Week 8 Recap
Buccaneers 36 Vikings 17
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers went into Minnesota and won their first road game since the last time they won in Minnesota on September 18, 2011. The Buccaneers scored the first 13 points of the game and never looked back easily defeating the Vikings, 36-17.
Doug Martin rushed for 135 yards and scored a rushing and receiving touchdown. Martin’s receiving touchdown came in the third quarter when he took a short screen pass and rumbled 64 yards into the end zone. Martin’s rushing touchdown was a 1 yard run late in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
Josh Freeman had one of his best games in the National Football League throwing for 262 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions.
Adrian Peterson rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown but had a costly fumble that lead to a Buccaneers touchdown.
Christian Ponder struggled for the third straight week completing only 19 of his 35 passes for 251 yards. Ponder did hook up with Percy Harvin for a touchdown, but he was also intercepted.
Next week, the Buccaneers (3-4) travel to Oakland to play the Raiders and the Vikings (5-3) travel to Seattle to play the Seahawks.
Lions 28 Seahawks 24
The Detroit Lions trailed the Seattle Seahawks heading into the fourth quarter and then they trailed again with only five minutes left in the fourth quarter. It was the perfect time for Matt Stafford to go to work. In all three of the Lions victories this year, Stafford has lead his team back in the fourth quarter. Today, Stafford found Titus Young in the endzone with :20 seconds remaining in the game to give the Lions a 28-24 victory.
The Seahawks had taken an early second quarter lead when Marshawn Lynch broke off a 77 yard touchdown run. Just a few minutes later, Russell Wilson hooked up with Sidney Rice to give the Seahawks a 17-7 lead.
Before halftime, Stafford found Young for a 48 yard touchdown to cut the Seahawks halftime lead to 3. This set up another Lions comeback.
After a scoreless third quarter, the Lions and Seahawks traded leads in the fourth quarter.
Next week, the Lions (3-4) travel to Jacksonville to play the Jaguars, and the Seahawks (4-4) are home to play the Vikings.
Steelers 27 Redskins 12
The Pittsburgh Steelers held Robert Griffin III to 177 passing yards and only 8 yards rushing defeating the Washington Redskins, 27-12.
Griffin had his most frustrating day as a pro completing only 16 of his 34 pass attempts. The Steelers defense stymied the young star all day and possibly created a blueprint for the rest of the league to follow.
Ben Roethlisberger was not in the mood to be out done by a rookie in his stadium. Roethlisberger was 24 for 33 with 222 passing yards and 3 touchdown passes.
Jonathan Dwyer had another big day for the Steelers rushing for 107 yards.
Next week, the Steelers (4-3) will travel to Met Life Stadium to play the Giants, and the Redskins (3-5) are home to play the Panthers.
Falcons 30 Eagles 17
The 1972 Miami Dolphins might be getting nervous. The 2012 Atlanta Falcons crushed the Philadelphia Eagles 30-17 to improve to 7-0. The Falcons are the only undefeated team in the league. It was the first time that the Eagles had lost after their bye week under Andy Reid.
Matt Ryan passed for three touchdowns to three different receivers and Matt Bryant kicked three field goals for the Falcons.
The Falcons defense held the Eagles without a 300 yard passer, 100 yard rusher, and 100 yard receiver. The Eagles were only 6-13 on third down and 1-4 on fourth down.
Next week, the Falcons (7-0) are home to play the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football, and the Eagles (3-4) will travel to New Orleans to play the Saints on Monday Night Football.
Dolphins 30 Jets 9
The Miami Dolphins traveled to Met Life Stadium to play the New York Jets. After a 30-9 win, they left after stating a clear message, “We are the second best team in the AFC East.”
The Dolphins scored the first 20 points of the game and took a 20-0 lead into half time. The second half was not much better for the Jets who never got closer than 17 points down.
The news isn’t all good for Dolphins fans. Rookie quarterback, Ryan Tannehill injured his left knee and quadriceps muscle on a sack on third down by Calvin Pace on the Dolphins’ second possession of the game. Matt Moore played well in relief of Tannehill finishing 11 of 19 for 131 yards and a touchdown.
The Jets failed in all three phases of the game. The offense managed only 9 points. The defense gave up 23 points, and the special teams got a punt blocked near their own goal line that was recovered by the Dolphins for a touchdown.
Next week, the Dolphins (4-3) will travel to Indianapolis to play the Colts, and the Jets (3-5) will try to regroup on their bye.
Patriots 45 Rams 7
The St. Louis Rams could use some tea and crumpets. In the league’s annual trip to England, the New England Patriots demolished the St. Louis Rams, 45-7.
Things started ace for the Rams as Sam Bradford found Chris Givens for a 50 yard touchdown just a couple of minutes into the game to give them a 7-0 lead. From there, the Patriots scored 45 consecutive points in a performance so dominate the Queen was probably blushing.
Tom Brady passed for over 300 yards and had four touchdown passes and Stevan Ridley rushed for 107 yards and a touchdown. Rob Gronkowski showed the fans in London what it means to get Gronked catching 8 passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns.
Next week, the Patriots (5-3) and Rams (3-5) will take their time getting home and refresh their batteries on their bye week.
Colts 19 Titans 16 (OT)
The legend of Andrew Luck continues to grow with each passing game. Today, Luck lead his Colts team down the field in the final minutes of the game to force overtime and then lead his team to a game winning touchdown drive in overtime.
The game was won on a sick 16 yard catch and run by Colts running back Vick Ballard. Ballard took a short swing pass from Luck and weaved down the sideline towards the goal line before twisting his body and diving head first towards the pylon with his back facing the ground and his face looking up at the sky.
It was a tough loss for the Titans who missed a field goal in regulation and never got to touch the ball in overtime.
Next week, the Colts (5-3) are home to play the Dolphins, and the Titans (3-5) are home to play the Bears.
Packers 24 Jaguars 15
The Jacksonville Jaguars didn’t walk into Lambeau Field and defeat the Green Bay Packers. They say that there is no such thing as a moral victory in the National Football League. Regardless, the Jaguars and their fans have to be proud with the way their team fought despite losing to the Packers, 24-15.
The game was even closer than the score suggests with the Packers adding a tack on field goal with just :28 remaining. The Jaguars had the ball down 6 with a chance to take the lead late in the fourth quarter. Blaine Gabbert moved his team into Packers territory but the comeback bid fell short when a few passes to rookie Justin Blackmon failed to connect.
Aaron Rodgers connected with Randal Cobb and Donald Driver with touchdown passes despite throwing for only 158 yards.
Next week, the Packers (5-3) are home to play the Cardinals, and the Jaguars (1-6) are home to play the Lions.
Browns 7 Chargers 6
This game is not in progress. There is no time left on the clock. The game really ended with the Browns defeating the Chargers by a score of 7-6.
Trent Richardson scored the games only touchdown in the first quarter.
Nick Novak kicked two field goals for the Chargers.
Robert Meachem dropped a sure touchdown late in the fourth quarter that would have given the Chargers a late fourth quarter lead.
A nondescript recap for a nondescript game.
Next week, the Browns (2-6) are home to play the Ravens, and the Chargers (3-4) are home to play the Chiefs on Thursday Night Football.
Bears 23 Panthers 22
The Chicago Bears scored 16 points in the fourth quarter to complete a come from behind victory over the Carolina Panthers. Robbie Gould kicked a 41 as time expired to give the Bears a 23-22 victory.
The Bears were trailing the Panthers 19-7 heading into what would be a wild fourth quarter. First, Jay Cutler connected with Kellen Davis for a 12 yard touchdown to cut Carolina’s lead to 5. Then just 8 seconds later, Tim Jennings intercepted a Cam Newton pass and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown. Solider Field exploded with excitement despite the Bears failing to connect on the two-point conversion. For the first time since a Matt Forte touchdown opened the scoring, the Bears lead the game 22-20 with about 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Newton bounced back for the Panther. Cam lead his team into field goal range and Justin Medlock kicked a go ahead field goal with just over 2 minutes left in the game. Cutler had to match Newton and he did. Cutler was 7 of 8 on the Bears final drive leading the team on a 9 play 55 yard game winning drive that soaked up the last 2:27 of the game.
Next week, the Bears (6-1) will travel to Tennessee to play the Titans, and the Panthers (1-6) travel to Washington to play the Redskins.
Raiders 26 Chiefs 16
Heading into their game against the Oakland Raider the Kansas City Chiefs had not lead a game for 1 second of the entire NFL season. After their game against the Raiders, the Chiefs have still not lead for a single second on the NFL season.
Carson Palmer had two touchdown passes and Sebastian Janikowski kicked 4 field goals as the Raiders eased passed the Chiefs, 26-16.
Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn got action for the Chiefs, but they combined for only 219 yards passing and 2 interceptions. Quinn did find Dexter McCluster for a short touchdown late in the game to end a drought of 37 straight possessions without a touchdown for the Chiefs.
Next week, the Raiders (3-4) are home to play the Buccaneers, and the Chiefs (1-6) will travel to San Diego to play the Chargers.
Giants 29 Cowboys 24
After one quarter, it looked like the New York Giants were going to blow the Dallas Cowboys out of their beautiful new stadium for the fourth consecutive time. In the Cowboys three first quarter possessions Tony Romo was intercepted twice and they were forced to punt one. The Giants had built a 13-0 lead that would balloon to a 23-0 lead after Jason Pierre-Paul intercepted another Tony Romo pass and returned it for a touchdown.
From there, the Cowboys began to rally. Felix Jones scored on a 4 yard touchdown run. Dan Bailey kicked a 51 yard field goal. Then, Tony Romo rushed for a 1 yard touchdown and threw a 1 yard touchdown to give the Cowboys a 24-23 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Eli Manning lead the Giants down the field two times but were forced to settle for a pair of Lawrence Tynes field goals.
With just over 3 minutes remaining, Romo took the ball down 5 points. The Cowboys moved the ball to the Giants 20 yard line but failed to convert a 4th and 1. Romo was intercepted for the fourth time.
Late in the game, Tony Romo looked like he had connected with Dez Bryant for a game winning touchdown but the play was overturned when the video showed that Bryant’s hand touched out of bounds before his bottom hit the end zone.
The Cowboys turned the ball over six times. Steve Brown of the Giants intercepted Romo twice and recovered one of the Cowboys fumbles.
The Giants won for the fourth time in the new Cowboy Stadium, 29-24.
Next week, the Giants (6-2) are home to play the Steelers, and the Cowboys (3-4) will travel to Atlanta to play the undefeated Falcons.
Broncos 34 Saints 14
In a game that was billed as a battle between Peyton Manning vs. Drew Brees, the Denver Broncos destroyed the New Orleans Saints, 34-14.
Manning played a nearly perfect game completing 22 of his 30 passes for 305 yards and three touchdowns. Brees struggled all night to get the Saints offense moving. Brees finished 22 for 42 with 213 yards passing. Brees had two touchdown passes and extended his record of consecutive games with a touchdown pass to 50.
The Broncos out-gained the Saints by over 250 yards and gained over 525 yards. Willis McGahee rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown. Demaryius Thomas had 7 catches for 137 yards and a touchdown.
The Saints punted the ball 8 times and scored only 7 points after Darren Sproles’ touchdown on the first play of the second quarter.
Next week, the Broncos (4-3) travel to Cincinnati to play the Bengals, and the Saints (2-5) are home to play the Eagles on Monday Night football.
49ers 24 Cardinals 3
The San Francisco 49ers scored the first 24 points of the game and coasted to a 24-3 victory over the fading Arizona Cardinals.
Alex Smith was nearly perfect for the 49ers completing 18 of his 19 pass attempts for 232 yards. Smith had three touchdown passes including a pair to Michael Crabtree and one to Randy Moss. Smith was one attempt short of qualifying for the record of highest completion percentage in a game. The record is held by Kurt Warner.
Crabtree dominated Patrick Peterson the Cardinals young superstar. Crabtree beat Peterson five times for 72 yards and two touchdowns.
The Cardinals rushed for only 7 yards the lowest total for the franchise since 1953. They were the Chicago Cardinals then. The Cardinals started the season 4-0 but have lost their last four games to drop to 4-4.
Next week, the 49ers (6-2) are on their bye, and the Cardinals (4-4) travel to Green Bay to play the Packers.
