NFL week 11 roundup

Thursday 13th November 2008
New England Patriots (6-4) 31-34 OT New York Jets (7-3)
The New York Jets defeated the New England Patriots on Thursday night to take sole control of the AFC East. The Jets were ahead for most of the game until the Patriots had a second half comeback that ended with Randy Moss’ 16 yard touchdown catch on 4th and 1 with 1 second remaining forced overtime. But Brett Favre marched his team down the field on the opening drive of overtime to setup a Jay Feeley winning field goal from 34 yards. Favre completed 26/33 for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns in this game and his opposite number Matt Cassel completed 30/51 for 400 yards and 3 touchdowns in defeat. Cassel also lead the Patriots rushing game with 62 yards on 8 carries as the rest of the New England backfield could only put up 63 yards combined. Thomas Jones had 104 yards and 1 touchdown on the ground for the Jets. Randy Moss saw little of the ball as Wes Welker continued his steak of six or more catches in every game this season as he caught 7 for 108 yards in this one. Patriots rookie linebacker Jerod Mayo made 16 solo tackles and 4 assisted in this game. If the Jets remain top of their division after their next two games (Tennessee and Denver) they should be fancied to take the division.

Sunday 16th November 2008
Atlanta Falcons (6-4) 20-24 Denver Broncos (6-4)
Jay Cutler lead his Denver Broncos to a big victory against a much-fancied Atlanta Falcons. In a close game, Matt Ryan made a rookie interception throwing off his back foot into the hands of Bronco’s cornerback Dre’ Bly for what was the only turnover in the game, whilst the banged up Broncos D held Michael Turner in tact until a 28 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with 25 carries for 81 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jay Cutler had a mistake-free game and threw the only touchdown of the game, to Owen Daniels which turned out to be the winner.

Carolina Panthers (8-2) 31-22 Detroit Lions (0-10)
Detroit took an early 10-0 lead in this game with help of a Daunte Culpepper 29 yard touchdown pass to Calvin Johnson. There wasn’t much to cheer about after that as Carolina outscored Detroit 21-9 in the second quarter and never looked back. Culpepper finished the game 20/35 for 207 yards, 1 passing touchdown, 1 rushing touchdown, 2 interceptions and 1 lost fumble. Kevin Smith had 112 yards on 24 carries for the Lions but was only the third best running back in this game as the Panthers of Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams combined for 250 yards on 29 carries and 3 touchdowns, leaving Jake Delhomme to attempt just 19 passes, completing 10 of them for 98 yards and 1 touchdown. 2 sacks from Julius Peppers takes him up to 9 on the season as the Panthers maintain a one game lead in the NFC South.

Cincinnati Bengals (1-8-1) 13-13 OT Philadelphia Eagles (5-4-1)
Philadelphia put a big dent in their playoff ambitions as they failed to beat the lacklustre Bengals in the first tie in NFL since November 2002 when the Steelers and Falcons played out a 34-34 tie with a very questionable call at the end. Neither team got a running game established and even Cincinnati’s scrambling quarterback couldn’t get more than 9 rushing yards as he ended up getting sacked on eight occasions; twice by Darren Howard who now has 8 sacks on the season. Donovan McNabb finished the game throwing 339 yards and 1 touchdown, but also 3 interceptions and losing 1 fumble. T.J. Houshmandzadeh had a good game for Cincinnati catching 12 passes for 149 yards and their only touchdown. Shane Graham missed a 47 yard field goal at the end of overtime to leave Cincinnati with just a solo win after 10 games.

Kansas City Chiefs (1-9) 20-30 New Orleans Saints (5-5)
The New Orleans Saints picked up a crucial win on Sunday to get back to .500. Drew Brees got better for the Saints after throwing a first quarter interception as he lead his team to victory, whilst Pierre Thomas rushed for 88 yards and 1 touchdown on 16 carries as Deuce McAllister ran just 8 times in this match, with a possible suspension upcoming following reports he and teammates Will Smith and Charles Grant have used banned substances. With Reggie Bush still out for a couple of weeks, Pierre Thomas can expect a few more carries in the next few games. Will Smith has underperformed this season whilst Charles Grant is on injured reserve. On the subject of suspensions, Larry Johnson made his return after missing the previous four games, to run for just 67 yards on 19 carries. Tyler Thigpen is looking good, although his first interception in his last four starts came on the Chiefs final possession as they went all out to get back into the game.

New York Giants (9-1) 30-10 Baltimore Ravens (6-4)
New York put an abrupt end to Baltimore’s four game winning streak as they ran for a total of 207 yards; the most Baltimore have allowed in over a decade. Brandon Jacobs began with two first quarter touchdowns and the Ravens were never really in it after that. Aaron Ross intercepted Joe Flacco twice, as Flacco finished the game 20/33 for 164 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. He lead the Ravens in rushing with 57 yards on 6 carries, with the rest of the team combining for 64 yards. The Giants are looking unstoppable and are 3/1 favourites to defend the Superbowl.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-3) 19-13 Minnesota Vikings (5-5)
The Buccaneers slugged out a victory to keep them within one game of NFC South leaders Carolina and in the top wilcard place for now. Jeff Garcia played well for the Bucs, completing 23/30 for 255 yards, although their only touchdown of the game on a 1 yard run from fullback B.J. Askew. Tampa Bay may not be putting up many points, but they only three teams have allowed fewer points this season. Chad Greenway made a noteworthy 16 solo tackles for the Minnesota Vikings in this one.

Miami Dolphins (6-4) 17-15 Oakland Raiders (2-8)
Miami scraped a victory over the Oakland Raiders who couldn’t get anything going on offence. Chad Pennington had an efficient game for Miami, whilst JaMarcus Russell didn’t get Oakland moving vary far and took five sacks. Ronnie Brown ran for 101 yards on 16 carries, but it was Patrick Cobbs and Ted Ginn (on a 40 yard end around) that ran for both of Miami’s touchdowns. Another 1.5 sacks for Joey Porter in this game takes him to a league leading 13.5 on the season. Another defeat for Oakland takes them to 2-8 as they are on course for another high draft pick.

Green Bay Packers (5-5) 37-3 Chicago Bears (5-5)
Chicago were handed a thrashing by rivals Green Bay Packers as they both along with Minnesota head the NFC North at .500. Chicago held Tennessee to a mere 20 rushing yards this week, but gave up 200 this weekend; 145 from Ryan Grant on 25 carries, who also scored their only rushing touchdown. Apart from an underthrown pass that was intercepted by Brian Urlacher, Aaron Rodgers looked good as he completed 23/30 for 227 yards and 2 touchdowns. With performances like this, you may wonder why Green Bay don’t have a better record, but they’ve lost all three games this season settled by three points or less and have also lost to Tampa Bay and Dallas. Not being able to win the close ones is a problem. They head to New Orleans on Monday night in a game that could have big ramifications on a wildcard spot, before they host the Carolina Panthers. Green Bay need another performance like this in those games if they want to go to the playoffs.

Indianapolis Colts (6-4) 33-27 Houston Texans (3-7)
Houston put up a good performance in Indianapolis, which was helped with a poor offensive showing from the Colts in the first half. The Colts did finish the game with good numbers though and racked up another victory. Peyton Manning finished the game 30/46 for 320 yards and 2 touchdowns. Joseph Addai caught 4 of those passes for 48 yards and 1 touchdown and added 105 yards and 1 touchdown on 22 carries. This was his first 100 yard game of the season. Steve Slaton put up his second 100 yard game of his career as he ran for 156 yards on only 14 carries, getting into the endzone once. Whilst Sage Rosenfels didn’t lose them the game this time, he didn’t win it either as he threw an interception in the final two minutes, to Melvin Bullitt (in for Bob Sanders) to seal the deal.

San Francisco 49ers (3-7) 35-16 St Louis Rams (2-8)
Good performances from both Shaun Hill and Frank Gore gave Mike Singletary his first win as a head coach and with 3 wins now this season puts San Francisco second in the NFC West! Shaun Hill completed 15/20 passes for 213 yards and 2 touchdowns, and also ran one in himself. Frank Gore ran in 2 touchdowns of his own as he ran for 106 yards on 18 carries. With no Steven Jackson once again for St Louis, Antonio Pittman came in and ran for 95 yards on just 14 carries, but spent most of the game passing after San Francisco took a big lead early on and lead 35-3 at half time. Marc Bulger threw for 295 yards and 1 touchdown, but was intercepted twice. In their last three games, St Louis have looked like the team they were at the start of the season and not how they looked when Jim Haslett originally took charge and lead them to back-to-back victories over Washington and Dallas. San Francisco have underperformed this season, but Frank Gore had a good game on Sunday and continues to look their only offensive threat.

Seattle Seahawks (2-8) 20-26 Arizona Cardinals (7-3)
Seattle’s dismal season continues as they could only put up 196 yards of offence in defeat to division rivals Arizona, despite the return of Matt Hasselbeck. Hasselbeck had a bad day, throwing three interceptions, whilst Seattle could only manage a total of 43 yards. Kurt Warner threw for 395 yards in this game of which 186 went to Anquan Boldin on 13 catches and 151 yards for Larry Fitzgerald on 10 catches. J.J. Arrington caught Warner’s only touchdown pass. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie made the first two interceptions on his career, in his first season in this game, with the second one wrapping the game up. Arizona will win this division but are unlikely to go far in the playoffs.

Jacksonville Jaguars (4-6) 14-24 Tennessee Titans (10-0)
This was a game of two opposite halves. In the first, Jacksonville had a running game going, whilst they prevented Tennessee from getting anything going and took a 14-3 lead into half time. Then Tennessee came out and shut down Jacksonville’s offence, forcing them to just three first downs in the second half before putting up three scores of their own, which included a 56 yard touchdown pass down the sideline from Kerry Collins to Justin Gage. Gage had a career high 146 yards and 2 touchdowns in this game. Tennessee continued to show the league they can pass the ball as Collins threw for 230 yards and 3 touchdowns in this game whilst Chris Johnson and LenDale White put up a combined 116 rushing yards. The Titans brought David Garrard down or 7 sacks in week 1 and managed another 4 on Sunday, including 1 for Jevon Kearse who has managed to stay healthy all season so far (I hope I haven’t cursed him!). Tennessee remain a perfect 10-0 but face the in-form New York Jets next week where they could come undone.

Pittsburgh Steelers (7-3) 11-10 San Diego Chargers (4-6)
Pittsburgh got back to winning ways in the snow as they put a big dent in San Diego’s playoff chances. San Diego took a 7-0 lead on their second drive of the game when LaDainian Tomlinson went up the middle from 3 yards out, which turned out to be the only touchdown of the game. Despite Ben Roethlisberger’s 308 passing yards and Willie Parkers 115 rushing yards on his return, Pittsburgh never got the ball into the endzone and ended up winning on a safety and three Jeff Reed field goals. James Harrison recorded his 12th sack of the season in this game whilst also making his first interception, and also forcing a fumble.

Washington Redskins (6-4) 10-14 Dallas Cowboys (6-4)
Tony Romo made his return as Dallas got a crucial victory in Washington to take both teams to 6-4 in the NFC East. Romo made an unconvincing return as he threw two interceptions, the first to DeAngelo Hall on his Redskins debut. Washington failed to get much going on offence and they failed to handle Marion Barber who ran for 114 yards and 1 touchdown. Jay Ratliff sacked Jason Campbell twice to take his tally up to 6 on the season, whilst Campbell was picked up for the third time this season, having thrown two interceptions in his previous game against Pittsburgh. Both teams have tough competition for wildcard places as the Giants look to have won this division already with a three game lead.

Monday 17th November 2008
Buffalo Bills (5-5) 27-29 Cleveland Browns (4-6)
Brady Quinn got his first win in only his second start as the Cleveland Browns quarterback in an exciting game on Monday night. Whilst his stats don’t look special, he protected the ball and drove the Browns down the field. His stats would have looked better if not for a few guilty drops from Braylon Edwards who seems to do this week-in week-out. Edwards did make 8 grabs for 104 yards in this game though. Marshawn Lynch had a good game for Buffalo, running for 119 yards on 23 carries, his first 100 yard game of the season, and catching 10 passes for 58 yards and getting into the endzone with a great run after the catch. But Bills quarterback Trent Edwards had a bad game, throwing 3 interceptions as he completed 16 passes. Phil Dawson’s 56 yard field goal turned out to be the winner as Buffalo’s Rian Lindell missed from 47 yards wide right on their final drive. Buffalo have lost four straight and are bottom of the AFC East at .500.

Related posts:

1. NFL Wildcards Roundup
2. NFL Week 17 Roundup
3. NFL Week 16 Roundup
4. NFL Week 15 Roundup
5. NFL Week 14 Roundup

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