NFL Week 13

Ten (Not So) Quick Hits:

1/ The Colts have now lost three straight, leaving them with a 6-6 record (at the same point last year, they were 12-0). The questions about the possible end of the Indianapolis dynasty will only get louder this week. They have two huge division games – at the Titans and against the Jaguars – the next two weeks to prove the doubters wrong.

2/ It was going to take something special to break the Chargers' unbelievable December record (San Diego hadn't lost a December match-up since 2005, that's 18 straight wins) and the Raiders certainly produced it. They started hot, getting up by two scores in the first quarter, and then their defense, led by rookies Rolando McClain and Lamarr Houston, took over. Under constant pressure, Philip Rivers had an unpleasant day.

3/ Can you believe that the Bears have now beaten the Lions on questionable calls twice this season? I have to say I tend to agree with Lions coach Jim Schwartz's assessment that rookie defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh had a right to take that shot to get the running, weaving Jay Cutler down. An unnecessary roughness call would never have been made for that hit on a running back, which technically Cutler was at that point.

4/ Don't say it any louder than a whisper, but the 2010 St. Louis Rams might genuinely be headed to the playoffs as winners of the NFC West. Only one season after going 1-15 and being the laughingstock of the NFL.

5/ That was quite the turn-around from the last time the Broncos and Chiefs faced off, wasn't it? After allowing Denver to gain 452 net yards of offense on Nov. 14, Kansas City held them to 247 net yards on Sunday. The biggest difference was in the passing game where, using a variety of different schemes, they held the Broncos passing game to 86 yards, after giving up 299 yards through the air last time.

6/ I would have bet a lot of money Saturday that Chad Henne would get the better of Jake Delhomme in the quarterback matchup of the Browns-Dolphins game. I would have lost.

7/ We must be in December, because running backs got it going on Sunday. Nine rushers gained 100+ yards (4 more went for over 90) on a bad day for front sevens all around the league.

8/ Tampa Bay....You almost had me believing.

9/ I made a point last week about NFL players sometimes giving up on their struggling or unpopular coaches. Well, the Cowboys and Vikings are now a combined 4-1 since dumping Wade Phillips and Brad Childress. Just saying...

10/ Speaking of coaches getting no respect, check out this tantrum by Chiefs offensive lineman Jason Richardson.

- Here's some of the studs of the week:

a. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers: Dissected the Niners secondary all afternoon, hitting 21 of his 30 passes for just under 300 yards. Threw three touchdowns without an interception for an impressive quarterback rating of 135.1.

b. Vikings receiver Sidney Rice: Caught five balls for 105 yards and a couple scores, including this one which illustrates exactly why he is such a redzone threat. Not bad in only his third game back from his hip surgery.

c. Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew: Didn't score or post an unbelievable yards-per-rush average (6.0), but he was an absolute workhorse for Jacksonville. Carried the ball 31 times for 186 yards on the ground as Tennessee just couldn't clamp down on him.

- Here's some of the goats of the week:

a. Colts quarterback Peyton Manning: Don't think I'm picking on the living legend, but Manning deserves his spot here for the second straight week. He can't stop throwing interceptions (four on Sunday and nine in his last four games) and bad ones too: two of his picks were returned for touchdowns against Cowboys. “I made poor decisions, poor throws,” he said simply afterward.

b. Cardinals quarterback Derek Anderson: This guy's regular in this slot. Went a pedestrian 7 of 20 passing for 93 yards and an interception. Another shot for Max Hall, anyone?

c. Bengals defensive tackle Pat Sims: Was baited into jumping offside by Drew Brees on a 4^th and 2 at the Cincinnati 7, with 34 seconds left in the game and the Bengals leading 30-27. On the next play, Brees threw to Marques Colston for the winning score. He cost Cincinnati the shot at overtime they deserved.

- Rookie of the Week: Cowboys Linebacker Sean Lee: Showed his ability to drop into pass coverage, defending three Peyton Manning passes and intercepting two more. One of his interceptions was returned for six in the third quarter while the other put the Cowboys in position to kick the winning field goal in overtime (he gets bonus points for looking exactly like Ferris Bueller's buddy Cameron in this profile picture).

- Play(s) of the Week: 1/Focus on the positive – Donald Driver's sweet moves – rather than the negative – the Niners' abysmal tackling – on this play.

2/ Couldn't not give a mention to the best defensive play of the weekend.

- Ridiculous Play of the Week: Ridiculous in the sense that a premature celebration cost Leon Washington yet another kick return for a touchdown. Awesome in the sense Washington will hear about the amazing hustle play of Panthers punter Jason Baker for a long, long time.

Picking NFL Week 13

How I did last week: 10-3

As my friend Borat would say, “Very Nice.”

Record on the season: 93-63

That's looking a lot better, isn't it?

Browns at Dolphins: If Colt McCoy was under center for Cleveland in this one, the Dolphins might be in danger of losing their fourth out of five home games. But it doesn't appear that he will be (he hasn't practiced at all this week), so Miami can focus on stopping the run, and take their chances with Vontae Davis and co. in their secondary against Jake Delhomme's arm. Dolphins.

49ers at Packers: If they want to play deep into January, Green Bay is going to have to start getting more yards from their running game than the 26 they got on 11 carries by their running backs last week. However, for this game, California native Aaron Rodgers and his receivers alone should be too much to handle for San Francisco. Packers.

Broncos at Chiefs: Okay, call me a sucker for punishment but three weeks after picking Kansas City to beat Denver and watching them lose 49-29, I'm going with the Chiefs again. Why? Well, no part of me thinks the Broncos 30^th ranked run defense can bottle up for the league's best running game for a second straight time. And moreover, there's something about the aura of Arrowhead stadium for the first time in a few years: the Chiefs haven't lost there all year. Chiefs

Bills at Vikings: Buffalo has a knack for keeping games close and the Vikings are banged-up. But if Adrian Peterson can recover from an ankle sprain in time to play, he should have a nice day against the Bills abysmal, league-worst run defense. Vikings.

Bears at Lions: The Lions third-choice quarterback Drew Stanton – named this weekend's starter for Detroit on Wednesday – could be a a serious challenger to Titans third stringer Rusty Smith for the title of “QB the most in over his head in an NFL game in 2010” against Chicago's stingy defense. Bears.

Jaguars at Titans: The Jags have surprised me a couple times this year, and they may do so again. But I can't overlook the fact that they have consistently played badly against Tennessee in recent seasons, mainly because of Chris Johnson gashing them in the running and passing game. And with Kerry Collins back at quarterback for Tennessee, Jacksonville can't sell out on the run. Titans.

Redskins at Giants: The Giants are going sack-crazy recently and Donovan McNabb doesn't usually enjoy playing New York defensive Osi Umenyiora at the best of times. Giants

Saints at Bengals: Last year, this might have been the type of tough December game the Saints would have slipped up in, because they practically had their division already locked up. But this year, it's a different picture in the NFC South, and they're the ones playing catch up to 9-2 Atlanta. Saints.

Raiders at Chargers: The Raiders beat the Bolts by a touchdown in a week 5 match-up. But unless you've taken a month-long hiatus from watching football, you know that San Diego has turned it around in a big way the last few games, culminating with an embarrassment of Peyton Manning last Sunday night. And Jason Campbell ain't no Peyton Manning. Chargers.

Falcons at Buccaneers: I've said it repeatedly and I'll say it again: the closest the Bucs have come to beating a good team was squeaking a 18-17 win at home against the 5-6 Rams. And the Falcons are a very good team. Falcons.

Panthers at Seahawks: Was that: a/ A sign of life I got a glimpse of from the Panthers last weekend against Cleveland? b/ Or just Jake Delhomme letting his old team hang around?

Hate to say it Jake, but I think I'm going with answer b/. Seahawks

Rams at Cardinals: How much do think it irks the Cardinals that by only his 13^th week in the NFL Sam Bradford is already better than Derek Anderson, with his almost 6 years of experience, will ever be? And no amount of ranting will change that simple fact. Rams

Cowboys at Colts: When was the last time a late regular season game was a must-win for Indy? Colts.

Steelers at Ravens: Both teams will struggle to establish the run, but one thing I remember from their early October game was Joe Flacco's ability to complete passes on key third downs. And that's the Steelers's weakness on defense: they are a little worse than middle of the NFL pack in terms of defending the pass. But match-ups between these two giants of the AFC North are always ridiculously close, so why even bother trying to read into it too much? Ravens.

Jets at Patriots: New York certainly outplayed New England earlier this year, but since then Randy Moss has left and the Patriots passing game has really clicked. And even with stud cornerback Darrelle Revis back, the Jets pass defense isn't where it was last season. Patriots.

NFL Week 13

-The last year of this decade is turning out to be a bad one for the two teams that dominated football in the 2000s. Both the Patriots and the Steelers, who have won the Superbowl five times between since 2000, lost on Sunday. New England slipped to 7-5, while the Steelers fell to 6-6.

Things have just been tough for the two titans of the game this season. New England hasn't won a game on the road all season, and Pittsburgh has lost four in a row now, including games to the Chiefs and Raiders.

Injuries have played a part in their slides, (I'm thinking particularly of Troy Polamalu here, who makes the Steelers defense an entirely different unit) but neither team has really wowed anyone all year. Whereas you watch the Saints, the Vikings and the Colts, and they just look so explosive on both sides of the ball.

The season is not over yet, and both the Patriots and Steelers still have a decent shot at the playoffs, but the more I watch them this year, the more it seems to me that they aren't in the top tier of NFL teams anymore.

-Trust the NFC East to keep the waters muddy till the very end. Dallas had won 6 of its last 7, New York had lost 5 of its last 6 and sat two games behind the Cowboys in the divisional race. So of course the Giants go and beat Dallas, thanks to some big plays from Brandon Jacobs (who, of course, has had a horrible year up to this point) and a fantastic punt return touchdown from Domenik Hixon.

Add the Eagles (8-4), who've won three in a row, to the mix, and you've got a very messy division on your hands. The Eagles play the Giants next week, the Giants play the resurgent Redskins the week after that, while the Cowboys will play against Washington and Philadelphia in its final two games.

I'm not sure any of these teams is particularly special this year, but that's irrelevant really, this one is going to go down to the wire, and hopefully give us some entertaining football.

-Has there been a worse field goal miss this season than Sean Suisham sliced chip-shot against the Saints? Sure, the series of misses that cost Steve Hauschka his job in Baltimore were bad, but Suisham missed a kick from only 23 yards out that would have given the Redskins a ten point lead over the Saints with less than two minutes left.

The Redskins had produced a valiant defensive display up to that point, and QB Jason Campbell had played out of his skin all afternoon to put Washington in a winning position. But with the kick that would iced it missed, the Saints drove down the field before Drew Brees found Robert Meachem over the middle for a 53 TD pass.

You can't place all the blame on Suisham (who has been one of the more reliable place kickers in the NFL this year) because he wasn't responsible for the interception Campbell threw right at the end of the fourth quarter, or the Mike Sellers' fumble in OT (still not sure about that one). But still. 23-yards at this level for an improbable win against arguably the best team in the NFL. You gotta hit those.

-It was fun while it lasted, but the Titans run came to an end Sunday. After winning five games in row (after a six game losing streak of course), Tennessee came up against a team that had a little too much for them in Indianapolis, who look entirely incapable of having an off day.

The Colts bottled up Chris Johnson who, even though he picked up over 100 yards on the ground, couldn't break any big plays (his largest run was 11 yards). Vince Young threw for 241, but didn't get it done in the redzone, turning it over twice on downs inside the Colts 15 in the second half.

So is the fairytale season comeback over for the Titans? Well, at 5-7, mathematically it's not. But they'll need to win out to have any chance at the playoffs, and that includes games against the red hot Chargers and the solid Dolphins.

-Michael Vick produces his first big plays of the year in his return to Atlanta. It had to be that way, didn't it? He hadn't been involved in a touchdown since he went to jail. He hadn't thrown a pass of more than 5 yards all season. But Vick changed all that in the Georgia Dome to chants of “We want Vick” from the crowd.

He ran for one touchdown, passed for another, and completed a 43 yard pass to Reggie Brown: everything Vick could have wanted (and that we might have expected) from his return.

-Expect a lot of teams to study the gameplan the Cardinals used in their upset of the Vikings. The Vikings had looked phenomenal the last few games, but Arizona completely shut them down. In fact, they took away all the things that Minnesota has excelled at during their winning stretch.

a) The deep ball. Clips of Brett Favre slinging it deep to open receivers have been all over highlight reels all season long. But the Cardinals didn't let that happen. Favre's longest completion until fourth quarter garbage time was 21 yards pass in the 2nd quarter. They made him throw short stuff, and picked off two of those throws.

b) Running the ball. Adrian Peterson: 19 yards on 13 carries (I assure you, there are no typos there.) Not much more to be said really.

c) The pass rush. Jared Allen and the ability of the lime to pressure the passer is what makes the Vikings defense special. They didn't get a single sack of Kurt Warner, who coolly completed 68% of his passes.

Suddenly the Vikings don't look so invulnerable...and everyone in the NFC knows it.

Picking NFL Week 13

-How I did last week: 8-8

Batting .500 at Thanksgiving. Not great. It could have been much worse, I suppose, had the Eagles and Falcons not had late fourth quarter comebacks in their games. So much for the Pats providing the upset of the week

-Record on the season: 35-23

Rams at Bears: I feel that Jay Cutler and the Bears are due a bounce-back game after four straight losses that have effectively ended their playoff hopes. The Bears D will try and put all their efforts into stopping Steven Jackson, and, although I've only seen glimpses of his play, Kyle Boller doesn't appear to have enough to lead the offense to victory. Bears.

Buccaneers at Panthers: The Panthers are so unpredictable this year, with Jake Delhomme fluctuating between decent and horrendous. Although the Bucs have potential, especially in the form of rookie QB Josh Freeman, their defense is 26^th in the league this year. I don't see Delhomme struggling as mightily as he did against the Jets above secondary, especially if DeAngelo Williams can establish the running game. Panthers.

Texans at Jaguars: The Texans will struggle to believe that they have a worse record at this stage of the season than Jacksonville's quiet 6-5. The Jags actually beat the Texans earlier in the year, probably their most impressive victory to date. However, having watched the Texans last week against the Colts, it's easy to see that they are a team who are very close to being pretty good. They have four winnable games in a row coming up, and I still think they will make a playoff push. Texans.

Broncos at Chiefs: The Broncos did a great job of putting an end to their four-game slide by emphatically beating the Giants on Thanksgiving. They once again looked like the team that surprised us all earlier in the season. The Chiefs had a good win against the Steelers two weeks ago, but were brought back to earth after being outclassed by the Chargers. I fear the same fate is in store for them Sunday. Broncos.

Eagles at Falcons: Matt Ryan being injured for this one makes it a much easier pick for me. I'm not convinced by the Eagles this season by any means, but I don't think their defense will be too fearful of Chris Redman, even if he did lead the Falcons to victory over the Bucs last week. Falcons might surprise me in this one, but I'll stick with the bigger birds. Eagles.

Titans at Colts: Upset of the Week: When is this gosh darn Titans run going to come to an end? Every week they seem to face a more formidable opponent, only to come out with yet another victory. Beat the Colts on Sunday, and they're back to .500, and with all their momentum, could be headed to the playoffs after an 0-6 start. What a story that would be. In their way this week stands the undefeated Colts, who already beat them 31-9 earlier this season. But that was a different Titans team, and with the Colts perhaps taking the foot off the gas this week after a run of brutal games, I'm betting on the strak to continue. Titans.

Saints at Redskins: Wow, was that a statement game by the Saints against the Patriots on Monday night or what? Their offensive display was awesome, and some of the throws Drew Brees made were simply ridiculous. If they can play like that come playoff time, I don't know if there is a defense in the NFL I could see stopping them. The Redskins actually happen to have a top ten defense, but I can't see it mattering much in this one. Saints.

Bengals at Lions: The Bengals sure haven't set the world alight the last two weeks against two of the weakest teams in the league, first losing to the Raiders, then squeaking past the Browns!! Still they shouldn't have to play their best to beat the Lions. Bengals.

Raiders at Steelers: Boy, the Steelers must be mad. Three consecutive losses to the Bengals, Chiefs and Ravens in overtime, receiver Hines Ward calling out his quarterback for being soft (then retracting it of course), and Troy Polamalu still out injured. The Raiders might fancy their chances to hand them a fourth loss on the bounce, but I think the Steelers will have other ideas. One thing's for sure, I wouldn't want to swap lives with Raiders QB Bruce Gradkowski on Sunday. Steelers.

Patriots at Dolphins: When these teams played less than a month ago, the Patriots just had too much for the Dolphins. I see this one being another close, especially considering how vulnerable the Pats D looked against New Orleans. The Dolphins pose a different type of challenge, however, one that the Patriots will not be so fearful of. Patriots.

Chargers at Browns: This game is the most unbalanced match-up of the weekend. If they played it a hundred times, I don't know that the Browns would win more than once or twice. Chargers.

49ers at Seahawks: More was expected from both of these teams this season. While they are both technically still alive in the playoff race, they also have an eye on next season. Seattle's GM Tim Ruskell stepped down Thursday perhaps paving the way for Mike Holmgren's return, while the 49ers have to decide in the next weeks whether Alex Smith can be their guy for the future at QB (I feel that's not the first time someone has said that sentence...) I'll go for the 49ers in this one, simply because mathematically they have a better chance at still making the playoffs. 49ers.

Cowboys at Giants: This is a can't-lose game for the Giants, but I think they will. They looked like a team out of ideas and low on confidence against the Broncos, and their secondary is bound to struggle against Tony Romo and his receivers, especially if their pass-rush is completely absent once again. Cowboys.

Vikings at Cardinals: In my mind the Vikings are every bit on the same level as the two undefeated teams in the league. They may have lost to the Steelers but they've also blown out a lot of teams this year. The Cardinals are the best team they've faced in a while, so it should be a good game, but I think the Vikings will have too much. Vikings.

Packers at Ravens: As we speak, the Packers lead the NFC wild card race (along with the Eagles), but this game is going to be a real test for them. Sure they've beaten the Cowboys this year, but four of their six other wins have come against the Lions (twice), Browns and Rams. I'm not convinced by them yet, and I think their offense will struggle against Ravens physical defense, especially in Baltimore. Ravens.