The 15-Play Drive

15-thoughts on week-13 in the NFL...

1. Gutsy performance by Ben Roethlisberger Sunday night. His nose looked how the Ravens probably feel today after losing a tough, physical game 13-10. Great game to watch by the way. I'd take Steelers/Ravens every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

2. So let me get this straight...Ravens linebacker Jameel McClain clearly delivers a brutal helmet to helmet hit on Steelers tight end Heath Miller and there's no flag. Yet Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh knocks down a scrambling Jay Cutler from behind and gets nailed with a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness. Referee Ed Hochuli called it a "non-football act--a blow to the back of the runners helmet in the process of him going down." And the league wonders why players are confused. I'll say this...if Cutler wasn't a quarterback, it wouldn't have been a penalty.

3. Caught up with Vikings QB Tarvaris Jackson on the Sunday Drive after his solid performance in relief of an injured Brett Favre, and Jackson was more than honest when I asked him if he felt he was auditioning for the job, "I'm only human. It's hard not to think about next season." To be fair, Jackson wasn't brilliant throwing 3-interceptions to go along with his 2-touchdown passes, but he more than held his own against the Bills. In other words, there was no real drop-off after Favre left the game.

4. Pat Sims is a Bengal through and though. That's the only way to explain his bone-headed neutral zone infraction against the Saints on 4th and 2 at the Cincinnati 7-yard line with 34-seconds remaining. His idiotic mistake gave New Orleans a 1st down, and the win as Drew Brees threw a 3-yard TD pass to Marques Colston on the next play. Watch the ball Pat. They don't teach that in Cincinnati?

5. There's aggressive, and then there's stupid. Chiefs head coach Todd Haley was the latter of the two in Sunday's 10-6 win over the Broncos. You're leading 10-3 midway through the 3rd quarter and it's 4th and goal at the 2-yard line. Kick the field goal and make it a two possession game Todd. That wasn't the time to roll the dice. Matt Cassel, who told me afterwards he "wasn't surprised" by Haley's decision, was sacked for a 13-yard loss on the play. Haley has gambled often this season, and most of the time things have worked out. But you have to know when to take the points, and he made an emotional decision against a Denver team that embarrassed him the first time around.

6. Never has the loss of one player crippled a team as much as Kurt Warner's retirement has to Arizona. Last season Warner threw for 3,753-yards with 26-TD's and 14-INT's. The Cardinals went 10-6, won the NFC West and averaged over 23-points per game. This year through 12-games Cardinals quarterbacks have thrown for a combined 2,480-yards with 8-TD's and 16-INT's. Arizona is now 3-9, putting them in last place in worst division in football, and they're averaging just over 16-points per game. Only the Panthers have scored less than the Cardinals.

7. No coincidence that the Todd Collins award of the week goes to Derek Anderson. The Cardinals quarterback completed just 7 of 20-passes for 93-yards with 0-TD's and 2-INT's before being pulled for Max Hall, a two time recipient of this award. In a related note, Anderson was not seen smiling or laughing while sitting on the bench.

8. If there's a better 4th quarter team than the Falcons, I haven't seen them. Atlanta has come from behind 6-times this season in the final quarter to win games, including Sunday's 28-24 victory against the Buccaneers.

9. It's 13-quarters and counting since the Titans scored an offensive touchdown. Along those lines, Randy Moss continued his disappearing act with 1-reception for 13-yards yesterday. In 4-games with Tennessee Moss has 5-catches and no touchdowns. That's some impact you're making Randy.

10. Peyton Manning might as well dress up as Santa, because he's handing out interceptions like Christmas presents. In the Colts first 9-games, Manning was picked off a total of 4-times. In their last 3, he's thrown 11-INT's, 4 of which have been returned for touchdowns.

11. It certainly helps when your team runs for 251-yards as they did against the Chargers, but anyone else notice that Raiders QB Jason Campbell seems to play a whole lot better when Bruce Gradkowski isn't looking over his shoulder.

12. Maybe its time to throw Maurice Jones-Drew into the MVP conversation. That's 5-straight 100-yard rushing games for the Jaguars running back. In 4 of those games, he's run for more yards than the other team.

MJD 186-yards Titans-57

MJD 113-yards Giants 135

MJD 133-yards Browns-88

MJD 100-yards Texans-53

MJD 135-yards Cowboys 50.

13. People still don't get it. This was the statement from Cowboys radio play by play man Brad Sham at the end of the 4th quarter Sunday with Dallas and Indianapolis headed for OT, "You lose the coin toss, you lose the game." Let me educate Brad and anyone else out there who hasn't picked up on this yet. We've now had 16-overtime games this season, and in 15-of them both teams had at least one possession. The Cowboys lost the coin toss Sunday, but they won the game. Any questions?

14. Talk about home field disadvantage. Miami is 6-6, but just 1-5 at Sun Life Stadium. They score a field goal less at home than they do on the road.

15. I agree that it's a quarterback's league, but if the playoffs began today Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, Kyle Orton and Aaron Rodgers would all be watching from home. That's 4 of the top-5 passing QB's in the NFL this year.