| The Raiders are setting the bar awfully high for
the rest of the teams who have Super Bowl aspirations this season. Oakland won its
eighth game of the season by absolutely dominating the Giants in New York Sunday despite a
steady downpour. The Raiders ran the ball effectively, with RBs Charlie Garner, Tyrone
Wheatley and Zack Crockett all contributing, and they passed the ball brilliantly behind
QB Rich Gannon and WRs Tim Brown and Jerry Rice.
The defense, led by LB William Thomas, also was outstanding and didn’t give the
Giants much in the way of scoring opportunities. The Raiders look to be the class of the
AFC (and you could make a strong case for the entire NFL), whereas the Giants are reeling
and most likely out of the playoff picture this season, only one year removed from a Super
Bowl berth.
Just wondering … Is Jim Fassel coaching the last few games of his Giants career?
Catch of the day: Bills WR Eric Moulds capped the best day of his season with a
brilliant one-handed catch of an Alex Van Pelt pass for a 56-yard touchdown reception in
the third quarter of the Bills’ 34-27 loss. Moulds had about six inches of separation
from Dolphins rookie CB Jamar Fletcher, but that was all the space he needed as he reached
out with his left hand and hauled in the perfectly thrown pass.
Are Browns QB Tim Couch and WR Kevin Johnson becoming the next great passing tandem in
the league? They hooked up five times for 113 yards and a touchdown in the Browns’
18-0 victory over Cincinnati and seem to have the same kind of relationship that the
Colts’ Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison have. … Let’s see, Couch and
Manning are both from the Southeastern Conference, and Johnson and Harrison both played at
Syracuse. Maybe that’s the formula more teams should look to put together for passing
success.
It sure looks like Steelers QB Kordell Stewart has his confidence back, doesn’t
it? He looked brilliant against Tennessee with a great long run for a touchdown (it looked
very much like a run his counterpart Steve McNair would make) and on-the-money passes.
With emerging WR Plaxico Burress and the great running of Jerome Bettis helping him,
Stewart appears to be the closest he’s been to his form of 1997 when he led
Pittsburgh to the AFC title game.
Boy, did New England RB Antowain Smith look good Sunday. He keyed a Patriots running
attack that shocked the Saints and led New England to a big 34-17 victory in a downpour.
Smith carried the ball 24 times for 111 yards and a touchdown and caught three passes for
41 yards and a score.
And speaking of the Patriots, their impressive rookie QB Tom Brady also looked great as
he won his sixth game as a starter. He was 19-of-27 for 258 yards with four touchdowns and
zero interceptions.
In fact, Brady has played so well, there are rumors of Drew Bledsoe being traded to the
Ravens after this season. The Ravens are apparently balking at locking up QB Elvis Grbac
with a multiyear deal and might be amenable to doing a deal with the Pats for Bledsoe.
For all of you gamblers out there, there were four backdoor covers this week, two
coming on Thanksgiving Day. Green Bay and Denver were both 6.5-point favorites on Turkey
Day and carried big leads into the fourth quarter. Both also gave up a couple of late
touchdowns and had to sweat out the final seconds before winning straight-up but losing
against the spread. Green Bay led 29-13 before settling for a 29-27 win while Denver led
26-3 before winning 26-24.
Sunday, the four-point favorite Dolphins looked dead in the water at Buffalo, trailing
27-17 with five minutes left. But Miami fed off a missed Bills PAT, drove downfield to cut
the lead to 27-24, forced the Bills to punt, drove for a game-tying field goal, then
recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and scored a TD with 48 seconds left for the
34-27 win.
Also Sunday, the three-point favorite Ravens gave up a late touchdown to Jacksonville
to fall behind 21-17. But much-maligned QB Elvis Grbac marched Baltimore down the field
and made a perfect throw to TE Shannon Sharpe for a touchdown with nine seconds left. The
extra point gave Ravens backers a miracle push.
Home Run Throwback Part 2: The Bears’ Leon Johnson fielded a punt late in the
first half Sunday night against the Vikings, took a couple of steps to midfield, then
stopped and threw a perfect, lateral pass to teammate Jerry Azumah, who raced down the
sideline for 16 yards before stepping out of bounds. OK, so it wasn’t a home run like
the play it succeeded (the Titans’ miraculous, game-winning play against the Bills in
January 2000), but the play did set up a field goal.
It sure looked like Vikings WR Randy Moss took Sunday night’s game off. He was a
one-man wrecking crew in Minnesota’s 28-16 dismantling of the Giants the previous
Monday night with three TD catches and 171 receiving yards. But against the rugged Bears
defense Sunday night, Moss disappeared, making four inconsequential catches for 25 yards.
More noteworthy were the boos that echoed throughout the Metrodome after each of
Moss’ three dropped passes in a 13-6 loss.
By the way, the Bears swept the season series from the Vikings for the first time since
1995.
Ravens TE Shannon Sharpe showed off his Hall of Fame credentials once again Sunday when
he made a clutch over-the-shoulder grab of an Elvis Grbac pass with nine seconds left for
the game-winning score in the Ravens’ 24-21 win over the Jaguars.
How good are the 49ers? They’ve scored four fourth-quarter victories this season,
including three in overtime. And they’re one fourth-quarter collapse (at Chicago in
Week Seven) from being 9-1. Jim Mora Jr.’s young defensive unit has jelled much more
rapidly than most expected, and he’s developed some real playmakers on that side of
the ball to complement the 49ers’ offensive stars such as QB Jeff Garcia, RB Garrison
Hearst and WR Terrell Owens. Heck, even WR J.J. Stokes looks like he’s stepping up
his level of play!
Give Dolphins QB Jay Fiedler credit. I’m not his biggest fan as a player, and he
came into Sunday’s game in Buffalo having thrown 15 interceptions and having fumbled
three times for 18 total turnovers. He stepped up big-time when the Dolphins needed him
most, leading Miami to 24 fourth-quarter points and a comeback 34-27 victory. The win
boosted the Dolphins to 7-3. |
