Spotlight game:
Will Seahawks' road show bomb again?
Homebodies is one word for the Seahawks, but that doesn't begin to cover it. Recluses, hermits and shut-ins are equally fitting descriptions of a team that's just a few extra deadbolts and a couple of dozen cats away from being that crazy old lady down the street.
For whatever reason, Seattle simply isn't the same team away from home, which doesn't bode well for a club that has a Sunday showdown at St. Louis and figures to open the playoffs on the road — if it makes them at all.
Needing a win to remain within a game of the Rams in the NFC West, Mike Holmgren's crew turned in its worst performance of the season last week in a 48-17 loss at Minnesota that ran Seattle's season ledger to 7-0 at home and 1-5 away.
More disturbing was the way the Seahawks lost. Five dropped passes, an early fumble and two long Randy Moss touchdown catches combined to do in Seattle, which barely made a dent in the Vikings' 29th-ranked defense and didn't put up much of a fight in general against a team that had lost five of its previous six games.
Contenders or pretenders? That is the question now facing the Seahawks, who have lost three of their last five games, four straight on the road and play two of their final three away from home, with a trip to San Francisco following next week's home game against Arizona.
For the NFL's most schizophrenic team, that has to be a scary prospect.
Truth be told, the Rams aren't much better on the road, but they were good enough to beat Cleveland 26-20 Monday night and clinch a playoff berth.
St. Louis (10-3) has a 12-game winning streak in its home dome, one short of the franchise record, and can wrap up its third NFC West title in the last five years with a victory.
That hasn't kept fans in the Gateway City from worrying about the so-so play of quarterback Marc Bulger, the team's leaky run defense and a nasty habit of settling for field goals instead of scoring touchdowns. But compared to Seattle, the Rams' problems are relatively minor.
For all of Bulger's recent struggles, he's still 16-3 as a starter, so anyone waiting for coach Mike Martz to hand the ball back to two-time MVP Kurt Warner probably shouldn't hold his breath.
For the record, the Seahawks came back from a 13-point deficit for a 24-23 win over the Rams in Week 3 and have handed Bulger two of his three losses. The catch, of course, is that both of those games were played in Seattle. Naturally.
Best of the rest
Philadelphia (10-3) at Miami (8-5): When it comes to teams with split personalities, the Seahawks have nothing on the Dolphins, who have turned the late-season fade into a south Florida holiday tradition.
No matter how strong they start the season, when the calendar turns to December, Dave Wannstedt's aqua-mammals disappear faster than Paris Hilton at chores time.
Last week's 12-0 loss to New England dropped Miami's December record to 7-8 under Wannstedt and 13-17 since 1996, Jimmy Johnson's first season.
It also clinched the AFC East title for the Patriots and forced another revision in what one Miami writer dubbed "the year of the retreating goal," from Super Bowl, to a division championship, to just making the playoffs as a wild-card team.
The Dolphins still can do that by winning two of their final three games, but it won't be easy, with another cold-weather date next week at Buffalo followed by the season-ender at home against the always-troublesome Jets.
First, though, there is the matter of this Monday night game against a team that is Miami's polar opposite.
The Eagles are merely the hottest team outside of New England at the moment, riding an eight-game winning streak that is one short of the franchise record, and can clinch their third consecutive NFC East title with a win or Dallas loss.
Unlike the Dolphins, they're also historically at their best late in the season, with an NFL-best 26-5 record in November and December since 2000.
If Philadelphia has an Achilles' heel, it's the NFL's 22nd-ranked run defense, which allowed 150 yards in last week's 36-10 win over Dallas and figures to get a heavy dose of Ricky Williams.
The bad news for Miami is it might not matter. In the last eight weeks, the Eagles have allowed 100-yard rushing games by the Jets' Curtis Martin, the Packers' Ahman Green, the Giants' Tiki Barber, the Saints' Deuce McAllister and the Panthers' Stephen Davis. Yet Philadelphia, which ranks fifth in the league in points allowed, has won all those games.
If all else fails, the Dolphins could have a couple of aces up their sleeve in former receivers Mark Clayton and Mark Duper — the Marks Brothers — who will be honored in a halftime ceremony. Now if they can just figure out a way to get the two of them and Dan Marino into uniform.
Dallas (8-5) at Washington (5-8): This week also marked the official opening of Tuna season in Dallas, as a formerly adoring public and media took some shots at Bill Parcells and his conservative game plans.
Many Cowboys players reportedly feel the same, although none were foolish enough to say so publicly, but the second-guessers have a point and Parcells has a dilemma.
Does he continue to keep the gloves on quarterback Quincy Carter in an effort to minimize turnovers or open things up and make full use of the team's talented wide receivers?
Joey Galloway, Terry Glenn and Antonio Bryant didn't have a catch among them in last week's 36-10 loss at Philadelphia, but the Cowboys played the Eagles to a 10-10 standoff before a Carter interception on the third play of the second half opened the floodgates.
So what does Parcells do? After seeing his team lose two games in 10 days by a combined 76-10 score — and heading into a three-game stretch that will determine its playoff fate — the risk of turning Carter loose apparently still outweighs the potential reward.
"You can't make him something he's not," Parcells said. "Not right now."
Not that the Cowboys really need to change their approach against Washington, which they have beaten in 11 of their last 12 meetings, including a 21-14 Week 9 decision in which Troy Hambrick rushed for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
The Redskins snapped a three-game losing streak last week as Tim Hasselbeck got his first NFL win in his second start, a 20-7 victory over the Giants.
Hasselbeck is more mobile and has a quicker release than injured starter Patrick Ramsey, who has been shut down for the rest of the season, but he also has been helped by some conservative play-calling.
Steve Spurrier called 48 running plays and just 21 passes a week ago and Washington beat a Giants team with nothing to play for. If it can do the same to a Cowboys club with everything on the line, this could be a hot December in Dallas.
http://www.foxsports.com/content/view?contentId=1943638
Will Seahawks' road show bomb again?
Homebodies is one word for the Seahawks, but that doesn't begin to cover it. Recluses, hermits and shut-ins are equally fitting descriptions of a team that's just a few extra deadbolts and a couple of dozen cats away from being that crazy old lady down the street.
For whatever reason, Seattle simply isn't the same team away from home, which doesn't bode well for a club that has a Sunday showdown at St. Louis and figures to open the playoffs on the road — if it makes them at all.
Needing a win to remain within a game of the Rams in the NFC West, Mike Holmgren's crew turned in its worst performance of the season last week in a 48-17 loss at Minnesota that ran Seattle's season ledger to 7-0 at home and 1-5 away.
More disturbing was the way the Seahawks lost. Five dropped passes, an early fumble and two long Randy Moss touchdown catches combined to do in Seattle, which barely made a dent in the Vikings' 29th-ranked defense and didn't put up much of a fight in general against a team that had lost five of its previous six games.
Contenders or pretenders? That is the question now facing the Seahawks, who have lost three of their last five games, four straight on the road and play two of their final three away from home, with a trip to San Francisco following next week's home game against Arizona.
For the NFL's most schizophrenic team, that has to be a scary prospect.
Truth be told, the Rams aren't much better on the road, but they were good enough to beat Cleveland 26-20 Monday night and clinch a playoff berth.
St. Louis (10-3) has a 12-game winning streak in its home dome, one short of the franchise record, and can wrap up its third NFC West title in the last five years with a victory.
That hasn't kept fans in the Gateway City from worrying about the so-so play of quarterback Marc Bulger, the team's leaky run defense and a nasty habit of settling for field goals instead of scoring touchdowns. But compared to Seattle, the Rams' problems are relatively minor.
For all of Bulger's recent struggles, he's still 16-3 as a starter, so anyone waiting for coach Mike Martz to hand the ball back to two-time MVP Kurt Warner probably shouldn't hold his breath.
For the record, the Seahawks came back from a 13-point deficit for a 24-23 win over the Rams in Week 3 and have handed Bulger two of his three losses. The catch, of course, is that both of those games were played in Seattle. Naturally.
Best of the rest
Philadelphia (10-3) at Miami (8-5): When it comes to teams with split personalities, the Seahawks have nothing on the Dolphins, who have turned the late-season fade into a south Florida holiday tradition.
No matter how strong they start the season, when the calendar turns to December, Dave Wannstedt's aqua-mammals disappear faster than Paris Hilton at chores time.
Last week's 12-0 loss to New England dropped Miami's December record to 7-8 under Wannstedt and 13-17 since 1996, Jimmy Johnson's first season.
It also clinched the AFC East title for the Patriots and forced another revision in what one Miami writer dubbed "the year of the retreating goal," from Super Bowl, to a division championship, to just making the playoffs as a wild-card team.
The Dolphins still can do that by winning two of their final three games, but it won't be easy, with another cold-weather date next week at Buffalo followed by the season-ender at home against the always-troublesome Jets.
First, though, there is the matter of this Monday night game against a team that is Miami's polar opposite.
The Eagles are merely the hottest team outside of New England at the moment, riding an eight-game winning streak that is one short of the franchise record, and can clinch their third consecutive NFC East title with a win or Dallas loss.
Unlike the Dolphins, they're also historically at their best late in the season, with an NFL-best 26-5 record in November and December since 2000.
If Philadelphia has an Achilles' heel, it's the NFL's 22nd-ranked run defense, which allowed 150 yards in last week's 36-10 win over Dallas and figures to get a heavy dose of Ricky Williams.
The bad news for Miami is it might not matter. In the last eight weeks, the Eagles have allowed 100-yard rushing games by the Jets' Curtis Martin, the Packers' Ahman Green, the Giants' Tiki Barber, the Saints' Deuce McAllister and the Panthers' Stephen Davis. Yet Philadelphia, which ranks fifth in the league in points allowed, has won all those games.
If all else fails, the Dolphins could have a couple of aces up their sleeve in former receivers Mark Clayton and Mark Duper — the Marks Brothers — who will be honored in a halftime ceremony. Now if they can just figure out a way to get the two of them and Dan Marino into uniform.
Dallas (8-5) at Washington (5-8): This week also marked the official opening of Tuna season in Dallas, as a formerly adoring public and media took some shots at Bill Parcells and his conservative game plans.
Many Cowboys players reportedly feel the same, although none were foolish enough to say so publicly, but the second-guessers have a point and Parcells has a dilemma.
Does he continue to keep the gloves on quarterback Quincy Carter in an effort to minimize turnovers or open things up and make full use of the team's talented wide receivers?
Joey Galloway, Terry Glenn and Antonio Bryant didn't have a catch among them in last week's 36-10 loss at Philadelphia, but the Cowboys played the Eagles to a 10-10 standoff before a Carter interception on the third play of the second half opened the floodgates.
So what does Parcells do? After seeing his team lose two games in 10 days by a combined 76-10 score — and heading into a three-game stretch that will determine its playoff fate — the risk of turning Carter loose apparently still outweighs the potential reward.
"You can't make him something he's not," Parcells said. "Not right now."
Not that the Cowboys really need to change their approach against Washington, which they have beaten in 11 of their last 12 meetings, including a 21-14 Week 9 decision in which Troy Hambrick rushed for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
The Redskins snapped a three-game losing streak last week as Tim Hasselbeck got his first NFL win in his second start, a 20-7 victory over the Giants.
Hasselbeck is more mobile and has a quicker release than injured starter Patrick Ramsey, who has been shut down for the rest of the season, but he also has been helped by some conservative play-calling.
Steve Spurrier called 48 running plays and just 21 passes a week ago and Washington beat a Giants team with nothing to play for. If it can do the same to a Cowboys club with everything on the line, this could be a hot December in Dallas.
http://www.foxsports.com/content/view?contentId=1943638
