Week 12 Sunday recap

Monday night's game is done, so it must be time for a recap: Green Bay Packers 17 @ Atlanta Falcons 20: - Did we just watch the NFC Championship game in November? (good way to curse both teams) - Aaron Rodgers; 26/35, 344 yards.... 1 TD. The league-wide, season spanning "lots of yards, no points" curse strikes again. Even Green Bay isn't safe. - In a tight game, four fumbles (Green Bay) is not good (especially when you fumble at the goal line on a QB sneak). - Nor is having your QB as your leading rusher with 12 carries for 51 yards. - Matt Ryan; 24/28, 197 yards, 1 TD. Did just enough to win it... - ... thanks in large part to Michael Turner; 23 carries, 110 yards, 1 TD. - Errors at critical moments really hurt Green Bay. Pittsburgh Steelers 19 @ Buffalo Bills 16 (OT): - Maybe I should have kept the faith with the Bills. - On second thoughts, they still lost. - But then again, Steve Johnson fumbled what otherwise would have been a game winning catch in the end zone during overtime, so give credit to the Bills; they pretty much should have beaten the Steelers. - Ryan Fitzpatrick needs a shave. Badly. - Credit to Fitzpatrick though; 23/45, 265 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. Not bad. - Ben Roethlisberger; 20/33, 246 yards. And he didn't get punched in the face this week. - Rashard Mendenhall; 36 carries, 151 yards, 1 TD. - Can anyone (alive) remember the last time the Bills had five sacks in a game? Anyone? - NT Kyle Williams had two of those, plus 8 tackles. Carolina Panthers 23 @ Cleveland Browns 24: - Question: How did the game end this close? Answer: Browns QB Jake Delhomme. - Delhomme: 24/35, 245 yards, 0 TD's, 2 INT's. - Is Peyton Hillis the most fun footballer to watch in the NFL right now? I think so. - Peyton Hillis; 26 carries, 131 yards, 3 TD's (+ 6 catches for a team leading 63 yards). - The Panthers weren't too shabby themselves on the ground; Jonathan Stewart, 12 carries, 98 yards. Mike Goodson, 14 carries, 55 yards, 1 TD. - The Panthers could have won this; John Kasay missed two field goals, including a last second 42-yarder. - Despite a worse 3rd down conversion rate (Browns; 4/11, 36%. Panthers; 7/15, 46%) the Browns still picked up 26 first downs compared to the Panthers 16. - The Panthers had a 0% red zone conversion rate... because they failed to get into the red zone in the first place. Tennessee Titans 0 @ Houston Texans 20: - When I heard Rusty Smith was going to start for the Titans I automatically thought "Chris Johnson; 30+ carries". - Chris Johnson; 7 carries, 5 yards. Javon Ringer added another 27 on 4 carries. - Rusty Smith; 17/31, 138 yards, 3 INT's. Nice job of protecting a rookie QB there. - Matt Schaub; 25/35, 178 yards, 2 TD's. - Arian Foster; 30 carries, 143 yards. They remember he exists which is a good start. - CB Glover Quin recovered from his nightmare bat down against the Jags with 3 interceptions. - The "fight" between Andre Johnson and Cortland Finnegan was funny as hell. Never in the field of footballing endeavour have two players, spent some much energy, for so little result. Jacksonville Jaguars 20 @ New York Giants 24: - David Garrard; 20/35, 162 yards, 1 INT. - Eli Manning; 14/24, 226 yards, 2 TD's. - The Giants took their sweet time to get into gear and make something happen offensively. - Meanwhile, Maurice Jones Drew was getting going; 23 carries, 113 yards. - Sneaky mention for my Jaguars favourite, RB Rashad Jennings; 7 carries, 53 yards (longest; 19) 1 TD. - Neither of the Giants backs fumbled this time (Brandon Jacobs; 14 carries, 87 yards. Ahmad Bradshaw; 9 carries, 49 yards). - The Giants Defense came up with another 4 sacks. - DE Jason Pierre-Paul came up with 2, forcing 2 fumblers as well. - CB Terrell Thomas had a sack, a forced fumble and an interception. Minnesota Vikings 17 @ Washington Redskins 13: - What a difference a coach makes. - Brett Favre; 15/23, 172 yards. - Donovan McNabb; 21/35, 211 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT (the pick was a huge tip, not his fault really). - A key play in the game was made by Favre in the 4th quarter. Having rolled out on play-action it looked like a deja vu moment of the famous pick from the NFC Championship game last season. Except this time Favre pulled the ball down and ran. Proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks. - With Adrian Peterson injured, Toby Gerhart (watch list) came in to play; 22 carries, 76 yards, 1 TD. - Brandon Banks took a kick off 65 yards to set up a field goal, then later had a 77 yard punt return for a TD... only to have it called back for an illegal block in the back. - Albert Haynesworth got himself a half sack. Miami Dolphins 33 @ Oakland Raiders 17: - No fair! I didn't realise Henne was going to play! - I'm always harping on about sticking to what you do well. On that note, could someone explain to me the Raiders 12 rushing attempts? I mean seriously 12? That's the only good thing the Raiders do on offense. - Chad Henne; 17/30, 307 yards, 2 TD's, 1 INT. - Bruce Gradkowski; 17/32, 252 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT's. - Did someone just suddenly flick a switch on at the Dolphin's facility and discover their long lost running game in a side room? (Ronnie Brown; 24 carries, 85 yards. Ricky Williams; 20 carries, 95 yards, 1 TD). - Raiders WR Jacoby Ford had a hell of game; returning a kick off 101 yards for a TD, taking 4 catches for a team leading 108 yards and a TD, and leading his team in rushing with one carry for 13 yards. - Cameron Wake grabbed yet another sack. Kansas City Chiefs 42 @ Seattle Seahawks 24: - At least someone knows where there strength lies! - Jamaal Charles; 22 carries, 173 yards, 1 TD. - Thomas Jones; 20 carries, 68 yards. - Matt Cassel; 22/32, 233 yards, 4 TD's. - We're finally starting to see the best of Dwayne Bowe; 13 catches, 170 yards, 3 TD's. - The Seahawks look really bad on both sides of the ball. - Matt Hasselbeck; 20/37, 282 yards, 2 TD's, 2 INT's - Normally Ben Obomanu would be celebrating his 5 catches, 159 yards, 1 TD. - Kendrick Lewis (watch list) got himself a pick. - Derrick Johnson had 5 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble... which was recovered by Tamba Hali. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10 @ Baltimore Ravens 17: - The Buc's have every reason to be annoyed at a pathetic pass interference penalty that set up the Ravens second TD. - They didn't help themselves though, with Josh Freeman finishing just 17/37 for 162 yards and a TD. - Joe Flacco; 25/35, 289 yards, 2 TD's, 1 INT. - The Buc's had four sacks, including two for rookie Gerald McCoy. Philadelphia Eagles 26 @ Chicago Bears 31: - Michael Vick threw his first interception of the season, finishing the game 29/44 for 333 yards, 2 TD's and that INT. Some of the throws are just breathtaking to watch back. - Jay Cutler was only 14/21 on the day, but for 247 yards and 4 touchdowns with no picks. That's a much, much better display than we've seen recently. - Matt Forte had 14 carries for 117 yards in a rare good show from the Bears O-line. - Both defenses did well, both putting up four sacks (including 2 for Trent Cole of the Eagles and one for Brandon Graham (watch list)). - Julius Peppers and Brian Urlacher are still grabbing all the limelight on the Bears defense, but it's DE Israel Idonije who is quietly making a consistent big impact. - Looks like I'm wrong about the Bears. They're showing they can roll with the big boys. St. Louis Rams 36 @ Denver Broncos 33: - Another week, another big show from rookie Sam Bradford (22/37, 308 yards, 3 TD's). - Steven Jackson also had big part with 29 carries for 72 yards. - After being ripped up in the second quarter the Broncos made their fight back in the fourth. - Kyle Orton; 24/41, 347 yards, 3 TD's. - The Broncos were 1/9 (11%) on third downs. - The Rams could have had more points. Their red zone efficiency was just 2/5 (40%) San Diego Chargers 36 @ Indianapolis Colts 14: - Peyton Manning just didn't look like Peyton Manning; 31/48, 285 yards, 2 TD's, 4 INT's. - The Colts O-line couldn't move anyone and had real trouble keeping Manning clean. - It appeared that the Chargers had a pretty good idea of what the Colts audibles were. - Rookie LB Pat Angerer didn't do too bad for the Colts, leading the team with 7 tackles. - Philip Rivers had a pedestrian game of 19/23 for 185 yards. But it was more than enough thanks to... - ... FB/RB Mike Tolbert taking 26 carries for 103 yards and a touchdown. The two interception returns for touchdowns by Eric Weddle and Kevin Burnett also helped a lot! - The Chargers special teams didn't shoot them in the foot for a change. San Francisco 49ers 27 @ Arizona Cardinals 6: - You know you're bad when the 49ers are running all over you. - And I do mean running all over. I could have driven a Dodge Ram through some of those holes. - Troy Smith was 11/23 for 129 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. - Frank Gore (5 carries, 52 yards) went down with a hip injury, so it fell to Brian Westbrook to carry the load; 23 carries, 136 yards, 1 TD. - "The Golden Mule" Anthony Dixon (watch list); 14 carries, 54 yards, 1 TD. - Derek Anderson was bad; 16/35, 196 yards, 1 INT. - Anderson was really bad. He stared down receivers (which led to a Takeo Spikes pick) and simply didn't see the whole field the way a top tier QB would. - The Cardinals gave their running game a chance. 11 chances to be exact. It didn't help that they conceded 21 first half points. - 26 to 8. Not the final score (obviously) but the number of first downs the respective teams picked up. - 39:01. The 49ers time of possession. So that's your lot, the whole of week 12 now covered. After a 2-1 start on Thursday night I finished 9-7 pick wise for the week. That now takes my season tally to 92-84. At least I'm still above .500. This week I will absolutely 100% do the round up so far of the rookie watch list. Absolutely. 100%. Honest. I promise. I will. Honestly... Have a great day everyone.