Pro Football 101

The lingering effects of a long week that included the arrest of receiver Plaxico Burress, the suspension of Burress by the Giants for the remainder of the season, and the police questioning of Antonio Pierce, might have spilled over to their game vs. the Eagles, but in the end, we’ll never know.

One thing we do know is that the Giants came out flat on Sunday and were thoroughly beaten at their own game by the division rival Philadelphia Eagles.

On a cold, windy day at the Meadowlands, the Eagles did to the Giants what the Giants normally do to the league: punished them physically. Sticking with their running game, which is something Andy Reid is normally quick to abandon, Westbrook was able to find holes behind his mammoth line all afternoon.

Late in the second quarter, when the Giants put nine guys into the box, Westbrook was able to sneak through a hole and go untouched for a 30-yard score to put the Eagles up 10-0.

A major reason that the Eagles’ offense was able to create such rhythm was because the Giants were without starting LCB Aaron Ross from the end of the first quarter on. With fourth-string CB Kevin Dockery forced to play on the outside, the Giants kept a safety back to help in the passing game and the Giants were unable to bring a man up to help out vs. the run and bring extra pressure at McNabb.

The Giants on the hand, never found their rhythm on this day. The media will question Burress’ loss and what it meant to the offense, but New York had its chances. In the beginning of the second quarter, from their 15-yard line, Manning threw a beautiful pass 50-yards down the field that should have resulted in an 85-yard TD.

Only the football went right through Domenik Hixon’s hands. It was that kind of day all afternoon.

Then trailing 10-0 right before the break, the Eagles tried a FG attempt which would have put them up 13-0. Instead, DE Justin Tuck broke through the line, got his hand on the football, blocked the attempt, and it was picked up by CB Kevin Dockery and returned 71-yards for the score. 10-7 at the break.

The Giants felt this might have been the play to ignite their sluggishness but that wouldn’t be the case.

In the ever important third quarter, when the Giants would have the wind with them, they only managed one drive and six total plays because McNabb and Westbrook methodically executed in the running game and short passing game and kept converting third downs to move the chains.

And to cap off the third quarter, after holding the ball for over 12 minutes, on a 3rd-and-11 from the 40-yard line, McNabb was able to buy time and locate his fourth read on the play, Brian Westbrook out of the backfield, and he raced away from Antonio Pierce for the 40-yard TD reception.

Game over.

The Eagles moved to 7-5-1 and kept their slim playoff hopes alive and the Giants, who actually won the NFC East Division a short time later when the Steelers reallied to beat the Cowboys late, moved to 11-2 and still hold a one-game lead for home field advantage throughout.

The game of the week took place in Pittsburgh on Sunday. The 8-4 Cowboys gave the 9-3 Steelers all they could handle, but with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, Dallas self-destructed like they’ve done in each of the last two Decembers.

After thoroughly dominating the first three quarters, and overcoming four turnovers in the first half (three for Romo alone), Dallas stopped the Steelers on a key fourth-down and goal at the one and appeared to suck the life out of Pittsburgh and their fan faithful.

But after Roethlisberger guided the team down the field for a FG to move the game to 13-6, the Steelers forced a three-and-out and got the ball back with under five minutes left.

Big Ben drove down the field to score the game tying TD and then Romo, after Dallas received the ball at the 20 with two minutes left and score 13-13, overthrew TE Witten on a miscommunication which was intercepted and returned for six. And game over.

With the win, the Steelers moved to 10-3 and closer to a first-round bye while the loss put Dallas at 8-5 and into a situation they were desperately trying to avoid.

In New York, the Giants fell to the Eagles 20-14. Unless you were a fan of either football team, it was a boring game to watch, but the Giants saw their six-game winning streak come to a crashing halt as McNabb and Westbrook methodically took apart the Giants’ defense with a mixture of smart running and short pass plays.

There’s no way to measure how much the distractions of Plaxico Burress and Antonio Pierce were to the team today, but one thing that was evident is the team came out flat on Sunday.

They missed a few huge opportunities (WR Domenik Hixon saw an 80-yard TD go through his hands), and just seemed to be elsewhere mentally throughout the game.

But the Eagles deserve a lot of credit because they were left for dead after two horrific games vs. the Bengals and Ravens a few weeks ago, but after beating the Cardinals on Thanksgiving night and defeating the Giants today, their playoff hopes are still alive.

With the Dallas loss on Sunday, the Giants actually clinched the NFC East Title to guarantee a first-round playoff game, but they know there’s work to be done before next week’s game in Dallas where they have a chance to end the Cowboys’ playoff chances.

The Falcons allowed a golden opportunity to slip through their fingers today. Division games are never easy, but losing to the Saints didn’t help their playoff chances as they remained tied with the Cowboys for the sixth seed in the NFC.

QB Matt Ryan was once again solid, but the defense couldn’t keep the Saints out of the end zone late in the game and fell 29-25.

The Cards clinched the NFC West with a 34-10 romping over the St. Louis Rams. It was 33 years in the waiting, but if finally happened.

It helped to have three of the worst teams in football in the division but nonetheless, it’s something for Arizona fans to be happy about. And they actually have a chance for a first-round victory in the post season because the win guaranteed one home playoff game.

Switching conferences, let’s go to the best race in NFL: the AFC East. There’s now a three-way tie at 8-5 in the division since both the Patriots and Dolphins won and the Jets laid another egg in San Francisco. Now I’m not sure about you, but I’ve got to think that Mangini is feeling the pressure right about now.

The Patriots weren’t expected to be here after losing Tom Brady in week one and the Dolphins are playing with house money after winning just one game last season, but the Jets have the other team in NY to contend with and just spent tons of money in the off-season to make the playoffs.

Mangini’s already shown he’s not yet ready to handle success with losses to the Broncos and 49ers after handing the Titans their only loss of the season, so we’ll see how things finish off for the J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS! A pink slip might find its way onto Mangini’s desk if New York can’t regroup and make the post-season.

The Colts kept their hot streak alive with an annihilation of the Bengals on Sunday. With their sixth straight win after a 3-4 start, they’re going to be a dangerous wild card team as they should have starting C Jeff Saturday and S Bob Sanders back for the playoff run.

Lastly, the Broncos all but assured their ticket to the playoffs with a close win (24-17) over the Kansas City Chiefs. They improved to 8-5 on the season and hold a three game edge over the San Diego Chargers with three games to play.

Hopefully the weather’s nice at the beach in San Diego because the Chargers won’t have to worry about the playoffs this season.