
Chris Wells each had 14 carries for 110 and 74 yards, respectively.
Wells found his way into the end zone in the second quarter.
Jackson rumbled for 116 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. He didn’t
do anything in terms of catching the ball out of the backfield.
yards and an interception. He led some scoring drives in the second
half, but benefited from some very questionable penalties. Bulger took
a wicked shot on the team’s final drive and appeared more disoriented
than usual on the final three plays.
passes for 65 yards, while Brandon Gibson finished with five grabs for
61 yards. Gibson looked decent at times, but made a few blunders,
including some drops and a misread on an end-zone fade.
Chargers 32, Broncos 3
it was the “beginning of the end for them.” Now that they’ve lost their
stranglehold on the division, it’s now clear more than ever that their
6-0 start was a mirage.
Let’s forget about the quarterbacking quandary for a second. Denver
simply couldn’t stop the Chargers. LaDainian Tomlinson gained 73 yards
and a touchdown on 20 carries. The Broncos surrendered 203 rushing
yards as a whole. Philip Rivers, meanwhile, was 17-of-22 for 145 yards
and a score.
The Chargers achieved 21 first downs (compared to Denver’s 14) and was
5-of-13 on third downs and 1-of-1 on fourth down. They won the
time-of-possession battle by nearly 16 minutes.
Denver’s defense, which was once renowned as being one of the league’s
best, hasn’t been able to stop anyone. The problem is that most of the
players are too old and worn-down, and because of a poor draft class,
there are no talented young guys who can step in.
and was abysmal, going 2-of-4 for 10 yards and a lost fumble in the red
zone. This forced a panicked Josh McDaniels to make the switch to a
hobbled Kyle Orton, who went 15-of-29 for 171 yards and an
interception. Orton came out firing, hitting his first three passes for
58 yards. Unfortunately, Knowshon Moreno fumbled at the goal line later
on that drive, negating what would have been a touchdown to trim San
Diego’s lead down to 13-7. Orton’s next throw was picked off.
yards on just 10 carries. One has to wonder why Moreno received only 10
attempts. Correll Buckhalter was much less effective with his 35 yards
on seven rushes.
Marshall (3 receptions, 26 yards), Eddie Royal (4-29), Vincent Jackson
(4-56), Antonio Gates (3-41) and Malcom Floyd (4-38).
Patriots 31, Jets 14
Rodney Harrison would lead you to believe. This wasn’t about Bill
Belichick proving himself either. This was all about Mark Sanchez’s
futility. The man known as Sanchise was horrific beyond words.
Sanchez finished 8-of-21 for 136 yards, one touchdown, four
interceptions and a fumble. Two of the picks were the result of Sanchez
completely misfiring to a wide-open receiver. The third was tossed
poorly into double coverage. The last one was a forced late on the
sidelines when the rookie should have thrown it away. Sanchez actually
had the same amount of completions to the Patriots and Jets in the
first half.
grabs for 84 yards and a touchdown. Braylon Edwards, meanwhile, matched
Sanchez’s poor play. He caught one 10-yard pass and had two big drops.
The Edwards from Cleveland that we all knew and loved is back. I
personally would not re-sign him; if he has trouble concentrating in a
contract year, how lethargic will he be with a big signing bonus?
fifth consecutive 300-yard passing game, going 28-of-41 for 310 yards
and a touchdown.
meeting between these teams, and just by looking at the numbers, you
can probably speculate that New England would have won that matchup if
he was in the lineup. Welker caught a whopping 15 receptions for 192
yards.
balls for 34 yards and a touchdown, but couldn’t convert a number of
other targets. Revis notably forced Moss into an offensive pass
interference call as well.
Raiders 20, Bengals 17
Raiders scored had more points in the final minute (10) than their
seasonal per-game average (9.8).
If you put blank jerseys on both teams and asked people to identify
each squad in the final few minutes of the contest, you would have
gotten a lot of wrong answers. Bruce Gradkowski did his best Carson
Palmer impersonation, torching Cincinnati’s secondary on 5-of-9 passing
for 79 yards on the game-tying drive. Gradkowski converted a 4th-and-10
to Chaz Schilens for 16 yards, and then found Louis Murphy for a
29-yard score.
Following the touchdown, the Bengals turned the ball over, setting up
Sebastian Janikowski with a short decisive field goal. Oakland somehow
won the turnover battle, 4-3.
turn the ball over every other drive. Gradkowski went 17-of-34 for 183
yards, two touchdowns, one pick and a fumble.
yards on eight carries. Darren McFadden gained 25 yards on six
attempts. Michael Bush took his four rushes for 27 yards, but fumbled.
only one catch for seven yards. He shockingly – and I’ll capitalize,
SHOCKINGLY – had a few drops.
rushed for 119 yards on 21 carries. Scott also had three catches for 32
more yards. You may find it interesting that Larry Johnson had five
yards on two attempts, but I don’t.
interception and two fumbles, though he saved his fantasy owners with
two short rushing touchdowns. Four of his passes went to Chad
Ochocinco, who finished with 67 yards.
No Comment