Jets Upset Steelers 20-13

The upset of the early games, and probably every game this weekend was the 1-8 NY Jets, behind the arm and legs of Michael Vick, winning handily over the 6-3 Pittsburgh Steelers 20-13. The Jets jumped out to a 17-0 lead after the 1st quarter and held on to win.

Following a Nick Folk field goal early in the quarter, Michael Vick threw a 67 yard TD strike to T.J. Graham with 3:20 to go and followed that up with a 5 yard TD toss to Jace Amaro with 19 seconds to go in the quarter.

Ben Roethlisberger, who threw for 12 TDs in his previous games, did not have a TD pass until he connected with Martavis Bryant on an 80 yard pass play with 1:16 to go in the game.

Roethlisberger was 30 of 43 passing for 343 yards and a touchdown but he threw 2 INTs. Michael Vick attempted only 18 passes but completed 10 of those for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns with no interceptions.

The Steelers ran 17 running plays but were held to just 36 yards on the ground while the Jets gained 150 yards on 30 carries.

T.J. Graham had the 1 catch for 67 yards and a touchdown fo the Jets and Jace Amaro caught 2 balls for 6 yards and a TD.

Antonio Brown fumbled the ball twice for the Steelers. The 1st Brown fumble was recovered by the Jets on the Steeler's 20 and led to the 5 yard touchdown by Vick that gave the Jets the 17-0 lead. Jaiquawn Jarrett picked off both of Roethlisberger's 2 interceptions

NFL Picks This Week

Here are my NFL picks for this week. I did fine last week until the last three games where I totally screwed up.

Browns @ Bengals  -  Browns 24-3     Just Kidding!!
Chiefs @ Bills  -  Chiefs 27-17     Alex Smith controls the game. Bills have no RBs
Cowboys v Jaguar  -  Cowboys 35-13     A shame Londoners have to see the Jaguars
49ers @ Saints  -  Saints 28-27     Saints don't lose in the dome
Titans @ Ravens  -  Ravens 30-13     Raven's defense is too much for Titans offense
Steelers @ Jets  -  Steelers 28-6     Big Ben held to just 4 TD passes this week
Falcons @ Buccaneers  -  Falcons 24-14     Buc's say wait'll next year
Broncos @ Raiders  -  Broncos 28-10      Oakland's defense is better but Manning is Manning
Rams @ Cardinals  -  Cardinals 24-10     No trick plays here and no Ram offense
Giants @ Seahawks  -  Seahawks 27-13     After all Eli is Eli
Bears @ Packers  -  Packers 30-20     Rogers is still saying "relax"
Panthers @ Eagles  -  Eagles 17-14     Cowboys win so Eagles must, please no butt fumbles

If you don't believe me, read what Phil Sheridan and David Newton of ESPN.com have to say and see if my picks aren't better.

Browns Smother Bengals in 24-3 Win

The Cleveland Browns are tied for 1st in the AFC North with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Both have a 6-3 record. Only the Arizona Cardinals (7-1) and the New England Patriots (7-2) have a better record than the Browns at this point in the season.

Last night in Cincinnati, the Browns used great defense and a good ground game to beat the Bengals 24-3.

The wind played havoc with both quarterbacks but Andy Dalton, when not under pressure, seemed unsure of his throws. Dalton completed just 10 of 33 pass attempts for 86 yards while throwing 3 INTs. His 33% completion rate was outdone only by his QBR of 2.0.

Brian Hoyer, facing the same gusty winds as Dalton, went 15 of 23 for 198 yards. Although he didn't have a touchdown pass, he didn't have an interception either. The Browns used the pass to set up their run game. Cleveland's three running backs ran for 169 yards and 3 touchdowns on the night. Ben Tate got the Browns on the board early in the 1st quarter with a 4 yard TD run after the Browns had intercepted Dalton and returned the ball to the Bengal's 18 yard line. Isiah Crowell scored on a 2 yard run on the Browns first possession of the 2nd half and Terrance West ran in from the one for the last touchdown with 4:46 left in the 4th quarter to seal the win for Cleveland.

The Bengals were held to 86 yards rushing on 27 carries by a defense that sacked Dalton twice and kept the Bengals off balance all night.

After rushing for 154 yards on 24 carries against the Jaguars last week, Jeremy Hill of the Bengals was held to just 55 yards on 12 carries last night.

Although his team had just been beaten 24-3 and manhandled by the Browns' defense, Hill had these comments about the Browns following the game. These quotes come courtesy of Coley Harvey at ESPN.com.

Asked whether the Browns were better than he previously thought, Hill said, "Oh no, not at all. They're probably worse than I thought, to be honest with you."

"They didn't do anything special to me," Hill continued. "I mean, respect to them, they won the game. But that's all I'll give them."

"Those guys, they're not that good," he said. "It was on us [Thursday]. We gave them the game, in my opinion. They didn't do anything special. We just gave them the game. They just sat back with coverage the whole day."

Read the ESPN article here and decide for yourself if the Browns are "good enough" to lead the AFC North,

Jerry Jones Insists Romo Must Play on Sunday

The Dallas Cowboys meet the Jacksonville Jaguars in London's Wembley Stadium on Sunday. The Cowboys are 6-3 and in the hunt for a playoff spot this year. The Jaguars are 1-8 and going nowhere this season. In the end this is a meaningless game for the Cowboys. Dallas is a 6 1/2 point favorite and should beat the Jaguars handily.

Cowboy quarterback, Tony Romo, suffered two transverse process fractures in his back during the game against the Redskins in late October. Romo left the game but returned in the 4th quarter to try and win the game. He didn't look very good and the Cowboys lost. Head coach Jason Garrett said following the game that owner Jerry Jones did not insist that Garrett put Romo back in the game. Read the rest of this article and extrapolate the data backwards to that game.

Romo made the long flight with little pain he said and he is walking, throwing passes and even participated in team walk through drills this week.

What is a transverse process fracture you ask?

A fracture of a bone is the same as a break in the bone. A fracture of a transverse process is a break of a part of one of the bones in the spine. This part extends out from the side of the main body of the bone (called the vertebral body). A transverse process is shaped like a wing. They extend from both the left and right sides of the vertebral body.

If the injury is limited to a break of a transverse process with no other bone or organ injury, hospital care may not be necessary. Medication for pain control, special back bracing, and limitations in activity are done first followed by physical therapy later.

Romo says if he keeps improving he'll have a good chance of playing. Coach Jason Garrett would not comment on whether or not Romo would play. The only person who speaks of Romo definitely starting is Cowboy owner Jerry Jones.

Remember that Romo had back surgery last off season and these fractures are to the bones on the edges of the spine. Could the consequences of sitting Romo for one more game be that dire? The Cowboys are 6-3 on the season. Yes, they have lost their last 2 games and are in a fight with the Eagles for a playoff spot but the Jaguars are 1-8, their only victory over the Cleveland Browns by a point, and going nowhere. The Cowboys should win this game.

I'm using quotes from Jerry Jones here in an ESPN.com article by Todd Archer to show just how little Jones looks at the future, a player's or the team's, in insisting Romo will play.

"I'm anticipating him playing, have no reason to think that he won't, and this will be a nice little practice session for him out there today," Jones said. "But my expectations are for him to play."

"Any time he can play, we want him to play," Jones said. "We're a better team, to be trite, with him playing. And so as far as the meaningful games, I'm talking about -- we didn't play him in the preseason obviously but felt we could have had we needed him to win the game -- but these games, we don't play many of them. You know that. And every one of them counts so much.

"Invariably any time you do lose one of these games in the regular season, our experience with us, especially these last several years, is we needed every win we could get. There's no such thing as holding him out and forgoing the potential chance that we win.

Romo may well have the best game of his career on Sunday. The Cowboys may make the playoffs by virtue of this win, but is it in the best interest of the team, Tony Romo and the Cowboys fans to take a chance with your 100 million dollar franchise quarterback?

Giants "Luck" Runs Out Against Colts With 40-24 Loss

Andrew Luck completed 25 of 46 passes for 354 yards and 4 TDs against the Giants as the Colts beat the Giants 40-24. Eli Manning was 27 of 52 for 359 yards and 2 TDs in the losing cause.

This was the 1st game in Monday Night Football history when both quarterbacks threw for over 350 yards with no interceptions. The difference in this game may have been that Eli Manning overthrew his receivers, who appeared to have beaten the coverage in several instances, 11 times. The receivers can't help you when you are unable to get the ball close to them.

The Colt's Luck threw for 354 yards, his 5th consecutive road game with at least 350 yards, an NFL record. The NFL record book is at least as thick as the IRS instruction manual. The things they keep track of are amazing. Luck has also thrown for 300+ yards in seven straight games tying him for third place in NFL history with Peyton Manning. It was also Luck's 17th NFL game with over 300 yards in just 2 1/2 years of play.

The run game for both teams was average at best, just enough runs to keep the defense honest. Ahmad Bradshaw, ex Giants running back, led the Colt's with 50 yards on just 7 carries while the Giants could muster only 89 yards on the ground on 20 carries by 5 different backs, including Manning's 18 yards on 1 carry.

Tight End Coby Fleener caught a 32 yard TD from Luck. WR T.Y. Hilton (31 yards), WR Reggie Wayne (40 yards) and TE Dwayne Allen also caught TD passes from Luck. Corey Washington and Larry Donnell were on the receiving end of Manning's 2 TD passes.

Manning and Luck both fumbled twice but Eli lost one. Jonathan Newsome sacked Manning, causing a fumble that Sergio Brown returned to the Giants 4 yard line. Luck then threw his 4th TD pass, a 2 yard toss to TE Dwayne Allen.

The Colts sit atop the AFC South Division at 6-3, two games ahead of the much improved Houston Texans while the Giants fall to 3-5 in the NFC East, three games behind the Eagles and just 1/2 game in front of the hapless Redskins.

Dolphins Shutout Chargers 37-0

The Dolphin's Ryan Tannehill was 24 of 34 passing for 288 yards and 3 TDs in the Dolphins shutout win over the Chargers.

This was the most lopsided loss for the Chargers since 1996 and they were shutout for the 1st time since 1996.

The Chargers have not won in South Florida since 1982.

Pjilip Rivers was held to 138 yards passing on the day with a QB Rating of 31...his lowest since 2007.

Read the Yahoo Sports article here.

Arizona Cardinals Defeat Cowboys 28-17

DeMarco Murray had his record 8 game streak of 100+ yard rushing games halted by the Arizona Cardinals who held hin to 79 yards on 19 carries as Arizona won 28-17.

Carson Palmer was 22 of 34 for 249 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT for the Cardinals who improved to 7-1 on the year while the Cowboys lost their second game in a row to fall to 6-3, 1/2 game behind the Philadelphia Eagles who beat the Houston Texans 31-21.

Brandon Weeden, starting for the Cowboys in place of the injured Tony Romo, was 18 of 37 for 183 yards and a late 4th quarter touchdown pass to Dez Bryant but threw 2 INTs.

"You can't turn the ball over, and that is on me," Weeden said.

Read the ESPN recap here.

St. Louis Rams Beat 49ers 13-10

The St. Louis Rams sacked 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick 8 times, 6 times in the 1st half, and caused him to fumble at the Rams 1 yard line with 2 seconds left in the game as the Rams beat the 49ers 13-10

Read the ESPN recap here.

Brady Outduels Manning in 43-21 New England Win

Tom Brady threw for 333 yards with 4 TDs and 1 INT as the Patriots downed the Broncos and Peyton Manning 43-21. Manning was 34 of 57 for 438 yards and 2 TDs but he had 2 INTs.

Manning was forced to attempt so many passes because the Denver rushing game was held to 43 yards on 17 carries and the Broncos were down 27-7 at the half.

"Well, I don't usually stink, but I stunk today," said Manning, 38, who broke into the NFL in 1998, two years before Brady. "I don't make any excuses. "

Julian delman retned a put for a touchdown in the New England win. Brandon Browner and Rob Ninkovich had the interceptions of Manning passes for the Patriots.

Read the ESPN recap here.

Peyton Manning added these comments about the game in a post game press conference. Read it here.

Garrett Says No Pressure From Jones To Insert Romo After Injury

The Dallas Cowboys coach, Jason Garrett stated emphatically that owner Jerry Jones did not order him to put Tony Romo back in the 4th quarter of Monday night's loss to the Redskins.

"I think the ideal situation is to get it communicated as quickly as possible and he felt like he could do it," Garrett said. "It wasn't a big deal to me at all."

Jones "indicated that the X-rays were negative and that as long as he was functional, he could be capable of playing in the game," Garrett said.

If you believe that Jones did not hint that he wanted Romo back in the game you are naive. I can't think of an owner or coach in the league who would have taken a chance like that with their starting quarterback when DeMarco Murray was running so well and the Cowboy's defense was doing a credible job of shutting down the Redskins.

But, decide for yourself by reading the Todd Archer ESPN article here.

Buccaneers Make Trades Before Deadline

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have traded safety Mark Barron to the St. Louis Rams and reserve linebacker Jonathan Casillas to the New England Patrionts.

There is no word on who the Bucs got, or will get in return.

'Skins Dump Cowboys 20-17 In Overtime

The Washington Redskins, behind Texas native Colt McCoy, held off the Cowboys in regulation and won the game on a field goal in overtime, 20-17.

McCoy was 25 of 30 for 299 yards. Although he had no passing touchdowns he did score on a 7 yard run near the start of the 4th quarter that put the Redskins up 17-10.

DeMarco Murray had his 8th straight game with 100+ yards rushing and tied eight other NFL players with 1000 yards rushing in their team's first eight games.

The Cowboys were 17-1 in games where Murray had 20 or more carries. Murray only carried the ball 19 times in last night's game. Those 19 rushes were good for 141 yards. Demarco is on a pace for an NFL record 2108 yards on the season.

Dallas has lost three overtime games under coach Garrett. Interestingly the two previous OT losses were followed by losses in the next game.

Read the full ESPN recap article here.

ESPN Game Balls for Sunday 10/26

This is a feature offered by ESPN awarding "Game Balls" to players for the week in the NFL. I can't say I agree with all the selections but I don't get to write for ESPN.

Read the article here.

Upsets on Sunday 10/26

The Arizona Cardinals' rookie John Brown caught a touchdown pass from Carson Palmer with 1:21 to play and the Cardinals defense stopped the Eagles at the Cardinal 16 yard line as time expired to beat the Eagles 24-20.

Read the ESPN Recap  here.

Andy Dalton, of the Cincinnati Bengals worked a quarterback sneak from 1 yard out to perfection as the Bengals beat the Ravens 27-24 and remain in the hunt for a playoff spot.

The ESPN story is here.

Anthony Barr, Minnesota Viking LB, stripped the ball from Tampa Bay TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins and returmed the fumble 27 yards for the score as the Vikings beat the Buccaneers 19-13.

ESPN has the story here.

So much for the vaunted Colts defense that shut out the Bengals 27-0 last week. Big Ben and the Pittsburgh dismantled the Colts as Roethlisberger threww for 522 yards and 6 touchdowns in a 51-34 thrashing of the Colts.

Here is the ESPN story.

Manning Doesn't Care For Bronco Scoreboard Antics

Okay, Peyton is a perfectionist who likes things scripted, re: Career Record keep away game. I get that. One thing I can agree with is that Peyton is upset with the way the jumbotron at the Bronco's stadium got the crowd riled up during Thursday night's game against the San Diego Chargers.

Most fans would say "lighten up Peyton",  but in this case I agree with the master. The "entertainment" provided by the jumbotron is annoying.

Check out the Arnie Stapleton article here. Am I crazy or not?

Broncos Bully Chargers 35-21 on Thursday Night

It took Peyton Manning and the Broncos 16:29 to figure out the Chargers defense but they scored 35 points in the next 30 minutes to top San Diego at home 35-21 and move to 6-1 in the AFC West.

Emmanuel Sanders caught the first of his three TD passes from Manning to start the barrage, a 2 yard catch that got the Broncos on the board. Sanders got his second touchdown with 32 seconds to go in the half to give Denver the 14-7 lead heading into the locker room.

A 3 yard touchdown pass following a Philip Rivers' interception in the 3rd quarter was Sanders' third of the night and put the Broncos up 21-7.

Juwan Thompson had touchdown runs of 1 and 2 yards to complete the Broncos scoring. Thompson had 7 carries for 24 yards on the night.

Manning was 25 of 35 passing for 286 yards with 3 TDs and no INTs while Rivers went 30 for 41 with 3 TDs but threw 2 INTs.

Sanders caught 9 passes for 120 yards and those 3 TDs and Demaryius Thomas had 8 receptions for 105 yards for Denver.

Ronnie Hillman carried the ball 20 times for the Broncos and had 109 yards on the ground while Denver rushed for a total of 139 yards.

The Broncos defense held the Chargers to 61 yards on the ground with Branden Oliver their leading rusher with 13 carries for 36 yards.

Keenan Allen caught 9 passe from Rivers for 73 yards and a TD while Antonio Gates added 2 touchdowns on 5 receptions for 54 yards.

Chris Harris and Rahim Moore both intercepted Philip Rivers for the Bronco defense.

Harbaugh Questioned About Kaepernick Game Down 42-10

Jim Harbaugh had to answer questions on Monday about Colin Kaepernick. Harbaugh was asked why he left Kaepernick in with 11:22 to go in the game and the 49ers down 41-10 to the Denver Broncos.

Matt Maiocco of csnbayarea.com has the story for his ComCast Bay Area Sports broadcast. You can  read the article and watch some video here.

I am going to borrow the quote from Harbaugh though, because it takes reading the quote several times to get his drift. I understand never giving up but sometimes you need to save your horses for another day and let the ponies run.

“The drive started with about 10 minutes and I was still thinking with three timeouts and a quick score, an onside kick, three timeouts to stop a drive, another score and an onside kick,” Harbaugh said. “I was still thinking of the possibilities. That drive extended quite a bit of time, longer than I was hoping for. And I did think about, in the middle of the drive about the six-minute mark, of taking Colin out, but didn’t.”

Makes perfect sense right.

News and Notes From Week 7 in the NFL

Thursday through Sunday in the NFL was pretty exciting. The Redskins, behind backup quarterback Colt McCoy, beat the Titans 19-17. The St. Louis Rams used special team subterfuge to upset the Seahawks 28-26.

After looking so good last week, the Browns lost 24-6 to the here to fore winless Jaguars. The Bills lost key players but rallied on a TD pass from Kyle Orton to win 17-16 over the Vikings.

Matthew Stafford engineered two late TD drives to topple the Saints 24-23. The Chiefs used a last second FG to beat the Chargers, while Demacro Murray set an NFL record that had stood for 56 years as the Cowboys humbled the Giants 31-21.

The Bears are bickering among themselves and with their fans...again.

Oh yes, Rodgers, Brady and Manning were their same old selves...ho hum!

Frank Schwab of Shutdown corner on Yahoo Sports has his weekly winners and losers story here. Be sure to check it out.

Manning Breaks Career TD Mark With #509

Peyton Manning sat out an entire year because of 4 neck surgeries. He has come back from that time off to play at a "superstar" level in one of the most violent games in the US,

Sunday he passed Brett Favre for the Most Touchdown Passes - Career with #509 against the San Francisco 49ers on national television.

Jeff Legwold of ESPN has the story of Peyton Manning here.

Congratulations Peyton on a remarkable career.

Cowboys Top Giants 31-21 For 6th Win In A Row

The Dallas Cowboys, behind a solid effort by Tony Romo and a record breaking performance by Demarco Murry defeated the NY Giants 31-21 to improve to 6-1 on the year,

Romo threw for 279 yards and 3 TDs. Dez Bryant caught 9 of Romo's passes for 151 yards. TE Gavin Escobar caught 3 passes for 65 yards and 2 TDs.

The story of the game though, was Demarco Murray recording his 7th consecutive game to start the season. The old record was 6 in a row by Jim Brown set in 1958.

Murray, on a pace for more than 2000 yards rushing this season has 915 yards through 7 games a 130.7 average. That would work out to 2091 yards over the 16 game schedule.

Read the ESPN Recap here.