| 1 |
1 |
(-)
|
A beaten and battered Ray Lewis must have been choking back tears when he looked at the game film of their loss to the Colts. The Ravens defence sold out on every play and did a good job of slowing down the Colts offence. Then late in the fourth quarter, Peyton Manning’s silky smooth arm and his beautiful mind went to work. Manning completed passes of 11, 15, 24 and two yards as he marched the offence down the field and set up Matt Stover’s game winning field goal. With that, the Colts improved to 10-0 and extended their regular season winning streak to 19 games. The Colts defence deserves special recognition for their heroic goal line stand. That tackle on the goal line stand by linebacker Clint Sessions was something most defensive players dream about. All of this and we haven’t even talked about Dallas Clark and his sick one handed touchdown catch. Up next, the Texans. |
| 2 |
2 |
(-)
|
The Saints set a franchise record with their 10th straight win and became the first NFC team to start the season 10-0 since the 1991 Redskins. In case you forgot, the Redskins went on to win the Super Bowl that year. With all due respect to the Bucs, that win over Tampa was a mere warm up for the Saints. The 'real' game is about to take place Monday night at the Super Dome as Brees and the Saints go head-to-head with Tom Brady and the Patriots. Sean Payton would slap me for even saying this, but if the Saints can beat the Patriots Monday; they just might run the table this season. Is North American society ready for a world with a Saints team that goes 16-0 in the regular season? We just might find out. |
| 3 |
3 |
(-)
|
Another game, another record setting performance for Brett Favre. Hooking up with his new best friend, Sidney Rice, Favre set a new NFL record with the 22nd four touchdown game of his career. What makes this is record setting game even more impressive is the fact that Favre had only three incompletions against the Seahawks. I don’t know what pills the man is taking this year; but I want some. Lost in all of this Vikings offensive love-in is the performance of the Vikings defence. Jared Allen and the Vikings held the Seahawks to four yards rushing. Four “freaking” yards! Up next, Jay Cutler and the Bears. |
| 4 |
5 |
(-)
|
Sickened by a week of WEEI, the all sports radio monster in Boston, ripping Bill Belichick for going for it on fourth and two against the Colts; the Patriots took out their anger on the Jets. Tom Brady had his fifth straight 300-yard game, Randy Moss was amazing as always, but the real star of the Patriots offence was their little dynamo, Wes Welker. The diminutive super star from Texas Tech put up insane numbers; 15 catches for 192 yards. Up next, the Pats will take on the Saints in New Orleans. Brady and the Patriots might not want to admit it, but outside of Boston, all of America will be cheering for the Saints in this one. And don’t think for a second that Belichick won’t use that fact to inspire his team. |
| 5 |
4 |
(-)
|
Call it the dreaded curse of the Black Hole. No matter how badly the Raiders are playing, time and time again, teams that are way better than them fall apart in Oakland. The Black Hole is not for the faint of heart. Ask the Bengals. Ten times they’ve made the trip to Oakland and ventured into the mythical Black Hole, and ten times they’ve traveled back to Cincinnati a loser. The look of utter anguish on Marvin Lewis’s face as Andre Caldwell fumbled that kick off return at the end of the fourth quarter pretty much summed up his feelings on the entire ill-fated trip to Oakland. Now that the Bengals have survived their Oakland ordeal, they can now get ready to host the Browns. |
| 6 |
7 |
(-)
|
The Chargers made a real statement as they walked into Denver and beat up on the Broncos. The rest of the AFC would be well advised to take a long look at the game film of the Chargers fifth straight win. Philip Rivers and the Chargers had little trouble beating the Broncos to move into sole possession of first place in the AFC West. I love the fact that LaDainian Tomlinson scored another touchdown to give him three since his wife told him the couple is expecting their first child. With games coming up against the Chiefs and the Browns, the Chargers have a great opportunity to solidify their hold on first place in the division. |
| 7 |
6 |
(-)
|
In the wake of the Steelers disappointing overtime loss to the Chiefs, an extremely ugly stat emerged for Mike Tomlin. After allowing the opening kickoff for a touchdown, the Steelers have now allowed a touchdown on a punt return or kick off return in an NFL-record eight straight games. That kind of brutal special teams coverage just can’t happen in the NFL. To make matters worse, Tomlin had his entire season flash before his eyes as Ben Roethlisberger took that knee to the helmet in OT. The early reports are that Big Ben will be alright, for now. |
| 8 |
9 |
(-)
|
It’s ironic on the same week that Commissioner Roger Goodell has initiated an all-out assault on head injuries, that Kurt Warner would suffer a head injury in the Cardinals win over the Rams. This isn’t the first time Warner has suffered some sort of head injury in his career. Because of that, Ken Whisenhunt and the Cards will force Warner to undergo a battery of baseline tests before allowing him to play again. If he’s healthy, Warner will attempt to throw at least two touchdown passes in his fifth-straight game as the Cards take on the Titans. |
| 9 |
12 |
(-)
|
It’s interesting to note the complete transformation of Rodgers and the Packers since they hit rock bottom with their loss to the Bucs. Since then, the Packers have looked like a totally different team. Rodgers is taking a lot fewer sacks and has put up big numbers the last two weeks. In their losses to the Vikings and Bucs, Rodgers was sacked 12 times and threw three interceptions. In their current two-game winning streak, Rodgers hasn’t thrown a single pick and has only been sacked six times. The win over the 49ers came at a huge cost as they lost defensive end Aaron Kampman and defensive back Al Harris to season ending injuries. |
| 10 |
11 |
(-)
|
Here’s another prime example of why so many people feel that Eagles received DeSean Jackson is one of the most explosive offensive players in the NFL. The dude has scored five highlight reel touchdowns this year; the shortest one being a mere 48 yards. Jackson is evolving into one of the most feared game breaking deep threat receivers in the league. No wonder Donovan McNabb has a big smile on his face all the time. The Eagles will look to keep it rolling this week against the Redskins. |
| 11 |
8 |
(-)
|
14 points in two games? What in the name of Rio Grande mud is going on with the Cowboys offence? That’s two straight games could only manage seven points. Luckily for Wade Phillips, seven points was enough to beat the Redskins. One of things that are hurting the Cowboys is the drop off in production by receiver Miles Austin. In their four game winning streak, Austin scored six touchdowns and was nearly unstoppable. Well someone must have found something on the game film because in the last two weeks, Austin has eight catches for only 67 yards and zero TD’s. Up next, the Raiders pay a visit to the Cowboys new palace on Thanksgiving. |
| 12 (tie) |
NR |
(-)
|
It’s really too bad the City of Jacksonville haven’t heard the news yet, because the Jaguars are a pretty good football team. They play a tough nosed brand of football and have a dynamic running back in Maurice Jones-Drew. Of well, even though Jags had another game blacked out, the rest of North America watched as David Garrard hit Mikes Sims-Walker with the game winning touchdown in their win over the Bills. I don’t why this is, but Jack Del Rio’s team is quietly flying along under the radar with a respectable 6-4 record. By the way, if the season ended today, the Jags would be in the post season. |
| 12 (tie) |
NR |
(-)
|
The overtime win against the Falcons was desperately needed for Tom Coughlin and the Giants. Eli Manning had his best game since the last time the Giants won a game. Manning’s 29-yard pass to Mario Manningham was the key play that set up Lawrence Tyne’s game winning field goal. The NFC East has degenerated into a street brawl between the Giants, Eagles and Cowboys. At 6-4, the Giants are back in the hunt on the NFC East. That means the Giants can not afford any kind of let down in Thursday night's games against the crumbling Broncos. |
I have to go with the kid, Matt Stafford. The Lions rookie quarterback threw five touchdowns in the Lions wild last second win over the Browns. The fifth and final touchdown in the Lions thrilling win over the Browns was one they will talk about in Detroit for a long time. A pass interference call on a Hail Mary set up Stafford’s game winning throw to Brandon Pettigrew. On the Hail Mary, Stafford injured his left shoulder. That’s the kind of thing that will give Stafford huge respect in the Lions locker room. 
My vote goes to Jay Cutler of the Bears. Cutler’s erratic quarterbacking is killing the Bears offence. The Bears almost beat the Eagles. What hurt them were a number of poor throws by Cutler. Three times Cutler had Johnny Knox, Devin Hester and Greg Olson wide open and behind coverage. And three times Cutler over threw them.
If there’s one team that needs to wake up and get their act together it’s the Denver Broncos. Josh McDaniels was so desperate to get his team off the schneid that he had an injured Kyle Orton go into the game in their loss to the Chargers. 
Is there anybody out there right now who would like to play the Tennessee Titans? There are easily the best 4-6 team in the NFL. Chris Johnson, Vince Young and Rod Bironas stepped up big time as the Titans beat the Texans to win their fourth straight game. Johnson has now run for 774 yards in his last five games. Vince Young looks reborn. Owner Bud “the finger” Adams looks even smarter for ordering Jeff Fisher to start Young.
