We have come now to the end of week 13 and we hope that all of our American readers had a lovely Thanksgiving and enjoyed the time with your friends and family.
With last Thursday being Thanksgiving it did mean of course that we had three turkey day games to digest starting with the early game between the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears before moving on to the feast of Dallas Cowboys versus the Philadephia Eagles and finishing up with San Francisco versus the Seattle Seahawks.
As you can see from the teams involved, all three of the games were divisional rivalries which will have an impact on the playoffs as we start the final quarter of the regular season and the December sprint to the post season.
Normally I would find one of these games to talk about but with so much happening on Sunday, I'm afraid all I can offer is a link to the highlights of these three games by clicking on the relevant picture below:
The first of the Sunday games I feature this week is the clash between the New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars. Now if you have been following the blog and podcast you will know that this season the young rookie receiver from the Giants, Odell Beckham Jr is taking the league by storm with great performances and unbelievable catches. In case you missed here is a link to his outrageous catch from last week:
Back to the game and the first quarter was pretty uneventful with both teams exchanging punts before the New York Giants went on a drive lasting for nearly 10 minutes and moving the ball 91 yards in the process. The drive was capped off by a two yard run from Rashad Jennings who seems to have now found a system which suits his running style perfectly.
The remainder of the second quarter was dominated by the Giants as they scored two further touchdowns, another rushing touchdown for Rashad Jennings and a touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Preston Parker.
In response to this the Jaguars managed a field goal but at half time the outlook for Jacksonville was bleak as they trailed the Giants 20 – 3. Now as with a lot of games, I do not know what was said at halftime or what kind of potion was put into the Gatorade but in the second half Jacksonville looked like a completely different team.
It was now the Jags who managed to dominate the scoring with three touchdowns of their own, a 30 yard pass to rookie receiver Marqise Lee and two defensive touchdowns both of which were fumble recoveries. This set up a fascinating end to the game and with just over three minutes left the Giants retook the lead with a 33 yard field goal.
Personally I thought that would be all she wrote in this game but the Jaguars showed great character by taking the next drive 55 yards down the field setting up the game winning field goal by Josh Scobee from 43 yards. You can check out all of the highlights from this game by clicking on the picture below:
Next we move onto Baltimore where the Ravens played host to the San Diego Chargers. Going into the game both teams had a record of 7 – 4 and with how tight the AFC wild card playoff slots are looking, the winner would have a big advantage come the end of the season.
Baltimore would be the first to strike courtesy of an excellent touchdown catch from Torrey Smith, when you see it in the highlights you will certainly appreciate the skill involved. The drive itself was set up by the Ravens defence who picked off a Philip Rivers pass deep into Chargers territory.
On the Chargers next drive the Ravens defence was able to again intercept Philip Rivers inside the Chargers half and this time it resulted in a 33 yard field goal for Justin Tucker. San Diego were finally able to get their act together towards the end of the first quarter as they capped off their drive with a 12 yard touchdown pass from Philip Rivers to Keenan Allen.
The second quarter was relatively uneventful unless you were a kicker as the teams exchanged field goals and the score at halftime was 16 – 10 to the Ravens. The third quarter saw Baltimore extend their lead to 23 -13 courtesy of another Torrey Smith touchdown reception. Things were looking good for Baltimore at this point and then the fourth quarter happened, you can see what happened by clicking on the picture below to view the game highlights:
As you can see San Diego kept playing and managed to get that crucial win to lead them into the final playoff push in December. Personally I am a little dubious about the winning touchdown as it looks like Keenan Allen started his block before the reception was made which to me could be considered pass interference could it not???
Let us now take a look at all of the scores from week 13:
Chicago 17 vs 34 Detroit
Philadelphia 33 vs 10 Dallas
Seattle 19 vs 3 San Francisco
Miami 16 vs 13 New York Jets
Cleveland 10 vs 26 Buffalo
Washington 27 vs 49 Indianapolis
Tennessee 21 vs 45 Houston
San Diego 34 vs 33 Baltimore
New York Giants 24 vs 25 Jacksonville
Cincinnati 14 vs 13 Tampa Bay
Oakland 0 vs 52 St Louis Rams
New Orleans 35 vs 32 Pittsburgh
Carolina 13 vs 31 Minnesota
Arizona 18 vs 29 Atlanta
New England 21 vs 26 Green Bay
Denver 29 vs 16 Kansas City
Chicago 17 vs 34 Detroit
Philadelphia 33 vs 10 Dallas
Seattle 19 vs 3 San Francisco
Miami 16 vs 13 New York Jets
Cleveland 10 vs 26 Buffalo
Washington 27 vs 49 Indianapolis
Tennessee 21 vs 45 Houston
San Diego 34 vs 33 Baltimore
New York Giants 24 vs 25 Jacksonville
Cincinnati 14 vs 13 Tampa Bay
Oakland 0 vs 52 St Louis Rams
New Orleans 35 vs 32 Pittsburgh
Carolina 13 vs 31 Minnesota
Arizona 18 vs 29 Atlanta
New England 21 vs 26 Green Bay
Denver 29 vs 16 Kansas City
The Houston score really surprised me this week and I think it is down to two reasons, firstly even the most devout fans would not have imagined Ryan Fitzpatrick throwing six touchdown passes in a game and secondly J J Watt scored on yet another touchdown reception taking his total to five touchdowns on the year. J J Watt has scored on three touchdown receptions and has two defensive touchdowns to his name. If you were looking for someone other than a big named quarterback to win the league MVP award at the end of the season you can’t be looking much further than Watt!
Finally to finish off I want to talk about the playoff picture in the NFC, the race for me has come down to nine teams and that is only because in the NFC South it looks like the division champions with have a .500 record at best. All of the three other divisions in the NFC have at least two teams battling it out for the win but at least they have a winning record!
Anyways enough on that for now but if you want more playoff talk then do check out our podcast ‘Spitball’ when that is available later in the week.
For now, until next time football fans stay safe, take care and ‘Thanks for Stopping By’.