THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY WEEK 15

What a wacky week of football! The Packers lose, the Colts win, and almost every team chasing a Wild Card spot in the AFC lost. There were more upsets this week than I can even count. Even the teams that were expected to win did so in an unexpected fashion. I break the week down for you in Week 15's "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly."

The Good: San Diego’s offense rolled over the fierce Ravens’ D.

The Chargers scored on all but one of their first seven possessions, Phillip Rivers only threw six incompletions all day, and Ryan Matthews had possibly his best game as a pro pounding the ball 26 times for 90 yards and two touchdowns. Most importantly, they managed to keep Rivers upright all game against a fierce Ravens’ pass rush and did not turn the ball over once, which has been their Achilles’ heel all season. That is a tough task against a team that had Ray Lewis back for the first time in five weeks. You expected the Chargers to put up points, but not in the way they did Sunday night. San Diego has been a pass happy team for years now, but it was the running game spear headed by the young Matthews who won them this game. They ran the ball almost 40 times for over 150 yards against a defense that has the second ranked rush defense, allowing less than 90 yards a game. This is incredible for a team that has been looking for a run game since Ladainian Tomlinson’s decline and then departure. It was a pleasant surprise for Chargers fans and probably a bit shocking to Ravens fans. The Chargers are unstoppable in the month of December and it is a real wonder why this team cannot find consistency in all the other months of the year.

Runner Up: Kyle Orton, thrown away by the Bears and Broncos, proves to the world he’s a starting caliber quarterback by knocking off the undefeated Packers in his first start as a Chief.

The Bad: The Titans get dominated by the winless Colts and are most likely out of the playoff race.

There is nothing more crushing than losing to a team that has not won a game all year, especially when it is this late in the season against a hated division rival who has lost thirteen straight games and your playoff hopes are on the line. Everyone in the AFC South has been looking up to Peyton Manning and the Colts since he was drafted in the late 90s and this was their season to put a beat down on the Manningless Colts. The Titans, Texans, and even the Jags beat them in their first matchups, but the Colts has all three of them in the final weeks of the season. When a team is down and out like the Colts have been all season, the only thing that motivates them to win is being able to knock a rival out of the playoff. The Titans should have seen it coming and been more prepared to see the best out of the Colts. The Titans had to know with Dan Orlovsky quarterbacking this team, the Colts were going to try to run the ball. They allowed the Colts to run the ball effectively (34 times for over 200 yards) and the Orlovsky had to do little besides hand the ball off all day. It was running back Donald Brown’s 80 yard touchdown that put the game out of reach late in the game and most likely crushed any hope of the Titans making the playoffs. Isn’t it supposed to be Chris Johnson, who the Titans gave a $54 million contact too in the offseason, that is the game breaking running back who can score from anywhere on the field? Not in this game. Johnson was held to just 55 yards rushing and was again disappointing against a very suspect Colts run defense. This loss really hurts because it puts them a game behind both the Jets and the Bengals, and it hurts their in conference record, which will be the tiebreaker for these playoff hopeful teams. I cannot see the Titans bouncing back and making a run for the last Wild Card spot.

Runner Up: The Patriots lose their sack leader, defense end Andre Carter, for the rest of the season.

The Ugly: Both the Jets and the Giants fall to NFC East bottom dwellers.

Both of my New York teams had full control of their playoff destinies before this weekend. On Sunday, I watched a painful six hours of football, watching the Giants and then the Jets put up absolutely disgusting performances. The Giants could do nothing on offense and Rex Grossman, yes that Rex Grossman, made the Giants’ D look silly. The Giants were outplayed in every faze of the game and this was the second time this year the Giants have been outmatched by a Grossman led Redskins. I thought that was the worst it could get and was ready to watch my Jets down the Eagles in Philly. That would surely make up for the awful game I had just witnessed. Two turnovers, 14 points, and less than one quarter later I thought I was having a nightmare. The Jets’ $50 million man, Santonio Holmes, lost fumble and had a pass go through his hands and straight into the defender’s arms behind him, both of which led to touchdowns for the Eagles. The Jets were looking good, moving the ball effectively and getting solid pressure on Michael Vick, but they could not make plays when it mattered most. Most importantly, they made catastrophic mistakes early and often and simply could not recover from them. This was an ugly week of football for these two teams who will be fighting for their playoff lives when they face off against each other on Christmas Eve. Only one of them will come away with a win and a playoff spot, and there is still a decent shot that neither of these teams even make the playoffs.

Runner Up: Big Ben takes a beating in San Fran and the Steelers lose an opportunity to retake the NFC North.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY WEEK 14

The Good: Eli Manning.

Wow was Eli Manning great Sunday night. He threw for 400 yards and made the big plays for his team when they needed him most, again. This was Eli’s sixth come from behind win in the forth quarter, which means all but one of the Giants’ wins have come off of a 4^th quarter drive by Eli. Against the Cowboys, Eli lead the Giants to two touchdowns in the last three minutes to put the Giants up with very little time left on the clock. Yes, Eli got help from a strong run game and he did make a few mistakes early in the game. However, he did not make many mistakes, he overcame a lot of big drops (I am looking at you Mario Manningham), and he was yet again perfect at the end when he had to be, unlike Tony Romo who was perfect all game, but failed to make enough plays when the Cowboys had the chance to put away the Giants. If it were not for Aaron Rodgers having the best season any quarterback has ever had, Eli would be the top candidate for the MVP of the league. Eli still has a very solid shot at breaking Dan Marino’s passing record (he is on pace to come about 20 yards short) and he has been the only reason this Giants’ team has stayed in playoff contention.

Runner Up: Unknown rookie quarterback T.J. Yates scores a last second touchdown to knock off the Bengals by one point and lock up the Texans’ first ever playoff appearance.

The Bad: Ben Roethlisberger gets injured in a win over the Browns.

Anyone who bothered to watch this NFL Network showdown saw how hobbled Big Ben was during the second half of this game. It looked like he could barely move in the pocket and was clearly in a lot of pain. Sure Roethlisberger has bounced back from a lot of these injuries in the past and has played successfully, but with an offensive line that has faced a lot of injuries and inconsistencies coupled with a struggling rushing attack, things could get bad for the Steelers fast. Roethlisberger has been the Steelers’ iron man for years now and he is carrying this entire offense this season. A lot of Roethlisberger’s success is due to his mobility in the pocket and how difficult it is to bring him to the ground. His mobility allows him to buy time in the pocket while his speedy receivers Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown get down field. If Roethlisberger’s injury lingers, their offense could really struggle because his injury allows teams to blitz him more often without the fear of Roethlisberger breaking tackles and throwing a bomb 50+ yards downfield. If the offensive line fails to give Roethlisberger time in the pocket, the Steelers could really struggle to score points because so much of their offense relies on Roethlisberger being a threat to throw a long touchdown anywhere on the field. I am not saying the Steelers are going to fall out of playoff contention or anything drastic like that, but in a year where they most likely will not win the AFC North, they will have to go on the road in the first round of the playoffs and could easily drop their first matchup. That would be a big disappointment for this team considering how wide open the AFC is right now.

Runner Up: The Bills get blown out by the struggling Chargers and look to be chasing another top 10 pick instead of their first playoff appearance since the 90s. Remember when they were atop the AFC East?

The Ugly: Marion Barber allows Tebowmania to continue.

Have you heard this one before? The Broncos had zero points on the scoreboard with three minutes left in the game… and they won! Call it Tebow magic, call it solid team football, call it whatever you want, but this game was not won by the Broncos, it was lost by the Bears. The main culprit was running back Marion Barber. For most of this game, Barber was the star. He was putting this entire offense on his back and carrying them along with the Broncos’ defenders who were trying to tackle him. He had 100 total yards and the only touchdown of the game. He was filling in perfectly for Matt Forte, who has carried the Bears’ offense since he was drafted in the second round. However, he made two huge mistakes that were both turning points in the game that gave Tebow a chance to work his magic. After the Broncos scored their first touchdown of the game, they tried an onside kick and failed, meaning the Bears should be able to run the ball three times and pin the Broncos inside the 20 yard line with about 20 seconds left and no timeouts. The Broncos would have needed a miracle to get into field goal range in that situation. The Bears did run the ball three times, but Barber got greedy on one of his runs and ended up falling out of bounds while fighting for extra yards. This gave the Broncos almost a full minute to work with and Tebow got it done. Alright fine, the Bears lasted till overtime, which is more than most teams have who have faced Tebow. The Bears lucked out and got the ball first. Again Barber looks like the hero and is carrying the Bears into field goal range while seemingly redeeming himself for his mistake. The Bears got themselves into field goal range and looked to steal a win from Tebow, until Barber bursts up the middle for a run and blasts through numerous tackles. For a split second, it looked like Barber might break off a long run for a touchdown. However, Barber saw that opening and thought he had a touchdown, lost his concentration, and a stumbling Broncos’ defender was able to strip the ball out of his hands before Barber could really break free. The Broncos recovered the ball, the Bears did not even get a shot to kick a field goal, and Tebow again worked his magic and the Broncos kicked an incredibly long field goal to win the game. This might have been the worst way a team could have possibly lost a game, especially for Barber, and it will be interesting to see how an injury riddled Bears’ team bounces back this week in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Runner Up: The Buccaneers get blown out by the lowly Jags 41-14. Seriously, who let’s the Jags put up 41 points?

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY WEEK 13

Lots of good upsets this week, and a few other almost upsets. More injuries to high profile guys, while no name players continue to have big performances for their teams. Loads of teams are still in the playoff hunt, although a lot of them are not the teams we expected. Can you believe the Broncos are at the top of the AFC West! This is why the NFL is so fun to watch and why I have so much to talk about this week. Enjoy!

The Good: The Packers pull out a last second win over the Giants by driving almost 70 yards in 50 seconds.

The Giants came oh so close in this one to knocking off the undefeated Packers, but Aaron Rodgers showed once again why he is the best quarterback in the league on the final drive of this game. The Giants made the mistake of leaving almost a full minute left on the clock for Aaron Rodgers to work with. However, it probably would not have mattered because it only took Rodgers two throws and 15 seconds to get the Packers into field goal range. The rest of that drive was just Rodgers making the kicker’s job even easier. The 2011 Packers may not be the best team the NFL has ever seen, but Rodgers showed why it will be very hard for any team to beat them unless they get out to an early lead and hold onto it. When it needs to happen, Rodgers will score touchdowns at will and he has yet to face a defense that has come close to even slowing him down.

Runner Up: The Texans get a huge win over the Falcon with T.J. Yates at the helm.

The Bad: The Jaguars trading up to draft quarterback Blaine Gabbert.

I know it is hard to critique a 22 year old quarterback in his rookie season, especially when he is running possibly the least talented offense in the NFL, but anyone who has been watching this guy play can tell it looks like he does not care about making a play for his team. He is completing less than 50% of his passes this season and he has taken 30 sacks in less than 11 games. You can blame the offensive line all you want, but Gabbert holds onto the ball way too long and seems to never utilize his athleticism to escape the pressure. Against the Chargers, he had pretty solid passing stats (quarterback rating of 82.3), but the majority of his yards and touchdowns went to running back Maurice Jones Drew, who made big plays after the catch and had nothing to do with Gabbert’s talents as a quarterback. I feel like I saw Gabbert’s knees buckle as he went to the ground more than I saw him complete a decent pass. He looks jittery in the pocket and afraid of the defenders. He seemingly rather protect himself than try to make a play for his offense. This is a trait that none of the big time quarterbacks in the NFL possess. What made Brett Favre one of the best quarterbacks of all time was his ability to see the rush, hang in the pocket, and deliver an amazing pass while he was getting destroyed by a defender. I hate to make this type of comparison so early in Gabbert’s career, but he looks a lot like David Carr (first overall pick in the 2002 NFL Draft) did in his time with the Texans. Carr too was part of one of the worst offenses in the NFL at the time and he took an unbelievable amount of sacks in his day. People blamed the Texans’ offense for Carr’s faults, but Carr fell on his face with his other opportunities after the Texans released him. Whether or not all the sacks ruined his will to play or not, I see Gabbert as a similarly weak minded quarterback who could fall down a similar path. With the Jags’ coach being fired, the team being sold, and a possible move to LA, there will be a lot of distractions surrounding this team. It does not help that there is no clear light at the end of the tunnel for this offense getting more productive so Gabbert will be relied on heavily to turn this team around. I can’t see that happening anytime soon.

Runner Up: The Cowboys fail to get anything going on offense against a very mediocre Cardinals’ defense and lose in overtime.

The Ugly: The Eagles get blown out by the Seahawks… yea, those Seahawks.

This game sums up the Eagles’ entire 2011 season. The Eagles could not stop the run, fell behind early, and turned the ball over numerous times. Sound familiar? I feel like this happens every week with the “Dream Team,” but you had to think things would be different against the Seahawks. The only thing the Eagles did right this week was they got the ball to LeSean McCoy over 20 times, and he paid off by scoring the Eagles only two touchdowns. However, they obviously did not get him the ball enough to stop Vince Young from throwing four interceptions, which must have felt good for Pete Carroll to be able to dominate the quarterback that ruined his hope of winning three National Championships in a row while coaching at USC. Not only did the Eagles’ offense struggle, but also their insanely highly paid defense faltered yet again. They managed to get three sacks, but they allowed Tarvaris Jackson pick them apart (boy you never hear that sentence), who only threw three incompletions all day. When it comes down to it, the Seahawks were coached up and motivated and the Eagles simply didn’t even try. Andy Reid has gotten a little too used to being an Eagle and it is time to say “Bye Bye Birdie” to Philadelphia before he gets run out of town with pitchforks.

Runner Up: The Bears lose at home against the Chiefs and Matt Forte suffers a serious knee injury. 

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY WEEK 12

What a great week of football! It is hard not to love watching football on Thanksgiving, even if none of the games were really all that exciting. However, almost every game this week seemed to come down to just a few plays being the difference in a win or a loss. There was plenty of good and bad to pass around, and way more ugly than most coaches would have liked, but it sure was fun to watch. Let’s dive right in.

The Good: Drew Brees plays like a god on Monday Night Football against the Giants.

I literally cannot remember a better quarterback performance than Brees’ on Monday night. He threw for four touchdowns, had an amazing run for another touchdown, and was deadly accurate all night long. Most impressive was Brees’ ability to avoid the Giants’ rush and still get the ball downfield. One play, Brees’ broke a tackle in the pocket from 270 lbs defensive end Justin Tuck (the Giants best pass rusher), then made it look like he was going to run with the ball before stopping perfectly on the line of scrimmage, stiff armed 320 lbs defensive tackle Linval Joseph to the ground, and then threw a perfect pass for the first down. While this type of tackling on the Giants’ part is inexcusable, this was one of the most impressive plays I have ever seen out of a quarterback, especially for one who is known for being undersized. You almost never see any quarterback take on defensive lineman so fearlessly, but for a 32 year old 6’0 210 lbs quarterback to do it shows just how badly Brees wants to win every single week. If you watch Brees’ eyes on the play, he was never looking for the rushers coming at him, but he was looking downfield the entire play waiting for someone to get open. That might not sound that impressive, but with a lot of enormous dudes flying all around you, you would think he might be just slightly concerned about them. This game is the perfect example of how Brees is one of the best the NFL has ever seen, and not to be too cliché, but Saints, pay the man!

Runner Up: The Broncos, not just Tim Tebow, gets a huge road victory over the rival Chargers in overtime.

The Bad: The Texans lose Matt Leinart for the season after already losing Matt Schaub.

Every week, I feel like the Texans have some devastating injury to their team. They started the season without the NFL’s leading rusher Arian Foster, then they lost one of the best pass rushers in the entire league in Mario Williams, and then they lost their offensive leader in quarterback Matt Schaub. However, despite these injuries, they are still tied in the lead of the AFC with an 8-3 record. Leinart had his first start since 2009 and looked very impressive against a surprisingly tough Jaguars’ defense. Before leaving with his injury, Leinart was completing almost 77% of his passes and had a quarterback rating of over 110. While I understand that the Texans were not asking a lot of him, he was playing about as well as anyone could have asked out of him and it looked like he could give them a chance to possibly keep their momentum going into the postseason and possibly make a playoff run. However, he is now out for the season and the Texans’ are hoping for the best out of their third string rookie quarterback T.J. Yates. At UNC, Yates did not really play against top competition so it will be interesting to see how he holds up and how quickly the Texans turn to the 36 year old Jake Delhomme, who they just brought out of retirement. Either way, this is yet another huge loss for this franchise that should still make the playoffs for the first time ever, but now has little hope of making a deep playoff run.

Runner Up: Bill’s Stevie Johnson has several crucial drops against the Jets as they come just short of knocking off the Jets and keeping their postseason hopes alive.

The Ugly: The Eagles blow an early 10 point lead over the Patriots to fall to 4-7 and out of the playoff race.

So much for the “Dream Team” eh? I mean no one really thought they would beat the Patriots without Michael Vick and Jeremy Maclin, but they were at home and they should have been able to put together a better performance than this. And it was really just cruel to their fans to start off so hot and then falter so quickly afterwards. They were up 10-0 in the first quarterback, before allowing the Patriots to score three unanswered touchdowns and then going into the half with an 11 point deficit. It also didn’t help that they then allowed that to become a 25 point deficit before scoring a late and meaningless touchdown. I understand that the passing game was working against the Patriots’ league worst defense, but it obviously did not work out well enough. Andy Reid continually forgets that his best weapon by far is running back LeSean McCoy. Reid, for the last freaking time, run the damn ball! His obsession with passing is killing his team and making it difficult for a very talented team to win any games. McCoy should be handed the ball at least 15-20 times, no matter what the situation is, but when you have a backup quarterback starting, your top receiver out, and your most explosive receiver seems to have given up on the season, he should be getting the ball more like 25-30. McCoy ran the ball only 10 times the entire game. Also, when playing Tom Brady, you would think you would want him off the field as much as possible so that he wouldn’t throw for over 360 yards and three touchdowns against you, which is what he did against the Eagles. I wonder how you could do that… oh yea, run the ball! Clearly I have a theme here and I am not sure how long it will take Reid to figure this simple fact out, but it might already be too late to save his job.

Runner Up: Ndamukong Suh’s stomp heard round the world may have cost the Lions their first playoff performance since the 90s.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY WEEK 11

There were not too many upsets this weekend, yet there is still plenty to discuss. The Packers being at 10-0 warranted my praise and finally made the “Good” list this week, while both my New York teams put up epic failures that were definitely worthy of being called ugly. 

The Good: Jordy Nelson shows why he is one of the most feared receivers in the NFL and helps his team stay on top of the Bucs to stay unbeaten.

With all the weapons Aaron Rodgers has in that Packers’ offense, it is amazing to me how consistently Rodgers looks to Nelson. Nelson claims he was overlooked by teams thanks to “reverse racism” (good white receivers are far and in between), and maybe that was true, but no one is overlooking him now. Nelson only trails Calvin Johnson in touchdown receptions this season and he is one of the main reasons the Packers are undefeated right now. He consistently comes up with huge plays just when his team needs him the most. We saw a glimpse of his potential in the Super Bowl last year, but he had a lot of big drops in that game as well. He has stopped dropping passes and has become the Packers number one threat on offense. At only 26 years old, he is only reaching the tip of his potential and he should be a lot of fun to watch for years to come.

Runner Up: The Dolphins take down division rival Bills to win three straight.

The Bad: Graham Gano misses two field goals, including one in overtime, to crush the Redskins’ hopes of an upset over the Cowboys.

Make fun of kickers all you want, but any team without a good one always regrets ignoring the least glamorous position in football. The Redskins defense shut down the run and forced Tony Romo to win this game with his arm. Despite not producing much out of their run game, Rex Grossman looked fantastic against a very complicated defensive scheme and scored three touchdowns for his team. This was the best performance the Redskins have put together since possibly the first game of the season, yet they still lost. It is hard to put it all on a kicker, but it is always hard to win when you miss numerous field goals. This was a tough loss for the Redskins, but at least they stay in the hunt for quarterback Andrew Luck.

Runner Up: Cam Newton blows a 17 point lead over the Lions by throwing four interceptions.

The Ugly: The Giants offense had its worst day in years and they lose the top spot in the NFC East.

I have watched almost every Giants game since Eli Manning was a rookie and this might have been the worst an Eli lead Giants’ offense has ever been. They had more three and outs than you could even imagine, mostly because of their lack of running success. They averaged 1.7 yards per carry and were held to under 30 total rushing yards. Despite their lack of success, they stuck with their run game instead of airing it out and it may have cost them the division. The coaching staff clearly decided to put the entire weight of this game on their defense, and despite playing valiantly for the majority of 60 minutes, they could not stop the Eagles offense at the end of the game. This was a huge loss for this team and it puts them in a very difficult position for the rest of the season. The Giants have the toughest schedule of any team in the NFL for the rest of the 2011 season and they might have to beat the Cowboys twice in order to even make the playoffs.

Runner Up: The Jets fall to yet another Tebow miracle.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY WEEK 10

Yet another wacky week of football, yet another week that needed Runner Ups in all categories. We are nearing the home stretch of the NFL season and this is when we realize who are the contenders and who are the pretenders. It is not too late for any of these teams to turn their seasons around and make a run at the playoffs, but there is also plenty of time for the top teams in the league to fall off the map. 

The Good: John Skelton throws for over 300 yards and three touchdowns against the most expensive secondary in the NFL.

I am so happy for Skelton who was brushed aside for the unproven Kevin Kolb after his rookie season in which the Cardinals continued to tell Skelton and the media that he was their quarterback of the future. Of course everyone knew they were lying and were looking for other options at quarterback for 2011. However, it is Skelton who is having the last laugh. The Cardinals had lost their last six games under Kolb and their season was sinking fast before Skelton took over the reigns. In two games, Skelton has looked much more impressive than Kolb and he has won twice as many games in two weeks as Kolb did in seven. Most importantly, Skelton is getting the ball to playmaking receiver Larry Fitzgerald and keeping him happy, which was something Kolb has struggled with all season. The Cards would be crazy to go back to Kolb anytime soon and they have a real quarterback controversy, considering they gave Kolb a six year $65 million and that is a lot of money to pay a backup quarterback. Maybe they see if the Redskins want to try another under performing quarterback in their rotation?

Runner Up: The Cowboys put it all together for a commanding win over the Bills 44-7.

The Bad: The Ravens fall to the Seahawks on the road.

What is going on with the Ravens? How can they possibly sweep the Steelers and then put up a stinker like this against the Seahawks? The Seahawks! They really struggled in all phases of the game. They turned the ball over three times (their kickoff returner lost two fumbles), Flacco struggled with keeping drives alive, and they again mysteriously went away from their run game (Ray Rice only ran the ball five times all game). However, most surprisingly, the Ravens’ defense really struggled against probably the worst offense in the entire NFL. Tarvaris Jackson was extremely efficient, Marshawn Lynch totaled almost 170 yards of offense, and the Ravens only managed to tally one sack and zero turnovers. The Ravens have not looked particularly good against anyone besides the Steelers. They need to bounce back quickly before hosting a much improved Bengals team or else they could be looking up at the Steelers and those Bengals in their own division.

Runner Up: Falcons’ coach Mike Smith goes for it on forth down in overtime and hands the game to the Saints.

The Ugly: The Lions turn the ball over six times and lose to division rival Bears 37-13.

The Lions explosive offense was held to only six points in the first half, which seems to be around their average. However, against a very tough Bears defense, they did not have what it takes to overcome yet another terrible first half. Matthew Stafford threw two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns and the Bears offense had to do almost nothing to blow out the Lions who have now lost three out of their last four games after an impressive 5-0 start. This team cannot continue to struggle in the first half and expect to come away with miracle wins in the second half. If the Lions cannot find a way to effectively run the ball with or without Jahvid Best, they will be sitting at home when the playoffs roll around. Enter yet another injury to Stafford and that task just got a lot harder.

Runner Up: The Jets get outplayed and out-coached by the Patriots on offense, defense, and special teams.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY WEEK 9

The Good: Joe Flacco and the Ravens down the Steelers for the second time this year.

As usual, this battle between the two AFC North heavyweights was one of the best games of the week, and of the year. However, it was Joe Flacco who came away with the biggest win of his young career. After having never beaten Roethlisberger before this season, Flacco swept Roethlisberger and the Ravens look to take the division for the first time in years. Most impressively, it took a 92 yard touchdown drive with two minutes left in the game against the formidable Steelers defense for the Ravens to secure a win. Flacco has looked extremely mediocre all season long, throwing for only one touchdown in the last 4 games, but this is exactly the type of performance the Ravens’ organization and fan base were looking to see out of him. Flacco has tended to struggle in big games, so his strong performance at the end of the game was the most impressive performance of the week. If the Ravens can keep this momentum up and not lose games against teams they are supposed to beat (i.e. losing to the Jags just two week ago), they could turn out to be the best team in the AFC.

Runner Up: The Jets dominating defense forced three turnovers and held the Bills to 11 points.

The Bad: The Patriots offense fails to score over 20 points… again.

What in God’s name is wrong with the Patriots? We all know their defense is mediocre, but their offense was shut out in the first half for the first time in over 70 games. And it was against a banged up and struggling Giants defense! We excused the offense when they struggled against the Steelers defense, since the Steelers tend to always have one of the best defenses in the league. However, Tom Brady simply looks frustrated with everything that is happening with his offense. With Randy Moss gone and Chad Ochocinco being irrelevant, this offense is lacking a deep threat to stretch the field. This allows defenses to focus on taking away Wes Welker and Brady’s amazing tight ends in the short passing game without being afraid of being burned deep. The Pats need to figure out something soon because they have a flight into New York to face the red hot Jets, whose defense is playing as well as anyone right now.

Runner Up: Michael Vick again fails to make plays when it counts and the Eagles fall to 3-5.

The Ugly: The Chiefs get blown out at home by the previously winless Dolphins.

Imagine this, if the Chiefs had been able to beat a winless Dolphins team at home, they could have been atop their division. However, they did not just lose to the Dolphins, they got blown out by the Dolphins 31-3. While the Dolphins do mysteriously play much better on the road than at home, they are simply not a very good team. They allowed the Dolphins offense, which has been terrible in the red zone for the past two seasons, to score touchdowns on both of their trips into the red zone, as well as give up long touchdowns to Reggie Bush and Anthony Fasano. The Chiefs’ offense also had a horrible day, allowing Matt Cassel to be sacked five times by a defense that as had trouble getting pressing on the quarterback all year. If I was a Chiefs’ fan who paid money to see this game, I would be asking for a refund. This was an ugly loss that shows the Chiefs are not even close to being a legitimate playoff contender. However, as of right now, no one in the AFC West is playing well and it is anyone’s guess who will come out on top of this division. 

Runner Up: The Raiders defense allows almost 300 yards rushing to the struggling Broncos, including 163 yards going to a 30 year old running back with only one good hand (Willis McGahee ran wild with a broken right hand).