Week 11 Bumps, Bruises and Bow-outs

Scotty Anderson (DET) - Sprained ankle
Troy Walters (IND) - Strained hamstring
David Carr (HOU) - Bruised shoulder
Travis Henry (BUF) -Cracked leg bone
Tim Carter (NYG) - Concussion
Marcel Shipp (ARZ) - Bruised knee
Ernie Conwell (NO) - Fractured ankle

I'm bringing a Gameboy next week

While punter Micah Knorr replaced Jason Elam on the final field goal, it was probably less about protecting Elam than it was giving Micah something to do. For the first time in thirteen years, the Denver punter never was asked to punt in the entire game. This is a favorable sign that the opponent's defense is not doing very well.

Plug-n-Play

Peyton Manning was without two of his best weapons on Sunday but hardly missed a step. Manning ended with a league leading 401 yards passing and when Marcus Pollard was not available, he gave Dallas Clark his first 100 yard receiving game in the NFL. With Marvin Harrison inactive for the game due to a hamstring strain, Manning merely threw four passes to Troy Walters for 88 yards and a touchdown before Walters furthered the comparison by also straining his hamstring and having to leave the game in the third quarter.

Somebody write it down this time!

Shannon Sharpe turned in his third career game with three touchdowns when he had seven catches for 101 yards in the San Diego game on Sunday. The last time he had performed the hat trick was back on October 6th, 1996. Against the San Diego Chargers. Again.

Oxygen... 'gasp'... oxygen

Zack Crockett had his standard one yard touchdown plunge against the Vikings yesterday and with Tyrone Wheatley getting tired from his heavy load, Crockett was sent in to replace Wheatley in the third quarter. It was first and ten from the Oakland 43-yard line and Crockett carried the ball for an astonishing six yards before finding someone to bash into. On second down from midfield, he took the handoff and found himself running for 44 yards all the way to the Minnesota 7-yard line. The one run was seven yards longer than he had gained this entire season to that point though it took 19 previous carries to gain 36 yards.

In wonderful irony, he was replaced by Tyrone Wheatley who ran twice and scored a one yard touchdown.

Drama 101 - Somebody has to laugh, somebody has to cry

What'ya mean I haven't missed anything?

There were 18 teams playing early games on Sunday and of those, nine of them had only three points or less by halftime. Only three teams had over 10 points to start the third quarter. In case you missed the entire set of early games, eight of the teams never scored more 12 points in the entire game though three still managed to win.

By the afternoon, the teams had warmed up and only the Green Bay - Tampa Bay game failed to score at least 45 total points. Appropriately, the Dallas-New England game ended the day's slate with a 12-0 snoozer to bring us back to full circle.

Whose house is this?

After 15 games played on Sunday, there were a dozen wins by the home team and of the three road wins, only Tampa Bay lost as a home favorite in the game. That was expected though, since they are just the reigning World Champions.

Last week there were 14 games and again only three teams managed to win on the road. Victory does not seem to be a good traveler lately.

Have a nice trip

There were three quarterbacks (Holcomb, Plummer and Pennington) that had three touchdowns passing and three other players (Westbrook, James and Sharpe) that also had three touchdowns yesterday.

The scoring by those three non-quarterbacks was made even more impressive considering that only McAllister and James Jackson were able to score more than one time. It's feast or famine for NFL scoring and five teams go into their games next week still looking for that elusive place called the "endzone".

Sunday's Couch Commentary

Game-O-The-Week

There were several valid contenders, enough so that I almost made this a multiple award. There were many close games this weekend and nine were won by a touchdown or less. Miami took the victory in overtime but with a 9-6 game score, it makes for less thrilling fare. The Bengals draw to tie for the AFC North lead by defeating the Chiefs and thereby sparing us the never-ending stories about the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

In the end, it had to be a close game with a screwy path to a home win.

Winner: Atlanta 20, New Orleans 23 in overtime.

The Falcons were fresh off their dismantling of the Giants and on the road again after their emotional (if not astounding) win. The Saints were fresh from their bye week and having witnessed the big Atlanta win last week during the Crawfish party at Deuce's crib, there was little chance that the Falcons would catch the Saints sleeping. This was the team that New Orleans beat 45-17 only three weeks ago in Atlanta.

So then, naturally, the game witnessed the first score when midway through the first quarter Aaron Brooks attempted a pass to Michael Lewis that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Down 7-0, it was hardly time to panic.

The next series the Saints went three and out and then the Falcons drove the field to get a field goal. Down 10-0, it was not really time to panic.

After trading ineffective series, the Saints took over on their own 15-yard line when Aaron Brooks was intercepted again and the ball returned to the Saints 5-yard line. After gaining one yard on first down, T.J. Duckett took his second carry for a four yard touchdown and the 17-0 lead only two minutes into the second quarter. Panic became an option, though not a preferable one.

The Saints, now fully aware that the Falcons are not willing to play the patsy yet again, mount an eight minute drive that includes first down at the Atlanta 5-yard line. After three plays and five yards lost, they accept the field goal gladly to get on THAT STUPID SCOREBOARD.

With only four minutes left in the half, both teams have one more fruitless series and Atlanta takes over on the Saints 45-yard line with 1:40 left to play in the second half thanks to a nice punt return. Kittner - Kurt Kittner - drives his team down the field for a field goal to end the half and take the lead 20-3.

The Saints, fighting panic, come out passing in the second half and do little for a couple of series as does Atlanta as well. Midway through the third quarter, the Saints intercept that pesky Kittner and take over on the Atlanta 16-yard line. Knowing that the pass is getting them nowhere, they opt for three straight runs and a Deuce McAllister touchdown. They now trail by only 10 points.

A few more series finds the Saints having done little but they have the ball on their own 48-yard line and thanks to Atlanta penalties, incompletions by Brooks and runs by McAllister (but mostly the runs), they reach the Atlanta 7-yard line. Deuce scores his second touchdown of the game with two minutes gone from the fourth quarter. The Saints trail only by three points!

The Saints trade meaningless series with the Falcons and then starting on their own 13-yard line with six minutes left to play. Deftly mixing a couple of completions with being sacked, Brooks drives the field largely by handing off to Deuce McAllister. With only 28 seconds left, Brooks gets sacked and throws an incompletion to Jerome Pathon before the Saints tie the game on a John Carney field goal, 20-20.

Overtime!

The Saints win the coin flip and receive the ball on their own 38-yard line thanks to a nice run back by Michael Lewis. After gaining two yards on the first play, Deuce McAllister takes his second hand off and streaks through the heart of the Falcon defense. He is almost untouched by the time he reaches the Atlanta 35-yard line when the safeties collide with him and then both quickly peel off as Deuce continues to run to the 30, the 20, the 10 and then signifying that the NFL is all about those last few feet and not the 174 other ones that McAllister has already ran, the cornerback Juran Bolden catches up to him and tommyhawks the ball from his grip. The Falcons recover in the endzone for a touchback.

Warrick Dunn then takes first down and runs for 41 yards himself to the Saints 39-yard line. This was the time that panic was not only justified, but actually called for. The Saints hold the Falcons to only two yards and from the 37-yard line, Jay Feely attempts a 54 yard field goal that is almost perfectly centered down the middle, all the way until it hits the ground a few feet short of the cross bar. The Saints take over on the 45-yard line!

On first down, Brooks hits Joe Horn for 14 yards and not wanting to tempt fate, they opt to run McAllister instead of attempt another pass. After all, McAllister loses the ball much farther down the field than Brooks does. McAllister breaks through the left side and runs for 23 yards, ending with him holding the ball with both arms while lowering his helmet over it. From the 18-yard line, there is no sense in taking any risks and John Carney nails the 36-yard game winning field goal on first down.

Whew!

It was a game of big plays and bigger errors that somehow ended up where most thought it would. The Falcons have now set the table for Vick's return with a team that does not look nearly so bad as a few weeks ago while the Saints string their second win in a row.

It was a close win over a supposed easy opponent that was replicated all over the NFL this week. By the time it was over, we were reminded that it doesn't matter if things don't always go your way and that bad things can happen at the end of otherwise good plays. That it doesn't really matter what the records are going into a game and that it's okay to push yourself by shooting off your mouth before facing the biggest and baddest out there. It's all okay as long as we remember one thing.

There's no place like home.

Now get back to work...