FRO's FAVORITE FIVE Top Five NFL Moments - Week 10

Photo: Lucas Oil Stadium-Where Peyton Manning trumped Bill Belichick ....

FRO's FAVORITE FIVE
Top Five NFL Moments - Week 10
by Jon Wagner, Sr. Writer-At Large, Football Reporters Online


#5: WARNER STARTS SLOW, FINISHES STRONG TO TIE FOUTS

After starting the 2009 season 4-0 on the road but just 1-3 at home, Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals appeared headed for another head-scratching home defeat. They trailed Seattle, which came in 0-3 on the road, 14-0 more than halfway through the second quarter, after being stopped on their first five drives. Then, Warner and the Cardinals caught fire, scoring on their next three possessions and on five of their next six, spanning the game’s final three quarters. In the end, the Cardinals scored 31 of the game’s final 37 points, to beat the Seahawks, 31-20. Warner finished the game throwing two touchdowns and no interceptions while completing 29 of 38 passes for 340 yards. It marked the 51st career 300-yard game for Warner, tying him with the legendary Dan Fouts for fourth on the all-time NFL list.


#4: SIDNEY RICE COOKS LION’S DEFENSE

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson calls his teammate Sidney Rice “Showtime,” but he didn’t come up with the nickname himself. “He’s got it tattooed on his arm,” Peterson said. ”It fits him well.” It certainly did on Sunday, in the Vikings’ 27-10 victory over the Detroit Lions, who joined the Houston Oilers (1982-84) as the only NFL teams to lose 31 of 33 games. Rice caught seven passes, accounting for 201 of Brett Favre’s season high 344 yards, to help the Vikings to 492 total yards of offense. It was the third time in four games that “Showtime” put on a show, as the Vikings’ 2007 second-round pick followed up receiving games of 176 yards in a win over Baltimore in Week 6 and a 136-yard effort in a Week 7 loss at Pittsburgh.


#3: BENGALS BEAT STEELERS AT OWN GAME

The Cincinnati Bengals resurgence this season doesn’t surprise me. After all, I picked them on our FRO Show as my surprise turnaround team of 2009 after their 4-11-1 season last year. I have to admit though, I didn’t think it would be the Bengals defense that would lead them back this year. I figured their defense would be better, but I thought a strong year from Carson Palmer and Chad Ochocinco would be leading the charge. And, although a 7-2 isn’t far off from where I thought they’d be at this point in 2009, I do find it hard to fathom that the Bengals have matched last year’s win total solely against their two biggest division rivals, after already sweeping both Baltimore and Pittsburgh. On Sunday in Pittsburgh, the Bengals, using a 96-yard kick return for a touchdown and a punishing defense, beat the Steelers at their own game, not even needing an offensive touchdown, to win, 18-12. Cincinnati held Pittsburgh to 226 total yards, sacked Ben Roethlisberger four times, intercepted him once, and most importantly, did not allow a Steeler touchdown. As a result, there’s a new balance of power in the NFC North, as the Steelers and Ravens are now chasing the Bengals this year.


#2: DUAL THREAT JOHNSON AND BIG 4TH QUARTER CARRY TITANS

At 3-6, the Tennessee Titans have had a very tough season overall, but one constant has been Chris Johnson. It’s just that now, Johnson’s exploits are leading to Titans’ victories. Johnson has been excelling all year long, but a lot of that came through an 0-6 start for Tennessee. Lately though, Johnson’s personal success has rubbed off on his teammates to the tune of a three-game winning streak. On Sunday, Johnson, as he has been all season, was a dangerous dual threat. This time, the talented running back reached triple digits both rushing and receiving, carrying 26 times for 132 yards while catching nine passes for another 100 yards. The second of his two rushing touchdowns broke a 17-17 tie with Buffalo, and started a huge 24-0 fourth quarter for Tennessee that was capped by the Titan’s defense returning two interceptions for touchdowns. Johnson is one of just three players in the NFL (the Ravens’ Ray Rice and the Rams’ Stephen Jackson, the others) who leads his team in both rushing and receiving.


#1: BELICHIK’S BLUNDER KEEPS COLTS UNBEATEN

Near the conclusion of NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecast of the Indianapolis Colts’ stunning 35-34 comeback win over the New England Patriots, a happy Colts fan flashed a sign for the NBC cameras. It read simply, “Nobody Beats Colts.” Thanks to a huge miscalculation by Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick, those words remain true so far this season. The 9-0 Colts indeed had beaten everyone else so far this season, but to stay undefeated on Sunday, they needed someone else to beat themselves. With Belichik’s help, the Colts rallied from a 31-14 fourth quarter deficit to win a 35-34 thriller in the final seconds. Indianapolis still trailed 34-21 after a New England field goal with just 4:12 left in the game, but Peyton Manning led a 6-play, 79-yard drive in just 1:44, to cut the Patriots’ lead to 34-28 with 2:23 to go. Perhaps seeing how easily and how quickly the Colts marched down the field on that drive, Belichik then decided to do the unthinkable, going for a first down on 4th-and-2 from the Patriots’ own 28-yard line with 2:08 rather than punt the ball away and make Manning and the Colts earn the win with a typical long, two-minute drill type of drive. It initially appeared that the gamble worked, when Kevin Faulk had the ball past the first down marker, but he bobbled it, and was pushed backward while doing so, leaving him short of the first down. The Colts took advantage of Belichik’s failed risk, and moved to 9-0 on the season, going 29 yards on four plays in 1:47, winning the game on Manning’s fourth touchdown of the night, with just 13 seconds left. The irony in the Colts’ win is that it was their 18th straight regular season victory, finishing the 2008 regular season with nine wins and beginning the 2009 season with the same. That in itself isn’t ironic, what is though, is the fact that much is made (and rightfully so) of New England being the only team to go through an entire regular season with a perfect record of 16-0, and extending that to 18-0 in the playoffs. And, here was of all teams, New England, looking to prevent the Colts from going 18-0 over their past eighteen regular season games, and they had a great chance to do it on the Colts’ home field. But, because they couldn’t put the Indianapolis away with a big fourth quarter lead, Belichik panicked into giving the Colts a gift which allowed them to continue their own streak. Interesting stuff in Indy in the latest chapter of a great rivalry between two of the NFL’s best teams over the past decade or so.

FRO's FAVORITE FIVE Top Five NFL Moments - Week 8

FRO's FAVORITE FIVE
Top Five NFL Moments - Week 8
by Jon Wagner, Sr. Writer-At Large, Football Reporters Online


#5: RAVENS REV UP THE DEFENSE

After winning three straight, then losing three in a row, the Baltimore Ravens needed a good win and a solid all-round game to get back on track, particularly from a usually good defense which had often underperformed this season. The Ravens got both. The good victory was a 30-7 rout of previously unbeaten Denver. The solid performance was in allowing just 200 yards of total offense, stopping the Broncos running game (held to just 66 yards) and passing attack (just 134 yards) very well. Offensively, Joe Flacco only threw for 175 yards, but he was a very accurate 20-25 including a fourth quarter touchdown pass which put the game out of reach at 23-7, as the Ravens scored 24 points in the second half to pull away after leading by a slim 6-0 margin at halftime.


#4: McNABB MAKES MOST OF GIANTS’ MISCUES

The Giants, for the third straight week, played careless, unfocused football, and Eagles’ quarterback Donovan McNabb made them pay before the Giants could even blink. After the Eagles were already up 7-0 less than two minutes into the game, McNabb needed just two passes after a Giants’ turnover to throw a 17-yard touchdown pass for a 13-0 Philadelphia lead just 3:45 into the game. After New York made it a game at 16-7, with under two minutes left in the half, McNabb again struck like lightning with two touchdown passes in the final 98 seconds of the half to break the game open, 30-7, by halftime. Starting at the Eagles’ 54-yard line after a good kickoff return, McNabb needed just one play, a 54-yard touchdown pass to DeSean Jackson, for a 23-7 Eagles lead with 1:38 left in the half. After another Giants’ turnover, McNabb needed only two plays –- a 20-yard completion followed by a 23-yard touchdown pass –- to give the Eagles that 30-7 lead, 46 seconds before halftime.

#3: FAVRE’s HAPPY HOMECOMING

He already had beaten his former team once this season, with 3 touchdown passes, and returning home to Lambeau Field for the first time as a visiting player, Brett Favre helped his Minnesota Vikings complete the sweep of the Green Bay Packers. Favre was a rather pedestrian 17 of 28 for 244 yards, but he didn’t throw an interception, and he tossed four touchdown passes –- three in the second half, two in the fourth quarter –- to help the Vikings take a 24-3 lead and then hold off the Packers and Favre’s Green Bay successor, Aaron Rodgers (who had three touchdown passes of his own, all in the second half), 38-26, to help the Vikings take a commanding lead in the NFC North.


#2: MOATS RUNS AROUND BUFFALO

Houston statistically dominated its game in Buffalo. The Texans had nearly twice the time of possession (39:08–20:52),
almost three times as many first downs (24-9), and more than double the yardage (439-204) as the Bills. Yet, for the second week in a row, the Bills were poised to win even after being outplayed. That is, until RB Ryan Moats took over in the fourth quarter, with three touchdowns to help Houston turn a 10-9 deficit into a 31-10 win with a 22-0 fourth quarter. Moats finished the game with 23 rushes on 126 yards and the 3 TD’s… special note on this game: rookie safety Jarius Byrd’s two interceptions made him the first player since San Francisco’s Dave Baker in 1960 to have two or more interceptions in three straight games.


#1: GINN SAVES THE DOLPHINS

The top spot on this week’s list really ought to go to the New York Jets’ defense for allowing just 52 yards rushing and 52 yards passing. So, how DO you lose a game at home in which you score 25 points and hold your opposition to just 104 total yards on the day? Well, when you don’t cover kickoffs well, it can happen. Miami’s Ted Ginn not only blew by the Jets’ kickoff team the entire length of the field once, but he did it twice –- in the same quarter, just 6:44 apart! After the Jets’ Jay Feely kicked a 55-yard field goal to give New York a 6-3 lead, Ted Ginn returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown with 10:10 left in the third quarter. Later in the quarter, after the Jets scored a touchdown to cut the Dolphins’ lead to 17-13, Ginn struck again, going one more yard then before, just for good measure, this time, taking it 101 yards to the house, with 3:26 left in the third quarter, for a 24-13 Dolphins’ lead that they would not relinquish. When he crossed the goal line the second time, Ginn became the first player to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same quarter since Green Bay’s Travis Williams, back in 1967.