Week 14 round up

All the action from Sunday is done, which means it's time for a recap of the days games: Saints 26 @ Falcons 23 -- A friend of mine (yeah, I have some) recently called me out on the fact that I don't believe the Saints are the best team in the league. This result goes a long way to showing why. In their last two games the "Best team in the NFL" has ridden it's luck almost to the point of exhaustion. And to beat who? The Vikings, the Cardinals, the Colts, the Packers? Nope, the Redskins and the Falcons, who are essentially among the bottom feeders this year. Last week the Redskins went out of their way to give the Saints as many second chances as possible, including a missed chip shot field goal that would have won the game in the dying seconds. This week they got the luckiest of lucky pass interference calls. What should have been an interception on a 3rd and 10 instead became a near enough 30 yard gain which set up a score for Reggie Bush. Then later in the game Darren Sharper, the "Best safety and/or ball hawk in the league right now" got absolutely toasted ("victimised" to use a commentators turn of phrase) for an easy TD. I'm happy that I got the pick, but I'm gutted a little about the way it's happened and that the Saints will still be hauling in the plaudits tomorrow morning. Lions 3 @ Ravens 48 -- I'm a huge fan of running the football. It takes a certain degree of determination and physicality to pull it off, but when you do, it can be just as explosive as any passing attack. Run the ball, play great defense. That's the motto. That's Ravens football. And the Ravens made a point of that today. Ok, so it was against the Lions, but who else has trashed Detroit by 45 points this season? On 40 rushing plays they generated 308 yards of offense and 5 touchdowns. If you exclude receivers and QBs, 4 different Ravens had carries which helps take some of the load off Ray Rice. And all this largely dictates the type of looks you're gonna get from the defense and subsequently makes life so much easier for Joe Flacco. He completed just 13 of 20 passes, but notched 230 yards, a TD, and crucially no picks. All this helps to keep the Ravens D off the field where they can rest and talk with the coaches, which is bad news for a Lions team missing Matthew Stafford. His replacement Daunte Culpepper completed less than half of his 34 passes and threw 2 INTs as well. This Ravens team has an outside shot at a wildcard place and if they get it, and continue to play like this, they will go far. Packers 21 @ Bears 14 -- The Packers just keep on rolling. They threw, they ran and they picked the ball off. It's the big 'M' word. Momentum. That's what the Packers are taking with them as they make a late run for the postseason. The Bears on the other hand combined for just 17 total rushes and Cutler handily turned the ball over twice. They just look poor right now. Worse, they look like Seattle...... Seahawks 7 @ Texans 34 -- ....... And speak of the devil. My upset pick for the 'Hawks was based on the premise that lately they've been very keen to develop a ground game to make themselves less predictable. Oops! The Texans ran it more, and better, as well as passing for 365 yards and 2 TD's. Of course it helps when you have a guy like Matt Schaub throwing to a guy like Andre Johnson, who turned 11 receptions into 193 yards and 2 TDs. The Texans are a good team, they just don't always play like it. Broncos 16 @ Colts 28 -- I'm a big believer in playing to your relative strengths and getting the ball to your play makers. 21 receptions for Brandon Marshall may be taking that idea a little literally though. But that was far from the Broncos biggest problem. Two thinks you need to understand. 1) In the redzone, you need to score. You need 100% efficiency. The Colts were 4/4, the Broncos 2/4. No surprises then that the Colts won. 2) Peyton Manning does not throw 3 interceptions per game on a regular basis. That means that when he does, you have to punish him. The Broncos failed to do that. On a side note, I'm just wondering if the Colts will ever be called this season for running what are supposedly illegal 'pick/rub' plays. I counted at least three, two for touchdowns. Dolphins 14 @ Jaguars 10 -- There is a simple logic to this game. The Dolphins looked at Ricky Williams and said "yeah, you're pretty good. We'll run it and set up some play action". And they did, giving Williams 28 carries for 108 yards and a TD. The Jaguars meanwhile looked at Maurice Jones-Drew and said "We don't have a god damn clue what we're doing, so how about just 18 carries for the day". And they did, giving him 18 carries for 59 yards and a TD. Meanwhile, Rashad Jennings had his mandatory 2 carries slashed in half this week, but he took it on the chin and clocked 10 yards. Chad Henne played his part for Dolphins, and despite throwing a pick and no TDs, managed to put 220 yards on the board to help things along. Bills 16 @ Chiefs 10 -- The Bills passing game sucked and their rush defense was practically non-existent, but never fear Bills fans, luckily Matt Cassel has arrived to save the day! No-one seems to have cottoned on yet that much of Matt Cassels success last year was down to a certain receiving combination by the name of Moss and Welker Ltd. That would explain why he went 26/43 for 224 yards, no touchdowns and a handsome 4 interceptions. Jamaal Charles must have been seething, as his 20 carries for 143 yards and a TD went unnoticed. One day people will wake up and realise that even the worst rushing attack in the league could take the Bills defense for at least 200 yards if given the chance. As it stands, the Bills slip through another game. Bengals 10 @ Vikings 30 -- I love teams that run the football, but it has to be understood that one of the reasons for running the ball so much is to try and get the defense to play with 8 in the box and man coverage on the outside. When that happens, you have to take your shots down field. You have to use play action and try and get big chunks of yardage/scores off of a relatively fewer number of passes. Not 94 yards off 25 passes. The Bengals lacked a down field game whereas the Vikings didn't. That pretty much sums this one up. Panthers 10 @ Patriots 20 -- I give up on the Panthers. I hate them with a passion now. I can't blame Panthers fans who simply refuse to go and watch games. 'Cos I can at least understand the thinking behind why you would throw so much with Jake Delhomme. You're the coach, it's your responsibility to do what you think is best for your team. If that means throwing the ball 40 times a game and hoping Steve Smith will break off a big play or two, then so be it. It's a fatally flawed strategy (Delhomme + 40 throws = muchos interceptions) but at least you believe it's the right one. But when Delhomme isn't playing through injury, how in Gods name can you justify giving the ball to backup Matt Moore and asking him to throw 30 passes? There isn't a way in hell that you could possibly believe that to be a superior strategy to running the ball with Williams and Stewart. Or to put it another way, when you have one of the best running back tandems in the NFL, it's inexplicable that they should combine for less carries than Laurence Maroney. The Panthers deserve to get beaten for this. It's a shame it wasn't by more than just 10 points. I hate the Panthers. Jets 26 @ Buccaneers 3 -- 33 pass attempts, 93 yards, 0 touchdowns, 3 interceptions. That pretty much sums up the Buccaneers day on offense. The Jets took a more grounded approach and it paid dividends today. Rams 7 @ Titans 47 -- Steve Spagnuolo must be wishing he'd stayed with the Giants. His defensive unit played woefully, but not as bad as backup QB Keith Null who managed to turn 43 pass attempts into 1 touchdown and 5 interceptions. On the other side of the ball Vince Young went down injured, so no doubt many Titans fans were looking rather edgy to see Collins enter the game. Luckily for them the Titans limited him to 19 throws which produced a TD and no picks. Johnson had another big day on the ground but probably not enough to keep him on course to break Eric Dickersons record. Redskins 34 @ Raiders 13 -- Gradkowski is hardly the Messiah of Oakland, but at least he's not JaMarcus Russell. So I bet Raiders fans were in shock to see their much maligned, multi millionaire signal caller trot out onto the field for the second half...... only to promptly get sacked 6 times as well as throwing an interception. The truth is that the Redskins D is pretty handy. Helps though when you're playing the Raiders. Quinton Ganther got 14 carries for Washington, notching up 50 yards and 2 TDs, proving yet again that it's the Redskins O-line and not Clinton Portis that's been working so well all this time. Chargers 20 @ Cowboys 17 -- Literally a field goal divided the two teams. Having picked off Philip Rivers the Cowboys had a shot at a field goal from about 42 yards and they miss. That ultimately costs them the game. That, and their inability to finish one drive by stuffing the ball in the endzone despite having 4 shots at it from close range. On the opposite side of the field, Norv Turner consistently built drives and used his two backs as pass protectors to allow Rivers to take deep shots down the field. When it came to the crunch he handed the ball to no.21 LT who did what he does best and stuffed that rock in there. The Chargers look impressive, but bizarrely so do the Cowboys, if they could just iron out some of the wrinkles. Eagles 45 @ Giants 38 -- This game was without question the finest game of football I've ever watched. It was open and dramatic and just simply phenomenal to watch. DeSean Jackson is crazy good. The kid has out of this world talent. Well either that or like Chris Johnson he's just realised that when you only weigh around 170 pounds then no safety in the country has a chance of catching you. And the fact that the Giants secondary was appalling. Leonard Weaver continued to impress for the Eagles as well. Brandon Jacobs continues to make a case for why he should get more carries. And Tom Coughlin will want to know how his team scored 38 points and racked up 512 yards of total offense, yet still managed to lose the game. The stats for certain individuals also don't tell the whole story. Take for example Trent Cole. 4 tackles, 2 assists and a forced fumble. He was everywhere in this game and he made plays at crucial times. His hustle set the tone for his entire team. Then we have Hakeem Nicks. 4 catches, 110 yards and a TD. But honestly, he was bad. He dropped two clangers first then later caught a pass in the endzone... but couldn't keep his feet in bounds, largely due to drifting so wide through poor route technique. Michael Vick only threw two passes and ran the ball 3 times, including a TD, but he always looked a threat and his 32 yard completion was thrown near enough flat. Whoever gets him next year gets a big time weapon. So, there we have it, that's all the games from this week so far. Tomorrow my superstar 49ers (yeah, ok) play host to the Cardinals in that frozen wasteland otherwise known as Candlestick Park. And I'm backing the Cardinals in that one. As for this week, so far I am......... 11-4!!! If it wasn't for the damn Steelers losing to the Browns, the Panthers being idiots as usual (I hate them), and me picking the Seahawks and the Broncos for upsets that were less likely than a JaMarcus Russell league MVP, then I could have swept clean so far!! Hopefully the Cards will carry me to 12 wins tomorrow. And if they don't I win anyway.