Week 11 Quick Hits

NY Jets @ Denver - While watching this game I joked that if Tim Tebow could lead the Broncos back that I would buy his jersey for my dog. Well, if anyone has a link to a dog sized #15 Broncos jersey, preferably in blue, I would appreciate it. Sure, it wasn't pretty and watching him pass is painful at times, but he still does enough to win and that's more than any "pro-style" quarterback could do with the Broncos offense at this moment. Watching Tebow run against the Jets defense opened my eyes to something very interesting. There was one particular play where Tebow ran towards Darrelle Revis' side and instead of running out of bounds Tebow ran through Revis' arm tackle. I don't think that he was expecting Tebow to attempt running through him but after seeing that I knew that Denver was destined to win this game. On the other side of the field, the Jets got another poor game with Mark Sanchez and lost Shonn Greene to a rib injury that shouldn't sideline him this week. This loss puts the Jets in a tough situation and they must win this week against Buffalo just to keep pace with other wild card contenders in the AFC.

Oakland @ Minnesota - The biggest news items that came from this game concerned Adrian Peterson and Darrius Heyward-Bey. His high ankle sprain is likely to keep him on the sidelines for the next few weeks. Even though he has a high tolerance for pain and it's only a Grade 1 sprain there is also some ligament damage and these types of injuries almost always require several weeks. The Vikings don't have anything to play for this year anyway, so there's no need to risk the franchise. Christian Ponder had two touchdowns in garbage time but he at least looks like a NFL caliber quarterback. Heyward-Bey had a scary injury after he hit it off of E.J. Henderson's knee. Thankfully he turned out to have full use of his extremities and "just" suffered a concussion (along with neck and back injuries, thanks for the vague update, Hue Jackson). After two weeks without a catch DHB had caught four passes and seemed poised for another breakout game. Now it will be up to Denarius Moore, Jacoby Ford, Chaz Schilens, and Kevin Boss to make up for his loss. But hey, at least the Carson Palmer trade doesn't look completely terrible.

Buffalo @ Miami - Holy crap, Bills. They went from the top offense in the league to scoring eight points against the lowly Fins. I don't know what has suddenly happened to Ryan Fitzpatrick but personally I think a good starting point to righting the ship is getting the ball to Fred Jackson. Twelve total touches isn't enough for one of the best backs in the league and he is by far their biggest playmaker. I know he suffered a calf injury but they didn't seem to even do much with him while he was out there. The Bills will be in a lot of trouble if the injury sidelines him past this week (he's already been ruled out for Week 12). Give Miami all the credit in the world, though, Matt Moore has played phenomenally since taking charge and he did all of his damage without Brandon Marshall (one catch, five yards). Daniel Thomas has been a bit a disappointment (32 carries in the past two games, 2.9 yards per carry) but the Fins are still winning without him.

Cincinnati @ Baltimore - The Ravens gave Ray Rice the ball and they won the game. Way to go Cam Cameron, you realized that your best player should be featured prominently in the game plan. Joe Flacco seems to be all over the place but thankfully for Baltimore the good version showed up on Sunday. It didn't hurt that Torrey Smith overwhelmed the Bengals' secondary and could pretty much do whatever he wanted. Still, the offense flows through Rice and he had 25 touches that led to two scores. Still, this was a game that the Ravens were expected to win, even without Ray Lewis, because the Bengals were without their biggest playmaker in A.J. Green. The Bengals kept things close and Jerome Simpson had a monster game in Green's absence but Andy Dalton threw three killer interceptions. It will get interesting in the AFC North in the coming weeks as the Bengals get Green back and have match-ups with the Steelers and Ravens remaining. Unfortunately their defense has a big hole without Leon Hall and the Ravens exploited that.

Jacksonville @ Cleveland - Chris Ogbonnaya had a great game and led the Browns to a win with 115 yards on the ground and chipped in two catches. It wasn't pretty or particularly fun to watch but that's just how the Browns are this year. Greg Little is their best playmaker but as long as Colt McCoy is there he will fail to put up monster stats. Still, McCoy is not unlike Tebow in that he may not have the great stats but the Browns are far more competitive with his ability to run than they would be with a statue, drop back passer under center. Peyton Hillis seems like a distant dream and Cleveland has a chance to play spoiler the rest of the way with a matchup against the Bengals this week then the Ravens and Steelers. They also finish the season with games against Baltimore and Pittsburgh so they may actually dictate who wins the AFC North. As far as the Jags are concerned, I struggle to really write about them. Maurice Jones-Drew continues to be effective but Blaine Gabbert looks lost at times and you couldn't pick their wide receivers out of a lineup. Marcedes Lewis is nice but he shouldn't be a team's #1 receiving option.

Dallas @ Washington - The Redskins should probably fire Graham Gano to the moon at this point. I don't know if I would even trust the guy to make a kick to save my life over someone off the street. The 'Skins could of thrown a roadblock in the Cowboys' playoff hopes but thanks to Gano they were unable to seize the moment. Rex Grossman played well but we've all been down this road before and I refuse to praise him when I know that in the next week or two he'll melt down again. Still, the Cowboys secondary was unable to match up against Jabar Gaffney and Donte Stallworth and that can be a problem against teams with actual elite receivers. The Cowboys, on the other hand, got another great performance from Tony Romo and DeMarco Murray kept things rolling. Dez Bryant had another spectacular play in the first quarter and disappeared until overtime where he caught a drive preserving 26-yard pass. Laurent Robinson continues to be red hot and this offense is clicking on all cylinders without their top receiver in Miles Austin.

Tampa Bay @ Green Bay - Is it bad when a team's best performance is in a loss? This is the Tampa Bay team that I visualized in the preseason and if they played like this every week they could easily flip their 4-6 record if not something better. Josh Freeman played well though the Packers' defense got two picks off of him but LeGarrette Blount looked just like the guy I thought he could be this year. He punished the Green Bay defense and it goes to show if you don't pull your best player when you fall behind in the second quarter that he can still do some damage. Kellen Winslow looked like a monster as well though he did have a few key drops but overall the Tampa offense did a fantastic job. Even their defense did a good job even though they gave up 35 points. Aaron Rodgers had an "off" game (he completed a mere 67.6% of his passes!) but he did miss Greg Jennings on three throws that would have easily gone for more than 25 yards. Jordy Nelson picked up the slack once Jennings went out, though, and the Tampa secondary just didn't have an answer. This proves that teams can score on Green Bay as long as they stay balanced but it also shows that you have to keep pace with Rodgers and the offensive unit. Few teams can do that and Tampa isn't one of them.

Carolina @ Detroit - Last week I said that Detroit would take out their frustrations on the Panthers and for the first half it looked like they were sleepwalking. When the third quarter started, though, it was like a switch was flipped on and Matt Stafford three three of his five touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters. Cam Newton threw four interceptions but he did get one touchdown through the air and another two on the ground. Kevin Smith exploded, much like Chris Johnson before him, against the Panthers defense and had three total touchdowns, including two on the ground. With him running wild it opened up lanes for Calvin Johnson who hauled in five passes and a score of his own. The Lions needed this win badly heading in a matchup against the Packers tomorrow night and even though Stafford threw two picks it's tough to argue with the results.

Arizona @ San Francisco - This game was all 49ers. From the get go they were all over the Cardinals and though Richard Bartel threw a late touchdown to Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona's offense was suffocated all day. Alex Smith continued his redemption tour and Frank Gore made his triumphant return. Michael Crabtree also emerged in a big way and maybe we are finally seeing him live up to some of that potential. The NFC West was over like a month ago but this just proves that it is a complete runaway and may be for the next few years. Arizona, St. Louis, and Seattle lack the talent to compete against San Fran and all of those teams are outclassed in the coaching department.

Seattle @ St. Louis - The Rams got an early touchdown from Brandon Lloyd and then they proceeded to pack it in. Steven Jackson was ineffective and the Seahawks ran off 24 unanswered points in what was statistically a rout. The Seahawks only managed 289 yards but the Rams somehow put together a mere 185 of their own. I feel sorry for anyone who had to watch this game all the way through but at least Marshawn Lynch had a few highlight reel runs and Sidney Rice threw a 55-yard pass to Mike Williams. That's about it though, this one was a snoozer.

San Diego @ Chicago - The Bears won the game but suffered an even bigger loss than the Chargers. Jay Cutler has been lost for the season and that means that teams will have little to fear from the Bears passing attack. I had planted myself firmly on the Bears bandwagon last week but I may have to start looking for an ejection seat as the Caleb Hanie experience takes center stage . Matt Forte can keep the offense afloat and the Bears have the best special teams squad in football but losing Cutler is massive. The defense will keep them in games but it'll be an even bigger struggle for a Chicago offense that was really hitting its stride (they had scored 30 points in four of their past five games). San Diego continued to be a tire fire and Philip Rivers threw another two interceptions bringing his season total to 17. Still, it was great to see the old Rivers-Cutler rivalry renewed even if there seems to have been a reversal of roles between the two.

Tennessee @ Atlanta - The Titans offense was spinning its tires until Jake Locker took over. Yes, a good part of that was the stout Atlanta defense that made Chris Johnson have a historically bad game on the ground. However, Matt Hasselbeck did little to improve the situation and though Locker took over in garbage time he still looked a lot better than Hasselbeck on this day. I don't think this has the makings of a quarterback controversy just yet but perhaps Locker will be another success story from this year's QB class. Even though Matt Ryan had a great game I still can't help but feel uninspired by the game. I talked to Bryan about this and he agreed that Ryan just seems to be lacking something. He's surrounded with a great cast and occasionally puts up monster games (see: earlier this year against Philadelphia) but it just doesn't seem like he will ever take a step into elite territory. It was still a good win for the Falcons after last week's heartbreaker. This team will only continue to get better as they get healthy.

Philadelphia @ NY Giants - So are we seeing the erosion of this year's Giants? The offensive line was unable to block anyone and Eli Manning never could get comfortable. Not everything is the line's fault, though, because the pick that he threw looked like it was intended for Jamar Chaney. The Giants couldn't exploit Philly's biggest weakness (rushing defense) and Brandon Jacobs had a dreadful game. I would say we should wait and see how they bounce back but the next two weeks for the Giants are brutal with matchups at New Orleans and against Green Bay. The Giants do seem to play up to their competition and losing to Philly at the Meadowlands is just something they do on an annual basis but they could very likely be at .500 in two weeks. The NFC East is out of their control at this point and they should just hope to back in as a wild card. The Eagles got exactly what they needed: a win. Vince Young may not have had great stats or looked good in the effort but he led his team to a victory and down the field for the game winning drive. DeSean Jackson played well in both the receiving and return games but again: it's DeSean Jackson against the Giants in the Meadowlands. He does this every single time and there's no reason for Eagles fans to get all giddy and demand that the team pay the man. He still runs really fast in straight lines and most good teams can design a defense to take that away.

Kansas City @ New England - Going into last year's draft there were health and speed issues with Rob Gronkowski. Aaron Hernandez had character issues and couldn't block. A year later the Patriots have designed an offense around the two of them and I would be hard-pressed to find a better receiving tandem in the league. Gronkowski looked inhuman at times on Monday night and I wish defenses the best of luck in trying to slow him down. At 6'6'', 265 he is able to just snatch the ball out of the air and smaller defensive backs can't do a thing about it. He can run through linebackers and we also saw his hurdling ability on the second touchdown. Of course it helps to have Tom Brady as the triggerman and Wes Welker on the outside. Welker was kept relatively quiet thanks to Brandon Flowers but the Chiefs were never really in this game. Tyler Palko was successful starting in place of the injured Matt Cassel and once again the Patriots defense stepped up to the challenge. Dwayne Bowe and Steve Breaston got their chunks of yardage but when they needed a stop the Patriots pass rush was able to hurry and force Palko into bad throws. As an aside, can you imagine how the schedule makers at ESPN felt about this game after Cassel was knocked out? Monday Night Football was already a train wreck but this one was unwatchable for anyone who didn't have a vested interest in the Patriots.