Chris Johnson's amazing season at a glimpse:
- NFL's leading rusher with 1,626 yards; 2nd is Steven Jackson with 1,271
- Averages 6 yards per carry and 125.1 per game
- Carried the ball 272 times, 1 fumble
- 11 rushing touchdowns
- Twenty times he has ran for over 20 yards, leading the league. Purple Jesus is 2nd with eleven 20+ yard runs. He leads the league with seven 40+ yard runs, 2nd is Frank Gore with four.
- He has broken the 100 yard mark in 9 games, with his best being against Jacksonville where he ran for 228 yards. In the four games he didn't reach 100 yards, Kerry Collins was starting.
- 42 receptions for 391 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Cincinnati Bengals vs. San Diego Chargers @ 4:05 on CBS:
I read on Deadspin earlier this week that Carson Palmer has been handing the ball off (irregardless of what side the running back goes-weak or strong) with his right hand. He has no choice in the matter since he injured his left earlier this season. During the two month period he has fumbled the ball a mere 4 times, and I'm not positive how many of those are due to sacks or hand-offs. Either way it is a pretty remarkable feat and I can't imagine too many other QBs with the skills to pull this off successfully with any consistency. For this and this alone, I'll be going with the Bengals in this game. CIN 18, SD 14.
Minnesota Vikings vs. Carolina Panthers @ 8:20 on NBC SNF:
Am I the only one waiting for Favre to return to his form of late 2007 and late 2008 by throwing interception after interception all the while reminding us why retirment seemed like such a good idea the first two times around? If it's going to happen, this would normally be the game. I say would, because this is the time of year where his age starts to show a little more. It's a long season, he has taken some hits, still hasn't missed a game, etc, etc. But the Panthers aren't very good and I am confident that they will be decimated by Purple Jesus and the Vikings. Oh well, here is to another week of waiting. MIN 28, CAR 10.
New York Giants vs. Washington Redskins @ 8:30 on ESPN MNF:
Earlier this week Vinnie Cerrato stepped down from his position as the executive vice-president of football operations for the Redskins. In what seemed like minutes after his press conference the Redskins had his successor, former Tampa Bay GM Bruce Allen (son of former Skins head coach George Allen). Obviously with the quick turnaround between the two men we can safely assume there wasn't a lot of time for other interviewees, which would presumably place them in non-compliance with the Rooney Rule. The NFL and the Redskins have stated that they were in compliance, but I find it hard to believe they ever took the other candidates seriosuly.
Since the NFL says they were in compliance, I don't have a problem with what the Redskins did but I do with how this rule is executed. The Redskins got the man they wanted and they did what the NFL asked of them, so there should be no beef with how they went about getting Allen. But the lack of a forced extended time period between the fired and hired is terrible, and it allows front offices across the league to do the interviews just for show. To put it simply, they are just going through the motions.
I think we can all agree that this is rule has great merit, despite the terrible execution. I think we can also agree that the league would be better suited improving the rule. In my opinion, if the NFL wants this to be a successful they should enact a two to three week gap between personnel changes. This forced downtime would essentially make them follow both the letter and intent of the policy, instead of just the former. If it doesn't change, the impact of the Rooney Rule will be hardly noticeable and we will be asking ourselves why this rule is in place at all. Anyways, I'll take the Redskins to win. Lately they are playing inspired football and if not for a terrible kicker, they would be on a 3 or 4 game winning streak. WAS 21, NY 17.
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