Coach From the Couch: Cardinals at 49ers Week 12's Best Game

Week twelve showed us many things: the totally undefeated New England Patriots, who stayed undefeated, can possibly be defeated; and the totally defeated Miami Dolphins, who stayed totally defeated, may have a chance to not be totally defeated.

What all this means in the grand scheme of things is basically nothing, as New England has already clinched a playoff spot and Miami is all but eliminated from a playoff spot, but each week in the NFL, the recap must show us something, and if you ask me this was the primary lesson to be learned.  It also showed us that it IS possible to watch football all day Thursday, all day Sunday, Sunday night, Sunday night wrap-ups, Monday night, Monday night wrap-ups, Tuesday morning wrap-ups, and STILL not have your extended wear contacts dry out.

It also shows us that it is a good thing to have a picture of your significant others close, so when Tuesday evening rolls around you recognize those that you love the most, unless of course there is a college game on Tuesday evening.  Finally it shows us that if the NFL Network and cable companies would get their act together, we could actually watch more football.

This last comment doesn’t apply to the seven people that have NFL Network. Thanksgiving and the NFL also inspires turkey day related songs such as—Turkey for you, Turkey for me, I watch football and put up my tree…as somehow Thanksgiving day weekend always turns into Christmas setup at some point during the weekend.  Hey, might as well be productive while you are watching football, or at least give somewhat of an appearance of productivity.

Best Game of the Week #1—Ok, get a load of this!  The San Francisco 49ers and the Arizona Cardinals turned in the best game of the week this week.  No, I am not making this up!!  This game featured a Hail Mary right before half time that worked, a touchdown by the 49ers to take the lead with less than two minutes to play, an Arizona drive back down the field that ended at the one because of poor clock management, a field goal with no time left on the clock to send the game into overtime, a missed field goal in overtime that would have given Arizona a much needed win, then a punt to Arizona that was inexplicably fielded inside the ten yard line, and finally a sack and fumble in the end zone resulting in a 49er recovery and victory of 37-31!!

This after Kurt Warner threw for 484 yards!  Remember all this happened in sixty plus minutes of football.  You can’t get a much more exciting game than that.  It would be great if one year a Super Bowl would play out similar to this particular game.  In the end, San Fran goes to 3-8 while Arizona drops to 5-6.

Best Game of the Week # 2—The New England Patriots strutted into the week sporting the largest point spread handed out in Vegas on a single NFL game ever.  They took on the Donovan McNabb-less Philadelphia Eagles, just an added advantage to a team that already had all the advantages.

One thing they didn’t have though, was Andy Reid, and he made sure they knew it.  The game opened with an interception by the Pats and a 7-0 lead.  It appeared the blowout was on.  NOT SO!!!  The Eagles marched right back down the field and tied the game at seven-up (the score not the un-cola).  And so went the game.  Patriots score, Eagles answer….The Eagles even took it to Belicheck by kicking an onside kick.

While it resulted in no points, it showed that Philadelphia was playing to win.  The Eagles accomplished a number of things.  One, they stopped Randy Moss.  Granted, New England saw this and went to Wes Welker, who ended up with a career day, but it was still a moral victory for the Eagles.

Additionally, the Eagles placed Tom Brady firmly on his backside three times during the contest.  They showed the rest of the league there is no reason to let New England beat anyone by 50.  They also demonstrated that the Patriots could be beat.  That air of invincibility that USED to surround them is GONE!!  Pats still end up being 11-0, clinching their division and a spot in the playoffs.  Eagles are 5-6.
 

Best Game of the Week #3—Good Denver (to the tune of Moon River) wider than a mile to get knocked unceremoniously off.  Good Chicago has good Rex Grossman playing.  Even better they have Devin Hester running back a punt and a kickoff for scores.

With Denver leading by a wide margin and five plus minutes to go, Chicago gets on a roll, scores two touchdowns and with twenty nine seconds left, tie the game.  They win the coin toss, drive down the field, the field goal is up and GOOD!!!  Bears win 37-34.  Denver limps home at 5-6.  The Bears roar, at least as loud as a Bear can roar when it is 5-6.  Sadly, 5-6 is currently one game from a wild card spot in the NFC.

Worst Best Game of the Week—If there can be such a thing as a bad good football game, Pittsburgh and Miami would definitely qualify.  The field was muddy as for some reason grass was installed on top of grass just before torrential rain and lightening poured down on ketchup field.  The game was delayed because of the lightening, as who wants to eat a hotdog, get hit by lightening, and have the ketchup turn to crusty red stuff.

The contest mercifully ended with a Pittsburgh field goal deep into the fourth period.  The game ended in a 3-0 score.  If you like defense, you went away happy.  If you like to switch the TV set on, sit down in front of it, fall asleep and wake up two plus hours later to see who won, you didn’t miss a single thing.  Had Miami just decided it was raining too hard and they forfeited the contest, the score would have been  2-0.  Sixty minutes of muck for one extra point!!  Pittsburgh goes to 8-3, Miami remains an 0-fer at 0-11.  Only five more tries to get off the big zero.

Best Worst Game of the Week—San Diego/Baltimore looked like it would be, on paper anyway, a fantastic match up of cataclysmic proportions, assuming of course I had any idea what cataclysmic actually meant.  As it turned out, San Diego just took it to the house. They stomped Baltimore 32-14.  Baltimore, at 4-7, is a breakfast food, more specifically toast.  San Diego sits alone atop their division at 6-5. LaDanian Tomlinson goes over 10,000 yards in career rushing.  Steve McNair sits on the sideline with a sore toe or something.

So, Dallas and Detroit always win on Thanksgiving right?—Dallas holds up their end of the Thanksgiving tradition beating the Jets 32-3.  Dallas wins because, well basically, they are good, and the Jets just stink.  Dallas moves to 10-1 and a showdown with Green Bay next week.  The Jets fall to 2-9.  Speaking of Green Bay, they beat Detroit 37-26.  Detroit is now riding a three game losing streak and sitting at 6-5, while Green Bay sports a six game winning streak and is 10-1.  The only team with a longer winning streak is obviously New England.  The third longest winning streak in the NFL is the Dallas Cowboys at five.  Wouldn’t that be a game of cataclysmic proportions if we could actually watch it and knew what cataclysmic meant!!  It is the Thursday night contest this week on NFL network.  Check out a regionally located sports bar near you or go to one of the seven houses that actually gets NFL network.

Upset Special of the week comes in titanic proportions—The Cincinnati Bengals that should be more appropriately named the Cincinnati dancin’ pigs, open a can of butt-whooping on the Tennessee Titans.  Tennessee, which sat high in the league standings just three short weeks ago at 6-2 lose their third game in a row and now sit firmly in mediocrity at 6-5.  Cincinnati dances to the tune of  4-7.  Chad Johnson scores a touchdown and celebrates by taking over a cameraman’s job.  Must be fun to have such a good time when your team is firmly planted in the cellar of the AFC central.

The Upset Special also comes with a side of Raider—The Raiders actually won?  I can’t make fun of them as a shoulda coulda because they were actually a dida?  It’s true!! Oakland beats Kansas City 20-17.  They’ll probably win next week too.   They move to 3-8 on the year, while the Chiefs hover one game above them at 4-7.  If I were Kansas City, I would be going to Carolina in my mind…wait, Carolina stinks too…

Speaking of which—Carolina scores six.  While that would have been enough to beat the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers combined, it doesn’t come close to beating their real opponent New Orleans, who scored 31.  Carolina is now 4-7 and I should go back through all the sports predictions that had them playing in the Super Bowl.  The Saints apply here to.  They sit at 5-6, a little closer to possible Super Bowl appearance, but not that much closer.

Like the Energizer Bunny, these guys just keep going and going—two teams that, unless you live in the particular city where they reside, you don’t give them much thought or kudos week in and week out, are the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Maybe there is something in the water in Florida, but both these teams are quietly sneaking toward the playoffs.  Jacksonville moves a step closer with a win over Buffalo 36-14.  Tampa Bay moves a step closer with a win over Washington, 19-13.  Jags are 8-3.  Tampa is 7-4.  Buffalo and Washington are both 5-6.  Other than in Miami, the state of Florida appears to be a good place to play football this year.  Put on your leisure suit, forget about the early bird special, there’s NFL to be watched!!
 
The Peyton Manning watch—Peyton Manning describing someone driving around in a minivan with helpful tips on possibly putting an 18 somewhere on the van or maybe some flames so the van actually appears cool, was probably more entertaining than this contest.  Indy beats up on Atlanta 31 – 13.  Just think, if the scorekeeper of this contest had been dyslexic, Atlanta would have won by the exact same margin they lost by.  Indianapolis is 9-2, Atlanta is 3-8.  In addition, if the won-loss record keeper was dyslexic, Atlanta would be 8-3 and Indy 2-9.  Lucky for us, only this column is somewhat backwards.  It looks like Indy will have to go through New England if they want a shot at the Super Bowl this year.  New England holds a two game lead and the tie-breaker over Indy for home field advantage throughout the playoffs.  Only some miracle would probably change things at this point.

Wrapping things up besides Chistmas Gifts—The Browns beat Houston 27-17 and improve to 7-4.  Minnesota beats the New York Chokes… er Giants 41-17, and Seattle beats St. Louis 24-19.  Houston is 5-6, Minnesota 5-6, Giants 7-4, Seattle 7-4, and St. Louis 2-9.  The couch gets moved back to its comfort zone in the living room, although not in the exact dent in the carpet spot as it was, since the Christmas tree now takes up a portion of the NFL feng shui area.  Christmas is right around the corner.  Shopping has started.  And, as the NFL always has commercials, if you get an opportunity to contribute to your local charity or Toys for Tots or something this holiday season, please consider it.  Most of us have a lot to be thankful for, except of course Miami fans.  Take a moment and share that with others.  Until next week…