Good day at the office with some great wins and upsets we'll remember!!
| SUN, NOV 7 | HI PASSING | HI RUSHING | HI RECEIVING | |
| Ryan 235 | Turner 107 | Williams 89 | ||
| Fitzpatrick 299 | Forte 49 | Johnson 145 | ||
| Brady 224 | Hillis 184 | Massaquoi 58 | ||
| Sanchez 336 | Tomlinson 55 | Holmes 114 | ||
| Favre 446 | Peterson 81 | Harvin 126 | ||
| Brees 253 | Jones 68 | Moore 77 | ||
| Flacco 266 | Rice 83 | Rice 97 | ||
| Rivers 295 | Foster 127 | Ajirotutu 111 | ||
| Manning 290 | Jacobs 78 | Nicks 128 | ||
| Campbell 229 | McFadden 89 | Ford 148 | ||
| Manning 294 | McCoy 95 | Jackson 109 | ||
| Rodgers 289 | Kuhn 50 | Jones 123 | ||
| MON, NOV 8 | TIME (ET) | TV | RESOURCES | LOCATION |
| 8:30 PM |  | Paul Brown Stadium | ||
Nfl Sunday Comments:
The NFL has never had such a close season after nine weeks.
There are no great teams, and Sunday proved there aren't many awful ones. The Cleveland Browns have now beaten the New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints and Cincinnati Bengals. The Detroit Lions almost upset the New York Jets. The Buffalo Bills lost a three-point game to the Chicago Bears, their third consecutive three-point loss.
The theme for this season has been close games, and Sunday was certainly no exception. The San Diego Chargers and Indianapolis Colts have lost most of their skill-position players to injuries, but the Chargers beat the Houston Texans and the Colts came up just short against the Philadelphia Eagles, losing 26-24.
So far, 72 of 127 games have been decided by eight points or fewer. Even more amazing is that 38 games (29.9 percent) have been determined by a field goal.
"They are all so hard fought in the NFL week in and week out," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "The games are going to be eight points or less the majority of the times."
That was the case in seven of the 11 games Sunday afternoon.
Here are five things I learned in Week 9.
1. Raiders spicing up AFC West: The Oakland Raiders are suddenly looking like a Raiders team we haven't seen in close to a decade. The Raiders have a tradition of winning big games and having big-time players make big-time plays in big games. They also have a tradition of winning in spite of themselves.
That was the case in Sunday's 23-20 overtime victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. The Raiders overcame 15 penalties that cost them 140 yards. Their defense did a great job even though they were without cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, and lost linebacker Rolando McClain and safety Tyvon Branch to injuries during the game.
Unknown Raiders receiver Jacoby Ford made two great catches, one late in the fourth quarter and the other in overtime, to set up the come-from-behind victory.
All of a sudden, the AFC West race is interesting. The Chiefs are 5-3. The Raiders enter a bye at 5-4, and the Chargers aren't giving up with a 4-5 record. Stay tuned for some interesting games and plenty of penalty flags.
[+] Enlarge
Dale Zanine/US PresswireStymied by Tampa Bay's Cover 2 in the past, Matt Ryan had solid passing numbers on Sunday.
2. Ryan solves Cover 2: Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan passed a huge test during Sunday's 27-21 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He beat the Buccaneers' Cover 2 scheme by being patient -- and aggressive. In his first four games against the Bucs, dating to his rookie season, Ryan completed 56.4 percent of his passes, threw six interceptions and had a 56.3 quarterback rating. On Sunday, Ryan completed 24 of 36 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown (94.1 rating).
Ryan opened the game with a 13-play, 61-yard touchdown drive that went right off the script of plays planned during the week. Then he and the Falcons got a little creative. On the first play of the second quarter, Ryan, with Roddy White temporarily sidelined with a knee injury, had Michael Jenkins fake a skinny post and then give a double move that set him up for a 43-yard completion. Four plays later, Michael Turner broke a 10-yard run for his second touchdown of the game, giving the Falcons a 14-0 lead.
"Our offense is still a work in progress," Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez said. "We're not where we want to be."
But the Falcons are 6-2 and lead the NFC South by a game after beating a Bucs team that Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris labeled the best in the division.
"If we beat the best, then I guess that makes us the best," White said afterward.
3. AFC East showing warts: The AFC East played like the AFC Least on Sunday. The Jets had to scramble in the fourth quarter and in overtime to beat the Lions, 23-20. The Patriots were blown away by the Browns, 34-14. The Miami Dolphins were manhandled by theBaltimore Ravens, 26-10. The Bills might have played better than any of the teams in the division, but they fell short against the Bears, 22-19.
"If we play the way we played today, we're not going to beat anybody," Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said. "We just had an awful day."
It's becoming clear the Patriots' offense has trouble covering for the team's young defense on the road. The Patriots are 2-2 on the road and are giving up an average of 24 points in road games. On Sunday, the defense gave up 404 total yards to the Browns and rookie quarterback Colt McCoy. For the season, the Pats are giving up 386.5 yards a game.
The Jets were sloppy on offense and defense against the Lions. Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne picked the wrong time for a bad game. He threw three interceptions and once again had trouble getting the ball deep. His longest completion to Brandon Marshall was 21 yards. The Ravens pressured Henne most of the time with only a four-man rush. That allowed an extra player to drop into coverage and contain Miami's passing game. As for the Bills, they play hard but they can't get that elusive victory.
4. Defense hindering Houston: The Texans were a trendy preseason playoff pick because of the emergence of Matt Schaub as an elite quarterback and a promising young defense. Schaub has played well, but the defense has been the downfall of this team. At 4-4, the Texans are in trouble. Down to practice squad wide receivers and castoff tight ends, San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers threw four TD passes and put up 295 passing yards in a 29-23 victory. For the season, the Texans are giving up 399.5 yards a game and are on pace to go down as one of the worst defenses in NFL history statistically.
"We gave up some big plays," Texans coach Gary Kubiak said. "The first touchdown [a 55-yard score] was a huge play and their last touchdown [a 28-yarder] was a huge play. Then we settled down and did some good things too. There were opportunities for us to finish this game and we didn't do that."
The Texans have the youngest secondary in the league and the team is paying a heavy price for its youth. Kubiak said after the game he's going to stay young with the secondary. It looks as though the Texans will finish third in the AFC South and just shy of the playoffs.
5. Here's the catch: The officials' technical interpretation of receptions in the end zone will be a hot topic during the offseason. Remember Calvin Johnson's Week 1 end zone catch that was ruled incomplete because Johnson let the ball come out of his hand as he hit the ground? Well, Texans RB Arian Foster lost a touchdown in a similar fashion Sunday.
With 28 seconds left in the first half, Foster had a 3-yard touchdown reception. Officials ruled it a touchdown, but as Foster hit the ground, he didn't complete the reception. The way the league wants officials to react is to have the mental image that the pass-catcher could get up and hand the ball to the officials instead of just leaving it on the ground. After a booth challenge, the call was reversed. The Texans had to settle for a field goal and a 20-14 lead instead of a 24-14 lead.
Kubiak didn't gripe about the call. "You've got to finish the catch all the way to the ground," Kubiak said. "That's something we've shown to our players, the league has shown to our players. You have to finish the catch all the way through the act of falling. The ball came out. When the ball hit the ground it came out. I do understand that."
It was the right call under the current rules, but, like the Johnson catch, it looked like a touchdown.
NFL Breaking News
The Dallas Cowboys have fired coach Wade Phillips and promoted offensive coordinator Jason Garrett to take his place, NFL Network's Michael Lombardi confirms.
Team owner-general manager Jerry Jones reportedly decided enough was enough Monday, following a 45-7 loss to the Green Bay Packers the night before. It was the Cowboys' fifth straight loss, dropping them to 1-7.
This is their worst season since 1989 and among the worst in franchise history by record alone. Realistically, it's the low point considering Dallas was coming off a division title and a playoff win, and was expected to contend for the Super Bowl that'll be held at Cowboys Stadium.
Phillips' departure takes another dubious spot in club history: the first in-season coaching change.
The first game under Garrett will be at the New York Giants on Sunday.
Just about everything has gone wrong this half-season. The constant has been mindless mistakes: penalties, turnovers and other breakdowns befitting an expansion team, not one of the highest-paid rosters in the NFL. Phillips couldn't get them to snap out of it. He tried being loyal instead of benching the guys who were underperforming the most. That only seemed to make things worse.
The bottom has fallen out since quarterback Tony Romo broke his left collarbone Oct. 25. Maybe that was to be expected, except that the defense has been the bigger problem.
That unit has allowed at least 35 points in three straight games, something the Cowboys hadn't done since their inaugural season, 1960, when they went 0-11-1. Stranger still, it's almost exactly the same guys who closed last season with the first back-to-back shutouts in club history. This may have been Phillips' undoing because he also was defensive coordinator.
NFL Network and FOX Sports reporter Jay Glazer reports defensive line coach Paul Pasqualoni will take over the Cowboys' defense.
No comments:
Post a Comment