Things I Noticed: Week 11

It's the last week for bye weeks, with the Colts, Saints, Steelers and Texans getting the week off.

For the rest of the teams, here are some things I noticed this week:

• The Jets were able to find a way to contain Tim Tebow up until the Broncos last drive of the game, when Tebow led a 95 yard drive, capped off by a 20 yard scramble for the game winning TD.  Tebow was 3 of 5 passing for only 35 yards on that final drive, but racked up 57 yards on the ground on his way to the endzone, essentially taking over the game by himself.  I still can't explain it, but when the game is on the line, Tebow somehow finds a way to win.
• With Tomlinson missing the game and Greene exiting early with an injury, the Jets depleted backfield turned to Joe McKnight to carry the load.  Having already made an impact in the kick return game this year, McKnight could get a chance to shine in an expanded role if injuries keep the Jets other RBs on the shelf.
• The Browns escaped with a victory against Jacksonville when Blaine Gabbert's last second pass attempt from Cleveland's 1 yard line fell harmlessly to the ground.  The final play may have been more the benefit of a dropped pass than a defensive stand by the Browns, but they'll take the win.
• The Panthers appeared to be well on their way to crushing the Lions in the first half, but Detroit managed to completely turn it around in the second half. Cam Newton's four turnovers helped swing momentum back in their direction, but it was Matthew Stafford's 5th TD pass of the game that gave the Lions the lead for good late in the 4th quarter.
• Oddly enough, despite all those TD passes from Stafford, none of them went to Calvin Johnson, who leads the league with 11 TD catches this season.
• Tony Scheffler's TD catch wasn't nearly as impressive as the celebration dance that followed.
• The Packers got a tougher than expected challenge from the Bucs, but rode another brilliant performance from Aaron Rodgers to their 10th victory of the season.  It's the third time in franchise history that the Packers have started the season 10-0.  The previous two times they went on to win the championship (both of which came in the pre-Super Bowl era prior to the AFL merger).
• Through 10 games this year, Rodgers has 8 games with at least 3 TD passes.  Only Tom Brady has more 3+ TD games through the first 10 games of a season in league history.  Brady had 3+ TDs in all 10 games to start the 2007 season, when New England went 16-0 and Brady set a season record with 50 TD passes.
• One of the Packers TDs came on a one yard plunge by defensive tackle BJ Raji, who now has the same number of rushing TDs (1) this season as the Packers starting RB, James Starks.
• Mike Williams has his best game of the season, catching 7 passes for 83 yards and finding the endzone for the first time since Week 1.
• The quickly fading Bills hit a new low for the season after being crushed by the Dolphins.  The Bills defense has had it's issues all year and they made Matt Moore look like an elite QB.
• After looking like they would be in the running for a chance at the top draft pick for most of the season, the Dolphins have suddenly won 3 straight games and find themselves only two games back of the Jets and Bills for second place in the AFC East.
• Adrian Peterson's day ended early after an ankle injury at the end of the first quarter and it was all downhill for the Vikings after that.  X-rays were negative, so hopefully AP won't miss any more time, but he'll likely be questionable heading into next week.  At least he managed a TD run in the first quarter before getting injured, so his day wasn't a total bust.
• Darrius Heyward-Bey returned from the dog house to catch 4 of his 5 targets for 43 yards, after being essentially an after thought the past couple of weeks since Carson Palmer took over.  His day took an unfortunate turn for the worst after a hard collision caused him to be carted off the field with a neck injury.
• The Cowboys needed overtime to put away the Redskins, but got a much needed win to move up into a tie for first place in the NFC East.  They caught a break when Washington missed a 52 yard FG attempt that could have ended the game, but instead gave Dallas good field position for their game winning drive.
• Tony Romo continues to shine in the month of November.  He's 18-2 in his career during this month and put up another strong performance this week with 3 TDs.
• After being cut a few weeks ago by Dallas, Tashard Choice joins a crowded Redskins backfield and got into the mix against his old team with 6 carries.  Unfortunately, he gained only 7 yards on those carries.  Sadly, that's still better than Ryan Torrain (5 carries, 4 yards).  The Redskins got very little out of their running game, but Roy Helu (8 carries, 35 yards) was by far their most effective runner. What does that tell us?  Based on how coach Shanahan's head scratching RB rotation has gone all year, it means Helu is unlikely to be featured much next week.
• Andy Dalton led his team all the way to the Ravens 7 yard line in the final minutes of the game to nearly pull off a miraculous comeback, but came up just short.  The Bengals chances were lost when Dalton was sacked on 4th down.  They still haven't beaten an elite team, but the last two weeks have shown us that they can at least put up a good fight against them.
• Ray Lewis missed the game with an injury, but shots of him on the sideline throughout the game showed him to be so intense that he looked like he might go out and hit someone anyway.
• Seattle won for the second straight game, which only delays the inevitable of San Francisco clinching the division title.  At least the Seahawks are on pace to equal last season's record.  Unfortunately, that record is only 7-9, which this year, thankfully, won't be good enough for a playoff spot.
• It didn't take long for Brandon Lloyd to entrench himself as Sam Bradford's favorite receiver.  Not that he has a lot of competition for that title.
• Just when it looked like Arizona may have a QB controversy on it's hands, John Skelton goes out and has a miserable 3 INT game that gets him planted back on the bench.  Looks like Kevin Kolb will get his job back when he's healthy after all.  With the way things are going for this team though, does he really want it back?
• It's amazing to think that a year ago we were having those same types of concerns over Alex Smith.  Credit new coach Jim Harbaugh for salvaging his career.  Smith isn't quite talented enough to carry a team, but in the right system he's been good enough not to mess it up.
• An injury to Matt Hasselbeck gave us a look at rookie Jake Locker in the second half against Atlanta.  He has some issues with accuracy, but he has a big arm.  Basically, he's the opposite of Hasselbeck.  The veteran is still the better option if they hope to catch a vulnerable Texans team for a playoff spot, but Locker shows some potential for the future.
• Atlanta moves to only a game behind the Saints for the top spot in the NFC South, which now appears to be only a two team race between them.  Their toughest remaining games are all on the road, including a pivotal re-match with the Saints in New Orleans.
• The Bears kept themselves in the wild card hunt with a win over the Chargers, but their chances took a big hit with the loss of Jay Cutler.  Thumb surgery may keep him out the rest of the regular season.  The emphasis will be even more on Matt Forte to carry this offense the rest of the way. 
• The Chargers have now lost 5 straight games and have a losing record, making a playoff appearance unlikely.  Philip Rivers hasn't been himself all year, making too many poor decisions, which has led him to leading the league in INTs.  He already has set a new career high with 17 picks.  That's part of the reason for their disappointing season, but a team with this much talent should be better than this regardless.  You have to wonder what that means for Norv Turner's future in San Diego.
• Vince Young replaced an injured Michael Vick and did something that Vick has been unable to do all season long - lead a 4th quarter come back victory.  It took him a while to get going and he made plenty of mistakes along the way (3 INTs), but Young came through when it mattered in the end.
• Before this game, Vince Young's only pass attempt of the season was an INT.  In this game, his winning TD pass went to Riley Cooper, who hadn't had a catch all season prior to this game.
• A week after being benched for disciplinary reasons, DeSean Jackson returned with a solid 6 catch, 88 yard performance.  However, he also showed poor judgement with an immature taunting penalty in front of the Giants bench, which negated his 50 yard reception.  Jackson has been sulking over the fact that he's yet to have his wish for a new contract granted.  Mistakes like this are exactly the reason why the Eagles should be hesitant to give it to him.
• Eli Manning has typically been very good in the 4th quarter of games, but for the second straight week he failed to come through in the clutch.  This time it was a fumble on their last drive that cost them.  He never saw the defender coming for the sack, so it's hard to blame Eli for losing the ball.  On the other hand, Eli stepped out of the pocket and away from where his blockers were protecting, unwittingly walking right into the pass rush.
• The Giants could have had a chance to get the ball back for one more desperation drive, but LeSean McCoy broke off a 60 yard run to put the game away.  The Giants defense recovered just in time to push McCoy out of bounds inside their 10 yard line, which actually turned out to be the worst thing they could have done.  As unconventional as it may sound, the correct decision would have been to allow McCoy to score.  That would have given the Giants the ball back with about a minute left and a time out left in their pocket.  Down two scores, a come back would appear unlikely at that point, but the alternative was that the Eagles were able to kneel down and run out the clock.  Stopping McCoy from scoring meant the Giants wouldn't touch the ball again in the game.
• Tom Brady and the Patriots offense struggled to get started, but once they got going they didn't let up.  Leading by 24 points with about a minute remaining didn't prevent the Pats from trying to score, which didn't make Chiefs coach Todd Haley very happy.  That's Belichick's style, you play until the final whistle.  If you don't like it, stop it. 
• Belichick's intention wasn't so much to run up the score to embarrass an opponent.  That final drive, with the game already in hand, was a valuable opportunity to get some younger players into the game that have seen limited action this season.  Rookie RB Shane Vereen rushed for 39 yards and a TD on that drive, showing some of the explosion and speed that the team gushed over when they drafted him.  The Pats may need to rely on some of these players at some point, so getting them in for some game action was important.
• Rob Gronkowski continues to shine as the Patriots more dangerous endzone target.  Gronk now has 20 career TDs, which is the most in league history for a TE through the first 26 games to start a career.  Over the past two seasons he ranks 1st in TD receptions and 2nd in red zone receptions.
• The Patriots defense still ranks last in the league in yards allowed per game, but they've been improving.  With the league's easiest schedule the rest of the way, there is plenty of room for more improvement.
• It should also be noted that Kyle Arrington now leads the league in INTs (7) and Andre Carter is 6th in the league in sacks (9).  Add in star caliber players like Vince Wilfork, Jerrod Mayo, Devin McCourty and Patrick Chung and the Pats defense has a lot of talent.  Their issue is that they are thin on depth and have been hit hard by injuries to the secondary.  They are far from being a dominant defense, but they aren't quite as bad off as it appears.
• Tyler Palko's first shot at taking over for an injured Matt Cassel didn't turn out very well, but he wasn't quite as bad as the result appears.  He had the misfortune of having a couple of tipped passes lead to INTs.  He got off to a good start, completing 6 of his first 7 pass attempts before things started to unravel.
• The 3-7 Dolphins are still last in the AFC East, but now somehow have a positive point differential for the season (+7).
• The 6-4 Raiders lead the AFC West, despite a -19 point differential.  They are the only current division leaders with a negative point differential.
• Despite a sub par performance this week (2 catches, 22 yards), Wes Welker still leads the league in receiving yards.  He's still the only receiver in the league to pass the 1,000 yard mark (which will almost certainly change as early as next week), but I think we can now dismiss any ideas of him catching Jerry Rice's record.