Things I Noticed: Week 13

It's Thanksgiving weekend, a time for us to give thanks for all the meaningful things that are most important to us in our lives.  Like football!  Oh yeah, and family and friends and all that.

Thanksgiving Day featured three games to enjoy while stuffing your face with a turkey feast.  Detroit and Dallas hosted their traditional games, plus we got a night game between the Ravens and Steelers.  Bye weeks are over now, but having three Thursday games helped break up the week a bit.

Entering the week, only the Atlanta Falcons were mathematically eliminated from the postseason.  They'll be joined by others this weekend.

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• The Lions were victorious on Thanksgiving Day for the first time in ten years, which is pretty remarkable when you consider they are one of only two teams that play on this day every year. Matthew Stafford (330 yards, 3 TDs) and Reggie Bush (182 total yards, 1 TD) both ended up with big days on the stat sheet, but both were responsible for keeping the Packers in the game early on. Bush lost a fumble on the Lions first drive of the game and Stafford lost one after getting sacked in the second quarter, which was returned for Green Bay's only TD of the game.  But after that, Detroit shook off the slow start and dominated the game with 37 unanswered points.
• Green Bay can't get Aaron Rodgers back soon enough.  Matt Flynn struggled in completing only half of his 20 pass attempts for 139 yards and an INT.  He was also sacked 7 times and lost a pair of fumbles.  At least Rodgers could be back next week!
• DeMarco Murray found the end zone three times to help lead the Cowboys over the Raiders.  His
  
  third score gave Dallas their first lead of the game early in the 4th quarter and they would later tack on a field goal with just under two minutes left to make it a two possession game.
• Tony Romo (225 yards, 1 TD) played fairly well for a guy battling the flu.  While he wasn't the one scoring the winning TD, he did lead the winning drive, adding to his league leading total of game winning drives in the 4th quarter or OT since 2011.  
• While the Cowboys certainly liked how the game ended, it wasn't the flu virus that was making Romo and his teammates nauseous early in the game.  Filling in for the injured Dwayne Harris, rookie Terrance Williams took over as the Cowboys primary kick returner, only to fumble on his first attempt to open the game.  Former Cowboy Mike Jenkins forced the fumble and Greg Jenkins, who was just signed off the practice squad for this game, scooped up the loose ball and returned it for a TD.
• Dallas sits tied with Philadelphia at the top of the NFC East with identical 7-5 records, but history says they won't finish on top.  Tony Romo has a sparkling 24-5 career record in the month of November, but once the calendar flips to December his record is 12-20 the rest of the season.  The Cowboys celebrate victory on Thanksgiving with a turkey feast, but the tryptophan induced coma last through Christmas.
• Trailing by ten, Matt McGloin led the Raiders down to the Dallas 27 yard line with 35 seconds left. Needing two scores, the Raiders wisely kicked the field goal to make it a one possession game.  Many teams would have tried for the TD in this situation, but doing so would have wasted more valuable time.  Even if they had been able to get into the end zone and recover an on-side kick, they may not have had time to get into field goal range.  Taking the three points there conserved time and set up the potential for a Hail Mary to tie if they had recovered the on-side kick.  It's still a long shot, but it gave them the best chance at winning.  I'm sure there were plenty of people that weren't thrilled that the field goal allowed Oakland to cover the 9.5 spread though.
• Torrey Smith caught a deep ball from Joe Flacco for 54-yards on Baltimore's opening possession.  After the play was initially ruled a TD, officials overturned the call and marked Smith down at the 1 yard line.  No matter, as a couple plays later, Flacco went back to Smith for a much shorter TD pass.
• Baltimore would hold on to win despite a wild ending that saw the Steelers score with about a minute remaining.  Heath Miller thought he got in the end zone, but officials marked him down at the 1-yard line.  On the next play Le'Veon Bell dove head first into the end zone, but the score was overruled when replays showed his helmet came off prior to him crossing the goal line.  By rule, once a player's helmet comes off, the play is immediately stopped.  Despite that no whistle was blown on the play, they still overturned it after review.   The rule is understandable for safety issues (it was created a few years ago after Cowboys TE Jason Witten ran about 20 yards after getting his helmet knocked off), but it's designed to stop the play so a player doesn't get it in the head without the protection of their helmet.  In this case, it happened so fast that officials were unable to stop the play in time, so the safety precaution didn't even come into play.  Pittsburgh scored anyway when Ben Roethlisberger connected with Jericho Cotchery on a 4th and 1 play, but then Emmanuel Sanders dropped the two-point conversion that would have tied the game.
• Steelers coach Mike Tomlin created a bit of controversy when he took a step into the field of play during a kick return by Jacoby Jones, who was streaking down the sideline with nobody between him and the end zone.  Tomlin jumped back out of the way as Jones sped by him, avoiding a collision, but Jones did seem to slow down slightly as he approached.  That slight deceleration may have been enough for the Steelers to catch up to him and take him down before he was able to score.  Tomlin said he was only trying to get a better view of the JumboTron and lost track of where he was in relation to the field of play, but league rules indicate coaches need to be completely behind the white line that marks out of bounds.  The rule is rarely enforced, but Tomlin wasn't even close to behind it.
• New England overcame another double-digit halftime deficit to rally for a win in Houston.  After the offense struggled to get going at times in the first half, the Patriots made some adjustments that led to them scoring touchdowns on their first three possessions of the second half.  Stephen Gostkowski sealed the comeback by nailing a pair of clutch 53-yard field goals in the 4th quarter.
• The Patriots weren't interested in waiting for Stevan Ridley's next inevitable fumble to come.  After losing the ball in each of the previous three games, Ridley was a healthy scratch this week.  On the other hand, this game gave us a glimpse of life without their top RB and it wasn't pretty.  Brandon Bolden got the start, but after gaining only two yards on three carries, he was quickly made an afterthought.  LaGarrette Blount plodded his way to a modest 3.7 yards on his 12 carries, but lacks big play ability and has an even more troubling history of fumbles than Ridley does.  Shane Vereen is currently the only bright spot in the Patriots backfield, but he's better as a receiver and isn't likely to hold up as a workhorse running back.  The Pats need more from their running game and Ridley is their most talented option.  Don't be surprised when he is given another shot at some point, but he has some work to do to earn the trust of the coaching staff back.
• The Texans entered the game with some concerns about their own running game, but it's a wonder what facing this banged up Pats run defense can do to correct that.  After rushing for only 1 yard last week, Ben Tate exploded for 102 yards and three TDs.  Of course he did.  Just when all his fantasy owners had given up on him and stuck him on their bench.  How many people did he cost a shot at the playoffs in leagues where they started him last week and benched him this week?  Come on, I can't be the only one!
• Riverboat Ron gambled again, going for it on 4th and goal from the 1-yard line.  Cam Newton dove
  
  into the pile and stretched the ball over the goal line just before the end of the first half.  The ball did get knocked out of his hands and recovered by Tampa Bay, but officials ruled he had already crossed the plane prior to the ball coming out.  The score extended Carolina's lead to double-digits and it was smooth sailing from there.
• Basking in the glow of his old college team's huge victory, Auburn alumni Cam Newton shined for his current team.  His 263 passing yards and pair of TDs was fine, but he also added a team high 68 rushing yards, along with another score on the ground.  His 56-yard scramble in the first quarter was the second longest run of his career and the longest scramble (his 72-yard TD run last year was a designed run).
• How is it that a battle between two terrible teams with no playoff implications could turn out to be one of the more exciting games of the week?  How can any game involving either the Browns or Jaguars, let alone both of them, be considered exciting?  Well this one kind of was!  Cecil Shorts beat Joe Haden for the winning TD with 40 seconds left to give Jacksonville their third win of the season.  That's three wins in their last four games for a team that we once thought might never win a game.
• The winning score answered a drive that put Cleveland ahead with under 4 minutes to play.  If you can even call it a "drive."  Actually, it was only one play - a 95-yard TD to Josh Gordon.  With another spectacular performance (10 catches, 261 yards, 2 TDs), Gordon is the first player to record back-to-back games with 200+ receiving yards.  Despite missing two games with a suspension to start the season, Gordon is second in the league in receiving yards.
• That hideous Jaguars offense that struggled to reach a double-digit scoring average for most of the season is now up to a whopping 14.5 points per game!  Ok, that's still last in the league, but it's a long ways from where they were before.  The Jaguars are even getting a little creative on offense.  One of the sweetest plays of the game was a fake sweep to the right with Maurice Jones-Drew, who fooled the defense by lobbing a TD pass to Marcedes Lewis.
• "Automatic" Adam Vinatieri matched a career high with five field goals, including four from 40+ yards, which ties an NFL record.  On a day that Andrew Luck (200 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT) and the offense struggled, the veteran kicker was their to bail them out and extend their AFC South lead.
• Trent Richardson has officially been replaced by Donald Brown as the Colts starter in the backfield.  So maybe giving up a first round pick for him wasn't such a great plan after all.  Brown didn't exactly flourish as the starter, but his late TD did help seal the win for the Colts.  Meanwhile, Richardson gained 19 yards on 5 carries, which sadly enough is one of his best games this season on a yards per carry basis (3.8).  Perhaps the key with him is to try to get more with less.
• Ryan Fitzpatrick was a mess of turnovers (3 INTs, 1 lost fumble) for the sinking Titans.  The loss cost the Titans a chance to get back to .500 and pull within a game of the Colts in the division.  They still have a shot at the playoffs due to the pool of mediocrity fighting for the second Wild Card spot, but a trip to Denver isn't likely to help their chances to right the ship.
• We nearly had an ending reminiscent of the Auburn-Alabama game when Chicago attempted a 66-yard field goal as time expired in regulation.  The kick was short and caught in the end zone by Cordarrelle Patterson, who tried to run it back, but didn't make it nearly as far as the Auburn returner did.  So the game went to overtime!
• A personal foul penalty wiped out a game winning field goal for the Vikings in overtime.  When forced to try again, Blair Walsh missed the 55-yard attempt.  Chicago then drove down the field, but Robbie Gold missed his chance to hit a game winning kick.  The 47-yard attempt came on second down! Why not run at least one more play to try to get closer?  Kicking on third down makes some sense, to protect in the event of a bad snap.  Settling for a long field goal when you could have Matt Forte (averaging 5.2 yards per carry in the game) help give your kicker an easier chance makes no sense. With time running down in overtime, the Vikings avoided their 2nd tie of the season by leaning on Adrian Peterson (30 rushing yards on the final drive) to get them back into range to set up Walsh with another chance to win and this time he came through.
• You had to expect Adrian Peterson to have a big game against Chicago's league worst run defense and the man they call All Day didn't disappoint with 211 yards.  The effort took him over 10,000 career rushing yards.  Only Eric Dickerson and Jim Brown reached that milestone in fewer games than Peterson's 101 games.
• Alshon Jeffery broke his own franchise receiving record, which he set earlier this season, with 249
  
  yards and a pair of TDs.  Jeffery is now 4th in the league in receiving yards.  Is he surpassing Brandon Marshall as the top receiver on this Bears team or is he just benefiting from playing with Marshall, who commands most of the double teams?
• Ryan Tannehill threw TD passes to Brian Hartline and Mike Wallace, which proved to be more than enough to beat the struggling Jets and keep Miami's playoff hopes alive.
• Geno Smith was benched in the third quarter, halting another miserable performance.  His Total QBR was 1.6 when he was mercifully lifted and is a staggeringly low 3.8 over his past five games, a streak where his Total QBR hasn't risen above 15.0 in any game.  To put that in context, Smith's Total QBR for the season is 21.6, which is still easily the worst rating in the league.  This is your QB of the future, New York!  J-E-T-S!!!
• Nick Foles threw 3 more TD passes to lead the Eagles over the Cardinals.  Foles has 19 TD passes without an INT this season.  He needs one more TD without throwing a pick to tie the record Peyton Manning set earlier this season.  He also just set a franchise record for most pass attempts without an interception (233).  
• The Eagles (7-5) have won four straight games and are tied with the Cowboys for the division lead. They still haven't lost a game where Foles played the entire game.
• The Cardinals defense has been very good this season, but they are the worst in the league at defending tight ends.  That's why Zach Ertz and Brent Celek did the bulk of the damage, while receivers DeSean Jackson and Riley Cooper were relatively quiet.
• Larry Fitzgerald hauled in a catch on 3rd and 20, shrugged off two defenders and coasted the rest of the way for a 43-yard TD.
• The Bills were playing at home, but you wouldn't know it from the crowd.  Technically they weren't at home, as they were making their annual trip to play in Toronto.  By doing so they forfeited a big advantage of forcing a warm weather team like Atlanta to play in the freezing conditions in Buffalo. The game was played in a dome, which would seem much more familiar to the Falcons.  The Toronto fans also had a healthy mix of Falcons jerseys in the stands, taking away another home advantage.  Perhaps these factors were just enough for the Falcons to pull out a narrow overtime victory.
• Then again, the Bills didn't do themselves many favors on the field either.  After Stevie Johnson caught a pass that would have put the Bills in field goal range for the winning kick in the final seconds of regulation, he fumbled the ball away to deprive them of their chance to avoid extending the game.  Then on their opening possession in OT, Scott Chandler fumbled to set up Atlanta's winning drive.
• Trailing by 10 in the 4th quarter, the Rams faked a punt from their own 22 yard line, which failed due to a mishandled snap and gave the 49ers great field position.  One play later, Vernon Davis hurdled over the head of a defender, into the end zone for the score that essentially put the game away.
• Davis may want to reconsider that move of hurdling opponents.  This wasn't the only time he displayed his athleticism with that move in this game, but one of those times, Davis claims that Rams safety T.J. McDonald tackled him by grabbing his crotch.  No, seriously.  "It should be a league rule saying that a defender can not tackle a player by his penis," said Davis.  Hey, no arguments here.  
• With Michael Crabtree making his debut this week, the Niners finally have all their top receiving options available at the same time.  That may explain why Colin Kapernick threw for the most yards (275) he's had in a game since Week 1.
• Denver took control of the AFC West with a win over the Chiefs, giving them a game up in the division, as well as the tie breaker by having beaten Kansas City in both match ups this season.  Peyton Manning had another sensational game (403 yards, 5 TDs) and Eric Decker had a career day (8 catches, 174 yards, 4 TDs).  
• Decker is the second player this year to have 4 TD receptions in a game, joining Marvin Jones. Those two join Randy Moss and Terrell Owens as the only ones to accomplish this in the past decade.  
• After starting the season 9-0, the Chiefs hit their bye week and have been in a tailspin ever since, losing three straight.  They are the first team ever to win their first 9 games, followed by losing their next three.  Granted two of those came against Denver, but the decline was somewhat expected.  The Chiefs are the most improved team this season, which wasn't must of a surprise considering the QB and coaching upgrade, along with improved health from their defense (until recently).  Likewise, as good as they looked in the first half of the season, some decline was to be expected once the schedule got tougher.  KC is still a good team, but they struggle against the elite teams.  If they finish behind Denver in the division and settle for a wild card spot and a road playoff game, they could be an early out this postseason, even if they finish with the 2nd or 3rd best record in the conference.  
• Andy Dalton found A.J. Green for a 21-yard TD late in the 3rd quarter to pull ahead of the Chargers,
  
  as the Bengals retained their two game lead in the AFC North race.  The Bengals should be able to hang on to the division if they survive a date with the Colts next weekend, but if they stumble at all in the next few weeks it could potentially open the door for Baltimore to sneak back in the race leading up to their Week 17 match up.
• Dalton joined Peyton Manning as the only QBs in league history to start their season with three straight 3,000 yard seasons.
• Washington scored on their first possession of the game for the first time all season with a 1-yard TD from Alfred Morris.  They entered the week as the only team not to have scored on their first possession at least once this season.
• Eli Manning has a long history of coming through in the 4th quarter of one possession games. From 2004-2012, he completed 61% of his passes with 37 TDs, 19 INTs, and a 96.0 rating in those situations.  Yet the script has been flipped for most of this season. In 2013, those numbers are 40% completion percentage, 1 TD, 5 INTs and a 25.7 rating (worst in the league).  This week may have been a sign that he's reverting back to his normal self.  After leading a TD drive that finished with an Andre Brown TD early in the 4th quarter, Manning completed 6 of 7 pass attempts for 56 yards in the 4th quarter.  That included a field goal drive that put the Giants ahead by 7 late in the 4th quarter.
• A controversial ending cost Washington a chance at a thrilling comeback.  On second down, Pierre Garcon made a catch right near the first down marker.  No call came for a measurement to confirm, but the chains were moved as if it were a first down.  Washington ran their next play under the assumption it was 1st and 10, but after the deep pass was dropped for an incompletion, the officials called it 4th and 1.  How could they have screwed that up??  The spot looked correct, as it did not appear Garcon got far enough to pick up the 1st down.  But if they moved the chains to indicate a first down, it's up to the officials to correct that before letting the next play run.  Washington likely doesn't throw deep if they need to pick up a yard on 3rd down.   
• The league would admit after the game that the officials made a mistake.  They should have stopped the game at that point to eliminate any confusion over what down they were on.  Mike Shanahan had asked for a measurement on the play, but an official told him it was unnecessary because they had already ruled it a first down.  Clearly that wasn't the case, at least in the mind of referee Jeff Triplette.  
• So of the Giants 5 wins this season, 4 of them came against teams starting a backup QB and this latest one comes thanks to one of the biggest officiating mistakes of the year.
• The 12th man was in full force at Century Link Field on Monday Night, as the crowd of 68,387 set a new world noise record by registering 137.6 Db.  The Seahawks then rewarded their boisterous crowd with a dominating victory over the Saints.  Russell Wilson put on an MVP caliber performance with 310 yards, 3 TDs and a team high 47 rushing yards. 
• For Wilson's third TD pass, he threw to TE Kellen Davis near the end zone.  The ball deflected off his
  
  hands, popped into the air and was nearly intercepted.  Instead, the ball found itself in the hands of Derrick Coleman, who reached across the goal line for a TD.  Everything seemed to go Seattle's way in this game, with this play being a primary example.
• Despite a depleted secondary, the Seahawks defense was able to stymie Drew Brees and the Saints. Their high powered offense was held to 188 total yards and 7 points - both of which are the fewest the Saints have produced in a game since Sean Payton took over as head coach in 2006.  Drew Brees was held to under 200 passing yards for the first time since the final game of the 2010 season. 147 yards is his lowest since the season finale of the 2006 season, which was a meaningless game where Brees played only the first two drives in the first quarter before resting up for the playoffs.
• With the win, Seattle moves to 11-1 and becomes the first team to officially clinch a playoff spot. With a three game lead over San Francisco, they've got a strangle hold on the division title and beating New Orleans puts them in the drivers seat to lock up the top seed in the NFC.  Given the home field advantage they get from the league's loudest crowd, getting the top seed could give them a clear path to the Super Bowl.  The Saints seemed to be their top competitor in the NFC.  If they couldn't come close to competing with the Seahawks in Seattle, who can?