Sports Then and Now

Giants quarterback, Eli Manning, celebrated his latest 4th quarter comeback on Sunday, beating the Redskins 27-23.

As always, the latest week in the NFL left us eager for the next one to start.

Here are the biggest feats, news stories and injuries from the week that was around the NFL.

No surprise here, but Drew Brees threw a touchdown pass in a record 49th straight game, extending his own NFL record. The Saints came back from down 21-7 to beat the Buccaneers after a 4th down touchdown catch was refuted by a penalty to end the game. After an 0-4 start, the Saints have won their last two.

Brees ] threw for 313 yards in the 1st half – the most by a quarterback in the 1st half of a game since Michael Vick threw for 329 against the Redskins in 2010. It was also Brees’ 18th career 4-touchdown game, which is good for fourth all-time and 62nd career 300-yard passing game, which is good for a tie for third on the all-time list. He is now tied with Dan Marino for the most career games with 4+ touchdowns and 300 yards with 16.

Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady, remained ten games behind Brees as he threw a touchdown pass in his 39th consecutive game in his team’s 29-26 overtime win against the Jets. New England extended its all-time series lead to 54-52-1 against New York. Rob Gronkowski caught two touchdowns and now has 10 multi-touchdown games since 2010 – more than anyone else.

This was just the fifth time in their history that the Patriots scored 29 points in a game. The last time was on Oct. 14, 2001 against the Chargers and also a 29-26 OT win. New England, who has won 15 of the last 19 meetings with the Jets, scored points with their offense, defense and special teams in the 1st half.

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Oh, the excitement: Peyton Manning capped a comeback for the ages on Monday night and could hardly contain his excitement after.

As always, another exciting week in the NFL has come and gone and we can hardly wait for the next one. And as always, more of the impressive, improbable and entertaining unfolded right before our eyes.

Comebacks, blown leads beat downs and upsets contributed to another fun-to-watch week of America’s favorite sport.

Let’s start out west. Facing a 24-0 halftime deficit in the last game of the week, Peyton Manning led the Broncos all the way back to shock the Chargers by scoring 35 points in the 2^nd half. Denver won 35-24. They became the first team in NFL history to win by double digits after trailing by at least 24 points and only the third team to come back and win. It also tied the biggest comeback in Monday Night Football history. On a side note, Phillip Rivers now has 12 turnovers this season.

A little further north, the Seahawks overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to shock the favored Patriots by one with a deep touchdown pass form rookie, Russell Wilson to Sidney Rice in the final minutes. New England is 3-0 when running the ball more than passing it and 0-3 when passing more than running. On Sunday, Tom Brady threw the ball 58 times, but did throw a TD pass in his 38^th straight game.

Drew Brees did not throw a touchdown pass to extend the all-time record to 48 straight games, but that is only because the Saints had a bye on Sunday.

It was also a week of tight games as the Titans, Falcons, Dolphins, Lions, Ravens, Bills, and Seahawks all won their games by three points or less. They beat the Steelers, Raiders, Rams, Eagles, Cowboys, Cardinals and Patriots, respectively.

After their 4-0 start, the Cardinals dropped their second straight game to the Bills, 19-16.

After opening 5-0, the Texans dropped their first game of the year to the Packers 42-24 on Sunday night.

The Falcons pulled out another late win with a last second field goal from Matt Bryant to push their NFL-best record to 6-0. And then there was one. We know they’ll stay perfect heading into Week 8 as they have a bye for this week.

The Browns finally got their first win of the season, beating the Bengals 34-24. The Lions and Bucs were disappointed to learn that there would not be an addition to their winless seasons club this year. It is the first time since 1990 that every team has had at least one win through Week six.

Aaron Rodgers was unbelievable, going 24-37 for 338 yards and six touchdowns with no interceptions on Sunday night. Three of those touchdown passes went to Jordy Nelson. On the other side, the six passing TD’s the Texans allowed tied the total they had given up through the first five games of the year. Arian Foster rushed for just 29 yards on 17 carries, but did have two touchdowns. His 1.7 yards per carry was the lowest in his career.

The Texans and Ravens are the only AFC teams with winning records through six weeks. Seven teams are at .500. This is the latest into a season that a conference has had no more than two teams with winning records.

For the first time since 1987, all four AFC East teams are in first place. That’s right, the Pats, Jets, Bills and Fins are all 3-3.

Eli Manning threw for just 193 yards in New York’s win over the 49ers. Manning had thrown for at least 200 yards in 24 straight games.

Robert Griffin III ran for a 76-yard touchdown in the Redskins’ win over the Vikings. The touchdown run was the longest by a quarterback since 1996.

Jay Feely kicked a 61-yard field goal to send the Cardinals to overtime. Larry Fitzgerald reached 10,000 career receiving yards before the age of thirty. Only Randy Moss had done so before.

The Ravens allowed 200+ rush yards for the second straight game and won both. Baltimore gave up 227 yards to Dallas on Sunday – the most in franchise history. They also improved to 4-0 all-time against the Cowboys and Jacoby Jones tied the longest kick return touchdown in NFL history with the league’s third ever 108-yarder.

It wasn’t all good news for the Ravens, however, as they lost both Ray Lewis (torn triceps) and Lardarius Webb (torn ACL) to season-ending injuries. Haloti Ngata was also hurt in the game. The Ravens stingy D is already without Terrell Suggs.

The Jets actually won an easy game, beating the Colts 35-9 to somehow be tied for first in the AFC East. Shonn Greene scored three rushing touchdowns. Indy has lost 10 straight road games.

Matt Ryan threw three interceptions in a half for the first time in his career.

The Lions became the last team to pick off a pass from an opposing quarterback in Week 6 after the Raiders became the second-to-last team earlier in the day.

Michael Vick now has nine red zone turnovers this season. The next highest number is six for Mark Sanchez.

The Bears, with a surprising 4-1 record remain on top of the NFC North and are followed closely behind by the surprising 4-2 Vikings.

The NFC West keeps three of its teams above .500, while the Rams sit at 3-3.

All done. See, it was a busy week in the NFL.

Some information was taken from ESPN Stats & Info.

Follow me on Twitter @RealAndyLarmand.

Drew Brees celebrates with teammate, Devery Henderson after he threw a record-breaking touchdown pass on Sunday. Bress now has a TD pass in 48 straight games – breaking the record set by Johnny Unitas.

As always, it was another exciting week in the NFL with records being broken, upsets being recorded and Tim Tebow leading the Jets to a win. Well, two out of three ain’t bad.

Nevertheless, it was still another very exciting week in football that made us fans all grateful that we get to watch the game every week – and that the replacement referees are gone for good.

Now’s the part when I reminisce about both the good and the bad that the games had to offer.

First and foremost, Saints quarterback, Drew Brees threw a touchdown pass in his 48th straight game – a new NFL record. The previous record was 47 held by Johnny Unitas. The record-breaking pass was one of four for him on the night and came in the 1st quarter to Devery Henderson from 40 yards out. More importantly, the Saints picked up their first win of the season, 31-24 over the Chargers.

Five teams did not allow a touchdown in their Week 5 games. It’s not surprising that three of them were the Ravens, 49ers and Bears. It is surprising, however, that the other two were the Rams and the Chiefs. The Chiefs were the only team to not allow a touchdown and lose the game. The Ravens beat them, without scoring a touchdown, 9-6.

Two teams – the Bears and the 49ers won by more than 38 points. The 49ers beat the Bills 45-3 and the Bears crushed the Jaguars 41-3.

The Cardinals suffered their first loss of the year, falling to the Rams 17-3 on Thursday night.

San Francisco set a franchise record with 621 yards of total offense in their win against Buffalo. It was also the most yards that the Bills have ever given up. Alex Smith threw for 303 yards and three TD’s. The Bills also became the first team to allow 550+ yards of offense in consecutive weeks since 1950.

The Bears recorded an interception return in their third straight game for the first time in their history. Charles Tillman returned a Blaine Gabbert pick 36 yards in the 2nd quarter to make the score 13-3 Bears.

The Patriots scored 3+ rushing touchdowns in consecutive games for the first time since 1978. Touchdowns were scored by Shane Vereen, Stevan Ridley and Tom Brady. Brady also threw a touchdown pass in his 38th straight game – remaining ten behind Brees for the all-time record.

Green Bay blew an 18-point halftime lead to the Colts and lost the game 30-27. Andrew Luck threw two touchdowns and Reggie Wayne had 212 yards receiving as the Pack blew their largest halftime lead since 1957.

In case you were wondering, the Browns are still winless. They fell to 0-6 after blowing a 14-0 lead against the Super Bowl Champion Giants. Dating back to last season, Cleveland has now lost 11 straight which is tied for the longest losing streak in its franchise history. On the bright side, rookie running back, Trent Richardson, recorded  a rushing touchdown in his fourth straight game.

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The last game of the 1984 regular season for the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Redskins had significant playoff implications as well as the potential for some NFL history.

The winner of the game would be crowned NFC East Champions and would host a divisional playoff game after first-round bye.

But the stakes were even higher for the 9-6 Cardinals because if they lost the game, they would not make the playoffs.

St. Louis had one of the most explosive offenses as the Cardinals scored 30 or more points seven times during the season thanks to quarterback Neil Lomax who entered the Redskins game having thrown for over 4,000 yards and wide receiver Roy Green, who as the league’s leader in receiving yards with 1,359 yards on 70 receptions and 10 touchdowns.

The Cardinals also had a flair for the dramatic as they pulled out three victories in the final ten seconds courtesy of kicker Neil O’ Donoghue who made game-winning field goals in those three wins, including a 21-yard field goal to give St. Louis a 26-24 win over the Redskins in Week 8 of the season.

While the Week 16 game was crucial for the Redskins, it was not deadly as they already secured a playoff spot with a loss to the Cardinals only meant they had to play in the NFC Wild Card Game the following weekend.

The Redskins got off to a slow start in the 1984 season as they lost their first two games of the season to start 0-2, but bounced back to win 10 of their next 13 games to enter the game with the Cardinals with a 10-5 record.

The Redskins were led by quarterback Joe Theismann and running back John Riggins, who had helped Washington, get to the previous two Super Bowls, but the Washington player with the best season in 1984 was wide receiver Art Monk.

Monk had been a solid receiver through his first four seasons with the Redskins, but in 1984 he took the league by storm as though 15 games of the season, he caught 95 passes for 1,236 yards and five touchdowns. Read the rest of this entry →

If any team can help Albert Haynesworth return to greatness on the football field it would seem to be the New England Patriots.

There is risk in any trade. And this trade is certainly full of many risks. Will he be in shape? Will he care to play? Would he even be an impact?

Albert Haynesworth was a force with the Tennessee Titans. This all changed when the Washington Redskins made him a $100 million dollar man. He did not get along with Daniel Snyder or Mike Shanahan. He was never going to work out in DC. For the New England Patriots, this deal makes sense.

With Ty Warren returning and Vince Wilfork, the Patriots have two solid defensive linemen. At the same time, it was Mike Wright who led the team in sacks. Yeah, that can’t be happening. Other than the unproven Jermaine Cunningham, New England did not have any pass rushers. Brandon Spikes and Jerod Mayo will be used more for stuffing the run. Adding Haynesworth can really help the defense.

At the same time, there are tons of risks. He has not had motivation and the Redskins are not a winning organization. If he plays and plays hard, Haynesworth can make the Patriots defensive line the best in the league. If not, they can cut him and just the $5 million they owe him. It is low risk and high reward, and if he works out he can give the Patriots a dangerous defense to go along with their dynamic offense.

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Despite not having a Hall of Fame caliber quarterback, the Washington Redskins clearly ranked as the best of the 44 Super Bowl Champions.

Since the first Super Bowl was held in January 1967, 44 teams have hoisted the Vince Lombardi Championship Trophy. But which of these championship teams was really the greatest of the greats?

In part two of our countdown of the Super Bowl Champions, we count down to the number one champion in Super Bowl history. For more details about the categories used to rank the teams, check out part one.

20. 1977 Dallas Cowboys – Record: 15-2 (32 points); Average loss by 11 points (9 points); Average win by 14.6 points (23 points); Opponent winning percentage: .485 (29 points); Wins over +.500 teams: 4 (25 points); Total Points: 118
Arguably the best of Tom Landry’s 29 Dallas Cowboy squads, the 1977 Cowboys combined an explosive offense led by Roger Staubach, Drew Pearson and rookie Tony Dorsett with a dominating defense led by linemen Randy White and Harvey Martin. Dallas finished 12-2 during the regular season with their two losses coming back-to-back after winning their first eight games. In the Playoffs, Dallas out-scored the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings by a combined score of 60-13 to reach the Super Bowl. Facing the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII, the Cowboys were dominant in a 27-10 victory.

19. 1990 New York Giants – Record: 16-3 (26 points); Average loss by 8.7 points (20 points); Average win by 11.4 points (9 points); Opponent winning percentage: .500 (36 points); Wins over +.500 teams: 4 (28 points); Total Points: 119
Because the 1990 New York Giants narrowly won the NFC Championship Game over the San Francisco 49ers and then had to withstand a last second missed field goal to win Super Bowl XXV, the Giants are often overlooked when the best championship teams are discussed. However, the second of Bill Parcell’s Super Bowl teams was a solid team led by a defense that allowed the fewest points in the NFL. After starting quarterback Phil Simms was lost for the season in the 14th week, backup Jeff Hostetler stepped in and did not throw an interception in three playoff wins. Read the rest of this entry →