Week 14 Observations

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Published on December 14, 2009

Name brands take a long time to die - can you believe the 6-6 Steelers were 10 point favorites in Cleveland this past week after losing to Oakland at home? This week they're still favorites at home against the Packers. (Though that doesn't mean I won't bet them - still undecided).

Josh Cribbs looked a lot like Chris Johnson rushing the ball on Thursday night - I have no idea why the Browns don't make him a focal point of the offense. And he's not a skinny speedster like DeSean Jackson - he not only makes people miss but breaks tackles.

Don't tell me the Saints are worthy of Greatest of All TIme debate unless they roll through the playoffs and Super Bowl. I was glad to see my column annoyed some Saints fans though. And that was before Chris Redman lit them up for 8.9 YPA.

Besides a questionable fumble, Eli Manning played a near perfect game, completing 71 percent of his passes for more than 10 yards per attempt, three touchdowns and no interceptions. And this doesn't include several perfectly thrown deep balls that were dropped by Hakeem Nicks, Kevin Boss and Steve Smith. But the real story of the game was the defense's inability to get a stop when the Eagles were up six in the last half of the fourth quarter. Going from six to 14 sealed the game, and despite all the bad bounces and questionable calls, the Giants would likely have won had the defense not fallen apart. Coach Tom Coughlin defended rookie defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan after the game, but it's hard to see how a team with that personnel can be 28th in points allowed if Sheridan were doing a good job.

Randy Moss has only been a top-five receiver all year and a top-three one all-time, but a couple scrubs on the Panthers criticized him for dogging it Sunday. (Okay, maybe Chris Gamble's not a scrub, but an overpaid non Pro-Bowler). Was he actually dogging it? I have no idea, but Bill Belichick defended him saying, "You know, Randy Moss has been one of our most consistent players since he's been here." So did Tom Brady. Don't worry about Moss - this is a non issue.

Ray Rice had more than 200 yards from scrimmage in the first half. If you were going against him, just be thankful he didn't play much in the second half because the Ravens had three more rushing touchdowns.

Reggie Wayne has just 20 combined targets in his last three games, while Brandon Marshall caught 21 passes in Sunday's game against the Colts (Marshall was good for 53 points in a standard PPR).

Where does DeSean Jackson get drafted in a distance scoring league that counts return yardage? Probably just a little ahead of where Wes Welker gets drafted in a PPR with return yards.

Mark Stopa and I have argued over what constitutes a bad beat. I submit that any time you bet on the Raiders not expecting JaMarcus Russell to play, and he does, that's a bad beat. Bruce Gradkowski was averaging 8.5 YPA against a tough Redskins defense, despite Zach Miller dropping a perfect pass that would have set up a score, and took two sacks. Russell came in and averaged 4.5 YPA, threw a pick and took six sacks despite two less attempts. The downgrade from league average to Russell is worse than the downgrade from Peyton Manning to league average.

Darren McFadden had three catches for 84 yards and also eight carries, just one less than starter Justin Fargas Sunday. While I'd like to recommend him due to his talent and because the Raiders will likely get him more involved now that he's several weeks removed from his injury, Russell is such an anchor on that offense, that it's hard to be enthused. This week's game at Denver is tough, but McFadden has a good matchup at Cleveland two weeks from now.

Would you rather see the 18-0 Colts face the 18-0 Saints in the Super Bowl, or have both teams go 16-0, but neither make it to Miami? I'd opt for the latter unless both annihilated the opposition en route.