That Was ... Way Closer Than It Should Have Been

• So, let’s deal with the bad first: oh my gosh, the defense! It was 31-7 at halftime, and the Atlanta Falcons scored on every single one of their second-half possessions. The defense wasn’t exactly shut-down in the first half, but they really did not come out of halftime ready to play.

• I understand that Julio Jones is a tough defensive assignment for anybody, but DO SOMETHING. Single coverage is not going to cut it! Sam Shields was on the bench for reasons unknown, and Davon House is good, but not good enough to handle Jones on his own.

• Jones finished the game with 259 yards, the most by a receiver against Green Bay in franchise history. He would have kept on going if he hadn’t suffered a hip injury in the fourth quarter. I’m never happy when a player gets injured, but it’s not wrong to feel relieved, right?

Dude has 448 receiving yards in the last two weeks!

• The Packers defense is most concerning because they’ll have a lot tougher opponents down the road if they make the playoffs. The Falcons have a good quarterback and a great receiving corps, as well as their division lead at stake, but they’re also a mess of a team that has lost to the likes of the Vikings, the Giants, and the Bears.

• One of the upside of the poor defensive performance is that perhaps now everyone will stop talking about the Packers and picking them to go to the Super Bowl. That stuff makes me nervous. (I blame the closeness of the game on everyone saying the Falcons had no chance. You can think that, but you can't say it out loud!)

• Now onto the good: 10-3!! That's tied for the best record in the league.

• James Starks made an appearance. Starks hasn’t played a lot of meaningful snaps this season, but had a great game, running for 75 yards and a touchdown, including a game-sealing 42-yard run.

Full disclosure: I was screaming at the TV wondering the
heck Green Bay was doing with Starks in the game at the end
over Eddie Lacy. Starks proved me wrong. But still.

• Eddie Lacy is so much fun to watch. I would hate to be that guy who has to make first contact.

• Though I suppose that's only a concern if defenders are able to get a hand on him.

• Aaron Rodgers made his 100th career start on Monday night, and now holds the record for the most yards, most touchdowns, and fewest interceptions in his first 100 games. Could it be... perhaps it's time ... I think that that calls for the season debut of ... THE BELT!!!

• And it just wouldn’t be a Packers game without a 60-yard touchdown to Jordy Nelson.

• Man, Chicago Bears safety Chris Conte needs to be wrapped up in bubble wrap and duct tape. He can’t seem to avoid injury. In Thursday night’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys, Conte left the game with a back injury. Earlier this season, he’s left games with an eye injury, concussion (twice), right shoulder sprain, and left shoulder sprain. At least he has the support of his fans behind him -- oh, wait…

• Just when I thought it wasn’t possible to hate off-field Rob Gronkowski any more….

If we could get Ryan Lochte in this pic, I think the world would end,
and I, for one, would be grateful for the apocalypse.

• Most of the ink spent on the Washington Redskins has been about the quarterback controversy with Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins, and Colt McCoy, but that team is terrible through and through. They had a rough draw having to play the NFC West this season, but that doesn’t excuse their 3-10 record, which includes losses to the New York Giants and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

• This is the least amount of effort I have ever seen from an offensive line.

• The St. Louis Rams didn’t miss a chance to stick it to the Redskins even before kickoff. The Rams brought out six captains -- all the players they acquired by trading the number two draft pick to Washington so Washington could draft RGIII. Then the Rams beat the ‘Skins out 24-0. Then St. Louis head coach Jeff Fischer, when asked about the move, said, “I think they’ve got more issues than coin toss.” Ouch. That's cold-hearted.

• The Oakland Raiders won their second game!!! Against the San Francisco 49ers!!! San Fran QB Colin Kaepernick completed barely 50% of his passes for one touchdown and two interceptions. I’m always happy when the pitiful Raiders win, but when they take out a top NFC contender, it’s even better! (Packer fans have a traumatic fear of the 49ers for reasons that need not be discussed.)

• Things are all sorts of messed up for the 7-6 Niners. Every week there’s a different rumor about where head coach Jim Harbaugh will be next season, Kaepernick looks flustered and overwhelmed, and for inexplicable reasons, running back Frank Gore has barely seen the ball. Harbaugh’s press conferences have been interesting to say the least, and it’s not hard to see where all the rumors of his departure are coming from. When asked about the Gore, Harbaugh said, “Why we didn't get the ball to Frank Gore more? Yeah.” Um, that’s not really an answer….

• Get out of Arian Foster’s way!

• Foster doesn’t even stop for the team chaplain.

• Does no one want the NFC South? Atlanta's loss to the Packers guarantees that the NFC South winner will not have a winning record. The New Orleans Saints were somehow tied for the division lead before Sunday with a 5-7 record. The Carolina Panthers entered with a 3-8-1 record and destroyed the Saints 41-10 (and New Orleans’ only touchdown came in garbage time). The Saints looked pretty good when they beat Green Bay, right? How can they be so bad?

• Their own putridness apparently got to the Saints on Sunday, leading to a brawl following a Cam Newton touchdown. If only the Saints showed that kind of fight between the whistles.

• New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith threw a pick-six 12 seconds into Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings. If being a Jets fan hadn’t already completely destroyed your morale, Geno being your quarterback probably would.

• Holy moly! Before I go on mocking the Jets, check out this insane catch by New York receiver Chris Owusu.

• I feel like that catch should earn Owusu the honor of officially having a jersey number on the Jets roster.

• Oh, Cleveland, you had everything going for you. Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck had one of his worst games, completing less than 50% of his passes with two interceptions and a fumble (in addition to another Colts fumble). The Browns had a 21-7 lead early in the third quarter and, after a fantastic defensive performance (including two defensive touchdowns), managed to allow Luck and the Colts march down the field for a game-winning touchdown drive.

• Ndamukong Suh has been thinking. The thing is a late hit on a quarterback is fun and all, but it feels so … not enough. Same with the forearm shiver. A hit to the head brings some joy, but surely there must be something better. That’s when it struck Suh -- he could do all three in one play!!

• Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall caught a knee to his ribs in Thursday’s blowout loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Marshall left the stadium in an ambulance and the Bears have announced that his season is over, having suffered two broken ribs and a collapsed lung. Heal up soon, Brandon!

• The Arizona Cardinals held onto their NFC lead with a 17-14 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. The Cardinals MVP was the ref who ruled this a fumble on review!! KC, down three points, was driving down the field when this play happened. The Chiefs player was originally ruled down by contact, then the refs reviewed it, and overturned the call! It would be a bad call if it had originally been ruled a fumble and then upheld, but they actually overturned the ruling on the field to call this a fumble. The refs’ argument that the player lost possession of the ball and never recovered it would be somewhat reasonable if it didn’t discount the fact that you can’t see the ball for a pivotal stretch.

• It’s especially unfair when you think about how the Kansas City offense needs all the help it can get.

Just a reminder, Smith was drafted 23 spots ahead of Aaron Rodgers.

• JJ Watt had three sacks, four tackles for loss, and five quarterback hits against the Jacksonville Jaguars. NBD.

• Can someone explain to me what “cold activated” means in every Coors commercial? You can’t just take two words you like and put them together.

• During the Denver-Buffalo game, one ref gave another ref a fist bump after a call. People on the internet had fun with it, calling for a excessive celebration flag on the referees and the like. But here’s what you don’t know that Mike Pereira does: THE REFS ARE NEVER WRONG! Luckily for us, the insufferable and sanctimonious Pereira is here to give everyone a lecture.

• For the first time in 52 games, Peyton Manning did not throw a touchdown pass.

• This is what Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller wore after defeating the Buffalo Bills.

A fox hat perhaps in tribute to head coach John Fox?

• Sio Moore of the Oakland Raiders was not impressed with San Francisco Kaepernick. After the game, he posted a photo of the quarterback with the caption, “There's a difference between boys and Men... Freakin chump.” Okaaaaay, then.

• Week 14 really brought out the intensity, and the Raiders weren’t the only ones talking on Sunday. After the Seattle Seahawks shut down the Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle defender Michael Bennett was asked what he saw from Eagles quarterback Mark Sanchez, and replied, “Same thing everyone else saw -- not much.” (What?! A Seahawk talking trash?!?) Bennett kept on going after Sanchize, saying, “Tell the Philadelphia police to put an ABP out. Sanchez is trying to impersonate a good quarterback.” Wow. So mean to poor Sanchez.

On second thought, it's probably deserved.

• I understand the angst about the likelihood of an NFC South team not only making the playoffs with a losing record, but hosting a playoff game. Yes, that’s ridiculous, but I don’t think there needs to be any changes made to the playoff structure. First of all, a losing team making the playoffs isn’t that common an occurrence that rules need to be changed. Second of all, I love the divisional structure. I love cultivating a special hate for the Lions, Bears, and Vikings. I love that six games a year have special stakes. I love the dynamic -- the Ravens-Steelers, the Niners-Seahawks, the Cowboys-Giants, &c. Every team has a special hatred reserved for one-to-three other teams, and it’s special because it’s been brewing for years and years and years. And so I’d rather let a crappy team sneak into the playoffs every once in a long while -- even though some poor team that’s good will be sitting at home in January -- than lose the fun of the divisional rivalry and races.

I just wouldn't enjoy this quite as much without the divisional rivalry.

"We Were Lying."

• After defeating the New England Patriots 26-21, Green Bay Packers safety Micah Hyde said to reporters, “I think we kind of told you guys earlier in the week it was just another game. We were lying. I bet you probably already knew that, but we were lying.”

• It was a huge victory for the Packers, who are now tied with the Arizona Cardinals and the Philadelphia Eagles for the top seed in the NFC.

• Jordy Nelson was an Over-the-Middle Ninja on his killer touchdown before the half. Nelson now has six touchdowns of 40+ yards this season, tops in the NFL.

• The defensive played very well against a potent New England offense. Tramon Williams, Morgan Burnett, HaHa Clinton-Dix, and Sam Barrington all had great games for Green Bay. I don’t want to say it’s the only reason that the Packers defense looked good, but I think it helped that AJ Hawk played fewer than half the snaps on defense. While Hawk played in the base defense, Clay Matthews and Barrington were the inside linebackers in the nickel package.

• While the Packers’ league-high streak of games with a takeaway was snapped, they did maintain their league-high streak of games with a sack, thanks to a crucial fourth-quarter sack by Neal Daniels (Mike Neal and Mike Daniels were each credited with a ½ sack).

"Not the face! Not the face!"

• Losing Sam Shields to a concussion was unfortunate, but it’s nice that the Packers have such depth at cornerback. I’m a Davon House fan, but I cannot fathom why he is ahead of Casey Hayward in the depth chart. Hayward is so good -- all he does is intercept passes!

• Rookie tight end Richard Rodgers scored his first NFL touchdown last week and followed it up with another one this week.

• Rookie receiver Davante Adams had a horrible drop in the fourth quarter that would have been a sure touchdown, but otherwise played a very nice game, racking up 121 receiving yards.

• Eddie Lacy started the game off strong for Green Bay. Even when Lacy temporarily went to the sidelines with an injury, third-string running back Dujuan Harris STILL didn’t get any carries! We might have to switch over from the  #ActivateTolzien campaign to #PlayDujuan.

• Awww, poor little Darrelle Revis claimed that Jordy pushed off on the touchdown. First of all, no he didn’t, and second of all:

• Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy worries me frequently, but he deserves some major props for his game plan against the Pats. Besides the new AJ Hawk-less defensive looks, McCarthy put some unique looks on the field, including having both Nelson and Cobb in the slot, putting Cobb and Boykin in the backfield, using backup running back James Starks as a receiver. It put New England against lineups that they had never seen on film and created some matchup problems.

• Green Eyes and Sideline Ninja are the first Packers receiving duo to have 10 touchdowns apiece in a season.

So talented, so beautiful.

• The offense looked pretty good, but were a disappointing 0-for-4 in the redzone. The Patriots are a good defense, particularly in the secondary, but that’s definitely something the Packers will need to improve on.

• Though Tom Brady was his usual excellent self -- 22-for-35, 247 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions -- it looks like it was still a rough day for him.

• But he did calm down after he had his walk.

• The Oakland Raiders, who won their first game of the season last week, turned back into pumpkins in a major way. Like, a 52-0 way. Sometimes you have these plays that you can only watch and sigh and think, “Only the Raiders.”

• Tennessee Titans quarterback Zach Mettenberger was taken to task by Houston Texans superstar JJ Watt after being too active on social media prior to the teams’ last meeting. Mettenberger said before this week’s game that he had checked himself into “selfie rehab,” but apparently that wasn’t enough to escape being injured on a sack … he needed to be sent to JJ WATT REHAB

(JK, Zach, hope you heal up fast!)

• The Houston Texans are serious about Watt winning the MVP. They just put him on the field for his third offensive touchdown this season! That’s five TDs on the season for Watt, so more than Calvin Johnson, LeSean McCoy, Andre Johnson, Golden Tate, Anquan Boldin, Julian Edelman... 

• As I mentioned a few weeks ago in reference to Julius Peppers, I love it when a defender forces the fumble and also recovers it. I love it even more when my future husband does it!

• Green Bay GM Ted Thompson got a lot of grief for not trading for running back Marshawn Lynch. As phenomenal as he’s been with the Seattle Seahawks, he a) wasn’t that good when he was with the Buffalo Bills, and b) is crazy. Reportedly unhappy in Seattle, Lynch is now throwing out the rumor of considering retirement after this season (which he also did last season. After winning the Super Bowl).

• Indianapolis Colts tight end Coby Fleener will probably want to exclude this play from his highlight reel.

• The Jacksonville Jaguars won a second game! Yay! The fact that it came against Eli Manning and the New York Giants just makes it that much more enjoyable.

• Johnny Football, blah, blah, blah, money sign, who cares.

• Just-recently-benched Ryan Fitzpatrick was called into duty after quarterback Ryan Mallet suffered an injury last week. Fitz came back with a roar, passing for six touchdowns in an easy victory over the Tennessee Titans.

• Some other things you should know about Fitzpatrick: he scored a 1580 on his SATs, graduated from Harvard, and is raising an adorable math whiz.

• Colt McCoy had a Houdini move to escape three defenders and throw a touchdown. Maybe he can use that magic to escape from the Washington Redskins.

• Injuries keep piling up for the Arizona Cardinals, who lost another three starters in the first half of their loss to the Atlanta Falcons. I’m seriously wondering how Arizona is able to field a team right now; it seems like they lose at least one key player every week.

• DJ Fluker of the San Diego Chargers might want to work on not stripping the ball from his own teammate. The Ravens recovered this one.

• I'm not one to ever have sympathy for the Dallas Cowboys, but maybe making a team play on Sunday night against a divisional opponent and then play on Thursday afternoon against another divisional opponent for the division lead is, oh, I don't know, a little unfair? But hey, three and a half days is plenty of time to recover from getting hit by monsters for three hours so that you can get hit by different monsters for another three hours, right?

• Some wide receivers don’t really like to block. Some, like Mike Evans here, seem to really, really enjoy blocking.

• The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were down one point and driving down the field. With 26 seconds left in the game, the Bucs threw a 21-yard completion to put them in field goal range … but they had 12 men on the field. Ouch. They lost the game because of that stupid penalty.

• This is Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater valiantly and vainly trying to draw the Carolina Panthers offsides on a 4th-and-1. As Teddy’s screaming himself hoarse, you can hear a Carolina Panther say, “I don't got time for that bull****. Come on, man, you gotta be smarter than that.”

• The Kansas City Chiefs’ first quarter against the Denver Broncos was -- hmm, what’s the word? -- unproductive.

• Here are the special jerseys Kyle and Corey Fuller’s parents wore when the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears met on Thanksgiving day.

Aww, that's cute.

• As for the brothers, they really embraced the family holiday spirit.

• You know what I was wondering? What do you think San Francisco tight end Vernon Davis’ favorite Thanksgiving dish is?

• There are many things to be thankful for this year. I am thankful for Jay Cutler. So is every opposing defensive back in the league.

Top of the NFC North

• It wasn’t a particularly pretty or even competent win for the Green Bay Packers, but they moved into sole possession of the top spot in the NFC North. The Packers looked sloppy in all three phases of the game, but this was still a good win for them. The Vikings played most of the game in Cover 2, which the Packers will see a lot of, given the talent of their passing game, and Green Bay took what Minnesota gave them, and, well, ran with it.

• Eddie Lacy was fantastic with 125 rushing yards -- with 70 of those yards coming after contact! -- one rushing touchdown, and one receiving touchdown. All while sick, the poor guy.

• Facing a double team most of the game, Jordy Nelson was pretty quiet, with just 68 yards. He did, however, passed the 1,000-yard mark on the season. Whoop whoop!

"Yeah, I know, I'm pretty good."

• I wish I knew how to embed Vines, because then I would put this adorable Vine of Jordy being adorable in his adorable way. Sideline Ninja is such a great friend.

• I would also embed this incredible Rodgers throw to Cobb, that had about a 0.3” margin for error.

• With the Vikings secondary giving most of its attention to Jordy and Randall, it was clear that the Packers need to have a third weapon. Davante Adams has to step up. If not, it may be time to get Jarrett Boykin back in the rotation or even Jeff Janis.

• Daryl Johnston and Kenny Albert are the WORST. They are boring, stupid, and have annoying voices. And the less said about Tony Siragusa, the better. (Or really, the less Tony Siragusa says, the better.)

Translation: You're gonna want to watch this game on mute.

• Another reason I hated Fox on Sunday -- Sideline Ninja had a sideline catch that was ruled out of bounds and they wouldn't show the replay!! THEN, I found this today -- I KNEW IT! WHY DIDN'T THEY LISTEN TO ME?!

Did you really doubt him?? Stupid, blind ref.

• The announcers couldn’t get enough of Teddy Bridgewater. They were obsessed with his “poise,” which I, too, can admire, but I was a little distracted by all of his passes being 10 feet too high. If a Vikings receiver were standing on the shoulders of another Vikings receiver, the throws still probably would have been too high.

• Micah Hyde’s interception gave the Packers 19 straight games with a takeaway, the longest active streak in the league. (They should have had about four more interceptions, considering Bridgewater’s passes.)

• Aaron Rodgers' only touchdown was to Richard Rodgers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a receiver be able to stand flatfooted in the endzone and wait several seconds for the ball to come to him. Rodgers’ (the quarterback) ability to get that ball across the field is incredible and funny when you think that that went into the box score as a 1-yard pass.

• The Packers defense looked at times like it was reverting back to its original form that had fans so worried early in the season. There were a lot of missed tackles.

• Merciful heavens, there were plays where both AJ Hawk and Brad Jones were in the game?? We’re darn lucky that the Vikings didn’t manage to score five touchdowns when that dynamic duo was holding down that inside line.

• This week was kinda disappointing because there were so many near upsets - The Miami Dolphins almost beat the Denver Broncos, the Chicago Bears were down in the third quarter to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Francisco barely beat the Washington Redskins, the St. Louis Rams made things close against the San Diego Chargers, the Dallas Cowboys put together a game-winning drive in the final minute against the New York Giants, and the Atlanta Falcons came thisclose to not beating themselves.

You even suck at sucking, Jay!!

• There was one really cool upset, though -- the Oakland Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs for their first win of the season!! I’m so happy for them!!

• The Raiders could have lost the game on a stupid penalty, though. On the final Kansas City drive, with under a minute left, Raiders defenders Khalil Mack and Sio Moore were too busy celebrating a sack to notice that every other player on the field was lined up and the Kansas City Chiefs were about to snap the ball, which would have resulted in a penalty against the Raiders. Veteran Justin Tuck had to call a timeout to prevent the penalty. After the game, Moore said, "You know how they say act like you've been there before? I haven't."

Seriously, watch the linked video above to see how freaking
long they spent celebrating.

• Charles Woodson, a 17-year vet and former Packer best known for his appearance on my “Top Ten Hottest Packers” list, was not happy with Moore. If the Raiders hadn’t won, said Woodson, “we really probably would've had to fight, and I would've seen exactly what kind of fighter he is."

• Oh, I miss Woodson so much! On Thursday night, he became the first NFL player to have 50 interceptions and 20 sacks. And he’s still only one pick-six away from the record!

• I have long been a Matthew Stafford apologist, but sometimes I don’t get a lot of help from Matt himself. The Lions got beat down in a big way by the New England Patriots, 34-9. Stafford was a putrid 18-for-46 with no touchdowns and an interception. He didn’t get much help from his receivers …

• …but that still doesn’t excuse completing under 40% of your passes.

• I give Chicago flack for not having a top-5 offense, but the Detroit Lions deserve some heat, as well. They’ve failed to score a touchdown in two straight games (against New England and Arizona, the latter of which does have a very strong defense). The Lions are 7-4, but have only a +7 point differential. The San Francisco 49ers are the only winning team with a lower point differential. Calvin Johnson has missed a bunch of games, but you still have Stafford, Golden Tate, a now-healthy Johnson, Jeremy Ross (who magically became good after leaving the Packers), and a solid run game with Joique Bell, Reggie Bush, and Theo Riddick, as well as a strong defense that puts their offense in good positions. No excuse for not lighting up the scoreboard.

• Sooo, Josh Huff is pretty fast.

That's Philly's fourth kickoff/punt return for a touchdown this season!

• In athletes not doing terrible things news, Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch found a wallet at a gas station, looked at the address, drove there to return it, but found no one at home, so he left the wallet with a neighbor to ensure it got back to the owner.

• In case this blog is your only link to the outside world and you haven’t yet seen the Odell Beckham, Jr. catch from Sunday night, here it is.

• That’s not just a one-handed catch, that’s a three-finger catch.

• ODB’s jaw-dropping catch didn’t help him escape the scorn of the ref. Beckham was hit while going out of bounds and the Giants were calling for a late hit penalty. I was glad to see the ref stand firm, but it seemed a bit unnecessary, though amusing, to call out ODB publicly for “[taking] a flop.”

• Robert Woods of the Buffalo Bills must have gotten sick of everyone talking about ODB's catch, so he wanted to give him a run for his money in the crazy, unbelievable catch category on Monday night.

• This is Steve Tisch, Chairman and Executive VP of the New York Giants. Next to him is someone everyone hoped was his granddaughter. His awkward old-man smooching ruined that hope.

I'm sure this relationship will go the distance.

• It was revealed that Clay Matthews and several of the Green Bay Packers offensive line will make a cameo in the upcoming Pitch Perfect sequel (so yes, I’m obvs going to go see it). A lot of people are geeked up about it, but former Packers o-lineman Marshall Newhouse is not one of them.

• Bill Belichick doesn’t care if you ran for 200 yards and scored four touchdowns the week before. If you oversleep practice, you don’t play. I think Jonas Gray learned his lesson.

• Marshawn Lynch has previously been fined ridiculous amounts for refusing to speak to the media after games. So he, um, “talked,” to the media after Sunday’s game. Here’s the transcript.

• Wonder why the Buffalo Bills-New York Jets game was played in Detroit instead of Buffalo?

• Umm, would anyone on the Washington Redskins’ medical staff care to evaluate Robert Griffin III for a concussion? How many times does your quarterback have to take a helmet-to-helmet hit or have his head slammed into the ground before you take steps to protect him? RGIII was sacked five times and hit another eight against the San Francisco 49ers.

• Aww, Tom Brady’s little girl was cheering on her dad on Sunday. It’s nice to see the child of a multimillionaire sports star and a multimillionaire supermodel enjoy her father’s success from her multimillion dollar mansion.

• Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry has been placed on non-football injury list with what is reportedly a diagnosis of lymphoma. It’s crazy to think that Berry was just playing football on Thursday -- when a complaint of chest pains led to the medical evaluation that revealed the lymphoma. I hope he has a speedy recovery!

• TY Hilton and his wife had a baby girl on Sunday morning, just a couple hours before kickoff, but Hilton was still able to make his game. He promised he’d catch a TD for his little girl, and made good on his promise, paying tribute to her in his touchdown celebration.

• Hey, guys, you’ll never believe this, but a Detroit Lions player made a dirty play! With the New England Patriots up 25 points and only a few seconds left on the clock, the Lions took a knee, except, as you can see here, center Dominic Raiola, took a dive at the Patriot’s nose tackle’s feet. Raiola didn’t try to dodge the accusation: “I cut him. We took a knee, so I cut [him] ... They went for a touchdown at two minutes. They could have took three knees and the game could have been over. It's football. He wants to keep playing football, let's play football. Not a big deal. It's football.”

• While Raiola is right that the Pats should have run out the clock rather than score, that’s still not an excuse to risk injuring something. Bill Belichick offered his sympathy (?), saying, “[I’m] sure there was a lot of frustration there with Raiola. He’s never beaten us. Tough day for him.” Zing!

• Oh, Shaun Hill. With about a minute left in the game, the St. Louis Rams were down three points and on the San Diego’s 4-yard-line. Worst case scenario is they kick an easy field goal and take it to overtime, right? Actually, the very worst case scenario is your quarterback throws an interception on the goal line that ends the game. Which is what Shaun Hill did.

• Heads up, ref! Wonder how many weeks' suspension this player will get.

• It’s always so awkward when a player is benched, and then the backup gets injured and then the team has to go back to the original starter. Like, how do you pep talk him? “Hey bud, we believe in you … even though we just benched you because we thought your backup was better … the team’s behind you … yeah, they were excited when you were benched, but they’re back behind you now … I know you can do this … but, yes, we are calling free agents right now.” That’s what I imagine going on in Houston with quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick who I guess will be back to starting now after Ryan Mallett tore his pectoral muscle and is out for the season

• A 99-yard pick-six from Janoris Jenkins!

• It was a tough week for the New Orleans Saints, even before they lost to the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night. The Saints had to place their rookie, star-in-the-making wide receiver Bradin Cooks on injured reserve, along with starting safety Rafael Bush, ending both their seasons.

• This Tennessee Titans offensive lineman wanted to make clear to the Eagles knew what the call on the field was.

• The Atlanta Falcons lost to the Cleveland Browns, despite having the ball with 2:42 left, three timeouts, and subsequently scoring! How has that house not been cleaned after the last three years? The fact that Mike Smith and Thomas Dimitroff have had jobs the past three years is incredible.

• No, no, Matt Ryan! Don’t run towards the guy who just almost sacked you!!

.

• Andy Reid is typically the go-to butt of the joke when it comes to clock management, but I really feel like Mike Smith of the Atlanta Falcons has wrestled that title away from Reid and deserves first mention when talking about terrible clock management.

• That's it for this week! ... except for one more thing: SHIRTLESS RANDALL ALERT.