TEN THOUGHTS FROM NFL WEEK 13
1. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has a defense that's given up a 4th quarter lead in four consecutive games & the defending champs have lost all four. They find themselves on the brink of being home in January & I don't mean Heinz Field, I mean at home on the sofa watching the playoffs. Sitting at 6-6, Pittsburgh is behind Denver(8-4), Jacksonville(7-5) & are behind Baltimore & Miami(both 6-6) due to tie-breakers. This is an uphill battle to be sure, they need to win out & hope 10-6 will be good enough. The fact they've lost to both Kansas City & Oakland is very disturbing. They're 2-6 without S Troy Polamalu & he won't be back for Thursday's game in Cleveland. The Steel curtain defense has been anything but, in the 4th quarter this year. I think the loss to Oakland yesterday will prove to have been their last chance.
2. I said before the season I didn't think the Atlanta Falcons would make the playoffs. It looks right now like they could win 9 games, which won't be enough. Even before Matt Ryan & Michael Turner were injured, it was apparent the Falcons simply didn't have enough defense to repeat playing a 1st place schedule. They host the Saints this Sunday & a loss could pretty much put an end to their playoff quest.
3. I also said before the season I didn't think Arizona would make the playoffs. It now appears the Cardinals will win 11 or 12 games & their division going away. The franchise had never made the playoffs in two consecutive seasons in their history & that goes back thru St. Louis all the way back to when they were the Chicago Cardinals. The biggest difference in the 2009 version is the defense. Ken Whisenhunt canned D-coordinator Clancy Pendergast(the Chiefs signed him & let him wreck what semblance of a defense they had remaining from the Herm Edwards regime) & their defense not only didn't miss him, they're much better as a unit. They held Adrian Peterson to 19 yards rushing last night, the worst game of his career. They intercepted Brett Favre twice. This defense is playing as well as any in the NFC.
4. Tampa Bay rookie QB Josh Freeman threw 5 interceptions yesterday, all in the redzone, which is a problem. Coach Raheem Morris didn't sound alarmed, but quite simply, he lost the game for the Buccaneers. When you've only won once in '09, you can't afford to throw games away.
5. Bruce Gradkowski may make Raider brass forget about JaMarcus Russell. Well, until they have to write his bloated paycheck. Gradkowski has played well since replacing Russell in the 4th quarter of their loss to Kansas City. They could have won that game, if his receivers had held onto the ball. They beat Cincinnati & yesterday, he led a late 4th quarter comeback in Pittsburgh, throwing the winning touchdown with 9-seconds remaining. In very un-Russell-like fashion, Gradkowski was 20 of 33 for 308 yards & 3 touchdowns. He looked like an NFL quarterback, something that hasn't been seen in Oakland in some time.
6. The NFC East could very well not be decided until the 4th quarter of the last game played. Dallas has the worst schedule with San Diego, at New Orleans, at Washington & Philly. I think they're in the most trouble. The Eagles play at the Giants Sunday night, Frisco, Denver & at Dallas. One game back of the 'Boys & Eagles, the Giants close with Philly, at Washington, Carolina & at Minnesota. With the degree of difficulty these teams have remaining on their schedules, I think only one of them will have a record good enough for a Wildcard berth in the playoffs. By the way, I'm really getting tired of listening to Joe Buck & Troy Aikman every single week on the Cowboy telecast.
7. New England had followed a loss with a win 21 of the last 22 times they lost. Not so yesterday, as the Dolphins squeezed out a 1-point win keeping their slim playoff hopes alive. The Patriot defense is on life support & without a transfusion of head-knocking talent, I doubt they can get past round one of the playoffs. I think the Pioli/Belichick braintrust just let too much talent get old or leave town. One really good draft & they can be back near the top of the AFC, but they seriously need some real help on defense.
8. The fact that the Saints remain undefeated can be attributed to a hell of a lot of luck. No way were they going to win yesterday without a number of things happening to the Redskins. Just seconds before the half ended, a Drew Brees interception in Saint territory was snatched out of the defender's hands by WR Robert Meachum & run in for a touchdown with 22-seconds left on the clock. With Washington up by 7 & less than 2 minutes to play in the game, Redskin kicker, Sean Suisham, missed a 23-yard field goal, that's just 4-yards further than an extra point kick. Brees led the Saints to the game-tying touchdown in 33-seconds without having a timeout. A fumble by Redskin RB Mike Sellers resulted in the longest review of the season, it must have lasted 10-minutes, gave the Saints the ball in the overtime & shortly thereafter, the Saints kicked the winning field goal. I watched that fumble replay maybe 20 times & I couldn't tell what had actually happened, so I was really perplexed when they overturned the call on the field. It was revealed today bythe NFL, the replay was broken down frame-by-frame, something FOX couldn't do.
9. I see now why the Steelers made no effort to sign WR Nate Washington. He is with the Titans now & he can do 2 things consistently, use his speed to get open deep & drop passes thrown right to him. Twice in yesterday's game in Indianapolis, Washington got behind the defense & he dropped a perfectly thrown pass from Vince Young that should have been easy touchdowns. The Colts finally got out in front & stayed there, moving their record to 12-0.
10. Don't look now, but Green Bay is coming on strong. They're still 2 games behind the division leading Vikings & won't have a tie-breaker with Minnesota. But they got their offensive line healthy & the sack problem that plagued the Pack early on has been dramatically reduced. They surrendered 37 sacks at the halfway point but in the last 4 games since OT's Chad Clifton & Mark Tauscher returned, QB Aaron Rogers has only been sacked 8 times, a manageable number. They finish the season at Chicago, at Pittsburgh, Seattle & at Arizona. So it won't be easy, but their defense is playing lights out right now & Rogers looks really sharp. I think the last playoff spot in the NFC will come down to Green Bay or Dallas.
2. I said before the season I didn't think the Atlanta Falcons would make the playoffs. It looks right now like they could win 9 games, which won't be enough. Even before Matt Ryan & Michael Turner were injured, it was apparent the Falcons simply didn't have enough defense to repeat playing a 1st place schedule. They host the Saints this Sunday & a loss could pretty much put an end to their playoff quest.
3. I also said before the season I didn't think Arizona would make the playoffs. It now appears the Cardinals will win 11 or 12 games & their division going away. The franchise had never made the playoffs in two consecutive seasons in their history & that goes back thru St. Louis all the way back to when they were the Chicago Cardinals. The biggest difference in the 2009 version is the defense. Ken Whisenhunt canned D-coordinator Clancy Pendergast(the Chiefs signed him & let him wreck what semblance of a defense they had remaining from the Herm Edwards regime) & their defense not only didn't miss him, they're much better as a unit. They held Adrian Peterson to 19 yards rushing last night, the worst game of his career. They intercepted Brett Favre twice. This defense is playing as well as any in the NFC.
4. Tampa Bay rookie QB Josh Freeman threw 5 interceptions yesterday, all in the redzone, which is a problem. Coach Raheem Morris didn't sound alarmed, but quite simply, he lost the game for the Buccaneers. When you've only won once in '09, you can't afford to throw games away.
5. Bruce Gradkowski may make Raider brass forget about JaMarcus Russell. Well, until they have to write his bloated paycheck. Gradkowski has played well since replacing Russell in the 4th quarter of their loss to Kansas City. They could have won that game, if his receivers had held onto the ball. They beat Cincinnati & yesterday, he led a late 4th quarter comeback in Pittsburgh, throwing the winning touchdown with 9-seconds remaining. In very un-Russell-like fashion, Gradkowski was 20 of 33 for 308 yards & 3 touchdowns. He looked like an NFL quarterback, something that hasn't been seen in Oakland in some time.
6. The NFC East could very well not be decided until the 4th quarter of the last game played. Dallas has the worst schedule with San Diego, at New Orleans, at Washington & Philly. I think they're in the most trouble. The Eagles play at the Giants Sunday night, Frisco, Denver & at Dallas. One game back of the 'Boys & Eagles, the Giants close with Philly, at Washington, Carolina & at Minnesota. With the degree of difficulty these teams have remaining on their schedules, I think only one of them will have a record good enough for a Wildcard berth in the playoffs. By the way, I'm really getting tired of listening to Joe Buck & Troy Aikman every single week on the Cowboy telecast.
7. New England had followed a loss with a win 21 of the last 22 times they lost. Not so yesterday, as the Dolphins squeezed out a 1-point win keeping their slim playoff hopes alive. The Patriot defense is on life support & without a transfusion of head-knocking talent, I doubt they can get past round one of the playoffs. I think the Pioli/Belichick braintrust just let too much talent get old or leave town. One really good draft & they can be back near the top of the AFC, but they seriously need some real help on defense.
8. The fact that the Saints remain undefeated can be attributed to a hell of a lot of luck. No way were they going to win yesterday without a number of things happening to the Redskins. Just seconds before the half ended, a Drew Brees interception in Saint territory was snatched out of the defender's hands by WR Robert Meachum & run in for a touchdown with 22-seconds left on the clock. With Washington up by 7 & less than 2 minutes to play in the game, Redskin kicker, Sean Suisham, missed a 23-yard field goal, that's just 4-yards further than an extra point kick. Brees led the Saints to the game-tying touchdown in 33-seconds without having a timeout. A fumble by Redskin RB Mike Sellers resulted in the longest review of the season, it must have lasted 10-minutes, gave the Saints the ball in the overtime & shortly thereafter, the Saints kicked the winning field goal. I watched that fumble replay maybe 20 times & I couldn't tell what had actually happened, so I was really perplexed when they overturned the call on the field. It was revealed today bythe NFL, the replay was broken down frame-by-frame, something FOX couldn't do.
9. I see now why the Steelers made no effort to sign WR Nate Washington. He is with the Titans now & he can do 2 things consistently, use his speed to get open deep & drop passes thrown right to him. Twice in yesterday's game in Indianapolis, Washington got behind the defense & he dropped a perfectly thrown pass from Vince Young that should have been easy touchdowns. The Colts finally got out in front & stayed there, moving their record to 12-0.
10. Don't look now, but Green Bay is coming on strong. They're still 2 games behind the division leading Vikings & won't have a tie-breaker with Minnesota. But they got their offensive line healthy & the sack problem that plagued the Pack early on has been dramatically reduced. They surrendered 37 sacks at the halfway point but in the last 4 games since OT's Chad Clifton & Mark Tauscher returned, QB Aaron Rogers has only been sacked 8 times, a manageable number. They finish the season at Chicago, at Pittsburgh, Seattle & at Arizona. So it won't be easy, but their defense is playing lights out right now & Rogers looks really sharp. I think the last playoff spot in the NFC will come down to Green Bay or Dallas.
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