[Chief Rum]

Week Fifteen

Week Fifteen's Big Games

Atlanta (9-4) at Indianapolis (7-6)

The Falcons need to keep the heat on the Buccaneers, and stay ahead of the Niners--just in case. And the Colts are one of three teams with the inside track on the final wildcard spot.

Baltimore (9-4) at Oakland (10-3)

The Ravens pretty much clinch a wildcard spot if they win, and they are also the only AFC non-division-leader that still has a chance to catch the team ahead of them. The Raiders have clinched a spot for the playoffs and the AFC West title, but home field and that first round bye still beckons.

Buffalo (11-2) at Tennessee (10-3)

It's getting kinda creepy with all these great matchups here. This one pits perhaps the top two teams in the AFC, and both want that home field advantage. This game could decide it, giving that advantage to one team--and sending the other into a fight for a first round bye.

Seattle (10-3) at St. Louis (11-2)

The NFC West title could be on the line in this one. The Rams have it if they win. The Seahawks probably clinch a wildcard spot and keep hoopes up for the division title if they take it.

Carolina at Arizona

I am happy so many other teams are getting into the playoff hunt, but for Carolina and my Cards, this season is over. This could be a game we can win, playing at home against a team that doesn't seem to be much better than us. But with this team, nothing can be counted on.

At least we're reasonably healthy, with Blake and Hayes back, and no one major seeing the training room too much.

This game had a little back-and-forth in it. The Panthers jumped out to a 10-0 first quarter lead, but we got back within three with a second quarter touchdown. The Panthers took it back in the third, moving up to 17-7. But just minutes into the fourth quarter, we scored another touchdown and now the score was a very manageable 17-14, Panthers with a lot of time left.

Carolina showed some cajones, though, and got tough. They kept us from scoring again, and then added a final score, a two-yard run bu DeShaun Foster with a minute to play, to shut the door for good. 24-14.

As has happened a few times this season, we actually outgained the panthers 340-294. We also forced three turnovers (all interceptions) and didn't turn the ball over ourseleves even once. How did we lose this game again?

I took a closer look at things and picked out some key reasons we lost. We allowed seven sacks, and just about all of them seemed to come at key moments in the game. We had 85 yards in penalties to their 25, and it hurt us at bad times as well, including prolonging the Panthers' first scoring drive. We had too many incompletions, thanks to a fierce pass rush and good pass defense. And finally, Bolvin ,issed two field goals and didn't even got called upon a couple times--we lost the ball on downs.

Well, at least I know why now.

QB Blake: 21-for-40, 364 yd, 1 td
RB Smith: 47 yd (3.3 ypc), 1 td
WR McAddley: 5 rec, 62 yd, 1 td

As I mentioned, we finally broke our streak of three-sack games. I can't say I like the way we did it, though, allowing seven sacks, reminiscent of our opening games. Chris Dishman, who had been amazingly solid in the passing game, despite being almost exclusively a run-blocker, finally broke and allowed three sacks. L.J. Shelton didn't help matters by allowing two himself. Mike Rucker (2.5 sacks) and Julius Peppers (2 sacks) had field days with my line.

We had some standout performances on defense. Dexter Jackson intercepted the ball two times and had seven tackles. Raynoch Thompson tied for the team-lead with nine tackles, and he intercepted the third of Rodney Peete's bad throws. And Ronald McKinnon was his usual self, with a Thompson-trying nine tackles, and five assists on tackles as well.

The Panthers won this with an opportunistic defense and with just giving us enough rope to hang ourselves, as they say. Peete (23-35, 240 yd, 2 td) did pretty well outside of the three picks.

Other Games

Home Teams in CAPS

INDIANAPOLIS 41, Atlanta 38 (OT): Wow, how about this one? Both teams had some things on the line, and both came to play. The Falcons leaped out to a big lead behind a Michael Vick pass, a Vick throw, and a T.J. Duckett 53-yard rumble for a score to make it 21-0. Then the teams started trading scores, and by halftime, the Falcons had held off the Colts and maintained the 21-point lead, 35-14. The Colts got a little back in the third quarter, with Edgerrin james third rushing touchdown of the game atthat point. But a Falcons FG early in the fourth quarter made it 38-21, and things looked bleak. That's when things opened up for the Colts. James scored his fourth touchdown on a 48-yard breakthrough run to make it 38-28. Then with just under three minutes, Peyton manning ran it in for another score, and all of a sudden it was just 38-35. The Colts got the ball back one more time and got close enough for Mike Vanderjagt to attempt the game-tying field goal with 29 seconds left. He made the 38-yard kick and this one went to overtime. That extra period went throught en minutes of trade offs before the Colts were again set up for a FG. Vanderjagt made it count again, and the Colts pulled off an amazing comeback victory in a game both teams were desparate to win. The two teams put up an amazing season-high 1141 yards, including 641 yards of total offense by the Colts. And no turnovers! Wow, what a fun game. James (166 yd, 4 td, 6 rec, 56 rec yd) was incredible, having his best game of the season. Manning (31-45, 462 yd, 0 td, 0 int) set the season yardage mark to this point in this one. Marvin Harrison (12 rec, 211 yd) had the kind of game most people are used to him having. This really was a game where the winners simply took it, but the Falcons certainly didn't lose it. Vick (26-31, 315 yd, 3 td, 0 int, 28 rush yd, 1 td) had probably his best game of the season. T.J. Duckett (128 yd, 1 td) and Peerless Price (10 rec, 186 yd, 2 td) were also at the top of their games.

OAKLAND 20, Baltimore 17: The Raiders almost let the Ravens run away with this one, and then once they caught them, they let them back in before finally beating them with a last minute field goal. Marcus Robinson was the recipient of a 76-yd bomb by Kyle Boller to set up the Ravens' early scoring. They were up 10-0 at the end of the first quarter. The Raiders took over in the second and third quarters, though, scoring 17 unanswered points to stand in the lead at 17-10 heading into the fourth quarter. The Ravens tied it up with six minutes left on a 1-yd scoring pass to Todd Heap, but the Raiders drove down in the final minutes, and Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 45-yd FG for the win with 1:20 left in the game. It was an ugly game of turnovers, with 7 total. The four Ravens turnovers were all Boller interceptions. Rich Gannon (27-38, 313 yd, 2 td, 2 int) had a fine day to lead the Raiders.

TENNESSEE 30, Buffalo 27 (OT): The Bills went into the locker room at halftime with a 24-14 lead, but they couldn't hold on in another exciting, playoff-tension filled game. The Titans scored field goals at each of the eight minute marks of the third and fourth quarters, but the low rate of points being scored made it look like the Bills would make the 24-20 score hold up. Finally, with 1:13 left, Steve McNair completed a 21-yard scoring pass to Derrick Mason to finally take the lead, 27-24. The Bills had to scramble in response, but they just got in range at the end, and a 46-yard FG by Rian Lindell sent the game into overtime. With six minutes left in the extra time, Titan kicker Gary Anderson kicked his third FG of the day, a 29-yarder to win the game. McNair's (26-50, 324 yd, 2 td, 3 int, 51 rush yd) arm was probably pretty sore after the game with all the passes he threw. Travis Henry (135 yd, 1 td) had a fine day, other than the fact his team lost.

Seattle 19, ST. LOUIS 14: These two teams are two of the better offensive teams in the league, so it's funny when you get a matchup like this and they combine for just 33 points. But that's what happened. The Seahawks got the only score in the first quarter, with a field goal, and the Rams soon passed them with a touchdown from Kurt Warner to Torry Holt in the second quarter. The Rams couldn't capitalize on that, though, as the Seahawks ground their offense to a halt. The Hawks scored 16 straight points to build up a 19-7 lead. In fact, the Rams scored their second touchdown with just 59 seconds left in the game, so this one wasn't even as close as it seemed. The Rams did outgain the Seahawks, 390-296, but they also threw 2 interceptions, while Seattle didn't turn over the ball at all. Warner (24-42, 312 yd, 2 td, 2 int) looked like the best offensive weapon on the field for either team, but what was needed in this game was mistake free ball, and Trent Dilfer (21-30, 215 yd, 0 td, 0 int) was the one to do that. Seattle and St. Louis both clinch playoff spots!

DENVER 17, Cleveland 10
Dallas 31, WASHINGTON 6
KANSAS CITY 14, Detroit 3
SAN DIEGO 24, Green Bay 17
TAMPA BAY 17, Houston 16--Tampa Bay clinches NFC South title & first round bye!
Jacksonville 31, NEW ENGLAND 28
Minnesota 17, CHICAGO 16
NY Giants 35, NEW ORLEANS 28
MIAMI 42, Philadelphia 13
Pittsburgh 27, NY JETS 21--Pittsburgh clinches playoff spot!
CINCINNATI 14, San Francisco 10

Injuries

Duane Starks suffered another injury and will likely miss the rest of the season. I guess if I was angling for a playoff spot, this might matter, but since I'm not, I guess it doesn't. I had to figure I wouldn't stay healthy for long anyway.

CR