Steelers MMQB: NFL Week 14 Wrap Up

What We Learned In Week 14 In The NFL:

• Another week, another comeback win for the Denver Tebows
• The Houston Texans earned their first playoff spot in franchise history
• The Eagles got Vick back at the wrong time for the Dolphins
• The Packers remain unbeaten as they roll over the Raiders
• The Giants might have just kicked the Cowboys out of the playoffs
• James Harrison definitely faces a fine, might face suspension for hit on Colt McCoy

Yesterday watching the games at the bar on a non-Steelers Sunday, I saw people in all kinds of jerseys (none of them being Broncos) cheering for Tim Tebow and the Broncos comeback win over Chicago.  Now, granted this is in Orlando, Florida and the kicker for the Broncos, Matt Prater went to UCF.  But these people were all up on the Tebow train yesterday.  I saw the Broncos had gone down 10-0 in the 4^th quarter and I joked, “That’s fine, Tebow doesn’t even know how to play with the lead, its Tebow Time now.”  Who knew I’d be right?  The Bears had this game won in so many instances and just ended up giving it away more than Tebow outright won this for the Broncos, but each week no one thinks it can happen again and each week it friggin happens again.  I don’t know if it’s divine intervention or not, but I just hope that next week as the Patriots travel to Denver to take on the Broncos the same kind of magic happens again because I’d really love for Belichick and Brady to get Tebow’d. 

Congratulations has to go out to the Houston Texans, who after suffering one injury after another all season have claimed their first playoff spot in franchise history.  The Texans saw the opportunity to take the division from the Colts thanks to Manning’s injury and never took their eyes off of the prize.  After being infamous for season ending collapses, the Texans have managed to clinch their division for the first time ever.

The Dolphins entered the game against the Eagles as two teams on opposite ends of the spectrum.  Both teams, out of playoff contention have been playing opposite styles of football for several weeks.  The Eagles, who came in to the season after an offseason spending spree with all the expectations of the world on them, some of them even self imposed.  Since then the Eagles have collapsed epically, and for the most part, look like they’ve even given up effort-wise in most of their games.  The Dolphins, on the other hand, came into this season after an offseason that saw their head coach basically fired without actually being told he was fired, and a quarterback controversy involving a quarterback that wasn’t even on the team.  Since their slow start the Dolphins have played inspired football and played with more pride than a lot of the teams with winning records.  Unfortunately for the Dolphins, the Eagles got Vick back from injury on Sunday and he torched the Dolphins for 208 passing yards and a touchdown while Shady McCoy added two touchdowns and the Eagles defense sacked Matt Moore nine times in the win.

Boy, am I really sick of watching the Packers win every week.  The Raiders look like they’re trying to lose games, they had a share of the AFC West coming into this week and since laying down for the Packers and Marion Barber’s timely mistakes against the Broncos, Denver has sole possession of the lead in the AFC Worst right now.  The Chargers have been peaking a little bit, but that might be too little too late for them to clinch anything.  Hopefully Rivers can pull it together against the Ratbirds next Sunday because they aren’t looking likely to lose down the stretch either.  With the injury to Greg Jennings in the game, now everyone is going to talk about the Packers possibly sitting their players in hopes of maintaining health as opposed to securing an undefeated season.  We all saw how well that worked out for the Colts a few years back.  I’d say if I was a cheese head and I’m spending my hard-earned money and freezing my ass off in Lambeau Field, the Packers had better be playing to win every friggin game and not pulling that crap about trying to protect their star players.  As a non-cheese head, I’d much rather see them lose a friggin game already.

A team that it never gets old to watch them lose is the Cowboys, who for the second week in a row, saw a game lost over a field goal.  This time the Cowboys kicker was iced by the Giants rather than his own team, but the result was still the same.  Eli comes through from being down 12 points to take the lead in the NFC East.  It never gets old to watch the Cowboys lose and underachieve year after year.

The league meeting to determine what discipline James Harrison will face as a result of a helmet-to-helmet hit on Browns QB Colt McCoy on Thursday night.  There are reports that the league is considering a 1 to 2 game suspension as well as a fine for Harrison, who is considered a “repeat offender” of the violent hits, particularly the helmet-to-helmet collisions.  McCoy’s Dad went after the Browns organization on Friday for letting his son come back into the game after suffering, at the very least concussion-like symptoms following that hit.  While I agree that McCoy should not have been allowed back in the game if the Browns truly followed the league’s protocol in dealing with shots to the head, I find it completely entertaining that McCoy’s Dad went on the attack like that.  In an unrelated story, McCoy is not allowed to see rated “R” movies by himself either.

Now I’ve explained many times before that I am a total and completely biased Steelers fan, I defend the players and I will continue to do that.  When it comes to Harrison, I can see that he needs to change or alter his method of tackling to avoid these helmet collisions as much as possible.  I don’t think he’s doing himself any favors by continuing to play the same way while the entire league is on the lookout for players who lead with their helmet.  That being said, I don’t feel like Harrison should be suspended for this hit.  I feel like suspensions should be given to players who show intent to injure or harm another player, just like most of the personal foul penalties the Lions have incurred throughout the season, just like Raiders DT Richard Seymour, who was fined for the second season in a row for throwing a punch to another player during the game.  Suspend those players who clearly show the intent to harm another player, but not players whose hits are subjective.  I fully agree with a fine, there was helmet contact and the quarterback was injured, as much as we don’t want to admit that the quarterback’s health is more important than any other player, that’s the nature of the league right now.  Harrison needs to alter his method, whether he agrees with it or not, but I don’t think you suspend him and keep him out of games.

Hopefully we’ll find out this week how healthy Ben is for the Monday night game in San Francisco as well as Pouncey.  If Harrison does get suspended, the Steelers will absolutely need a healthy LaMarr Woodley back.  Bring it on Week 15!

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