Weekly Recap – Week 14

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Week 14 is in the books and what have we learned? The Colts and The Saints are STILL undefeated. The Dallas Cowboys continue to come up short in the cold month of December. The Philadelphia Eagles take control over the tight NFC East while Desean Jackson hits his turbo button. Brandon Marshall has a huge record setting game! Lets go around the league and give you the highlights of all this weeks games!

Philadelphia Eagles vs New York Giants
Action Jackson aka DeSean Jackson danced his way into the record books, and had time for a chest bump with his coach, too. Jackson scored on a 72-yard punt return and a 60-yard pass from Donovan McNabb, sparking the Philadelphia Eagles to their most points this season in a 45-38 shootout victory over the New York Giants on Sunday night.

San Diego Chargers vs Dallas Cowboys
The December trends hold: Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers are perfect, while Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys are perfectly miserable in the most important month of the regular season. Rivers broke a fourth-quarter tie with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Gates, then followed with a drive that ate up more than 7 minutes and ended in a field goal, giving San Diego a 20-17 victory Sunday that keeps the Chargers rolling and the Cowboys reeling with the playoffs approaching.

New York Jets vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Kellen Clemens just wanted to manage the game and give the Jets an opportunity to win. Mission accomplished.Playing extensively for the first time in two years, Clemens filled in for injured rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez with a steady, if unspectacular performance in New York’s 26-3 on Sunday.With Thomas Jones and Jay Feely on their games, plus the NFL’s second-ranked defense shutting down the sputtering Bucs, Clemens didn’t have to give the Jets more in his ninth career start.

Carolina Panthers vs New England Patriots
The New England Patriots have needed a second-half spark most of the season. On Sunday, Wes Welker gave it to them. Welker caught five passes on their tie-breaking series in the third quarter and the Patriots ended their worst slide in seven seasons with a 20-10 win over the Carolina Panthers. Welker finished with 10 catches for 105 yards, his fifth 100-yard performance of the season. He has an NFL-high 105 receptions and joined Marvin Harrison, Jerry Rice and Herman Moore as the only receivers with at least three consecutive 100-catch seasons.

St. Louis Rams vs Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans aren’t giving up on their slim playoff hopes, not without a fight. Chris Johnson ran for 117 yards and two touchdowns and also took a short pass 66 yards for another score and the Tennessee Titans stayed alive by routing the woeful St. Louis Rams 47-7 Sunday. The Titans (6-7) must win out and get plenty of help after their 0-6 start, but they are focusing on what they control.

Washington Redskins vs Oakland Raiders
The Washington Redskins again went into the fourth quarter with a lead. Whether it was playing against JaMarcus Russell and the Oakland Raiders or their own resiliency, the Redskins were able to hold onto this lead and end a string of three straight fourth-quarter collapses. Jason Campbell threw two touchdown passes to give Washington the lead, Quinton Ganther extended it with two fourth-quarter scores and Brian Orakpo helped secure the 34-13 victory Sunday by tying a franchise record with four sacks.

New Orleans Saints vs Atlanta Falcons
The New Orleans Saints are still perfect, which is all that matters. They’re not the least bit worried about another close call. Drew Brees threw for 296 yards and three touchdowns, Jonathan Vilma came up with two huge defensive plays, and the Saints pulled out another tight win, 26-23 over the pesky Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

Cincinnati Bengals vs Minnesota Vikings
Brad Childress uses video clips, a dry wit and his psychology degree to address the Minnesota Vikings in team meetings the night before games, and for this week’s message the coach used an auto racing analogy. That lopsided loss at Arizona? Just a pit stop, Childress insisted. Adrian Peterson ran 26 times for 97 yards and two touchdowns, pushing the Vikings past the mistake-prone Cincinnati Bengals in a bruising 30-10 victory on Sunday.

Denver Broncos vs Indianapolis Colts
Peyton Manning watched disbelievingly one pass after another hit the ground Sunday. Then he demonstrated how an undefeated team survives the perfect storm. After throwing three early TDs, then three inexplicable interceptions, Manning led the Colts on a late TD drive to beat Denver 28-16, breaking NFL records for most consecutive regular-season wins (22) and most wins in a decade (114), plus wrapping up home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

Pittsburgh Steelers vs Cleveland Browns
There’s nothing Super about the Pittsburgh Steelers anymore. The defending NFL champions lost their fifth straight and had their playoff hopes thrown for a loss by the lowly Cleveland Browns, who ended a 12-game skid against their bitter rival by beating the Steelers 13-6 on Thursday night in subzero wind chills. Ben Roethlisberger was sacked eight times and lost for the first time in 11 career games against the Browns (2-11), who extended Pittsburgh’s longest losing streak in six years and defeated the Steelers (6-7) at home for the first time since 2000.

Detroit Lions vs Baltimore Ravens
A cold, driving rain couldn’t prevent the Baltimore Ravens and Ray Rice(notes) from enjoying a record-setting day. Rice ran for a career-high 166 yards and a touchdown, and the Ravens enhanced their playoff hopes Sunday with a 48-3 victory over the hapless Detroit Lions. Baltimore (7-6) built a 20-3 halftime lead behind the play of Rice, who had 155 yards rushing on only nine carries and four catches for 53 yards. His 59-yard touchdown run made it 17-3, and the Ravens cruised to the finish in handing the Lions (2-11) their 19th straight road loss.

Green Bay Packers vs Chicago Bears
The way this one started, Ryan Grant and the Green Bay Packers looked as if they were going to run away with their fifth straight win. Aaron Rodgers sure thought they would. Instead, they had to earn this one. Grant ran for 137 yards and two touchdowns, and the Packers beat the Chicago Bears 21-14 on Sunday after letting their lead slip away.Grant broke off a season-long 62-yard touchdown on the Packers’ first play from scrimmage and scored the go-ahead TD in the fourth quarter after Nick Collins intercepted Jay Cutler.

Buffalo Bills vs Kansas City Chiefs
Clinging to a six-point lead, the Buffalo Bills watched Kansas City convert one third down after another, moving the ball into position for the winning score. Then something rare happened: the Bills came up with the big play. Two of them, actually. Rian Lindell kicked three field goals and the Bills had two of their four interceptions of Matt Cassel in the final 2:11 to beat the struggling Kansas City Chiefs 16-10 on Sunday.

Seattle Seahawks vs Houston Texans
Andre Johnson and Matt Schaub showed just how good coach Gary Kubiak’s offense can be when the Houston Texans don’t make silly mistakes. Now they’re hoping to keep it up and help Kubiak remain in charge of this team. Johnson had a season-high 193 yards receiving and two touchdowns to lead the Texans (6-7) to a 34-7 win over the Seattle Seahawks (5-8) on Sunday to break a four-game losing streak that had some calling for Kubiak’s firing.

Miami Dolphins vs Jacksonville Jaguars
The Miami Dolphins don’t have any answers for their unblemished December record the past two seasons.This much they know: It sure helps to have solid quarterback play, a strong running game and a stifling defense. They got all three Sunday and improved to 6-0 in December under coach Tony Sparano. Chad Henne completed a team-record 17 consecutive passes, Ricky Williams ran for 108 yards and a score and the Dolphins turned in one of their best defensive efforts of the season en route to a 14-10 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.