2010: A Boston Sports Year Review

It's been another exciting year in sports, proving there is never a dull moment in Boston.  As the 2010 year comes to a close, let's look back at the best and worst moments for Boston sports teams in the calender year.

January

• The Bruins open the year by playing an outdoor game at Fenway Park, defeating Philadelphia 2-1 in overtime.  It helps get fans excited about hockey again.  Ok, so some of the people in the crowd showed up thinking the Red Sox were playing, but it was still a packed house nonetheless.
• Tom Brady completes a successful return from knee surgery to lead the Patriots back to the playoffs, only to be blown out on their own home field in the first round against the Ravens.  A playoff loss at home once seemed unfathomable for this team.  The devastating loss was the first of many factors that led to massive changes the following season.
• After starting the season on a spectacular 23-5 streak culminating with a statement win against Orlando on Christmas Day, the Celtics got off to a rough start to the new year.  Paul Pierce entered the month banged up, and Kevin Garnett hyper-extended his surgically repaired knee, costing him 10 games.  The injuries kept piling up and the Celtics hobbled to a 27-27 record in their remaining games, falling to 4th in the Eastern Conference.

February

• Fans in New England don't get to see their wishes come true of the Patriots playing in the Super Bowl, but get to see the next best thing - watching Payton Manning lose.  The Saints surprising season ends with the franchise's first Super Bowl victory.

March

• Spring training begins, giving Boston fans something to get excited about to distract them from the bitter taste left by the Patriots playoff letdown and the frustration of the mediocre play of a hobbled Celtics squad.

April

• Baseball season begins!  The Red Sox come into the season praising the importance of pitching and defense, having added Adrian Beltre and Mike Cameron to their starting line-up as well as John Lackey to their rotation.  Many media outlets rank the Red Sox as the best team in baseball and are projecting them to finish with the most wins in the league.  Well, we know how that turned out...
• David Ortiz gets off to another frustratingly slow start, prompting Red Sox Nation to demand that the team bench or release the fading star.  Or at least get him to take steroids again (kidding!).
• Jacoby Ellsbury injures his ribs in a collision with Adrian Beltre.  The injury is initially misdiagnosed, leading to Ellsbury missing the majority of the season.  A failed come back return mid-season didn't last long after team doctors discovered more broken ribs that never fully healed, which ended up putting a riff between Ellsbury and the team.  This in turn leads many fans to complain about his lack of toughness (sure, you try swinging a bat with broken ribs!) and wish for him to be traded.

May

• The Celtics flip the switch once the playoffs start and catch fire at just the right time.  Putting themselves on cruise control for the final few months of the regular season appears to have paid off, as the team looks healthy and hungry.
• Rajon Rondo plays out of his mind in the post-season, highlighted by an eye-popping triple-double in the second round series against Cleveland - 29 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists.  I was actually at that game, and as far as I could tell, I'm the one that started the MVP chants for Rondo that were later heard throughout the TD Garden.  He put the team on his back and helped carry them through the first few rounds of the playoffs, in which he nearly averaged a triple double.
• The Bruins suffer an epic post-season collapse.  Leading the Philadelphia Flyers 3 games to none, the B's went on to drop the next three to even the series.  They led 3-0 early on in Game 7, but ended up blowing the lead, and the series.  Now Boston fans know how the Yankees felt in 2004.

June

• The Celtics return to the NBA Finals for a re-match against the Lakers.  The teams appear evenly matched throughout the grueling 7 game series.  The turning point came in Game 6 when Kendrick Perkins crumpled to the floor after battling Andrew Bynum for a rebound in the first quarter.  A torn ACL would sideline him for the rest of the series (as well as at least half of this season), tipping the scale in favor of the Lakers.  Without Perk's size and defensive presence, the Celtics get killed in the paint and on the glass.  In a series in which each game was won by the team that won the rebounding battle, the trio of Gasol, Bynum and Odom was too much for the undersized Celtics to handle without Perkins. 
• While the outcome of the series may have been depressing, there were still plenty of bright spots, including a coming out party for the bench players - most notably, Glen Davis and Nate Robinson, who coined themselves new nicknames of Shrek and Donkey.
• The Red Sox season begins to unravel due to an endless amount of injuries.  It began earlier in the season with Ellsbury, but the injury bug went on to catch Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis, among others.  In one three game series in San Francisco the Sox lost Pedroia, Victor Martinez and Clay Buchholz to injury.  19 players combined for 24 seperate DL stints during this season, with 6 of those players coming from the opening day starting line-up.  No team can overcome that many injuries.
• The string of injuries opens up opportunities for other players to step in and perform on the big stage.  While none of them could make up for the loss of the key players that were stuck on the DL, some of these unknown replacement players shined in big moments.  The best example being Daniel Nava, who hit a grand slam on the first pitch he saw in his major league career.
• The Bruins have something to be excited about again when they select Tyler Seguin with the second overall pick in the draft, which they obtained from Toronto for Phil Kessell.  Seguin should be a star in the near future, while Kessell hasn't done anything to make Toronto any better.  Considering they still owe Boston another (likely) high draft pick, I think it's safe to say we won that trade.

July

• David Ortiz continues to prove that his career isn't over yet by making the All-Star team and winning the Home Run derby. 

August

• The dog days of summer are at times difficult to watch as the Red Sox send out a AAA line-up and fall further back in the AL East.  Meanwhile the Yankees and Rays are still going strong and looking like locks for playoff teams.
• The Celtics sign Shaq!  The Big Shamrock comes to Boston for the veteran's minimum, claiming he's ready to accept being a role player on a team filled with veteran stars.  Maybe he likes hanging out with other old guys (which the Celtics have plenty of) or maybe he just really wants a chance at another ring (mostly to shut Kobe up). 
• The C's wrapped up a busy off-season.  Doc Rivers' decision to return to coach at least one more year was the spark needed to get the ball rolling.  Pierce re-signed a team friendly 4 year deal to ensure he'd retire a Celtic, followed by Ray Allen spurning bigger offers to return on a 2 year deal that lines up well with Boston's plan to rebuild in 2 years when the Big Three era will likely come to an end.  They also bulked up the bench with several short term options.  In addition to Shaq, the C's also brought in Jermaine O'Neal and Delonte West.

September

• Football season starts up again as the Patriots are ready to redeem themselves after last season's upsetting ending.  Most of the early season talk revolves around Wes Welker's remarkable recovery from knee surgery as well as a group of exciting young rookies that the team expects to rely heavily on, including: Devin McCourty, Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski.
• The early season excitement takes a step back after a week 2 loss to the Jets.  The team fell apart in the second half thanks to an offense that couldn't move the ball as Brady tried to force the ball repeatedly to Randy Moss without success.

October

• The Patriots shock the football world by trading Randy Moss to the Vikings.  Rumors had swirled for weeks about Moss' attitude, which had led to run ins with coaches and teammates.  One unconfirmed story even claimed he got into a fight with Tom Brady over their hairstyles.  The trade was met with a lot of criticism by people who thought the Patriots offense could not thrive without Moss, but as it turned out it was the best thing for them.  Belichick sensed a storm brewing with Moss and did what he had to do to remove a potential headache that threatened to drag down the team.  They made a separate trade to bring back Deion Branch, who has gotten back much of his old form from his previous tenure with the Pats after wasting away for a few years in Seattle.  Without Moss the Patriots have gone on to become the league's best team with the league's highest scoring offense.
• With the Sox missing the playoffs, Red Sox Nation must settle for watching the Yankees fail to make the World Series.

November

• After last season's crushing defeat in the NBA Finals, the Celtics are back.  Their hot start to the season has put them at the top of the Eastern Conference, despite a rash of early season injuries.
• Rajon Rondo puts on a show in the early going by dishing out 50 assists through the first three games and breaking John Stockon's record for assists to open the season.  In a game against the Knicks he had an unbelievable triple-double that included 24 assists, good for the second best mark in team history.
• Paul Pierce scored the 20,000th point of his career, joining the exclusive company of 36 players to reach that plateau in NBA history.  Only two other players have reached that mark in a Celtic uniform (Bird and Havlicek).
• The Patriots are humbled by a humiliating defeat to the underdog Browns.  The silver lining that came from the loss is that it tought the team that they can't afford to be overconfident and must play their game for 60 minutes every week.  They haven't lost a game since, including big wins against the Steelers, Colts and Jets.
• After losing the starting job late last season and having off-season hip surgery, not many expected big things from Tim Thomas.  Yet the veteran goalie has taken the league by storm, re-capturing the form that made him the Vezina award winner two years ago.  By leading the league in Goals Against Average and Save Percentage through the early going, Thomas has sent the message to the team that he's not ready to give up the job to youngster Tukka Rask just yet.

December

• The Red Sox steal the show in the off-season by making two blockbuster moves.  First they traded prospects to San Diego for Adrian Gonzalez and then signed the best free agent hitter on the market, Carl Crawford.  They join an already formidable line-up to create what should be the best offense in the league.  Well, at least if everyone can stay healthy this time.  Knock on wood!
• Nearly as important to the Red Sox off-season was the lack of impact made by the rival Yankees.  The team that typically throws out big money to lure in the top free agents was devastated when Cliff Lee chose Philadelphia over them.  The Yankees are left to beg Andy Pettite not to retire to prevent their pitching rotation from being dangerously thin on the back end.  With all the potential big name free agent targets off the board it looks like it will be a quiet off-season in the Bronx.  The Tampa Bay Rays lost Crawford, as well as half their roster, to free agency.  While the Red Sox substantially improved, the Yankees and Rays got worse.
• The Patriots continue to roll, winning all of their games this month and clinching the top seed in the AFC.  Tom Brady set a record for consecutive pass attempts without an interception and the team hasn't turned the ball over at all in over a month.  Brady appears to be a lock for the MVP award and the Pats have a clear path to the Super Bowl that will go through Foxborough.
• The Celtics remain in first in the East, but are starting to show signs of breaking down under the strain of an increasing number of injuries.  Sound familiar?  They've been without Perkins all season, but have also have dealt with large chunks of games without Shaq, Jermaine O'Neal, Delonte and Rondo.  Worst of all, the Celtics stagger towards the end of the calender year by losing defensive anchor and MVP candidate Kevin Garnett.  The extent of the injury is still unknown, but losing KG for any significant period of time would be a huge loss for this team.  If the Celtics ever gets healthy then they may very well be the best team in the NBA, but will they ever come close to being even reasonably healthy?  We'll have to wait to find out in 2011...

NFL Week 16 Review

It's the last week of games before the New Year, which has some teams looking back at the success of this season, while others can't wait to flip the calendar to 2011.  Some teams are looking to bring in the new year by celebrating a spot in the playoffs, while others are apparently too focused on how they will be celebrating New Year's Eve later this week.

This article is a little delayed this week due to the snowstorm in Philadelphia that postponed their Sunday night game against the Vikings until Tuesday.  It also made my Sunday night pretty boring.  Seriously, I didn't know what to do.

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• How did Steelers-Panthers get to be the Thursday night game of the week?  Thanks NFL Network!  Pittsburgh got one step closer to locking up the division and only needs to win next week against Cleveland to claim the #2 seed in the AFC.
• Jon Kitna put his team in an early hole by throwing two interceptions in the first quarter that were each returned for TDs.  He would later leave the game with a hip injury, but you can argue he should have been benched anyway.
• When Stephan McGee replaced Kitna for the Cowboys it became a match-up with John Skelton for the battle of 3rd string QBs.  When's the last time we saw two 3rd stringers going up against each other in the regular season in a game that didn't involve at least one team that had locked in their playoff spot?  This could partly explain why neither of these teams will be in the playoffs.
• McGee nearly led the Cowboys to a comeback win when he threw a 37 yard TD pass to Miles Austin to take the lead with under two minutes to go.  Unfortunately, their kicker missed the extra point (how does that happen indoors?).  Arizona drove quickly down the field to kick a field goal in the final seconds of the game, giving them the 1 point victory.
• The Patriots locked up the top seed in the AFC with a win in Buffalo, ensuring the path to the Super Bowl goes through Foxborough.  
• Tom Brady set the record for consecutive pass attempts without an interception.  Last week he had set the single season record, but this week he passed Bernie Kosar's record of 308 pass attempts, which spanned across two seasons (1990-91).
• During New England's 7 game win streak they have scored at least 30 points in each game and have not turned the ball over.
• Once again the Jets manage to back their way into the playoffs.  Despite another late season loss, the Jets clinch a Wild Card spot due to losses by the other teams competing for that spot.
• After another loss, the Jets once again suffer the Agony of De-Feet.  Ok, so I may have stolen that line from the New York Post, in reference to the bizarre story involving Rex Ryan and his wife's foot fetish video, but it was too good not to re-feet, ummm... I mean repeat.
• The Bears have already won their division, and thanks to the Eagles loss they can now be assured of a top 2 seed and a first round playoff bye.
• The Ravens may be a long shot for the division regardless of what they do next week (they need the Steelers to lose to the Browns in addition to winning their own game) but they did at least clinch a playoff spot and kept themselves alive with a chance at the division and #2 seed.
• The Chiefs skill position stars - Cassel, Bowe and Charles combined for great games to blow out the Titans and clinch the AFC West.  They will likely open up the playoffs at home against one of the Wild Card teams (probably the Jets).  They will probably look over-matched on paper, but they play well at home, so that advantage may be enough to get them out of the first round, but I don't see them winning on the road in the next round.
• Chris Johnson had another dud performance.  The man who predicted another 2,000 yard season for himself this season currently sits at 1325 for the season.  Only 675 yards in next week's game to get to his goal!
• St. Louis beat the San Fransisco awful-Niners to put themselves alone at the top of the AFC West. They still need to win next week in Seattle to win the division.  The Seahawks would win the tie-breaker and play better at home (hey, a 4-3 record for them is better), so they have the edge.  It's essentially a playoff game to determine who gets to be the team to host an opening round playoff game that they will inevitably lose.
• I hope the Rams win, if only because at least they would make the playoffs as an 8-8 team.  The thought of Seattle getting a playoff spot with a 7-9 record just made me throw up in my mouth.
• The 49ers fired coach Mike Singletary on Monday.  Seems long overdue, but what's the point of doing it with only one game left?  Is one game enough of a sample size to judge a potential replacement?
• After setting a league record for road futility, the Lions have now won 2 straight road games!  They stunned the Dolphins by scoring 17 points in the final 5 minutes, including an interception that was returned for a TD to give them the victory.
• Miami actually has a shot to finish their season at 8-8 if they can win next week against a Patriots team that has already clinched the top seed and can rest their starters.  Yet they will finish the season only 1-7 at home.  How can a team have such a drastic home-road split, with the home record being the losing side?  Can they petition the league to play all their games on the road next year?
• The Jaguars blew their opportunity to keep up in the AFC South by losing to the disaster that is the Washington Redskins.  They are now a long shot to surpass the Colts, who can win the division next week with a home win against the struggling Titans.
• Not having Maurice Jones-Drew was certainly a big factor in their loss.  This game is an example of why MoJo deserves to at least be in the MVP discussion, but he won't win it by sitting on the sidelines to end the season, and the Jags aren't likely to be in the playoff discussion much longer.
• This isn't how the script was supposed to go.  The Chargers always get off to slow starts, but build momentum at the end of he season, never losing in December, and charge into the playoffs on a roll. So much for that.  After losing for the second time in December (and only the second December loss in Philip Rivers' career) the Chargers have already been knocked out of the playoff picture.  The can't blame a tough schedule either, as both December losses have come against non-playoff teams (Raiders, Bengals).
• Caron Palmer finally figured out how to throw TDs to his own team instead of his opponents.  4 TDs and 0 interceptions this week!  Too little, too late.
• Tim Tebow got his first win as a starting QB in the NFL by leading a comeback victory against the Texans.  He threw a TD pass and ran another in himself in the 4th quarter.
• Andre Johnson was a late scratch from this game, but it wasn't the passing game that let the team down.  The Texans offense can be as explosive as any, but they won't be contenders until they can stop the other team from scoring.
• The Colts kept themselves in the drivers seat for the AFC South division with a win in Oakland.  
• Payton Manning threw 3 TD passes, but the Colts have to be concerned that he continues to throw interceptions.  With 2 more this week he's now up to 17 on the season.  It's the most he's had in a season since 2002 (19), and with another game remaining there's a chance he could equal or even surpass that amount.  His QB rating will also be his lowest since that same 2002 season.
• If last week's meltdown for the Giants was heart-breaking, then getting blown out in Green Bay must be just embarrassing.  A win would have clinched a playoff spot, but they will need to get back on track to win next week as well as hope some other contending teams lose in order to sneak in.
• Green Bay would have been eliminated with a loss, but they now have put themselves in a position where a win next week gets them a Wild Card spot.  
• Which QB helped carry Fantasy Football teams to championship victory?  Would you believe... Josh Freeman?  Ok, so most playoff teams weren't starting him, but I did in one of my leagues where I'm in the finals, and I'm sure glad I did!  5 TD passes was easily his best performance of the season.
• Tampa is an even bigger long shot for the playoffs, but they aren't eliminated yet.  They would need to win next week and also have the Packers and Giants both lose.  If that were to happen then the NFC South could end up having 3 playoff teams.
• Seattle apparently decided to use this week as their bye week to rest for the playoffs.  They knew going in that regardless of the outcome they would still have the chance to play for the division title next week against the Rams.  That didn't leave them with much incentive to put up much of a fight this week.
• For the past several weeks I've been praising the Falcons for their perception of invincibility at home.  They seemed to have a certain mystique about them when playing in the Georgia Dome.  QB Matt Ryan had only lost one home game in his 3 year career.  So of course they blow all that by losing to the rival Saints at home on Monday night.  As good as they have looked this year, this letdown on a big stage is not a good sign heading into the playoffs.  They've shown that they are vulnerable and may have lost some of their swagger.  With an easy home win next week against the lowly Panthers they can still lock up the division and the top seed in the NFC, so the loss doesn't have a major impact on their playoff spot, but it does have a major impact on their confidence.
• Michael Turner had not fumbled the ball all year.  The Saints had a streak of giving up points every time the opponent reached their 1 yard line that dated back several years.  So of course Turner fumbles the ball at the 1 yard line.  Huge momentum change for the Saints.
• The Saints offense is rolling now that the have Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas back to complement the passing game.  It's not just what they provide in the running game, but both are threats as a receiver out of the backfield as well.  Now if only Brees would stop throwing interceptions, then they'd be a real powerhouse offense.
• Brees is up to 21 interceptions on the season after throwing 2 more this week (one of which was returned for a TD).  He trails only Eli Manning (24) in interceptions.  He's also 2nd in TDs (Brady) and 2nd in passing yards (Payton Manning).  So the season Brees is having can be summed up by saying he's playing like #2. 
• So much for the argument that Michael Vick could challenge Brady for the MVP award.  He turned the ball over enough times this week (3) to get halfway to Brady's season total (6). 
• Apparently the snow delay, which pushed the Sunday night game back to Tuesday, threw off the Eagles.  They did not look prepared for this game, losing at home to the underdog Vikings that were down to their third string QB and missing out on a chance at the #2 seed in the NFC and a first round bye.  They are now locked in at the #3 seed (no NFC West team can catch them), which would have been considered a let down as recently as last week, but they now must be thankful that they can't fall any further considering they will be operating on a short week for their final game.
• Brett Favre couldn't resist keeping his name in the spotlight, speculating that the extra two days off might give him a chance to play this week.  Of course he didn't, as he shouldn't have given the concussion he suffered the previous week.  Maybe the hit to the head knocked some sense into him.
• Joe Webb turned out to be a sneaky play for Fantasy Football owners brave enough to start him in the playoffs.  While his stat line (195 passing yards, 31 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD) may not be all that impressive for a QB, Webb is actually eligible as a WR in some leagues because he started the season as a WR on the Vikings depth chart.  A mediocre day for a QB was still worth 16 points in standard leagues, which is a pretty good day for a WR.
• The playoff teams in the NFC are almost set.  Next week's games will determine if the final Wild Card spot goes to the Giants, Bucs or Packers (the other will go to the Saints unless they somehow pass the Falcons in the NFC South).  The Seahawks and Rams game is essentially a playoff game, as the winner takes the division and the loser goes home.
• Things are even more clear in the AFC, where the South division is the only one left undecided.  The Colts should be able to wrap that up fairly easily.  The only other division that is undecided is the North, where the Ravens have a chance to come out on top if they win their final game and the Steelers lose theirs, but that's unlikely.  Both teams will make the playoffs either way.
• San Diego is first in the league in total defense and second in the league in total offense... yet they've been knocked out of the playoff picture.
• The Patriots have a turnover differential of +27, which is by far the best in the NFL.  They have only turned the ball over 9 times all season.  The record for the least amount of turnovers for an offense in a 16 game season is 13 (Dolphins and Giants in 2008).  They should easily be able to break that record.
• If the Lions can somehow manage to beat the Vikings next week by at least 15 points then they will finish the season with a positive point differential, despite a 6-10 record.  Hey, that's progress!
• St. Louis needs to beat Seattle by at least 30 points next week to finish with a positive point differential - and they'd be a division winner!
• The Patriots have the best point differential at +174.  The Panthers have the worst at -174.
• Pro Bowl votes are in, for whatever those are worth.  Much like in other sports' All-Star games, the Pro Bowl is a bit of a joke.  It's being played again before the Super Bowl, so the best players on the two best teams in the league can't play.  Not to mention that a lot of veteran players that have been before try to use various injuries as an excuse not to go.  Or that many of the voters just vote for the guy they voted for last year.
• Vick and Brady were named as the starting QBs.  Both are clearly deserving, but there's a good chance at least one of them doesn't play in the game.
• The Patriots had a league high 6 players voted in: Brady, McCourty, Mankins, Mayo, Wilfork, Merriweather.  3 of those guys were locks to make the team.  I'm surprised McCourty made it due to the fact that he's a rookie and the league typically takes at least a year to catch on to how good the player is, but he's certainly deserving.  Mankins should not have been selected, despite that he's probably the best guard in the league, due to his lengthy hold out.  I like Merriweather, but having watched him play all year it's a big surprise that he made the team.
• Buffalo, Tampa, Cincinnati, and Seattle are the only teams not represented in the Pro Bowl.
• Only one week left in the regular season!  Then we get to say good-bye to the pretenders and let the contenders fight it out in the playoffs.

NFL Week 15 Review

'Twas the Sunday before Christmas, when all through the NFL, playoff hopes were stirring, except for those teams as weak as a mouse.  The points were rung up on the scoreboards with cheers, in hopes that a Super Bowl soon would be here.

The teams on Santa's nice list are preparing for their spot in the playoffs, while teams on the naughty list are preparing their vacation plans for January.

Here's a look at which teams were naughty and nice this week:

• Welcome back Vincent Jackson!  The talented diva receiver finally decided that he wanted to play this week, after a long hold out and questionable injury delayed his return.  With 112 yards and 3 TDs this week it's safe to say Jackson is ready to play.  Sadly, if he puts up big numbers and helps the Chargers to the playoffs then some poor sap will hand him a giant contract this off-season, ignoring the emptiness that was the majority of his season.
• Even sadder, at 5-9 the 49ers are still in the playoff hunt because they are only 1 game back of the division leaders of the NFC West.  All I'm asking Santa for this year is that he make it so none of the NFC West teams get to take a playoff spot!
• The Bengals were a playoff team last year and added Terrell Owens to make the offense even more explosive this year.  Instead, they've been one of the most disappointing teams in the league.  They finally broke a 10 game losing streak this week to get only their 3rd win of the season.  T.O. left the game early with an injury (torn meniscus - out for the year).  Coincidence?
• Cleveland continues to play down to their competition by losing to bad teams and only playing well against good ones.  They should petition for a harder schedule next year so they might have a chance at the playoffs.
• It appears that the Donovan McNabb era has come to an end in Washington, just weeks after agreeing to a 5 year extension.  The extension seemed crazy at the time, considering the previous week they had benched McNabb at the end of the game.  It's still unclear why they bothered to do it, considering he's no longer the future of their franchise.  At least they were creative with the contract, guaranteeing only a $3.5 million signing bonus for this year.  If they cut him before the start of next season then they don't owe him anything else.  McNabb has apparently been benched for the rest of this season, so it's hard to envision anything but a mutual parting at the end of this season.
• McNabb is having one of the worst seasons of his career statically, but he still deserves better than to be benched like this.  The Redskins traded away 2nd and 4th round draft picks to get him from the Eagles and paid him a lot of money.  They aren't making the playoffs, but they don't have a young QB on the roster to groom for the future.  No offense to Rex Grossman, who actually put up some good numbers in this week's loss, but he's not the future of the franchise.  Starting him is just another way to further embarrass McNabb, and that's not right.  This whole experiment in Washington has been another disaster to add to the list of bad decisions by their owner, "Chainsaw" Dan Snyder.
• It's been a lost season for the Cowboys, but at least they got a win over one of their most hated rivals and have a chance to pass them in the standings to avoid finishing in last in the NFC East.
• Andre Johnson didn't get a chance to punch Cortland Finnegan this time, but he did get the better of him for a TD catch in the second half.  It was the Titans that got the better of the Texans on the scoreboard though in a game that was never even close.
• A team finally managed to stop Arian Foster (league leading 1345 rushing yards this season).  Sure he only got 11 carries due to the lopsided score and his early exit with an ankle injury, but he did nothing with them, totalling only 15 yards.  He still has a slight lead for the league rushing title, but Maurice Jones-Drew (1324) is closing in fast.
• Speaking of MoJo, the reason he wasn't able to take advantage of the sub-par day by Foster to take away the league lead in rushing is because he had a poor day of his own against a terrible Colts rush defense.  MoJo typically runs wild over the division rival Colts, but was held this week to only 46 yards in the loss.  The Jaguars passing attack isn't nearly formidable enough to keep up with Manning and the Colts, so when MoJo doesn't have it going they have no chance.
• Manning's day wasn't all that spectacular, but he did manage to connect twice with Austin Collie for TDs to help get his team back at the top of the division.  So much for our hopes that the Colts might miss the playoffs.
• Collie had another excellent day before leaving with another concussion - his third of the season.  There's no way they should let him play again this year.
• The Jags had a chance to make a comeback when they scored in the final two minutes to pull within 3.  They needed an on side kick to pull off the improbable win, but it didn't go according to plan. In fact, it couldn't have gone much worse, as not only did they not recover, but the Colts returned the kick 41 yards for a TD to put the game out of reach.
• Matt Cassell made a surprisingly early return from his recovery from an appendectomy to get his Chiefs one step closer to the AFC West title.
• The Bills have won 4 of their last 6 games after winning in Miami this week.  Maybe the coaching staff is hoping a strong finish will save their jobs, but it's hurting their chances for a top draft pick.
• At 7-7 the Dolphins playoff hopes are now over.  By week 17 the Patriots may have locked up the top seed already, so they probably won't even get a chance to play the spoiler role.
• The Giants 4th quarter meltdown, being called the Miracle at the Meadowlands, may cost them a shot at the division.  They played great through 3 and a half quarters, coming in with a great defensive scheme to keep Michael Vick off balance.  Leading 31-10 halfway through the 4th quarter it appeared they had the game wrapped up.  Not so fast!
• Vick got things started on a drive that only needed two plays, ending with a 65 yard TD pass to a wide open Brent Celek.  It's ok Giants defense, still a big lead, so you can still relax.
• The Giants coaching staff fails to be prepared for an on side kick.  They later claimed they warned the team about it, but they still didn't put in their hands team, which specializes in these situations.  Tom Coughlin also seemed shocked that the Eagles would try that with so much time remaining, despite the large lead.  Eagles recover, leading to another quick scoring drive that was made primarily by Vick running all over the place.  93 of his 130 rushing yards came in the 4th quarter.  The Giants couldn't stop him even when they knew it was coming, like on the TD run to end that drive.
• Eli Manning forces the Eagles to use all three of their time outs to preserve time during the Giants next drive, but it ends with a punt.  Eagles are still alive!
• Vick leads another masterful drive, mostly with his legs again, to tie the game with under two minutes to go!
• Eli and the Giants go three and out and are forced to punt with 14 seconds left.  If they punt the ball out of bounds the Eagles will probably only have time for one play to try to get into FG range to win.  Instead they inexplicably punt the ball down the middle of the field to DeSean Jackson - only the most dangerous player on the field.  Despite muffing the catch on the punt, Jackson manages to recover and dart his way down the field through a sea of helpless defenders on his way to the game winning TD.  How do you even let Jackson have a chance to touch the ball?!  Tom Coughlin ripped into his punter for the mistake, but the Giants had a long list of mistakes that led to this disaster ending.  There's plenty of blame to go around, and it starts with the coach.
• On a related note, one of his Eagle's teammates is going to kill DeSean Jackson one of these days.  Despite making another amazing play, he ended it with another bone-head decision by running along the goal line for several steps before finally crossing over into the endzone for the game winning score.  It looked like he was trying to run more time off the clock.  The problem is... time had already expired!  So what was he trying to do?  It didn't cost them because he still scored, but his foolishness is going to cost them one of these days.
• Devastating loss for the Giants.  Not sure what was more pathetic to watch, the 4th quarter meltdown, or Eli's post game press conference.
• The Lions finally snapped a 26 game road losing streak by winning a game in Tampa.  Remember back when Raheem Morris claimed his Bucs were the NFC's best team?  Yeah... the Bucs can now shamefully excuse themselves from the playoff race.
• The Panthers managed to fend off a late Cardinals rally to win the battle of terrible QBs.  Is there a more motivated player in the league to save his job than Jimmy Clausen?  He was drafted this year to be the new franchise QB but has performed terribly.  He has to win at least a couple games to avoid his team finishing with the league's worst record, in which case the Panthers will undoubtedly select a QB with the first overall pick.  Good Luck with that. 
• The Ravens stayed alive in the AFC North race with a big win over the Saints thanks to a monster performance by Ray Rice (153 rushing yards, 80 receiving yards and 2 TDs).
• The Saints need to win in Atlanta to have a chance at the NFC South division.  Too bad Atlanta never loses at home (Matt Ryan has only lost 1 home game in his 3 year career).  They need to win at least 1 of their remaining 2 games to ensure a playoff spot.
• Meanwhile, the Falcons gave themselves a nice 2 game cushion for the division lead.  Even if they lose to the Saints next week, it should be relatively easy for them to clinch the division in week 17 against the lowly Panthers.
• The Seahawks missed a chance to capitalize on the earlier Rams loss to take control of the division.  All of the NFC West teams lost, so the standings within the division don't change.  It's now not possible for any team in the division to finish at better than 8-8, and most likely the division winner will have no more than 7 wins.
• Seahawks fans were treated to an appearance by Charlie Whitehurst, who took over for the ineffective Matt Hasselbeck.  Pretty sad when fans chant for and get excited over a guy like Whitehurst, as if he's a huge upgrade.
• Tim Tebow made his long awaited debut as a starting QB.  While he isn't likely to put up the kind of passing yards that Orton did, his throwing mechanics weren't quite as terrible as advertised.  He didn't throw much, but he did manage a few pretty good throws.  He also displayed the ability to make plays with his feet, rushing for a team high 78 yards and a TD.  He's no Mike Vick, but the kid can be a playmaker, as he showed on his impressive TD run.  It didn't translate to a win, but maybe the Denver fans can have something to be excited about.
• It didn't matter that Jason Campbell was bad because the Broncos could not stop Oakland's rushing attack.
• Oakland has very little chance at a playoff spot, and their remaining games against the Colts and Chiefs mean that they will likely finish with only 7 wins, 8 at the most.  That's still a lot better than what many people expected from them, especially the Patriots, who thought that first round pick would be better than top 15-20 when they gave up Richard Seymour.
• The Jets got back on track with a win in Pittsburgh in the battle of struggling offenses.  Marc Sanchez was still a little shaky, but his 7 yard bootleg run off a fake was a beautiful play that was a big factor in their win.  Even the cameramen were fooled on that play.  It was the first offensive TD the Jets had scored this month.  Sanchez promised his team he wouldn't lose this game and he came through.
• Despite another tough home loss, the Steelers still managed to clinch a playoff spot due to a series of tie-breakers with competing teams that also lost this week.  They also hold a tie-breaker over the Ravens, so if they can win their last two games against Carolina and Cleveland then they will still win the AFC North.
• The Packers were reeling and without QB Aaron Rodgers, who was forced to sit out with a concussion.  The Patriots were on a roll and are unbeatable at home, so they should have been able to coast to an easy victory, right?  Not exactly.  While they did get the victory in the end, it was anything but easy. 
• The Packers set the tone early by starting out the game with an on side kick, which they recovered to start a drive ending with a field goal for the early lead.
• Rookie QB Matt Flynn (251 yards, 3 TDs) outperformed Tom Brady (163 yards, 2 TDs).
• Flynn had the look of a reliable veteran up until the very end.  With time running out and no time outs remaining, Flynn had to move fast to set up a play.  He looked confused and started to panic as he hurried his team to the line.  Even as the ball was snapped it was unclear if Flynn even knew what the play was (he later said he wasn't sure if they got the 1st down or not), but there was no more time to waste.  The game ended moments later with a sack and a fumble.  You have to think that a veteran the caliber of Rodgers would have showed better late game management than the rookie did, which cost them the game.
• Tom Brady set a single season NFL record for most consecutive passes (292) without an interception.  There were several throws in this game that came close to ending that streak, as a couple of tipped passes and passes dropped by defenders could have easily resulted in a turnover.  It's only fitting that the pass that broke the record was one of those tipped passes that was a finger tip away from being intercepted.
• The Patriots played poorly on both sides of the ball.  They pressured Flynn early on, keeping him rattled, but ended up making too many mistakes which helped build his confidence.
• The big turning point was the 66 yard TD throw to James Jones.  Brandon Merriweather took a bad angle on the play, getting there late, and bowling over his own teammate.  Devin McCourty likely would have made the tackle to save the TD if the collision hadn't taken him out of the play.
• The play of the game may have been Dan Connolly's 71 yard kick-off return - the longest return by an offensive lineman in NFL history.  The play was equal parts surprising, exciting and hilarious.
• I don't typically like to complain about the refs (except during the game when I'm yelling at my TV) but it seemed like they were awfully trigger happy with the flags in this game knowing Commissioner Roger Goodell was in attendance.
• McCourty was flagged for unnecessary roughness for a helmet to helmet hit that seemed very boarderline.  I'm all in favor of protecting the players, especially when it comes to head injuries, but there was nothing vicious about this hit.  Yes, the helmets did touch, but McCourty didn't lead with his helmet and the initial contact came with his shoulder.  The receiver tucked his head on contact causing unintentional contact with their helmets.  The rule is in place to prevent players from using their helmet as a weapon or from launching themselves like a missile at a defenseless receiver.  Neither of those things happened on this play.  I'm not sure how else McCourty could have made that tackle, as he seemed to do everything fundamentally right.  If Goodell wasn't watching they probably don't throw a flag there.
• Vince Wilfork was called for a costly facemak penalty that helped extend a drive that ended in a TD.  While he did clearly grab the runners facemask, it was only because he was blatantly being held.  Wilfork tried to plead this case to the refs, who claimed they didn't see that part.  Yet the announcers saw it happen and on replay it was pretty clear, so I'm not sure how they  missed it.
• An interception late in the game that would have pretty much clinched the victory for the Pats was overturned due to an illegal hands to the face penalty.  Once again, they were right to call the penalty, as Tully Banta-Cain got his hand up under the player's facemask and drove him back, which is illegal.  However, they failed to notice that the player also had a firm grasp on Banta-Cain's facemask, which should have resulted in off-setting penalties. 
•  The Chicago Bears became the first team in the league to clinch their division this season after blowing out the Vikings on Monday night.  Who outside of Chicago would have picked that to happen before the season started?
• Adrian Peterson was a surprise late scratch from the game with a knee injury.  I'm not sure how much he would have helped the Vikings anyway, but there are a lot of angry Fantasy Football owners out there this morning.
• One week after seeing his vaunted consecutive games streak snapped, Brett Favre rose from the grave to start the game for the Vikings.  He didn't last long before leaving with another injury, this time a concussion. 
• Here's a question - why even bother to let him play?  Granted the Vikings are short on options at QB, but last week should have been an end to a career that's already gone on too long.  Why let him play hurt when your team is already eliminated from playoff contention?  Now with a head injury involved there is no way they should let him play next week.  There is also no way that he will be ruled out until just before kick-off, so we'll have to suffer through a week of
  will-he-or-won't-he play drama.... again.
• Conspiracy Theory: The NFL is still investigating claims that Favre sent some racy cell phone pictures to Jenn Sterger.  The issue is still pending a decision from the Commissioner as to whether to punish Favre for violating the league's personal conduct policy, which he says should come before the end of the season.  Well Mr. Goodell, the season is almost over.  If Favre retires after the season then there's really nothing you can do to punish him.  But wait... what if the punishment has already been dealt?  What if Goodell suspended Favre, but in order to save him the embarrassment of the whole situation by making it public, he instead kept the information a secret.  Favre's punishment is to have his streak snapped, but he was allowed to blame it on his various injuries rather than to call it a suspension.  Kind of like when David Stern asked Michael Jordon to go play baseball for a little while.  That's not to downplay the severity of his injuries, but Favre has played through worse before.  If it was up to him, and his ego, he'd want to play to keep his streak intact.  So maybe it wasn't up to him.  Just a theory.
• Is it a coincidence that Jenn Sterger's last name spelled backwards is REGRETS? 
• The playoff picture is starting to take shape, but it's far from complete.  Only one team (Bears) has clinched their division and only 3 other teams (Pats, Falcons, Steelers) have clinched a playoff spot.  Several divisions will likely come down to the final week before settling on division winners and wild cards.
• Merry Christmas! 

Orlando shakes things up

In two separate moves on Saturday the Orlando Magic made some drastic changes to their roster in hopes of shaking things up for the Eastern Conference contenders.  Orlando will send Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat and Mickael Pietrus to Phoenix for Jason Richardson, Hedu Turkoglu and Earl Clark.  As if one blockbuster move wasn't enough for the day, they also will send Rashard Lewis to Washington for Gilbert Arenas.

After losing 5 of their last 6 games and falling to 4th place in the Eastern Conference, the Magic were eager to make some changes.  Despite making it to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, as well as to the NBA Finals the previous year, the Magic felt their current roster was not sufficient enough to compete against the reloaded Celtics or the All-Star trio gathered in Miami.  These bold moves are a clear sign that Orlando intends to be a title contender over the next several years, but it remains to be seen if the risk will pay off.

Here is a breakdown of how these moves impact the three teams involved.

Orlando
The struggles the Magic have had this season were in part due to further decline by Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter, both of whom are on the wrong side of 30 and having seasons far below their career averages.  Jason Richardson is a couple of years younger and having a better season.  He's a three point threat, shooting just under 42% from beyond the arc this year, that should fit in well with Orlando's collection of shooters that they use to space the floor around Dwight Howard.
Orlando also will welcome back Hedo Turkoglu, who's best seasons were with Orlando a couple of years ago, but has struggled in shot stints in Toronto and Phoenix in the past year plus where he seemed to be mis-cast in his role.  Turkoglu is at his best when playing the point-forward role where he can have the ball in his hands and create shots for himself and his teammates.  The Magic haven't been the same since letting him go, so they hope adding him back will get them back to the elite level they were at a couple years ago when Turkoglu helped get them to the NBA Finals.  It is a bit strange that the reason they let him go in the first place was over not wanting to pay him that much money, yet less than two years later they have now traded for that same over-priced contract, as well as added a lot more total salary over the next few years with these two trades.
The biggest risk for the Magic is the addition of the controversial and combustible Gilbert Arenas.  Not only does he come with a health warning label due to knees that have been operated on several times over the past few years, but he also has character issues after being suspended last year for nearly starting a gun fight in the locker room last year.  He's the biggest wild card in this, because the former All-Star can be one of the games most potent scorers when things are going right, but there is a lot that could go wrong that could derail the team and their title hopes.

Phoenix
After watching Amar'e Stoudamire leave town this off-season and Steve Nash's career winding down, it's time for the sun to set in Phoenix.  Pietrus gives them an expiring contract that could be used later in another trade (he has a $5.3 million player option for next year, which he could decline if the team gives him the impression that he's not a part of their future plans).  Vince Carter is a shadow of his former self and being traded from a contender to a re-building project could cause him to fall into a disgruntled funk.  There is also the chance that playing in a player friendly system with Nash feeding him easy passes could revitalize him in the desert.  Phoenix's highly regarded training staff could do wonders for a guy like Carter that has been banged up a lot in recent years (just ask Grant Hill how great that staff is).  He could help pick up much of the scoring slack left by the departure of Richardson, and if it doesn't work out then parting ways after this season should be easy enough since only $4 million of his $18 million contract for next year is guaranteed.  The move gets them out of Turkoglu's toxic contract and saves them a ton of money in the future.
They also get Gortat, who should help a team that is extremely thin on big men.  Stuck behind Howard in Orlando, Gortat was frustrated with his lack of playing time, but he should get plenty in Phoenix, where only Robin Lopez stands in his way.  He has played well in limited minutes and will bring some much needed rebounding and toughness inside for the Suns.
Phoenix also gets an unreported amount of cash along with a 2011 1st round draft pick from Orlando in the deal.

Washington
It was once assumed that the Wizards had no chance of trading Arenas after his recent string of legal troubles and knee injuries.  This trade is a win for them because it finally rids them of their controversial star and the $60 million remaining on his contract.  With Johns Wall in the mix now, Arenas became expendable.  The two point guards have yet to share much court time together this season due to injuries to both of them, but many people are in agreement that they aren't a very good match.
For the Wizards, this is a matter of trading one bad contract for another.  Lewis has seen his skills drop off significantly the past couple seasons and there is little reason to think a change of scenery will fix that.  However, he comes with less character and health issues than Arenas, and has one year less left on his contract.  While Lewis' contract is an albatross in itself, it isn't quite as bad as Arenas'.  You get the feeling they would have taken just about anyone as long as the total amount of money left on the contract was less than what they owed Arenas.  The trade saves them money in the long run, saves them headaches in the short term, and officially gives John Wall the keys to the franchise.


Conclusion
The Wizards and Suns both come out as winners in these trades, not because they acquire the most talent, but because of the money it saves them.  It also signals that each franchise has made a decision to move on and re-build.  For Phoenix, it remains to be seen how this deal impacts Steve Nash.  He's shown no indication that he wants to leave, and he's too classy a player to publicly demand his way out.  With his career winding down, if he ever hopes to win a championship, he must know it's not going to happen in Phoenix.  It's a tough situation, since he deserves better than to waste away his remaining years on a bad team.  The Suns would be better off trading him to help continue their rebuilding process, but he means so much to their franchise that the backlash from fans could cripple them for years.
For the Magic, the deals have the potential to make them winners, but it's a big risk.  They must have figured they weren't winning a title with what they had, so a couple of bold moves were needed to give them a chance.  They are desperate to win now in order to keep Dwight Howard happy to prevent him from bolting to join up with other star players when his contract runs out, similar to what we saw this off-season with LeBron James and Chris Bosh.  They'll do whatever it takes to make sure they don't wind up like Cleveland or Toronto, or get stuck in the mess the Nuggets currently find themselves in with Carmelo Anthony.  If the players they traded for play to their potential then Orlando re-establishes themselves as an elite team in the East.  If Turkoglu struggles to re-acclimate with the team or Arenas misses as much time as he has in recent seasons then it could blow up in their faces.  It's a big risk for a small market team like Orlando to take given the assets they give up and the amount of money they take on over the next several years.
For what it's worth, the ESPN Trade Machine predicts the trade will actually make Orlando worse by a devastating 7 games.  That seems like a worst case scenario, yet not necessarily an unlikely one.  One thing's for sure, things just got a lot more interesting for the Eastern Conference.

Streaking C's

Haven't we seen this before?  After a thrilling last second victory over the division "rival" Knicks, the Boston Celtics find themselves on a league best 11 game winning streak.  They sit a top the Eastern Conference with their 20-4 record, which trails only San Antonio (21-3) for the NBA's best record.  It's an impressive start, but not one that should be unexpected.  After all, these Celtics have a record of 16-4 or better in each of the past four seasons during the new Big Three era, which no other franchise in history has accomplished. 

If recent history isn't enough to support the notion that this start is no fluke, the stats certainly back them up.  Per usual, the Celtics are getting it done on the defensive end.  Their +9.42 average scoring margin is third in the league, which is mostly thanks to ranking second best in the league in opponents points per game (92.0).  They rank in the top 10 in opponents field goal percentage and opponents 3-point field goal percentage.  While turnovers have historically plagued this team, they make up for it by being third in the league in forcing opponents turnovers, giving them a positive differential.  Rajon Rondo, who led the league in steals last season, is currently third in the league.  Glen Davis has been huge off the bench, forcing turnovers by leading the league in drawing charges.  Then there is Kevin Garnett.  Finally healthy and with a spring in his step, KG has regained his form as the ferocious defensive leader, leading the league in defensive rating (92.6), helping them become tops in the league in defensive efficiency.

They aren't too shabby on the offense end either.  While they may not be one of the league's highest scoring teams, in part because they are in the bottom third of the league in pace, they are still in the top third of the league in offensive efficiency.  They lead the league in True Shooting Percentage, which is derived from a formula which calculates field goal percentage with free throws and 3's factored in.  Their efficient scoring is helped by great ball movement, which starts with the brilliant play of Rondo.  He leads the league in assists by a comfortable margin (13.8).  A year after setting the Celtics franchise single season record in assists, he is on pace to have the highest assist average in the league since John Stockton set the record in 1990 (14.5).  Rondo is a master at getting great looks for his teammates, as we have already seen a highlight reel full of dishes and alley-oops early in the season.

While the strong start is encouraging, you can't help but feel a bit uneasy about their chances of sustaining this success.  Last season the Celtics got off to a similar dominant start, boasting a record of 23-5 after their big win in Orlando on Christmas Day.  From that point on the team began to struggle with injuries and inconsistency, leading to a mediocre 27-27 stretch for their remaining games.  It was still enough to win the miserable Atlantic Division and give them a top three playoff seed, which helped them stomp through the playoffs en route to a Finals appearance against the Lakers, where they eventually lost a heart-breaking game 7 in LA.  If Boston hopes to win a title this year they need to finish stronger in the regular season.  That final game being played in LA instead of Boston may have been the deciding factor in a relatively even series, so clinching a top seed to ensure home court advantage would be a big advantage.

Remaining on top is much easier said than done.  Last year's team struggled with injuries, an issue that won't go away with an aging team of veterans.  The team has already been hit hard with a rash of injuries to key players.  Kendrick Perkins is out until mid-season with a knee injury suffered in last year's Finals.  Jermaine O'Neal and Shaq, two former All-Star big men that were brought in to help replace him, have struggled to stay healthy, forcing the Celtics to start 4th string center Semih Erdin (a 2nd round pick rookie that was far from a lock to even make the team).  Rajon Rondo has missed 5 games already this year with a strained hamstring that could flare up at any time.  He's also dealing with a painful bout of planter fasciitis as well as an ankle that he sprained last night.  Behind him on the depth chart the options are slim, with Nate Robinson and rarely used rookie Avery Bradely the only options due to a broken wrist suffered by Delonte West earlier this season (after West had already finished a 10 game suspension to open the season).  Injuries have thinned out the depth of the roster to a point that could soon haunt them.  While they have players that can step in and contribute as starters thanks to their veteran core, doing so depletes the bench, which has struggled this year.  While the team would ideally like to limit the minutes of their veteran starters during the regular season, they are often times forced to push their minutes beyond a comfortable limit to stay in games when their thin bench struggles to keep a lead.

While injuries are impossible to predict, it's hard to imagine things getting much worse than what the team has already had to deal with (knock on wood).  It's reasonable to expect that as the team gets their players healthier in the second half of the season that they should be able to sustain at least most of the success that we've seen so far.  A deeper roster will help improve the inconsistency of the bench and help players find a groove in a more permanent role, finding a rhythm with the teammates they share the floor with.  It will also allow the starters to get more rest down the stretch to keep them strong and fresh for the playoffs.  The Celtics want to avoid having to sacrifice regular season games and a higher seed to ensure they are rested and healthy for the postseason.  While that tactic worked last year, it was done out of necessity.  The team would prefer not to have to rely on that plan this year.  If they can get healthy then we may be seeing banner 18 raised to the rafters this June.

NFL Week 14 Review

You know we must be getting close to the end of the regular season when snow storms start impacting games.  Is this the part where I throw in one of those "the weather is getting colder, but the action is just heating up!" cliches?

Or maybe you can just check out this video from the Metrodome, where a snow storm caused the roof to cave in, pouring snow onto the field.  Pretty scary incident, but at least nobody was near the field at the time.  The Giants/Vikings game had to be moved to Monday night in Detroit and there is no telling if the stadium can be repaired before the Vikings next home game.

Aside from stadiums falling apart, here are some other things I noticed this week.

• Payton Manning took a break from throwing interceptions long enough to pull out a win this week, keeping their playoff hopes alive.
• Are you kidding me, Tennessee?  Jeff Fisher has been a good coach for a long time, but this game was not his best work as far as game management.  Trailing by 9 points, the Titans needed two scores to win.  Instead of kicking the field goal as soon as they were in range, then going for the on-side kick/hail mary miracle, the Titans kept the drive going.  They did manage to get in the endzone to pull the game within 2 points... just as time expired.  They never gave themselves a chance to win.  Great job guys, you lost the game but at least you beat the spread, so a lot of people that gambled on the Colts this week hate you now.
• Did Randy Moss even play in this game?  Not only was he held without a catch again, he wasn't even targeted.  Considering at the start of the season he was considered one of the elite receivers in the game, has there ever been a worse non-injury related fall from grace in the middle of a season? Teams that employ Moss this season (Patriots, Vikings, Titans) are a combined 4-9 with Moss on their team. He's the NFL's new example of the Ewing Theory.
• The snow impacted another game in Chicago, but unfortunately for the home team it only impacted them.  The Patriots did just fine playing in the snow in the 36-7 beat down.  The Pats are now 10-0 in snow games in the Belichick era.
• The Brady/Belichick combo moved into 2nd place all-time with their 108th regular season win.  
• Brady tied an NFL record with his 6th straight game with at least 2 TDs and no interceptions. He's closing in on another record, having thrown 268 straight passes without an interception.
• Those are records Jay Cutler will never come close to.  He's improved his turnover rate from last year's miserable season, but after two more picks this week he's now up to 12 on the season. He also lost a fumble this week.
• Brady has a season high 369 yards, with Branch (151) and Welker (115) both eclipsing the century mark in receiving.
• The Patriots young defense, long considered to be the weakness of this team, continues to improve. They entered the week as one of the worst teams in the league in terms of yards per game, giving up almost 400 yards per game.  This week they gave up less than half of that (185 total yards).  After only giving up 7 points this week they've also jumped up to the middle of the pack in points allowed.
• Buffalo got it's third win of the season over another team that won't be making the playoffs.  Cleveland seems to only play well against good teams.  Three of their 5 wins this season have come against teams with winning records (Saints, Patriots, Dolphins) and they nearly beat the Jets a few weeks ago.
• The Packers may have seen their playoff hopes spiral down the drain this week, and not because they remain 1 game behind Chicago for the division lead, or because there is an unofficial rule that says a team can't make the playoffs if they have lost to the Lions.  The concussion suffered by Aaron Rodgers is of much greater concern.  Not that the offense looked very good even while he was in there, but you have to expect they would have put up more than 3 points if he had played the whole game.  His status for next weeks game in New England is in doubt and depending on the severity of the concussion it could be several weeks.  It's the second concussion he's suffered this season, so that should be a factor.  The NFL is making a point of being cautious with head injuries this year, but will they continue to be as strict about it as the season winds down and playoff spots are on the line?
• The Bengals could have beaten the Steelers this week.  At least they would have if the TD passes Caron Palmer threw were to his own teammates.  The Steelers returned two picks for TDs, including this one by Troy Polamalu that ended in a spectacular dive to the endzone.
• Apparently Ben Roethisberger did break his nose, despite the Steelers claims last week that he didn't.  He wore a visor on his helmet to protect his face to start the game, but the raindrops were clearly obstructing his view and effecting his play.  He removed the visor later in the game.
• Washington needs to start trying out some new kickers because Graham Gano is probably out of a job after this loss.  Maybe the entire special teams unit should be gone.  The Redskins kicker missed two short field goals in the game and barely made the 25 yard kick he did manage to convert.  Despite the failed attempts, Gano had a chance to redeem himself after McNabb led the team on a last second TD drive.  The extra point would have tied the game, but the kick never came, as the snap sailed over the holder's head.  Game over.  Why not just go for the two point conversion to win?  Given their kicking struggles in the rain that day, and McNabb's confusion with overtime rules, maybe that would have been the better choice.
• The NFC's best team had no trouble against the lowly Panthers.  Atlanta cruised to a 31-10 win to improve to 11-2 on the season, tied with the Patriots for the NFL lead.  
• Michael Turner had a big game, going over the 100 yard mark and scoring 3 TDs.
• The Jaguars outlasted the Raiders in a back and forth game that was clinched with a 30 yard TD run by Maurice Jones-Drew with about a minute and half left.  The Jags remain in first in the NFC South, which has to be the biggest surprise of any division leader.
• Darren McFadden did all he could to keep his team in the game, totaling over 200 yards and 3 TDs. He'll end up with a few games that are complete duds and his injury history is well documented, but it's games like this that remind you that he's one of the games more dangerous big play RBs.
• The Saints did their part to keep pace in the NFC South, but still trail the Falcons by one game and have to play them again in Atlanta.
• Drew Brees trails only Tom Brady in TDs (28), but also leads all QBs with interceptions (18).  Not really the ratio they were hoping for, or what they've come to expect from the Super Bowl MVP.
• The 49ers blew out the Seahawks to climb back into the NFC West race.  They trail Seattle and St. Louis by only one game.  Pretty impressive considering the terrible start they got off to and the fact that they lost their best player to injury for the rest of the season.  With the way they've turned things around you'd think they must have fired their coach or something.
• Nope, Mike Singletary is somehow still employed.  He must read this blog too because he finally listened to me by including Brian Westbrook in the passing game.  He led the team with 6 catches for 87 yards and a TD.
• If last week's blowout loss to the Patriots was embarrassing then how do you classify a home loss to the Dolphins?  Once again, you can't fault the defense, which held Miami to only 55 passing yards, 131 total yards and 10 points.  How do you lose a team that has that bad of an offensive game?  The Jets more than doubled the Dolphins yardage, but that's not saying much.  They played a sloppy game again and it's finally caught up to them.
• To add to their embarrassment, a Jets coach was caught on video sticking his leg out to trip a Dolphins player on a punt return.  That's pathetic.  He has been suspended for the rest of the season and probably shouldn't be allowed back after that.
• The Jets were a trendy Super Bowl pick coming into the season, but I still can't see why.  Was it their strong defense (good, but hardly the league's best - 5th in yards, 6th in points)?  Their appearance on HBO's Hard Knocks?  Or their improbable run to last year's AFC title game?  Let's not forget, the Jets only made the playoffs last year because in their last two regular season games they were basically handed wins because their opponents had already locked in their playoff spots.  That luck carried over to this year, where they went on a run over a 3 week span mid-season that saw them get narrow victories (two in OT) that they easily should have lost if not for last minute blunders by the opponents that handed the Jets the win.
• Last year the Jets got hot at the right time.  This season the Jets started out strong and are falling apart down the stretch.  It's looking a lot more like 2008 than 2009.
• Well, so much for the theory that firing your coach means you'll turn your season around immediately.  In their first game since firing Josh McDaniels the Broncos had perhaps their worst loss of the season against a terrible Cardinals team that was starting it's 3rd string QB.
• Only a few weeks ago Kyle Orton was playing like an MVP (or at least a Fantasy Football MVP), but his season has gone down in flames the past couple weeks.  He's fallen even further behind the league leader in passing yards, a position he once held himself a few weeks ago.
• The Chargers rebounded from the stink bomb against Oakland last week to shut out the Matt Cassel-less Chiefs.  The division can essentially be handed to them now if Cassel is out with an appendectomy for the next couple weeks - possibly even for the season.
• It was a nice run this season to get back to respectability KC, but you aren't winning with Brodie Croyle as your QB. He was so bad, not just because he totaled only 40 yards, but because his ineffectiveness rubbed off on his stud RBs. Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones were held to only 41 yards between the two of them.
• The Eagles won on Sunday night thanks to the DeSean Jackson show. Despite having to leave the game several times with ankle issues, Jackson hauled in 4 huge catches for 210 yards and a TD.
• Jackson drew a flag for an unnecessary endzone celebration because he stopped just short of the endzone, turned around and fell backwards into the endzone. Can you really get flagged for an endzone celebration when it doesn't actually happen in the endzone?
• That flag was almost as ridiculous as the fact that Jackson actually did that. This isn't the first time Jackson has tried to get creative near the goal line, but at least this time it didn't cost him. Last year he spiked the ball to the ground to celebrate a TD catch, which was called back because he hadn't actually crossed the endzone line yet when he let go of the ball, causing a fumble. In college he tried to do a flip into the endzone, but landed just short of the line and fumbled the ball. So maybe he does deserve a flag - for stupidity!
• The Cowboys are only 1-6 at home this year.  At this rate, pretty soon they won't have any fans left to put in that giant stadium.  At least they have played better since firing Wade Phillips, so there are signs that they can turn things around next year when Romo is back.
• The streak is over!  Brett Favre's ironman record of 297 consecutive starts was finally snapped this week as the old man was forced to sit out with an injury.  It may not be just the streak that's ending, but also his career.  Given his poor play and the end to his famous streak, it's hard to imagine he'll be back next year (although he'll still likely make it a mystery all off-season), so if he's not fully healthy there is little insentive for the team to play him in their last three games since they are already out of contention.  Sad to see his career end on such a whimper.  He should have retired after last year.
• There's a lot of negative things you can say about Favre - the scandals, the flip-flopping retirement sagas, the teams he's destroyed.  All jokes aside though, you can't argue the legacy that he leaves behind.  If this truly is the end of his career then it will end with him holding almost every major record for a Quarterback.  Let's hope that he will be remembered for the great years he had in his prime in Green Bay and not for the media circus that he's put himself in over the past few years.
• Oh yeah, and the Giants crushed the Vikings thanks to a pounding running game.  Both Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs passed the 100 yard mark and each scored a TD.
• The Texans offense was pathetic in the first half, which looked like it was going to turn into a route for the Ravens.  Matt Schuab had competed less than a third of his passes by that point, thanks in part to a ridiculous amount of dropped passes by his receivers.  They finally showed some signs of life in the final minute before halftime, when Schuab connected on a TD pass to Andre Johnson.  That play gave them some much needed momentum for the second half, which sparked their improbable comeback, which saw the second half end much like the first half did - on a TD pass to Andre Johnson.  Unfortunately that just led to a tie and the Ravens won in OT.  Still, it was an impressive turn around to make it a very exciting game down the stretch.
• As great as Schaub played in the second half, he ended up costing them the game with an interception in OT that was returned for a TD.
• With his 29th career victory, Joe Flacco is now tied for third for most wins as a starting QB in their first three seasons in the league since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.
• New England has passed Green Bay for the top scoring differential in the NFL (+139).
• The Bengals (2-11) have lost their past 10 games.  They are the only team in the league to have a double digit losing streak all season.  Carolina (1-12) has lost their last 7 games, so with only 3 games remaining they are the only team that even has a chance to reach a double digit losing streak.

Carl Crawford running with Sox

Has any team in baseball made more of an impact this off-season than the Boston Red Sox?  It's certainly a hard point to argue in the wake of this past week's blockbuster moves.  Red Sox Nation had yet to settle down from their giddy excitement over the pivotal trade for Adrian Gonzalez before the team shocked the baseball world with another blockbuster move - signing free agent LF Carl Crawford to a 7 year $142 million deal.

Crawford joins an already impressive line-up to give the Red Sox what may be the most potent line-up 1-9 that they have had in recent memory.  He's coming off a season where he hit .309 with a .356 OBP and .495 SLG with the Tamp Bay Rays.  His 19 home runs were a career high, and he'll be moving to Fenway park, where the short right field foul pole could boost those power numbers into the mid-20's.  His greatest asset is undoubtedly his speed.  He stole 47 bases last season and has averaged 54 steals per season in his career.  Only Juan Pierre has more steals since 2003.  Combined with Jacoby Ellsbury, they will be a terror to deal with on the basepaths. 

His speed is also an important aspect of his game as an outfielder.  The mult-time Gold Glover winner is considered to be the best defensive left fielder in baseball.  He has the speed to cover a lot of ground and has great instincts.  His one negative attribute has been a below average throwing arm, which is negated at Fenway by the Green Monster which shortens left field.  The statistical metric known as Defensive Runs Saved, which measures a player's ability to turn batted balls into outs credits Crawford with 14 runs saved last season, which was the best in the league for LFs.

There is just no denying that Crawford is a big time impact player and undoubtedly the best free agent position player available.  The Red Sox had a hole to fill in the outfield, as they were understandably hesitant to give an everyday spot to either 38 year old Mike Cameron (if he can even stay healthy all season) or rookie Ryan Kalish (who could use a little more seasoning in Pawtucket).  This move sets them up perfectly, with an outfield of Crawford, Ellsbury and Drew for this season.  While Ellsbury is still relatively cheap, the trio of outfielders are still a bit pricey.  However, Drew's large contract will come off the books after this season, opening up a spot for Kalish in 2012, giving the Sox a young, talented outfield that isn't much more expensive than what they've had in recent years.

Still, the argument can be made that 7 years at over $20 million per season is a lot to commit to any player.  Particularly one that doesn't hit for much power, when the home run ball is generally what gets cash registers to ring.  However, Crawford's skills can't be measured in the same way as they would be for a slugging home run hitter.  His speed and ability to hit for average offer a different set of skills than some of the other top players in the game, but they still bring plenty of value.  Crawford's WAR (Wins Above Replacement) of 6.9 was tied for 3rd in the AL last season, showing his all around value to his team.

The Red Sox are generally hesitant to offer long term contracts.  In fact, this deal (as well as the expected extension for Adrian Gonzalez, which should also be for 7 years) is the longest deal given by the current regime.  The largest contract in Red Sox history, given to Manny Ramirez in 2000, was done under the prior ownership.  While these moves on the surface seem to be getting away from the team's long term philosophy, it should be noted that both of these players are still young and entering their peak seasons.  Crawford is only 29 years old, and will be 35 in the last year of the deal.  While athletic speedsters tend to see their skills decline around their mid-30s, the majority of this contract will be during his peak seasons. Even by the end of the contract we should not expect his skills to have declined too much. 

Even if the deal is longer and for more money than the Sox were initially comfortable with, the market dictated that they needed to expand their offer after the Washington Nationals gave Jayson Werth a shocking 7 year $126 million deal last week.  Werth had been on the Red Sox radar because they expected him to be a cheaper alternative to Crawford that would not require as long of a commitment.  Considering Werth is two years older and not quite as talented a player as Crawford, the deal the Nationals gave him is widely considered to be excessive.  The signing was a bit of a head scratcher, considering the Nats won't be a contender for at least another year or two, when Stephan Strasburg will return from injury and Bryce Harper may be ready to contribute.  It wasn't just a bad move for them though, as the ripple effect throughout free agency impacted other players, including Crawford, who of course would not sign for anything less than what Werth got.  As unfair as it may seem for other teams to have to overpay just because another team was foolish enough to do it, that's the way the market works.  Compared to the Werth deal, Crawford's contract actually seems reasonable.

Just as Werth's deal impacted Crawford's, the Red Sox have now impacted other teams looking to sign the remaining free agents.  The Yankees will feel even more pressure to sign Cliff Lee to ensure they get at least one of the major free agents as well as to keep up with Boston.  The Rangers, with new owners and deeper pockets, present the biggest obstacle for them as Texas seems determined to keep Lee.  Crawford was expected to be a back-up plan for both of those teams in the event that they can't get Lee, but now he's off the board.  The Angels were the other favorites in the Crawford sweepstakes, and they must be devastated over losing out.  They must now turn their attention to players like Adrian Beltre and Rafael Soriano - both of whom come with big price tags and are represented by Scott Boras, who the Angel's front office has a bit of an icy relationship with after his client Mark Teixeira spurned them for the Yankees two years ago.

After a depressing 2010 season that was crippled by injuries to many of their core players, the Red Sox were determined to bounce back this season.  At the start of last season, assuming a healthy line-up, the Red Sox were projected to be the best team in baseball.  Obviously that didn't happen, but with the upgrades they've made this season they will likely be the favorites again - at least on paper.

There is still work to be done, as the team must now turn their attention to re-stocking the bullpen, as they are dangerously thin behind Papelbon and Bard.  They will take a long look at free agents like Scott Downs and Brian Fuentes as well as explore some other trade possibilities.  It's also unclear how comfortable the team is with their catching duo of Saltalamacchia and Varitek.  They are rumored to be interested in Russell Martin, who is available after being non-tendered by the Dodgers.

They also need to fill in some depth for their bench, not only to protect against the injury bug, but to balance the roster with some more right handed power.  5 of the 9 hitters expected to be in their line-up are left handed.  That may become a match-up problem against a team like the Yankees, who have a lefty ace in CC Sabathia, as well as Andy Pettite (if he doesn't retire) and they may add another lefty in Cliff Lee.  The Sox would be wise to add some right handed hitters that could help fill in against some of those tough lefties for guys like Ortiz and Drew that tend to struggle against them.

There is still a long way to go before Opening Day in April, but the excitement in Red Sox Nation is boiling over.  GM Theo Epstein and the Red Sox ownership have given their fans an early Christmas present, and his name is Carl Crawford.

NFL Week 13 Review

With several games this week featuring top divisional opponents it's likely that many of these games will help shape up the playoff race.  While no team has been able to wrap up their division yet, there are a few teams that put themselves in the drivers seat with big wins this weekend.

Here are some things that I noticed this week.

• Michael Vick passed for over 300 yards for the second week in a row.  It's the third time this season and only the 5th time in his career that he's achieved that many passing yards in a game.
• He also added 48 rushing yards and a rushing TD, so yeah... he's still a mobile QB.  This season he's finally showing that he can throw as well, making him a complete QB that can beat you so many different ways.  He is one of the most dangerous offensive weapons in the league and probably the hardest player for opposing defenses to game plan for each week.
• Andre Johnson didn't punch anyone this week, but he did abuse the Eagle's injury depleted secondary for 149 yards.
• It didn't come as easily as it should have considering they played the Bengals, but the Saints got a much needed win to stay in the NFC South race.  All it took was some last minute heroics from Drew Brees, who threw the game winning TD with about 30 seconds left in the game. 
• Coach Sean Payton made a gutsy move at the end of the game.  Down three points at the end of the game, he had the opportunity to tie the game and send it to overtime on the road.  Facing 4th and 2 you'd figure that most coaches would take the points to tie, but Payton wanted to go for the win, keeping his offense on the field.  Were they really going for it, or did they just send out the offense to try to draw the Bengals into a penalty?  We'll never know, because whether it was intentional or not, they did get the Bengals to move early, resulting in an automatic first down.  They scored the winning TD on the next play.  Would they have scored without the penalty, with the ball lined up a few yards further back and the do-or-die pressure of a 4th and 2 play?
• Chris Ivory scored the first Saints TD on a big 55 yard run.  He added another TD later and finished with 117 yards on only 15 carries.  On the other end, Cedric Benson also scored 2 TDs, but only managed a miserable 49 yards on 19 carries against a team not known for it's stout rush defense.
• The Lions got screwed against the Bears again!  They lost their early season match-up when the referees determined Calvin Johnson did not hold on to the would-be game winning TD catch for long enough when he came down with it in the endzone.  This week the Bears game winning drive was aided by a huge unnecessary roughness penalty. 
• Referee Ed Hochuli defended the call by saying "I felt it was an unnecessary non-football act -- a blow to the back of the runner's helmet in the process of him going down."  The problem is, it didn't seem that Suh actually hit Cutler in the head.  It was a borderline call at best, one that typically would not be called.
• Donald Driver wins the award this week for scoring a TD with the greatest degree of difficulty with his ridiculous 61 yard catch that included breaking a tackle from just about every defensive player on the field.  Not bad, old man.
• The blast from the past revival for Brian Westbrook only lasted one week.  He had an even split with Anthony Dixon, with both RBs getting 9 carries and each of them barely cracking the 30 yard mark.  Once again Westbrook was an afterthought in the passing game as well.
• With Kerry Collins back this week the Titans offense couldn't possibly be a putrid as it was with Rusty Smith at the helm, but it wasn't much better either.
• After leading the league in rushing last year when he broke the 2K yard mark, Chris Johnson has now fallen out of the top 5 in rushing yards for the season after another sub-par performance.
• We knew the Titans offense was a mess, but the defense wasn't much better, as they couldn't stop Maurice Jones-Drew.  MJD ran wild for 186 yards!  The Jaguars running game had more total yards than the Titans' offense.
• Wasn't the KC-Denver game supposed to be another shoot-out?  Last time I checked 10-6 would only be considered high scoring if it was a baseball game.
• Matt Cassell has been burning up the league lately and had to be salivating over his chances to pick apart a terrible Broncos defense.  Yet he only managed 196 yards and one TD.  His favorite target, Dwayne Bowe, was held without a catch.
• Kyle Orton was even worse.  His 117 yard performance dropped him from first in the league in passing yards to a distant 4th.
• Denver has been a team that not only can't run the ball, they typically don't even bother trying.  Yet this bizarro game saw them run the ball almost as many times as they threw it, and the ground game was much more effective.  Knowshown Moreno was the only Bronco to have a rushing attempt, but he did a lot with his 23 carries, rushing for a career high 161 yards.
• The Broncos fired coach Josh McDaniels on Monday.  The NFL's youngest coach started out his head coaching career after leaving New England for Denver on a 6-0 hot streak to begin the 2009 season, but it's been all downhill from there.  Since that start the team has gone 5-17, including a 3-9 record this season that has already taken them out of the playoff race, despite that the three other AFC West teams are still in it.  A recent video taping scandal (Spygate II) didn't endear him to his employers either, despite McDaniels claims that he was not involved.  When he took over last year the Broncos looked like a team on the verge of being a playoff contender.  In less than two years he has ruined the franchise through bad trades, drafts and coaching.  He'll eventually latch on somewhere else as an offensive coordinator, since his time in New England and Denver showed he at least can call a good offensive game, but he clearly was not ready to be a head coach.
• The Browns and Dolphins seemed to competing for who has the worst offense for most of this game, with each team only managing a field goal up until the end of the 3rd quarter.  The Browns won it on a FG as time expired.
• It didn't win them the game, but Dolphins kicker Dan Carpenter's 60 yard FG was impressive.  A lot of teams wouldn't even bother to try it from that distance, but a long field goal probably has a better chance to succeed than a hail mary pass (especially when Chad Henne is your QB) and they only had time for one play before halftime.
• Brett Favre attempted only one pass in the game, which was intercepted, before leaving the game with an injury.  His status for next week is unclear, but if you are the Vikings do you really want him back?
• In his absence, Tavaras Jackson showed the pros and cons of turning the job over to him.  On the one hand, he led the team to their highest scoring game of the season.  On the other hand, he had three interceptions, one of which was returned for a TD.
• Then again, who needs a great QB when you have Adrian Peterson?  He rushed for over 100 yards and added 3 TDs.
• The Giants defense was dominant, forcing 6 Redskins turnovers and recording 4 sacks.  Eli Manning is a good QB, but he's not an elite player that can carry the team consistantly on his own like his big brother, especially when his receiving options are so depleted due to injuries.  The Giants need their defense and running game to keep playing like they did this week if they hope to re-take the division from the Eagles.
• Philip Rivers lost a game in the month of December for the first time in his career.  They had been one of the hottest teams in the league lately, but they didn't show up for this game against Oakland.  The loss puts them 2 games back of KC for the AFC West.  Their playoff chances, and Rivers' odds at the MVP award, took a major step back.
• Oakland won in part because they finally got their running game back on track.  Their 1-2 punch of McFadden and Bush combined for 192 rushing yards and 2 TDs.
• Payton Manning has never looked worse in his career than he has the past 3 weeks in losses to New England, San Diego and Dallas.  Over that span he has thrown 11 interceptions, 4 of which have been returned for a TD. 
• The Colts are now 6-6 and in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2001.  They turn the ball over too much, are last in the league in rushing yards and rank 29th in rushing defense (the three teams behind them in rush defense are all miserable teams with no shot at the playoffs).  So they can't blame all their troubles on some injured receivers.
• With Marion Barber injured, Tashard Choice finally got a shot to get some meaningful carries, and he made the most of it (19 carries, 100 yards and an impressive TD run).  It shouldn't come as much of a shock, considering Choice has averaged over 5 yards per carry in his career, but he's been trapped at the bottom of the depth chart for too long.  Hopefully this helps rectify that even after Barber gets healthy.
• The Rams moved to 6-6, paving the way for the possibility that the NFC West might end up with a team above .500.  Still probably won't happen, but at this point we should be content with an 8-8 team winning that division.
• As Howie Long pointed out in the pre-game show, don't count out a team like the Rams to get hot right around the playoffs.  Two years ago a 9-7 Cardinals team won this division and people thought it was one of the worst teams to qualify for the playoffs in history, yet they managed to get to the Super Bowl.  Then again... that team had a Hall of Fame caliber QB (Warner) and not a rookie (Bradford).
• Arizona had gotten away from the QB carousel for a couple of weeks, sticking with Derek Anderson, but now it may be worse than ever, as they used 3 different QBs for stretches of this game.  Anderson was benched in the 4th quarter for Max Hall, who dislocated his shoulder after only 3 pass attempts.  Rookie John Skelton (who's name for some reason I keep mixing up with Jack Skellington, even though I'm pretty sure he has no relation to the Pumpkin King) made his debut to close out the game, and actually played better than the other two.  It was a small sample size, but at least he didn't throw an interception.
• Seattle also won this week to remain tied with St. Louis at the top of the NFC West.  They have similarly difficult schedules to close the season, so their week 17 match-up may decide the division.
• Carolina is so bad that they were even able to make Marshawn Lynch look decent.  His 4 yards per carry isn't great, but it's a big upgrade over his season average (3.3) and he scored 3 times.
• Justin Forsett continues to be woefully underused, getting only 6 carries despite averaging 10 yards per carry in the game.
• Matt Ryan continues to establish himself as an elite QB with another late 4th quarter comeback.  This time, down by 10 in the 4th quarter, Ryan led two TD drives to pull ahead of Tampa in a game they had to win to stay on top of the NFC South.
• A win for Tampa would have put them right in the middle of the division race, but after falling to 7-5 they are now a long shot to pass both Atlanta and New Orleans and even the Wild Card is a reach at this point.  You still have to be impressed by the turnaround by this team this year considering how bad they were at this time last year.
• The Steelers held on to win a tough game that predictably was dominated by defense.  It's never easy beating good teams when you are playing on the road, but the Steelers needed this one if they were to have any chance at the division title considering the Ravens won their first match-up.  Now the Steelers have evened the head-to-head record and own a 1 game lead over their rivals from Baltimore.
• When these two physical rivals meet you can expect there to be some bad blood, but in this game the blood was all over Roethlisberger's face.  The Steeler's QB took a shot to the face (which wasn't called, but did result in a fine) that busted up his nose pretty badly.  The Steelers are claiming the nose wasn't broken, but that's hard to believe given how crooked his nose looked after the play happened and the amount of blood that was pouring out of it.
• Steelers CB Bryant McFadden had a tough day, as he was picked on often by the Flacco-Boldin combination.  He got burned badly by the faster Boldin on his 61 yard reception.
• In their last meeting, Joe Flacco was the hero when he led the Ravens on a last minute scoring drive to win the game.  The stage was set for him to do it again, but he couldn't get the job done.  A costly fumble deep in their own territory set up a quick score for the Steelers.  Then on their final drive he failed to make up for his mistake, turning the ball over on downs.
• In his defense, he did manage to get them to the Pittsburgh 31 yard line, which would have given them the chance for a 48 yard field goal attempt.  Given that the wind was against them they opted to go for it on 4th and 2 rather than tie the game with a FG, but the pass fell incomplete as Flacco skipped the ball at the feet of his receiver to end the game.
• The Patriots destroyed the Jets on Monday night.  The game that was hyped as the biggest game of the week turned out to be the biggest blow out - a 45-3 massacre.  This game was the complete opposite of their week 2 match-up, when the Jets won with a defense that confused Brady and kept him off balance, forcing him to make bad throws and turn the ball over.  This week, Brady was unstoppable from start to finish, connecting with 8 different receivers.
• Tom Brady should be the undisputed MVP at this point in the season.  Not only does he lead the league's best team, and highest scoring offense, but he leads the league in QB Rating (109.5) and TDs (27) with only 4 interceptions.  Nobody in the league is playing at his level right now.
• Mark Sanchez had another awful game.  When he plays well the Jets are a very good team, but Sanchez has been too inconsistent for this team to seriously be considered a Super Bowl contender.  He has had too many terrible games like this: 17/33 passing for only 164 yards, 3 Interceptions and not coming close to getting his team in the endzone.  The Jets only had 2 red zone drives all game and came away without points both times.
• The Patriots defense came up big in this game.  There are some that don't take the Patriots seriously as contenders due to the fact that they are 31st in the league in total yards allowed and last in 3rd down conversion percentage.  Some of that is to be expected considering they have the youngest defense in the league, starting 4 rookies, but they are getting better each week and they made a statement in this game.
• The Jets were only 3-12 on third downs, with the Patriots coming up with several key stops in situations where they have typically struggled.
• The Patriots defense has a bend-but-don't-break mentality, similar to what they had in their Super Bowl years.  They give up a lot of yardage, yet they aren't among the 10 worst teams in terms of points given up per game.  Part of that is because they lead the AFC in turnover differential (+14) and are third in take-aways.
• Pats rookie CB Devin McCourty is a big part of that, as he's tied for 2nd in the NFL with 6 interceptions.  He continues to impress every week.  He may not be the favorite to win Defensive Rookie of the Year over Detroit's Ndamukong Suh (8 sacks, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery) but his interception total will at least put him in the conversation.
• The Patriots are the only team in the AFC with 10 wins already.  They have put themselves in the driver's seat for the top seed in the AFC with only 4 games left.  As long as they can win at least 3 of their remaining games (@Chicago, Green Bay, @Buffalo, Miami) they should be able to wrap up the number one seed.  The last two games are key, despite that they are the less challenging opponents.  If they lose to either of those teams and the Jets win all 4 of their remaining games then the Jets would win the tie-breaker due to a better conference record.
• The Jets have the same remaining schedule, only they already played Green Bay and have to travel to Pittsburgh instead, so their schedule is a little more challenging, but they aren't out of the division title hunt yet.
• Pittsburgh is the only other likely challenger for the top seed in the AFC, but they are a game behind the Patriots in the standings and the Pats own the head-to-head tie-breaker, so they would have to make up 2 games in the last 4 to pass them.
• In the NFC, Atlanta also has 10 wins and the inside track at the top seed.  Their biggest challenger for the position is their division rival Saints.  Their Week 16 match-up could decide the division, as the rest of their remaining schedule should be a cake walk (Carolina twice and @Seattle).
• The Patriots look like they are unbeatable at home.  Matt Ryan has only lost one home game in his career.  If both teams get the top seed in their conference, giving them home field advantage throughout the playoffs, there is a good chance they will meet in the Super Bowl.
• The Patriots now lead the AFC in point differential (+110).  The Packers still lead in the NFC (+121).  Nobody else in either conference is even close.
• I was officially eliminated from one of my fantasy football leagues.  I didn't even make the playoffs.  It didn't help that I lost my QB ( Tony Romo) top RB (DeAngelo Williams) and TE (JerMichael Finley) for most of the season.  On the bright side, I still have 3 other teams that are doing just fine.