Reminiscent of the Olympic games back from the stone age when the Russians got do-over after do-over until they beat the USA basketball squad for the gold medal; breaking the USA strangle-hold on basketball they'd held since basketball became a recognized Olympic sport, New England was the Russia of the NFL on Monday Night Football.

Red, White and Blue on a team named the Patriots that reminded you of a Russian basketball squad? Yet that was the case. In a contest the Baltimore Ravens led almost all evening, the Patriots got opportunity after opportunity to tie up the score, and eventually all those opportunities paid off. Trailing 24-20, and probably down to their final scoring chance, the Patriots drove downfield. Facing a fourth and one on the thirteen yard line, Tom Brady takes a quarterback sneak to the left and is stopped for a loss!!
Game over right? NO!!! The Ravens sideline called timeout right before the snap, thus negating their own great defensive stop.

The Pats get do-over number one. They line up again fourth and one and are stopped AGAIN!! Game over? WAIT!! There is a flag and the Patriots are called for being off sides. In a strange situation, the Ravens cannot turn down the penalty because the whistle is blown on offensive off sides BEFORE the snap, thus eliminating unnecessary injuries to players. The five yards is marked off instead of the Ravens just refusing the penalty and taking over the ball.

That is do-over number two. Now the Pats face a fourth and six and finally convert. After all this fiasco, of course they score, taking the lead 27-24. The Ravens lose it, get assessed 35 yards of penalties on the kickoff, and New England could send a two year old out to kick the ball out of the end zone. They kick off out of the end zone with their regular kicker, as no two year old is on the payroll, yet somehow the Ravens drive down the field and with six seconds left throw up a Hail Mary. The Hail Mary works!! Well sort of, anyhow as the catch is made.

Unfortunately the strong winds made the pass come down on the two-yard line, the receiver is tackled there, time runs out, and New England escapes with the victory. SHEESH!! How many times can you have close calls, bad calls, or no calls to snatch victory from defeat? Whoever the Patriots pray to? That is going to be my new religion.

Pats remain undefeated at 12-0. Ravens drop to 4-8 on a game they really had in the bag.

Second Best Game of the Week - The Cleveland Browns do it yet again, as in being involved in one of the best games of the week, although this week it was pretty hard to choose as there were a lot of great match ups. Cleveland travels to Arizona sitting with a leg up in the second of the two AFC wildcard draws. Meanwhile the Arizona Cardinals are one game out of the NFC wild card spot at 5-6. Both need a victory, but Arizona needs it worse. The Browns go down 14-0 early, come back to draw within a touchdown, and with no time on the clock, throw a pass to Kellen Winslow Jr. who catches it, gets one foot in bounds and appears to be shoved out. Touchdown right?

NO!!! It's ruled incomplete. It goes to review. Then it's discovered officials cannot review whether or not someone is pushed out of bounds, they can only review whether both feet came down in bounds or not. It's obvious the feeties didn't, but the part of the play that needs reviewed cannot be, and the pass is incomplete. The review rules are so screwy you cannot review the play you are reviewing to reverse the call even if you wanted to!!!

KRIKIES!! Browns fall to 7-5, Cards move to 6-6. Both still have strong playoff aspirations. The Browns are yet again involved in a non-review able review to end a regulation contest.

More Best Games of the week!! - Maybe this week should just be all best games of the week, or just called the best week of the year so far. Where to go next!!! Jacksonville played Indianapolis for a chance to tie in their division. The Cowboys and Packers met at 10-1 with one or the other probably securing home field advantage based on the games outcome. Tampa Bay and New Orleans square off in a division battle that could almost lock it up for the Bucs, or draw New Orleans back in the division hunt. The Giants and Chicago square off in must wins for both. Detroit and Minnesota have a division contest of epic proportions. Tennessee is in almost must win mode. The list goes on and ON!!!

Let's start with the Pack and the Cowboys!! Green Bay travels to Dallas . Brett Favre is knocked out early, separating his left shoulder. Cowboys cakewalk? NO!! While Dallas was up the entire contest, the Packers storm back only to come up a little short in the end. Dallas wins 37-27 and clinches a playoff spot, as they are 11-1. The Pack drops to 10-2. Tony Romo has four touchdown passes and sets the club record for touchdown passes in a single season. Brett Favre says he'll be back next week and all football fans believe him. Packers fans eat their fake cheese heads in disgust over the game and stress about Favre, and more than likely, will not see the NFC conference championship at Lambeau field if these two squads square off sometime in their respective playoff futures. The Cowboy hat wearers will most likely be more prevalent.

Jacksonville has been looking up in the standings at the Indianapolis Colts so many years they probably have a stiff neck from peering upward. Yet, this week they have a chance to get all square in the division!! Not so fast young whipper-snappers. Indianapolis yet again shows the Jags why they are always looking up as they top the Jags 28-25. The Jags put up a spirited fight. Garrard throws for 257 yards, Fred Taylor runs for 104. Yet they still lose!! Between Clark and Wayne, they catch fifteen of Manning's passes for 218 yards and three TD's. While the score appeared close, the Jags added seven with 2:47 remaining to pull that close. They miss a golden opportunity to catch a Marvin Harrison-less Colts team, and drop to 8-4. The Colts meanwhile, open up a two game lead on the Jags at 10-2. The Jags, at 8-4, lead the AFC wildcard hunt by two games over everyone else, and would lead the AFC Western division if they could get a get-out-of-jail-from-behind-the-Colts free card in the NFL Monopoly game.

Next up, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers can open up a substantial lead in the NFC South by beating the division chasing New Orleans Saints. The Saints meanwhile, hope to pick up a game and haven't looked too bad after a horrible 2007 start. Luke McCown throws for 313 yards, Brees throws for 179. Graham runs for 106, and Tampa Bay wins handily yes? NO!! While they do pull off the victory, it took a Reggie Bush fumble and a Tampa Bay drive and score with 17 seconds remaining for the Bucs to come out on top in this thriller of a contest. Tampa Bay demonstrates why they are a force to be reckoned with this year and move to 8-4 The New Orleans Saints demonstrate that they are the best 5-7 team in the league, giving them the big whoop award. Even at 5-7 though, they have a shot at a wild card in the skittish NFC.

Then we go to Chicago and the New York Giants. Man my head is getting ready to explode with all the fantastic games this week!! The Bears are right in the thick of the wild card picture with some excellent play the last few weeks. The Giants look like they are pulling the old New York implosion of last year, dropping in the standings over their last few weeks. Chicago leads 16-7 at the end of the third and appears poised for victory. NO!!! The Giants rally for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, the final score coming with 1:33 left on the clock and they escape with a 21-16 victory over the Bears. The implosion watch is called off for a week as they move to 8-4. The Bears drop to 5-7, but are still in the hunt for a wild card in the NFC, and yes, you can say that about EIGHT teams in the NFC. Yes, half of the NFC teams sit at either 6-6 or 5-7. WHAT A WILD CARD FINISH IT IS SHAPING UP TO BE!!! The wild card appears to be appropriately named.

an over beast? If the Vikings and Lions were played out on the food chain, the edge would have to go to the Vikes, as man ranks above beast unless the man is sleeping and the beast is sneaky. On the football field though, who sported the edge? The Lions were 6-2 three weeks ago. The Vikings were 3-6. Both teams exit week 12 at 6-6 as the Vikings beat up the Lions just as the food chain would predict!! They win 42-10. Adrian Peterson returns from injury to run for 116 yards. He leads the league in rushing yards with a smidge under 1200 and this after taking off a couple games for injury!! Can you spell rookie sensation? Both teams remain in the wild card hunt in the NFC and I am getting tired of saying that so its time to STOP IT.

Is Tennessee back on track? - In a battle that could have both teams coming out 6-6, the Titans make sure that doesn't happen as they stop the season-bleeding by winning 28-20. They move to 7-5 and drop Houston to 5-7. With the 7-5 mark, they are in third place behind Indy and Jacksonville in the AFC south. Is that a stacked division or what!!

That division may take both wild cards. That would give them three of the six AFC playoff spots!! Both teams REALLY needed a victory to keep in the playoff hunt. In that case, bet your money on Vince Young. He certainly has a reputation of coming through in must wins.

The San Diego SUPERCHARGERS!! - San Diego stakes its claim to being the frontrunner in an awful AFC West. They stomp Kansas City 24-10. Cromartie gets his seventh interception of the year. LaDainian Tomlinson rushes for 177 yards and two TD's and passes Walter Payton on the All time TD list. The Chargers move to 7-5. More importantly, they are 6-2 in their last eight games and take a two game division lead with four yet to play. The Chiefs drop to 4-8, hope for a high draft pick and have the smallest attendance in six years at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs fans wear arrows through their head at Arrowhead, demonstrating something to the effect of "stick a fork in them, they are done".

Denver is bound to keep pace, right? Apparently not!!! Bad Denver showed up this week and helped Oakland attain something it hasn't seen yet this year, a winning streak!!

Jay Cutler of Denver gets Oakland off to a 17-point lead by tossing two picks. JaMarcus Russell makes a cameo appearance for the Raiders. Raiders win 34-20. They move to 4-8 and are riding a two game winning streak. Denver falls two behind San Diego at 5-7. With four to go, they are probably done.

Roll on Big O!! Zero keeps it popularity this week, staying in the standings for both New England and Miami . Miami remains an 0-fer, losing 40-13 to the New York Jets. Don Shula is happy he's retired and doing cameos on Monday Night Football. Four more chances to remove the 0 from 0-12. Jets go to 3-9. Miami is trounced in what appeared to be their best bet left at 0 removal. P.S. One of their remaining games? New England , week 15. Wouldn't that be something if they were 0-14 and the Pats were 14-0 and both zeros were erased at the same time? If I were you, I would not be applying for a second mortgage on the farm so you could bet it on this happening.

So, which bird is tougher, and Eagle or a Seahawk? - In the bird community, if you were a hatchling and were allowed to pick your parents, most birds would probably go with the Eagles. If, however the bird hoped for a career in professional football, it would pick the Seahawks. So would most straight up betters, and both would be right. The Eagles played a great game for the second week in a row after giving up a pick for a touchdown immediately into the game. If they could have the first minute of the last two weeks back, they'd have two victories. Since they can't, they log two defeats. Seahawks win 28-24. Neither team had any stats of note except for the four picks thrown by A.J. Feeley of the Eagles. Before the game, people were touting Feeley as the rest-of-the-season replacement for an injured Donovan McNabb. Uhhhh.. NO!!! And good luck on the rest of your seasons' predictions.

The last few of the games included Pittsburgh beating Cincinnati 24-10. They improve to 9-3 and Cinci falls to 4-8. St. Louis wins 28-16 over Atlanta as both sit at 3-9 for the season. Finally, Carolina beats San Francisco 31-14. Carolina is 5-7. San Fran 3-9.

On the bad side of the week - An emotional Washington team played Buffalo after the passing of Safety Sean Taylor. The game opened with the Redskins honoring Sean by only putting ten defensive players on the field during its first defensive play, an indication that Taylor was still with them on the field, even it if was just in their hearts. It was a classy tribute to their fallen friend and a sobering experience for anyone who watched it. They lose on a 36-yard field goal with four seconds left on the clock. The final score? 17-16 Buffalo . The Bills improve to 6-6, the Redskins fall to 5-7.

The TV is shut off for another week. While the week was loaded with great games, it's a shame we had to be reminded by the death of a player, that football still really is just a game, and life is far more precious. The Coach from the Couch signing off.