Week Twelve in Review

Thursday Night Game:

New Orleans Saints 17 at Atlanta Falcons-13
Reviewing the Game:

• This game was much closer than many predicted, but even as Atlanta was trying take the lead away from the Saints, it just never felt like they stood a chance to win. Atlanta’s offense did not look like the train wreck that it had been in recent weeks. Steven Jackson had his best game as a Falcon, and undrafted rookie receiver, Darius Johnson, paced the offense in the first half. The Saints adjusted well in the second half and Johnson went quiet along with the rest of the pass catchers; Saints cornerback Keenan Lewis had the clamps on Roddy White all night. The Saints offense did just enough to get by the Falcons, who even admitted that this was their Super Bowl in a completely lost season. the Saints had to be encouraged that they were able to run most of their offense through their running backs, on the ground and in the passing game, as they will need that position group to step up as they head towards their playoff run. Even though the result was more competitive than anticipated, it was still a rather boring game.

Matchup to Watch: Jimmy Graham vs. Falcons linebackers and safeties

• Jimmy Graham had great success all night attacking the defenders in the middle of the Atlanta defense. Graham’s touchdown came when he was all alone in man coverage with William Moore; whose bright idea was that? Graham put a sweet double move on Moore and took off towards the end zone after catching a wide-open pass. Moore caught up with Graham, but only latched on to become the latest defender the superstar tight end dragged into the end zone. Graham looks to be inching closer and closer to one hundred percent after a mid season foot injury, and in the mean time is still domnating like he did tonight. 
  

Whipping around Sunday:

Week Twelve’s Best:
1) Great finishes

• This is exactly what the NFL was made for. The Chargers vs. Chiefs, Panthers vs. Dolphins, and Buccaneers vs. Lions all ended in spectacular fashion. Philip Rivers made one of the best throws you will ever see to Seyi Ajirotutu, with less than thirty seconds left, to hand the Chiefs their second loss of the season. The Chargers defense then sealed the deal with great coverage for the first time all day, and a sack of Alex Smith. In Miami, after looking rather sluggish all day, Cam Newton injected life into his offense with a spectacular game winning drive. Newton made a great throw that Steve Smith miraculously held onto on fourth down, and then sealed the deal with a one-yard touchdown throw to Greg Olsen. Cam has now led his team on three consecutive game winning drives, while destroying all the narratives surrounding him. Tampa Bay finished off the superior Detroit Lions when Jonathan Banks snagged Matthew Stafford’s fourth interception of the day. While Fox tries to sell us terrible matchups like the Cowboys vs. Giants as the “game of the week” it is refreshing to see that there were still plenty of exciting games. 

2)    Josh Gordon

• For all the praise the Browns rightfully get for fleecing the Colts in the Trent Richardson deal, they should be thankful no one took Josh Gordon off their hands. Gordon was terrific against the Steelers. His numbers are outrageous, fourteen catches for 237 yards and a score, and he was every bit as dominant as those numbers indicate. To think, Gordon did most of his damage after Brandon Weeden resurrected himself yet again. Gordon has really been terrific all year, despite a not-so murder’s row of starting quarterbacks provided by the Browns. If the Browns manage to get a real quarterback behind center, and Gordon keeps his nose out of trouble, he might just become a top five NFL receiver

3)    The Pittsburgh Steelers

• You mean the Steelers were better when they had underperforming and aging veterans like Lamarr Woodley and Brett Keisel on the sidelines? The Steelers defense looked noticeably quicker against every Browns player not named Josh Gordon. Somehow the Steelers have fought back from an 0-4 start to position themselves to be the final seed in the AFC playoffs. When the defense at least plays competently and Roethlisberger is playing smart, this Steelers team is awfully tough to beat. 

4)    Mike Glennon

• Don’t look now, but this third round pick is by far the best rookie signal caller this season. Glennon has the Bucs on a three game winning streak, and for the first time, he was the biggest reason they won. Glennon made a number of impressive down field throws without much help from his running game. Suddenly this piece of praise from the great Greg Cosell does not look so out of place. Tampa Bay may have finally ended its long search for a franchise quarterback.

5)    Cameron Wake

• Despite a losing effort, Cameron Wake may have been the best player on the field in the Dolphins loss to the Panthers. Wake was constantly in Newton’s face and delivered the initial blow that looked to have the Panthers quarterback rattled all day. When the Panthers dedicated extra bodies to slow Wake down, other Dolphins linemen like Olivier Vernon and Jared Odrick managed to knife into the backfield. Cam Newton was able to overcome the constant pressure in the end, but this was yet another reminder of why Wake is one of the top defensive players in the league. 
  

Week Twelve’s Worst
1)    The Houston Texans

• Case Keenum did little to redeem himself after being benched last week, and his team endured a crippling loss to the Jaguars. The only good thing about the Texans day was they might have found another unknown running back to carry the load for them. Dennis Johnson may well find himself with a “Diamond in the Rough” piece on this page soon enough. Nobody on the Texans defense, outside of J.J. Watt, is playing at a high level right now either, and they are out of excuses. Andre Johnson summed it up pretty well when he astutely told reporters “we suck”. The only good news for the Texans? They may have wrapped up the number one pick by losing to the Jaguars. 

2)    The Chiefs defense

• 41 points allowed, by this defense? It just goes to show you pressure is the catalyst for everything on most defenses no matter how good they are. When Tamba Hali and Justin Houston left this game there was no hope for the other nine men on defense. Philip Rivers picked up where Peyton Manning left off picking on Marcus Cooper, and the secondary just had no answer for Keenan Allen. There is no need to sound the panic alarm in Kansas City just yet; another great NFL defense, the Panthers, struggled today with out their best pass rusher, and no team is equipped to lose both of their edge rushers. Of course, if Houston and Hali are out for an extend period of time, all bets are off. Eric Berry, Derrick Johnson, Dontari Poe, and Brandon Flowers are great, but the whole unit takes a step back without their edge rushers. 

3)    The Colts

• No disrespect to the Arizona Cardinals, who are a legitimate playoff team, but the Colts are a train wreck. Of course, the writing was on the wall about this bunch. The Colts defense could not stop anything the Cardinals offense threw at them, and their own anemic offense was laughable. They did not even put a touchdown on the board until late in the fourth quarter. Despite bigger names on the roster, waiver claim Dan Herron was the team’s leading rusher, and Andrew Luck struggled once again with too much weight on his shoulders. The Colts will ride into the playoffs with the state of their division, but no way they get past the first round of the playoffs.

4)    Ryan Tannehill

• Despite some nice numbers, including several long overdue deep bombs to Mike Wallace, the Dolphins quarterback was unimpressive. Tannehill looked indecisive all day, and several of his deep passes were under or overthrown. He was lucky Wallace finally discovered how to make plays on the ball in the air. Tannehill looked like he was scared of the Panthers pass rush even when it was not there. The young quarterback is just not getting better right now. 

5)    The tie

• The Packers and Viking game ended in the worst outcome in sports. The tie. Neither team could prove themselves a winner in an hour and fifteen minutes of playing time; it was truly a showing in futility. The return of Matt Flynn briefly gave the Packers a spark in the fourth, but neither he nor Christian Ponder ever stood a chance of mounting the winning drive in overtime. Ties are absolutely the worst, but these two teams earned it. 

Reviewing the Top Three “Matchups to Watch”
1)    Joe Haden vs. Antonio Brown

• Maybe everyone will stop calling Joe Haden the “next Revis”. The tape shows that Haden is not a shut down level corner, and Jordy Nelson already confirmed that early in the year. Fantasy football owners everywhere panicked and considered benching the red-hot Antonio Brown. Brown, who has been a top five NFL receiver this season, made mincemeat of Joe Haden all afternoon. Now that Brown has put the clown suit Haden, maybe we can settle his value to where it should be; a great cornerback, but not an owner of his own island. 

2)    Darrelle Revis vs. Calvin Johnson.

• Revis has Megatron on the lock early on, gut an injury spoiled all the fun. Revis left the game early with an undisclosed injury and never made his return to the field. Without the best cornerback of out generation, Megatron was left to eat, and eat he did, despite his team’s loss. 

3)    Kendall Wright vs. the Raiders cornerbacks

• Wright is the best young receiver no one knows about. Wright went over 100 yards and caught the game winning touchdown from Ryan Fitzpatrick. Even with the downgrade at quarterback, Wright is excelling. It may have something to do with Fitzpatrick reckless nature, and willingness to hurl the ball down the field.

Sunday Night Game:

Denver Broncos- 31 at New England Patriots- 34
Reviewing the Game:

• Has there been a weirder Manning vs. Brady game before this one? There were eleven total fumbles in the game for goodness sakes. The Broncos scored fourteen points right off the bat on two of those Patriot fumbles, and eventually mounted a 24-0 lead headed into the half. Of course, the Patriots would not stand for that, and came roaring back to score thirty-one unanswered points and had a 31-28 lead heading into the final five minutes. Peyton Manning surgically took the ball down the field for the game tying score, and it was off to overtime. Bill Belichick correctly chose to defer the kickoff and to let the Broncos fight the stifling wind. Both teams went back and forth in the overtime, with neither gaining much momentum, until the Patriots punted to Denver with less than four minutes remaining. Wes Welker and Tony Carter suffered a miscommunication on the punt return and the ball hit Carter’s leg to give the Patriots the ball inside the twenty-yard line. The Patriots were able to kick the game winning field goal for a very sour ending to a thrilling game. 

The Broncos Perspective:

• The Broncos jumped out early with some timely strips on defense, and that unit played pretty well all night after a dominant first half, but losing Domique Rodger-Cromartie in such unfortunate fashion was brutal. Von Miller was a dominant force for stretches of this game, and he put the clown suit on overrated Patriots tackle Nate Solder on several occasions. Miller makes this whole defense better.
  
• Offensively, the Broncos ran the ball with authority. Knowshon Moreno tallied 224 yards and consistently pounded the ball right up the gut. Montee Ball was able to contribute in the rushing onslaught as well. 
  
• Peyton Manning certainly was not the same quarterback in the cold, blistery conditions in Foxboro. However, he gave his team the chance to win at the end. Manning was also let down on more than one occasion by some of his receivers, Wes Welker and Demaryius Thomas in particular. 
  
• Bottom line is the Broncos will need to run the ball this well when it comes playoff times, because their passing attack just does not seem to stand up in the cold. 

The Patriots Perspective:

• The Patriots slow start has been well discussed, but they came out like a machine in the second half. With Stevan Ridley in the doghouse after yet another fumble, Brandon Bolden and Shane Vereen carried the load for the Patriots. It is pretty crazy how much of a key piece Vereen is in this offense already, and he is still hampered by a balky cast on his wrist.
  
• The Patriots got great receiving performances from Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edleman. Gronk could simply not be covered, and the Broncos had absolutely no answer for him. Tom Brady was flawless in the second half, and showed once again why he never crumbles in the face of pressure. Brady and the Patriots got lucky with a special teams turnover being the deciding factor, but he still had a massive outing. 
  
• No one will say it, but major credit needs to be given to the Patriots defense, who managed to get Peyton Manning off his spot, and Bill Belichick for several shrewd coaching decisions. This was a great game, and is almost certainly a preview of the AFC Championship game. 
  

Monday Night Game:

San Francisco 49ers- at Washington Redskins-
Reviewing the Game:

• This game set advanced quarterbacking back by twenty years. Both of these young quarterbacks were touted as the “next great things” after last season, but this game epitomized why they have fallen back to earth. That includes Colin Kaepernick, who made some great throws and put up big numbers. Both quarterbacks struggle to read the field, and have been unable to adjust with the training wheels taken off of them. Kaepernick struggled whenever the Redskins were not leaving his first read wide open, and Robert Griffin made some really questionable decisions. The 49ers often kept Griffin contained in the pocket, and he struggled from that area, yet again. The biggest storyline from this game is just how far behind these two are in their developments as NFL quarterbacks. What looked preseason like a matchup between two of the hottest young guns in the league turned out to be a complete and utter mess. 

The 49ers Perspective:

• The 49ers were so clearly the better team in this game. They were more physical at both lines of scrimmage and moved the Redskins around all night. The 49ers pass rushers were especially impressive. Aldon Smith made several highlight plays hitting RG3, but it was Ahmad Brooks who was once again the more dominant defender. Brooks shut down run lanes to his side, and made several key drops of RG3. Brooks lived in the Redskins backfield tonight.
  
• Offensively, the 49ers continued their tradition of looking very good against bad teams. It is hard to take away too much from this game because of how bad the Redskins defense was. However, Vernon Davis and Anquan Boldin were fantastic and Kaepernick delivered several rifles to his two top weapons. If only the 49ers had a number one receiver hiding somewhere…

The Redskins Perspective:

• Horrible. Simply horrible. There was no fourth quarter revival to come for the Redskins this time. RG3 was atrocious once again, and showed a number of his flaws as a player right now. He was indecisive, made poor reads, and continued to take unnecessary punishment. Griffin did not seem to have any concept of an internal clock against the swarming 49ers defensive front. There were holes in the secondary but Griffin was unable to find them and pull the trigger. It certainly did not help him that the team got behind so quickly, and was unable to run the ball. 
  
• Here are a couple pathetic stats from the Redskins in the second half: The team did not get their first first down until nine minutes were left in the fourth quarter. Up until that point, the Redskins were averaging just around one yard per snap as well.
  
• It is easy to bash on the Redskins defense, which was simply overmatched at every level for yet another week. However, one player who got the clown suit put on him over and over again was Trent Williams. Williams is an elite level left tackle, most of the time. He has all the athletic ability to mirror and compete with a player like Aldon Smith, but he seemed completely disinterested most of the time. Williams looked half asleep most of the evening and played a terrible game. 

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