NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Senior writer jclombardi grades Packers win over Cowboys.

SUMMARY: QB Rodgers threw for 289 yards and 3 touchdowns and RB Jackson scored twice as the Packers crushed the Cowboys 45-7. The Packers defense dominated destroying the Cowboys.

GAME BALLS: LB Matthews; QB Rodgers; LB Bishop; WR Jones; CB Bush; S Collins.

INJURY REPORT: DE Pickett (ankle sprain).  CB Harris was released.

QUOTE: After LB Matthews' interception touchdown, NBC's game commentator Collinsworth said, "It's been a long time since I've seen somebody humiliate the Cowboys like this," We sympathize with the Packers nation who suffered throughout the game with the endless biased Cowboys coverage.  Who cares if Phillips got fired?  The Packers are America's team.

Report Card Grades–Good, Bad, & Ugly (JC vs. SE):

PASSING OFFENSE:  A vs A-. QB Rodgers had a good day throwing 27 of 34 passes for 289 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Rodgers had good command of the pocket with good protection with all linemen, even LT Clifton and rookie RT Bulaga, playing well. Generally, except for one or two plays. Rodgers established great sync with his receivers using high-percentage short and intermediate throws. WR Jones led the receivers with 8 catches for 123 yards and one touchdown. The spread out offense with quick slants and short-passes to wide-outs game plan destroyed the Cowboys passing defense.

RUSING OFFENSE: B VS B+. The Packers struggled rushing, but they got 128 total yards. FB Kuhn had RB Jackson combined for a tough 92 yards. QB Rodgers scrambled for 48 yards.

PASSING DEFENSE: A- vs A-. Cowboys QB Kitna completed only 19 of 30 passes for 183 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions under constant pressure. The interception highlight was the one returned by LB Matthews for a touchdown. Although rookie CB Shields had a great interception, he struggled covering WR Bryant especially on one big offensive series giving up a touchdown. S Collins got fined $50,000 for his inadvertent helmet-to-helmet hit on WR Williams. Rusty S Bigby got into the game, but we do not see him replacing consistent S Peprah.

RUSHING DEFENSE: A vs A. Led by the front seven line, the rush defense returned to its stout days limiting the Cowboys rushing to 14 rushes for 39 yards averaging a miserable 2.8 average. LB Matthews and LB Bishop dominated the inside rush defense. After LB Matthews stuffed RB Barber on a running plays, the Cowboys simply gave up running the ball.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B+ vs B. Although the kickoff coverage was shaky, they came up with two big turnovers. First, S Collins returned a fumble for a 26 yard touchdown (was the player down?).Then Bush recovered another fumble leading to another score. P Masthay had a good day averaging 49.5 gross yards and 47.5 net yards as the two kicks that landed inside the 20. Yet, K Crosby had a 54 early field goal blocked and his late first half kickoff went out-of-bounds gave good field position to the Cowboys leading to their only score. PR Williams averaged only just 4.4 yards. Rookie KR Shields will return kickoffs, especially after he returned his only one for 49 yards. S Bigby and LB Walden both looked rusty on coverage.

COACHING: A vs A. The Packers had their best game of the year with all three units delivering an outstanding performance. The game plan was solid using the simple spread out offense with 3 or 4 receivers. McCarthy focused upon using an effective running game with 34 rushing plays, employing even the old-school three backs backfield. DC Capers called another great defensive game using LB Matthews, LB Hawk, and CB Woodson on effective combination blitz schemes. The Packers go into the bye week 6-3 at the top of their NFC North division.

OVERALL: A- vs CBS Sportsline A-. The only thing the Packers didn’t do well was cover kickoffs. It was apparent they were up against a team that had no desire to make a game of it, so it’s hard to tell how well they played. The running game was solid and did just enough to keep the Cowboys off balance. The defense caused two turnovers.

COMMENTARY: The Packers are very lucky. GM Thompson did a great job getting replacement and solid backup players, especially from the later rounds in the drafts, the waivers, and free agencies. CB Shields, DE Wilson, S Peprah, LB Zombo, and DE Green really helped the team during a tough injury filled period in the 2010 season. Without them, the Packers would be 3-6 instead of a winning 6-3 record.

After starting the season 4-2, Seattle’s two straight losses have allowed another team, St. Louis, to take a share of first place in the NFC West.

Since it’s Tuesday, it’s time to hand over the keys for the day here at SeahawksGab to you, the reader and diehard 12th Man, to sound off with this week’s edition of the Tuesday Two Deep.

Can't get enough NFLGridironGab? Follow SeahawksGab Editor Devon Heinen on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DevonHeinen.

* The Steelers were hit with 7 penalties for 73 yards in the contest, compared to just 3 penalties for 30 yards for the Bengals. The Bengals were awarded four first downs on penalties, to none for the Steelers.

* Terrell Owens again showed why he’s Carson Palmer’s #1 wide out. While Chad Ochocinco is crying and pouting on the sidelines, Owens at least seems to be doing what he can to help the Bengals get on track. Against the Steelers Owens had 10 catches for 141 yards with two scores, while Ochocinco had one catch for 15 yards.

* Mike Wallace was the favorite target of the two Steelers throwers (Ben Roethlisberger and Antwaan Randel El), as he had 5 grabs for 110 yards with a TD, a 39-yard score on a little trickery from the Steelers.

* The Steelers pressured Carson Palmer for most of the night, getting to him for four sacks for minus 30 yards, while Roethlisberger was sacked just once for minus 9 yards.

* Seems that the Steelers, despite injuries on the O-line, were committed to rushing the football and it paid off. Rashard Mendenhall had 99 yards rushing, and the team had 121 yards on 32 carries for a 3.8 yards per carry average. The run D held the Bengals to 54 yards rushing on 18 carries, a 3.0 yards per carry average.

* James Farrior played an excellent game on defense for the Steelers, leading the team with 9 solo tackles with a sack for negative six yards.

* While Jeff Reed failed to hit a 46-yard field goal that would have iced the game with just less than four minutes left, he did hit two field goals, one from 53 yards. On the season, he is 14-for-20, and is now 0-for-4 in kicks 40-to-49 yards. He is 2-for-4 in kicks of 50 yards plus.

Remember last September when the Steelers basically dominated the Bengals in an early season game in Cincy and then found themselves scrambling at the end? Yeah, that day didn’t end so well, as Carson Palmer hit WR Andre Caldwell with a four-yard TD pass with :14 seconds left for a dagger that sent the Steelers to 1-2 after the 23-20 loss.

Monday night it seemed to be an exact repeat, minus one very important fact. This time the defense stepped up and in the end, the Steelers hung on, winning 27-21 to move to 6-2 on the season, good for a share of the lead in the AFC North.

Sure you can get mad at the way the Steelers came inches away from blowing a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter, but it sure does feel better than a loss, which almost would have been impossible to imagine based on how the game played out for the first three and a half quarters.

"This is how the Steelers play ball," defensive back Ike Taylor said. "We might get a blowout here and there. But we're always in tough close ballgames. As a defense we just want to close them out. That's what we did tonight."

The defense did a good job holding the Bengals in check for most of the night, that is until the team built a 20-point lead at 27-7. It was from there the Bengals found their groove, scoring on a Palmer to Terrell Owens 27-yard score about a minute and a half after the Steelers went up 27-7.

Then after a bad Ben Roethlisberger pick, the Bengals again were able to drive down the field, and Cedric Benson went for a 1-yard score with 9:05 left to make it a six-point game.

The Steelers looked like they would put the game away, as Rashard Mendenhall rushed the team in position to kick what should have been a game-clinching field goal by Jeff Reed. But, as has happened all too many times this season, Reed pushed a 46-yard field goal wide with 3:59 left.

The Bengals put together a 12-play drive, getting when it was said and done to the Steelers 12, with a fourth-down and five play awaiting. Palmer tried to squeeze a ball into WR Jordan Shipley, and James Harrison and Ryan Clark did enough to knock it away, saving the win and allowing Steeler Nation to take a deep breath.

The Steelers dominated from the opening kickoff, as the Bengals fumbled and from there they put a quick drive together for a score as Mendenhall went in for a score to make it 7-0. After the Bengals next drive stalled, William Gay blocked Kevin Huber's punt at the Cincinnati 30-yard line, the Steelers first blocked punt in two years.

They got a field goal from there to make it 10-0 with 7:46 left in the first quarter. They went up 20-7 at half after they got a TD from Hines Ward, and a 53-yard field goal from Reed with :05 seconds left in the half. It seemed like it would get even easier after a trick play made it 27-7.

Antwaan Randle El threw a 39-yard touchdown pass off a trick play to open the fourth quarter, building the 27-7 after Mike Wallace pulled in the TD for the lead, and all seemed well till Cincy suddenly got back into the game.

"The defense held strong," said Roethlisberger, who was 17 of 27 for 163 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Mendenhall ran for 99 yards and a score, and Wallace had 5 grabs for 110 yards and the score.

A win is a win, and while it wasn’t pretty, the team will take it. As LaMarr Woodely put on his Facebook moments after the game – “Man that 1 felt good.. headin back home and already focused on NE!!”

The teams third straight prime-time game will be Sunday night at home vs the Patriots, a team that was just blown out on the road by Cleveland.

Monday Night Football Line

#4 Enjoying The Moment After A Comeback Victory In OT

Here is a quick look at some of the key points in the Vikings three point victory over the Cardinals on Sunday:

Safe At Home?

"Home Field Advantage" was a relative term for Brad Childress on Sunday as he walked into one of the most hostile home environments as he has probably seen since his days in Philly.  Despite escaping with a "W" added to the standings, Childress said after the game he has received no assurances about his job security in Minnesota.

Personally, I thought Childress called an awful game, particularly on offense.  If you are playing the 29^th ranked run defense and a fully healthy Adrian Peterson has only 11 carries through four quarters, while you aging and ever-injured quarterback has 46 throws behind a very suspect offensive line, then something is wrong with your ability to strategize.  Rumor has it that Childress is safe for at least one more week because of the victory, but I have seen enough of this nonsense to last me a lifetime.

One thing I have to give Childress credit for is when he resisted temptation to go for a touchdown in the second quarter and instead allowed Ryan Longwell to kick a 21 yard field goal.  Childress has been burned multiple times this season by going for the fourth down conversion, and this time he took three points which came in handy down the road in this game.

Sling It Like It Is 1993

The last time Brett Favre threw for 400 yards?  1993.

Seriously.

Favre went 36 of 47 despite his various injuries, posting a career high of 446 yards.  He had two beautiful touchdowns and two uglier-than-sin interceptions.  It was an up and down game for Favre and he benefited from some solid run-after-catch plays out of his various receivers.

The real story, however, is that incredible "Favre Magic" that brought the team back from a deficit of 14 points with under four minutes remaining.  It was obvious that Favre was not willing to let the last season of his career (presumably) fizzle at the hands of a much less talented team.

His game tying touchdown pass to Visanthe Shiancoe was a work of art.

A Part Time Job

I still can't get over the fact that Adrian Peterson only received 15 handoffs in this game, four of which came in overtime.  Peterson ended up with 81 rushing yards and a touchdown.  He was equally productive in the passing game, however, catching four passes for 63 yards and another touchdown.

With the ball in his hands Peterson looked as fast as I've ever seen him and came up big when it mattered most.  However, he is going to get Brett Favre killed if he doesn't learn really quickly how to pick up the pass block.  Now that his fumbles are seemingly under control, it is time for Peterson to work on improving this aspect of his game with the same amount of fortitude.

Doubling Production

Bernard Berrian has received his fair share of criticism on this blog over the course of this season.  After all, before Sunday he had only nine catches for 87 yards.  In this game, he hauled in nine catches for 89 yards and looked like a much improved player.  With Moss off the roster, Berrian will be called upon to bring this type of production to every game.

Berrian wasn't the only guy to double his stats.  The Vikings front four notched six sacks in the first seven games of the year, but managed to tally six more against Derek Anderson.  Jared Allen had 2.5, Ray Edwards had 2, Chad Greenway had one, and Madieu Williams had 0.5.  Two of the sacks came on the Cardinals final drive of regulation and two more came in overtime, but for the last minutes of that game, it was nice to see the pass rush back in its 2009 form.

Hustle Hero

In this week's "10 Questions" segment I will be asking who you think should get the Vikings Gab Game Ball this week, but that isn't going to prevent me from getting a plug in here for Greg Camarillo.  After Brett Favre threw one of his fore mentioned awful interceptions in the first quarter, fantastic hustle out of Camarillo allowed him to catch Kerry Rhodes from behind, punching the ball out of his hands about three yards shy of the goal line.  The ball skipped out the back of the end zone for a Vikings touchback, saving them seven points.

Camarillo's sure hands also got him four catches for 66 yards and he was one of the few bright spots on special teams, averaging 12 yards on seven punt returns.

Game Day Warrior

Percy Harvin was upset with the Vikings decision to waive Randy Moss, missed two days of practiced, was deemed "extremely limited" during Friday's practice, and got into a  heated with Brad Childress over the status of his ankle.  The rough week all disappeared when he took the field and swiftly accrued nine catches for 126 yards.

Harvin had a heck of a day on offense, but averaged only 17 yards on five kick returns and was stripped of the ball on one of them.  His fumble went the other way for six points and, at the time, looked to be a nail in the coffin for the Vikings.

Defensive Strong Hold

The Vikings defense recorded zero turnovers on Sunday.  Their sacks largely came at the very end of the game.  At the end of the first half, they allowed the Cardinals to dink and dunk down the field for a score after a number of pathetic tackling efforts.

However, this defense really only gave up 10 points, as two of the Cardinals three touchdowns came on special teams.  The bottom line is that they only allowed 53 rushing yards, only allowed 172 passing yards, and, most importantly, came up big when the pressure was on and it mattered most.

If some cornerbacks can get healthy, then this defense should really be able to build off of a solid performance against the Cardinals.

Crisis Averted

The Lions lost, the Bears won, the Packers won, and the Vikings postponed the waiving of any white flags for at least one more week.  The Vikings avoided any major injuries (Loadholt returned to the game, Sanford did not) and have two big divisional games coming up.

A win in Chicago next week would put them a game out of second place and two games out of first place of the NFC North.

Perhaps with "Great Heart," a phrase which Zygi Wilf shouted to the rooftops following Sunday's win, the Vikings can now go on a roll.

The axe has fallen on Wade Phillips, as just a few weeks after owner Jerry Jones said his head coach wasn’t going anywhere, they fired the coach today.

Jason Garrett, who was a hot coaching prospect the past few seasons, is going to take over for the remaining 8 games of 2010.

This move was expected by many as multiple reports surfaced following the game that Phillips was unlikely to make it through the week. Phillips’ certainly deserved this fate after the Cowboys started the season 1-7.

The team was crushed by the Packers on Sunday night in Green Bay 45-7.

Phillips ends his Cowboys career with a 34-22 in the regular season record as head coach. This is by far his most disappointing season as he won 13, 9 and 11 games in his first three seasons. He also walks away from Dallas with a 1-2 playoff record with the Cowboys.

The Panthers have lost starting quarterback Matt Moore for the season with a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder, further complicating the Panthers season.

Moore was driven to the turf on a sack by New Orleans defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis in the second quarter of Sunday's 34-3 loss.

Coach John Fox on Monday wouldn't say if Jimmy Clausen or fellow rookie Tony Pike would start Sunday at Tampa Bay. He also indicated rookie Armanti Edwards will also get some snaps at QB in practice.

Starting middle linebacker Dan Connor has also been lost for the season with a hip injury that will require surgery. Fox says linebacker Thomas Davis won't return this season from a knee injury.

“Who Dey” Nation Wants Answers

There's been much speculation throughout the blogosphere regarding who exactly is to blame for the colossal failure that has been the first seven games of the 2010 Bengals campaign.  Joe Reedy at Cincinnati.com, Hobson at Bengals.com, our friends at Cincy Jungle, and the various discussion boards have taken up this topic and chewed over it at length over the last several days.

Some say the fault lies with Marvin Lewis.  After all, he's the head coach—he calls the shots.  He admitted to calling the third-down pass play that led directly to Tampa Bay's comeback win.  If the Bengals win that game, (which was in the bag) who knows where they'd be now?  The roster is supposedly stacked with talent, so it must be Marvin's fault.  Anyone seen any "In Marvin We Trust" T-shirts lately?  Me neither.

Others point to Bob Bratkowski and his sometimes overly-predictable and other times ridiculously bone-headed play calling.  He was the favorite whipping boy in Bengaldom last year, and frankly he's done nothing to change perceptions in 2010. I freely admit I was so sick of "Brat" that I openly lobbied for Mike Martz to be hired in Cincinnati.  Some say the offense is too complicated, leading to penalties and missed assignments.  Others say it's the same thing that's been run since 2005 and everyone in the stadium knows what the next play is.  Either way, despite a supposedly Pro Bowl caliber QB and two superstar WR's, not to mention two top draft picks and a former first round running back, this offense struggles mightily.

Then there's the defense.  Less than six months since Mike Zimmer was canonized in Cincinnati as a conquering hero, his charges have failed to repeat 2009's successes despite having the same starters and better depth.  They have shown inconsistency in run defense, and the pass rush has been non-existent—even when blitzing. What's worse, they couldn't get a stop when they knew the opposing offense was going to run to try to close out the game twice (Cleveland and Miami).  Those failures allowed the opponent to run out the last two minutes and deny the offense one last gasp.

How about Carson Palmer?  While flashing some brilliance at times this year, large chunks of the season have looked a lot like 2009 when he was absolutely putrid at critical moments.  He looks to have lost zip on his passes, and could have about 7 or 8 more interceptions this year if not for the stone hands of opposing DB's.  Whether you count yourself as pro- or anti-Palmer, no one can argue that he's just not the same guy he was in 2005 and 2006.

And when all else fails, blame Mike Brown.  After all, he's the man at the top and ultimately responsible for two decades of consistent failure. Restart the "Mike Brown, Step Down" campaign!  Look for mikebrownsucks.com to get restarted.

As for me, the official position of Bengals Gab is the blame lies in something more vague and ambiguous.  It has nothing to do with 40-yard dash times, playbook schemes, or simple blocking and tackling.  If it were something like that, it would easily be fixed.

No, the problem with the 2010 Cincinnati Bengals is something much more difficult to get a handle on.

Looking at the roster, this team should be able to compete with anyone in the league.  The offense is stacked.  The defense too.  A team that won the division last year and swept every home-and-home got only more talented in the offseason.  The coaching staff enjoyed another year of relative stability, and the Bengals spent freely—almost recklessly—in free agency to improve the roster. They did well with their nine draft picks, and had the advantage of an extra preseason game.

So what went wrong here?

I humbly submit that the problem with this team is simply a lack of heart.

I stated back in the spring that this team would have no excuses, and I still don't see any.  They have simply failed to deliver.  They've believed the hype surrounding them in the offseason, and become overly infatuated with the publicity and hoopla surrounding them.

They lost their focus and they lost their resolve.  They forgot what the whole point of this exercise is—to win a championship.  This is a lack of heart.

Heart, as defined by me, is a desire to succeed at all costs.  To put team success above personal notoriety, and to be focused on the end result in all endeavors.  This team does not do any of that.

They too often focus on why they "Can't" instead of why they "Can." In the immortal words of Yoda, I say to the Bengals, "That is why you fail."

Cincinnati's opponent Monday, Pittsburgh, didn't spend the kind of money Mike Brown did in the spring.  They arguably didn't draft as well. They were coming off a season in which they missed the playoffs, and they had the distraction of Ben Roethlisberger's rape allegations and subsequent suspension.

They had problems in areas the Bengals did not.  They had obstacles to overcome that were non-existant in Cincinnati.

But they are 5-2, and the Bengals are 2-5 for one reason: They have heart.

If the Bengals were somehow able to transplant the heart and desire found in Pittsburgh or Baltimore—or Cleveland for that matter—and put it into the talent on this roster, the Bengals could go 9-0 down the stretch and make the playoffs.

How do you coach that?  How do you instill such a thing in your players?  I don't know.  And neither does Marvin Lewis.

Maybe Mike Tomlin and Eric Mangini know a thing or two this staff doesn't.  Maybe its more a, "you have it or you don't" kind of thing.  I don't know.

All I do know is that as long as the Bengals continue to search for "answers" in the tape, and talk to each other about better execution and being more "on the same page", the more they will struggle.  Once they rightfully call B.S. on all of that hogwash and simply "Do Your Job" as Lewis once espoused, they can salvage something meaningful from this dreadful abortion of a season.

Who is to blame?  EVERYBODY.

Just my two cents.  I could be wrong.