Week 15 was the most bizarre and unpredictable week yet in what has already been a historically unpredictable and bizarre season. It’s always been risky business trying to make NFL predictions, especially on a weekly basis, but this year it’s been practically impossible. Sunday certainly confirmed the notion that nothing in any matchup is certain as the 0-13 Colts defeated a Titans team battling to make the playoffs, the lowly Redskins shut down Eli Manning and the Giants, and, of course, the Chiefs' shocking assault on the 13-0 Packers right after firing their head coach, Todd Haley. Here are some of the plays that made today into one of the strangest this week one of the strangest in NFL history:
Donald Brown made this clutch run to seal the Colts’ upset victory, showcasing vision, power, and breakaway speed that he hasn’t shown at any other point in his disappointing career. Good for the Colts.
One of several unforgiveable mistakes by the Giants that will surely have the New York media ranting and raving. Nicks provided a somewhat valid excuse that the ball hard to spot in the in the sun, that thing is right in the friggin' bread basket. The Giants didn't score a touchdown until there were 33 seconds left in the game.
This was one of Hali’s three sacks on the day, and a play that pretty much epitomized a game where the Chiefs hustled, played hard, and snuck up from behind the Packers to shock them with a big hit.
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Tebow’s run to cap off the game’s opening drive marked the high point of the night for the Broncos. They went on to lose to Brady’s Patriots 41-23, but I was pretty impressed with the Broncos’ performance. Their offense showed they can score points outside the 4th quarter, and if it weren’t for three costly turnovers, this game could have been in Tebow range at the end for another Hail Mary victory.
As for the Bears, the post-Cutler Hanie-over continues. This guy has a career 3-10 TD-Int ratio and 41.7 QB rating, and it’s unlikely he gets any other shot to improve those numbers for the rest of his career after his recent performance. Having lost their starting quarterback and running back already to injury, Chicago was dealt another blow after it lost its best WR, Johnny Knox, on this hard-to-watch hit.
Johnny, welcome to the school of hard Knox. I doubt you could even pay Johnny Knoxville to go through that pain for Jackass 4 (okay, maybe you could), and I’m sure he’d rather snort wasabi every day than ever have his spine cracked like that. All puns aside though, I hope Johnny Knox is okay, and it was good to hear today that he underwent successful surgery today to stabilize the vertebra on his lower to mid back. He’s obviously out for the year, but he should be ready for the start of next regular season.
Speaking of big hits, this was a week that did not feature the most notorious perpetrator, the Steelers’ James Harrison, who was serving a one game suspension for his hit on Colt McCoy last week. Harrison still made his presence felt on his twitter account however, which is a kick and worth checking out.
I always appreciate a good double negative, and they don’t get no better than in this tweet during a blackout that delayed the 49ers and Steelers Monday night game: “If I can’t play, then can’t nobody play… Lights out.” Harrison was active on Twitter throughout his personal bye week, mostly just fastidiously critiquing and complaining about other hits that he thought were illegal across the NFL, and talking about how much he lifts, in case you couldn’t tell the man with "Silverback" as a nickname was strong.
This guy is a joke if he thinks he doesn't deserve a suspension. He's met with the commissioner about the hits, and he's publicly called Goodell a "devil" and a "crook,"so he should assume he's not on the commissioner's good side. He drew $120,000 in fines last year for dirty hits. And anyone who thinks his hits aren't dirty is crazy. Here's visual evidence.
That's right, Harrison's a total jerk. One of those hits was even on a college teammate, Joshua Cribbs, whose body immediately started to go limp. The dude is a supervillain practically. He's actively trying to inflict damage on people, and he needs to be punished just so he stays somewhat in line.
After almost manage to get sacked by his own player, Tony Romo almost managed to throw an interception, but Miles Austin got in the way and wrestled the ball away for a touchdown. This play was remarkably similar to one of Austin’s TDs earlier this year where he wrestled the ball away from Antonio Cromartie.
Apparently, someone on the Cowboys called ‘first’ on that play, because was a jump ball if I’ve ever seen one. That’s actually one of the very rare situations where the NFL’s only rule that explicitly favors the offense comes into play—if a ball is possessed by two players throughout the motion of the catch, the tie goes to the offense. James Harrison festers rage over this rule.
Shady McCoy has done that Marcus Allen move countless times this season to fool defenses, but what impressed me is that DeSean Jackson actually made an attempt to help his teammates by throwing a half-committed downfield block.
Now that’s the Reggie Bush I remember, effortlessly breaking loose big plays, and capping off his touchdowns with flavor. He didn’t do his signature front flip, but he sure made me wish I could run so fast that I'd have to slide for 20 yards to come to a stop. The most impressive player on that run might actually be Brandon Marshall, who showed uncharacteristic hustle down the field to join in the celebration. He had a remarkably quick reaction time to follow the cue to slide alongside his teammate, thereby causing a 15-yard excessive celebration penalty.
And finally, a shout out to a player not getting nearly enough notice.
No truly outstanding play here, but a dominant game for a fantastic player having a historic season. There was fairly decent coverage on all those throws, but Drew Brees used his superhuman accuracy to throw his receivers open. Aaron Rodgers has been getting more attention, but Brees’ season has been equally magnificent. There’s little doubt he’ll break Dan Marino’s passing yards record, and if he can add a Super Bowl to this season, it’ll have to go down as arguably the best year ever by a quarterback. This was the week where Brees showed that he might even have an edge on Rodgers and Brady in terms of executing an offense to perfection.
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