NFL Roundup: Week 13

Some observations, comments and opinions about last weeks NFL games.

Arizona 34, St. Louis 20
Marcel Shipp scored three touchdowns, Edgerrin James had 115 yards rushing and Matt Leinart won for the second time in seven pro starts for Arizona (3-9), which made the most of the Rams' mistakes (10 penalties, 126 yards) to win for the first time on the road this season. St. Louis has now lost six of its last seven games after a 4-1 start.

Houston 23, Oakland 14
The Texans didn't complete a pass in the second half, finished the game with negative yards passing and somehow found a way to beat the Raiders (2-10) at Oakland. Demarcus Faggins scored on a 58-yard fumble return and Houston (4-8) used two long returns and a pair of fumbles by Randal Williams to set up 16 more points in the second half.

Atlanta 24, Washington 14
The Falcons (6-6) rallied from a 14-0 deficit to score 24 unanswered points to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Redskins fell to 4-8 on the season. Rookie Jerius Norwood had a 69-yard touchdown run to highlight the Atlanta run.

New Orleans 34, San Francisco 10
Reggie Bush tied Joe Horn's franchise record by scoring all four of the Saints' touchdowns and gained 168 total yards at New Orleans. Drew Brees failed to reach 300 yards passing for the first time in six games. He finished 17 of 28 for 186 yards. New Orleans is now 8-4, while San Francisco dropped to 5-7.

New England 28, Detroit 21
Corey Dillon's three short touchdown runs overcame 10 penalties, four turnovers and a safety at Foxborough, Mass. The Patriots (9-3) didn't lead in the second half until Dillon scored on a four-yard run with 2:33 left. Mike Vrabel's interception, his second of the game, sealed the victory against the Lions (2-10), who have the NFL's worst record over the last six years at 23-69.

Jacksonville 24, Miami 10
David Garrard threw for 229 yards and two touchdowns at Miami. The Jaguars (7-5) won for only the second time on the road and ended a four-game winning streak by the Dolphins (5-7).

New York Jets 38, Green Bay 10
Chad Pennington put together three touchdown drives of 70 yards or more in the second quarter and the Jets cruised at Green Bay. New York (7-5) built a 31-0 halftime lead. The Packers (4-8) barely managed to avoid being shut out at home for the third time this season.

Cleveland 31, Kansas City 28 OT
Browns backup quarterback Derek Anderson threw two touchdown passes in the final nine minutes of regulation and ran 33 yards in overtime to set up Phil Dawson's 33-yard field goal at Cleveland. Anderson had taken only one snap before Sunday. However, he replaced injured starter Charlie Frye and rallied the Browns (4-8). Trent Green threw four touchdown passes for the Chiefs (7-5).

San Diego 24, Buffalo 20
LaDainian Tomlinson had 178 yards rushing helping the Chargers (10-2) extend their winning streak to six. With a 51-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, Tomlinson joined Eric Dickerson as the second NFL player to reach 1,200 yards rushing in each of his first six seasons. His 26 touchdowns are two off the single-season mark set by Seattle's Shaun Alexander last season. The Bills (5-7) were limited to 231 yards of offense.

Tennessee 20, Indianapolis 17
Rob Bironas kicked a 60-yard field goal — the franchise's longest ever — with seven seconds left, and the Titans upset Indianapolis for their first victory over the Colts since December 2002 and their second straight amazing comeback. The team that tied for the NFL's second-biggest comeback in the final 10 minutes last week against the New York Giants struck again against the Colts (10-2), who had lost only four of their previous 36 games. The Titans (5-7)intercepted two Peyton Manning passes, and Vince Young threw for two touchdowns and used his legs to help keep the ball away from the two-time NFL MVP.

Chicago 23, Minnesota 13
Devin Hester ran into the record book again, Ricky Manning Jr. returned an interception for a touchdown and the Bears claimed their second NFC North title in a row with the victory over the Vikings (5-7). Hester tied an NFL record with his fourth touchdown return, and Manning returned an interception 54 yards for the Bears (10-2), who lead the NFC by two games.

Dallas 23, New York Giants 20
Martin Gramatica, just signed this week, kicked a 46-yard field goal with a second left Sunday to give the Cowboys the win over the Giants and a two-game lead in the NFC East. It was the fourth straight loss for the Giants (6-6) and the fourth win in five games for Dallas (8-4) since Tony Romo replaced Drew Bledsoe at quarterback.

Cincinnati 13, Baltimore 7
T.J. Houshmandzadeh caught a 40-yard touchdown pass on a flea-flicker, sparking the Bengals to the victory over the Ravens that kept the AFC North title up for grabs. Coming off a 30-0 shutout in Cleveland, one of the NFL's lowest-ranked defenses held Baltimore (9-3) scoreless until Steve McNair threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Derrick Mason with 1:01 to play. Cincinnati improved to 7-5 with the win.

Pittsburgh 20, Tampa Bay 3
The Steelers (5-7) entered with a league-high 30 turnovers, but this time limited themselves to one turnover while Tampa Bay gave away the ball four times - and, with it, the game - in losing its sixth in seven games. The Bucs (3-9) have scored only five touchdowns in losing all six road games this season. Ben Roethlisberger threw two TD passes to lead Pittsburgh.

Seattle 23, Denver 20
Josh Brown tied an NFL single-season record with his fourth winning field goal in the final minute, nailing a 50-yarder with four seconds left to give the Seahawks a win over the stumbling Broncos. Rookie defensive lineman Darryl Tapp returned Jay Cutler's first interception 25 yards for a touchdown and the Seahawks (8-4) took advantage of five turnovers to send the Broncos (7-5) to their third consecutive loss.

After 13 weeks the playoff scenarios are finally starting to clear up.

In the NFC, the Bears have clinched the NFC North and barring a total collapse, will clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Dallas and Seattle have comfortable division leads and should wrap up the East and West fairly soon. The Saints hope that Carolina loses to Philadelphia tonight, which would give New Orleans a two-game lead.

The only thing that appears up in the air is thew wild card berths. As many as seven teams still stand a chance to get in the NFC playoffs.

Over in the AFC, the divisional races are pretty clear. New England, Baltimore, Indianapolis and San Diego are up by two or more games in each of the divisions and will clinch. The only thing left to decide is who gets home field throughout the playoffs - the Chargers or the Colts?

The wild card picture is a pretty muddled with the Jets, Bengals, Jaguars, Broncos and Chiefs all at 7-5 and in the hunt.

The Panthers (6-5) hope to stay close to the Saints in the NFC South with a win over the Eagles (5-6) on Monday night, while Philly can stay in the wild card chase if it can pull out the victory.

The Eagles start their second game without the services of Donovan McNabb and will try to rebound from a dismal stretch that has seen Philadelphia go 1-5 after a 4-1 start.


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