Since I was away for most of today, and catching up on some rest stolen from me over the holiday, I'll put out the full recap. There were 12 games today, with the Eagles/Vikings game being postponed until Tuesday due to heavy snow. We start with...
The Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Tennessee Titans. The Chiefs got two touchdown passes from Matt Cassel to Jamaal Charles in the first quarter, from 14 and 5 yards. Ryan Succop added the extra points, and also a 35 yard field goal in the second quarter to make it 17-0. Kansas City extended the lead farther, to 24-0 after Cassel hooked up with Dwayne Bowe for 75 yards, and Succop's extra point (note to Jamaal Charles: one man in a celebration leap only please). Kerry Collins and the Titans woke up with a 53 yard touchdown pass to Kenny Britt, followed by a Rob Bironas extra point. Collins gave the Chiefs a touchdown as well, throwing an interception to Eric Berry for 54 yards, followed by a Succop extra point. Making it 34-7 for Kansas City in the third quarter was Succop, who kicked a 42 yard field goal. Tennessee responded with Collins making a touchdown pass to Jared Cook for 22 yards. Bironas added the point after, and the score stood at 34-14, which lasted through the fourth quarter to be the final. Kansas City improved to 10-5, and Tennessee fell to 6-9.
The second game was the Cleveland Browns hosting the Baltmore Ravens. Cleveland opened the scoring with receiver Mohamed Massaqoui passing to Brian Robiskie for 29 yards, and Phil Dawson's extra point making it 7-0. Billy Cundiff and Baltimore answered, with Cundiff sandwiching a touchdown with field goals from 27 and 40 yards. Baltimore's touchdown was a 15 yard Joe Flacco pass to T.J. Houshmandzadeh, with Cundiff adding the extra point. Dawson made it 13-10 Ravens with his field goal of 30 yards for the Browns before halftime. Flacco struck quickly in the third quarter, finding Derrick Mason for 22 yards and the touchdown, with Cundiff's extra point producing the eventual final of 20-10 Ravens. Baltimore jumped up to 11-4, and Cleveland fell to 5-10.
Continuing along to Buffalo, where the Bills hosted the red-hot New England Patriots. The Bills got the early lead with Rian Lindell's field goal of 26 yards. Danny Woodhead answered for the Patriots with a 29 yard touchdown run, followed by Shayne Graham with the extra point. Tom Brady threw a touchdown to Rob Gronkowski, good for 8 yards, with Graham adding an extra point, following it up with a field goal from 34 yards out, and the extra point on Brady's touchdown to Alge Crumpler of 4 yards. New England led 24-3 over Buffalo at halftime. Brady found Gronkowski again for 8 yards and the touchdown in the third quarter, with Graham adding the extra point once again, before kicking a 26 yard field goal in the fourth quarter, bringing the score to 34-3 Patriots, which would be the final. New England improved to 13-2, while Buffalo fell down to 4-11.
Next up was the St. Louis Rams hosting the San Francisco 49ers. The Rams got going first, with Steven Jackson breaking the goal line with a 1 yard touchdown run, followed by a Josh Brown extra point. The St. Louis defense got in on the next score, pinning 49ers quarterback Troy Smith in his own end zone for the safety to give them a 9-0 lead. San Francisco got back in action when St. Louis punted, and Ted Ginn, Jr. returned the kick from Donnie Jones for 78 yards and the touchdown, with Jeff Reed getting the extra point. Brown made it 12-7 for the Rams with his 43 yard field goal, but Troy Smith passed to Michael Crabtree for 60 yards and the touchdown, followed by Reed's extra point to make it 14-12 San Francisco at halftime. St. Louis retook the lead with another field goal by Brown, from 30 yards, and extended the lead to 22-14 with Sam Bradford's touchdown pass to Laurent Robinson for 3 yards, and Brown's point after. Reed and Brown exchanged fourth quarter field goals, with Reed good from 47 yards and Brown true from 28. The Rams would take the 49ers down 25-17, boosting themselves to 7-8, and dropping their opponents to 5-10.
Moving onto a less playoff-relevant game, but still dramatic nonetheless, where the Miami Dolphins hosted the Detroit Lions. Dave Rayner of the Lions and Dan Carpenter traded field goals, with Rayner kicking a 39 yard shot and Carpenter one-upping him with a 40 yard kick. In the second quarter, touchdowns started flying, with Shaun Hill finding Brandon Pettigrew to give Detroit a 10-3 lead after Rayner's extra point. Miami answered with a 4 yard run by Lousaka Polite for a touchdown and a Chad Henne pass Davone Bess for 13 yards. Carpenter's extra points made it 17-10 for the Dolphins going into the locker room. The Lions re-tied the game in the third quarter with a Maurice Morris 5 yard touchdown run, followed by a Rayner extra point, but the Dolphins stole the lead back with Ronnie Brown's 1 yard touchdown run, with Carpenter making it 24-17 with his extra point. Carpenter extended the lead with a fourth quarter field goal of 28 yards. Detroit, now with some catching up to do, let Hill find Jahvid Best for 53 yards, and Rayner's extra point put them within 3, which he later amended with a game-tying field goal of 47 yards. The Lions defense would bail them out with DeAndre Levy intercepting Henne for 30 yards, and Rayner providing the extra point making it 34-27 for the Lions. They would hold on to get the win, improving to 5-10, dropping the Dolphins to 7-8.
Next to last in the morning games was the Washington Redskins visiting the Jacksonville Jaguars. Washington got out to an early 10-0 first quarter lead with Graham Gano's 48 yard field goal, followed by his extra point on the Rex Grossman touchdown pass of 1 yard to Fred Davis. David Garrard got Jacksonville into the scoring game with a 19 yard touchdown to Mike Thomas, with Josh Scobee providing the extra point, and also the tying field goal in the third quarter, from 34 yards. The Redskins and Jaguars traded touchdowns in the fourth quarter, with Ryan Torain giving Washington the lead back on a 1 yard run for a score, followed by a Gano point after before Garrard took it in from 20 yards out, and Scobee providing the extra point. The tie at 17 would last into overtime until Gano notched a 31 yard field goal to win it 20-17 for the Redskins. Washington jumped up to 6-9, and Jacksonville fell to 8-7.
The morning games were wrapped up by the New York Jets visiting the Chicago Bears at a cold Soldier Field. The Bears opened the scoring with a Robbie Gould 37 yard field goal, with Gould adding the extra point on Matt Forte's 22 yard touchdown run. Chicago took a 10-0 lead into the second quarter, but the Jets woke up, with Shonn Greene running 3 yards for the score, the defense getting a 20 yard interception return in the hands of Dwight Lowery from Jay Cutler's misguided pass, and LaDainian Tomlinson running his own 3 yard touchdown in. Nick Folk was present to make it 21-10 by adding all 3 extra points. Chicago was able to answer the scoring bombardment by New York with Cutler running a touchdown in from 2 yards out and Gould providing the extra point. Nick Folk kept the Jets up by a touchdown with his 26 yard field goal making it 24-17 at halftime. Cutler and the Bears came out with their own shellacking of the Jets in the third quarter, with touchdown passes of 40 and 25 yards going to Johnny Knox and Devin Hester. Gould tacked on both extra points. Mark Sanchez found a tying touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes for 23 yards, with Folk's extra point tying the game, but Chicago made it 38-31 with a Cutler touchdown to Knox from 26 yards, with Gould making the point after. The Jets answered early in the fourth quarter with a Folk field goal of 34 yards, but New York couldn't find any more offense and fell 38-34 to the Bears. Chicago jumped up 11-4 and knocked the Jets down 10-5.
This brings the post to its halftime.
The Denver Broncos and Houston Texans led off the late games in a meaningless battle. Arian Foster led off the scoring with a touchdown run of 3 yards, with Neil Rackers making the extra point. By halftime, Houston had gained a 17-0 lead, thanks to Matt Schaub connecting with Owen Daniels for 3 yards, and rackers adding an extra point and a 34 yard field goal. Denver found the end zone in the third quarter with Correll Buckhalter running 6 yards for the touchdown, and Steve Hauschka making it 17-7 with the extra point. The Texans kicked a pair of field goals off the foot of Neil Rackers in the third quarter, sandwiching a Hauschka kick of 27 yards. Rackers was true from 54 and 57 yards. Houston had a 23-10 lead going into the fourth quarter. Tim Tebow and the Broncos decided to change this with Tebow throwing a touchdown pass to Buckhalter for 23 yards and then running in 6 yards for a score. Hauschka's two extra points gave Denver a 24-23 lead, one they would not relinquish. Denver jumped up to 4-11, and Houston fell to 5-10.
Going into Oakland for the next game, with the Raiders hosting playoff-hungry Indianapolis Colts. The Colts opening kickoff was returned by Jacoby Ford for 99 yards and a touchdown, with Sebastian Janikowski making it 7-0. Joseph Addai would even the score for Indianapolis with his 6 yard touchdown run, and Adam Vinatieri added on the extra point. Indianapolis would take a 10-7 lead when Vinatieri knocked in a 30 yard field goal, but Oakland retook the lead when Janikowski kicked two field goals from 59 and 38 yards. The Colts would retake the lead before halftime as Peyton Manning found Jacob Tamme for 19 yards and the touchdown, and Vinatieri's extra point made it 17-13. Janikowski found the lead foot again in the third quarter, booting one in from *only* 51 yards. Manning would connect with Blair White to make it 24-16 after Vinatieri's extra point, with the touchdown pass good for 4 yards. Oakland attempted a comeback on the foot of Janikowski, who booted in a 45 yard field goal in the fourth quarter, but was promptly answered by Manning connecting with Pierre Garcon for 7 yard and the touchdown, and Vinatieri's extra point made it 31-19. Jason Campbell got a touchdown for the Raiders with a 6 yard pass to Zach Miller, and the 31-26 score was made possible by Janikowski's extra point, but Oakland didn't have enough time left to win the game and lost to Indianapolis, who improved to 9-6 and dropped the Raiders to 7-8.
Next up was a must-win situation for the San Diego Chargers, who visited the Cincinnati Bengals. Carson Palmer allowed the Bengals to draw the first blood with a touchdown pass to Jermaine Gresham for 3 yards, followed by a Clint Stitser extra point. Palmer found Jerome Simpson in the second quarter from 10 yards out, but the score stayed at 13-0 as Stitser bumbled the extra point attempt. The Chargers regained themselves with a late second quarter field goal by Nate Kaeding. San Diego got even closer in the third quarter, as Ryan Mathews rushed a touchdown in from 23 yards, allowing an extra point by Kaeding. Cincinnati got back on track with Palmer finding Jordan Shipley for 3 yards. Stitser made the extra point this time. Kaeding responded for the Chargers with a 28 yard field goal, but was promptly answered by Palmer finding Simpson for a 59 yard touchdown. Stitser's extra point made it 27-13. Bernard Scott squashed any hopes of the playoffs San Diego had left by running a 10 yard rush into the end zone for the Bengals, and Stitser was good again with the extra point. Philip Rivers sent a goodbye message to Cincinnati with a 5 yard touchdown pass to Kelley Washington, and Kaeding was good on the extra point, producing the final of 34-20 in favor of the Bengals, who improved to 4-11, and dropped the Chargers to 8-7.
Second to last on the slate was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks, both teams with playoff hopes still very much alive. Seattle opened the scoring with a 1 yard touchdown run by Matt Hasselbeck, who found a new way to get injured before Olindo Mare kicked the extra point. Connor Barth answered for Tampa Bay with a 46 yard field goal. Josh Freeman kicked the Buccaneers into a higher gear with touchdown passes to Kellen Winslow and Mike Williams (TB), of 10 and 20 yards. Barth's points after made the score 17-7 for Tampa Bay at the half. Freeman did another edition of Winslow first, Williams second, connecting with both for touchdown in the third quarter, this time from 21 and 7 yards. Barth added another two extra points to bring the score to 31-7. The Seahawks showed a sign of life again in the fourth quarter with Leon Washington running 16 yards for a touchdown, and Charlie Whitehurst finding Ben Obomanu for the two point conversion to bring the score to 31-15. Freeman threw his fifth touchdown pass to Maurice Stovall, for 2 yards, followed by a Barth extra point that created the final score of 38-15. Tampa Bay jumped up to 9-6, and Seattle fell to 6-9.
Lastly, the marquee game between the hosting Green Bay Packers and visiting New York Giants. Aaron Rodgers opened up the scoring for the Packers with two touchdowns passes of 80 and 3 yards to Jordy Nelson and James (Earl?) Jones. Mason Crosby produced both extra points. Eli Manning did his own two-pack of touchdowns, to Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham for 36 and 85 yards. Tying the game was Lawrence Tynes who nailed two extra points. John Kuhn gave Green Bay the lead back with an 8 yard touchdown run, followed by a Crosby extra point. The Packers led the Giants 21-14 into the locker rooms. Crosby and Tynes exchanged field goals in the third quarter, from 31 and 38 yards, respectively. Rodgers extended the Green Bay lead with a 1 yard touchdown pass to Donald Lee. Crosby made it 31-14 with the extra point, before adding two more on fourth quarter touchdowns by Rodgers to Kuhn for 5 yards and a 1 yard Kuhn rush. The final score would stand at 45-17 Packers over Giants, with Green Bay jumping up to 9-6 and dropping New York to the same margin.
That's all for the football today. I hope you readers appreciate the 100 minutes that took to put out, and be watching for Monday's Song of the Week, Fantasy Hockey All-Stars, and Hockey recap. Also, directly following this supersized post will be a Sandwich review.
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