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Sunday, December 16, 2007

My Interpretation Of Week 15 In The NFL

Cleveland 8 beat Buffalo 0 - I said this was the game of the week. Actually, this game was boring, unless you're a big fan of defense and no scoring. Jamal Lewis plowed for 163 yards and Phil Dawson managed to kick two field goals through harsh, wintry winds as the surprising Browns improved their postseason chances with an 8-0 win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. If the Browns win next week, they can clinch their first playoff birth since 2002. Actually, with the way the Steelers have been playing, it wouldn't surprise me to see the Browns take the division.

Tennessee 26 beat Kansas City 17 - The franchise now known as the Tennessee Titans hadn't won in Kansas City in exactly 17 years.Vince Young passed for 191 yards and two touchdowns and Rob Bironas kicked four field goals Sunday, leading Tennessee to a much-needed 26-17 victory that kept the Titans in the AFC playoff picture. Though I don't believe they will grab the Wild Card, especially since their last game is against the Colts, the Titans are certainly making a valiant effort. I can't say the same for Kansas City, who fell to its seventh straight defeat.

Green Bay 33 beat St. Louis 14 - What a productive day for the Packers. They slaughter the Rams, Brett Favre finally reached the milestone for most passing yards in a career (sorry Dan Marino, you can be remembered as the guy who did not win a Super Bowl and now all your records are being broken), and Dallas lost, which means Green Bay still has a very real chance to get home-field advantage.

Miami (?) 22 beat Baltimore 16 - I declare the Ravens the worst team in football. There season already went down the tubes, but c'mon, they lost to Miami! Nobody wants to lose to the Dolphins nor did I think anybody would ever lose to that team. Well, Miami finally earned their first win. The Miami Dolphins acted as though they'd never won a game before. When Greg Camarillo turned a short completion into a 64-yard touchdown in overtime, the bench quickly cleared, with players sprinting en masse to the end zone to mob their teammate. The stunning play made the Dolphins a winner for the first time in more than a year, ensuring they'll avoid the first 0-16 season in NFL history. They beat the Baltimore Ravens 22-16. Now, maybe next week they can beat the Patriots and preserve their record.....

New England 20 beat New York Jets 10 - You gotta love the New England Patriots. You gotta love how Randy Moss pushed off the defender, but they called it defensive pass interference which set them up for the game winning score. You gotta love how on that same play the ball Randy Moss caught hit the ground, but the refs would not dare call it incomplete. You gotta love the challenge by the Patriots that led to an incomplete touchdown pass which, if complete, would have put the Jets in position to win. You also gotta love the holding call which pushed the Jets back and made the field goal attempt harder to make (and the Jets didn't make it). You gotta love the New England Patriots.

New Orleans 31 beat Arizona 24 - This was an amazing high scoring game between 2 quarterbacks who love to throw. It could have went either way, but Brees' lack of mistakes led to a victory. With a loss severely hurting playoff hopes for either team, the game was a high-anxiety affair. Played indoors, it was no less sloppy than some of the weather-affected contests far to the north. Even still, Brees connected on 86.7 percent of his throws for 315 yards and two touchdowns, keeping the Saints' playoff hopes alive.

Jacksonville 29 beat Pittsburgh 22 - What is wrong with the Steelers these past few weaks? If they didn't get off to such a good start, their chances for making the playoffs would be in more danger than it is now. The Steelers couldn't have designed a more Pittsburgh-perfect day for an important December home game. They whipped up everything a warm-weather opponent wouldn't want: snow, swirling winds, chilly temperatures and a marshy field. Somehow, the weatherproof Jacksonville Jaguars shrugged off the bad weather and the Steelers, too, in a stadium where no opponent had won in a year.Fred Taylor scored a decisive touchdown on a 12-yard run in the final two minutes while gaining 147 yards, and the Jaguars (10-4) withstood Pittsburgh's fourth-quarter comeback for a 29-22 victory Sunday that put them on the verge of making the AFC playoffs. Good thing the Colts own the Jags, so I'm not scared of them.

Tampa Bay 37 beat Atlanta 3 - I'm lost for words at how bad the Falcons are. Redman started the game and by the end of the game he put together a whole 45 yards! The highlight of this game was that it took 32 seasons and 1,865 tries, but the Bucs finally returned a kickoff for a touchdown Sunday. Micheal Spurlock broke into the open and turned up the sideline with a clear path to the end zone.

Carolina 13 beat Seattle 10 - I just think the Seahawks didn't care about this one. The Panthers have more of a story. Becoming the fourth quarterback to start for the Panthers this season, Moore engineered three scoring drives in the fourth quarter and outplayed two-time Pro Bowler Matt Hasselbeck, as the Panthers stunned the Seattle Seahawks 13-10. In a bizarre game played in a strong wind that stayed scoreless for more than three quarters, Moore didn't turn it over and the Panthers defense turned in its best performance of the season.

Indianapolis 21 beat Oakland 14 - The Colts were giving me a slight scare when Oakland took the lead, but it was nothing to worry about. Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts took until midway through the fourth quarter before putting together their first touchdown drive of the game. Manning threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Gonzalez with 4:49 remaining for the Colts' first offensive touchdown of the game, and Indianapolis rallied to beat the Oakland Raiders 21-14 Sunday and clinch a first-round bye in the AFC playoffs.

Philadelphia 10 beat Dallas 6 - Westbrook's maneuver with a little more than two minutes left seemed bizarre, but was brilliant strategy. With Dallas out of timeouts, all Donovan McNabb had to do was take a knee three straight times to give the Eagles a 10-6 victory Sunday. Westbrook gained 24 yards, then stopped inside the 1. He wasn't rubbing it in, just running out the clock. The Eagles are a lot like your average football team, meaning they aren't streaky one way or another. One week they are amazing and the next week they are awful. You never know what you're going to get out of them. I just don't think Dallas took them seriously though. Philadelphia (6-8) ended a three-game losing streak, kept alive hopes of snagging a wild-card playoff berth and avenged a nationally televised blowout loss to Dallas six weeks ago. The Eagles also ended the Cowboys' seven-game winning streak and prevented them from tying the franchise record for wins in a season. As bad as it sounds for Dallas (12-2), the Cowboys knew before kickoff they'd secured a first-round bye and that they couldn't lock up home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. So the stakes were pretty low. And they played like it.

San Diego 51 beats Detroit 14 - Kitna now has 8 losses....with 2 more weeks.....he will have 10 losses.....not 10 wins. He's gotta be feeling pretty stupid. Oh, and he threw five interceptions this game. Is that how you get 10 wins Kitna?? By throwing 5 interceptions?? Meanwhile, LT lit up the scoreboard and he's back and dangerous as he should be.

Houston 31 beat Denver 16 - Last year's No 1 pick Mario Williams is still on the team? Apparently, but until Thursday you would never know. Last year's No. 1 pick had a career-high 3½ sacks among seven tackles to lead the Houston Texans to a 31-13 victory over the Denver Broncos on Thursday night in Houston's first prime-time game in two years. I still think that was a waste of the No. 1 pick, however.

San Fransisco 20 beat Cincinnati 13 - 2 boring teams + Saturday night = Me not paying attention to this game. The San Francisco 49ers finally came together as the team they imagined three months ago. Shaun Hill passed for 197 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score in his first NFL start, and the 49ers beat the Bengals 20-13 on Saturday night for just their second victory in 12 games.

Washington 16 is beating New York Giants 3 - The 9-4 Giants, despite their winning record, are another team like the Eagles where you just never know what you're going to get. I don't know how many times I said I give up on them, then a few weeks later I begin to support them, then give up, then support. Even when they win, it's ugly and unimpressive. Right now, they are losing to the Redskins in a boring performance.

For Monday

Chicago At Minnesota - I can't wait to see the Vikings duo run all over the field on Monday Night Football. I can only imagine how much ESPN is going to praise Peterson.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thought you would be interested in knowing that last year's No. 1 pick is leading the AFC in sacks.