Things I noticed: Week 14

It was another exciting week as the season begins to wind down.  The playoff picture continues to form as another team clinches their division and more teams fall out of the race.

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• Ben Rothlisberger left in the first half against Cleveland with a leg injury, but hobbled back onto the field to lead the Steelers to victory on Thursday night.  The Steelers don't have the luxury of resting Big Ben, or anyone, because if they fall a game behind the Ravens it all but assures that their best case scenario will come as a Wild Card given that Baltimore already owns the tie breaker for the division title.
• The ineffectiveness of the Steelers offense behind a hurting Rothlisberger allowed Cleveland to stay within reach near the end, but a 79 yard bomb to Antonio Brown finally put them away in the final few minutes.
• Speaking of injured QBs, Colt McCoy also briefly left the game after a hard helmet-to-helmet hit from James Harrision.  McCoy was apparently ok, since he was allowed back into the game, but Harrison can probably expect some discipline from the league for the hit.  That's nothing new for him.
• The league announced on Tuesday that Harrison has been suspended for 1 game for the hit.
• The Patriots defense is struggling just to find healthy bodies to put on the field at this point.  Once again they gave up a ton of yardage, but they held with a strong defensive stand when it counted in the end, stopping the Redskins potential game tying drive in the red zone with an interception.
• Rob Gronkowski had a career high 160 yards and 2 TDs.  His first trip to the endzone gave him sole possession of first place on the all time list of receiving TDs in a season by a TE.  Gronk celebrated with his trade mark spike in the endzone, which then sent him scrambling to chase after it when he realized the importance of hanging on to that milestone ball. 
• In only his second season, Gronk has not only established himself as one of Tom Brady's most trusted receivers, but also become perhaps the best TE in the league.  The Saints Jimmy Graham and Chargers Antonio Gates may have something to say about that, but when you factor in other responsibilities TEs have, such as blocking, there is nobody better at the position than Gronk.
• The victory for the Patriots helps overshadow a bit of drama that occurred late in the 4th quarter when Tom Brady got into a shouting match on the sidelines with OC Bill O'Brien after Brady threw a costly INT in the endzone.  It was a rare example of a poorly thrown pass, intended for Tiquan Underwood.  Making matters worse, the play came right after Wes Welker dropped a TD pass on a ball that was thrown slightly off to his back shoulder.  Not a great end to the drive for an offense known for it's efficiency, but luckily it didn't cost them the game.
• Roy Helu became the first Redskins RB to rush for 100+ yards in three straight games.  It wasn't long ago that it was fair to question if Helu would even get a chance to play in three straight games, but it's clear they've found a reliable option for their backfield.
• TJ Yates led a last second comeback to help the Texans clinch the AFC South and give them their first playoff spot in franchise history.  A costly pass interference call aided the Texans, giving them a first down at the Bengals 6 yard line with only seconds remaining, which led to the winning TD pass to Kevin Walter two plays later for the narrow victory. 
• The Bengals struggles against the league's elite teams continue.  All 6 of their losses have come against teams that currently would make the playoffs.  On the other hand, they've only beaten one team all year that currently has a winning record (the 7-6 Titans).
• A tough day for Christian Ponder, whose first drive ended with him being stripped of the ball, which was recovered by Detroit and returned for a TD.  He would then be picked off three times in the game, with one of them being returned for a TD, before he was mercifully relieved by Joe Webb.
• Webb nearly led a miraculous comeback, using his legs to sprint for a 65 yard TD and adding a short TD pass to make it a one score game.  He then led the Vikings down to the Lions 1 yard line with a chance to even the score, but he fumbled the ball after being sacked on the game's final play.  Replay showed a clear face mask penalty against the Lions that went uncalled.  A lucky break for a Lions team struggling to hang on to a playoff spot.
• The Saints moved one step closer to winning the NFC South by beating the Titans.  The win also ties them with the 49ers with 10 wins for the NFC's #2 seed.  San Francisco still remains ahead due to a tiebreaker for having the better conference record, but a first round bye remains within reach for the Saints.
• The win for the Saints came in big part to the two TD catches for Marques Colston, who was relatively quiet for most of the game, before exploding in the 4th quarter.
• Matt Hasselbeck left another game with an injury, giving way for Jake Locker to see some more playing time.  He was once again fairly impressive in a losing effort.  He drove the Titans all the way down to the Saints 5 yard line on their final drive with a chance to win the game, before taking a sack that ended the game.

• Despite not having any time outs with only about a minute left, the Titans made the odd call of handing the ball off to Chris Johnson near mid-field, which resulted in no gain.  Granted he is their most explosive player, but the time it took to run the play may have cost them in the end.
• Michael Vick returned to lead the Eagles to a win over the Dolphins.  Vick's return must have re-awakened DeSean Jackson, who caught his first TD pass since Week 5.
• The Eagles defense deserves much of the credit for the win.  They battered Matt Moore with 9 sacks in the game.  Moore was also knocked out of the game with a head injury.
• Reggie Bush recorded his second straight 100+ yard rushing performance.  It's the first time in his career he's had triple digit rushing yards in back-to-back games.
• Miami fired head coach Tony Sparano on Monday in a move that was expected to come by the end of the season anyway.  Sparano never had the support of ownership, who spent much of this past off-season trying to recruit new coaches.  He likely would have been fired earlier, except ownership may have feared the team would rally around a new coach and cost them a chance at a top draft pick.  Instead, Sparano led the Dolphins to an unlikely stretch where they won 4 out of 5 games.  With the top pick now out of reach, and no intention of bringing Sparano back for next year, it was finally time to cut him loose.
• Mark Sanchez threw 2 TD passes and ran for 2 more as the Jets crushed the Chiefs.  Shonn Greene also pitched in with 187 total yards and a TD.
• The Jets defense shut down the Chiefs.  Their only points came on a long FG and a deep pass that Palko threw into a crowd in the endzone that somehow found it's way to Jerheme Urban.
• The Falcons kept themselves alive in the division race by coming back to beat the Panthers behind 4 TDs from Matt Ryan.  A deep pass to Julio Jones, who torched the defense to take the ball 75 yards to pay dirt, essentially put the game away.
• Cam Newton is now up to 15 TD passes on the season, but also has 16 INTs.  Granted, he also has 13 rushing TDs, so if you count those toward his total his ratio isn't quite so bad, but from a pure passing perspective, that's a troubling TD:INT ratio.
• Maurice Jones-Drew set a franchise scoring record after finding the endzone 4 times (twice rushing, twice receiving) against the floundering Bucs.  It's been a miserable season in Jacksonville, but the league's leading rusher at least gives the team something to be encouraged about.
• The Bucs offense turned the ball over a staggering 7 times, which helps explain why the league's second lowest scoring team managed to roll over them for a season high 41 points.
• The Ravens dominated the hopeless Colts in a game that wasnt' nearly as close as the final score indicates, thanks in part to a pointless TD scored by the Colts as time expired to put them with 14 points.
• Ray Rice took a season high 32 touches to pile up 149 total yards and a TD to help lead the Ravens offense.  He also lost a fumble for the first time all season and only the 4th time in his 4 year career.
• Tim Tebow did it again, leading the Broncos to their 6th straight win by overcoming a 10-0 deficit in the final 2 minutes of regulation to tie the game and force over time.  Tebow once again accomplished virtually nothing for the first three quarters, but was unstoppable in the 4th and OT, when he compiled 191 of his 236 passing yards.
• As impressive as Tebow was to end the game, the Bears really beat themselves.  The had a chance to run out the clock just by picking up a first down late in the 4th quarter, but Marion Barber couldn't manage to keep himself in bounds after a 5 yard run.  Stepping out of bounds stopped the clock, which allowed Denver to get the ball back with about a minute left once Chicago failed to pick up the first down.  That gave Tebow the chance to work his magic and get the Broncos in range for a long field goal to send the game to over time.  Barber would then go on to fumble the ball away on the Bears first drive in OT, which quickly led to the Broncos winning FG to end the game.
• John Skelton replaced an injured Kevin Kolb (again) early in the first quarter and ended up leading the Cardinals to an upset victory over the 49ers.  
• The 49ers had a chance to put the game away in the first half, but they struggled mightily in the red zone and had to settle for 4 field goals.  They did finally mange to score a TD when Frank Gore took his biggest gain of the day to the endzone.  It was Gore's first score in 6 weeks.
• Gore only carried the ball 10 times and was once again a non-factor in the passing game.  Despite what the team is saying publicly, he doesn't look healthy.
•  The Packers routed the Raiders to extend their undefeated streak.  Aaron Rodgers was impressive, per usual, and got to watch the end of the game from the bench as back up Matt Flynn took over to finish the game off.  

• Greg Jennings also watched from the sidelines to end the game, but in his case it was due to a knee injury that could cost him the rest of the regular season.  Good thing the Packers have so many receiving threats.  Losing a player of his caliber would be a major loss for just about any other team.  Nonetheless, Rodgers would surely like his top target to recover quickly.
• The Packers typically dormant running game found some success this week against Oakland's 29th ranked rush defense.  Ryan Grant rushed 10 times for 85 yards and 2 TDs before the team turned to John Kuhn (10 carries, 46 yards) to grind some clock in the 4th quarter.
• The Chargers beat up on the Bills in a battle of two teams that led their respective divisions after the first 5 weeks of the season before falling on hard times and sinking out of the playoff picture.
• Philip Rivers threw 3 TD passes for the second week in a row and hasn't thrown an INT in his past three games.  He still leads the league in picks (and also had a costly fumble this week that was recovered by Buffalo in the endzone for a TD), but this is noted improvement in a season where he has uncharacteristically struggled.
• It was deja vu for the Cowboys as they suffered a loss when a time out negated a field goal from Dan Bailey for the second week in a row.  Forced to try the kick again, Bailey had his potential game tying kick blocked.  At least this time it wasn't his own coach that called the time out to freeze him.

• Jason Pierre-Paul got a hand on the ball to block the kick, which may have saved the Giants season.  The teams now have identical records, with one more game between them left to play.  Pierre-Paul, who also had a forced fumble and two sacks (one for a safety) may have been the player of the game for the Giants.
• An exciting finish saw Eli Manning flawlessly run a two minute drill that resulted in a TD run by Brandon Jacobs.  New York wisely ran the ball in the red zone, ensuring that they would leave Dallas with little time left to counter with another score.  Despite having only 46 seconds to work with, Tony Romo did manage to drive into field goal range, only to have his comeback thwarted by another field goal disaster.  
• Romo is known more for his 4th quarter meltdowns than his miraculous comebacks. Two weeks in a row he's done his part to make the comeback, only to be robbed of victory for reasons out of his control.  Perhaps if more of these types of games resulted in Cowboys victories, we'd remember Romo as being more of a clutch player instead of only remembering his failures.
• Dallas suffered a major blow to their playoff hopes when rookie RB DeMarco Murray fractured his ankle, likely costing him the rest of the season.  Murray rushed for just short of 900 yards, despite not taking over as the starting RB until Week 6, when he set a franchise single game rushing record against St. Louis.  
• Seattle hosting St. Louis for the Monday Night game?  Who thought that schedule decision was a brilliant decision?  Unless you're a Seattle fan, there really wasn't much to get excited about in this one.
• The 5-8 Eagles have been one of the league's biggest disappointments, but note that their +5 point differential is substantially better than the first place Giants (-25).
• Likewise, the Chargers have been almost as disappointing at 6-7 despite a +25 point differential, which is much better than Denver's -33.
• The AFC's best offense (New England) and the AFC's best defense (Texans) are tied with the best point differential in the conference (+122).