NFL Week 15 Observations

The defending champs are reeling. After racing to an 11-1 start to the NFL season, they've dropped two in a row and now face a critical game vs. the Carolina Panthers that will decide home field throughout the NFC playoffs. Although the Giants have publicly stated that the Burress situation hasn't affected them, watching this offense over the past two weeks clearly says otherwise.

Their running game is now finding less room to work with, and the receivers aren't getting off the line. All this adds up to Eli holding onto the football for a second or two longer than he'd like, and the Cowboys took advantage of this last night to the tune of eight sacks.

New York now needs to regroup and make some changes to their personnel and game planning, or it'll be a long night vs. the Panthers on Sunday.

Speaking of the Panthers, they once again buried their opponent. Their two-headed monster at RB each scored TDs on Sunday, and Delhomme had great success locating WR Steve Smith. Their defense came up big once again, and they rolled the Broncos to the tune of a 30-10 thrashing.

The Atlanta Falcons: Aside from the Miami Dolphins, this has to be the best story in football this season. After being left for dead as a franchise in '07 in the aftermath of the Michael Vick scandal, rookie QB Matt Ryan and new coach Mike Smith have this team sitting at 9-5 and currently the sixth seed in the NFC.

Yesterday they beat their rival, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in a 13-10 win in OT. If the Falcons can win out, they're in.

Switching to the AFC, the game of the week lived up to its billing, although the outcome was clouded by a precarious call. After a defensive war for the entire game, Roethlisberger led his Steelers down the field on a 92-yard drive that ended in a short TD to Santonio Holmes. But was it a TD?

The initial ruling on the field was it was to be placed on the one-inch line, as the receiver had both feet in the end zone but the ball didn't appear to cross the line—but after a replay challenge, the refs overturned the call.

The Steelers were awarded the TD, and that was the decisive play in the 13-9 Pittsburgh victory. The Ravens still control their playoff destiny, but they've got to win out in order to make it.

The reason for that is there are three teams tied atop the AFC East at 9-5. Both the Dolphins and Patriots handled their business, but it took luck for the Jets to escape with a win on Sunday.

With two minutes left in the game, and up 28-24, the Bills inexplicably called a pass play, this after having much success on the ground. Losman was sacked, the ball came out, and DE Shaun Ellis scooped it and ran it back for the GW TD. 31-28.

The Jets are only alive by the skin of their teeth right now. They had no business winning yesterday, and the team is playing just as Mangini coaches: tight.

It's now shaping up to be one heck of a Week 17 in the AFC East. Chad Pennington, once gladly dumped in favor of Brett Favre, could be leading his 10-5 Dolphins back into NY to face the 10-5 Jets for all the marbles in the AFC East. And how sweet would it be to see Pennington bury his former team?

Lastly, the Tennessee Titans: After wrapping up the division a week ago, this game still had importance to them with regards to the top seed in the AFC. But after a precarious call on 4th-and-3 from the 32, in which Fisher opted to go for it rather than kick a FG when down 13-12, the Titans fell to the Texans and made next week's game vs. Pittsburgh all the more important. If the Steelers win out, they're the top seed.

In a bit of other bad news for the Titans, they could be without dominant DT Albert Haynesworth, who hurt his lower leg late in the game.

If that's the case, it'll be a short January for Tennessee.