Okay, Maybe THIS Was the Strangest Week, Ever

Last month, The Hat Trick ran a piece making a case for week 7 of the 2010 NFL regular season possibly being the strangest week of football ever. Of course, in the 91 season history of the National Football League, that was hyperbole, but week 7 was nonetheless strange. Well, week 10 may have week 7 beaten and may have, in fact, been the strangest week ever. Frankly, in my near 30 years of following NFL football, 2010 is shaping up to be the most unusual season I have watched in my lifetime. Without further adieu, the games of week 10 and what was so unusual about each of them.


Philadelphia Eagles 59 Washington Redskins 28

Mike Vick had 333 yards passing with an near-perfect 150.7 passer rating, 80 yards rushing on 8 carries, 4 touchdowns in the air and 2 rushing touchdowns. This is the most show stopping performance by a single player in the 2010 season and I am not sure that it is not the best individual performance I have ever seen in my entire life. Side note, Mike Vick also had the best performance I have seen by a college player in a bowl game, in spite of the fact his team lost, in the 2000 Sugar Bowl. The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced earlier today that it is receiving his game jersey from last night.

As if the Mike Vick Show were not enough, the Eagles jumped out to a 35-0 lead at the Redskins' FedEx Field. By halftime, the Eagles had scored 45 points. If you are a gambler, I doubt you were biting your nails much from your over/under bet. Both teams combined for a total of 87 points scored on the evening.

Vick looks like Superman since he let the dogs out! (Woof! Woof, woof!)

Atlanta Falcons 26 Baltimore Ravens 21

The Ravens, whose defensive reputation precedes itself more than any other team in this century, score a go-ahead touchdown in the final 1:05 only to have the Atlanta Falcons drive 80 yards in 45 seconds for the win.


Buffalo Bills 14 Detroit Lions 12

The Bills won.


New York Jets 26 Cleveland Browns 21 (OT)

The "lowly" (previously) 3-5 Cleveland Browns take the then 6-2 New York Jets to overtime and come within 16 seconds of a tie. Jets Head Coach Rex Ryan matched with against his brother, Cleveland Browns assistant Rob Ryan. Still, blood is thicker than water. I am sure Rex and Rob went to go "eat a goddamn snack," after the game.


Indianapolis Colts 23 Cincinnati Bengals 17

Carson Palmer throws for close to 300 yards and two touchdowns yet his performance would justify any head coach into considering other options next year, likely because of the three interceptions. Wide receiver Chad Ochocinco caught 7 balls and a touchdown. Yet, in spite of high levels of production from two of the Bengals' key skill players, possessing the ball for 9 minutes longer than Indy, outgaining them by 85 yards, and holding Peyton Manning to a very rare sub-200 yard passing day, the outcome of this game was never really in doubt.

Miami Dolphins 29 Tennessee Titans 17

Miami Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne is benched, only to have his replacement, Chad Pennington, apparently fall off the bench, only lasting two plays and ending his season, and possibly his career, by injuring his shoulder...again. But he did earn $200,000 in incentive money by starting for the Fins. It is becoming an annual tradition with Pennington and is unfortunate because he has quietly been one of the most efficient passers of his time.

Henne enters the game and injures his knee later in the game, forcing former Kansas City Chiefs starter turned Dolphins third-stringer Tyler Thigpen into his first significant action in nearly two years. Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall also threw a pass on a trick play for a total of four Dolphins passers and six total passers, between both teams on the afternoon.

In his debut with the Titans, Randy Moss is silenced, words you will not see in print, absent sarcasm, very often. Vince Young replaces Kerry Collins in the Titans' endless two man quarterback carousel. Someone please explain to me 1) how the Titans still have a winning record and 2) Jeff Fisher resists the urge to turn to drink in the middle of the games.


Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31 Carolina Panthers 16

The Panthers score an offensive touchdown. Shocking....


Jacksonville Jaguars 31 Houston Texans 24

Unless you were in a coma or saw zero NFL highlights over the weekend, I think this game takes the proverbial cake for most bizarre. The Texans fall behind 17-3 but rally to tie the game in the final five minutes. Appearing to have forced overtime, the Texans lose on the game's final play as Jaguars quarterback David Gerrard has his pass, intended for wide receive Mike Sims-Walker, batted down(ward) by the Texans' Glover Quin, but the ball lands in the bread basket of Jacksonville wide receiver Mike Thomas. Thomas scores a touchdown, the game is over, and the Jaguars suck the breath out of the Texans, and possibly the life out of their playoff chances, too.

REALLY?

Denver Broncos 49 Kansas City Chiefs 29

If you skipped over looking at the score, do not look back up at it. Aw, you did, didn't you? Well, if you did not know the score, what if I told you that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel threw for 469 yards, 4 touchdowns and no interceptions? What if I also told you that the Chiefs won the time of possession battle, only had one turnover, and outgained the Broncos on offense? Sounds like the Chiefs won, right? If not, it must have been close? Am I right?

WRONG! This game was never, ever close and the Broncos obliterated the Chiefs so badly that Chiefs Head Coach Todd Haley refused to shake hands with Broncos Head Coach Josh McDaniels because Haley believed McDaniels was running up the score. Although...if you lost by less than three touchdowns and your opponent does not score in the final 11 minutes, can you REALLY accuse the opposing coach of running up the score?

Dallas Cowboys 33 New York Giants 20

"Really" appears to be the new "seriously" in pop culture and I considered a one word comment of "REALLY?" for this game. But there were too many strange happenings to leave unmentioned.

First off, injured Tony Romo's 38 year old replacement, Jon Kitna threw for over 300 yards and 3 touchdowns on the road against, possibly, the toughest defense in the NFC. The fact that the Cowboys looked prepared and showed effort was shocking enough. Add on the fact the Cowboys proverbially hit so many home run balls that Giants could never close within less than 13 points of the Cowboys in spite of Giants quarterback Eli Manning throwing for close to 400 yards and the Giants winning the turnover battle by +2 and the time of possession margin by 16 minutes.


Seattle Seahawks 36 Arizona Cardinals 18

No headline occurrences here. But Matt Hasselbeck, passing for a three year high of 333 yards, did injure his non-throwing wrist and this Seahawks team is feast-or-famine depending on Hasselbeck's health. Wide receiver Mike Williams of the Seahawks had 11 catches for 145 yards which, according to ESPN.com,  was the highest such total for any Seahawks receiver in a win in over 20 years.


San Francisco 49ers 23 St. Louis Rams 20

The Rams were 4-4 and the 49ers were 2-6 headed into this game. The first thing that jumped out at me is that the 49ers did not invent a new way to lose a game that they had a chance to win. The second expression that sounds like a foreign language to me is, "the St. Louis Rams were upset," by the Niners. A minor upset, granted...but the Rams being upset in any capacity is something I have not witnessed in several years.


New England Patriots 39 Pittsburgh Steelers 26

Uh...where's the D, Pittsburgh? The Steelers have one of the stingiest defenses in football and the Randy Moss-less Patriots open, what I can only describe as, a "can of whoop-ass" on the Steelers' defense. Hines Ward did not catch a pass. That sounds unremarkable until one considers that it has been more than 10 years since that happened. The insult to injury is that Ward was forced to leave the game with an injury, a concussion, after catching a pass that would have extended his reception streak to 187 games were it not for the catch being challenged and overturned on instant replay. OUCH!

Where the hell was THIS all year???