Only four weeks remain in what’s been a whirlwind NFL season. And after some late game heroics from Aaron Rodgers, it sure looks like the Green Bay Packers have what it takes to win those last four games and finish off an undefeated regular season.
On the flip side, the Dallas Cowboys looked like their old selves after finally putting together a winning streak. Will they hang on to the NFC East, or are the New York Giants the team in the best shape as we enter the final quarter of the regular season?
A Giant Moral Victory?
For just a moment, it appeared that the New York Giants had done it again. The high point of Eli Manning’s professional career has been the late game drive against the still undefeated New England Patriots, completing a touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress to both win Super Bowl XLII, and keep the Patriots from making history.
At with 58 seconds left to go against the 11-0 Green Bay Packers, it looked like Manning was on the verge of knocking another team off their course to an undefeated season. He had just masterfully led the Giants down the field, going 6 of 8 for 66 yards, and throwing a touchdown pass to Hakeem Nicks. After a two point conversion, the Giants were now tied with the Packers 35-35. It seemed the momentum was in their favor. With only 58 seconds left, and the home crowd on their side, New York had to feel pretty good about their chances of coming away with a win in overtime. Or so they thought.
We all know what happened next. Rodgers led the Green Bay down the field with a two minute drill of his own, and the Packers’ Mason Crosby kicked a game winning field goal, preserving Green Bay’s undefeated season for another week. It was certainly a brutally disappointing defeat for the Giants. But should they actually be feeling better about their playoff chances than they were before kickoff?
The Giants weren’t the only team in the NFC East to lose close game on Sunday. In Arizona, the Dallas Cowboys went into their game against the Cardinals as big favorites. As the Cowboys have been prone to do, however, they made things much harder on themselves. They were unable to put the Cardinals away throughout the game, and they needed to convert a field goal to win the game at the end of regulation. Dallas head coach Jason Garrett made the inexplicable decision to call timeout before the attempt, effectively icing his own kicker. Dan Bailey went on to miss the attempt, and Arizona went on to upset the Cowboys in overtime.
In spite of that loss, Dallas still holds a one game lead over New York in the NFC East. On top of that, the New York’s loss on Sunday was their fourth in a row. So why should the Giants feel optimistic? Is there really any reason to think they can turn it around?
It may sound odd, but the simplest way for the Giants to make the playoffs at 6-6 is to win their division. With as many conference losses as they have, winning a wild card berth would be very tough. However, there really isn’t a reason why they couldn’t win the NFC East. They’re only a game out of first place, and they still face off against with the division leading Cowboys twice.
What should be more encouraging to the Giants is how badly Dallas has played of late. They struggled to beat two middle of the road teams in Washington and Miami, and they meltdown in Arizona on Sunday was simply brutal to watch. Trending in the opposite direction, however, is New York. While it’s true they’ve had four losses in a row ,three of those losses game against three of the best five teams in the league, if not the three best teams period (Green Bay, New Orleans, and San Francisco).
Perhaps most important for the Giants is the amount of fight they showed Sunday. There wasn’t any question that they were going to be out manned by the Packers, but they didn’t use that and a losing streak as an excuse to fold. They fought for 60 minutes, and surprisingly they almost came out on top. And while that effort wasn’t quite enough to beat Green Bay on Sunday, New York should have what it takes to beat a floundering Dallas squad this weekend.
Surprise of the Week
Don’t look now, but it looks like Chris Johnson might not be washed up after all.
After bottoming out with a 13 yard performance against the Atlanta Falcons on November 20th, he’s put up over 150 yards rushing in two straight games. In three of his past four games (not counting the Falcons game), he’s averaging 158 yards per game. He dominated the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, rushing for 153 yards and two touchdowns. That’s quite a change from the first half of the season, when it was a struggle for the running back to break the 50 yard per game mark.
Johnson’s biggest fans will herald this as a sign that Johnson is back. But while his contract extension is certainly not looking like quite the disaster it did a month ago, it’s probably too soon to say the CJ2K of old is back.
In those three games where Johnson has been especially productive, he’s been running against some of the worse rushing defenses in the game. The highest rated rushing defense of those three was Buffalo, the 24th ranked rushing defense in the league. On the other hand, in that four game stretch, the Titans did play one solid rushing defense. It was the game with the Falcons (the number three rushing defense), and Johnson could only manage 13 yards.
So has Johnson finally knocked off the rust, or is he just taking advantage of poor defenses? His play has been a polarizing topic this season, and there will plenty of people lining up to argue for one side or the other. The fact of the matter is, it’s most likely to say that it’s a combination of both. It’s undeniable that he’s playing bad running defenses, but at the same time he’s showing explosion now that we haven’t seen from him all year. Either way, Tennessee is just hoping he can carry them to a playoff berth.
Rookie Watch
It was a pretty good week to be a rookie quarterback, especially if you were playing against a NFC South defense.
For Houston’s T.J. Yates, he was making his first career start against an above average Atlanta Falcons defense. It was a pivotal game for both teams, Houston trying to solidify their grip on the AFC South, and the Falcons trying to scrap for a wild card berth. That’s quite a bit a pressure for a rookie quarterback, but Yates handled it very well. His numbers weren’t overwhelming: he completed 12 of 25 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown. But he threw no interceptions, and while he lost a controversial fumble, he did a good job of managing the game and leading the Texans to a 17-10 win over the Falcons.
In Tampa Bay, Cam Newton just kept scoring points for the Carolina Panthers. In another stand out performance, Newton finally broke the record we’d come to expecting him to. He racked up three more rushing scores, making it 13 on the season, an NFL record for QBs. Newton didn’t just run the ball though, he threw for another touchdown and even had a 27 yard catch. Newton’s produced 26 combined touchdowns for Carolina so far this year, and it certainly looks like there’s plenty more to come in his career.
Fantasy Notes
Whoever has Matt Forte in your league really should have had him stashed on his roster already, but Marion Barber is a player that needs to be owned in all leagues after Forte went down with an MCL injury. Forte figures to be out for the remainder of the fantasy season, and while Barber isn’t going to put up the same numbers Forte would, Barber can still be a good flex play for you at the very least.
As we head into the fantasy playoffs, you might just want to see if you can get some of that Tim Tebow magic on your roster. Tebow isn’t going to consistently light teams up through the air, but when he does throw the ball he’s been looking to the young Demaryius Thomas more and more often. He’s a free agent in nearly every league, but he’s worth a look if you’ve lost a guy like Andre Johnson again and are looking for a late season sleeper.
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