NFL Week 15 Report Cards: Tim Tebow Loses, Indianapolis Colts Lead AFC South
Tim Tebow made his first start in the NFL, but the Denver Broncos lost despite his presence.
The New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons won again to maintain their leads in their respective conferences.
Even Brett Favre played, well, for a little while at least.
The Chicago Bears won their division while others got even closer.
A lot happened in Week 15.
Read on to find out how each and every team performed.
Arizona Cardinals
1 of 32
12-19 loss to the Carolina Panthers
You cannot lose to the Carolina Panthers and expect a passing grade. There is no debate about that fact.
John Skelton was predictably awful, completing just a hair more than half of his passes with more interceptions than touchdowns. At least he knew to get the ball to Larry Fitzgerald early and often. The talented wideout had nine grabs for 125 yards.
Even the running game was shut down as Tim Hightower and Beanie Wells combined for just 28 yards.
Grade: F
Atlanta Falcons
2 of 32
38-14 win over the Seattle Seahawks
Another week and another win for the dominant Atlanta Falcons who move to an NFL-best 12-2, one step closer to locking up home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
While the Falcons blew out the Seahawks, the game wasn't entirely one-sided. Numerous bounces went Atlanta's way during the middle of the game and Matt Ryan went through rather pedestrian stretches at times.
Still though, they won by 24 points and every member of the offense contributed, especially Ryan with his three touchdown passes. There's no reason to worry about this team.
Grade: A
Baltimore Ravens
3 of 32
30-24 win over the New Orleans Saints
The Baltimore Ravens beat the Saints, a feat no other team has been able to accomplish in the last six weeks.
They did it with a steady, albeit unspectacular, performance from Joe Flacco and a dominant running game.
Ray Rice was the true star of this show. The Saints must have thought he was still covered in the fog you see him in to the left. Rice went off for 153 yards and a touchdown on 31 carries while catching five passes for 80 yards and another score.
The inevitable ice bath he received afterwards had to feel nice.
Grade: A+
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Buffalo Bills
4 of 32
17-14 win over the Miami Dolphins
For the Bills, in the midst of a season of disappointments, it must feel good to eliminate any hope that the Miami Dolphins may have harbored of making the playoffs.
Ryan Fitzpatrick was good but not great, but he did get Steve Johnson going again. That will be an important factor in their last two games of the 2010 season.
The defense looked excellent throughout the game, forcing fumbles and interceptions. Of the two touchdowns they allowed, one was out of the wildcat formation while the other came in the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead.
Grade: A-
Carolina Panthers
5 of 32
19-12 win over the Arizona Cardinals
The Carolina Panthers got a win!
I don't care what else happened, that merits an A+.
So, without further ado...
Grade: A+
Chicago Bears
6 of 32
40-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings
After allowing a touchdown on the opening drive when Brett Favre hit Percy Harvin for a 23 yard score, the Bears did everything right.
The Vikings offense was shut down while the Bears rolled right along.
Jay Cutler threw three touchdown passes, Matt Forte had a productive day on the ground and Devin Hester set an all time record with a punt return for a touchdown, his 14th career special teams touchdown.
Oh, and the Bears clinched the NFC North.
Grade: A+
Cincinnati Bengals
7 of 32
19-17 win over the Cleveland Browns
The Bengals snapped a 10 game losing streak with this win over their fellow team from Ohio. Unfortunately they lost Terrell Owens for the rest of the season with a possibly career-threatening injury.
While Colt McCoy put up nice numbers against the Bengals, they did a remarkable job in holding Peyton Hillis to just 59 rushing yards.
On offense, Carson Palmer was an efficient game manager and sat back to enjoy the Cedric Benson show.
Benson had 150 yards and a touchdown on the ground, essentially carrying the Bengals to victory on his back.
Grade: B+
Cleveland Browns
8 of 32
17-19 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals
Even though the Browns held the Bengals out of the end zone for most of the game, they still let a rather pedestrian Bengals offense put up too many scoring drives.
On offense, Colt McCoy continued to justify his position as starting quarterback, but the rest of the offense struggled around him.
It wasn't too bad, but it still wasn't a great performance for Cleveland.
Grade: B-
Dallas Cowboys
9 of 32
33-30 win over the Washington Redskins
Sure, Jon Kitna and the offense played quite well against the rival Washington Redskins, but letting a team back into the game when they're 20 points down is inexcusable.
Inexcusable isn't even a strong enough word when Rex Grossman is the quarterback that leads the comeback.
At least they got the win, but the second half of this game showed that the Cowboys have a lot of work to do.
Grade: B
Denver Broncos
10 of 32
23-39 loss to the Oakland Raiders
Had the coaching staff been willing to let Tim Tebow throw the ball occasionally instead of being content to run draws in 3rd-and-long situations, this game may have ended differently.
Tebow showed that he may indeed have what it takes to be an NFL quarterback, but it will be a long and difficult process.
To have success, his running backs will need to gain yards and his defense will need to play much better than they did against the Raiders.
Grade: C+
Detroit Lions
11 of 32
23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Dave Rayner and Drew Stanton were the unlikely stars of this game.
While the latter led his team throughout the game, completing 23 of his 37 passes for 252 yards, one touchdown and nary an interception, the former won it for the Lions.
Rayner knocked a 28 yard field goal through the uprights as time expired in regulation to tie up the game then hit a 34 yarder to win it in overtime.
Grade: A
Green Bay Packers
12 of 32
27-31 loss to the New England Patriots
Hanging in a game with the Patriots until the bitter end is quite impressive. It's even more impressive when you do it with a backup quarterback.
Matt Flynn in his first start completed 24 of his 37 passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns. A mistake of inexperience at the end doomed him when he failed to snap the ball quickly enough to get multiple plays out of the last 0:23.
Still though, this was a positive sign for the Packers.
Grade: A-
Houston Texans
13 of 32
17-31 loss to the Tennessee Titans
To make a long story short, this was a disaster for Houston.
They let Kerry Collins throw the ball well while failing to prevent Chris Johnson from having a big game.
On offense, Matt Schaub only racked up the yardage because he had to throw to attempt to overcome a big deficit.
Arian Foster was absolutely neutralized, only gaining 15 yards on 11 carries.
Grade: F
Indianapolis Colts
14 of 32
34-24 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars
Never bet against Peyton Manning in a big game.
In this de facto playoff game for the Colts, who can now win out and receive a playoff berth, Manning and the Colts outlasted the Jaguars in a contest that was much tighter than the final score indicated thanks to a return of an onside kick for a touchdown by Tyjuan Hagler.
Most impressively, the Colts won the battle of running games. Donald Brown exploded for 129 yards on the ground while Maurice Jones-Drew's string of six straight 100 yard games was snapped.
Grade: A+
Jacksonville Jaguars
15 of 32
24-34 loss to the Indianapolis Colts
With this loss to the Colts, the Jaguars no longer control their own destiny.
David Garrard play well throughout the game with the exception of one devastating interception, but this game was lost on the ground.
The Jaguars somehow allowed Donald Brown to run by them all game as the back picked up 129 yards on the ground.
On the flip side, Maurice Jones-Drew was held in check, only gaining 46 yards on 15 carries.
Grade: B
Kansas City Chiefs
16 of 32
27-13 win over the St. Louis Rams
The Chiefs maintained their lead in the AFC West with this impressive win over the St. Louis Rams.
Their defense held the Rams in check throughout the game while Jamaal Charles and company ran all over St. Louis. Charles picked up 126 yards and a score while Thomas Jones added another 62 of his own and another touchdown.
Matt Cassel played alright, but quite well when you consider the fact that he was still recovering from an appendectomy 11 days before the game.
Grade: A-
Miami Dolphins
17 of 32
14-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills
Chad Henne showed signs of improvement in this game, but still made some mistakes and wasn't too remarkably efficient.
Also, the ground game that Miami is so reliant on sputtered to a halt with the exception of a few plays.
At least Brandon Marshall got going and rewarded his suffering fantasy football owners.
All in all, it wasn't a good day. No loss to the Bills can be a good day.
Grade: C
Minnesota Vikings
18 of 32
14-40 loss to the Chicago Bears
After scoring on the opening drive, everything went wrong for the Vikings, who were playing without Adrian Peterson.
Favre was knocked out of the game, Toby Gerhart never got it going for the rushing attack and the defense was inept throughout.
Joe Webb, Favre's replacement, only threw for 129 yards and was picked off twice.
This was just yet another chapter in the Vikings miserable 2010 season.
Grade: C-
New England Patriots
19 of 32
31-27 win over the Green Bay Packers
The Patriots were expected to blow out the Packers, especially since Green Bay would be playing without Aaron Rodgers.
Instead, the game was close and hard fought throughout and the Packers even had a shot to win at the end of the game.
Even Tom Brady was surprisingly mortal as he failed to have a spectacular performance and threw two or three passes that should have been picked off, especially the ball that Charles Woodson flat-out dropped.
The Patriots still got the win though and moved to 12-2.
Grade: A-
New Orleans Saints
20 of 32
24-30 loss to the Baltimore Ravens
Losing to Baltimore is never something to be embarrassed by, but the Saints were hoping for something more. Namely a seventh straight win and a reasonable shot at the NFC South division title.
Now they're stuck looking for a wild card spot to get into the playoffs this season.
Drew Brees played very well throughout the game but threw the game-sealing interception. The problem was the lack of running game and defense.
Ray Rice ran everywhere on the field and the Saints just couldn't catch him or bring him down. But they couldn't do the same to the Ravens with their own running game. Pierre Thomas, Julius Jones and Reggie Bush combined for just 27 yards on the ground.
Grade: B-
New York Giants
21 of 32
31-38 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles
It's great to be up 21 points with under eight minutes to go. In fact, it's better than great.
It's not so great to lose the same game. Especially when your punter, Matt Dodge, kicks the ball to arguably the best return man in the game, DeSean Jackson, when he was specifically told to kick the ball out of bounds on what turned out to be the game's final play.
Grade: C-
New York Jets
22 of 32
22-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers
Mark Sanchez overcame the nagging complaints about his play, the speculation that he could be benched and the fierce Pittsburgh defense to snap the two game losing streak.
He didn't throw a touchdown pass, but ran for one and was aided by a kickoff return for a touchdown on the game's first play and a spectacular performance on defense.
The Jets aren't out of it yet.
Grade: A-
Oakland Raiders
23 of 32
39-23 win over the Denver Broncos
With the win over Denver, their second of the year, the Raiders stayed alive in the playoff race.
Darren McFadden continued to run wild with 119 yards on just 20 carries. Jacoby Ford ran for a 71 yard touchdown as well.
Jason Campbell played efficiently and looked impressive throughout the game.
On defense, the Raiders did a great job of neutralizing an extremely one-dimensional Denver offense.
Grade: A
Philadelphia Eagles
24 of 32
38-31 win over the New York Giants
A 28 point rally in the final 7:28 of the game completed a historic comeback for the Philadelphia Eagles, who took the lead in the NFC East race.
First Brent Celek caught a 61 yard pass from Michael Vick for a touchdown. Then Vick took it in himself from four yards out. After that, Vick threw a 13 yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin to tie the score up.
It all set the stage up for DeSean Jackson. The speedster took a punt return to the house after muffing the catch, winning the game for the Eagles as time expired.
The historic comeback trumps the poor performance during the rest of the game.
Grade: A
Pittsburgh Steelers
25 of 32
17-22 loss to the New York Jets
Sometimes, you can't help but lose to good teams.
The defense limited Mark Sanchez and the Jets passing game while holding LaDanian Tomlinson and Shonn Greene in check, but the special teams allowed a touchdown, the offense allowed a safety and the Jets came out on top.
Big Ben didn't have his greatest performance of the season, but to be fair, he was bruised and broken. Rashard Mendenhall did his best to make up for it by running for 100 yards and a score. It just wasn't quite enough.
Grade: B-
San Diego Chargers
26 of 32
34-7 win over the San Francisco 49ers
Vincent Jackson finally made up for his absence, catching three touchdown passes from Philip Rivers in the blowout win over the 49ers.
The offense rolled along in every facet of the game while the defense completely shut down Alex Smith and company throughout.
In fact, the 49ers scored with just 4:26 left in the game to avoid a shutout. Don't count the Chargers out of the AFC West just yet.
Grade: A+
San Francisco 49ers
27 of 32
7-34 loss to the San Diego Chargers
Take everything you read in the previous slide and reverse it to apply for the 49ers.
Every part of this performance was terrible for San Francisco, there's no way around that fact.
Grade: F
Seattle Seahawks
28 of 32
18-34 loss to the Atlanta Falcons
Somehow the Seahawks are still tied for the lead in the NFC West. This does not look like a playoff team though by any stretch of the imagination.
The offense couldn't get much going and the defense certainly couldn't stop Matt Ryan and the Falcons high-flying offense.
Matt Hasselbeck was even benched in this battle of the birds. Unfortunately for him, he and his Seahawks looked more like pigeons while the Falcons looked like...well...Falcons.
Grade: F
St. Louis Rams
29 of 32
13-27 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs
The St. Louis Rams went into the day with a chance to stake their claim on the NFC West and came out with a loss. Fortunately for them, so did every other team in their division!
Sam Bradford was terrible in this game, completing just 21 of his 43 passes for 181 yards and two interceptions.
The defense proved ineffective against Jamaal Charles and the Chiefs' running game.
Not too much went right.
Grade: C
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
30 of 32
20-23 loss to the Detroit Lions
A team contending for the playoffs simply cannot lose to the Detroit Lions. Even if it's in overtime.
That's just unacceptable.
Grade: C-
Tennessee Titans
31 of 32
31-17 win over the Houston Texans
By snapping their six game skid, Kerry Collins and the Tennessee Titans kept their playoff dreams alive, but just barely.
Collins was quite good in this game, throwing two touchdown passes and then just being content to let Chris Johnson do his thing. He fully enjoyed the talents of Kenny Britt, who had 128 receiving yards on six catches.
Johnson ran for 130 yards and a touchdown in his return to 2009 form.
As for the defense, they played very well throughout the game and the margin of victory would have been even higher if it wasn't for a garbage time touchdown pass from Matt Schaub to Kevin Walter.
Grade: A+
Washington Redskins
32 of 32
30-33 loss to the Dallas Cowboys
While Rex Grossman's comeback was incredible, it wasn't enough to get a victory against the hated Dallas Cowboys.
Moreover, the Redskins should never have been down 20 points in the first place, much less allowed 33 in the game.
Maybe if they had any running game to speak of it would've been a different story.
Grade: C+
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