Week 13 Observations

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Published on December 7, 2009

Say what you want about the Raiders, but three of their four wins have come against the Eagles, Steelers and Bengals. They also played the Chargers tough twice. With Bruce Gradkowski not being a total liability at the quarterback position, this team is probably close to league average, and it shows just how terrible JaMarcus Russell has been. Hopefully, Al Davis rewards the team by staying out of the draft-day deliberations in 2010. (This team could have Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson and Michael Crabtree instead of Robert Gallery, Russell and Darrius Heyward-Bey, and that was just by doing the obvious at the time. Actually, the Gallery pick was considered sound when they made it).

The Redskins not only gave away Sunday's game by missing a chip-shot game-sealing field goal, but also allowing Robert Meachem literally to steal a touchdown out of their hands. I know the Pats got out of some tough situations in their 16-0 run, too, but this was one of the most undeserved wins I've seen in a while. I'm not sold on New Orleans' ability to win outdoors in suboptimal conditions, but with the Vikings losing, the worst the Saints would have to face is a neutral field and ideal conditions in Miami. That's too bad because they would have a tough time in December or January in New York, Philly or Green Bay, and they'll never have to pass those tests. At Washington and at Carolina are the only somewhat cold weather games on the schedule, so if New Orleans runs the table, they'll get into the "all-time great" discussion without facing enough adversity. It's not their fault, but I can't consider a team all-time great unless I thought they'd have a better than 60-percent chance of winning anywhere in the conference even in winter conditions. These guys strike me as the Greatest Show on Turf with an easier schedule.

During the Lions' last series, Daunte Culpepper heaved the ball 39 yards in the air to Calvin Johnson who caught it over two defenders, setting up a short touchdown. They need to do that more often.

The Pats lost to the Dolphins despite a plus 5.7 net YPA advantage. Be wary of placing too much importance on one stat.

Another vanilla performance by LaDainian Tomlinson, but he has nine touchdowns in 10 games. Antonio Gates had a huge game for the second week in a row, making him second only to Vernon Davis in tight end production this year. Vincent Jackson has been an afterthought the last four weeks, a by-product of the Chargers winning big.

Eli Manning had a bizarre stat line, as he completed just 11 of 25 passes, but averaged 9.6 yards per attempt. He was hurt by some Steve Smith drops, but also greatly helped by Brandon Jacobs taking a dump-off 74 yards for a score. Jacobs didn't get it going on the ground, however, averaging just three yards per carry. The Giants offensive line isn't run blocking well this year for some reason, and this is a group that set records last year and had been good dating back to the Tiki Barber era.

Tony Romo had a huge day on the surface but it took him 55 attempts to get 392 yards, Jason Witten, Miles Austin and Roy Williams each had big games, but none averaged more than 11.1 yards per catch. With Dallas' running game totally shut down, and big plays severely limited, the Giants defense did its job Sunday.

Frank Gore has one 200-yard game, one 100-yard game and three games of 33 rushing yards or less (not counting the four-yard game in which he got hurt). He's found the end zone regularly and has done damage as a receiver, but has only had four games of 80 yards or more all year.

The Cardinals will not be an easy out in the playoffs this year. Just keep in mind if they're the No. 3 seed, they'd have to win in Minnesota before getting a shot at New Orleans, and that's a pretty tough path to the Super Bowl. In fact, if Minnesota, Indy and New Orleans were to win out, the Cardinals would conceivably have to beat a 14-2 team, a 17-0 team and an 18-0 team to win the Super Bowl. (And that's after winning in the Wild Card round against a team like the Packers, Giants, Cowboys or Eagles).

The Titans weren't totally overmatched by the Colts, but going minus-two on turnovers and taking some costly penalties was too much for them to overcome. I'd still like to see them finish at 9-7 and have a shot at the playoffs, but they have to play the Chargers and Dolphins at home and Seattle on the road as well as an easier home game against the Rams next week. That means it's about 1 in 7 that they get there and would likely need some help, especially because all their losses would be in conference.