Off The Mark: NFL Week 13 in Review

Clinton Portis and the Redskins run by the Rams, 24-9.


A 6-6 record isn’t great at this time of year. But it’s better than being 5-7. Just ask the Eagles (do they get credit for two losses for their performance last night). Anyway, all a 6-6 record gets you is another week before being eliminated for the playoffs.

Despite a dominating running attack, the Skins backed their way to victory through almost no effort of their own. The biggest play of the game was Ryan Fitzpatrick fumbling the handoff exchange with about 11 minutes left. Instead of driving for the game-tying touchdown, the Rams set the Skins up perfectly for the nail in the coffin. And unlike past weeks, the Redskins actually managed to score it.

There were plenty of mistakes and errors from the Redskins last Sunday. They failed once again to put an inferior team away despite controlling the entire game. They can’t rely on the opponent messing up a handoff attempt every week to get wins. Brunell also continued to look bad. He overthrew many open receivers, and was also late on some his throws. This is the worst kind of inaccurate a quarterback can be. It’s one thing to under or overthrow your receiver. It’s another thing to throw the ball late and allow the defender to get in position to make a play. A better secondary would have taken advantage of Brunell’s mistakes. Taylor Jacobs continues to be a bust. He was covered by two different rookies for the majority of the game, and he still couldn’t get open.

But there was some good news. Carlos Rogers looks better and better every week he plays. In his first NFL start, his assignment was to stop Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt. He kept Bruce under wraps all day. When Rogers lined up on Holt, the Pro-Bowler beat him on some underneath routes, but didn’t get anything deep. The run defense continues to be stifling. Stephen Jackson was a non-factor. And of course, the Skins running game was fantastic. Gibbs finally started calling running plays to the outside. This allows Portis to use his speed and field vision to find running room. He busted out three long runs, including a 47-yard touchdown.

It was a much-needed win for Washington. It means nothing if they can’t keep it up.

Elsewhere around the league:

Carson Palmer is the second best quarterback in the league (if you don’t know who the best one is, then why are you even reading this blog). Palmer tore apart a very good Pittsburgh defense in a crucial AFC North game on the road. How many quarterbacks who have played less than two years could have dominated a big playoff-type game like Palmer did? He was 22-38, for 227 yards and three touchdowns. Most importantly, he didn’t force anything. Just about every throw he made had a chance to be caught by one of his receivers and not by the Pittsburgh defensive backs. In the game in October against the Steelers, Palmer forced four or five bad throws in the second half. Two of them were picked. From one game against Pittsburgh to the next, you could really see the maturation of a NFL star in the making…

Jake Plummer finally had his melt down game. Everyone was waiting for it. Plummer threw two badly thrown interceptions against Kansas City. The Chiefs were able to turn both INT’s into points. So in a four-point game, Plummer’s throws may have been the difference. Also making a difference was Larry Johnson. After only gaining 50 yards in the first three quarters, Johnson put 90 yards and a touchdown on the board in the fourth quarter. And the 140 yards he had on 30 carries was against the league’s first ranked rush defense. Looks like the Chiefs will be fine after all without Priest Holmes. The Denver loss opens the AFC West up for San Diego…

How bad are the Lions? Just a few weeks ago the team shared the division lead with the Chicago Bears. After their 21-16 loss to the Vikings, Detroit was mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. In six weeks, the Lions went from division leader, to lottery draft pick. But it gets worse. Check out this comment from receiver Roy Williams on the Lions fans booing:
“Man, this is supposed to be our home stadium. This felt like a road game.”
The Lions fan base has continually been one of the worst in the league (only slightly better than Arizona). I know the on-field product hasn’t been good lately, but this was a new low for the team, the organization, the fan base and the city…

What a performance by the Jewish Wonder. Sage Rosenfels replaced an injured Gus Frerotte (what happened this time…did he have another ill-planned touchdown celebration) and led the Dolphins to victory over Buffalo. After taking over with the Dolphins trailing 23-3, Rosenfels led Miami to three straight four quarter scoring drives of 56, 49 and 73 yards. Sage was 22-37 for his short afternoon relief appearance. He threw for 272 yards and two scores. All this effort earned him a spot on the bench in next week’s game because Frerotte is expected to return. Speaking of Sage…

As much as I dislike Brian Billick, he put the righteous smack down on local Comcast SportsNet reporter Sage Steele (clearly a fake name) following the Ravens 16-15 win over Houston. Steele, who is the Ravens beat reporter for SportsNet, went on a radio show during the week and had some really nasty things to say about the mental toughness of Kyle Boller and some of the other Ravens players. After the game, in the usual one-on-one postgame interview, Steele told Billick that she thought the win was ugly and the team underperformed. And she not only said it once. She said it at least four times. It is one thing for a reporter to ask the coach if he thinks the team underperforms. You don’t say it like it’s fact. Billick put her in her place, and in no uncertain terms, told her that she was an idiot for her comments during the week and during the interview. As a former employee at Comcast SportsNet, I was a bit surprised with how Steele treated Billick. Steele has a reputation at Comcast for being way too friendly with Ravens personnel (sometimes, a little too friendly…if you catch my drift). She has made no attempt to hide the fact that she is a passionate Ravens fan. It seems that Steele has started blurring the lines between fan and reporter. During the radio show and during her post-game interview, she acted more like a disappointed fan then a reporter. She was bad enough when the Ravens were a good team. Now that the Ravens are horrible, she’s gotten worse. Since SportsNet treats most of their good reporters to a pink slip, isn’t it time that they got rid of Steele?