NFL Reactor: Week 12 Early Games

Instant reaction to the early games on this Sunday’s schedule.

BUF-NYJ

• CJ Spiller is having success early, as is the Buffalo offense against the Jets.

@SigmundBloom: Shockingly, Fitzpatrick keeps targeting Stevie Styles against Revis, and keeps completing passes…

@ProFootbalFocus: Remember Stevie Johnson beat Revis for more yards than any WR in past 3 seasons in first meeting. Worth keeping an eye on matchup today

• And with that, Stevie Johnson catches a touchdown on Revis, and launches a touchdown celebration that was longer than the uncut version of Avatar. Did he shoot himself in the leg there? Is that what that was? 

@shawnemerriman: Never tweet during the game but what @StevieJohnson13 did was disrespectful & not needed & should never happen in the #NFL so ill pay half the fine HA!

• Mark Sanchez has a friend in Plaxico Burress. He’s old and slow, but in the red zone he’s the perfect weapon for a nervous QB. Great hands. 
• Mark Sanchez puts doubters to rest with a huge 4th quarter drive, finishing with a 4th touchdown pass, this one to Santonio Holmes. Jets hold on to win against a feisty Buffalo team. 

STL-ARI

• Succession of ridiculous plays early. Rams go to wildcat formation on 3rd and 9, direct snap to SJ loses yardage. Ken Whisenhunt responds with a direct snap to Patrick Peterson, who fumbles the ball. (AZ recovers.) McDaniels’ first pass attempt is by Brandon Lloyd on an end around.
• “Creativity” on offense has an excuse – neither passing offense is any good. Skelton’s mechanics have been trashed by the beating he took last week and is taking this week. Bradford fumbles on a blindside hit on his first straight dropback. 

@3k_: Rams don’t really have an offense. Just 11 dudes wearing football jerseys running and pushing and stuff.

• Rams inexplicably punt to Patrick Peterson again. He returns the punt for a touchdown. Again. Didn’t this just happen three weeks ago?
• Beanie Wells with 200 yards rushing in this one, thanks to two monster inside runs of 50+ yards. The Rams have now given up the #1 and #2 rushing games in the NFL this season, with the other being Demarco Murray.  

JAC-HOU

• Interested to see how presence of TE Owen Daniels affects Matt Leinert. Gary Kubiak had HOFer Shannon Sharpe to help resuscitate Jake Plummer.
• Jacksonville scores early on an Arian Foster fumble. Texans respond by running on every play of a 70+ yard touchdown drive. 

@Fantasy_Guru: Oh, wow. Marcedes Lewis drops a sure TD. Again, he may never score. My 5-year old son might have hauled that in.

• Turns out another TE is having a bigger impact: Joel Dreessen catches a 20-yard touchdown.
• Now the question is whether the tight end effect helps all Houston QBs. 3rd string Tyler Yates now in for Leinert.
• Meanwhile, the Blaine Gabbert experiment appears to be failing in Jacksonville, though it’s fair to wonder what he’d be doing if he had any pro-caliber WRs. 

@evansilva: CBS’ Kevin Harlan on #Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert: “His feet get fast and he begins to crumble.” Gabbet just took sack No. 5.

@JaguarsBlog: The Jaguars have 36 yards by players not named Maurice Jones-Drew today. Holy crap that’s bad.

• Gabbert pulled in the 4th quarter for Luke McCown, team down 10. The Tim Tebow faction in Jacksonville, who apparently believe in the power of time travel, just keeps adding fans. Meanwhile, Jags offense goes without a touchdown again.

ATL-MIN:

• Matt Ryan nearly perfect in the first half. 14-18 for 151 yards, two touchdowns as Falcons rolling.
• Toby Gerhart not the fantasy fill-in that Adrian Peterson owners had been hoping for. 23 yards on 8 carries as Vikings offense has been stagnant.
• Vikings and Gerhart stage a mild comeback in the second half, but not enough to keep the game close.

CAR-IND:

• First half passing: Curtis Painter 19 yards, Cam Newton 118 yards. But somehow the two teams are tied at 10. 
• Reggie Wayne makes a rare appearance on the stat sheet with a 55-yard touchdown grab. His disappearance this season shows by proxy what a superior receiver Larry Fitzgerald is. Fitzgerald worked his ass off to create a 1000-yard receiving season with worse quarterbacking than Wayne has in Indy.
• Panthers’ offensive balance (27 passes, 35 runs, including several scrambles by Newton) too difficult for Colts ragged interior defense to defend. Carolina holds on despite some really bad play from their own defense.

CLE-CIN:

• Andy Dalton should have everything going for him: AJ Green is back, Cedric Benson is running like a beast, but the Bengals defense has been struggling to contain Peyton Hillis and the Browns’ running game. 
• Laces out: that’s the difference in this game. Mishandled snap on a Phil Dawson field goal try gets set up with laces sideways, Dawson misses left. The Bengals snap the ball cleanly for a long Mike Nugent try with under a minute in the 4th quarter to give Cincy a 23-20 lead.

TB-TEN:

• Unrest is high in Tampa as the Bucs allow Tennessee to come back and take a 23-17 lead, after playing pretty decent defense for three quarters. Bucs had a 17-10 lead at the beginning of the 4th. 

@Bucco40: I seriously hope the #Bucs remain winless for the remainder of the season, forcing ownership to make some serious decisions in offseason.