NFL Week 15 Notes
December 21st, 2009 at 6:04 am by Displaced Cleveland FanThese are stories from around the league that I thought were worth noting. You can read my recap of the Browns week 15 game here.
As long as it’s still the regular season, the Colts are the NFL’s best team.
Indianapolis beat Jacksonville in a wild Thursday night game, 35-31. The win is the Colts’ 23rd straight regular season win, an NFL record. The Jaguars gave them all they had. But in the end, the Colts were just the better team.
Peyton Manning threw for 308 yards and 4 touchdowns. Dallas Clark caught two TD passes. Reggie Wayne and Austin Collie had one each.
The Colts are now 14-0 and their remaining games are against the Jets and the Bills. Both are winnable games, if Indy wants to shoot for 16-0. They may choose to sit some of their key players in view of the playoffs though. They do have the #1 seed in the conference wrapped up. 16-0 means nothing without a Super Bowl (just ask the Patriots).
So what should they do? Play the reserves, but play to win. After all, you never know when you might need them for real. Might as well try to win with them instead of kill time with them.
Meanwhile [change in format due to time constraints here]:
- The Cowboys beat the Saints on Saturday night, 24-17. New Orleans’ loss ends their shot at perfection, leaving the Colts as the lone undefeated team. The Saints are now 13-1, still in good position for the #1 seed. The Cowboys improved to 9-5 and showed they can win in December.
- Last night, the Minnesota Vikings had a chance to move within a game of the Saints for home field advantage in the playoffs. Instead they got embarrassed by the Panthers, 26-7. Favre had 0 TD’s and 1 INT. Peterson only rushed for 35 yards. There is reason to worry in Minnesota.
- Pittsburgh beat Green Bay 37-36 on the final play of the game. The win keeps the Steelers in the playoff hunt. Yes, they still have a shot. After everyone went on and on last week about the Browns effectively knocking the Steelers out of the playoffs, they still have a chance. They’re 7-7 now. Next week’s game against the Ravens will be key.
- Speaking of Ravens, they beat the Bears 31-7. Joe Flacco had 4 TD’s and the Bears turned the ball over 6 times. Baltimore is now 8-6 and leads the AFC wild card race.
- The Cincinnati Bengals lost to the San Diego Chargers, 27-24. The Bengals had a chance to clinch the division. Instead, they’ll try to do that next week against the Chiefs. Meanwhile, the Chargers have won 9 in a row, are 11-3, and have clinched the AFC West.
- The Tennessee Titans beat the Miami Dolphins, 27-24 in overtime. Both teams are now 7-7, right in the middle of a congested AFC playoff race.
- The New York Jets, with three interceptions from Mark Sanchez, lost to the Falcons 10-7. They are also now 7-7.
- The Oakland Raiders started former Browns QB Charlie Frye against the Denver Broncos. Frye was knocked out of the game and replaced by struggling JaMarcus Russell. In the end, the Broncos’ playoff hopes became a little more uncertain as the Raiders won 20-19.
- In the race for the #1 draft pick, St. Louis now has the edge. The Rams (1-13) lost to Houston 16-13 while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-12) beat Seattle 24-7.
-dcf
Tags: Adrian Peterson, Austin Collie, Baltimore Ravens, Brett Favre, Charlie Frye, Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Clark, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, JaMarcus Russell, Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, Peyton Manning, Pittsburgh Steelers, Reggie Wayne, San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
