Monday, November 15, 2010

11/15: NFL Wrap, etc...

Greetings all... to the games...
  • Indy 23, Cincy 17 - I have no idea how Indy won this game... Peyton was subpar (under 200 yards, 0 TDs), they averaged under 4 yards per carry... Oh!... Carson Palmer is washed up... there it is... he staked the Colts to a 17-0 lead by throwing a pick 6 (one of 3 INTs), and along with Cedric Benson (who was awful), couldn't come back... This buries Cincy even further, and shows the Colts can win even with Peyton not at his best....
  • NY Jets 26, Cleveland 20 (OT) - Walk-off touchdowns with under a minute left in OT rarely happen... so that's interesting enough... Sanchez was very good (299 and 2 TDs), and they were able to slow down P. Hillis for the most part... but the x-factor? NYJ had the ball for 47 of the 74 minutes... done and done...
  • Chicago 27, Minnesota 13 - Maybe we can stop hearing about the Vikes now?... Brett Favre was an abomination (3 INTs and a fumble), and even Adrian Peterson was human (17 for 51)... tough for me to credit Chicago because I think they stink, but Cutler was semi-competent, and that defense is swirling at times... I still don't think the Bears can be a playoff team, but 6-3 skews the other way...
  • Miami 29, Tennessee 17 - 3 QBs... 2.9 yards a carry... and a 12 point win!... 3 turnovers for the Titans gave this one away, and the Young/Collins combo was pretty abysmal... Randy Moss? 1 for 26... The Dolphins avoid death at 5-4, and the Titans take a big hit...
  • Jacksonville 31, Houston 24 - This was a de facto elimination game... Houston takes the gut-wrenching loss on a 50-yard TD pass as time expired, but they were outgained by 100 yards, and lost the turnover battle on the road... MJD was huge for Jacksonville with 24 for 100 and 2 TDs, and while Matt Schaub had his best game of the year, it was coupled with Arian Foster's worst... Gary Kubiak has to be a candidate to lose his job... right?....
  • Buffalo 14, Detroit 12 - And... the Bills are on the board!... Detroit missed on a late 2-point conversion and the Bills avoid history... Fred Jackson was electric (25 for 133), and the defense made enough plays... congrats to them...
  • Tampa 31, Carolina 16 - Carolina is really, really bad... all there is to it... but Clausen/Goodson weren't as bad as I thought they'd be... Tampa is a legit team though, and you gotta take care of business in a game like this against a putrid opponent... they did...
  • Denver 49, KC 29 - This was shocker #1A of the day... Denver has been trainwreck bad for a few weeks, but they exploded out of the gate and this was over mid 2nd quarter at 35-0... Orton was crazy good for Denver (296 and 4 TDs), and the Denver D bottled up what is normally a dominant KC running game... shocking line of the day was Matt Cassel who went for 469 yards and 4 TDs (with no picks!) and lost by 20.. wow...
  • San Fran 23, St. Louis 20 (OT) - Brutal loss for the Rams... Bradford was good, Jackson was good, and they did everything they needed to to get a huge road win... just got bested in OT... Troy Smith is the story here though... 300+ yards and a TD for SF and it seems they've found something there... shockingly, the Niners are not out of the division race despite their horrid start... only 2 games out now...
  • Dallas 33, NYG 20 - Shocker #1B here... Nobody saw this coming... NYG was a 2-touchdown favorite here, and no one could've predicted Kitna outplaying Eli in this one... Dallas won the turnover battle as well and showed legit fight under Jason Garrett... the Giants were due to lay an egg, but wow...
  • Seattle 36, Arizona 18 - Your NFC West leaders... the Seahawks get right... and on the road even!... Hasselbeck went for 333 and a TD to make everyone remember what that offense looks like sans Whitehurst, and the Seahawk rush D re-appeared to hold AZ under 50 total yards on the ground... That division is still wide-open (ha), but Seattle is my favorite...
  • New England 39, Pittsburgh 26- Tom Brady... Tom Brady... Tom Brady... dominant performance throughout... 350 yards, 3 TDs and flawless execution on the road against an elite defense... all 3 Tds to rookie TE Rob Gronkowski (huh?), but in typical Brady fashion, 8 guys caught passes, 6 of them caught multiple passes, 4 guys had 50+ yards... and oh yeah, Brady even ran for a score for good measure... It was certainly odd to see Pittsburgh get dominated even on a night where their offense was decent-ish, but they just couldn't slow Brady, and Big Ben threw a giant pick 6 late which didn't help the cause... One positive for Pittsburgh though, Mike Wallace is a beast... 8 for 136 and 2 TDs, and he was uncoverable for most of the night...
Elsewhere...
  • BCS Update - TCU holds firm at 3... but Boise makes up some ground on the heels of TCU's worst performance of the year... I'd imagine the computers also punished TCU because of Utah taking another hit, and I'm interested to see what kind of bump Boise will get with Fresno and Nevada on the schedule still... both are legit opponents...
  • Hawks over the T-Wolves... 51 points and 20 rebounds for Horford and Smith.. that's a beautiful thing... especially against a defensively-challenged T-Wolves frontcourt... keep giving it to them... By no means was this a particularly positive performance though... Beasley did whatever he wanted offensively, Love went for 22 and 17, and Sebastian Telfair played better than I've ever seen him (a theme for point guards that encounter Bibby/Teague/Crawford)... wins are wins, but Minnesota is wretched...
  • San Antonio beats up on OKC.... no one is talking about the Spurs... but it's time to start... 7 straight wins (4-0 on the road on the year), and they beat up on the Thunder in the 2nd half... oh, and they did it with a non-existent performance from Duncan... For kicks? Matt Bonner with 21 points! don't count them out...
  • It's always awesome when the Suns and Lakers get together isn't it?... Anyway, Phoenix gets an unlikely road win behind Nash (21/13), J-Rich (35/8 on 7 threes) and Channing Frye (20/6)... It's unusual (obviously) for LA to drop one at home... but on a night when Gasol 28 and 17, Odom goes for 22 and 11, and Kobe shoots 11 for 20 for 25 points?... It's hard to explain... This one's clearly on the defense... can't allow 51% shooting, and 22 of 40 from 3-point land... 22 threes for Phoenix!
What to watch for...
  • MNF - Eagles/Redskins - 8:30 ESPN - Must-see TV.. McNabb against the Eagles (and off the bye week following the Shanahan calamity)... and of course, Mike Vick...
  • Grizzlies/Magic - 7:00 NBA-TV - Rudy Gay is averaging 25 a game... I just noticed that... wow... anyway, Dwight Howard and company are always entertaining even if it's to watch and see how bad Rashard and Vince can look...
Enjoy...

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