NFL's Week 14 Recaps: Giants Choke, Two Teams Clinch

By Wayne Lin

Philadelphia 20 -- New York Giants 14: The New York Giants didn't score an offensive touchdown until the fourth quarter, and, surprisingly, the Eagles had an all-around game from Donovan McNabb; however, it was Brian Westbrook who put in the performance of the day with 131 yards rushing and 72 yards receiving with two touchdowns. 

McNabb passed for 191 yards and a touchdown and stole a win away from the NFC East division leader Giants. The Eagles snapped the Giants' seven-game winning streak and prevented them from clinching the NFC East title. They have clinched a playoff berth, however. 

Eli Manning perhaps had his worst game of the season throwing for only 123 yards and a touchdown, 40 of those yards and the touchdown coming on the last offensive drive for the Giants in what was the first home loss of the season as well as the first divisional loss. 

Brandon Jacobs was silenced with 52 yards, before leaving the game with an apparent injury, and Steve Smith caught four passes for 47 yards. It appeared the distractions from Plaxico Burress and Antonio Pierce got to the Giants, as they came out flat and looked lethargic throughout the game. 

The Giants fall to 11-2 and will play the Dallas Cowboys next. The Eagles improved to 7-5-1 and put themselves back into the playoff hunt.

Atlanta 25 -- New Orleans 29:  The Saints (7-6) found a way to win against the surprising Atlanta Falcons. The Saints' defense found some key stops to help the Saints win. 

Even more surprising is that the Falcons' (8-5) defense held Drew Brees to only 230 yards and two touchdowns. The deal breaker for the Falcons was Pierre Thomas' game-clinching run with 5:45 to go in the game.

The Saints bump the Falcons a little further away from the playoff race, and put themselves into a position to get in. This NFC South battle had six lead changes.

Matt Ryan had 315 yards passing with a touchdown and an interception. Roddy White was the story of this game, catching 10 passes for 164 yards. That is his season and career high. 

Keith Brooking continues his dominant ways on defense getting 10 tackles.  Both teams had 414 total yards, but the Saints defense found the key stops when they counted. The NFC South has now become a four-team race.

Cincinnati 3 -- Indianapolis 35: The Colts dominated from kickoff, while the Bengals looked for answers. It wasn't an overly exciting day for the Bengals who had 252 total yards and three interceptions. 

Ryan Fitzpatrick had 170 yards passing and was ineffective. In comes Jordan Palmer, who passed for 30 yards. The Bengals held the ball for 35 minutes but couldn't do anything with it.  

The Colts (9-4) came out with a purpose in this game and if they can win out be a very dangerous team in the playoffs. They are winners of six straight. Peyton Manning has 277 yards passing and three touchdowns, all to different receivers. 

Their running game struggled a bit, rushing for only 57 total yards, but the story of the game was the Colts' defense stepping up to sack Bengals quarterbacks five times, something the Colts haven't done much of this season.

The defense is coming around now and it couldn't come at a better time. The Bengals fall to 1-11-1 on the season and may get a top-three pick in the draft.

Cleveland 9 -- Tennessee 28:  The Browns are down to their third-string quarterback now, and he did what the other two did before him: struggled. Ken Dorsey passed for 150 yards on 22 completions, but the short passes after a while didn't work. 

Dorsey's leading receiver was Jason Wright, a running back, with 48 yards. Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow's replacement, Steve Heiden (four Rec-28 Yds), were non-factors in the game. The Browns signed ex-Buccaneer QB Bruce Gradkowski, who may see playing time next week when the Browns take on the Eagles.

Tennessee (12-1) continues their run of dominance in the AFC scoring 28 points, something they've done very seldom this season. Kerry Collins had two touchdowns and two interceptions on 155 yards. 

Chris Johnson carried most of the balls and had 136 yards and a touchdown, while LenDale White had 99 yards and a score. The Titans' passing game is still suspect, but the running and defense got the job done as they usually do.

The Titans converted on 56 percent of their third downs, as opposed to the 25 percent for the Browns. Tennessee is assured a playoff spot by winning the AFC South and will face Houston next week.  

Houston 24 -- Green Bay 21:  The Houston Texans win another game on a late field goal.  Green Bay struggles once again and goes to 5-8 on the season and in the process allowing Matt Schaub, who returned to the lineup pass for 414 yards and two touchdowns. Kevin Walter had 146 of those yards. 

Andre Johnson added another touchdown to his resume with four catches for 55 yards and a touchdown. The Texans played sloppily but still got the win. Houston lost three fumbles. Kris Brown kicked the game-winning field goal as time expired.  

Green Bay's downfall came with their third-down conversion rate. The Packers only converted on one. A bright spot of the Packers was the running game. Ryan Grant rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown.

The Packers have fallen from grace since winning their first two games of the season.  The Packers, for all intents and purposes, are out of playoff contention, but could win out and salvage an even season. 

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