Down The Home Stretch

Week 13 -- the official three-quarter pole of the Pro Football season, the League Where They Play ... For Pay!

The Washington Redskins intentionally started yesterday's game against the Bills with just 10 men on defense for the first play from scrimmage, leaving Sean Taylor's safety spot vacant in honor of their fallen teammate. Buffalo, however, didn't get the memo of the Skins' plans and ran for 22 yards on 1st down. I'm quite sure that under similar circumstances, Bill Belichick would have called for a play-action pass or flea-flicker in Taylor's "direction"...

Troy Aikman spent most of the Bears-Giants broadcast doling out one excuse after another for Eli Manning's poor play lately, at one point claiming "There's just a lot of things going against a QB having success on this team." At another point he proclaimed that there's nobody on that Giants offense opposing defenses have to fear or game-plan for. Pure BS from Aikman, who's become quite the shill for New York teams recently.

I hate the New York Football Giants as much as any man alive, but c'mon: on offense they have a very solid offensive line, a top-5 tight end in Jeremy Shockey, and two above-average wideouts in Toomer and Burress. Their running game, despite injuries to starter Brandon Jacobs, is second in the NFC behind only Minnesota, which features rookie sensation and the NFL's leading rusher, Adrian Peterson. Most QBs will tell you that a strong rushing attack is a key asset to the passing game, but apparently Boy Troy has taken one too many concussions, or perhaps all that makeup he applies before telecasts has affected his analysis...

Or maybe it's just a Fox Sports mandate that calls for a positive spin on poor Opie -- I mean Eli -- Manning's struggles, because just two weeks ago there was Terrible Tony Siragusa assuring viewers that Eli will bring a championship to the Meadowlands, in fact he flat out guaranteed it. Of course, Terrible Tony might have been referring to Eli being allowed to take big brother Peyton's Lombardi Trophy to the Giants locker room on show & tell day...

Yesterday Siragusa showed off his fine University of Pittsburgh education during the Philly-Seattle game, yet again interrupting the flow of the broadcast from his spot on the sidelines with his opinion that now was a "pristine" time for the Eagles to blitz. It would be embarrassing except that NFL game telecasts have become so atrocious that fans are probably inured against such mediocrity and the non-stop flow of mind-numbingly dumb commercials, in-game network promotions, and irrelevant graphics and statistics. It's amazing how much viewers have to sit through and suffer just to watch some actual game action -- that is, when the networks aren't coming back late from a commercial and missing plays. Disgraceful...
The Bears' Devin Hester once again was involved in the biggest play of the game -- but this time it was the catch he didn't make that was most important in deciding the outcome. The sublimely talented return king and former defensive back, increasingly being worked into the Bears offense this season, was wide open, a good 5 yards behind the nearest defender when he dropped a sure TD pass from Rex Grossman that would have put Chicago up 14-0. Instead the perfectly thrown ball bounced off Hester's shoulder pad and thudded harmlessly to the ground, changing the entire dynamic of the contest.

Hester was so visibly shaken from letting his teammates down that you knew he would try to make up for his gaffe later on, but the Giants kickers masterfully kept it away from him all game or pinned him hard against the sideline. Soon the Giants would tie it at 7, and although the Bears would eventually take a 16-7 lead, the prospect of a one-sided Bears game never materialized. That play, along with an overturned obvious non-catch in the end zone by Amani Toomer, swung the game in favor of the wobbling Giants...

But the best touchdown catch of the day award goes to a defensive player, Kansas City's Jared Allen, who made a sensational diving grab for a score in the Chiefs' loss to San Diego. In addition to scoring on the rare tackle-eligible play, the criminally underrated Allen also added 2 sacks and now leads the league with 11 1/2, despite missing two games at the start of the season...

Cowboys LB Greg Ellis' 2 sacks in the Packers game gives him a career high 10 1/2 with four games remaining, despite missing the first 3 games coming back from last year's season-ending knee surgery and being slowly worked back into the rotation. Nobody on Dallas can be enjoying their 11-1 start more than Ellis, a #1 pick back in 1998 who has endured all the down days with Dallas, including back-to-back-to-back 5-11 seasons from 2001-2003...

Jags QB David Garrard finally threw his first pick of 2007 after 231 attempts in the loss to the Colts, although it came on a batted ball at the line of scrimmage. Looks like Jack Del Rio made the right call before the season in going with Garrard over the erratic Byron Leftwich...

QB Vince Young may have had his best passing day as a pro in Tennessee's 28-20 win over Houston, completing 21 of 31 for 248 yards and 2 scores and ending a 3-game Titans skid. In fact, just when many "experts" were wondering if he would ever be a capable pocket passer, the 2nd-year Young has put together a string of four quality starts, hitting 90 of his 144 attempts for 1,056 yards...

Dallas QB Tony Romo's 4 TDs in the 37-27 win over Green Bay gives him 33 on the year for a new team record, shattering Danny White's former mark of 29 with four games to go. Romo is on pace for something like the 5th most TDs in NFL history. He led Dallas to scoring drives on their opening 5 possessions in the 1st half, setting the tone. Cowboy fans must be wondering if this is all a dream when you consider Romo still only has 22 starts under his belt; his record in those startsa sterling 17-5. In the Cowboys' 6-game winning streak following the New England loss, Romo has had 6 straight games with a QB rating above 100.

Tampa Bay, easily the NFL's most unknown, underrated team, improved to 8-4 with its 27-23 road win in New Orleans that all but clinched the NFC South crown, despite playing with backup QB Luke McCown. Let's just say McCown played a whole lot better than anyone outside his immediate family could have expected in completing his first 15 passes and going 29/37 for 313 yards and 2 touchdowns. Starting his first game since 2004 and only the 5th of his career, McCown's only real blemish on the day was a pick-6 returned 53 yards by the Saints' Mike McKenzie. WR Joey Galloway, quietly having a monster year, benefited most from McCown's strong arm, hauling in 7 passes for 159 yards.
Despite the Bucs outgaining the Saints 466-246, the game still might have gone New Orleans' way were it not for a ridiculous play call by Sean Payton with his team at midfield late in the game. Last year's consensus NFC coaching "genius" sent in an ill-advised gadget play dubbed the "Superdome Special" -- a pitchout off a reverse to Reggie Bush which was fumbled and recovered by Tampa Bay to seal the game. Even Mad Mike Martz isn't that doggone reckless!

You can assume that particular play will be eliminated from the Saints playbook with extreme prejudice. Afterward, a disconsolate Payton called it "the worst job I've done as head coach since we've been here" in one of the day's biggest post-game understatements.

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay has a real chance to go 12-4 given their remaining schedule -- games against NFL "powerhouses" Houston, Atlanta, San Fran and Carolina. These teams not only have a combined 16-32 record on the season, but their composite point differential -- a key barometer of a team's strength -- is an astounding minus 303 points. Just for kicks, remember that New England's point differential is plus 257 (442 points scored, 185 surrendered) -- 110 more than the next-best team, Dallas (395 PF, 248 PA) -- heading into tonight's game against Baltimore. Don't think this is lost on the oddsmakers, who have installed the Pats as 20-point road favorites against the Ravens.

I haven't wagered on an NFL game with an actual bookie since around the 1996 season, when I picked three nickel (5 times) losers one Sunday afternoon and dropped 75 bucks. Decided to quit while I was behind. However, I would take the 20 points in this case and hope the Ravens can come close to duplicating the blitz-happy Eagles' defensive blueprint from last Sunday night's 31-28 game -- the closest anyone's come to handing New England their first defeat of 2007.

Final deep thought: What if the NFL schedule-makers had switched the weeks New England, which faces the entire NFC East in 2007, played the Giants and Cowboys? Instead of the 5-0 Pats playing the 5-0 Cowboys in Week 6, would we have been anticipating two undefeated teams facing each other the last game of the season instead of Pats-Giants the final week?