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.

Things I Noticed: Week 12

The icy chill of winter is starting to emerge, as we saw several games impacted by freezing temperatures and heavy winds this week.  These conditions aren't just a hassle for kickers, as we saw it impact the passing game when quarterbacks wanted to throw deep and in several cases we saw players struggle to hold on to the ball.  It's enough to make you appreciate being able to get cozy in the warmth of your own home to watch the games on a great big flat screen.  If you're daring enough to brave the weather conditions in any of the cold weather cities, make sure to bundle up!

Bye weeks: Buffalo, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Seattle

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• Last week the Saints were saved by a personal foul penalty that negated a Drew Brees fumble on a 4th quarter drive that ended with a game tying field goal.  This week they benefited by the officials missing a clear face masking penalty when Matt Ryan was sacked on a drive where Atlanta had to settle for a field goal rather than a first and goal at the 10 yard line.  The Saints would go on to win by four points, highlighting the importance of escaping with only giving up three on that earlier Falcons possession.  
• There was a slight game delay as the field crew had to fix the goal post after Jimmy Graham hung on it
  
  as part of his TD celebration following a 44-yard score.  Graham tied a record by tight ends with his 6th 100+ yard game of the season.  Who's record did he tie?  Tony Gonzalez, of course.
• Down by four with about 2 and a half minutes left, the Falcons attempted... a field goal??  Granted it was 4th and 15, but doesn't that have to be four down territory anyway?  To make matters worse, Matt Bryant missed the 52 yard FG.  Atlanta wouldn't get the ball back again until there were 5 seconds left in the game, so even if they had made the field goal, it wouldn't have made a difference.
• Despite the loss, the Falcons at least played up to their competition this week.  After suffering four straight blow outs where they appeared to be toast on both sides of the ball, a match up with the division rival Saints gave them a bit of a spark.  There were points where it seemed the defense couldn't make a tackle, an issue that's plagued them for weeks, yet in the end they did manage to hold New Orleans to a season low 17 points and keep Brees to under 300 yards for only the third time this season.

Things I Noticed: Week 11

The last of the unbeaten teams falling and a controversial Monday Night game led to an exciting and memorable week.  Seattle became the first team to 10 wins, but are one of only four teams that have yet to have their bye week.

Bye weeks: Dallas, St. Louis

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• While it didn't take another dramatic game winning drive for Andrew Luck this time, the Colts still had to dig themselves out of an early hole to beat the Titans.  Tennessee led by 14 points after the first quarter before the Colts rallied from their slow start.  Adam Vinatieri nailed a field goal as time expired in the first half to kick off a string of 20 unanswered points to put Indy ahead.  The Colts will take a win regardless of when the points are scored, but these slow starts are a troubling sign for a team headed for the postseason.  They are likely to run into stronger defenses in the playoffs that will make coming back from early deficits much more difficult.
• Tight End Colby Fleener had a career day, with 8 catches for 107 yards to lead Colts receivers.  With Reggie Wayne lost for the season, Luck will need more than just T.Y. Hilton to step up to fill the void, so it was good to see another receiving threat start to emerge.
• The early hole was thanks to Chris Johnson, who scored twice in the first quarter.  That doubled his
  
  TD production, as he also scored twice two weeks ago, but has been shut out of the end zone in every other game this season. There aren't many staring RBs in the league with this frustrating kind of boom or bust potential.
• Geno Smith played his way onto the bench with a miserable performance.  The Jets rookie QB completed only 8 of 23 pass attempts for 103 yards while turning the ball over four times.  Two of his INTs were returned by the Bills for scores the other way.  His Total QBR was 0.7!  Despite being benched late in the game, the QB change is unlikely to be permanent, but ugly outings like this must have Jets fans missing the Mark Sanchez era (ok, maybe not).
• Buffalo's defense was so dominant that the offense wasn't required to do much, but EJ Manuel managed to chip in 245 yards and 2 TDs, despite missing a couple of his main receiving options (including Stevie Johnson).  

Things I Noticed: Week 10

Spoiler alert!  Every team in the NFL has now won at least one game this season.  Welcome to the club Jacksonville and Tampa Bay.  Seems only fitting that the two worst teams would win in the same week, crushing the hopes of millions of people in Eliminator Pool leagues.

Bye weeks: Cleveland, Kansas City, New England, New York Jets

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• Christian Ponder made a diving attempt to stretch across the goal line on a 15-yard scramble at the end of the 3rd quarter, but came up less than a yard short.  Adrian Peterson would punch in the winning score on the next play, but Ponder wouldn't be on the field to hand it off to him, as he had dislocated his shoulder on that previous play.
• Peterson (75 yards, 2 TDs) now has 9,635 career rushing yards.  Only four players in league history
  
  have had more rushing yards through their first 7 seasons in the league and Peterson's season is barely half over.  With 7 games left, it's not out of reach for him to pass LaDanian Tomlinson (10,560) for first on that list.
• Robert Griffin III (281 yards, 3 TDs) led one last drive to attempt to tie the game, driving all the way to the Vikings four yard line with 38 seconds left, when Minnesota coach Leslie Frazier bizarrely called a time out that nearly cost his team the game.  He later defended the decision by saying he needed to give his defense a breather and leave some time left to comeback in case Washington scored.  By doing so though, he gave Washington at least an extra play or two.  RGIII threw an incomplete pass on the next three attempts to turn it over on downs, so the timeout would not come back to haunt Frazier.  On 4th down Santana Moss caught a pass in the end zone, but only managed to keep one foot in bounds. Minnesota was literally one foot away from blowing the game on a play Washington never would have had time to run if they hadn't called that time out.

Things I Noticed: Week 9

We are officially past the halfway point of the season, as every team has now played at least 8 games.  No division leader currently has more than a two game lead in the standings, while one division has three teams tied at the top.  This bodes well for a competitive second half.

Bye weeks: Denver, Detroit, New York Giants, Arizona, San Francisco, Jacksonville

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• It was a rough day for Andy Dalton, who threw 3 picks without a TD against the Dolphins, but the low-light of his night was getting sacked in his own end zone for a safety in overtime that cost the Bengals the game.  It was only the third time in league history a game has ended on a safety.  The play came on 3rd and 10 from the Bengals 8-yard line.  Why was Dalton dropping back in the shotgun formation and going anywhere near his own end zone in that situation?
• Giovani Bernard picked up 104 total yards and scored twice.  His second touchdown was ridiculous. Brent Grimes almost tackled him for a loss, but Bernard managed to elude the tackle and cut back all the way to the other side of the field.  Once he found space along the sideline, he cut back toward the middle of the field and dodged yet another Grimes tackle (credit the defender for recovering to at least get himself in position to try to make another tackle?).  The rookie received less than half the amount of hand-offs that BenJarvis Green-Ellis received, but that was partially due to Bernard exiting early with a rib injury.  Assuming the injury isn't serious, Bernard needs to get more touches.  While the Law Firm is a solid veteran that will reliably pick up short chunks of positive yards, he doesn't come close to the big play ability of Bernard.
• Miami has suspended Pro Bowl guard Richie Incognito indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the
  
  team, after teammate Jonathan Martin accused him of harassment.  He apparently even has the text messages and voice mails to prove that Incognito threatened him and used racial slurs to demean and bully him.  If this is true, Incognito has no place in the Dolphins locker room (or in any other teams). This behavior can't be tolerated and the Dolphins are making the right choice by removing him from the team to prevent further damage to team chemistry.