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.