Boom or bust was the theme for several teams this week including Miami who headed into Buffalo needing a win to stay in the playoff race. Miami had a big win last week against New England and they were looking to walk over a Bills team with nothing to play for except divisional pride against one of their biggest rivals.
The game began as you would expect any division battle too with both teams exchanging punts on their first series and the rain was coming down heavily. You knew it was going to be a low scoring game as soon as the rain hit. On Buffalo’s second possession they managed to drive the ball 69 yards in just over one minute courtesy of a great 57 yard catch by Robert Woods. This lead to a Buffalo field goal and a three nil lead with just over half of the first quarter played.
By the time the Bills scored again in the second quarter with a nine yard run from Fred Jackson, the Dolphins had done nothing but Punt every time they had the ball. This trend would continue for the entire first half and they could not even capitalise on an interception by Nolan Carroll!
Halftime came and with the score 10 – 0 to Buffalo it was very difficult to know who was playing to get to the post season and who's season had finished. In fact for the rest of the game Miami just could not move the ball, admittedly some of that is down to the front four defenders of the Bills who set a new franchise record for sacks in a season.
The game finished with Buffalo shutting out the Miami Dolphins and in doing so they also quashed Miami’s hopes of making the playoffs!
We now move onto another game which featured a division rivalry along with playoff connotations and that is the Dallas Cowboys trip to the capital to face the Washington Redskins. These two teams are NFC East rivals and Dallas went into the game knowing nothing but a win was acceptable.
Over these last few games the Redskins have decided to rest Robert Griffin III and instead start the young quarterback Kirk Cousins. I believe the idea behind this is to rest RG3 and also gives them the chance to see what Cousins brings to the table. Washington had the first possession of the game and were unable to do anything with the ball. Washington punted the ball away and we were then treated to a fantastic punt return by Micheal Spurlock of the Cowboys as he ran the ball back 62 yards before being pushed out of bounds at the Redskins three yard line.
Two plays later the Cowboys were in the endzone thanks to a three yard run from DeMarco Murray and things were looking good for them. Each teams ended up with a punt however after a big punt return from Santana Moss, the Redskins were able to get three points making it 7 – 3 as the first quarter came to an end.
The Redskins would strike first in the second quarter with another field goal and it looked like they had started to make a nice little comeback. On Dallas next drive however the Cowboys would score a 14 yard touchdown pass to Dez Bryant which was set up by an earlier 43 yard run from DeMarco Murray. Halftime came and the Cowboys were winning 14 – 6, things were looking good for Romo finally!
We move on now to third quarter and it started quite disastrously for Dallas as Tyler Clutts was forced to fumble the ball by Josh Wilson who also recovered said fumble. Washington went on to score a touchdown following the turnover and on the next drive Dallas would again turn the ball over as Tony Romo’s pass to Dez Bryant was intercepted by DeAngelo Hall. Washington again capitalised on this mistake and scored another touchdown making the score 20 – 14 as we came to the end of third quarter.
This was a complete turnaround from the first half and Dallas looked like they would let their playoff hopes just slip away. The fourth quarter started with a Washington field goal to increase their lead to 23 – 14, more pain for the Cowboys. It was now or never for Dallas and the question was, could Tony Romo come good in a clutch situation?
On their next drive Dallas would get a field goal and followed it up by forcing Washington to punt. There was now just over three minutes left on the clock and the pressure was really on the Cowboys and to be fair to Romo he really showed a toughness as he managed to put his side in front with a 10 yard touchdown pass to DeMarco Murray and he left just over a minute for Washington to reply. For me it wasn’t so much the Touchdown on fourth down that highlighted his ability, it was instead this play on 2nd and 10 as he avoided the pressure and threw the ball to Terrence Williams for a 51 yard gain. Check out the highlights of this game below:
The Cowboys game against the Eagles next week now takes on even more significance as the winner of it will be crowned the NFC East champions and will go on into the playoffs. Will it be Tony Romo or Nick Foles who will get all of the glory?
Of course these were not the only division games with big playoff implications and we now head to Charlotte, North Carolina where the Panthers hosted the Saints for top spot in the NFC South.
The first quarter did not really see any action apart from an interception of Cam Newton by Malcolm Jenkins on the Saints 10 yard line and the score was 0 – 0 going into the second quarter. Both defences were on top form and the adverse weather was also playing its part in hindering the Saints gun slinging offence.
The second quarter would again prove to be a defence orientated quarter with the Saints only managing two field goals before Carolina scored on a 43 yard touchdown run by DeAngelo Williams. At the half the score was finely poised at 7 – 6 to the Panthers and you just didn’t know who was going to take the advantage and run with it.
The only score in the third quarter was a field goal for Carolina and so let us skip forward now to the fourth quarter with the Panthers up 10 – 6. The saints managed to score on a five yard pass to Jimmy Graham and left the Panthers with six minutes to score either a game tying field goal or the winning touchdown.
Unfortunately for the Panthers they could not move the ball on either of their next two possessions and they had to rely on their defence stopping the Saints one more time to give them any chance of winning the game. Luckily for Carolina they have one of the best defences in the league and with 55 seconds left on the clock they got the ball back at their own 35 yard line.
For anyone out there who is skeptical of Cam Newton I suggest you watch the game highlights by clicking on the picture below to find out how the game finished:
For anyone out there who is skeptical of Cam Newton I suggest you watch the game highlights by clicking on the picture below to find out how the game finished:
At this time of the year there are so many games and things of note to talk about that I think it is best you also check out our podcast ‘Spitball’ which will be posted later in the week as I am unable to cover everything in this blog L With that said here are all of the results from Week 16 baring the Monday Night game to be played later tonight:
Miami 0 vs 19 Buffalo
New Orleans 13 vs 17 Carolina
Dallas 24 vs 23 Washington
Indianapolis 23 vs 7 Kansas City
Tampa Bay 13 vs 23 St Louis
Arizona 17 vs 10 Seattle
Pittsburgh 38 vs 31 Green Bay
Chicago 11 vs 54 Philadelphia
Cleveland 13 vs 24 New York Jets
Minnesota 14 vs 42 Cincinnati
Denver 37 vs 13 Houston
Tennessee 20 vs 16 Jacksonville
New York Giants 23 vs 20 Detroit
New England 41 vs 7 Baltimore
Oakland 13 vs 26 San Diego
To be played Monday 23rd December 2013
Atlanta vs San Francisco
New Orleans 13 vs 17 Carolina
Dallas 24 vs 23 Washington
Indianapolis 23 vs 7 Kansas City
Tampa Bay 13 vs 23 St Louis
Arizona 17 vs 10 Seattle
Pittsburgh 38 vs 31 Green Bay
Chicago 11 vs 54 Philadelphia
Cleveland 13 vs 24 New York Jets
Minnesota 14 vs 42 Cincinnati
Denver 37 vs 13 Houston
Tennessee 20 vs 16 Jacksonville
New York Giants 23 vs 20 Detroit
New England 41 vs 7 Baltimore
Oakland 13 vs 26 San Diego
To be played Monday 23rd December 2013
Atlanta vs San Francisco
Well that wraps it up from me this week but until next time football fans, stay safe, take care and ‘Thanks for Stopping By’.