Aqib Talib snatched Michael Crabtree’s chain again, plus 6 more things we loved about Week 12 in the NFL

We all slept on it, and we shouldn’t have.

The first matchup between Michael Crabtree and Aqib Talib since Talib snatched his chain off his neck, like T.I. did to Lauren London in ATL, has been on the NFL schedules for months, and none of us made note of it. Shame on us, as “NFL fans” for not acknowledging this predictably momentous day.

In the first quarter of the game, Crabtree was blocking Talib, who saw the perfect opportunity to once again steal his neck piece. It led to both of the players spilling over into the Broncos sideline, locked with more strength than the links on Crab’s chain:

Here’s the entire exchange for your viewing pleasure, with punches thrown by both Talib and Crabtree at the end:

Crabtree, Talib, and Raiders guard Gabe Jackson were all ejected in the brawl. After Talib’s ejection, he was escorted through the Raiders sideline by Marshawn Lynch.

But there was a twist that emerged after the game. Chris Harris Jr. pointed out that Crabtree had given him an uppercut to the stomach the play before:

“I have never seen that in the NFL,” Harris said. “Today, he just came out wanting to fight. He didn’t want to play football. It was the second play of the game. It was a run play, I was playing man, and I wasn’t even doing anything. He just came in there, was like BAM, hit me right in the middle of the stomach and I just lost my breath.”

Broncos safety Justin Simmons backed that up, saying, “He said that Crabtree had hit him, uppercut him on the stomach on his way out. So Aqib took that personal.”

But let’s take a step back here a second. The first time Talib took Crabtree’s chain off his neck took some guts. You don’t do that unless you: one, know that person isn’t retaliating, or two, you know you can back up such a disrespectful thing.

And there wasn’t bad blood there previously. Talib just didn’t vibe with Crabtree’s look.

“He’s just been wearing that chain all year and it just been growing on me,” Talib said last season. “I said if he wears that chain in front of me I’m going to snatch it off. So he wore it in front of me, so I had to snatch it off.”

My personal equivalent to that would be taking these Wahl clippers straight through Mark Davis’ hair so he can start over, but that’s neither here nor there.

Even in a second matchup, you have to be an entirely different savage to do it again. Crabtree knew that — while he played it cool last time — he had to swing on Talib. You can’t let another man do that to you twice with no retaliation. At that point, his teammates are going to lose respect for him if he doesn’t, and maybe some family members too.

Clearly Crabtree was feeling some type of way going into the game — but he directed his anger at the wrong person, and Talib still took his chain.

Honestly, if the NFL put this one on pay-per-view, I’m shelling out the dough and having a party at my place. The NFL is lacking any kind of a rivalry that we can look forward to. Even if this one was bound to end in the first round, I’m never going to say no to watching one snatch the chain off another and enjoying whatever comes next.

Also while we’re here, I photoshopped this, but some people on the internet thought my skills were so sharp that it was real:

Anyway, there were other revenge games this week like Blaine Gabbert vs. the Jaguars, and Alshon Jeffery vs. the Bears, but this is the only one that actually mattered.

If Talib does this again next year, we’re going to have to start calling him Debo.

Here’s what else was great about Week 12.

JULIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHMYGOD!

Julio Jones had himself A Game on Sunday afternoon against the Buccaneers. And before you can be a troll and tell me it came against the Bucs, let me tell you from my most sincere spot in my heart — I don’t care.

To go along with his 12 receptions, 253 yards and two touchdowns, he also had a pair of ankles:

That is Ryan Smith, who basically left one of those tape outlines you see at a crime scene at the 8-yard line.

Julio absolutely cooked him like the Thanksgiving turkey he had on Thursday. He then finished it with a delicious dive to the end zone, like some sweet potato casserole (shout out to my mom, who cooks better than yours, though I hope you had a good Thanksgiving anyway).

The Steelers had 17 seconds to get into field-goal range from their own 30 while tied at 28 after forcing the Packers into a three-and-out. It was all they needed.

Antonio Brown came down with one of the best fundamental catches of the season. He was full extension, eyes on the ball, left foot planted flat in bounds, while narrowly dragging his right to secure this catch:

It led to Chris Boswell tying the longest field goal in Heinz Field history with a 53-yarder to win the game.

My takeaway from this: I am convinced the only person in human history with better footwork than Antonio Brown might be Michael Jackson.

Delanie Walker scored a touchdown to bring the Titans within two points of the Colts in Indianapolis. He celebrated his touchdown by giving the ball CPR.

Somehow, that’s not how FOX broadcaster Chris Myers interpreted it:

I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt — somehow — and say that he just had a brain fart. Otherwise, I’d be very concerned about his children’s upbringing.

Clearly Myers isn’t a fan of The Office and one of its greatest scenes.

The Eagles are the best team in the NFL right now, and it’s really hard for me to hate them.

Week in and week out, they’re bringing great celebrations. It can be a baseball game, a group spike, or an impression of Backpack Kid.

This week, they gave us two gems. The first, was a perfectly executed bowling celebration:

It wasn’t quite the phenomenal 7-10 split from Alley Cats Strike, but I suppose it’s better to just get a strike and have everybody involved.

The better of the two celebrations was the group of Eagles on the field just doing the Electric Slide. My goodness, what a sight:

I am aggressively rooting for this to start a wave of team dancing on the field in the NFL. The Titans did their best impression of the Temptations earlier this month. Let the Jets hit a collective Milly Rock, and the Falcons can do Shawty Lo’s dance in the “Dey Know” video. Give this game some flavor.

You have to admire the determination and creativity by this Bears fan. Assuming he traveled to Philadelphia (who knows), he advocated for John Fox’s firing with a subtle message:

For the uninitiated, that’s the logo of the internet browser Firefox. Imagine all of the confused fans in Philly looking at this Bears fan with a picture of a fox. They probably imagined that was some kind of cub.

But we here at SB Nation appreciate your efforts, Bears Fan.

Yeah, I’m double-dipping on the Eagles.

Here is Corey Clement, Jay Ajayi, and LeGarrette Blount getting pumped before the game to Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow”:

The game was over before it even started.

Patriots 35, Dolphins 17

Titans 20, Colts 16

Seahawks 24, 49ers 13

Falcons 34, Buccaneers 20

Bengals 30, Browns 16

Bills 16, Chiefs 10

Panthers 35, Jets 27

Eagles 31, Bears 3

Raiders 21, Broncos 14

Rams 26, Saints 20

Cardinals 27, Jaguars 24

Packers 28, Steelers 31