A quick tour of the games in Week 10, including some terrible tackling, an Eagles team that can’t close and Tim Tebow’s (count ‘em) two pass completions in a victory:
49ers 27, Giants 20
Few prognosticators would have predicted a 49ers victory if told beforehand that Frank Gore would rush for 0 of his team’s measly 77 yards against the N.F.C. East-leading Giants. Take away the run game, you take away the entire 49ers offense. Or so we thought.
Alex Smith had his best outing of the season, regardless of what his good-but-not-great numbers might say. He was able to sustain offense through the air early and late, with no critical turnovers against a typically fierce Giants pass rush. The victory can also be attributed to a handful of big second-half defensive plays, including Carlos Rogers’s second interception. It was a wide-open pick, as the ex-Redskin had perfect underneath positioning against a route that Mario Manningham, much to the surprise of Eli Manning, broke off. Patrick Willis erupted in the fourth quarter, perhaps after hearing all week that the second-year star Navorro Bowman had become San Francisco’s best linebacker. Willis was quick to diagnose and close in on tackles, and he was effectively physical in coverage.
Seahawks 22, Ravens 17
The Ravens have become like a top-tier N.B.A. team. They show up in full force for rivalry games and take their foot off the gas for the presumably easy midseason road trips. Baltimore’s three losses this season: at Tennessee after blowing out Pittsburgh in the season opener, at Jacksonville after destroying Houston and, Sunday at Seattle after another win over Pittsburgh.
One commonality amongst the three losses is the disappearance of Ray Rice. His stat line in losses reads: 13 carries for 43 yards, eight for 28 and, most recently, five for 27. The headlines say that Marshawn Lynch rushed for 109 yards against this stingy Ravens D. But it took him 32 carries to get there. Credit Lynch for his tenacity – he iced the game with broken tackles down the stretch.
But also credit the outcome in part to Ravens kick returner David Reed. He lost two fumbles and drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the first half. That led to six easy Seahawk points. Those are the types of mistakes that division-round playoff teams, not Super Bowl teams, make in trap games.
Bears 37, Lions 13
Just one of those games that got away from the Lions. They’re now considered the third-best team in the N.F.C. North, and the tease for their Thanksgiving showdown won’t be about possibly catching the Packers but instead about fighting for a wild-card berth.
Seeing the Bears post 37 points with methodical offense and crazy return touchdowns feels comforting and familiar – like the aroma of your mother’s best recipe or memories of summer camp. Back-to-back pick-sixes to open the second half and Devin Hester’s 82-yard punt return score before that gave Chicago a league-high seven touchdown returns on the season. That matches their combined total of the ’09 and ’10 seasons. In ’08 the Bears had seven touchdown returns. (In ’07 they had eight and in their Super Bowl ’06 season they had nine.)
Saints 26, Falcons 23
This game lends more evidence to what Greg Cosell, the executive producer of the “NFL Matchup Show,” has been saying for years: the biggest myth in football is that you must establish the run in order to set up play-action. In truth, well-executed play-action works regardless of how a team is running. New Orleans gained just 41 yards on 16 carries in this game. Yet according to ESPN’s Stats and Information, Drew Brees completed 17 of 19 passes for 212 yards and 2 touchdowns after a play-action fake. (For more on this game, see this separate post on the Falcons’ controversial decision to go for it on fourth down in their territory in overtime.)
Steelers 24, Bengals 17
Mike Wallace is widely regarded as a top-10 wide receiver. Hines Ward is on the decline but still venerated for his blocking and pedigree. Heath Miller is the steady, perpetually underrated tight end. And last season, Emmanuel Sanders started to emerge as the long-term No. 2 wideout. But right now, the fastest-rising stock in Pittsburgh is that of Antonio Brown. The sixth-round pick from a year ago has 39 catches for 540 yards in nine games. He led the Steelers with 86 yards on five receptions Sunday, thanks to a three-catch, 57-yard outburst on the final drive of the first half (which culminated with a field goal).
Ravens corner Lardarius Webb recently said that Brown is Pittsburgh’s best receiver. Mike Tomlin calls Brown the hardest worker on the team. He’s a quick, polished route runner who can gain yards after the catch and locate the soft spots deep in a zone. Ben Roethlisberger loves to go to his inside receivers on third down and in spread formations. Expect Brown to align inside more and more.
Rams 13, Browns 12
Let’s none of us pretend to have watched this game. Perhaps we could have watched it if the N.F.L. hadn’t scheduled 10 early window games and just three late window games. The league has been good about balancing early and late window schedules in recent weeks, but every so often it gets caught up in catering to the local markets and forgets about Red Zone Channel viewers and Sunday Ticket subscribers. If there had been, say, only eight early window games and five late window games, or an even more balanced seven-six split, then all of the matchups – including awful ones like this – could at least be acknowledged. Instead, we’re left to wonder because there just wasn’t room to turn to this channel on Sunday.
Dolphins 20, Redskins 9
See gripe above.
Cowboys 44, Bills 7
The Bills topped (or bottomed) their season-worst performance from last week (a 16-point loss to the Jets) by three touchdowns Sunday. Their return to earth is hastened by a defense that is a pass rusher shy of having sustainable big-play capabilities.
DeMarco Murray has given the Cowboys the potent ground game that this offense, at its core, is built around. Think about it. Jason Witten is a possession tight end. Dez Bryant is an explosive home run threat with iffy fundamentals. He can blow the doors off single coverage (see his 34-yard first-quarter touchdown in which he snagged the ball from behind cornerback Leodis McKelvin, who had perfect positioning but, unfortunately, just “good” athleticism, not “otherworldly” athleticism). But Bryant is not polished enough to headline a pass-happy attack like a Calvin Johnson or a Steve Smith. Tony Romo is a creative third-down improviser and play-action passer, but he’s not a consistent spread and progression-read type quarterback. What’s more, as the Bills found out, Rob Ryan’s defense is stingy and dynamic enough to conjure a few big plays of its own.
Dallas’s identity is that of a balanced, traditional run-pass team. Murray’s emergence has allowed them to find that identity.
Jaguars 17, Colts 3
Curtis Painter was benched for a second straight week — after two interceptions, three sacks and just 94 yards on 19 attempts. More concerning to the Colts were the two interceptions and lost fumble that Andrew Luck had against Oregon the night before.
Broncos 17, Chiefs 10
By now you’ve heard, Tim Tebow completed 2/8 passes for 69 yards and a touchdown at Kansas City. Some of the headlines will laud Tim Tebow for his latest miracle. Believers will smugly tell Tebow-doubters (a k a scouts, coaches, players and expert analysts) about how there’s no arguing that Tebow is a winner. If those believers are really cocky, they might even praise Tebow for posting a 102.6 passer rating and a stellar 8.6 yards per pass attempt Sunday. They’ll definitely praise him for 43 yards rushing and a touchdown.
The real question is, How in the world did the Chiefs give up 95 yards on 16 option plays a week after the Raiders revealed to the entire league every possible mistake a defense can make against the option?
Give credit to the Broncos for going with the run-oriented, Tebow-friendly game plan. John Fox knows that the option is Denver’s best bet on offense. And allowing Tebow to be a runner week in and week out is the only way the option can have any teeth. Most teams would not accept all the risks of allowing their young first-round quarterback to run on a regular basis. But that’s only because most teams feel that their young first-round quarterback has an arm worth protecting.
Cardinals 21, Eagles 17
If the Eagles were a hockey team, they would be living up to Dream Team expectations. They’re 7-2 in games ending after three periods. Unfortunately, they’re not playing on Broad Street. A minus-47 fourth-quarter point differential has left them at 3-6 and all but out of playoff contention.
Football America has blamed the wide-9 defensive scheme, Dream Team hype, young offensive line and, naturally, Andy Reid for the Eagles’ 2011 futility. Perhaps it’s time to blame the “$100 million” quarterback. With top receiver DeSean Jackson out because of a good old-fashioned grounding from Reid, and with Jeremy Maclin missing time with a shoulder injury, Michael Vick looked stumped in the pocket. He finished 16/34 for 123 yards with two interceptions. His drop-back timing, anticipation and post-snap coverage reads have been poor this season. There’s no arguing that he’s a remarkable talent, but clearly, opponents have picked up on a lot of his flawed tendencies now that there’s a library of recent film on him. Entering this game, Vick was 3-7 in his last 10 starts, with 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Texans 37, Bucs 9
The perennial preseason breakout team is finally breaking out. Most impressive is the way the Texans, without their best player (wideout Andre Johnson), are thoroughly pummeling inferior clubs. They ran the ball down Cleveland’s throat for a 18-point win last week. This week, they got ahead on a young and, lately, sloppy Bucs team early and gradually applied more pressure to the neck as the game wore on.
For the Bucs’ defense, it’s a tossup between which long touchdown surrendered was more inexcusable. The 80-yarder to Jacoby Jones featured poor angles by both safeties and general unpreparedness by an entire unit that reacted poorly to the naked bootleg that Houston’s offense does all the time. The 78-yard touchdown to Arian Foster, on the other hand, featured atrocious tackling (pathetic execution by Aqib Talib in the flats on the play).
The vote here goes to the second touchdown. Blown coverages and poor reads are one thing, but there’s a certain purity in defensive ineptitude that stems from bad tackling.
Titans 30, Panthers 3
The Titans are 5-4 and getting hints of production out of their star running back again. Chris Johnson has shown glimmers of his old self in recent weeks and posted a season-high 130 yards on 27 carries against a Carolina defense that has struggled all season to stop the run. The Titans’ final three games are against AFC South opponents. If their rushing attack keeps going, they could enter that stretch with an outside shot at catching Houston.
Patriots 37, Jets 1
The Patriot dynasty is back on! With Antonio Gates looking sluggish this season, a strong case could be made for Rob Gronkowski as the best tight end in the A.F.C. The second-year star has wide receiver-like ability and is one of the better run-blockers at his position. The Jets simply had no answer for him Sunday night.
Pardon the Jets if they cry foul about their schedule this week. They have a game in Denver on Thursday night. It’s patently unfair for a team to travel more than one time zone on a short week – let alone coming off an 8:20 Eastern Sunday kickoff.
Andy Benoit is an NFL analyst for CBSSports.com and founder of NFLTouchdown.com. He can be reached at andy.benoit@NFLTouchdown.com or @Andy_Benoit.
