Shootout Steals Show In Surprising Week 10

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

The old NFL buzzword “parity” gave way to its ugly cousin “mediocrity” yesterday when the league had 14 games on its afternoon docket and none matched up teams with winning records. But instead of a mediocre Sunday of football, the league delivered several intriguing upsets and an all-time classic shootout.

That shootout featured the Cincinnati Bengals jumping out to a 28–7 halftime lead over the San Diego Chargers, only to suffer a defensive collapse in the second half and lose 49–41. While most of the talk today will center on the way Cincinnati’s Carson Palmer and San Diego’s Philip Rivers showed that they are two of the league’s elite quarterbacks, the real story of the game was the way the Chargers and Bengals showed major defensive weaknesses.

San Diego’s defense never pressured Palmer even though Palmer, playing on a surgically repaired knee, has struggled to avoid the opposing pass rush throughout this year. At this season’s halfway point, Palmer had already been sacked more times than he was all of last year, and his throwing technique had broken down as he hesitated to step into throws for fear of having a defensive lineman re-injure that knee.

But yesterday, Palmer competed 31 of 42 passes for 440 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions, and San Diego sacked him just twice. The Chargers were playing without two of their best pass rushers, Shawne Merriman (suspended for using steroids) and Luis Castillo (out with a sprained ankle), and they were missed. San Diego has Super Bowl aspirations, but until Merriman and Castillo return (Merriman’s suspension has three more games; the date of Castillo’s return is unknown), they’ll need Rivers to keep lighting up the scoreboard.

Rivers looks like he’s capable of doing just that. Yesterday he completed 24 of 36 passes for 337 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions. His leading receiver was running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who had six catches and also ran 22 times for 104 yards and four touchdowns. Tomlinson has now scored 15 touchdowns in his last five games, an NFL record. San Diego scored touchdowns on six of its seven possessions in the second half.

The loquacious Bengal receiver Chad Johnson was the best player on the field yesterday, with 11 catches for 260 yards, but no matter how well Cincinnati’s offense plays, the Bengals cannot contend for the playoffs without better defense. San Diego’s defense will be in good shape when Merriman and Castillo return, but the Bengals, who suffered their third straight loss and dropped to 4–5 yesterday, look like they’ll have to wait until next year.

***

The Jacksonville Jaguars are in the middle of a crowded race for a wild card spot in the AFC. If they end up missing the playoffs by one game, Jacksonville fans will have a hard time forgetting coach Jack Del Rio’s decision to start quarterback David Garrard yesterday.

Garrard was nothing short of horrible in Jacksonville’s 13–10 loss to the Houston Texans, completing 15 of 34 passes and throwing four interceptions. The Jaguars fell to 5–4, and Del Rio now has little choice but to return the starting quarterback job to Byron Leftwich. Del Rio wanted the more mobile Garrard to earn the job because the coach likes scrambling quarterbacks, but the primary job of a quarterback is to pass, and in that department, Leftwich is vastly superior. With Leftwich back under center, the Jaguars have a good chance of making the playoffs — but they’re one game lower in the standings than they should be.

The best news for the Jaguars is that one of their primary wild card rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs, suffered an almost identical fate yesterday: The Chiefs also saw their backup quarterback struggle as they lost 13–10 to a team with a losing record. Kansas City’s loss to the Miami Dolphins was quarterback Damon Huard’s worst game, and it was Miami’s second consecutive impressive win after starting the season 1–6.

Huard completed 15 of 38 passes for 201 yards, and although he never turned the ball over, he never made any big plays, either. Like Jacksonville, Kansas City has a quarterback controversy: Coach Herm Edwards hasn’t announced whether incumbent starter Trent Green, who suffered a serious concussion in the season opener, will get the job back when doctors clear him to play, which could be as soon as this week. Until yesterday, Huard was playing at an MVP level, and Edwards probably would have left Green on the bench. Now his decision is tougher. He’d better choose wisely: If the Chiefs get quarterback play like they got from Huard for most of the season, they’re a playoff team. If they get quarterback play like they got yesterday, they’ll be at home in January.

***

As disappointing as Garrard and Huard were yesterday, the NFL’s most disappointing quarterback was Atlanta’s Michael Vick, who completed just 16 of 40 passes and had three turnovers in Atlanta’s 17–13 loss to the Cleveland Browns. Vick ran seven times for 74 yards, displaying the speed that everyone knows he has, but his passing was atrocious.

Atlanta’s first six possessions ended with five punts (all preceded byVick incompletions) and a Vick interception. Atlanta’s defense (and an inept Cleveland offense) kept the Falcons in the game, but Vick sealed the Falcons’ loss by fumbling with 2:18 remaining. After a brief stretch in the middle of the season in which Vick looked like he was finally developing into an accurate passer, Vick’s completion percentage for the 2006 season now stands at 52.4%. That’s the worst rate of any full season of his career.

Despite the loss, Atlanta stayed just one game behind the New Orleans Saints in the NFC South after New Orleans lost in Pittsburgh. That game might seem like an upset, but it wasn’t, at least according to the Las Vegas point spread, which favored Pittsburgh by six. That bettors expected the Saints, who went into the game 6–2, to lose to the Steelers, who went into the game 2–6,shows why even on an afternoon when no winning teams play each other, every NFL Sunday is full of intrigue.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.


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