Like we do every week,here are the top five best and worst plays from Week 8 of the 2011 season. We’ll start with ...
NFL Week 8, Best And Worst: From Patrick Peterson’s Punt Return To Chris Johnson In General
From Patrick Peterson’s awesome punt return to Chris Johnson’s general awfulness, here’s the top-five best and worst plays from Week 8 of the 2011 NFL season.
Getty Images
The best:
| No. 5: Steven Jackson Hates Mistakes |
Watch what happened when Rodger Saffold got called for a false start in the fourth quarter when it looked like the Saints might battle back:
An inspiring speech (or in this case, a verbal beat down) can be just as important as a big play.
| No. 4: A.J. Green Continues To Make His Case for Rookie of the Year |
Through the Bengals first seven games of the 2011 season, rookie wide receiver A.J. Green has caught 33 passes for 516 yards and five touchdowns. That's one more touchdown than Calvin Johnson scored in his rookie season and we've still got half a season left to go.
Green's fifth touchdown came against the Seattle Seahawks on the way to the Bengals' fourth-straight victory.
If Green keeps this up, he’ll be a shoo-in for the Offensive Rookie of the Year.
| No. 3: The Real McCoy |
LeSean McCoy had a monster night against the Cowboys on Monday Night Football. The Cowboys came into the game as one of the best defenses against the run yet they allowed McCoy to run for 185 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries. He averaged 6.2 yards per carry throughout the game.
Here is his second touchdown against the Cowboys:
| No. 2: Curtis Painter is Game's Leading Passer ... and Rusher? |
I'm really not sure whether this needs to be filed in the good plays or the bad plays -- maybe I'll put it in both. The Colts lost again on Sunday to the Tennessee Titans to drop to 0-8. And even though the Colts have one of the worst run defenses in the league, it wasn't Chris Johnson who was the game's leading rusher (we'll get to that), it was Curtis Painter.
Painter not only threw for 250 yards in the Colts loss, but he also ran the ball seven times for 79 yards. The game's next leading rusher was Javon Ringer, who carried the ball 14 times for 60 yards.
| No. 1: Patrick Peterson Breaks a Few Tackles |
With six minutes left in the first half of the Baltimore Ravens game against the Arizona Cardinals at home, they found themselves down by a score of 10-3. They were reliving their Week 7 Monday Night Football nightmare and it got even worse when Patrick Peterson broke about 40 tackles on a punt return for a touchdown to set up a 17-3 lead.
Of course the Ravens ended up coming back, but that doesn’t take away from how awesome Peterson’s punt return was.
The Worst:
| No. 5: Pete Carroll Goes for the TD and Gets Nothing |
With 14 seconds left in the first half, the Seahawks had the ball on the Bengals three-yard line on fourth down with two yards to go to get the first. The Seahawks were down by a score of 17-3 at the time and the Seahawks had a chance to get some points on the board and head into the locker room with a little momentum.
Instead of being safe and kicking a field goal, Pete Carroll decided to go for it. They lined up in a power running formation and Tarvaris Jackson fed Marshawn Lynch the ball up the middle. What they apparently forgot was that the Bengals has one of the best run defenses in the league and if they didn't make it into the end zone, they had no way of stopping the clock.
That’s exactly what happened. Lynch got the first down but nothing more and time ran out before they had a chance to do anything else. The Bengals went into the locker room with a 14-point lead and the Seahawks lost any momentum they had.
| No. 4: Percy Harvin Gets in a Fight on Carolina's Sideline |
| No. 3: Tim Tebow Throws Pick-Six |
One week after his awesome come-from-behind victory against the Miami Dolphins, Tim Tebow had to go up against a much better team -- the Detroit Lions. The Broncos weren't able to get much going on offense at all and what's worse is Tebow helped the Lions score some points when he threw this pick-six:
| No. 2: The Cardinals Blow Huge Lead |
The Arizona Cardinals went into the locker room with a 24-6 lead over the Baltimore Ravens on the road. They had the Ravens on the ropes with a chance to win their second game on the road and maybe gain some momentum as they head into the second half of the season.
Instead of finishing the Ravens off, though, the Cardinals let them hang around and then, before they knew it, they lost the game.
Watch the implosion:
Awful. Just awful.
| No. 1: Chris Johnson |
Chris Johnson is by far the biggest disappointment of the 2011 NFL season. He’s been terrible so far this season and deserves the boos he’s hearing from his home crowd. Heading into Week 8, Johnson had his cushiest matchup so far as he was set to face the second-worst run defense in the NFL at home.
Against the Colts, many figured that Johnson would have his breakout game of the season, but instead he carried the ball 14 times for only 34 yards for an average of 2.4 yards per carry. Javon Ringer also carried the ball 14 times but he gained 60 yards. Do you mean to tell me Ringer is more talented than Johnson?
He’s not, but if I were Mike Munchak, I’d be putting Ringer in a lot more often and Johnson in a little less.
See More:
