A Football Life, Week 9

Danny H. has clinched the AFC East division title with four weeks remaining on the schedule. In the AFC West, Evan A. is just one win from clinching their playoff spot.

The NFC is a different story. Eric M. is tied for the division lead with Brandon S. and won the first matchup between the two. Mike W. trails them by just one game in the NFC East. The NFC West is also tight with Anthony B. holding a one-game lead over Sean K. and William M. These divisions could easily come down to Week 13.

Evan A. won the Game of the Week and improved to 8-1 despite failing to score 100 points for the third time in four weeks.

William M. put up 139.5 points, the most of Week 9. The week’s winners averaged 115.6 points, up seven from last week and the third highest scoring week for winners on the season. The losing teams averaged 92.0 points, up 21.5 from Week 8.

Check out the review of Week 9 below (team names have been changed to the names of their owners):

Standings:

NFC East	Record	GB	AFC East	Record	GB
Eric M.	4-5	--	Danny H.	8-1	--
Brandon S.	4-5	--	Saswat M.	3-6	5
Mike W.	3-6	1	William B.	2-7	6
NFC West	Record	GB	AFC West	Record	GB
Anthony B.	5-4	--	Evan A.	8-1	--
Sean K.	4-5	1	Cory P.	5-4	3
William M.	4-5	1	Andrew O.	4-5	4

Schedule:

Away	Score	Home	Score
Eric M. (EM)	120.7	Cory P. (CP)	92.5
Mike W. (MW)	93.8	Andrew O. (AO)	85.8
Anthony B. (AB)	77.7	Evan A. (EA)	97.6
Saswat M. (SM)	85.4	Brandon S. (BS)	114.2
Danny H. (DH)	127.8	Sean K. (SK)	117.2
William B. (WB)	93.2	William M. (WM)	139.5

Scoring Leaders (Must be starting on a team to qualify):

QB	Pts	HB	Pts
1. Tom Brady (WM)	34.5	1. Zac Stacy (CP)	34.9
2. Andrew Luck (EM)	24.4	2. Chris Johnson (BS)	32.5
3. Russell Wilson (AB)	24.0	3. Matt Forte (WM)	28.3
4. Tony Romo (DH)	22.0	4. Adrian Peterson (SM)	27.4
5. Joe Flacco (EA)	21.5	5. Steven Ridley (EM)	26.2
WR	Pts	TE	Pts
1. Andre Johnson (DH)	44.5	1. Jimmy Graham (CP)	27.2
2. T.Y. Hilton (MW)	32.9	2. Rob Gronkowski (DH)	23.9
3. DeSean Jackson (WM)	23.0	3. Jason Witten (BS)	19.4
4. Keenan Allen (WB)	22.0	4. Tony Gonzalez (SK)	16.5
5. Pierre Garçon (SK)	20.0	5. Greg Olsen (WB)	14.2

Game of the Week: Anthony B. at Evan A.

With Peyton Manning on bye, Evan had to start Joe Flacco, and the Ravens quarterback had his best fantasy week of the season. Anthony had just three players score at least 10 points, while Evan had five and another within 0.6 points.

Monday Football Afterword: Packers vs Bears

Eddie Lacy stepped up in Aaron Rodgers' absence, but it was not enough
as the Packers fell to their NFC North rival on Monday Night Football.

Cory Puffett

This week’s edition of the oldest, and arguably the best, NFL rivalry featured a starting quarterback for less than a full quarter. Jay Cutler expects to be back as soon as next week and Aaron Rodgers injured his non-throwing shoulder in the first quarter and did not return.

The concern right now is that it could be a collarbone fracture that would cause him to miss the rest of the season. The Buffalo Bills released Matt Flynn on Monday and the Packers could make a play for a guy who is familiar with their playbook and has had a rough go in his NFL tour since setting Green Bay’s team records for single-game passing yards and passing touchdowns on New Years Day 2012.

Josh McCown continued to show that he is capable backup. He never was able to get his NFL career off the ground. But the contract he signed with Chicago this offseason is just a one-year contract, so at 34 years old, he could be a candidate in free agency for a team that believes it is just a quarterback away from being a playoff team.

Seneca Wallace could have done worse, but he clearly struggled in the game. Green Bay’s running backs kept the team in the game.

Eddie Lacy has been earning a lot of attention recently, and after this 150-yard performance he may have inserted himself in NFC Rookie of the Year discussions. James Starks picked up 40 yards on just six carries.

The Bears may not have faired so well against Aaron Rodgers, but Matt Forte, Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery had big games to carry the offense and the defense did just enough to keep the lead.

Lucky for Green Bay, they have the third easiest remaining schedule in the NFL, including matchups with Philadelphia, the New York Giants, and Minnesota in the next three weeks. If Rodgers’s injury is not too serious, he may be back in time for a Week 13 game in Detroit. The Lions are tied for first in the NFC North with the Bears and Packers at 5-3 after tonight.

The Bears host Detroit next week. They are 2-1 in the NFC North now and will play in Minnesota in Week 13 and then host Green Bay in their final game of the season.

Final Score:

Chicago Bears – 27

Green Bay Packers – 20

Sunday Football Afterword: Texans vs Colts

The glory didn't last long for Case Keenum on Sunday Night Football. His three first half touchdown passes went for naught in Houston's loss.

Cory Puffett

It’s an overused cliché, one that I’ve used at least once already this season. But there is no getting away from it, Sunday night’s AFC South showdown truly was a “Tale of Two Halves.”

Case Keenum tossed three touchdown passes, all to Andre Johnson, all in the first half. His excitement was evident in his ecstatic fist pumps after each throw

 Johnson did most of the work, though. Broken coverage by Indianapolis let him get open for the first touchdown. The second TD pass was overthrown but Johnson’s height allowed him to extend and haul it in. The third pass was on the money, but great coverage almost kept Johnson from wrestling it away. In all, Johnson scored nearly 40 fantasy points in the first half.

The Texans held a 21-3 lead entering the half. As he was leaving the field, Houston Head Coach Gary Kubiak collapsed. Though he was conscious and alert, he was in a lot of pain and was transported to the hospital.

Perhaps that distraction led to Houston’s struggles in the second half. The Texans managed just a field goal while Andrew Luck, who had just three completions for 56 yards in the first half, put together an impressive fourth quarter comeback.

All three of Luck’s touchdowns came in the second half, and all three went to T.Y. Hilton, Indy’s new no. 1 receiver now that Reggie Wayne is on injured reserve.

The victory keeps Indianapolis in the driver’s seat in the division as they prepare to host St. Louis, who Tennessee beat on Sunday, next week.

Houston, meanwhile, drops to 2-6 and is unlikely to make the playoffs in this second consecutive “Super Bowl or bust” season. They will visit Arizona next Sunday.

Final Score:

Indianapolis Colts – 27

Houston Texans – 24

Sunday Football Afterword: Redskins vs Chargers

Powerful running by Alfred Morris had him as the 6th leading rusher in the NFL
entering Sunday, and he added 121 yards to his tally by running through the Chargers.

Cory Puffett

Washington’s defense wasn’t perfect, but it came up with big plays in big moments and played a full four quarters. Philip Rivers torched the secondary for nearly 350 passing yards, but San Diego only gained 69 yards on the ground and struggled on third down throughout the game.

Washington, meanwhile, ran a balanced offence, with nearly 300 passing yards and 209 yards rushing, and converted 12 of 17 third down attempts. The Redskins also controlled the clock, possessing the ball a full 14 minutes longer than the Chargers.

Perhaps the most telling fact about this game Washington fans can take with them going forward was the way the Redskins handled starting both of their first two offensive drives at the one-yard line. Though they scored no points on either drive, they won the field position battle.

The Redskins have two winnable road games in the next two weeks. They face Minnesota on Thursday Night Football in Week 10 and then the Philadelphia Eagles the following Sunday. If Washington wins both games, they will be 5-5 with two matchups with the Giants, a home game against the Cowboys, and a game against the struggling Falcons remaining on their schedule.

San Diego’s schedule doesn’t get any easier going forward. They face the Broncos next week, and then have road games against Miami and Kansas City the following two weeks.

Final Score:

San Diego Chargers – 24

Washington Redskins – 30 (OT)

Thursday Football Afterword: Dolphins vs Bengals

With 79 rushing yards and two touchdowns on just nine carries,
Giovani Bernard (25) left an impression on the Dolphins and me.

Cory Puffett

Andy Dalton, often described as a perfectionist, was far from perfect on Thursday night. But his three-interceptions performance was not as discouraging as a lot of quarterbacks’ similar performances.

I give a lot of credit to Dimitri Patterson on the first pick. It wasn’t a bad decision by Dalton, Patterson just made a great break to the ball. If Dalton had thrown the pass to A.J. Green’s back shoulder, Patterson might still have gotten there.

On the second interception, again it was not a bad decision by Dalton, it was just thrown way behind Marvin Jones and Brent Grimes took advantage.

The third interception is a tough one. Dalton had a man wide open in the flat but decided to go over the middle for Mohamed Sanu. To Dalton’s credit, the pass was on the mark, but Sanu couldn’t catch it quickly and bobbled it to linebacker Dannell Ellerbe.

The mistake Dalton made that stuck out to me came with about 90 seconds left in the second quarter. He targeted Dane Sanzenbacher, who was interfered with by Patterson. But Dalton’s pass sailed way out of bounds and the flag was picked up because the ball was uncatchable, forcing fourth down. Nobody is comparing Dalton to them, but the Mount Rushmore of NFL quarterbacks know to at least put the ball close to their receiver, just in case of interference. Hopefully he will learn from it.

The Bengals weren’t the only team to miss opportunities, though. Lamar Miller fumbled in the red zone early in the second quarter, and Caleb Sturgis missed a 34-yard field goal in the first quarter that could have made overtime unnecessary.

Ultimately, the game ended on a safety, just the third time in NFL history that an overtime game has concluded that way.

The player of the game, to me, came from the losing team, though. Giovani Bernard is the real deal. He has the perfect combination of power and nifty footwork. His balance is amazing, his vision even better. It’s fun to watch this kid play and he can keep the Bengals in any game regardless of how the rest of the team is playing.

The only thing that makes me nervous about the Bengals moving forward is that Geno Atkins, who made his presence felt early in the game, went down with a knee injury and early reports indicate that he likely tore his right ACL. Cincinnati’s defense is more than just Atkins, but this loss still hurts with two important division games looming. The good news is that the Bengals have a long week to prepare for their trip to Baltimore in Week 10.

The Dolphins get an even longer week as their next contest is in Tampa on Monday Night Football in Week 10.

Final Score:

Cincinnati Bengals – 20

Miami Dolphins – 22 (OT)