Can anyone stop Seattle? After their absolute drubbing of the New Orleans Saints on Monday night, you have to wonder.
The Seahawks haven’t played a lot of elite teams, but they crushed both the Niners and Saints at home. Their loss at Indianapolis was on a late touchdown drive.
If they knock off the 49ers in San Francisco this week, in whatever fashion, you have to wonder if they will lose again this season, including in the playoffs.
Who’s the defense no one’s talking about?
It’s the Cincinnati Bengals.
While the Seahawks, 49ers and Carolina Panthers are getting fanfare, the Bengals have quietly been shutting teams down, including New England and San Diego this week. Keep an eye on this group.
This Week’s Sucked And Won: Andrew Luck, QB (IND). 17-32 for 200 yards and an interception. A lackluster day. Luck also fumbled twice, but was fortunate that neither fumble was lost.
The race for the bottom gets ever more twisty. Jacksonville, Minnesota and Atlanta all won this week, putting Houston in the bottom spot, and moving the hapless Redskins into contention for the first overall pick. Too bad they don’t own that pick because, remember, they traded it to the Rams in 2012 to move up to get Robert Griffin III. As a result, St. Louis is now sitting on a top 5 and top 12 or so pick next season.
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Shocking realization of the week: The two starting quarterbacks for the New York teams, Geno Smith and Eli Manning, lead the NFL in interceptions, with 19 and 18, respectively. Maybe it’s something in the water?
Nick Foles’ remarkable season is about to hit a couple of more milestones. With one more touchdown pass, Foles will tie Peyton Manning’s record of 20 touchdown passes without an interception. And it’s not too soon to point out that Foles is currently four points ahead of Aaron Rodgers’ 2011 record setting passer rating for a season. Really? Nick Foles?!
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This Week’s Great But Lost: Alshon Jeffery, WR (CHI). 12 catches, 249 yards and 2 TDs. The 249 is a Bears club record.
Poor Le’Veon Bell. The Steelers running back has been on the “Sucked and Won” list several times, but this week he delivered. He was the game leader in all purpose yards against the Ravens, but was robbed of a touchdown when his helmet was knocked off as he was falling into the end zone. Time to change that rule to allow forward progress if a player is already going to the ground.
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Thursday Pick: Houston (-3) @Jacksonville (Las Vegas Hilton)
I won’t pretend to understand why the Texans, who have lost 10 in a row, are favored over the Jaguars, who have won three of their last four. I wouldn’t touch this game, neither team can be counted on for anything, but I’m certainly not giving points with the Texans on the road.
Jacksonville Jaguars 23 Houston Texans 20
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NFYell
“It’s the worst feeling I’ve had being a Packer. None as low as this.” – Packers DT Ryan Pickett. Green Bay has not won a game in their last five tries.
“If you’re just looking at that tape, the option doesn’t look good for either guy.” – Jets coach Rex Ryan, announcing that Geno Smith will start next week over Matt Simms. Both players were awful this week against Miami.
“Did you tell Michael Jordan not to take off from the free throw line? These are pro football players. They do what they do.” – 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, on TE Vernon Davis’ amazing leap over a defender in Sunday’s game against St. Louis.
“It’s never over when you play the Steelers.” – Ravens coach John Harbaugh, on one of the NFL’s toughest rivalries.
“That was a backyard street brawl. You got called out in your neighborhood by the biggest kid and you had to fight.” – Colts DE Cory Redding, on the Colts’ win over the Titans. For the record, was 6’4”, 318 lb. Cory Redding not the biggest kid in his neighborhood?
“Other than that I was in another state, it was much the same as what I would have done in my office at Dove Valley.” – Broncos coach John Fox, on his return to the team after a month long absence for health reasons.
“The play, there was a third, there was a second down moved to third. It was complete there at the sideline, but not a first down. We signaled third down on the field. The stakes were moved incorrectly. After the play, we said it was a still third down. I feel like we signaled third down. The stakes just got moved incorrectly.” – Referee Jeff Triplette, explaining (sort of) a play in the Redskins/Giants game which left Washington clearly believing it was running a 1st and 10 play when in fact it was 3rd and 1.
“He is the starting quarterback for the next thousand years here.” – Eagles coach Chip Kelly, on QB Nick Foles. Despite Foles’ outstanding season, Kelly has sidestepped questions about whether he will be the quarterback next year.
