It was a wild start to December. Some crazy finishes, big upsets, and a whole slew of teams realizing they're caught smack dab in the middle of a dog fight to get to the NFL postseason. With four weeks to play, it should be one special finish to the 2006 season. Here are some of the numerical ins and outs from this past weekend:
4 - Teams in the NFC with a 6-6 record. Thanks to the Philadelphia's come-from-behind win over the Carolina's Monday Night, the Eagles, Panthers, New York Giants, and Atlanta Falcons are all in the hunt for the Wild Card. Heck, in the parity-ridden NFC, even the 5-7 Minnesota Vikings, St. Louis Rams, and San Francisco 49ers are alive and well in the hunt. At least one team was eliminated this week - despite a valiant effort against the Patriots and much preseason hype, the 2-10 Detroit Lions are officially mathematically out of the picture.
1.3 vs. 10-2 - Rex Grossman's quarterback rating against the Minnesota Vikings Sunday afternoon compared to his NFC North Champion Chicago Bears record so far this season. Head Coach Lovie Smith was adamant to point out that Rex is their quarterback and that they're 10-2 with him at the helm. He might have produced another dismal outing on Sunday, but the Bears defense induced an almost-equally destructive outing from Minnesota QB Brad Johnson who mustered a whopping 10.3 rating himself.
39, 21, 3, 0, 105.9 - Pass attempts, completions, touchdowns, interceptions, and passer rating for Jeff Garcia Monday night against the Carolina Panthers. Amidst boos in the crowd from the get-go and throughout the game as the Philly faithful mysteriously called for A.J. Feeley, Garcia refused to relent and gutted out an impressive fourth quarter rally. They're singing a different tune in Philly Tuesday morning.
12 - Total rushing yards separating LaDanian Tomlinson, the NFL's lead running back, from current number two man, Larry Johnson. LT continues to just run all over opposing defenses and his Week 13 high 178 yards moved him ahead of LJ with 1,324 yards.
5-1 - Record for Vince Young and the Tennessee Titans in their past six games. Thanks to another improbable comeback, this time in front of their rabid home fans and at the expense of Peyton Manning and the Colts, the Titans have opponents wondering just what it takes to earn a victory these days. Young definitely hasn't done it all by his lonesome self. The Titans defense has been no slouch lately, and, well, Rob Bironas' game-winning, 60-yard field goal definitely helped just a bit on Sunday.
34 - Points scored by the Arizona Cardinals Sunday against the St. Louis Rams. If you played Matt Leinart and just looked at that score, you had to be drooling knowing how pitiful the Cardinals ground game had been this year, but not Sunday against the Rams. Leinart didn't put up fantasy juggernaut numbers this week, nor did primary running back Edgerrin James, granted his 115 yards weren't too shabby. Nope, the glory this week went to Marcel Shipp, who got 10 carries for 27 yards, and, oh yeah, three touchdowns.
168, 4 - Total yards from scrimmage and touchdowns for Reggie Bush on Sunday. A day after his alma mater, USC, dropped a heartbreaker to rival UCLA and ended their hopes for a BCS Championship berth, Reggie Bush made his presence well known in the NFL. It was that day fantasy owners were waiting for, and if it's a sign of things to come, Bush might just be as exciting to watch rack up the points as players like LT and LJ.
24, 175 - Touches and total offensive yards from scrimmage for rookie running back DeAngelo Williams. Reggie Bush wasn't the only youngster to have a big week. Williams made his statement to the Carolina Panthers that he's the man not only of the future, but of the present. With DeShaun Foster out nursing a bad elbow, Williams racked up 74 rushing yards on just 17 carries and 101 receiving yards on 7 catches, including one for a touchdown Monday night.
71 - That's how many rushing yards Michael Vick needs to break 1,000. He's the league's top ball carrier averaging 8.8 yards per rumble. With a solid win in Washington this past Sunday, his Falcons are back in the playoff hunt, and defenses will be scrambling to figure out how to defend him.
44 - Total sacks by the San Diego Chargers defense this season, tops in the league. You think the Chargers don't like having the dominant presence of Shawne Merriman back? Merriman returned Sunday from his suspension to face the Buffalo Bills. He tallied, 6.0 tackles, all solo, 2.0 sacks, two forced fumbles, and a pass deflection. Line him up there next to Donnie Edwards, who now has 110 tackles on the season and you've got one tough duo for offenses to deal with.
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