After some pretty dismal weeks of games there were finally a slew of games during Week 9 that are worthy of mention. The Giants and Patriots rekindled some memories of Super Bowl XLII. The Packers and Chargers put on a scoring frenzy in the rain. And the Ravens and Steelers put on a show in primetime Sunday night.
NY Giants v New England
It has been become apparent halfway through the 2011 season that Giants QB Eli Manning should now be on everyones list of top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL right now. Almost all of the Giants wins this year have been a result of Eli leading them on game winning drives. That’s an amazing stat and speaks volumes to Eli and the struggles of the Giants. They are still a good team, but becoming an elite team is still a long way off. Beating Tom Brady and a porous Patriots defense is one thing. Their remaining schedule includes games against San Francisco, New Orleans, Dallas (twice), Philadelphia, Green Bay, Washington and the NY Jets. The Giants of late have been known to have second half collapses, but if they can escape with a .500 record for their remaining games they will be in position for a playoff spot. Eli Manning is having his best season so far, but the eyes will be watching him more closely with eight games remaining.
Green Bay v San Diego
I figured this game would be a shootout all the way through. However, Chargers QB Philip Rivers threw two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns early and the Packers were up 21-7. The halftime score of 28-17 continued to put a damper on my thought of a good offensive show. Now the reason why I thought it was going to be an offensive show is because of both teams defenses. Green Bay gives up a lot of yards and some big plays every now and then. The Chargers can’t consistently stop the best offenses or the average offenses in the NFL. Green Bay is among the elite offenses if not the elite offense. Sure enough the second half proved my point about an offensive shootout. Aaron Rodgers threw two 4th quarter touchdowns to put the Packers up by 21 points with 10 minutes left. But San Diego did make it interesting answering with two Philip Rivers touchdowns to WR Vincent Jackson. Green Bay still won 45-38. For the most part the game wasn’t that close, but in the end it was exactly what I expected going into last Sunday.
Baltimore v Pittsburgh
The game everyone wanted to see was the Ravens vs Steelers. Two teams that don’t like each other on or off the field. A rivalry. Who says rivalries are dead? This game was good, but it certainly changed at the start of the second half. The Ravens were in control through the first three quarters up 16-6. However, Pittsburgh was playing at home and played excellent football on offense and defense at the start of the 4th quarter. Back to back touchdowns in the 4th quarter gave the Steelers a 20-16 lead. Not ideal, but that forced the Ravens to score a touchdown to win the game. Field goals weren’t going to matter anymore. But a boneheaded delay of game penalty late gave Baltimore life as the Steelers took themselves out of field goal range and punted the ball back to the Ravens. Amazingly Ravens QB Joe Flacco had a game winning drive of 92 yards that resulted in his only touchdown pass to rookie WR Torrey Smith who earlier in the drive dropped a touchdown pass. A great game ended on a great note. Also it meant that the Ravens had swept the Steelers for only the second time in franchise history. The only other time was 2006. It was a big game for both teams and it put a nice finishing touch on a great football Sunday.
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