5: New York Giants 31,
In the Meadowlands, the New York Giants were able to overcome some terrible special team plays to defeat the New York Jets.
The Giants special teams have been a cause for concern this year after costing the team at least two wins. Once Brett Conway missed his 39 yard field goal in overtime, it looked like it would lose the Giants the game yet again. The Jets then drove down the field and looked like they had the game sealed when they sent their kicker, Doug Brien, to kick what they thought would be a game winning field goal. However, Will Allen jumped the snap and had an easy block. Then, with five seconds left in the game, Conway finally hit his second field goal to seal the win for the Giants.
In a losing effort, Santana Moss established himself as the new Jets go-to guy with his 10 reception, 121 yard, and three score performance.
4: Green Bay Packers 30,
In the twin cities, Brett Favre and the Packers picked up a rare but much needed win against the Vikings at home.
Favre had a broken thumb but still managed to pass for 194 yards and three touchdowns. Ahman Green was also a great complement to Favre’s arm, rushing for 137 yards and adding to a rushing attack that managed to run for a whopping 261 yards.
Daunte Culpepper did the best he could, throwing for 202 yards and two touchdowns while adding another on the ground, but the Vikings defense never could seem to find a way to stop the Packer offense, giving up a total of 455 yards.
3: New England Patriots 30,
At Mile High Stadium, the Patriots caught a couple of breaks to defeat the Broncos in a battle that changed hands numerous times.
In the beginning of the game, Denver seemed to control the ball on offense with Clinton Portis rushing for 111 yards and a score. Danny Kannell, the third string quarterback, also played well, although he did not have to make many plays because of the great protection he was getting.
The game seemed to belong to the Broncos when cornerback Deltha O’Neal returned a punt for a touchdown, putting his team up 24-20. But the Patriots snatched the momentum back by taking an intentional safety and getting better field position with a free kick. It worked; the Patriots got the ball back on their own 42 and had to drive just 58 yards for the game winning score.
2: New Orleans Saints 17,
At Tampa Bay, the Saints keep winning despite several setbacks this season—getting clobbered by the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night and losing in a close overtime game to the Carolina Panthers—to narrowly beat the Bucs.
The game seemed to be locked up for the Saints when Ashley Ambrose pulled something that the Bucs are very familiar with and returned a Brad Johnson pass for a touchdown to put his team up 14-0 entering the fourth quarter.
The pesky Bucs got two touchdown tosses from Brad Johnson to pull even late in the fourth. The Saints kept driving, in part due to the play of running back Deuce McAllister, and put their kicker in position to win the game with his leg. John Carney did just that, converting his 47 yarder for the win as time expired.
1: Indianapolis Colts 23,
In South Florida, the Colts survived a costly Peyton Manning miscue and the Dolphins are still looking for a way to win at Pro Player Stadium.
The Dolphins actually played well through 58 minutes and looked like they were on their way to victory after Dolphins nickelback Terrell Buckley intercepted a Manning pass and took it to the Colts 15-yard line. Two plays later, Dwight Freeny hit Dolphins quarterback Brian Griese and knocked the ball loose. Raheem Brock recovered the ball and the Colts ran out the clock.
Colts running back Edgerrin James also had a great game, rushing 29 times for 89 yards and a score.
Player of the Week: Tim Rattay
I am positive that most on the East Coast have never heard about this quarterback from the San Francisco 49ers. I hardly knew anything about this newcomer till his first NFL start this Sunday. Not only did he replace the iron man Jeff Garcia, he did it very well.
He completed 19 out of 29 passes for 236 yards and three touchdowns, pretty sizable numbers for some of the league’s veteran stars. He also seemed to have control of the offense the entire game, not to mention that it had such a high profile star on it like Terrell Owens.
Rattay also led the attack that clobbered a division rival, and puts the struggling 49ers back into a division race. Clutch performace by Rattay.
Disappointment of the Week:
This is also the disappointment of the year. In a year that his team should be going to the Super Bowl, Bill Callahan has coached the Raiders into the ground. As Charles Woodson would say, he has lost this team and I think he did so a while ago. This team lost to the hapless Detroit Lions this week, whose kicker even thinks they are bad.
That pretty much sums up the Raiders’ disappointing season.
Watch out for: Santana Moss
This wide receiver from the University of Miami has always had the tools to succeed in the NF—great speed, good college career, and decent quarterback at the helm. But for one reason or another, Moss has not lived up to expectations until this year.
So far, he has 459 receiving yards and four scores, but more importantly gives the Jets a deep threat they have not had since Keyshawn Johnson departed south.
He has eight plays already this year that have gone for 20 yards or more, which averages out to exactly one a game. Watch for him to cause havoc for AFC East secondaries for years to come if he keeps this pace up.
