NFL Games of the Week: Week Thirteen

Both of these teams are coming off high scoring performances over Thanksgiving weekend, with Washington holding off a late revival to win 38-31, while New York halted one of the NFL’s top offenses in an impressive 38-10 win.

Although Nicks and Cruz have had pretty good seasons it would be difficult to say they haven’t been slightly disappointing with Nicks missing time through injuries, while Cruz seems to have had trouble with drops. Behind their top two receivers New York have a hole left by Manningham’s departure, 4 other receivers have seen playing time as the Giants search for their #3 receiver. Though Randle’s performance against Green Bay may not have been amazing I think it will have been enough to earn him more playing time and if he seizes his chance he could easily see a big role in the future. With Andre Brown on IR (designated for return) the Giants have lost their current end zone back, to counter this the Giants have brought in two new backs, Lumpkin and Torain, I can still see Bradshaw’s share of the carries increasing despite these new arrivals. 2012 1st round pick Wilson may get to see the field more often with Brown out of the picture, but I feel that the addition of two new backs suggests a lack of trust from the coaches and he will have to make the most of this opportunity if he wants to see a larger role next season. Washington on average yards are the third best run defence in the league allowing less than 90 yards a game, this means we may have to wait at least another week before we see what Wilson can do. Maybe the reason they’re one of the top run defences is the fact they’re the second worst pass defence, so teams simply opt to pass against them. It is hard to see a defence which gives up over 300 passing yards a game providing Manning with much of a challenge and if they do face a few issues running the ball I’m sure they won’t mind beating Washington through the air.

Rookies RGIII and Morris have helped to turn the Redskins offense around, of course as the quarterback and #2 pick in the 2012 draft RGIII has been the main focus of attention but Morris a 6th round pick shouldn’t be forgotten (though his position may be overshadowed by higher picks Richardson and Martin). Morris is just 18 yards short of 1,000 and will probably break that mark in this game, with a 4.7 yard average, 6 touchdowns and only 2 fumbles he has definitely continued to deliver after he burst into the league in week 1. With Garcon fit enough to play the Redskins have back what is probably their most dangerous receiving weapon, his two touchdowns this season show how explosive he can be with them being catches of 88 and 59 yards. However Garcon isn’t the Redskins only weapon, Moss has had a fairly good season though not one of his best but then it is his 12th season and his age sees him playing a side part as he has only started 1 game and has a season high of 4 catches.

NFL Games of the Week: Week 13 Chicago Bears v Seattle Seahawks.


This game is live on Sky Sports 3 from Soldier Field, Chicago, Sunday 6 PM. This game has quite big playoff connotations, both teams are vying for a WildCard spot, the Bears can maintain their one game lead over the Packers with a win, incredibly important ahead of their week 15 clash with Aaron Rodgers' crew. I have talked about the Bears umpteen times this year, they tend to play a lot of big games on British and Irish TV! I think it would be fair to say they have one of the best all round defences in the NFL. They generate a hell of a lot of turnovers, the most in the league at with 20 interceptions and 13 fumble recoveries.

They have some incredible defensive players, the likes of Brian Urlacher may be aging somewhat but they can still make big plays, Charles Tillman seems to actually be improving with age, while on the opposite side, Tim Jennings leads the league in interceptions this year, with 8. A defensive backfield laden with incredibly promising players, it's no surprise that their safeties are also pretty solid, I would actually go as far to say that this duo are among the most underrated players in the league. I speak of Chris Conte and Major Wright (in a matter of graver importance, he may have the best name in the NFL, if only he and Captain Munnerlyn were on the same team). The duo have combined for 5 interceptions and a Touchdown, they have knack for making big plays.


They are certainly one of the best safety duos in the NFL, and given their age, (Conte is in his second year and Wright is in his third) I would expect them to blossom into one of the finer safety duos in the NFL. On offense, the return of Jay Cutler helped the team out last week, Jason Campbell didn't have a great time at QB when Cutler was out injured with concussion and I think Bears fans were happy to see the much maligned (admittedly it's non-Bears fans who seem to disparage him) , Cutler had a decent outing in the win against the Vikings, a 75% completion rating and a Touchdown for a relatively solid outing. The combination of Matt Forte and Michael Bush did a lot of damage last week, getting over a hundred yards in total, it doesn't seem like a lot but they wore down the Vikings and with the defensive talent at their disposal, if the Bears can even get their running game to perform at half-decent levels, they will be a very solid team (Cutler is quite a good QB and they have a top receiver in Brandon Marshall, while Earl Bennett is showing some good progress this year.)


In a lot of ways, the Seahawks are incredibly like the Bears, they have a very, very good defence. The biggest criticism of it would be that they don't generate a lot of turnovers, 17 in total. A lowly 10 interceptions at that. They have some incredibly good young talent, their safeties are another incredibly talented group. We all know about Earl Thomas, he is fast, he is physical and a great brain, not many safeties in the league would have the range or ability to be a single high safety, Earl Thomas has done it numerous times this year. Quite a few draft gurus were surprised when the Seahawks picked Bruce Irvin with their 14th overall pick. Many deemed him to be a 3rd/4th round guy and to his credit, he seems to be proving a lot of people wrong.

He leads all rookies in sacks with 7, the Seahawks have some pretty good guys in the defensive line, Chris Clemons has 8 more sacks, and the team in total have 29 leaving them ninth in the NFL. They have guys like Red Bryant as well which makes them a rather stout defensive outfit. Their cornerbacks will be available for Sunday's game at least, Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner have been accused of taking Adderall, a drug used for people with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, the drug is on the banned substance list, unless it can be proven you have the condition. This drug has surfaced more than once this season, the following players have served bans for it : Aqib Talib, Eric Wright, Joe Haden Will Hill, Tyler Sash and Joe Hawley. Both are appealing the ban and are able to play this week at least, if they are proven guilty, it could be a massive blow to their playoff hopes. The Seahawks are most certainly in the playoff hunt, if things were to end today, they would in fact be the 6th seed, their opponents would be the 3rd seeds. The Seahawks have a number of teams breathing down their neck (the Buccaneers and the Vikings are the main contenders) though, last weeks surprise loss to the Miami Dolphins certainly didn't help, but they are leading the charge at the moment.


Rookie QB Russell Wilson is quietly putting together a pretty solid season, while he is in a far. far better position than the other rookie QBs, Wilson is still making some big plays in both the rushing and passing game. Wilson had a couple of rough weeks at the start of the year making some poor throws and also poor decisions, but he is improving all the team, he isn't asked to be a world beater by any means but he is showing he can be more than a game manager and is progressing rather nicely, particularly for a guy who many didn't think was tall enough to start in the league He has a very solid group of wide receivers, I would day they have no bonafide number one guy, but they are still able to have good success, Sydney Rice showing the potential to be the guy that he showed flashes of in Minnesota in a run heavy team. We all remember what Marshawn "Beast Mode" Lynch can do, he has the second most rushing attempts in the league but he is still managing a 4.5 yard average for 5 scores. They aren't an incredibly potent offense but then again they don't really have to be with their defence, which is great in terms of yards but also 3rd in the points conceded per game category (16.3 point average, the Bears are 2nd in the league it should be noted)