NFL Weekend Review: Week 13 - Brendan Darr's Blog

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Brendan Darr's Blog

NFL Weekend Review: Week 13

Posted on December 5, 2012 at 03:40 PM.

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The NFL playoff races are heating up and this past weekend delivered some excellent drama. The AFC has essentially worked itself out with a minor detail or two yet to be decided. The NFC? Well, we'll have to wait and see how this plays out.

1) Atlanta and Houston Continue to Roll

Both teams continue dominate despite everyone giving them their best shot. At 11-1 both teams are the cream of their conference and seemed destined for the top spot.

Atlanta knocked off New Orleans in the Georgia Dome and clinched the NFC South after Tampa Bay lost on Sunday. The Falcons picked Drew Brees off five times and snapped his record-setting Touchdown streak.

Meanwhile, the Texans dismantled the Titans and clinched a playoff spot of their own. The Texans didn't have a massive offensive day, but the defense forced six turnovers.

2) Rookie Comebacks

Andrew Luck led the Colts past the Lions in an impressive fashion. Down nine headed into the fourth quarter, Luck led the Colts back and overcame a huge day from Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson.

At the same time, Russell Wilson led the Seahawks to an impressive victory over the Bears on the road in overtime. Wilson and the Seahawks offense had a big day against the Bears defensed, probably the biggest surprise of all.

In the final game of the weekend, Robert Griffin III outplayed Eli Manning on Monday Night Football. RGIII wasn't alone in the comeback as fellow rookie, Alfred Morris, fumbled but only got stronger as the game wore on.

3) Chargers Get Norv'd

In what can only be the biggest disappointment this season, the Chargers started the year 3-1 and now sit at 4-8. Quite the fall from grace, but not shocking when you remember Norv Turner is their coach.

Norv has been a meme and gif godsend this season as his late-game collapses are becoming the stuff of legend. It's a shame this is likely the end of the road for Norv Turner in San Diego.

4) Setting Football Back

In games in New York and St. Louis, football took an ugly turn on Sunday.

In St. Louis, the Rams and Niners almost played to another tie, which I'm sure everyone was excited about. The game was really ugly, which didn't help the fact it was nearly a tie, and the Rams ended up pulling out the win in the waning moments with a big field goal from Greg Zuerlein.

I don't really want to talk about the "game" the Cardinals and Jets played. Thank God for Greg McElroy, right?

5) The Tragedy In Kansas City

I'm not going to go on a Bob Costas-like rant on guns, because I believe that was wrong. I just wanted to acknowledge the fact I'm glad they played the game. If the players and coaches wanted to play, I would be inclined to think the game should be played. Who am I to tell them they are wrong.

Mental illness is serious topic, one much more serious than I'm equipped to handle -- I'm not a psychiatrist and neither are most other sports writers -- so again, I'm going to skip that. I just hope for Romeo Crennel and Scott Pioli's sake they are able to get past this incident.