Week 14 Deep Outs

The week started off with a bang! Two teams scored on their first offensive play; Houston connected on a 64 yard Touchdown from Matt Shaub to Andre 'Big Dog' Johnson, and Green Bay released Ryan Grant on a 62 yard gallop to pay dirt.

And that was the start of a very explosive day.

We were graced with some incredible halves of football. In the morning games alone, we saw Matt Shaub lead the way by racking up 336 yards, and 2 touchdowns in the first 30 minutes of game play. He threw only 11 passes in the 2nd half for 29 yards, but the game was well in hand at that point, and not much more was needed. His teammate, Andre Johnson was another player who had a large first half, putting up 10 catches for 184 yards and 2 TDs. Just sick numbers from the Texans on a day that would be over before it began.

We saw Brandon Marshall break a record for most catches in a game with 21. To put that in perspective, Roy Williams has 32 catches in 11 games this season. Pretty classy move by McDaniels calling one last play to get the ball to Marshall as time expired to let him get the record. Classy play by the colts as well, letting him catch it. But then again, they had been letting him catch these passes all game.

It's been an interesting year for Marshall who started out training camp begging for a trade, and acting so childish to a point where Josh McDainels sent him home, and told him not to come back. It seemed like it had been a point of no return, and Marshall's days as a Bronco were numbered. Both coach and player were able to put the train back on its proper tracks, and the combo led the team to a 6-0 start. The highpoint of the season starting streak was Marshall busting a 52 yard TD for a late game win over the Cowboys. At a press conference following the game, the coach and player embraced in a slightly homo-erotic hug on the podium.

Well, Marshall's 21 catches for 200 yards and 2 TDs were a good sign for the Bronco's in a losing cause.

Ray Rice blew the doors off of the stadium, and racked up 151 yards rushing on just 9 carries in the first half, including a 59 yard scamper for a TD.

And to finish off an awesome day of big plays, and wow moments, we had a Sunday night game full of explosive plays. 5 touchdowns in all were scored from 60+ yards out.

Now that was a great day of football! Every Sunday should be like that!

Just huge days all around the league. Here is a list of all the TDs over 50 yards on the day:

- Jamaal Charles, 76 Yd run

- Andre Johnson 64 yard TD pass from Matt Schaub

- Ryan Grant 62 yard Run

- Bernard Pollard, 70 Yd interception return

- Derrick Mason, 62 Yd pass from Joe Flacco

- Ray Rice, 59 Yd run

- Michael Jenkins, 50 Yd pass from Chris Redman

- Chris Johnson, 66 Yd pass from Vince Young

- Sheldon Brown, 60 Yd fumble return

- Hakeem Nicks, 68 Yd pass from Eli Manning

- DeSean Jackson, 72 Yd punt return

- Domenik Hixon, 61 Yd pass from Eli Manning

- DeSean Jackson, 60 Yd pass from Donovan McNabb

Special thanks to plays over 30 yards:

- Thomas Jones 33 yard TD Run.

- Steve Smith 41 yard TD Reception from Matt Moore

- Chris Johnson, 39 Yd run

- Vincent Fuller, 45 Yd interception return

Pet Peeve of the Week:

Ever notice that announcers will always say something about the game they are commentating, and how it is the 'Best in the Business', or 'greatest player in the NFL'? It bothers me that week in, week out, I watch a game between different teams, and every team has a cornerback or wide receiver that is one of the best in the game. Just once I want a color guy (*Cough*Deirdorf*Cough*) to say 'This WR is good, but He's probably barely in the top 15 in the league.'

Stat line of the week:

After talking about big games, and explosiveness in the early games, there was one line that really stuck out. Josh Freeman was struggling...His first half numbers were 3/9 for 19 and an interception. Tough to win a game with only 19 yards passing in the first half. But don’t worry, he finished the game with 93 yards passing, and decreased his interceptions from 5 last week (3 in the red zone) to 3 this week, none of which were in the red zone.

COMING SOON TO SPORTS OPINIONATED: THE DIGNITY BOWL!

3 writers, 3 football fans, 3 moms.

Who will keep their dignity?

What Else I noticed on Sunday:

- Remember when Derrick Ward was a 'great signing', and a sleeper going into this season. This week he had 4 carries for 6 yards. Just another normal week for him

- In the first half, Tom Brady had just 59 yards passing. Randy Moss caught just 1 pass for 16 yards all day. Way to kill Fantasy teams, boys! I would have been more successful starting D. Rosario and his 26 yards.

- I think it’s safe to say that Matt Moore might not give the Panthers a better chance of winning, but he sure doesn't give games away like Delhomme tends to do 3 or 4 times a year.

- Brett Favre has now thrown as many picks in the last 2 weeks as he did in his first 11 games combined...is the long season grind finally affecting his aging arm? It’s bad news for the Vikes, regardless.

- The leading receiver in the Vikes-Bengals game, two teams QBd by Favre and Carson Palmer, was B. Berrian with just 43 yards on 4 catches. So much for Offensive outburst.

- Matt Cassel now has 1 td and 7 interceptions since beating the Steelers in OT the weeks ago. Add one lost fumble to the equation, and you'll understand why the Chiefs are 0-3 in that stretch. Oh, and the fans in Arrowhead have taken to booing Cassel immensely!

- In the same stretch, Jamaal Charles has 387 yards combined, and 3 TDs. He is definitely not the reason the Chiefs are losing. Larry who?

- All 3 of the TDs scored in the Jags-Dolphins game were from 1 yard out.

- Chad Henne was 14-16 in the first half, and at one point had 17 straight completions. Pretty decent stats for a young QB that should be a full time starter for this team going forward....Although he did throw a pick late in the game to give the jags more life. Gotta be more careful with the ball, Chad!

- If you saw the 62 yard completion to Tory Holt (Did you realize he was still playing???), were you a little surprised that he didn't take it to the house? In 2004, that would be 7 points 10 times out of 10.

- For the second week in a row, the Colts got off to a fast start, scoring TDs on 3 of their first 4 possessions....Then proceeded to take their foot off of the gas pedal to let the opposition right back in the game. Keep throwing the ball, Peyton! It seems to be pretty successful for you and the Colts.

- I still can't fathom 21 catches by B. Marshall. That is only 2 less touches than their leading RB (K. Moreno) got in carried.

- Right back to a 50-50 split of touches for Julius Jones and Justin Forsett. My god.....

- Hassie spread his throws around, splitting the 24 completions between 8 WRs, 6 of which had 3 or more catches.

- For me, there is nothing better than a late season game in the cold weather. We saw it in Cleveland on Thursday, and again in Chicago yesterday. It’s the way football is meant to be played!

- The Jay Cutler interception count is now at 22. He tacked on 2 more to the total this week!

- Trivia time: Who has more TDs this season, Johnny Knox, or Greg Jennings? If you guess Knox has 2 more than Jennings (5 to 3), you would be correct.

- See my boy Troy Smith (from THE Ohio State University) take one to the house this week? I still maintain that he could start on 10 teams in the league right now.

- This Detroit team proved something that we all knew this season: Even though they won 2 more games this year than last year, they are still really bad. Especially when their franchise QB is out. Now Kevin Smith tears a knee. Yikes, those injuries usually take two years to fully recover.

- The Lions tackling on Derrick Mason's TD was atrocious. My god, I have seen better tackling in pop Warner highlights.

- Love seeing Mike Smith smash his headset! That is what I want out of my coach! To his credit, it was a BAD PI call that he was pissed about.

- Redman to Jenkins! I am sure that changed FF outcomes all across the continent!

- I like the ballsy call for New Orleans to go for the fake the field goal with a minute left, I just hate the call. Even if it was a completed pass, it would have been 2 yards short of the first down.

- Take a look at Drew Brees in his post game interview. He's using FAR too much hair grease, and it is making him look like a kid that took punches from bullies all through middle school.

- MCFADDEN SIGHTING: Darren McFadden combined for 11 touches for 105 yards!

- Washington led Oakland 17-10 in the 3rd quarter when Bruce G. injured his knee. After J. Russell took the reins, the Redskins scored the same number of points while Oakland could only muster a FG. Russell is a bad QB, and this team doesn’t play for him.

- Chris Johnson. Nuff said.

- Did you know who Keith Null was before this week? Did you know he was a protégé to Ryan Leaf at East Texas A&M? My guess is that after throwing 5 picks, you may never hear the name again.

- I would like to see the Titans win out, and have a shot at the final wild card spot. Their remaining games are against Miami, SD, and Seattle, so they COULD do it...They are going to need some help from the teams in front of them, and they have to hope VY's hammy heals fast!

- I love the fact that Romo keeps losing in December, even though you cannot pin either loss this year on him. With a game in New Orleans on Saturday, the trend quite possibly will continue.

- I love the fact that SD keeps winning in Dec, too. Cincy and Tennessee are going to try to stop this trend.

- Hakeem Nicks must be well liked by Eli Manning. Drops a sure TD, and on the next play, drops a sure first down. 3rd play of the sequence, Manning went right back to him for his 68 yard TD.

- I mentioned it earlier, but 5 TDs of 60+ yards in the late game. That is just awesome football to watch!