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Chris Mortensen archive: weekly NFL reviews Chris Mortensen archive: columns Chris Mortensen archive: Q&As | ||
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Week 13: Saints on the pole, Eagles still soaring |
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Panthers 31, Packers 14: This was the exclamation point to a weekend of the unforeseeable. This was also a perfect example of what happens when one team comes to play with urgency and the other does not. What I don't get is how the Packers, who really had a chance to climb back into the playoff race, could play so uninspired on a Monday night? I'm sure Packers coach Mike Sherman is asking the same thing, and he needs to get some answers. Then again, the Panthers played their best game of the season (even better, I thought, than their road win against the Rams). It's nice to see an old pro like Steve Beuerlein exhibit so much class and toughness through a very disappointing season for the Carolina Panthers. Muhsin Muhammad delivered a Pro Bowl-type of night. The offensive line dominated a very flacid Green Bay front. And now we know who Panthers RB Brad Hoover is, and why he is in the NFL.
Saints 31, Rams 24: Unless I'm reading this wrong, the Saints have just moved into the pole position for the NFC West title. Sure, the Saints and the Rams are tied with 8-4 records. They're tied, but it sure feels like the Saints are in the lead when you look at the December schedule. The Rams have three of their final four games on the road, and they play the Vikings on Dec. 10 at home, where they have lost their last three games. Let's say this -- I wouldn't be surprised if the Saints have a one-game lead when the two teams meet in the season finale in New Orleans. The Rams have all but conceded the NFC homefield advantage to Minnesota. And now you know why the Saints went into this game with a surprisingly high level of confidence, even without quarterback Jeff Blake and running back Ricky Williams. Aaron Brooks, Blake's replacement, looks like a star in the making for the Saints. He throws a great ball, he may be a better athlete than Blake, and his size (6-foot-4) allows him a few more liberties in the West Coast offense (such as slant and curl routes by the receivers). When I spoke to Brooks earlier in the week, I did not sense a frightened quarterback making his first start, let alone a start on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions. Then again, facing the Rams' defense is not a scary proposition. Great job by offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy -- the Saints had 44 rushes for 147 yards and allowed the Rams' offense on the field for just 20 minutes. The Rams' offense also experienced the brunt of a fierce Saints' defense that punished anybody who moved, be it QB Trent Green, RB Marshall Faulk or receivers who were brave enough to test the middle. DT La'Roi Glover's three sacks gives him 16 and further establishes him as the NFL Defensive Player of the Year. DT Joe Johnson, send him to the Pro Bowl, too, and take along OLB Keith Mitchell. So Kurt Warner now returns for the Rams. Will he provide the spark? Is he the real MVP? We'll find out. Eagles 23, Redskins 20: The Redskins knew it. The Eagles are short of weapons. No running game. No real receiving threat. Only Donovan McNabb. Only? McNabb's 125-yard rushing performance will go down as one of the season's highlights. Where would the Eagles be without him? Actually, where were the Redskins when McNabb took off on a third-and-10 scramble for 54 yards that set up David Akers' winning field goal? Don't you put a spy on McNabb if you're the Redskins? For the Redskins, this defeat certifies RB Stephen Davis as an MVP candidate. With him, the Redskins might have won comfortably because the Eagles' rush defense has been suspect. Instead, Washington had just 44 yards rushing on 19 carries, and lightweight Skip Hicks couldn't get it into the end zone in the fourth quarter on two tries from the 1. Jeff George, he was OK. But he's also 1-2 as the starter. Bucs 31, Bills 17: If the Bucs somehow salvage this season and slip into the playoffs, they will have Warren Sapp to thank. Sapp's premeditated, powerful criticism of offensive coordinator Les Steckel lit a fire under a Tampa Bay team that was just about ready for burial. The crazy thing about this game: I was certain that Bucs QB Shaun King would have to deliver big in the passing game against the injury-depleted Buffalo secondary. King had 106 yards and was hardly a factor, but he didn't throw an interception. Warrick Dunn, a tough guy if ever there was one, made the big plays for the Bucs. Yet the Bills no doubt will look at the ankle injury to star linebacker Sam Cowart, who had terrorized King, as the blow that crushed them Sunday. But as good as Cowart is, the Bucs' Derrick Brooks again sent notice to Ray Lewis and Junior Seau that they have company as football's best linebacker. Brooks had 19 tackles, delivered vicious blows, hustled all over the field and joined Sapp in re-establishing an urgency to the Bucs' season. Dolphins 17, Colts 14: Damon Huard had done just about nothing Sunday in filling in again for injured Jay Fiedler. Then he took the Colts to the clinic with a game-winning drive culminated by a TD pass to Oronde Gadsden. In other words, Huard outperformed Peyton Manning when the game was on the line -- on Manning's home turf. Somehow, the Dolphins' defense hung on with unrelenting play. It may go down as Dave Wannstedt's finest moment, pushing his team to a critical divisional victory with Fiedler and RB Lamar Smith sitting this one out. On the other side, the next four weeks will present Jim Mora with his greatest challenge in his three years as the Colts' coach. It starts against the Jets next week in New York while Miami visits a wounded Bills' team in Buffalo. Jaguars 16, Titans 13: Whether or not the Jaguars make the playoffs -- and they're probably not -- they can always draw on this game to reestablish themselves in the AFC Central. They matched the Titans blow for blow until Mike Hollis kicked the game-winner. For the Titans, this is the first crisis they have faced under Jeff Fisher in quite some time. They don't have enough fireworks to afford another field-goal miss by kicker Al Del Greco, whose job security is an issue -- if not this year, then certainly next.Ravens 44, Browns 7: Great teams are made in November and December. Perhaps the Ravens are becoming a great team worthy of a championship run. Their dominance of the Browns continues to build the confidence of QB Trent Dilfer and rookie RB Jamal Lewis, who now has 1,095 yards rushing this year. Now comes a bye and a chance to catch their breath for a final three-game stretch against the Chargers, Cardinals and Jets. Jets 17, Bears 10: All that matters is whether you win nor not. The Jets won in the slop on a day when Vinny Testaverde played pretty well. They now must find a way to get Curtis Martin healthy after a 29-yard rushing performance on 17 carries.
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