NFL Weekend Rewind: Week 14 - Brendan Darr's Blog

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Brendan Darr's Blog

NFL Weekend Rewind: Week 14 Stuck

Posted on December 12, 2012 at 03:12 PM.

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Here are the top five storylines from this past weekend:

1) Monday Night Massacre

Ron Burgundy was right, that did escalate quickly. You could see across all social media platforms that fans were saying the Texans weren't ready for primetime, and after that shellacking they might be right. That said, the Texans are still one of the best teams in the AFC and I honestly am expecting these two to have a rematch in the AFC Championship game.

Even without Gronk, this offense doesn't slow down. Brady is a well-oiled machine and the continued development of the running game is becoming another card the Patriots can play. Steven Ridley has developed into a solid back that Bill Belicheck can rely on in crunch time. He did have a fumble near the goal line, however, it was recovered by Aaron Hernandez.

J.J. Watt and the defensive front for Houston had a quiet night. Even when Watt forced a fumble, it was still recovered in the end zone for a touchdown by the Patriots (the second such bizarre occurrence on Monday night football in as many weeks).

2) RGIII Injured

Robert Griffin III was leading a comeback against the Ravens when all of a sudden the worst-case scenario occurred. He takes off running and his knee gets hit at an awkward angle. He can't put much pressure on it as he comes out for a play, only to go back in after Kirk Cousins draws a defensive PI call.

Robert Griffin III comes back out with a noticeable limp and plays again, a la Byron Leftwich against Akron.

Robert Griffin III was ultimately replaced by Kirk Cousins, who went on to win the game for the Redskins over the Ravens. It also turns out, it was only a Grade 1 LCL sprain for Robert Griffin III. The guy is super human. In his press conference on Wednesday he said he was feeling comfortable enough that he could potentially play on Sunday against the Browns.

3) Favorites Fall

It was a weird weekend where a lot of the favorites were unable to secure victories against lesser opponents. The Ravens weren't the favorites -- The Redskins were favored by a field goal -- but I already touched on them. The Bears lost to Adrian Peterson and the Vikings defense did their part to claw back into the playoff race.

The Bengals lost a bizarre game at home to the Cowboys, despite all the the emotional struggles the Cowboys were facing. The Chargers beat the Steelers on the road to make people in San Diego wonder where this kind of game has been all year. Which begs the question, how did Norv Turner motivate his team to win that game?

The Eagles also upset the Buccaneers, all but ending their playoff hopes. Although, Jeremy Maclin apparently injured his groin celebrating the game-winning touchdown. Who does he think he is, Bill Gramatica or something?

4) Saints and Lions All But Eliminated

Two playoff teams from last year saw their playoff hopes all but end this weekend. While New Orleans isn't mathematically eliminated yet, they essentially are. Both of these teams were pegged for the playoffs again after both made it last season. Detroit has been a mess all year, which in a way could also describe the Saints as well.

The Saints obviously had Bounty-gate hanging over their heads all season, and without their coach(es) for much of the season they struggled out of the gate and played catch-up all year. Detroit never had much of a running game and their defense struggled against the pass all season. They've also had Ndamokong Suh's antics over their heads the entire season.

5) Tragedy in Dallas

Like last week with Kansas City, I won't spend much time talking about this. Obviously these are different circumstances, and I think we can all agree drinking and driving is a poor life decision -- especially when driver services can be provided by the NFL. I think the media handled this tragedy in Dallas a lot better than they did the tragedy in Kansas City.

Naturally, I think that was bound to happen as everyone saw the fallout from the way the Jovan Belcher situation was handled by everyone trying to break the news. However, I find it difficult to see how people are jumping into the situation and saying they would have done things differently. In an ideal world, yes, you would have been sober, and yes, you would have pulled Jerry Brown Jr. out of the car, but this wasn't an ideal situation and it isn't fair in any way to jump in and act like you would have played the hero.

I hate that. I also hate that it is even possible for star athletes to be in a position to get a DUI/DWI. It makes zero sense to me. Someone said at work the other day that if a player has a DUI, they should automatically see a 2 or 4 game suspension and I didn't know what to think-- Is that too harsh?

Sound Off: Any stories you think merited being in the top five from this week? Or better yet, how do you think the NFL -- or any league -- should go about DUI/DWI's?

Comments

# 1 ANDROMADA 1 @ Dec 12

The Texans will be fine. Not many teams have won in New England since Brady has been at the helm. I'm not surprised at all. Houston is still the better positioned team and will continue to do work. Its not a big deal.

# 2 xblake16x @ Dec 14

What about the absolute drubbing of the Cardinals by the hands of the Seahawks? Why isn't this being talked about more? After starting off 4-0, the Cardinals have now lost 9 straight which is their longest losing streak since World War II. Even without Brandon Browner the Seahawks were able to force 9 turnovers. I'm not sure Sports Center even talked about this game for some reason...