Four Games Decided in Final Seconds in Wild Week Seven

The Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers, San Diego Chargers, and Pittsburgh Steelers all suffered heartbreaking losses yesterday on a wild Sunday afternoon with all four games settled in the closing seconds.Of the four teams, the Eagles must be the most disappointed, as they went against Tampa Bay in first place and went home losers despite out-gaining the Buccaneers 506 yards to 196. Tampa Bay won on the strength of two interception return touchdowns by Ronde Barber and three field goals by Matt Bryant, including a 62-yarder as time expired, the third-longest in NFL history.Two weeks ago, the Buccaneers looked like one of the worst teams in the NFL. They had lost their starting quarterback, Chris Simms, to a ruptured spleen, and had an 0–4 record. But Simms’s replacement, rookie Bruce Gradkowski, has avoided mistakes with a cautious playing style, and the defense has forced enough turnovers to propel the Bucs to two straight wins. Although Gradkowski isn’t the most important reason Tampa Bay is winning, it seems unlikely that he’ll relinquish the starting job when Simms is healthy.The Eagles are a much better team than their 4–3 record suggests. All four wins came by at least two touchdowns, while their three losses were all nailbiters. Still, the repeated close losses show that Philadelphia needs to work on its clock management. At the end of the first half, the Eagles had the ball deep in Tampa Bay territory and could have kicked a field goal, but they foolishly ran a play even though they were out of timeouts.When receiver L.J. Smith was tackled in bounds at the 2-yard line, the first half ended and the Eagles missed out on three easy points they needed at the end of their 23–21 loss. The winner of tonight’s game between the Giants and Dallas Cowboys will assume first place in the NFC East — a half a game ahead of the Eagles.***Carolina started the season 0–2 with star wide receiver Steve Smith injured, then won four straight when Smith returned. That led some analysts to say Smith should become the first receiver ever to win league MVP. Smith was great again yesterday, catching eight passes for 126 yards against the Cincinnati Bengals, but it wasn’t enough as Cincinnati won, 17–14.The key to Cincinnati’s victory was the way its offensive line — which has had several injuries and was using its fifth different starting lineup — controlled Carolina’s defensive line. Bengals running back Rudi Johnson repeatedly found holes in the Carolina defense as he picked up 101 yards on 26 carries, and Cincinnati right tackle Willie Anderson outplayed Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers, holding him without a sack after Peppers had eight in his previous five games.Rookie middle linebacker Ahmad Brooks led Cincinnati’s defense, storming into the backfield untouched to sack Jake Delhomme in the first quarter, and later stuffing running back Nick Goings for no gain on a second-and-1 run.Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis runs a defense that relies on the middle linebacker making plays, and Brooks looks like he’s developing into the type of player who can run that defense to perfection.Despite Brooks and Cincinnati’s offensive line, the Panthers had every opportunity to win. Down 17–14, Carolina had a first down at Cincinnati’s 10-yard line with four minutes remaining. But Delhomme badly under-threw Keyshawn Johnson in the end zone, handing Cincinnati an interception — and the game — when Carolina was in range for a game-tying field goal. The Bengals’ victory moves them to 4–2 and a first-place tie with idle Baltimore in the AFC North. For Carolina, falling to 4–3 puts them a game and a half behind the New Orleans Saints in the NFC South, and now behind the Atlanta Falcons as well.***Running back Warrick Dunn has propelled Atlanta’s offense this season, so the Steelers figured they could focus their attention on Dunn and shut the Falcons down. Keying on Dunn worked, as he gained just 69 yards on 26 carries. But Atlanta showed that Dunn is far from their only threat, and the Falcons won 41–38 in overtime.Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick had never thrown three touchdown passes in a game until yesterday, when he had three in the first half and added a fourth in the second half. Still, he was out-dueled by not one but two Pittsburgh quarterbacks. Ben Roethlisberger started the game 16-of-22 for 238 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions, only to have his starcrossed year continue when he left the game with a concussion. Backup Charlie Batch came off the bench and went 8-of-13 for 195 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.Roethlisberger and Batch had one thing in common: Hines Ward. Ward caught four passes from each of his quarterbacks, finishing the day with eight catches for 171 yards and three touchdowns. One of those touchdowns was an incredible 70-yard catch-andrun on which Ward lost his shoe at the 30-yard line and still outraced Atlanta’s secondary to the end zone.But Atlanta always had an answer, and just three minutes after that score, Vick hit tight end Alge Crumpler for a 31-yard touchdown. The game went into overtime tied at 38 after a bizarre series of events in which both teams botched chances at gamewinning field goals. In overtime Atlanta won the coin toss and marched into position for Morten Andersen, the oldest player in the NFL, to hit a 32-yard game-winner.Atlanta’s win improves its record to 4–2, while the defending champion Steelers fall to 2–4. It’s unclear how long Pittsburgh will be without Roethlisberger, who had already been hospitalized twice this year, for a motorcycle accident and an appendectomy. (Roethlisberger’s fellow Super Bowl XL starting quarterback also was hurt yesterday, as Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck suffered a sprained knee.) Pittsburgh is lucky to have a capable backup in Batch — and Batch is lucky to have a great receiver in Ward.***Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson was beginning to look like one of football’s biggest disappointments, running 31 times for only 62 yards in Kansas City’s last two games. But he had a big day yesterday to help the Chiefs jump out to a 20–3 lead, and although Kansas City’s defense allowed the Chargers to tie the score, a last-second field goal won the game for Kansas City.Johnson had 161 combined rushing and receiving yards while his San Diego counterpart, LaDainian Tomlinson, had 138. Tomlinson had a part in two fourth-quarter touchdowns, scoring on a 37-yard reception and then throwing a one-yard touchdown pass on a trick play.Those scores tied the game, but Kansas City kicker Lawrence Tynes had made a game-winning 53-yard field goal, separated by only minutes from Bryant’s game-winning kick in Tampa Bay and Andersen’s in Atlanta.Those field goals contributed to such a crazy Sunday that what once seemed unthinkable — lopsided victories for the Houston Texans and Oakland Raiders — fit right in. Houston beat Jacksonville 27–7, and when the day ended with the previously winless Raiders beating the Arizona Cardinals 22–9, the Cardinals looked just as shell-shocked as they did after their meltdown last Monday against the Chicago Bears — and NFL fans everywhere looked shell-shocked from a frenzied day.Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.

Four Games Decided in Final Seconds in Wild Week Seven

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