NFL Week 10: Peyton vs. Cam, Falcons vs. Saints and more

Respect the neck beard.

That’s all well and good for beating Jacksonville’s secondary between the 20-yard lines, but it leaves a quarterback lacking for options inside the red zone. No matter. Luck made himself his own best option in the red zone, running for both of the Colts’ touchdowns in the win. It was the second time this season that Luck ran for a pair of touchdowns. He now has five rushing touchdowns, which trails RGIII by one for the most by any quarterback in the league, rookie or veteran.

Just one week in the NFL can change so much.

The dream dies in Atlanta.

But Foles leading the offense didn’t change how poorly the team played on defense. A 17-10 Eagles lead evaporated in record time.

Well, there goes the lead.

Offensive coordinator Todd Haley has done a nice job with the offense, and of course he’s the main storyline of this game. Haley was fired in his third season with the Chiefs as their head coach last season, and many reports have indicated he’ll run up the score if possible.

No team has been more of a disaster than Kansas City this year. The Chiefs have been historically awful, compiling an 1-7 record and to this point, not holding a lead at any point in any game.

The Bears starting quarterback has yet to miss a full game this season, though Jason Campbell has taken a few snaps in his place in the weeks prior to this one. This is the sixth time in his career that Cutler has suffered a concussion.

Cutler leaves the game 7-for-14 with 40 yards. he ran the ball three times for 37 yards.

That’s actually an illegal forward pass, and Cutler got flagged for it when he crossed the line of scrimmage. Dobbins got a penalty too, for unnecessary roughness, obviously. The two penalties offset each other, and it was still third-and-9 when Cutler then ran for the first down, capping it off with a head-first dive on the play.

You have a feeling if this were smoking Jay Cutler, he’d need a cigarette.

Circle Week 15 on your calendar; that’s the first time this season the Colts and Texans will play each other. That game is in Houston. The real showdown could come in Week 17, when the two teams play for the second time in the regular season, this one in Indianapolis.

Photographer: Okay, Arian, for this first picture, we’re going to want to really display your personality and raw confidence.

Photographer: Now, if you could just sort of lean forward, but put your head back a little. Great. Now turn to the side.

Since the NFL folded the AFL into one league in 1970, there have been only 46 tie games during the regular season. This week’s tie was only the third since 2002 and just the fourth time in more than 20 years.

NFL owners changed regular season overtime rules in March 2012 to mirror the rules used for extra playing time in the post season. Under that rule, each team gets a possession, unless the team that wins the coin toss scores a touchdown on the resulting drive.

Stat of the game

Rams punter Johnny Hekker completed two passes for 40 yards as St. Louis successfully converted first downs on two fake punt attempts, one of which extended the team’s game-tying drive.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Cowboys (4-5) and inserted Dallas back into the NFC East race. It was the Eagles’ (3-6) fifth consecutive loss.

Losers: The Eagles missed out on an opportunity to get back into the NFC East race, and Andy Reid’s seat just got a little bit hotter. Having lost five consecutive games, one has to wonder if the Philadelphia head coach will be back next season.

Pile on the Jets!

It doesn’t matter, because Ram Dance will stick. It will live on in history, being performed in St. Louis, at Colorado State University and Fordham University, because RAM DANCE.

What’s not hard is being the St. Louis Rams’ punter! Johnny Hekker got to transcend his position, one so often maligned as being the unathletic outsider of the football team, head coach Jeff Fisher loves to give his QB opportunities to separate himself from the chaff. Converting two fake punts, for two completed passes and forty yards-- a QB rating of 118.8 was his reward; something the Jets can only dream of.

So we did a little investigation of the footage, and SURE ENOUGH:

And in moving form!

Brandon Carr intercepting Nick Foles for a touchdown would be a neat story in itself, but when you realize that the Cowboys have now scored 21 unanswered points in a little over two minutes, well that’s on another level.

With four seconds remaining in the third quarter, Tony Romo, who has been near-perfect, found Dez Bryant on a 49-yard touchdown. The play was slightly controversial as the announce team believed Bryant lost control of the ball as he was rolling into the end zone. At that point the score became tied at 17-17.

Getting a grip on the laces isn’t easy with wide receiver gloves, hence the awkward set-up, but once that ball left Tate’s hands, it was a perfect spiral and right on the money to Sidney Rice. It’s the second pass, and second touchdown Rice, has caught in this game.

Carroll may have said this week that he was wrong about Sanchez. Now we know why he’s so happy to see him on the Jets.

The graphics that are thrown up in-game can be impressive in their detail and the way they can come together quickly. However, when the graphic is just about two players’ heights, you have the feeling the it was prepared well in advance and the team just waited for the perfect time to show it. If that’s the case, then, come on, CBS. Seriously?

Let’s break this down. The most glaring issue is the math, because two guys who stand 6’3 and 6’4, respectively, don’t have a combined height of 75.5 inches. That is, in fact, the average of their height. A simple once-over would do the trick.

That’s really only half the story, because I think literally any NFL quarterback could have made the throw. The coverage was blown so poorly that this was essentially a Turkey Bowl play, and 80% of Foles’ passing yards came on this one broken play-- but let’s not major in minors, let’s celebrate a touchdown folks!

yay.

The Eagles made the announcement moments ago, as early reports out of Philadelphia stated that Vick was suffering some vision loss as a result of being driven into the ground on a fairly routine rushing play. The hit didn’t look particularly severe, but with head injuries they don’t always need to be.

Crabtree is doing a dance from the Ubisoft game called “The Hip Hop Dance Experience.” As part of a sponsorship with Ubisoft, the company agreed to donate money to the Boys & Girls Club every time Crabtree did the dance in a game. According to Niners Nation, thanks to Crabtree’s moves up there, that’s $1,000 going to the coffers of Boys & Girls Clubs.

Crabtree now has four touchdowns on the year, so for the less-privileged kids in the Bay Area of California, unless your team — fantasy or otherwise — is facing Crabtree, let’s all agree to root for him getting into the end zone. After all, it’s for the kids, man.

On a fairly routine play where Vick ran for a short gain, a defender landed on the Eagles’ QB who left the field in pain. After being looked at on the sideline by trainers for several minutes, they elected to walk him to the locker room for further evaluation. Recent updates have Vick getting a concussion test, and reporting that he is suffering from some vision loss.

Up to this point, head coach Andy Reid was very non-committal on his QB situation, instead electing to start Vick without too much commentary. Judging from the chorus of cheers Nick Foles was getting, it seems Philadelphia Eagles fans are excited for the prospect of change.

“Aww, nuts!”

“Poppycock!”