Nick Russ here with your Christmas week of pro football. In a week with plenty of playoff implications, one of the more important ones was not as dramatic as earlier thought. Give credit to Pittsburgh they played a tough game but Tennessee proved they were number 1. 21 of Tennessee's 31 points all came from turnovers. Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger threw 2 picks, one as the final seconds ticked away, and two fumbles. The only scores in the first half for the Titans came from a Kerry Collins TD pass to Justin Gage for 34 yards and a Rob Bironas field goal. After his fumble led to Tennessee scoring Roethlisberger drove down the field and connected for his 100th career TD to Santonio Holmes. Then out of the gate he capped a 4 play drive in the third with a 21 yard pass to Hines Ward to give them the lead. Tennessee answered with a 4th down pitch out to Chris Johnson that ended with a 21 yard touch down. It was down hill for Pittsburgh from there. Michael Griffin intercepted Roethlisberger for the second time and returned all the way to the 1 yard line where Lindel White took it in. Tennessee sacked Roethlisberger 5 times all without pro-bowlers Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch. This marks the 8th victory in 9 games that Tennessee has won at home against the Steelers.
Else where the race has narrowed in one division while another will have its deciding game on Sunday night. The Jets trip to Seattle ended with a crushing loss. The score was only 13-3 but it pretty much eliminates the Jets from the playoffs and could very possibly mean Brett Favre's last game on Sunday. The other teams Miami and New England all won but Miami is in the clinch position. Miami lead by ex-Jet Chad Pennington has to beat his former team the Jets to clinch the division. A Miami loss and a New England win over Buffalo means the division is the Patriots. New England could reach the playoffs if Baltimore loses to Jacksonville. I personally cant believe that the AFC west is going to come down to the last game between Denver and San Diego. These two have stumbled around alllllll year and it has come to this. I've said before that the Chargers were one of the most disappointing teams this year and a win Sunday helps vindicate them of that. Denver loses that means they blew it and Mike Shanahan's job might be in trouble.
The Bears got a gift early this year. Every team that they needed to lose, lost including Minnesota. In an arctic setting the Bears fought a spoiler driven Packers team in to overtime. Special teams proved to be the deciding factor in the game as Bears QB Kyle Orton threw two picks and only completed 14 of 27 passes with a touch down to tight end Greg Olsen. The Bears managed to block 2 Mason Crosby field goals including one at the end of regulation. On punts the Bears managed to recover a live ball that bounced into Packers Jarret Bush that led to the Orton-Olsen touchdown. The Bears need help to make the playoffs. To their benefit their much alive in the division race due to Minnesota losing. If the Giants beat Minnesota and Chicago beats Houston they win the North. If both Tampa Bay and Dallas lose then the Bears clinch a wild card spot. But it all comes down to beating Houston. Minnesota losing Sunday is a possibility as Giants coach Tom Coughlin believes on maintaing momentum and might not rest his starters.
Speaking of the Giants the game was as good as predicted with Carolina. Anchored by running back Derrick Ward rushing for 215 yards, the Giants now set themselves up as number 1 in the NFC. It was really a rushing game. DeAngelo Williams had 4 touchdowns and 108 yards while Giants Brandon Jacobs raked in 3 touchdowns and 87 yards. One of his touchdowns came with 3:21 in the game to set up Eli Manning to throw to Domenik Hixon to tie the game late capping a 21-7 second half. Carolina had a chance to win the game with a 50 yard field goal but the strong wind pushed it wide left. After both sides swapped failed drives New York nearly gave the ball to Carolina after R.W. McQuarters muffed a punt on the Giants 13 yard line. Immediately after Derrick Ward ran 51 yards to the Carolina 36 and he eventually got the Giants to the 2 where Brandon Jacobs took it in for the score and win.
Last week I went 1-3 bringing my overall to 24-24
This week I'll take The Bears over Houston
The Jets over Miami
Baltimore over Jacksonville
And my final game of the week Denver over San Diego
Image courtesy of Nam Y. Huh
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