Things I Noticed: Week 12

Thanksgiving is always one of my favorite holidays.  A day filled with three of my favorite "F" words - food, family and football!  This week kicked off with a three game slate on Thursday, which included the traditional games in Detroit and Dallas.  Why these two cities continue to host games on Thanksgiving, even when their teams are bad, is anyone's guess, but I suppose you can't go against tradition on a holiday like this.

Bye weeks are over, so every team is in action this week.

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• Bill Belichick picked up his 200th career coaching victory as the Patriots embarrassed the Jets on Thursday night.  After a scoreless first quarter, the Pats began to dominate by putting up 35 unanswered points in the second quarter. 
• 21 of those points came in the span of under a minute of game time.  The offense scored quickly with a pass to Shane Vereen that he took 83 yards to the end zone.  On the next drive the Jets coughed up a fumble that was returned for a TD and they then fumbled the ensuing kick-off, which was run back for another score.  The Jets buried themselves before halftime.
• Julian Edelman had another big game, returning that fumbled kick-off for a score and later adding a 56 yard TD reception before exiting with a head injury.  Given the vacant expression on his face as he wobbled off the field, it looked like he may have suffered a concussion, so I suppose we can forgive him for fumbling on the play given that he likely had no idea what was going on at the time.
• The Jets may have managed over 400 yards of total offense, but it almost all came in garbage time in the second half when the game was never close.  They were barely on pace for even half of that by halftime.  New York turned the ball over 5 times, four of which Steve Gregory had a hand in - one INT, two fumble recoveries and one forced fumble.
• Frustrated Jets fans booed loudly as they watched this disaster unfold.  Many of them chanted for Tim Tebow to take over for Sanchez.  The way things were going, Mark Sanchez may have joined them in hoping for Tebow to take over.
• As if things couldn't get any worse for the Jets, now even Fireman Ed is bailing on them.  The Jets number one fan, best known for leading the J-E-T-S cheer, has decided to hang up his helmet after leaving the blow out loss early.
• The Texans pulled out a narrow victory after an overtime period where each team exchanged turnovers and missed field goals.  Detroit nearly won it on a Jason Hanson 47 yard field goal attempt.  The ball hit the inside of the post, but instead of deflecting through the uprights, it clanged back out toward the field.  Houston then drove down the field for the game winning kick to seal the victory.
• What's mind boggling about that missed Hanson field goal isn't just the unfortunate bounce off the post, but the fact that the attempt came on third down!  Detroit could have run another play to try to pound the ball up the middle to gain a few more yards.  Perhaps they were concerned about losing yardage and pushing them out of Hanson's range, but the odds of gaining yardage in that situation outweigh the chances of losing yards on a stuffed run or penalty.  Had the kick been from even a yard or two closer it likely would have been good.
• Houston had no business winning this game, which never should have went to overtime.  They were awarded a gift TD in the third quarter when Justin Forsett was down after a modest gain around mid-field.  No whistle blew, so Forsett got up and kept running all the way to the end zone while a bewildered Lions defense looked on in confusion.  Replays clearly showed that both his knee and elbow were down, but the officials somehow missed it.  All scoring plays are supposed to be automatically reviewed, but Lions coach Jim Schwartz apparently forgot that rule because he threw out the challenge flag anyway.  Attempting to challenge a play that can't be challenged is a 15 yard penalty, but even worse, it meant that the officials could no longer review the play.  Schwartz's bone-head decision to throw the flag when he wasn't supposed to cost his team the game.
• Granted the officials blew an obvious call, but given the swarm of players surrounding Forsett at the time, you could see how they couldn't get a good enough view to determine that he was down.  That's what replay is for.  Based on how the rules are written, the officials handled it correctly, as they weren't allowed to review the play, but that just goes to show how ridiculous the rule is.  The whole point is to get the call correct, but in this case the officials hands were tied.  League sources have already suggested that the rule will likely be changed for next season to avoid another embarrassment like this.
• Andre Johnson followed up his monster 273 yard game with a 188 yard performance.  Those 461 yards are the most receiving yards in back-to-back games in league history.
• Calvin Johnson may not have put his name in the record books like AJ80, but he did find the end zone for the third straight game, giving him 4 TDs on the season.  His 140 receiving yards in the game kept him comfortably ahead of the league leader board for receiving yards.
• Ndamukong Suh reportedly will not be suspended for kicking Matt Schaub in the groin, but let's not pretend the low blow was an accident.  With his track record of dirty play, is anyone really surprised that he kicked a guy in the nuts?
• Robert Griffin III threw 4 TD passes for the second straight game to lead the Redskins over their rival Cowboys.  The victory leaped Washington ahead of Dallas in the standings for second place in the NFC East.  Both teams have losing records at 5-6, but remain in the hunt by trailing the Giants by only two games, although it's looking like a long shot for either of them.
• If you were thinking that it seems like RG3 always comes up with at least one big scoring play per game, you'd be right.  He leads the league in TD passes of 25+ yards after adding three such scores this game to give him 9 on the season.
• Dez Bryant had another big performance (8 catches, 145 yards, 2 TDs), including a career long 85 yard TD catch that was also the longest scoring play of Tony Romo's career.  Bryant has broken out the past few weeks to show the talent we had all been waiting to see since he entered the league, but despite his stellar numbers, he continues to make too many mental mistakes - such as the false start penalty that had Romo rolling his eyes this week.
• Despite a career high 441 passing yards, Romo lost for the first time in six starts on Thanksgiving.  The turnover prone Romo had actually gone three straight games without throwing an INT before giving up two of them this week to put him at the top of a list he'd rather not be on, with a league leading 15 INTs.
• Jay Cutler returned to lead the Bears over the Vikings, but just as they got their starting QB back they lost more key players - Matt Forte, Devin Hester and Charles Tillman all exited the game early with injuries.  Chicago once agian looks like a strong contender this season, but just like last year, they are in danger of faltering late in the season as injuries pile up.

• After adding 92 yards this week, Brandon Marshall became the first Bear in a decade (Marty Booker in 2002) to surpass the 1,000 yard mark for the season.  Marshall is 5th in the league in receiving and has given Cutler his most legitimate target since... well, since he was throwing to Marshall back in their Denver days.
• With Percy Harvin still sidelined with an ankle sprain, Christian Ponder's struggles continued.  His 10.3 QBR was a season low and he's posted a QBR under 20.0 in 4 of his last 5 games.  To put that in perspective, Ponder's QBR on the season is over double that (47.7) and the lowest rated QB this season by that metric is John Skelton with a QBR of 19.3.  So after Ponder appeared to be enjoying a break out season earlier this year, he's basically played like John Skelton for the past month.
• Bengals fans gave Carson Palmer a harsh reception in his return to Cincinnati to face his old team, while Andy Dalton gave them plenty to cheer about.  The Bengals current QB out dueled their old one in convincing fashion to give the Bengals a winning record (6-5) and keep them in the Wild Card hunt.
• You can't blame Bengals fans for booing Palmer.  You may remember that the Bengals traded him to Oakland last year after Palmer refused to play for them again, telling the team if they didn't trade him then he was going to retire.  The trade netted the Bengals a 2012 first round pick as well as second rounder in 2013.  Dalton took over and led the Bengals to the postseason as a rookie and is making a strong case to get them back there.  Meanwhile, Oakland has actually been worse since they obtained Palmer.  Careful what you wish for Carson.  You could have been throwing TD passes to AJ Green, but instead you quit on your team and are doomed to a gloomy future in Oakland.
• Speaking of AJ Green, despite topping the 100 yard mark for the 4th time this season, he was held out of the end zone for the first time since Week 1.  If we live in a world where we can't count on AJ Green to score, then what can we count on anymore?
• Cleveland picked up a rare win over Pittsburgh thanks to forcing 8 turnovers from the Rothlisberger-less Steelers.  The team may be down to their third string QB, but Charlie Batch can only be blamed for three of those turnovers.  Injuries in the backfield have forced the Steelers to rotate running backs all season.  They finally had four healthy backs this week, but which one do you trust when each of them was responsible for losing a fumble?
• The Browns will be happy with the victory, but less than thrilled with how they got it.  Despite a +7 turnover differential it took a late 4th quarter TD run by Trent Richardson to pull ahead for the win.  The one turnover they did have was returned by the Steelers defense for a score on their opening drive.
• T.Y. Hilton returned a punt 75 yards for a first quarter score and later found the end zone again on the receiving end of an Andrew Luck pass that ended up being the difference maker as the Colts hung on to beat the Bills.  That's 5 TDs in the past 4 games for the emerging Hilton.
• What a difference those two rookies have made for the Colts.  Ok, so it's mostly Luck, but Hilton has come on strong lately too.  One year after sinking to the basement of the league's standings, the Colts (7-4) are in position for one of the Wild Card spots.  If the season ended today, they'd be the 5 seed, which would send them to Denver to open the postseason against their former franchise QB.
• After picking up his 7th win of the season, Luck is now tied with Sam Bradford for the most wins by a rookie QB that was selected first overall.  He's also only the second Colts QB in franchise history to pass the 3,000 yard mark as a rookie (give you one guess who the first guy to do it was).

• CJ Spiller is averaging an insane 6.7 yards per carry, which would be the highest single season yards per carry mark for a RB since the merger in 1970.  He's 10th in the league in rushing yards, despite having carried the ball 100 times less than league leader Adrian Peterson.  Too bad the Bills can't figure out how to get him the ball more. 
• When you're playing from behind, as Buffalo often is, the impulse of the coaching staff is that they need to throw the ball in order to catch up.  That shouldn't be the case when you have an explosive RB that is averaging more yards per play than your QB!
• Stevie Johnson is one of the Bills few receiving threats, but amazingly this was the first week all season that he has surpassed 100 yards.  It took a season high 15 targets to do it, only six of which were actually caught, while the others were mostly under thrown or off the mark by Ryan Fitzpatrick.
• Peyton Manning wasn't at his best this week, but he recovered from a slow start to lead the Broncos to a win over the lowly Chiefs in a closer than expected game.
• Von Miller recorded another sack to give him 14 on the season, which is 3rd most in the league.  JJ Watt is getting all the attention in the defensive player of the year race, thanks in part to his ability to swat pass attempts that misguided QBs foolishly try to throw over him (league leading 13 passes defended), but Miller is making a case for himself.  He's only half a sack behind Watt and has also forced 4 fumbles this season (Watt hasn't forced any fumbles, but has recovered two of them).
• Kansas City had a chance to put Denver in a deep hole early, but settled for short field goals in the first quarter instead of trying to score touchdowns.  The second of those field goals came from the Denver 4 yard line when they could have picked up a first down by gaining less than 2 yards.  When you're 1-9 there's no reason not to be bold.  KC played it safe by taking the three points and Denver soon pulled ahead.  Now they are 1-10.
• There was no rain in the forecast in Miami, but they forgot about the sprinklers.  Near the end of the third quarter the field became soaked by the automatic sprinklers, which someone apparently forgot to shut off.  5 yard penalty on the grounds crew for delay of game?
• Ryan Tannehill got the better of the match-up between rookie QBs as the Dolphins squeezed by the Seahawks with a last second field goal.
• Russell Wilson has gotten quite a bit of hype in his rookie season, but his road/home splits have become a disturbing trend.  In home games, Wilson has been brilliant (122.0 rating, 11 TDs, 0 INTs), but it's been a different story on the road (75.5 rating, 6 TDs, 8 INTs).  Seattle is now 1-5 in road games, but undefeated at home.
• Perhaps part of the reason for their road struggles is because their location in the upper northwest of the country often makes for some long road trips.  Traveling from Seattle to Miami is the longest trip that any team in the league would ever have to make (well, except for those annual games in London, but at least both teams are traveling for that).
• Seattle corners Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner are both facing 4 game suspensions for testing positive for Adderrall.  They are appealing the ruling, but it would be a surprise if they didn't miss at least a few games.  Aqib Talib was suspended 4 games for the same offense before he was traded to New England, so the precedent has already been set this season.  If the suspensions are upheld, they will become the 4th and 5th Seattle players to be founding guilty of violating the league's policy on performance enhancing drugs in the past year.

• Maybe Tom Brady should send a tweet to Sherman saying "U Enhanced Bro?"  No wait, he has too much class for that (also, I'm not sure Brady even uses twitter).  In any case, it's nice to know that Sherman had no trouble taunting his opponents despite that fact that he knew he was cheating!
• Atlanta got another 4th quarter game winning drive from Matt Ryan to escape with a narrow victory over the resurgent Bucs.  7 of their 10 wins have come in one score games, which is tied for the most ever through this point of the season for teams with at least 10 wins in their first 11 games.  The Falcons record makes them appear dominant, but their performance really hasn't been.
• It's a road game, so sure enough, Julio Jones had a big game (147 yards, 1 TD).  Clearly the ankle that nearly held him out of the game wasn't bothering him too much during his 80 yard TD grab.
• Doug Martin entered the week leading the league in yards from scrimmage, but the Falcons defense contained him to only 50 rushing yards and 63 total yards.  He did manage to plunge into the end zone on two short scores, but the Falcons did a good job of preventing the big plays that he had become accustomed to in recent weeks.
• With Blaine Gabbert out for the season, Chad Henne has taken over the Jaguars offense and already they've seen improvement, while picking up their 2nd win of the season.  They scored 24+ points for the second week in a row with Henne at the helm, after failing to score that many points any of their first 9 games with Gabbert.
• The Jags have said that a strong finish to the season could earn Henne the starting job heading into next season.  If the team struggles the rest of the way, they could be drafting another QB early in the first round.  Either way, there's a decent chance the Gabbert era has mercifully ended in Jacksonville.
• Ray Rice saved the game for the Ravens by converting a 4th and 29 on their final drive of the fourth quarter.  Rather than try to force one deep, Joe Flacco checking down by dumping the ball off short to Rice, who bullied his way through defenders to dive past the first down marker.  The Ravens were awarded the first down even after the play was reviewed and the ball was re-spotted.  The play put them in range for the tying field goal that forced overtime, where the Ravens went on to win.
• Despite being armed with a timeout with over a minute remaining after Rice picked up that first down, Baltimore made little effort to attempt to find the end zone, settling for the field goal instead of trying to win in regulation.  That showed little faith in Flacco's ability to come through in the clutch in a road game.
• Leave it to the Chargers to give up a miracle play to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The melancholy expression on Norv Turner's face, as officials measured for the first down, said it all.  From 2009-10 the Chargers were known for their late starts, followed by a surging finish that pushed them into the playoffs.  That hot streak started in November, where the Chargers were 8-0 over that two year span.  The past two seasons they are 1-7 in November.  So much for Norv-ember.
• Colin Kaepernick earned the starting job with his performance last week and he kept up with his winning ways for the Niners this week by scoring through the air and on the ground.  Alex Smith was cleared to play, but Jim Harbaugh had already made the decision to stick with Kaepernick - at least for now. 

• Kaepernick clearly has more upside due to his ability to make plays with his legs, but are they really prepared to turn the team over to him heading into the postseason, given his lack of experience?  Smith may never have been considered elite, but he made vast improvements in his game last season in leading them to 13 wins and coming up just short of a trip to the Super Bowl. 
• Drew Brees entered the game with only 9 INTs in his first 10 games this season and only 1 in the past 3 games, but both of his picks were returned for scores by an opportunistic Niners defense.  Brees was also sacked 5 times, including 1.5 sacks for Aldon Smith, who now leads the league in sacks.
• Janoris Jenkins returned 2 of Ryan Lindley's 4 INTs for TDs to help the Rams beat the Cardinals.  Lindley actually helped lead two scoring drives in the first half, both of which ended on TD runs from the returning Beanie Wells, to give Arizona a lead at the half, but the wheels fell off in the second half. 
• Steven Jackson has had a relatively quiet year, by his standards, but broke out with a season high 139 rushing yards this week.  That included a vintage 46 yard run that proved he still has something left in the tank.  Jackson seems like he's been around forever, but is actually only 29.  That's close to being over the hill for a RB, but he's not quite there yet, although years of playing for terrible teams may have worn him down faster than the typical running back.
• The Giants ended their recent slide behind a strong bounce back performance from Eli Manning.  The Manning brothers seemed to have swapped places after the first month of the season, with Peyton getting stronger every week and Eli declining to the point where he was throwing the ball as if he was the one recovering from multiple neck surgeries.  Many wondered if Eli was struggling from arm fatigue after throwing for a career high in yardage last year and leading the team to a Super Bowl win.  The bye week appears to have rejuvenated him and his arm.  After failing to throw a TD pass in any of the three games leading up to their bye week, Manning connected on three scoring passes against the Packers.
• The Giants defense pressured Aaron Rodgers all game, sacking him 5 times, forcing two turnovers and limiting his top receivers.  Rodgers did find Jordy Nelson early in the game for a 61 yard TD, but Nelson caught only one more pass the entire game after that.  Randall Cobb had trouble getting open over the middle of the field and when they tried to go to him on the outside he dropped a pass he could have turned into a big play.  He finished catching only 4 of his 7 targets for 39 yards.
• In a battle between two of the league's most disappointing teams, is the story a feel good win for the Panthers that could help them get back on track or is it just the latest failure for an Eagle's team who's season has spiraled out of control?  Either way, both teams are now 3-8 and looking ahead to next year.
• Cam Newton had his best game of the season, topping 300 yards for only the third time all season and scoring 4 times - twice through the air and twice on the ground.  Newton may be the most dangerous goal line runner in the league, but the Panthers had to be holding their breath as they watched him leap high into the air, diving head first over a pile into the end zone. 
• Rookie Bryce Brown got the start in the Eagles backfield, filling in for the concussed LeSean McCoy, with mixed results.  One the one hand, his 178 rushing yards is the 5th most since the merger for a player making his first career start.  He also found the end zone twice.  On the other hand, he lost two fumbles in a game that ended up being decided by one score.  The turnovers only led to a total of three points for Carolina, so they didn't directly cost his team the game, but they also robbed the Eagles of potential points.  Brown flashed the type of play making talent that should have his coaching staff eager to get the ball in his hands more, but if those hands can't hang on to the football then he'll end up glued to the bench again.
• The Eagles have now lost 7 straight games and have blown 4th quarter leads in 4 of them.  Their last win came on September 30th.  Even the Philadelphia Phillies have won a game more recently than the Eagles!
• Every division leader in the AFC has at least a three game lead over their next closest competitor, with Denver having a four game lead out West.  Chicago has only a one game lead over the Packers, but every other division in the NFC seems to be wrapped up already and we're not even out of November yet!  It's going to be a cold December for a lot of teams.
• At least the Wild Card race could spark some interest down the stretch.  In the NFC it's looking like Green Bay and Seattle at the moment, but recent surges from Tampa Bay and New Orleans (despite their losses this week) have put them back in the race.  In the AFC, Indy and Pittsburgh are trying to hold off Cincinnati and Miami.  If Ben Roethlisberger doesn't return soon and the Steeler continue to flop in his absence, it could make things interesting.