NFL Week In Review-Week 13

Another wild week in the National Football League, one in which kickers played a big part.

One week ago, Martin Gramatica was looking for a job. Enter Bill Parcells, who brought him in off the street after giving Mike Vanderjagt a pink slip. Gramatica made three of four field goals, including the game-winner from 46 yards out, as the Dallas Cowboys defeated the New York Football Giants, 23-20. Tony Romo threw a 42-yard pass to Jason Witten with less than a minute left in the game to set up the game-winning field goal. Romo is now 5-1 as the starter, and the Cowboys now have a 2 game lead in the NFC East with 4 games to play.

The Tennessee Titans aren’t going to the playoffs, but they are making some things happen in spite of that. Rod Bironas kicked a 60 yard field goal for the game-winner as the Titans defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 20-17. The Titans are now 5-7. Vince Young is now 5-4 as the starter in Music City. The Colts are now 10-2, and are tied with San Diego for the best record in the AFC.

The Cleveland Browns survived an injury to QB Charlie Frye to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-28, in overtime. Phil Dawson kicked the game-winner from 33 yards for the Browns. Trent Green threw four touchdown passes for the Chiefs, who will be wanting this one back if they narrowly miss the playoffs.

In the Sunday Night extravaganza, Josh Brown kicked the game-winner as the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos, 23-20. This was the debut for Jay Cutler as quarterback for the Broncos. He had a decent game, but threw an ill-advised interception in the 2nd quarter that was returned for a touchdown.

Reggie Bush broke out in a big way for the New Orleans Saints, with four touchdowns in a 34-10 rout of the San Francisco 49ers. He had sat on my fantasy bench for a month, so I missed out on 41 fantasy points. Boo hoo. The Saints are now 8-4, with a huge game next Sunday night with the Cowboys in Irving.

The Detroit Lions led the New England Patriots for most of the game on Sunday. However, the Lions committed 5 turnovers, and those were too much for them as they fell to the Pats, 28-21.

The St. Louis Rams define the word mediocre. The Rams lost to the pitiful Arizona Cardinals, 34-20. The Rams had a promising start, but have been skidding of late.

LaDainian Tomlinson once again came up big for the Chargers, with 178 rushing yards and two touchdowns as San Diego won in the wind and snow of Buffalo, 24-21. The Chargers are now tied for the best record in the league, at 10-2.

Michael Vick had one of his better games for the Atlanta Falcons, as he threw for two touchdowns and the Falcons saved their season with a 24-14 win over the Washington Redskins. The Falcons are now 6-6. The Redskins blew all the momentum they had gained from the previous week’s win over Carolina.

Da Bears continue to move right along, as they defeated Minnesota, 23-13. Chicago is now 10-2, and has clinched the NFC North title. Da Bears are two games ahead of Dallas and New Orleans in the NFC. The road to Miami leads through Chicago.

Further north, the Green Bay Packers laid a major egg, as the New York Jets crushed the Pack, 38-10. Green Bay is now 1-5 at home. The Jets are now 7-5 overall, and are in playoff contention.

The Houston Texans doubled their win total of last year, with a 23-14 victory in Oakland. The Texans’ defense created 5 turnovers and had 5 sacks in the win. The Raiders moved a step closer to one of the top two picks in the upcoming draft. Neither team is very good, but the Raiders are exceptionally bad.

In Florida, the Jacksonville Jaguars went down to Miami and handled the Dolphins, 24-10. The Dolphins’ 4-game winning streak came to an end. The Jags are now 7-5, and are now in a gaggle of teams contending for two AFC wild card spots.

The other Florida team isn’t doing so well, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were clobbered by the Pittsburgh Steelers, 20-3.

Finally, last Thursday night, the Cincinnati Bengals saved their season, and joined that group of playoff-contending teams, by defeating the Baltimore Ravens, 13-7. The Bengals had a streak of 7 quarters without giving up points, until the Ravens scored in the 4th quarter. T.J. Houshmandzadeh had 100 yards receiving, including a 60 yard touchdown catch from Carson Palmer.

Tonight, the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Carolina Panthers in the City of Brotherly Love. The Iggles are looking for their first win with backup quarterback Jeff Garcia.