This has not been one of those weekends, however.
Sunday night's game between the Patriots and Green Bay Packers in Foxboro- which seemed to have a little bit of everything- is as good a place as any to start.
Although New England won their last two games by convincing margins, the Packers would prove to be anything but easy or predictable from the opening kickoff....which happened to be an onside kick that Green Bay booted and promptly recovered and got on the board with a Mason Crosby FG from the Pats 31 yard line.
On the next posession the Pats would get the ball back on their own 27 yard line. Although Brady would get sacked for a 7 yard loss when they made it to Green Bay's half of the field, the Pats were able to convert on 3rd and 17 thanks to a Brady pass to Deion Branch. This would be followed by a 33 yard Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis TD run to make it 7-3 New England.
Now....they way it's gone for the past few weeks, you'd think that would be it for the Packers, but not so fast. Without starting QB Aaron Rogers, Matt Flynn was going a capable job of filling in and before you knew it, the Pack had taken the lead on a 66 yard Flynn to James Jones catch and TD run followed by a more sustained drive that was kept alive by New England penalties later on in the second to make it a 17-7 Green Bay lead.
Reeling from this stunning turn of events and with their backs to the wall right before halftime, the Patriots would deploy their secret weapon- 313 lb
Shaking off tackles and picking up key blocks, Connoly returned the Packers kickoff 71 yards to Green Bay's 4 yard line and the Patriots cashed in on 3rd and goal to cut the Green Bay lead to 17-14 at halftime.
The momentum would continue to swing New England's direction with the start of the second half when CB Kyle Arrington would return Matt Flynn interception 36 yards to paydirt and the Patriots would take the lead 21-17.
The Packers would re-take the lead on a 7 minute drive- again kept alive by penalties on the Pats defense- to make it 21-24. After a 3 and out in which Brady was sacked (again) deep in their own territory, the Packers would get the ball back midfield and once again drive it down inside New England's 10 yard line. This time the defense held firm and the Packers were limited to a FG attempt, although the Packers built their lead to 27-21. The Pats would get a Shayne Graham FG on their next possession to close within 3.
With 11 minutes to go in regulation, Flynn was sacked by Devin McCourty to open up Green Bay's next possession. The Packers would then go three and out before kicking ot off to give NE the ball on their own 31 yard line after a 4 yard Julian Ettleman return. The following drive would see Woodhead with four carries and one catch for 37 total yards, capped off by a 10 yard TD pass to Aaron Hernandez from Brady to put New England up 31-27 with just over 7 minutes left.
Although Green Bay got a 45 yard return from Sam Shields before the drive sputtered at the New England 40. However, they were able to keep the Patriots pinned deep in their own territory. The Pats would go 3 and out and give Green Bay good field position on the ensuing kickoff with just over 4 minutes left.
Right away, Matt Flynn threw a pick but that was negated by a 5 yard penalty on the Patriots defense. The Packers got as far as the New England 15 yard line with less than 10 seconds left when the of experience on Flynn's part would come back to haunt the Packers on 4th and 1. A confused looking Flynn looked as though he was waiting for some sort of cue on which play to run with the clock ticking (an no timeouts remaining) and instead got sacked by Tully Banta-Cain as time expired, with New England holding off Green Bay by a final of 31-27.
Tom Brady actually had a pretty quiet night by Brady standards, going 15-24 with 163 yards, 2 TDs and getting sacked 3 times. Matt Flynn acquitted himself reasonably well in a high-pressure situation, going 24-37 with 251 yards and 4 TDs (unfortunately for Green Bay, this includes the pick-6 to Arrington) and 5 sacks.
The ball was thrown about pretty evenly by Brady on Sunday, with Woodhead getting the most yards (71 total, all but 12 of them rushing). The Pats now have a 12-2 record and will travel to Orchard Park, NY the day after Christmas to take on the Buffalo Bills.
Interestingly this marks the 6th consecutive week that the Patriots scored 30 or more points- all wins (although unlike the last few weeks, they needed every one of those points).
ELSEWHERE IN THE AFC EAST: In a 'Why can't both teams lose?' match up, the New York Jets (i.e. Jerkass Cheaters) survived a late drive from Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers to hang on and win by the final on 22-17 on Sunday afternoon in the steel city. This brings the Jets record to 10-4 (presently tied with the Baltimore Ravens, who had beaten the New Orleans Saints 24-30 at home on Sunday) although Baltimore does own a tiebreaker in by virtue of beating the Jets in the season opener.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: Holy Crap! Did you see this one out of the Meadowlands? Just to set the scene a little, do not think that this was a toght game finishing up- hell no! The Giants led the Philadelphia Eagles by a margin of 31-10 with just over 8 minutes left in regulation. The Eagles quickly countered to make it 31-17 and got the ball back after the Giants turned it over on the ensuing kickoff. Next thing you know, a couple of quick strkes from Eagles QB Micheal Vick (including a TD run of his own) and the game is suddenly tied at 31-31. After a 3 and out with just over a minute left in regulation where Giants QB Eli Manning got sacked with 14 seconds left in the game, which leads us to this 'Holy Crap!' moment:
In case the embedded video doesn't work, the Eagles win it on a DeSean Jackson kickoff return (that he fumbled and then recovered no less) as time expired at the Meadowlands with the final score Philly 38, New York 31.
NFC NORTH: With additional panels collapsing at the Metrodome during last week's blizzard, the Monday night game between the Bears and Vikings has been moved outdoors to the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank stadium. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay offered the Colts' Lucas Oil Field for use on Monday night, but the league went ahead with the decision to keep the game in the twin cities. TCF seats roughly 14,000 less than the Metrodome (admission will be on a 1st come, 1st served basis) and no alcohol will be served on Monday night during the game.
NHL: The Boston Bruins snapped their 3 game losing streak on Saturday night against the Washington Capitals, who came into the Garden riding a 7-game skid.
The Bruins got on the board early with goals from Bergeron, Ference and Wheeler. The Caps would get on the board in the 2nd to make it a 3-1 game and adding to it in the 3rd to make it a 1 goal game. Tim Thomas stopped 39 of 41 shots faced on the night, giving the B's their first win in nearly week.
The B's will next take on the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night at the Garden. The Ducks come into Monday night's game riding a 2-game losing streak.
NBA: Totally missed this one- I'm not sure if this was rescheduled so that it wouldn't conflict with the New England/Green Bay game on Sunday night (but with the rest of the NFL schedule) or if it was supposed to be an afternoon game all along, but the Celtics took care of the Indiana Pacers on Sunday by a final of 99-88 for their 13th straight win.
Their next game will be on Wednesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers as they'll try and go for 14 straight.
NCAA FOOTBALL: Not necessarily a good weekend for anybody trying to convince skeptics that there's no such thing as too many Bowl Games, a the closest Bowl game this week was decided by 23 points.
New Mexico Bowl: BYU 52-UTEP 24
Humanitarian Bowl: Northern Illinois 40- Fresno State 17
New Orleans Bowl: Ohio 21-Troy 48
Perhaps the most noteworthy development is that the New Mexico Bowl is Brigham Young's final game as a member of the Mountain West Conference, as the Cougars will be striking out as an independent team effective next season.
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