Displaced Cleveland Fan

These are stories from around the league that I thought were worth noting. You can read my recap of the Browns week 14 game here.

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The New York Giants accumulated 512 yards of offense. They won the time of possession battle (34:46 to 25:14). They scored 38 points. And they lost. The thing that killed them was turnovers - 4 fumbles. One was returned for a touchdown.

The Philadelphia Eagles won a wild one in New Jersey last night with a 45-38 win over the Giants. During the high-scoring game, Eagles’ wide receiver DeSean Jackson tied an NFL record. He had a 72-yard punt return for a touchdown, and also a 60-yard reception for a score. The two scores brought him to 8 touchdowns of 50+ yards this season.

The Eagles are now 9-4 and in first place in the NFC East. Meanwhile, the Giants are 7-6, barely holding on to their playoff hopes after a 5-0 start followed by a 2-6 stretch. Their remaining games are against Washington (4-9), Carolina (5-8), and Minnesota (11-2).
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These are stories from around the league that I thought were worth noting. You can read my recap of the Browns week 13 game here.

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OK. Before any of you Patriots fans panic, your team is still in first place. But there is certainly cause for concern.

New England lost to Miami yesterday 22-21. This despite the fact that the Patriots were up 21-10 in the third quarter and the Dolphins were without their most dangerous offensive weapon — Ronnie Brown.

The Patriots were winning 21-19 when they punted the ball to Miami with under four minutes to play. All they needed was for the defense to make one more stop. Leading the Dolphins offense was second-year, backup to Chad Pennington quarterback Chad Henne. Surely New England would make this last stop and close out the game, right?

Wrong. Henne led the Dolphins 51 yards down the field in a drive that took just over a minute. It ended with a 41-yard field goal to put Miami on top 22-21. The Patriots tried to come back, but they couldn’t do it.

So now, while the Patriots are still in first place in the AFC East, they have fallen to 7-5, are only one game ahead of the Dolphins and Jets, and fell to 1-5 on the road this year. Of their remaining four games, it’s very possible they win three or four of them and get into the playoffs. But their failure to win games like this has got to worry New England fans.
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