2013 Offseason Update, Week 13

Murphy Holloway is leaving basketball for the NFL, hoping to follow in the
footsteps of other tight ends like Tony Gonzalez and Jimmy Graham.
Photo credit to baltimoreravens.com.

Unless you are interested in a list of draft picks that signed contracts last week, there wasn’t a whole lot going on in the NFL last week. Still, I skimmed through the news to put together a few topics of interest.

Ravens Searching for Diamonds

Baltimore’s defense stood out even from Joe Flacco’s 11-0 TD:INT ratio in the playoffs, but the Ravens have lost a lot of players on that side of the ball. In an attempt to build the unit back up in as little time as possible, Baltimore hired Steve Spagnuolo on Friday to be their Senior Defensive Consultant. His association with the New Orleans Saints’ defense in 2012, the worst in NFL history in at least one category, may hurt his chances of becoming a coordinator for a while, but he still has a very good defensive mind and is a very good addition to Baltimore’s staff.

He isn’t the only possible ‘diamond in the rough’ the Ravens landed last week. Murphy Holloway, a power forward from Ole Miss who was integral in helping the Rebels advance to the 2^nd round as a #12 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament, signed with the Ravens as a tight end. Murphy averaged 14.5 points per game and 9.7 rebounds per game and helped Ole Miss win 27 games this year, tying a school record.

AP Says No Jokes about 2,500

Shortly after the Vikings’ week 17 game against the Packers ended, and halted Adrian Peterson’s rushing total for the season just 9 yards shy of Eric Dickerson’s record, Peterson announced that he would come back even stronger in 2013. His goal? 2,500 yards, a total that would smash Dickerson’s record by nearly 400 yards.

On Wednesday, Peterson told the media that his goal was no joke, saying, “Enjoy this last year because the record’s going down, with ease.”

2,000 yards has been the goal standard for running backs for a long time, and is even more so today as 2-back teams are in the majority across the league. Peterson is hoping the set the bar even higher.

Dolphins to Move?

I really doubt there’s anything to this story. However, a bill that would help the Dolphins with stadium renovations was shot down over the weekend, and it will significantly hurt their bid to host Super Bowl L, a game many stadiums are vying to host.

Dolphins’ owner Stephen Ross said that there will be no renovations without help from public funds and of course the media immediately took that to mean that a move is possible, or even likely, in the Miami Dolphins’ future.

Like I said, there is little chance the Dolphins’ will move, and certainly nothing that has happened that suggests that it is likely. Still, the Los Angeles Dolphins has a certain, odd ring to it.

Brian Banks Fighting for Roster Spot

Some of you may still not know him by name, but you all know the story of the young man who had a bright future in football but was wrongly accused of rape while in high school. He lost several years of his life but has an attitude and a focus that even the biggest hater has to admire.

The Falcons picked him up, and they insist it wasn’t charity. The 27-year-old rookie is on the roster as a linebacker and ran the defense from the middle during Atlanta’s rookie minicamp.

Of the experience, Banks said, “It was real good today to get out there. I’ve been in film the last two weeks, so to get a chance to get out there and put all the knowledge that we’ve been putting on paper out onto the field was a really good experience for the first time. It was really fast-paced. I made a lot of really good moves, made a lot of mistakes, so adjustments will be made.”

If I’m missing anything important, or if you just want to hear my thoughts on any other offseason news from the past week, feel free to contact me via my Twitter account, @cpuffnfl.

Rushing RG3

Robert Griffin III was knocked out of three games in 2012.
Photo credit to WKYC.com.

There isn’t a whole lot of news in the NFL today that grabbed my attention, and I don’t want to start looking at what each team needs to do this offseason until next week or the week after. So I decided to stay local and offer my two cents on a report released by Adam Schefter this morning.

The Redskins, according to Schefter, believe that Griffin’s progress up to this point has been good enough that he could definitely be ready to start in Week 1 of the 2013 season.

Honestly, this concerns me more than a little. He had pretty invasive surgery to repair is LCL and ACL. They had to operate on both knees, so it isn’t just his right knee that they have to rehab.

Everybody points to Adrian Peterson’s swift return as reason for hope that Griffin III can do the same. After all, they both had their ACL’s hurt and Dr. James Andrews performed both procedures to repair them. In addition, RG3’s injury came only about two week later in the season as Peterson’s did last year.

But Peterson did not have work done on his LCL. Andrews did not have to go into Peterson’s non-injured leg in order to repair his injured ACL.

Most importantly, Peterson, as far as we can tell, may not have been 100% at the start of the 2012 regular season. Remember that he was nowhere near his normal self in the first eight weeks of the season. It was the second half of the season where he ran circles around defenders.

If RG3 is 99% in Week 1 of the 2013 season, I would not start him. Having full strength in your legs is much more critical for a quarterback than for a running back. You have to be able to drive through your legs when fitting the ball between defenders on a line. You have to be able to shift your weight properly when delivering a high-arcing touch pass on a corner route.

You might say, “Griffin III can do all that effectively if he’s 90%, so why are you being so conservative?”

I say that because Cousins has proven himself as a capable backup and he will be working this entire offseason as if he is the starting quarterback. After all, he is until RG3 is healthy enough to take over.

Cousins can lead us to wins in the early part of the season as long as the Redskins shore up their defense and keep their offensive line healthy like they did this season.

Robert needs to not rush his recovery. Do it right. He has to understand that if Cousins has to start the season for us, no matter how Kirk does, RG3’s fate will not be the same as Alex Smith’s in San Francisco. We have reached a point where players know that they can lose their job because of injury. Robert is not in that category, though. The Redskins gave up too much to get him and he’s too remarkable an athlete for Washington to replace him.

Still, it wouldn’t hurt if Griffin III can learn to protect himself a little better. Sliding, getting out of bounds. We don’t need him to get 13 yards every time he runs, we can settle for 6 and him getting out of bounds safely.

Be sure to find my blog’s Facebook page and follow me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl, to keep up with new blog posts as I publish them and to request for me to cover specific topics.

Puff’s 2012 NFL Awards

Alec Baldwin returns to host the NFL Honors.

To start, I would like to congratulate Baltimore Ravens WR Anquan Boldin on winning the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. Even if you don’t know anything about Boldin outside of what he said to the media on Friday when it was announced, you can tell that the award is well deserved by him.

All other end-of-season awards will be given out at the 2^nd Annual NFL Honors the night before the Super Bowl. Here are my picks for the major awards.

Most Valuable Player – Minnesota Vikings RB, Adrian Peterson

This is an easy choice for me. The NFL seems to believe that a playoff appearance is required to name a player MVP. I likely would have chosen Adrian Peterson anyway, but it’s a no-brainer now.

Adrian Peterson came back from tearing two ligaments in his left knee last season and chased down Eric Dickerson’s rushing record, falling just 9 yards short when the final whistle sounded on the 2012 regular season. He carried his team through the second half of its season and was more valuable to his team than any other player on a playoff team this year.

Coach of the Year – Indianapolis Colts Interim HC, Bruce Arians

Many people think Leslie Frazier should win this awards, and I don’t dispute that. Frazier did a terrific job in Minnesota. But it is hard for me to give a Coach of the Year award to a coach who has the MVP on his team.

Bruce Arians wasn’t even supposed to be the head coach this season, but Chuck Pagano was unable to work for most of the season due to leukemia treatment. Arians did an amazing job in Pagano’s absence, leading a team in a rebuilding phase to a postseason birth.

Offensive Player of the Year – Green Bay Packers QB, Aaron Rodgers

Everything in me said to give this to my runner-up MVP, which was Peyton Manning. But this is about the offensive player with the best stats, the player who performed the best. I don’t like to give multiple awards to the same player, so I couldn’t give it to Adrian Peterson. Instead, I will give it to Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers led the NFL in passer rating for the second consecutive season. His TD-INT ratio was not much worse than it was last season. In addition, it was his fourth consecutive season with a completion percentage over 64% and a passer rating over 100.0.

Ever since I was old enough to really know what was happening around the NFL, it was always Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as the best two quarterbacks in the league and the guys putting their names among the all-time greats. But Aaron Rodgers is really starting to put his name in that conversation for best quarterback in the league right now. It won’t be long before he is in the ‘all-time’ conversation.

Defensive Player of the Year – Houston Texans DE, J.J. Watt

Aldon Smith was Watt’s closest competition in this race, but Watt did much more than chase Michael Strahan’s sack record – in fifteen starts this season, Watt had 20.5 sacks and 2 fumble recoveries.

Watt also had 16 passes defended, tied for 10^th in the NFL. For reference, the highest total for a linebacker belonged to London Fletcher, who tied for 38^th in the league. For a fellow defensive lineman, you have to go all the way down to 60^th, Corey Liuget of the San Diego Chargers. ‘J.J. Swat,’ as people are calling him, was outstanding this season and is my clear front-runner for this award.

Offensive Rookie of the Year – Washington Redskins QB, Robert Griffin III

Before you accuse me of being a homer, let me explain. This was my initial choice. Then I changed to Russell Wilson because RG3 has an unfair advantage in Alfred Morris. But how disrespectful would it be to Marshawn Lynch for me to say that? Both running backs were near the top of the league in rushing.

So I’m back to Griffin III. But now that I’ve explained why RG3, why not Wilson? It isn’t so much that I think RG3 has performed better than Wilson; I feel like he does more than Wilson and at a slightly higher level. Wilson leads receivers into open space very well, but so does RG3. Wilson is very fast and can rip off big runs when he has to; so can RG3. But Griffin III has shown that he can run the read-option at a slightly higher level, reading the defense slightly faster than Wilson can. RG3 has also has also proven to be a little more accurate throwing into tight coverage than Wilson has.

It’s a close race, and I won’t be disappointed either way because both rookies deserve this award. But RG3 is a slight front-runner in my opinion.

Defensive Rookie of the Year – Carolina Panthers LB, Luke Kuechly

Lost in the shadow of the offensive rookies are the defensive rookies, and there were plenty of good ones. But the rookie linebacker from Carolina was ahead of the rest. Kuechly led the NFL with 164 tackles in his rookie season, 103 of them solo. He also had a sack, 3 fumble recoveries, 3 interceptions, 8 passes defended (just three fewer than the leading linebacker), and 11 stuffs – stuffs are a tackle at or behind the line of scrimmage. His 11 stuffs resulted in a total loss of 30 yards.

These don’t look like rookie numbers, but they belong to one. In a season dominated by rookie quarterbacks and a pair of rookie running backs, Kuechly could be the Pepsi Max Rookie of the Year if the voters weren’t so offense-oriented.

Comeback Player of the Year – Denver Broncos QB, Peyton Manning

Adrian Peterson tore two ligaments in his left knee last December. There were questions of whether he would be back for Week 1 of the 2012 season, or if he would be back for the 2012 season at all. Would he ever run at the same level? All he did was chase Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record.

Peyton Manning had four neck surgeries in a 19-month span. Some doctors didn’t think he would play again ever. When he was cleared, would he be able to put any velocity on the ball? We knew he would still be brilliant, but would his body be anywhere near his mind? All he did was have one of the best years of his career with a brand new team, new weapons, new coaches, in altitude for half his games, and outdoors, where he had been criticized for much of his career in Indianapolis.

I think they are on fairly equal footing. Some will point to Peterson nearly breaking a record and Manning not nearly breaking a record as a reason to give it to Peterson, which is a perfectly legitimate point. But I give a little more weight to the fact that Peterson only missed one game in 2011 while Manning missed the entire season.

It’s a tough decision, but I think Manning is a little more deserving of this award.

Again, congratulations to Anquan Boldin on the Man of the Year Award, and congrats to those who wind up winning each of the awards I gave my two cents on above. Thanks for reading and be sure to tune in to The All-Sports Crew tomorrow at 7 p.m. on WMUC Sports! My previews for the Divisional Round will be published over the next two days.

Wild-Card Afterword: Packers vs Vikings

The Vikings send John Kuhn spinning through the air on his
second touchdown of the night, this one a 9-yard reception.
Photo credit to The Boston Globe.

I said in my preview that the Vikings’ playoff destiny rested more on Christian Ponder than on Adrian Peterson. Ponder did not play because of limited range-of-motion resulting from an elbow injury sustained last week. However, it was backup quarterback Joe Webb who influenced this game more than anything else.

On the first drive of the game, Webb and Peterson ran for over 20 yards each. But on the last play, Webb dropped back looking for a lane to run through rather than a receiver to throw to and delivered a poor, off-balance pass that forced Minnesota to settle for a field goal.

The Vikings’ defense stopped Green Bay on the next drive, but their offense could not take advantage, so Aaron Rodgers did. Late in the second quarter, with a 10-3 lead in tow, the Packers got the ball on their own 38-yard line with less than two minutes in the half. Consecutive completions by Rodgers of 22, 26, and 23 yards set up John Kuhn for a 3-yard touchdown run. Suddenly, a game that had a close feel through most of the half seemed to be getting out of hand at halftime.

Each team would add a touchdown in the second half, but it was clear that Joe Webb was not a passing threat. He did throw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Michael Jenkins in the fourth quarter, but he was left wide open and the pass was not particularly good. Jenkins walked up the sideline for that score.

Because of the lack of a passing game, the Packers were able to key in on the run and contained Adrian Peterson. Usually, giving up 99 rushing yards to a running back isn’t something to hang your hat on, but with Adrian Peterson that was a huge accomplishment. The Packers have only allowed two running backs all year to top 100 yards against them – Adrian Peterson twice and Frank Gore back in Week 1.

The 24-10 victory sends Green Bay to San Francisco for the divisional round and a rematch of that Week 1 loss, which was contested at Lambeau. The 49ers are very different than they were then, with Colin Kaepernick their starter rather than Alex Smith.

The Vikings’ season ends with a disappointing loss, but overall it has to feel like a successful year for Minnesota. Most analysts, myself included, picked them to finish in the basement of a tough NFC North. Adrian Peterson came back stronger than expected and the Vikings had a terrific season overall. I only wish we could have seen how the game would play out Saturday night if Christian Ponder had been able to play.

Wild-Card Preview: Packers vs Vikings

Game 2:

Saturday, January 5, 2013

8:00pm – NBC

Minnesota Vikings @ Green Bay Packers

Christian Ponder struggled at Lambeau in Week 13,
and I don't expect much to change Saturday.
Photo credit to the Star Tribune.

In Week 17, I picked the Packers to beat the Vikings and got burned on my pick. I’m at it again this week.

Adrian Peterson ran for 199 yard in Minnesota’s Week 17 win at home against Green Bay and for 210 yards in a Week 13 losing effort on the Packers’ home turf, where Saturday’s game will be held. Adrian Peterson will not be the difference this time around, just like he wasn’t in either of the last two games.

How far this team goes rests on Christian Ponder. Peterson will run for a lot of yards, as he always does, and I don’t expect Green Bay to slow him down any more than they did in their two previous meetings. But the difference in the two games was Ponder.

In their Week 13 meeting in Green Bay, where they will play this Saturday, Ponder completed less than 50% of his passes, had one touchdown pass and threw two interceptions. Peterson had his 210 yards on 21 carries and a score of his own. But Green Bay came out on top, 23-14.

Last week couldn’t have been much more different for Minnesota. Peterson ran for 199 yards on 34 attempts and had one touchdown run, no better than in the first game. But Christian threw three touchdown passes and no interceptions.

When Ponder does not throw an interception, the Vikings are 7-1. When he doesn’t turn the ball over at all, they are 5-0. But he does turn the ball over, and he hasn’t had back-to-back games in which he hasn’t turned the ball over since wins over San Francisco and Detroit in Weeks 3 and 4.

The thing that bothers me the most about the Vikings is their track record on the road this year. They are 7-1 at home vs 3-5 as a visiting team. Their defense gives up roughly the same number of points regardless of the venue, but they score five fewer points as a visiting team.

This is the sort of opponent that Aaron Rodgers can eat alive. It won’t help that they are calling for light snow in Green Bay on Saturday. If nothing else, the high is supposed to be in the single-digits, and will be much colder by 8 p.m.

The Packers know Peterson will get yards, but on defense they will simply contain him. They will let him get the yards, but force them to go to Ponder when they get close to scoring. They did this effectively in both of the past two games. In Week 13, in Green Bay, it worked in their favor. Ponder came through last week, but I don’t trust him to play that well in consecutive games.

Puff’s Pick:

Minnesota Vikings – 17

Green Bay Packers – 31

MVP: Aaron Rodgers

Sunday Football Afterword: Week 17 Late Games

Adrian Peterson ran hard yesterday but came up short of the
all-time rushing record. It really puts Dickerson's season
in perspective. Photo credit to NY Times.

The later Sunday games were the exciting ones – though the Bears/Lions matchup did have some late-game excitement.

The Denver Broncos finished the season on an 11-game winning streak as Peyton Manning led Denver to an 11^th consecutive win of seven points or more. It is the second time he has had a streak of 10+ consecutive wins of seven or more points. Only two other quarterbacks have done so once. On the Chiefs’ side, an emotional year came to an end and Romeo Crennel was fired as their head coach this morning.

While Denver was romping Kansas City, New England was doing the same to a division opponent of their own in a 28-0 thrashing of the Dolphins. Miami had a decent year and will look to improve on it with a young quarterback who had enough good and bad games this season that he will learn anything he needs to in order to improve next year.

With Houston’s loss to Indianapolis earlier in the day, their wins locked up the AFC’s #1 seed for Denver and #2 seed for New England.

San Diego got off to a hot start, returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown at home against Oakland. Though the official announcement has not been made today, Norv Turner is expected to be fired, and he even said he expects that the organization will begin looking for another coach. The question is whether Turner will ever be a head coach in the NFL again.

St. Louis gave Seattle quite a scare, and gave some NFC playoff teams a little hope that they can slow a Seahawks offensive attack that had been on a tear the three previous weeks. The Seahawks won though, and are plenty hot heading into the postseason.

The 49ers locked up the NFC West with a 27-13 victory over the Cardinals. I don’t think Ken Whisenhunt will be fired, though there are plenty of opinions on both sides around the nation, but I’m sure we’ll get a more concrete answer on that front within a few days.

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, the Vikings played a heck of a game and knocked the Bears out of the playoffs and locked up a wild-card spot for themselves with a 37-34 win over the Packers. Poor Bears fans, who had to pull for rival Green Bay for three hours only to come up empty-handed. Adrian Peterson finished 9 yards shy of breaking Eric Dickerson’s rushing record but should end up winning MVP now that the Vikings have locked up a playoff birth.

I hadn’t been planning on it, but my afterword for the ‘NFC East Championship’ game was a little long. I will lengthen it slightly and publish it separately from this post to keep the length of this post reasonable. Come back a bit later and check that post out. Thanks for reading!

UPDATE - The firings of Norv Turner and Ken Whisenhunt were announced this afternoon. I won't begin to speculate on who will end up with either San Diego or Arizona, but I think Andy Reid would be a good fit in Arizona.

Norv Turner should not get another head coaching position. I could see him getting a coordinator position somewhere, but I wouldn't give it to him. Whisenhunt, on the other hand, absolutely deserves another head coaching opportunity. I see him in a similar light as Andy Reid. The teams need a change of pace and the coaches could use a change of scenery.

2012 Week 17 Preview: Vikings vs Packers

Brett Favre's time in Minnesota ignited a lot of dislike for the
Vikings in Packers Nation. Photo credit to Bleacher Report.

This is the only game this weekend, other than the Redskins/Cowboys game (which I will preview tomorrow), that features a team in a win-and-in situation.

The Minnesota Vikings are at home for a 4:25 p.m. kickoff against the Green Bay Packers in a game that will seal their playoff fate. If the Vikings lose, it would take a miracle and a half to get them in the playoffs. A win clinches them a spot and knocks Chicago, New York, and the loser of the Skins/Cowboys game out of the playoff picture.

Adrian Peterson has been phenomenal all season. A week ago, I predicted that he would not break the all-time single-season rushing record because he had to play Houston and Green Bay. He didn’t top 100 yards against Houston, and it looks like I may have been right about him not breaking the record. But he is still my top choice for MVP if the Vikings get into the playoffs.

Side note: AP is still my top choice if the Vikings miss the playoffs, but the NFL rarely, if ever, awards the MVP to a player on a team that misses the playoffs.

Despite Peterson only gaining 86 yards, the Minnesota defense did pretty well for itself, holding the Texans to just six points in Reliant Stadium. Christian Ponder has yet to top 200 passing yards in a game since the team’s Week 11 bye – he had six such games in the first ten weeks of the season.

On Green Bay’s side, they have had three different leading rushers in the past four weeks and Aaron Rodgers has had only one game since their Week 10 bye in which he didn’t pass for at least 200 yards. He also only had one sub-200 game in the first nine weeks.

The Vikings are on a 3-game winning streak, also beating the Bears and Rams in the past three weeks. Green Bay’s winning streak is slightly longer at four games, but it includes a 23-14 Week 13 win over Minnesota and they are coming off a 55-7 romp at home against Tennessee last Sunday.

Remember what I said about how much Minnesota is playing for on Sunday? Well, don’t expect Green Bay to just let them in. Green Bay can lock up a first-round bye with a win over their NFC North rival.

The biggest question for me is how set Minnesota is on getting the rushing record for Adrian Peterson. He needs 209 yards to break the record. He gained 210 in that earlier loss to Green Bay. Christian Ponder said earlier this week that he’s sure AP is more concerned with getting the win, which I’m sure is mostly true. But Peterson did say a day or two ago that he still plans on breaking that record.

Ultimately, I just don’t think there is much the Vikings can do to slow down a markedly better Packers team that isn’t resting anyone and has really gotten things rolling after a 38-10 loss to New York in Week 12, their only one since that Week 5 loss in Indianapolis.

Puff’s Pick: Green Bay Packers over Minnesota Vikings

Sunday Football Afterword: Week 16 Early Games

Jimmy Graham overshot a fumble near the goal line in
overtime, but turns his body to cover it up.
Photo credit to The Times-Picayune.

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! We had 15 games yesterday, so I’m going to get right into the 11 early ones, and I’ll try to keep everything short and sweet.

Cam Newton’s attitude issues apparently don’t only come out during losses. He got into it with a ref during yesterday’s 17-6 win against Oakland. He apologized after the game, but this is the kind of thing he’s got to clean up if he wants to have a long, successful career.

Green Bay thrashed the Titans, 55-7. There really isn’t much more to say about it other than that it is scary how many teams there are who can put up 50+ points right now.

Minnesota surprised Houston as Christian Ponder had a decent game throwing the ball and ran for more than half the yards Adrian Peterson did. AP got just 86 yards and is still over 200-yards away from the single-season rushing record, and the Vikings have to play the Packers, who will be playing to keep the #2 seed in the NFC.

Tom Brady played awful early and at one point was 9/18 with no scores and 2 interceptions, letting Jacksonville lead early. He cleaned it up after that, though it was surprising not to see the Patriots run away with is like they usual do after poor starts to games. Brady finished with two touchdown passes in New England’s 23-16 win in Jacksonville.

The Colts looked good early against another terrible team, but let Kansas City back in it during the third quarter. Andrew Luck got his only touchdown pass of the game in the fourth quarter, for the go-ahead score that ultimately was the final score of the game. Luck also broke Cam Newton’s rookie single-season passing yards record in the game.

Miami handled Buffalo with little difficulty, 24-10. The Jets stayed close but fell 27-17 to the Chargers. And St. Louis took care of business against the Buccaneers, who were squarely in the playoff race a few weeks ago. The final score in that one was 28-13.

Dallas took advantage of a poor New Orleans defensive effort, but Drew Brees came to life late in the game to lead the Saints to a 14-point comeback to send the game into overtime, where they finally got a defensive stop and then drove the ball downfield for a game-winning field goal.

Washington, meanwhile, won their game in Philadelphia, 27-20. But it doesn’t mean all that much because next weeks matchup with Dallas, which has been flexed to Sunday Night Football, will decide the winner of the NFC East. If Dallas looses, they’re out. If Washington loses, they are almost definitely out, and we’ll know for sure by the time the game starts. These are two of the hottest teams in the NFL right now, and I’m sure this game will remind many people of past days when this was a common division-deciding matchup to see late in the season.

The final game of the early afternoon was in Pittsburgh, where Cincinnati knocked the Steelers out of the playoffs and knocked themselves in. All six AFC playoff spots are decided, the only thing left to determine is seeding, so there won’t be too much resting of starters next week because there is still plenty to play for.

Check back later for my Sunday Football Afterword for the four late games. Thanks for reading everyone!

Sunday Football Afterword: Week 15 Early Games

Kirk Cousins is now #2 on the Redskins all-time Rookie list
for single-game passing yards. Photo credit to SB Nation.

The Giants had not been held scoreless in more than 15 years until the Falcons, the Falcons, did just that yesterday. After Atlanta’s 34-0 route of the defending Super Bowl champions, the first home win against such an opponent in Matt Ryan’s career, I am left to guess whether the game did more to answer questions about the Falcons or raise questions about the Giants.

I’ll cop out and say it was a little of both. This game said a lot about the Falcons character. It remains to be seen what that would count for in the playoffs, but this was an important statement for them to make. New York, on the other hand, has been back and forth the past five weeks and even a bounce-back game against Baltimore next Sunday will do little to immediately answer questions about them.

Denver’s win in Baltimore felt like a bigger blowout than the 34-17 final score indicated, but I found it disturbing that Joe Flacco said it feels like they are 0-14. That game, while important, was not the end-all-be-all of the season, and Flacco’s comments should be very indicative to Ravens fans of what kind of postseason they can expect: a short one.

Green Bay got out to a nice lead against Chicago. They let the Bears claw their way back, but did not give up the lead as they clinched the NFC North and put Chicago in serious danger of missing the playoffs with three NFC East teams to contend with. Brandon Marshall’s press conference really got to me, I feel for the guy, but that isn’t enough if the team doesn’t make plays.

Credit Indianapolis for fighting in Houston. The Texans were playing for the AFC South title while the Colts were playing for a chance to take it from them when they meet again in Week 17. The Texans took care of business to clinch their second consecutive division crown, and the second in franchise history.

There isn’t much to say about the game in Miami. The Dolphins kept their near impossible chance of making the playoffs alive with a 24-3 win, but it was against the Jaguars so I can’t say enough how little that means.

Tampa Bay is done. They have not officially been eliminated, and neither has New Orleans, but the Saints are a whole lot closer to the playoffs after yesterday’s game. After Tampa Bay got upset by the Eagles last week, I expected a bounce-back for them. I didn’t think they would win, simply because the game was in New Orleans, but I never expected them to get shut out by the Saints. This is one of the worst defenses in the league and Tampa Bay, a team with one of the best balanced attacks in the NFL, could not put up one point in a 41-0 route. Turns out the Bucs were pretenders after all.

Adrian Peterson carried the Vikings to a big win in St. Louis. The Rams were fighting to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, and now they have been all but snuffed out. Peterson topped 200 yards for the second time this season. Last time it wasn’t enough, but yesterday it was. The Rams put up a valiant effort and late in the game it looked like they might make it back, but Minnesota had put up enough to outrun St. Louis in a 36-22 win that has them now ahead of Chicago based on tiebreakers.

I had to save the Redskins for last. You all know I am a huge fan, and yesterday was a game worth getting excited about. Kirk Cousins struggled early in the game, throwing a pick that lead to a Cleveland touchdown, but he settled down, Kyle Shanahan delivered an excellent game plan, and the Redskins get into a groove that the Browns could not knock them out of. Everything went Washington’s way yesterday, including a fumble by Santana Moss than Pierre Garçon somehow ended up on top of. Considering those breaks never go the Redskins’ way, I think it’s safe for Redskins Nation to start getting pumped.

Check back later for my Sunday Football Afterword for the six late games. Thanks for reading everyone!

Sunday Football Afterword: Week 13 Early Games

Adrian Peterson glances at the Jumbotron for pursuing
Packers defenders on an 82-yard touchdown run.
Photo credit to TwinCities.com

For the first time in half a season, we had sixteen games with only one Thursday game to offset the Sunday crowd. It was a packed Sunday, so let’s get into it.

Jacksonville kept things close in Buffalo until the third quarter, but five consecutive scoring drives by Buffalo was too much to overcome. C.J. Spiller was supposed to be the starter, but Fred Jackson got a majority of the team’s carries. He finished with over 100 yards but Spiller had a higher per-carry average and also had the team’s only rushing touchdown by a running back – Fitzpatrick ran for a score in addition to two touchdowns passes.

I will save my ragging on the Chicago Bears for this week’s radio show (be sure to like our Facebook Page because we will not be broadcasting live this week). But a loss against a Seattle team that had only one other road win all season is not very reassuring. A late fourth quarter drive, with a truly remarkable catch by Brandon Marshall, was the only reason the Seahawks had to sweat it out into overtime.

Detroit seemed to have their game locked up against Indianapolis. Andrew Luck threw three interceptions and completed less than 50% of his passes when the game ended. But the Lions got conservative and their defense collapsed, allowing Luck to push his team to two late touchdown drives, including the game-winner to Donnie Avery with no time left on the clock, accurately portrayed in Tecmo, here.

Minnesota did all their scoring in the second quarter and it was not enough to top division rival Green Bay. The Packers move into a virtual tie with the Bears, but they currently own the tiebreaker with one more meeting with Chicago yet to come. The bright spot for the Vikings is that Adrian Peterson continues to make his case for Comeback Player of the Year. He gained over 200 yards on the ground yesterday and is chasing 2000 yards on the year.

After a tragic day in which linebacker Jovan Belcher shot his girlfriend and later turned the gun on himself at the team’s practice facility in front of Romeo Crennel and others, Kansas City rallied around its team and the Chiefs fought to a 27-21 victory against the Panther for their second win of the season.

Tom Brady didn’t look great, but he got the job done in Miami with the help of a good ground attack from Stevan Ridley and Danny Woodhead. Miami did a great job of getting pressure on Brady, but a late time-killing drive was the dagger as New England clinched the AFC East division title, it’s ninth in the last ten years.

The Jets beat the Cardinals, 7-6. The game itself is only worth mentioning because the lone touchdown drive of the game was conducted by Greg McElroy. And for those of you who were upset Tim Tebow was not put in when Rex Ryan removed Mark Sanchez, who threw three interceptions and no touchdowns, keep in mind that Tebow was inactive.

We looked to be headed to a second tie between the 49ers and Rams. Not only would it have been unusual for being a tie between the same two teams who tied earlier in the year, it would have been the first time since 1997, and just the third time since overtime was instituted in 1974, that there would have been two tie games in the same season. Instead, Greg Zuerlein, who connected on a 53-yard field goal with time expiring to send the game into overtime, hit a 54-yarder to win the game for St. Louis with time expiring in overtime to win the game.

Houston had no trouble with Tennessee as they clinched a playoff birth for the second consecutive year, and just the second time in franchise history. They have also tied their record for wins at 11, their total from last season. Houston next faces the Patriots in New England next Monday night.

Check back later for my Sunday Football Afterword for the five late games. Thanks for reading everyone!

Sunday Football Afterword: Week 9 Late Games

Romo out-dueled Matty Ice, but his Cowboys lost as
Atlanta maintained their unblemished record.

I got the Thursday Night game incorrect. I picked one of the early Sunday games incorrectly. Then I got just one of the later games wrong. I wonder what that spells for tonight? But my Afterwords are not about looking forward; they are about one final glance back.

The Raiders put up quite a fight as Carson Palmer played a pretty solid game. However, the Buccaneers, and specifically Doug Martin, were not going to be stopped. The rookie running back ran the ball 25 times for 251 yards and four touchdowns. In my fantasy league, he scored 59 points. Now, it is custom scoring settings, but the best score a running back has posted in my league before was when Arian Foster scored in the 40s last year.

The Vikings put up a valiant effort against Seattle’s 12^th Man. Adrian Peterson has a fantastic day, racking up almost 200 yards and punching it in twice. But between the fans and the Seattle secondary, Christian Ponder had a terrible day, reminiscent of an early-2011 game Donovan McNabb had in the same uniform. Russell Wilson tossed three touchdown passes to lead the Seahawks to a 30-20 victory.

In the third game I’ve picked incorrectly this week, Eli Manning and the Giants were shocked by the Pittsburgh Steelers at home, 24-20. But they shouldn’t be shocked. They played a terrible game. At least one of New York’s touchdowns was very controversial. Yes, I’m talking about the fumble return. Don’t get me wrong, there is no doubt – I repeat, NO DOUBT – that it was a fumble. Pushing the ball forward doesn’t matter, Roethlisberger did not have control and that makes it a fumble no matter what angle you look at it. However, there should have been a clip called near the end of the play. The Giants were outplayed and deserved to lose. That loss keeps the rest of the NFC East close enough for hope to still be a prevalent emotion, especially for the Eagles who desperately need a win tonight.

The late game featured Dallas in Atlanta to take on the last unbeaten team in the NFL this season. The numbers were fairly similar, but I really felt like Tony Romo outplayed Matt Ryan and it took a little luck for the Falcons to remain undefeated with the 19-13 win. Right now, the biggest problem for Dallas is the running game, or lack of one. They need DeMarco Murray back. With him, this is a completely different team, one that doesn’t need Romo to throw as much and, therefore, can deal with a little bit of inconsistency from him.

Check back tomorrow for my Afterword on tonight’s Monday Night Football matchup between the Eagles and Saints in New Orleans. Thanks for reading!