Things I Noticed: Week 9

Every team in the league has now played at least 8 games, meaning we have officially entered the second half of the season.  Goes by quickly, doesn't it? 

This past Thursday afternoon also marked the end of the trade deadline, which of course was relatively quiet because big trades rarely ever happen mid-season in the NFL. 

Bye weeks: St. Louis, New England, NY Jets, San Francisco

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• One notable deadline deal sent Aqib Talib and a 7th round draft pick from Tampa to New England for a 4th round pick.  Talib will help a struggling Patriots secondary, improving on one of the team's few weaknesses.  He is a tall, physical cover corner that the team had been lacking to match up against elite receivers.

• Talib does come with some baggage, as he still has one game left to serve on a suspension for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing substances.  Talib tested positive for Adderall, which he took without a prescription and without notifying team doctors.  Maybe he does have valid medical reasons for taking the drug and wasn't just using it to get an unfair advantage, but he didn't follow the proper procedure and paid the price for it.  This is the second suspension of his career.  He was suspended one game in 2010 for violating the NFL's personal-conduct policy after an altercation with a cab driver.
• For the Patriots, Talib is a low risk-high reward acquisition.  They gave up only a mid-round draft pick for him and are responsible for paying only a prorated portion of the final year of his contract.  If he plays to his ability without creating a disturbance then he has the talent to drastically improve their pass defense.  If he doesn't pan out then they won't hesitate to cut their losses and move on, but his talent and the team's obvious need make him worth the risk.  Keep in mind that the Pats have a history of getting the most out of players with baggage, including Corey Dillon and Randy Moss.  Let's just hope Talib turns out more like them and less like Albert Haynesworth or Chad Ochocinco.
• Philip Rivers completed 18 of 20 passes, but they were mostly of the dink and dunk variety.  Plus, he did it against the Chiefs defense.  One of those incompletions was a terribly thrown INT in the end zone that prevented the Chargers from pulling away earlier.  His performance wasn't nearly as impressive as the final result appears.
• The INT came on the Chargers last play of the first half.  They had the ball in a 3rd and goal situation from the 1 yard line with only about 20 seconds left, but still armed with one time out.  Why not try to run it in?  If you can't manage to get the one yard against a poor Chiefs run defense (which gave up 4.7 yards per carry in the game) then you can still use the time out to run another play.  Even if the were intent on going with a pass play, Rivers should have thrown the ball away rather than force it into tight coverage to ensure he'd get another shot.  Bad decision making by Rivers and the coaching staff.
• The Chargers didn't put the game away until the defense took over in the 4th quarter.  Kansas City made the mistake of trying to run play action close to their own end zone.  When the Chargers didn't fall for it, Cassel was a sitting duck.  Instead of dropping to the ground and succeeding the safety, Cassel tried to make a play and ended up getting strip sacked.  The Chargers recovered the loose ball in the end zone for a TD.  Put that one on the coaching for the play call, but Cassel's decision making made it worse than it should have been.  The next drive ended with a tipped pass (that really should have been caught by Dexter McCluster) was picked off and returned for another defensive score. 
• Kansas City now has a league worst -20 turnover differential after losing the turnover battle 4-2 in this game.  That's nearly double the next worst teams.
• With Brady Quinn inactive with a head injury, Matt Cassel was the only choice to start at QB for the Chiefs, but after this season they really need to give themselves better options.  Kansas City hasn't won a game with a starting QB that they drafted themselves in 25 years!  How is that possible?  Given that they are well on their way toward a high draft pick this year, here's a thought - draft a franchise QB!  Picking them up off the scrap heap or overpaying mediocre QBs coming off career seasons is not the way to build long term success.  Getting the next Andrew Luck or RGIII is their best chance at turning things around.  They have talent at several key positions, but without a QB they aren't going anywhere.

• Peyton Manning (291 yards, 3 TDs) continues to make a case for himself in the MVP discussion after once again rallying the Broncos in the 4th quarter.  Manning now has 48 career game winning drives in the 4th quarter or OT, moving him ahead of Dan Marino to the top of the list for any QB since the merger in 1970.
• AJ Green did what we have come to expect him to do - flirt with the 100 yard mark and find the end zone, but the Bengals need to find another steady target for Andy Dalton to throw to.  That option could be talented TE Jermaine Gresham, who broke out with this best game of the season (6 catches, 108 yards).  He was quiet last week, but prior to that Gresham had 60+ receiving yards in 3 of his last 4 games.  His 52 yard catch this week was the Bengals biggest play of the game.
• Joe Flacco has never lost to Cleveland in his career, so it should come as no surprise that the Ravens beat them again this week.  Baltimore has now won 10 straight against Cleveland and 11 straight against AFC North division rivals.
• Cleveland must be allergic to the end zone.  They settled for 5 field goals in the game, 4 of which came when drives stalled in the red zone.  Kicker Phil Dawson was perfect on all 5 of his attempts and has hit all 17 of his attempts this season.
• Aaron Rodgers threw 4 TDs, with two of them going to Randall Cobb, to lead the Packers over the Cardinals.  The strong effort from the reigning MVP helped the Packers overcome injuries to Jordy Nelson and Clay Matthews, which could threaten to derail their season if either of them misses significant time.
• This Packers team is drawing a lot of comparisons to the 2010 Super Bowl winning team, which also was 6-3 at this point of the season heading into a week 10 bye.  Both squads dealt with a string of devastating injuries along the way, but the 2010 team was able to overcome them to clinch a Wild Card spot and roll through the postseason to the title.  With Chicago dominating the NFC North, they may need to follow a similar path this year.
• The Cardinals spirits were broken after Tom Crabtree's 72 yard TD catch to end the third quarter.  The backup TE barely had enough gas to make it all the way to the end zone, but he managed to outrace a defense that showed little interest in catching up to him.  Crabtree isn't the most fleet of foot, but none of the speedy Arizona defensive backs came close to catching him.  Where was Patrick Peterson on that play?  The TD put them down by two scores and the Cardinals managed to pick up only one first down the rest of the game.
• You won't see many more dominant defensive efforts in a game where the opponent scored at least 20 points.  Chicago forced 5 turnovers against the Titans - four forced fumbles from Charles Tillman and a pick-six for Brian Urlacher.  They also blocked a punt that was returned for another score for good measure.  The Bears defense/special teams has now scored 8 TDs this season, which is only one less than they have allowed opposing teams to score against them.  Their 7 INTs that have been returned for scores is two shy of the season record (the '61 Chargers had 9 pick-sixes) and we're only halfway through the season!
• Brandon Marshall made sure the offense was pulling it's own weight by hauling in 3 TDs.  That gives him 7 this season, which is tied for 2nd in the league.
• The lone bright spot for the Titans was Chris Johnson (141 yards), who was impressive against the stout Bears run defense.  80 of those yards came on a garbage time 4th quarter TD run, but his overall performance was still pretty good considering it came against a defense that entered the game allowing a league best 77.8 rushing yards per game.

• Andrew Luck threw for a rookie record 433 yards to help the Colts win their 3rd straight game.  Luck now has 2,404 passing yards this season, which just so happens to be tied for 3rd in the league with a certain former Colts QB (hint: it's not Curtis Painter). 
• Colts coach Chuck Pagano has been away from the team as he battles against Leukemia, but he made an appearance in the locker room this week.  His presence and                    heartfelt speech helped inspire the team to victory.  #Chuckstrong.
• Reggie Bush claimed he would lead the league in rushing this season, which was a bold statement that was starting to look good after an explosive Week 2 performance.  Since then he's yet to rush for more than 67 yards in a game and has a long way to go to climb up from the 16th spot on the list if he still hopes to lead the league.
• RGIII says he doesn't want to be compared to Cam Newton, despite the similarities in their abilities to be a duel threat passing and running the ball.  He has loftier goals of being compared to the likes of Aaron Rodgers instead.  Perhaps being compared to Cam wouldn't be so bad, after the sophomore out played the rookie in leading the Panthers over Griffin's Redskins.
• The Redskins promoted this game as their Homecoming game, inviting some of the franchises former stars back and wearing throwback uniforms (including helmets painted to look like the old school leather helmets).  In college, Homecoming games are typically held against weaker opponents so they are more likely to celebrate with a victory.  The Panthers clearly took this as a personal insult and played with a chip on their shoulders.
• Hailing from the nation's capital, the Redskins have now lost 6 straight games on the weekend before Election Day.  Since 2004, when the Redskins have lost before Election Day, the incumbent President has failed to be re-elected.  Could that be good news for Mitt Romney?
• Actually, no.  I bring up that fact because I keep hearing it, but there has only been one Election since 2004 and George W. Bush wasn't eligible to run again in 2008 because he'd already served two terms in office, so we had to have a new President that year.  That had nothing to do with the Redskins.
• Technically, DeAngelo Williams 30-yard TD run, which ended up being the difference in the game, should not have counted.  A referee inadvertently blew his whistle thinking Williams had stepped out of bounds.  Replays confirmed he did not, but a whistle means the play is blown dead from that spot.  They allowed the score to stand anyway, as if the whistle never happened, but failed to provide a logical explanation for the ruling.  Is this an example of a blown call being addressed by a make up call on the same play?
• Mikel Leshoure scored three times in the 2nd quarter to bury the Jaguars before halftime.  Joique Bell actually led the team in rushing and added a TD of his own as the platoon backs combined for 143 yards.  Who says Detroit doesn't have a running game? 
• Nevermind, they still don't - it's just that Jacksonville doesn't have a run defense.  The Lions performance was merely average for what the Jags typically give up on the ground (137.4 yards per game).
• Mario Williams made his return to Houston and made his presence felt by sacking his former QB.  Somehow I don't think the Texans 3rd ranked defense misses him too much and are still more than happy to give the Bills the opportunity to overpay their former pass rushing star.
• Arian Foster scored his league leading 10th TD.  He has now scored in 9 straight home games, which puts him just 2 games short of LaDanian Tomlinson's record for consecutive home games with a rushing score.
• A lot of skeptics were concerned that Doug Martin would have a hard time keeping up his recent string of strong performances following he loss of Pro-Bowl guard Carl Nicks.  So much for that!  All he did was follow up last week's big game with an even bigger one - 251 yards and 4 TDs.  He's the first player ever to score 3 TDs of at least 45 yards in a game and his yardage total is good for the 3rd best ever by a rookie.  Not a bad homecoming performance for the Oakland native.

• He at one point actually had enough yardage to pass DeMarco Murray for second on that rookie list (Adrian Peterson is first with 296 - which is the league record for all players), but the Bucs foolishly kept feeding Martin the ball on their final drive instead of just kneeling down to run out the clock, which resulted in Martin losing 14 yards on three attempts.  Maybe Greg Schiano really wanted to see if Martin could break another long run to pass AP's record.  Or maybe he really does hate kneel downs.  On the game's final play he did finally call for a kneel down, but they lined up in shotgun formation to do it.  You know, just in case the Raiders tried to steal a page from his book and aggressively attack on a kneel down at the end of a two score game.
• While Martin was busy chasing records, Oakland's own explosive RB was sitting on the sidelines.  Darren McFadden was lost to an early ankle injury and finished with only 17 yards.  I know, I'm as shocked as you are that McFadden is injured again.
• Speaking of Adrian Peterson, he's still having big games himself these days.  He finished with 182 yards and 2 TDs.  That doesn't sound all that impressive after looking at what Martin did, but AP is running on a surgically repaired knee and facing Seattle's run defense instead of Oakland's.
• Good thing that Peterson came up big, because Christian Ponder did not.  After Percy Harvin was lost to an ankle injury, Ponder struggled even more than he had been in recent weeks.  He completed only half his passes for a meager 63 yards with an INT and no scores. 
• Russell Wilson, on the other hand, threw for 3 scores, which explains how Seattle was able to overcome AP's performance.  Marshawn Lynch (124 yards, 1 TD) wasn't too shabby either.
• When the Steelers faced the Giants it became the first game ever between two QBs from the same draft class that had each won multiple Super Bowl titles.  Since they came into the league there has been much debate about whether Eli Manning or Ben Roethlisberger is the better QB, but Big Ben got the better of the match up this time.
• Both of these QBs are known for their late game heroics, but while Eli played awful in the 4th quarter of this game, Roethlisberger led two late scoring drives to erase a 10 point deficit.
• The turning point of the game was Mike Wallace's 51 yard TD.  Wallace caught the ball over the middle, cut across to the sideline and sprinted up field for the score.  The defense looked like it was moving in slow motion compared to the blazing fast receiver.
• The late game comeback was only necessary because the Giants were gifted a TD when Michael Boley returned a fumble for a score.  It sure looked like Roethlisberger's arm was coming forward before the ball came out, but even after replay review, it was still ruled a fumble.
• This game became the first professional sporting event to take place in the NY/NJ area following the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy.  Due to the effects of the storm, the Steelers weren't even able to find room at a hotel, forcing them to fly in from Pittsburgh the morning of the game.  The disruption in their routine may have attributed to a slow start, but they certainly managed to recover when it counted.  We can only hope that those families impacted by the storm will recover just as well.
• Atlanta (8-0) remains undefeated after squeezing by a Dallas team that beat themselves more than Atlanta beat them.  Despite the perfect record, the Falcons still have yet to look like a truly dominant team, but given how well they play at home, getting the NFC's top seed could go a long way toward paving their path to the Super Bowl.
• If Atlanta finishes with the league's best record it will certainly help Matt Ryan's MVP case, but he also has the stats to back it up.  He's third in the league in both the standard QB rating as well as the more advanced Total QBR.
• Trailing by one score, the Cowboys desperately needed to get the ball back, but a series of missed tackles and penalties on third down extended the Falcons final drive, allowing them to chew up over 5 minutes off the clock.  That left Dallas only 17 seconds left to try to get to the end zone.
• The execution of those final few plays left a lot to be desired.  Needing to go 80 yards in only 17 seconds would require a miracle anyway, but Dallas didn't help their chances.  The first couple passes were quick outs to the sidelines to help them get a little closer without using up too much time.  On the third play they attempted to do the same, yet managed only two yards.  Two yards isn't worth nearly as much as the time it took to run the play and it left them with time for only one more play.  The last play was a short pass over the middle to Felix Jones, who looked around frantically for a teammate to lateral the ball to before the defense took him down.  No other Cowboys were anywhere near the play.  If you're not going to throw to the end zone, shouldn't the other receivers know to run toward the guy that's going to catch the ball so that they can be there to start a series of laterals or help block in hopes of opening up a hole?  Jones clearly wasn't going to break through the defense by himself.
• After another frustrating loss, their 4th straight, the Eagles have fallen to 3-5 this season.  That means they need to finish 6-2 the rest of the way to finish above the .500 mark that their owner required prior to the season.  The rest of their schedule is weak (of their remaining opponents, only the Giants currently have a winning record and they don't play them until Week 17 when NY could be resting their starters), but with the way the Eagles are playing, nothing will come easy.
• Michael Vick had another rough day, getting sacked 7 times.  The turning point in the game came late in the first quarter.  The Eagles were deep in the red zone, on the verge of making the opening score of the game.  Instead, Vick's pass was picked off by Patrick Robinson and returned 99 yards for a score the other way. 

• As poorly as Vick has played, don't expect Andy Reid to bench him anytime soon.  Reid knows he's fighting to keep his job and Vick gives him the best chance to win now.  He's not going to groom a young QB for the future when he may not even be back next year.  Sadly, Reid will do what's best for him, not what's best for the franchise.  If they fail, don't expect either of them to be back next year.
• The Saints are also 3-5, but are trending in the right direction, winning 3 of their last 4.  The early hole they dug themselves into puts them too far off pace for any hope of catching the undefeated Falcons in their division.  A Wild Card spot may be still in play, but still unlikely.  They can still play for pride though and salvage something from this miserable season.
• The Saints suffered a tough break (pun intended) when Darren Sproles needed surgery to repair his broken hand.  He's an explosive talent, but essentially a glorified receiver rather than a typical RB.  His absence just provided more touches for the rest of the Saints stable of backs, which combined for 140 rushing yards, well above the 81 yards per game they've averaged this year.
• The NFL voided the contract of suspended Saints coach Sean Payton, meaning that when he's eligible to return next year he'll essentially be a free agent.  Its far from certain that he'll remain in New Orleans and seeing how the Saints have struggled without him only enhances his importance to a team.  Several teams with coaches currently on the hot seat (Dallas, Philly, San Diego) could be options for Payton if a spot becomes available for him.
• In the 12 Sunday games there were nine 100-yard rushers and only five 300-yard passers.  So much for this being a quarterbacks league! 
• By the way, those 5 QBs included John Skelton and Carson Palmer, but not Aaron Rodgers or either of the Manning brothers.  Tom Brady was on a Bye this week.  The passing yards list was topped by a rookie.  Pretty bizarre week for QBs.