Aaron Rodgers was at his best, throwing lasers where only his receivers could catch them and finding four different teammates in the end zone.
Yes, Rodgers had a lot to do with the Green Bay Packers remaining undefeated with a crazy 45-38 win against the staggering San Diego Chargers.
So did Philip Rivers, whose miserable run of turnovers continued with three critical interceptions, two by Charlie Peprah. (MORE>>>)
In an NFL season replete with scoring orgies, Sunday night's Baltimore Ravens-Pittsburgh Steelers divisional confrontation was a classic slugfest between two of the league's most vicious defenses, one filled with sledgehammer collisions, nasty shoves and verbal taunts.
It also featured one fantastic ending.
The injury-racked Steelers were within eight seconds of exacting revenge for a Week 1 blowout at Baltimore — until Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco heaved a game-winning 26-yard touchdown to rookie Torrey Smith, who atoned for two gaffes, for a critical 23-20 AFC North victory. the loss ended a four-game win streak for the (MORE>>>)
For the New England Patriots and their latest runs of perfection, it was Eli Manning and the New York Giants all over again.
Four season ago, the Giants denied the Patriots' quest for a 19-0 season by beating them in the Super Bowl. Sunday, the Patriots had multiple other streaks on the line. Manning and the Giants won 24-20 in the final moments.
In New York's 17-14 win in Super Bowl XLII, Manning hit Plaxico Burress with the winning touchdown pass with 35 seconds left. In his Sunday encore, Manning cut it even closer. (MORE>>>)
The last time the New York Giants met the New England Patriots in a game that mattered, it was on February 3, 2008 for Super Bowl XLII. That day, the underdog Giants upset the then-perfect and heavily favored Patriots 17-14.
A lot has changed since those teams met on that historic date. Players and coaches have come and gone. The venue will be at the Patriots' home field, where they have an astonishing 18-1 regular-season record against NFC teams since 2002. (MORE>>>)
They tried to bill this game — with the NFL's tacit approval — as a matchup of good vs. evil.
But the reality is, that was never quite right. This was simply good vs. bad.
The Detroit Lions are a good team. The Denver Broncos are not.
And though Detroit's newest incarnation of the Bad Boys seems to relish the idea of wearing the black hat — and who wouldn't, after all those years dressing up for Halloween as the league doormat — Sunday's 45-10 win at Mile High Stadium really wasn't about anything more than that.
Oh, sure, the Lions had their fun playing the part, especially after the NFL's own website trumpeted that storyline, pitting Tim Tebow's saintly image against Ndamukong Suh's increasingly menacing one. (MORE>>>)
Heinz Field has mostly been a personal wonderland for Tom Brady [stats]. Yesterday, it was closer to personal purgatory.
“We never played the game with a lead. We never played the game on our terms,” Brady said after the Patriots [team stats] had the ball only about half as many minutes as the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 25-17 loss.
In his seven previous games at Heinz Field, the Pats quarterback was 6-1, including victories in two AFC Championship Games, completing 173-of-255 passes (67.8 percent) for 2,006 yards and 14 touchdowns, with three interceptions. (MORE>>>)
