Week 10 NFL Recap

Week 10 did not exactly get off to a bang as the NFL Network opened its football coverage with the Chicago Bears and the San Francisco 49ers. Good Lord, can the Bears actually get a legitimate quarterback who can actually LEAD their team to the promised land? I mean seriously, when the Jay Cutler trade was announced back in April, I can remember Bears fans acting completely ecstatic and unbelievably enthused. It was like Christmas had come early this year because finally, they had an elite quarterback fresh off a stellar season with the Broncos and a world-class defense that could hold its own against anyone in the league. It seemed like the stars had aligned for Bears fans everywhere....how wrong they were. We should have seen it coming when Brian Urlacher went down for the season with a severely dislocated wrist. But then a victory over the world-champion Steelers delayed the inevitable, making it seem like the Bears were truly among the elite teams in the NFL. And then what happened? 45 points to the Bengals, 41 points to the Cardinals...need i say more? And then this abomination from Crybaby Cutler. 52 pass attempts, 307 passing yards, 5 interceptions...hmm, not exactly Pro Bowl material. And what does he do throughout the course of the game...he blames his teammates, as if throwing 5 interceptions couldn't possibly be his fault. His quote after the game, "I think the offense as a whole needs to apologize" DUH!!!!!!!! 6 points against the 49ers in a must-win game is completely unacceptable from a team that had high hopes for itself entering the season. Sitting at 4-5 right now, the Bears' hopes are slowly fading away with Philadelphia and Minnesota coming up next. Can they pull it together? We shall see...

Sunday's matchups featured a slew of great games, particularly the ones that were hyped up throughout the week in the Bengals-Steelers and Colts-Patriots. Before covering those games, let's just go around the league real quick and see what happened. The Saints's perfect record was put in jeopardy yesterday by THE RAMS? Hmm...how very interesting. Many assumed that the Saints would have no problem with the Rams and would simply go marching in to St. Louis no questions asked. Drew Brees was not godlike yesterday as he only threw for 223 yds with 2 TD's and 2 INT's. The Rams were very competitive throughout the day and seemed to treat the game like their personal Super Bowl. At halftime, the score was 14 all and the game was close throughout the course of the day. But in the end, the better teams always find a way to win these games and the Saints did exactly that. They move on to 9-0 with the lowly Buccaneers coming in next week and then the Pats in 2 weeks on Monday Night Football. Also, this week saw the Jets and their GQ quarterback begin to dive further into oblivion with a tough loss to the Jaguars. Ever since their phenomenal 3-0 start, the Jets have won 1 of their last 5 games and that was against the RAIIIDEERSSSS. Yesterday's loss to Jacksonville has demonstrated two things; that the Jets defense is terribly overrated and cannot make a stop when it counts, and that Rex Ryan and his team should keep their mouths shut from now on because they're not very good. And another thing, I don't understand what the big deal is with Maurice Jones-Drew taking a knee at the end of the game. Clearly, the offense was going to run victory formations and take knees to center the chip-shot field goal. And they did not want to give the ball back to Sanchez, who had just led his team down the field to give the Jets the lead. It's not terrible thinking and the Jaguars ended up winning the game anyway. But the Jets are in trouble that's for sure. With a stop in Foxboro next weekend against an angry Pats team, all is not well in the Meadowlands for one New York team.

And all would not be well with the other New York team either had both the Cowboys and the Eagles took care of business in Green Bay and San Diego this week. Fortunately for the Giants, the Packers defense showed up and absolutely manhandled the Cowboys offense in the Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field. The only Cowboy score came in desperation in the final two minutes as Romo hurled one to the right corner of the endzone and found Roy Williams. But the Cowboys could not establish a running game nor get their main weapon Miles Austin on track against a Packer defense that had surrendered 38 points to the Buccaneers last week. There were some out there who called this a trap game for the Cowboys. And indeed, they were right. Coming off a big division win against the Eagles last week, along with another division matchup next week against the Redskins, the luck of the Cowboys finally ran out on Sunday as Romo, Wade, and good ole Jerry Jones lose their battle to Cheesehead nation. Eagle nation also has a lot to be concerned about as McNabb and company went out west and got struck by lightning in a big way. Upon hearing that he was going to be a father, LaDainian Tomlinson was so excited that he ran the ball 24 times for 96 yards and scored 2 TD's. The Eagles defense, which hasn't been the same since the passing of their coordinator Jim Johnson, was stifled by a vintage Tomlinson yesterday as he was the main focus of the Charger running game yesterday. They were also befuddled by a good performance by Philip Rivers, who is once again stepping up his game in the latter part of the season. Beware the Chargers now in the AFC West. They have won four in a row now since starting 2-3 and meet the division leading Denver Broncos next week in a pivotal showdown. And since the Broncos have lost three in a row, including a bad one against the Redskins yesterday, I'd say the Chargers are looking pretty good right now. As for the Eagles, now that Brian Westbrook is out indefinitely with his second concussion this season, the onus is now put on Donovan McNabb to put points on the board and carry the Eagles the rest of the way. He almost led them to a comeback win yesterday, but they need to find a way to balance their running game with their passing game and hope that their defense can get their problems solved real fast. If they don't, the Cowboys might run away with the division. But don't sleep on the Giants. If they cleaned up their act this week, they could be right back in this thing. We shall see...

Now, for the two big matchups of this past week. Let's start with the Bengals and the Steelers. This was not exactly an offensive juggernaut of a game yesterday. The only touchdown of the game came on a 96-yard kickoff return from Bernard Scott of the Bengals. The rest of the offensive output came from Shayne Graham and Jeff Reed. It was a defensive struggle from start to finish, each team trying to match each other on the scoreboard and constantly settling for field goals. The stats were not pretty. Carson Palmer and Ben Roethlisberger were not Tom Brady and Peyton Manning yesterday. Cedric Benson left the game in the 2nd quarter with a hip flexor, carrying the ball only 7 times for 22 yards. Rashard Mendenhall did not have a great game against a terrific Bengals defense with only 36 yards rushing. But I think the biggest part of the game that turned the tables in favor of the Bengals was when Troy Polamalu left the game with his 2nd knee injury of the season. Once again, the Bengals were able to capitalize on that, capably moving the ball down the field and in the end, getting more field goals than the Steelers and winning an enormous game on the road against the defending world champs. The Bengals have a cakewalk of a schedule the next 3 weeks as they face Oakland, Cleveland, and Detroit respectively. They should be 10-2 heading into their next big game against the Vikings and I do not see them getting caught in a trap next week against a team as horrible as Oakland. This is a good Bengal team that is focused, sharp, and mentally tough. Hopefully, they can maintain that as they seem to be headed on cruise control into the playoffs this year.

The big game of the night was obviously the New England Patriots against the Indianapolis Colts. And until the fourth quarter of that game, the game was honestly nothing to write home about. The Pats were dominating the Colts offensively all night long, gaining 477 yards of total offense and leading the Colts 31-14 early in the fourth quarter. But alas, Peyton Manning managed to get his team back in the game late, cutting that deficit down to 34-28 on a four-yard run by Joseph Addai. And this is what everyone has been talking about all day long...the controversial fourth down call by Bill Belichick. Personally, I think Kevin Faulk actually got the first down on the forward progression and that the referees spotted the ball in the wrong place. However, because Bill Belichick used his final timeout on the last Colts possession, he was unable to challenge the spot of the ball. Therefore, the Patriots turned the ball over on downs and left Peyton Manning with a short field to work his magic against the Patriots defense. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened as Manning found Reggie Wayne in the back of the endzone for the go-ahead touchdown. Perfect season saved...final score 35-34...every Patriots fan has a sleepless night...every Boston sports radio show condemns Belichick. Now, I disagree with the idea of going for it on 4th down. I understand the idea that if you convert the fourth down, then the game is virtually over and everyone salutes Belichick for a terrific victory over an undefeated Colts team. But you simply cannot run the risk of not converting the fourth down and giving Peyton Manning the short field to work with. He will burn you everytime and he did so last night. And you especially cannot do it when you have no timeouts left and the game is on the line. You must have faith in your defense in that situation, who granted put the seed of doubt in Belichick's mind after allowing Manning to drive down the field twice and cut the lead to 6. But you have to do it in that situation. You have to give Manning a longer field to work with and at least make him work for the victory. Because honestly, did you really think the Patriots were gonna win that game when the ball is on their 29 yard line and Peyton Manning is staring at you in the face? This was an uncharacteristic blunder by Bill Belichick and it most definitely cost them the game. But alas, all is not lost in Patriot land. The Pats are still sitting pretty atop the division with a 6-3 record. And they most certainly have to be proud of the fight they took to the Colts last night. They should have won that game and should be recognized today as perhaps the 2nd best team in the NFL right now. Trust me Pats fan...all of this is forgotten if Brady and company crush the hapless Jets next week at home and then go down to the Big Easy and stun the soon-to-be 10-0 Saints. Then everyone will start to give credit where credit is due. And Belichick will look like a genius again. Brady will be hailed and exalted on high once more. And all will be right with the world. But for now, consider this a bump in the road for what could be a potentially memorable season.

That's all for now...the Ravens are in sound control right now over the absolutely horrible Cleveland Browns. God help that team...they need Mike Holmgren to come next year in the worst way because this team simply has NOTHING on offense. Granted though the score was 0-0 at halftime so what does that tell you about the Ravens? Personally, I think they could upset the Colts next week but I'm not sure now. Anyways, look for this to be a regular thing every week for the rest of the season. If there's a big game on Monday Night Football, then this column will be pushed a day because obviously, proper attention must be given to that game. Hope you enjoyed it dear readers. Bye bye for now!!!