Week 15: Sunday Recap

We are a nation in mourning. All of our flags are at half staff and players and coaches in the NFL are writing the names of slain children on their hats, shoes and helmets.I know that there are mixed feelings about whether or not the Sandy Hook Elementary killings should spur a political debate on gun control, but I am sure we all wish that that pyscho wasn't able to get his hands on two guns. What can you do in the face of tragedy but pick yourself up and find a way to move on. If nothing, football provides the briefest respite from an unfathomable act and Week 15 did not disappoint when we needed some entertainment the most.

- The  (not so) mighty New York Giants lost 0-34 to the Atlanta Falcons. That's right, Eli Manning and the Giants scored zero points. Nothing. Nada. Goose Egg. Their first shut out since 1996. The Falcons have only lost 2 games all season (tied for the best record in the NFL) but have still not earned the respect they think they deserve. That chip on their shoulder seemed to work in their favor today. Asante Samuel intercepted Eli Manning twice and quarterback, Matt Ryan threw for 270 yards and 3 touchdowns. Not only did the Falcons shut the Giants out but it is the first time they have beat the Giants since 2004. The Falcons now sit on top of the NFC South and will have a bye the first round of the playoffs.

Victor Cruz wrote the name of one of the SHES victims on his shoes

- Rookie QB, Russell Wilson rushed for 3 touchdowns in the Seattle Seahawks 50-17 routing of the Buffalo Bills. This a week after the Seahawks shut out the Arizona Cardinals 58-0. Russell Wilson may have played 3rd fiddle to fellow rookie QBs, RG3 and Andrew Luck. But I think it is safe to say that everyone will be talking about him in the morning.

- While we are on the subject of shutouts the New Orleans Saints had one of their own, shutting out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 0-41. The Saints have been the center of a lot of talk this week. Paul Tagliabue, the former commissioner of the NFL, vacated the suspensions of four players. Suspensions that were handed down by current commissioner, Roger Goodell. Tagliabue basically said that players follow the directions of their coaches for fear of getting cut or benched. So the onus of the Bounty Gate scandal falls more on the coaches than it does the players. Needless to say, the Saints felt the slightest bit vindicated this week and it showed. Drew Brees overcame a 2-week rut to throw for 307 yards and 4 touchdowns. "Impress Him" Fact: The Saints still have a snowballs chance in New Orleans of making the playoffs if they win out but all of the other teams will have to lose their last 2 games. Not likely, but stranger things have happened to this team this year including their first shut-out game since 1995.

- Unfortunately for Jay Cutler, Clay Matthews was back on defense for the Green Bay Packers after missing 4 games due to a hamstring injury. You may remember that when these 2 teams met earlier this season Clay Matthews sacked Jay Cutler 3.5 times so I am guessing that Jay was hoping to catch a little break this time around. No such luck. Clay was back and looking for Jay and found him for 2 sacks in the Packers 21-13 win over NFC North rivals, the Chicago Bears. Aaron Rodgers was looking (and playing) good with 291 passing yards and 3 touchdowns. Chicago continues to struggle losing 5 of their last 6 games. The bad news for all of us is that the Bears are in danger of not making the playoffs which means Jay Cutler will have extra time on his hands to make more babies with Kristen Cavallari, and no one wants that. "Impress Him" Fact: Want to really turn some heads? Tell your co-workers/husband/boyfriend that the Bears just don't have any play-makers beyond Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall. On another note I just tried to google images of Jay Cutler with Kristen and his baby and there are none. There aren't even any of just him and the baby. Is Jay Cutler a dead beat dad? Incidentally, there are several pictures of Jay Cutler's head on a poor baby's body and also several of him with a pacifier in his mouth...if that tells you anything.

I don't know where Jay is, but please don't fumble that baby

- You have to give the Dallas Cowboys this, they will not go away. In fact, they are tied for 1st place in the NFC East. This team simply refuses to give up as was evident in their overtime win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Of course, the Steelers helped out a little. A fumbled kickoff return led to the tie-ing touchdown for the Cowboys. And then Brandon Carr intercepted Roethlisberger's first pass in overtime and ran it 36 yards to the 1st yard line, setting up an easy field goal for Dan Bailey who was happy to play the hero for the second week in a row. The Steelers are one game behind the Cincinnati Bengals for a wild card spot in the playoffs. They face the Bengals in a "must win" game next week.

- Imagine you had all of the ligaments in your knee torn and reconstructed. Now imagine that 9 months later you were running down a field while giant men tried everything in their power to knock you down. And now imagine that none of that mattered because you are some kind of super human and instead of slowing down you are going to have the best season as a running back of your career and possibly of anybody's career if things keep going the way they are going. If you can imagine all of that then you will know what it is like to be Adrian Peterson. In the Minnesota Vikings' game against the St. Louis Rams Peterson ran for a season-best 212 yards giving him 1812 yards for the season...294 yards shy of the single season record set by Eric Dickerson in 1984. Oh and the Vikings beat the Rams 36-22.

- When I played tennis in high school, I always had to play against a girl who I had been playing with since I was 6 years old. I would always be pretty antsy before the match and would start off petty shaky and would get in a hole. Once I was in this hole I would kind of give up because I really liked Marcie and didn't care if she beat me, I was hungry, and I was ready to get home and see what the gang from West Beverly High was up to...oh and I probably had homework or something. And it would be at the moment that I had accepted defeat that I would start playing my best game and the match would drag out for a third set. That seems to be what is happening with the Carolina Panthers the last 2 weeks. Last week they decidedly took out the Atlanta Falcons and this week it was the San Diego Chargers' turn to be humiliated by a team who had only won 4 games coming into Sunday's game. In fact, it was the first time that the Panthers have won consecutive games since last December. Mike Tolbert, a former Charger, had 2 touchdowns against his old team and Cam Newton threw for 231 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Panthers' 31-7 defeat of the San Diego Chargers. Of course, the Panthers are playing for nothing but pride right now but they are playing like the team everyone expected them to be at the beginning of the season. Hopefully, they can remember what worked come September.

This week I thought I would change it up with GQ Cam.

- The San Francisco 49'ers took on the New England Patriots last night in what looked like the most miserable conditions ever...cold, rainy, sleet. Barf. You would think that the Patriots would be used to this kind of weather, but it was the 49'ers who looked right at home. In fact, the Patriots have not lost on their home field in December in a decade. A decade! The 49'ers were up 31-3 when the Patriots decided to make it interesting and come back to tie the game in the 4th quarter. But this was San Francisco's game to win and they clinched the win with a 38 yard touchdown pass from Colin Kaepernick to Michael Crabtree. The 49'ers won 41-34 and are headed to the post season with some good momentum.

That does it for the big news out of Week 15. Remember to hold your little ones tight this week and every week.

Week 11: Out of Luck: Sunday Recap

what's happening here? Goob.

I had a major reality check yesterday when one of my very best guy friends...who is a total guys' guy texted me and asked me if I was watching the AMA's and then started giving me his opinion on Pit Bull (he loves him), Justin Bieber (he called him a bad word) and Christina Aguilera (she intimidates him with her makeup). I didn't even know the AMAs were happening last night! I was knee deep in the Steelers game and was missing out! Luckily my bud kept the updates coming but my once scarily up to date knowledge of everything pop culture is slowly fading away in the name of football. Though I have to say that I am more than willing to miss anything that has to do with Justin Bieber, what is the deal with that kid? I guess my point is that this Thanksgiving week, I am thankful that while I am delving into the male world of football, I have friends out there who are keeping an eye on Hollywood for me. I am a lucky girl indeed. Now on to Week 11!

- Colts and Patriots. Patriots and Colts. It's a rivalry that was made famous by the match-up by elite QB's Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. But this year everything was different. Peyton Manning has moved on to be a Bronco and Indianapolis' rookie quarterback, Andrew Luck, made his first trip to face Tom Brady and the new England Patriots in what should be known as The Goober Bowl. Rookie Goob, Luck, started off okay and at the half the score was tied 24-17. But that's when Luck literally ran out of luck. Goober #2, Tom Brady, threw for 331 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Patriots went on to score 2 more touchdowns on interception returns and a touchdown on a punt return. When it was all said and done, the rookie and the Indianapolis Colts lost to the 3-time Super Bowl champ and the New England Patriots 24-59. The news isn't all good for the Patriots. The lost Rob Gronkowski, one of their most valuable tight-ends, when he broke his forearm trying to block an extra point. Why he was trying to block an extra point when they were up over 30 points and there was less than 4:00 left in the game is a question that I am sure will haunt Bill Belichick for a few days."Impress Him" Facts: Andrew Luck was the #1 pick in the last NFL draft, one of his interceptions today was picked off by Alfonzo Dennard, the last pick in the the last NFL draft. Luck may have lost this game but he did throw for 334 yards, his 5th game with 300+ passing yards which breaks the rookie record set by Peyton Manning, not bad for a Goob.

Poor Andrew...no matter what he does...Goob.

- I have no idea why the Pittsburgh Steelers insist on dressing up like overgrown yellow-jackets, but it is not working for them. Not in the fashion department. Not in the football department.  The Steelers were missing starting Bumblebee Quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, for their Sunday night game against AFC North rivals, the Baltimore Ravens. Apparently Ben had a shoulder injury but the more worrisome injury was a dislocated rib that, if moved the wrong way, could puncture an artery. Yikes. The back-up quarterback was Byron Leftwich, who has played in exactly 2 games this season including last night. To his credit he threw for 201 yards, but spent a lot of time pulling himself off the ground. Not that the Ravens looked much better. QB, Joe Flacco, completed 20 out of 32 passes for 164 yards and the offense really couldn't get a whole lot going against the NFL's #1 defense. Their points came when Jacoby Jones returned a punt for a touchdown and Justin Tucker kicked 2 field goals to give the Ravens the 13-10 win and their third straight win against the Steelers.

HELP! I am being chased by a swarm of giant bees!!!

- The Green Bay Packers may have lost 3 of their first 5 games but with yesterday's win over the Detroit Lions they are on a 5 game winning streak and a half-game away from taking first place in the NFC North; as Wide Receiver, Donald Driver (and Stella), put it, "We got our groove back." They got it back just in time too, Aaron Rodgers threw a 22 yard touchdown pass to Randall Cobb with 1:55 left in the game to help pull out the 24-20 win over the Lions. The Lions had all kind of problems. Quarterback, Matt Stafford threw 2 interceptions and lost a fumble. To make matters worse, receivers coach, Shawn Jefferson, was seen yelling at the Lions' Offensive coordinator late in the game. It's never a good sign when the coaching staff is visibly at each others throats. Aside: I just realized that I have been spelling "Green Bay" wrong all year. That's what I get for thinking that I am smarter than spell check. My B.

- The Houston Texans held on to their one loss record with a come-from-behind win in overtime against the Jacksonville Jaguars. And they couldn't have done it without Wide Receiver, Andre Johnson. Johnson had 14 receptions for 273 yards and a touchdown. Matt Schaub was no slouch either, he completed a 43 passes (a franchise record) for 527 yards, tying him for 2nd most in NFL history. (Warren Moon also threw for 527 yards in 1990). Schaub threw 2 touchdown passes in the fourth quarter that tied the game up 34-34 and sent it to overtime. During overtime the Jags and the Texans traded field goals before Andre Johnson sealed the win with a 48 yard touchdown. The Jaguars played most of the game with their back-up QB, Chad Henne, after their starter, Blaine Gabbert, left in the first quarter with an elbow injury. Henne had a big day himself, with 354 yards and 4 touchdowns. Wide Receiver, Justin Blackmon, also had a big day or the Jaguars with 236 receiving yards. It was the first time in NFL history that 2 opposing players had 200+ receiving yards in the same game. But in the end it wasn't enough and the Texans won the game 37-43. "Impress Him" Fact:  The Jaguars have lost 3 road games in overtime this year. This is the first overtime win for the Texans in their home stadium.

- I hate Philip Rivers. Which is why I really enjoyed watching the Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers game. Broncos Linebacker, Von Miller, not only sacked Rivers 3 times but he also forced 2 fumbles and had some pretty impressive celebration dances. Peyton Manning also did his part with 270 passing yards for 3 touchdowns. Not bad for a guy who sat out all last season. The Broncos walked away with a 23-30 win and I get to post this picture.

Frankly, it's an insult to Miss Piggy.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! I for one am Thankful for my family, my friends, and for all you who read this blog and are so kind and supportive, LOOOOOOVE YALL!!