Turnoverasaurus Rex-- the beast once again rampaged through Landover... losing a fumble on the second possession of the day... while tossing an interception in the fourth quarter. Both miscues led to Vikings field goals. Mr. Grossman has turned the ball over at least once in every game he's played in this season. In today's NFL you can't have that from your quarterback and be successful.
Little Red Royster on the Run-- at least the running game didn't miss a beat. Evan Royster stepped in for the injured Roy Helu and rumbled for 132 yards. Nice to have options at runningback...
Gaffney getting it done-- for the third straight week Jabar Gaffney caught 6 passes... this time for 77 yards and a touchdown. The 31 year old is one catch shy of his career high of 65... and stands 81 yards away from his first 1000-yard season.
London Calling-- the veteran inside linebacker notched 17 tackles to push his league-leading total to 163. Monster season in what's been a losing cause more often than not. Does he stay and continue to be a bridge to where this team is good again... or move on and contribute to a contender?
Underestimating the Understudies?-- Vikings runningback Adrian Peterson tore knee ligaments on their first possession of the second half. On the next play quarterback Christian Ponder suffered a concussion. But despite having backups in the game, Minnesota scored on its next four possessions...tallying 239 of its 389 yards on those four drives.
Dissecting the Division-- the New York Giants retake first place with their win over the Jets... while Dallas drops to second thanks to their loss against Philadelphia. The Eagles move into third place by beating the Cowboys and will take over second place with a victory over the Redskins January 1st due to the division record tiebreaker. Once again the Skins begin the season in first place and finish in last.
Last at Christmas-- a new Burgundy and Gold tradition-- this is the fourth straight last place finish for the Skins... and the first time since the NFC East was created in 1970 that a team has finished last four straight years. Not even the Cardinals finished last four straight years-and they had stretches where they were bad in two separate time zones! Now my crack research staff checked out the standings since the merger and found seven other instances of back to back to back to back last place finishes: New Orleans 1970-73, San Diego 1972-75, Houston 1983-86, Atlanta 1987-90, LA Rams 1991-94, Chicago 1997-2000, Cleveland 2003-06. Nice company to be in and around.
Division Duels and Conference Contests-- congratulations to the NFC... taking the interconference competition 33-31 for the first time since the 1990's. The NFC East finds itself tied for 6th place at 28-32... the only division with a worse record was the AFC South (24-36). Best division honors this fall go to the AFC North (35-25) as the final weekend of the season features all intra-divisional games.
Last thoughts about "Last Christmas"-- the WHAM! song is now a holiday staple... and the video brings more than a few thoughts. It's premise has George Michael taking his girlfriend on a ski weekend with other friends... only to see his ex-girlfriend on same weekend with Andrew Ridgeley. He's haunted by the ex... as he and his friends have a festive celebration he can't shake her from his heart. And then he goes home. First, I feel bad for the new girlfriend-- completely oblivious to the emotional minefield she's walking into. I blame George for taking his new girlfriend where he went last year probably knowing his ex would be there. I blame his ex for taking up with Andrew Ridgeley... the ultimate in-your-face move. And I blame Ridgeley for getting with George's ex-- great bro-move, buddy. The three of them deserve each other.
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