NFL Week 10-11

Hi folks...I am sorry for the delay in adding a new entry but I have had computer and Internet issues :(...but lets get right back at our weekly looks at the National Football Association...

Week 10

Matty Ice

As you know I like the NFC South winner to go on and represent the NFC in Super Bowl XLV...the way Matty Ice has his Hotlanta Falcons humming - especially at home where they have won 14 straight with Matt Ryan at the helm - the Dirty Birds look good right now...



Speaking of winning at home how about Peyton and the Colts...4-0 at home this season despite numerous injuries (I may line up at WR for the Colts this week as they are sooo short handed these days)

Speaking, again, of winning at home Toronto's own Buffalo Bills finally get a W...the most significant part of that is it came at home where the Bills were dominant in the 90's, but horrid in the 2000's...

Hmmm...looks like a home team shout-out here too but with Week 10's 49-29 thrashing of KC the Denver Broncos won a Division home game for the first time in 2 years under Head Coach Josh McDaniels

Miami had 4 different players throw a pass in an injury-filled W, their first at home in 2010...WR Randy Moss has played 2 games in Miami this season and has 1 catch...give some credit to Dolphins CB Vontae Davis...the 2nd year player is really impressing this season and appears to have a Top 5 up-side

Mike Thomas carried off the field after "The Rebound"

Play of the Year ends the Houston @ Jacksonville tilt...you have no doubt seen the replay of David Garrard's 50 yard Hail Mary toss into the End Zone on the last play of the game...the ball was spiked down by Houston CB Glover Quin but the angle of the spike allowed the football to land fortuitously in the arms of Jags WR Mike Thomas for the game winning score...the play is called "Rebound" and when they practice it Thomas is always the "scoop guy" whose job it is to try to catch a deflected/batted ball...what was huge was the play prior to that was a 5-yard offside penalty on Antonio Smith which gave Garrard the extra 5 yards needed to get his heave all the way into the End Zone...that W puts the Jags at 5-4, while the loss was the 3rd straight for a Texans franchise that had their sights set on their first ever play-off appearance when they started 4-2

Cowboys win...Cowboys win...theeee Cowboys win...QB Jon Kitna completes only 13 passes, but 3 of those are for TD's and he amassed 327 passing yards as the talented skill players in Dallas finally showed up for a football game...interim (although don't call him that to his face!) Coach Jason Garret had the 'Boys in pads from Day 1 of his regime in an attempt to change the direction of this squad asap...I understand his motivation to improve things right away as he only has the rest of this season to show that he can lead this team going forward...with guys available like Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden Garret knows the competition could be tough to lead America's Team

Big road W for the New England Patriots...once again Tom Brady had his skill and leadership on display as the Steel Curtain takes a loss for the 2nd time in 3 weeks...

The Washington Redskins outscore the Philadelphia Eagles 7-0 in the 4th Q on Monday Night...sadly for 'Skins fans the other 3 Q's were sheer domination to the tune of 59-21 for Philly...1st play of the game goes for 88 yards and a TD from QB Michael Vick to WR DeSean Jackson, and the Eagles got 6 TD's from Vick in an absolute beat-down on the road...Eagles have won 4 straight games that Jackson has played in...Vick said it was his best game ever...he has never thrown an INT in his Eagles career

Week 11

Detroit @ Dallas...something here has to give...the Lions have lost the last 25 games they have played on the road...that is a record...the Cowboys are 0-4 this season in their new $1.3 billion stadium

Green Bay @ Minnesota...several teams this season have taken their turn at chipping away at the legend of QB Brett Favre and here comes the final chance for QB Aaron Rodgers and the Packers to do their damage...the Pack beat the Vikes in Week 7 28-24 at Lambeau...with Division foes Green Bay and Chicago already at 6-3 each the 3-6 Vikings are already in panic-mode and surely need this W

Oakland @ Pittsburgh...if the 5-4 Raiders get this W to go to 6-4 that will drop the Steelers to 6-4 and the Raiders would own the tie-breaker over Pitt thus be ahead of them in the standings...take that in for a moment...that means a Raiders W will have Oakland ahead of Pitt in the standings going into Week 12...another in a long line of examples of just how nutsacks this 2010 NFL season has been...


these QB's are each a classic

Indy @ New England...does it get better, or classier than Peyton Manning vs Tom Brady?!?!  This yearly classic writes itself...the last 2 games have gone to Manning and the Colts with last season being a crazy 35-34 final...Brady completed 29 passes for 375 yards and 3 TD's while Peyton completed 28 for 327 yards and 4 TD's...side-note here is that Tom Terrific will miss practise all week with foot and shoulder issues

NY Giants @ Philly...massive NFC East tilt...6-3 vs 6-3...1st place at stake...the first of 2 games between these teams over the next 5 weeks which will likely decide the NFC East winner

as always I welcome your emails... craig.ballard@hotmail.com