21 - The number of the late safety for the Washington Redskins, Sean Taylor. The star defensive back passed away after a fatal shooting in his Miami home. NFL players around the league remember their friend, teammate, and fellow competitor by wearing his number on the back of their helmets. Unfortunately, a late field goal spoiled an emotional day for the Redskins as they fell to the Bills 17-16.
-1 vs. +27 - The line of the Miami Dolphins game against the New York Jets this past Sunday compared to the outcome. The winless Dolphins were actually favored in the contest and looked like they were in line to finally get their first victory on the season. The Jets had other ideas and pounded the Dolphins. Leon Washington scored twice, and Thomas Jones found the end zone as well. All in all, the Jets racked up 372 yards of offense and their defense held Miami to a mere 187, just 37 on the ground.
4 vs. 1 - Turnovers for the Cleveland Browns compared to that of their Sunday opponent, the Arizona Cardinals. If you look at the box score, it sure looks like Cleveland should have won that game. Statistically they pretty much dominated, except in the ground game, where Edgerrin James ran for 114 yards on 24 carries. But turnovers will kill you every time, and Sunday they killed the Browns.
13, 100 - Penalties and penalty yards against the Baltimore Ravens Monday night. The Ravens looked like they were golden for the upset, until some late heroics by the still undefeated Patriots. An untimely sideline timeout, a fourth down defensive holding penalty, two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, and an offsides sounds like a meltdown in the final two minutes to me. And it ended with Mark Clayton catching a Hail Mary pass on the two-yard line. Close, but not enough.
15, 116, 2 - Rushing attempts, yards, and touchdowns for Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson Sunday. After two weeks on the sideline with an injury, this year's guaranteed rookie of the year is doing his thing again. While he was out, Chester Taylor looked darn good too, but there's no arguing it. Peterson is the guy you want carrying the ball.
2 - Games that Brett Favre played in an Atlanta Falcons jersey. Favre was drafted by the Falcons back in 1991 as the sixth pick in the second round. He played in just two games. During those appearances he didn't complete a single pass in five attempts, although he did throw two picks. Since then Favre has completed 5,317 passes, including 436 touchdowns, while racking up 60, 912 yards in the air. Sixteen years later at age 38, Favre has a quarterback rating of 97.9, the best in his storied career, and he was just named the 2007 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. Forget Michael Vick. Who in Atlanta is responsible for letting Favre get away?
3:30 - Time remaining in the Sunday's game between New Orleans and Tampa Bay when Reggie Bush fumbled the football near midfield. The Saints were leading 23-20 at the time and looked poised for the win, but the mistake was costly. Luke McCown connected with an outstretched Jerramy Stevens in the end zone for the win with just 14 seconds remaining.
177, 2 - Rushing yards and touchdowns Sunday afternoon for LaDainian Tomlinson against the Kansas City Chiefs. Now that's the LT we know and love!
4 - Number of quarterbacks sacked at least six times this weekend, the most all season long. QBs were under pressure around the league. Rex Grossman, Kellen Clemens, and Trent Dilfer each were sacked six times. Damon Huard got the honors, though, with seven sacks. Still it doesn't compare with the 10 times Jon Kitna went down in Week Three or the unbelievable 12 times Donovan McNabb was sacked in Week Four.
8 - The number of teams in the NFC contending for the last wild card spot that are within a game of each other in the standings. The Giants got a big win over Chicago and look to be locked in for the playoffs now at 8-4. Arizona, Detroit, and Minnesota sit with 6-6 records, while Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, Carolina, and New Orleans all rest with 5-7 records. It's going to be a wild final four weeks of the season, and you can bet the scenario-generating game will be fun that last week.
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