Happy Thanksgiving from all at the Ballhawksnest
If I was to say to you that one of the current NFL wide receivers broke a record this weekend, who would be your first choice? Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald perhaps, well unfortunately you would be wrong!
This week a young receiver by the name of Josh Gordon became the first NFL player to have back to back 200+ yard receiving games when Cleveland took on Jacksonville. It is amazing to think in this quarterback driven league that we live in today, this has not happened before. Congratulations to Josh Gordon, can he make it three in a row next week?
Let us back track now to some Thanksgiving day football as the Detroit Lions played host to the Green Bay Packers. With Green Bay being down to their backup quarterback in Matt Flynn it would be easy to right off the Packers however the Detroit Lions have not won a home game on Thanksgiving since 2003.
The first drive was looking good for the Lions as they drove 69yards in 10 plays, unfortunately on the 10th Play Reggie Bush fumbled the ball and Green Bay recovered in their own half. Green Bay was unable to do anything off the ensuing drive and to be honest this was the only real action in the first quarter.
Both teams then exchanged field goals before Green Bay forced a fumble out of Matthew Stafford which was picked up and returned for a touchdown by Morgan Burnett. Things were looking good for Green Bay however Detroit answered back with a five yard touchdown reception from Jeremy Ross. Green Bay continued to struggle on offence and the Lions scored again before halftime, this time courtesy of a one yard run by Reggie Bush.
With the score just at 17 – 10 at halftime like most fans I was expecting a close finish, unfortunately the Packers offence was unable to move the ball and they had to sit on the sideline whilst Detroit lit up the scoreboard courtesy of Calvin Johnson, Joique Bell and a great one handed catch by Kevin Ogletree. Detroit managed to get their first win on Thanksgiving in ten years with this 40 – 10 victory and they sat on top of the NFC North, the question is for how long?
Thanksgiving also saw two other games as the Cowboys faced off against Oakland and the Pittsburgh Steelers travelled to Baltimore to face their AFC North rivals. Check out the highlights of all three games by clicking the corresponding pictures below:
We move on now to the Sunday games and the big showdown at the top of the AFC West between Kansas City and Denver at the Arrowhead stadium in Kansas. This was a rematch of the battle from week 11 which was comfortably won by Denver.
I have to confess that this game did not disappoint and it started with Kansas driving the ball 67 yards before Alex Smith threw an interception in the end zone. On Denver’s first drive Peyton Manning returned the favour and threw an interception of his own. This time Kansas would capitalise on the mistake as they scored on a 17 yard pass to Junior Hemmingway with a few minutes left in the first quarter.
The second quarter started just as quick as the first with Denver scoring on 41 yard pass from Manning to Eric Decker and the following kick off was returned 108 yards by Knile Davis for a Kansas score. Again Kansas managed to intercept Peyton Manning and again this led to a 12 yard touchdown pass to Anthony Fasano. The Chiefs were now up 21 – 7 and all was looking good.
Denver then got a touchdown back before halftime meaning it was 21-14 to the Chiefs going into the second half although Denver did have the ball first to start the second half. The second half should be named the Eric Decker show as he went on to catch three more touchdowns and put the Broncos in an excellent position to win the game. The Chiefs unfortunately could not get anything going despite some amazing catches and they only managed a consolation touchdown which came from a one yard run from Jamaal Charles. I feel like the description has not done it justice, so please click on the picture below to see the game highlights:
Okay so some of those catches made me realise that I haven’t included the NFL’s top five catches of the week in a long time so check out this week’s fine collection by clicking on the picture below:
Before we get to all the scores I just want to come back the game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cleveland Browns as it is definitely worth the air time this week. The scoring started in the first quarter with Cleveland taking a seven nil lead courtesy of a 1 yard Willis McGahee touchdown run. The Jags then managed to answer back with a 18 yard pass to Clay Harbour.
The second quarter started with 21 yard touchdown pass to Josh Gordon and by this point in the game Gordon was already on 166 receiving yards. Jacksonville then took charge and scored 13 unanswered points making it 20 – 14 at halftime. The third quarter saw just one touchdown but in the fourth quarter it all kicked off on the scoreboard.
Halfway through the fourth quarter the Jags scored a safety as Brandon Weedon kicked the ball out of the endzone and the followed that up with a field goal with just four minutes left in the game. The Browns then found themselves on their own five yard line at the start of the ensuing drive and just when you thought they were stuck, Weedon connects on a pass to Josh Gordon which then goes 95 yards for the score. In doing this Gordon achieved back to back games with 200+ receiving yards for the first time in NFL history and what a time to score as well.
At this point I had written the Jags off but with just 40 seconds left on the game clock Chad Henne hit Cecil Shorts III on a 20 yard touchdown pass which won the game. Let’s check out the highlights of the game by clicking on Cecil’s picture below:
Okay so now that game is out of the way, here are all the scores from week 13 baring the Monday Night game to be played later today:
Detroit 40 vs 10 Green Bay
Oakland 24 vs 31 Dallas
Pittsburgh 20 vs 22 Baltimore
New England 34 vs 31 Houston
Tampa Bay 6 vs 27 Carolina
Arizona 21 vs 24 Philadelphia
Miami 23 vs 3 New York Jets
Chicago 20 vs 23 Minnesota (OT)
Tennessee 14 vs 22 Indianapolis
Jacksonville 32 vs 28 Cleveland
St Louis 13 vs 23 San Francisco
Atlanta 34 vs 31 Buffalo (OT)
Cincinnati 17 vs 10 San Diego
Denver 35 vs 28 Kansas City
New York Giants 24 vs 17 Washington
To be played Monday 2nd December 2013
New Orleans vs Seattle
Detroit 40 vs 10 Green Bay
Oakland 24 vs 31 Dallas
Pittsburgh 20 vs 22 Baltimore
New England 34 vs 31 Houston
Tampa Bay 6 vs 27 Carolina
Arizona 21 vs 24 Philadelphia
Miami 23 vs 3 New York Jets
Chicago 20 vs 23 Minnesota (OT)
Tennessee 14 vs 22 Indianapolis
Jacksonville 32 vs 28 Cleveland
St Louis 13 vs 23 San Francisco
Atlanta 34 vs 31 Buffalo (OT)
Cincinnati 17 vs 10 San Diego
Denver 35 vs 28 Kansas City
New York Giants 24 vs 17 Washington
To be played Monday 2nd December 2013
New Orleans vs Seattle
Well that wraps it up from me this week but remember if you want to get in touch then drop us a comment and get in touch via any of the social media icons above. Also be sure to check out our podcast ‘Spitball’ later in the week.
Until next time football fans, stay safe, take care and ‘Thanks for Stopping By’.
Until next time football fans, stay safe, take care and ‘Thanks for Stopping By’.