NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Senior writer jclombardi grades Packers loss to Patriots.

GAME BALLS: NT Raji; LB Bishop; WR Jones; FB Kuhn; RB Jackson; QB Flynn.

INJURY REPORT: S Collins (ribs).

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

PASSING OFFENSE:  B vs B-. QB Flynn threw for 251 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 100.2 passer rating showing an impressive performance against the Patriots. His touchdown passes to WR Jennings and WR Jones were great throws.  WR Jones had 5 receptions for 95 yards. The backfield quartet of Kuhn (three for 27), Dimitri Nance (two for 16), Quinn Johnson (two for 15) and Brandon Jackson (one for 3) combined for eight catches for 61 yards, one more reception than the combined total of top wide receivers Jennings and Driver. Inexperienced Flynn had two costly turnovers including a critical interception for a touchdown and a critical fumble leading to the loss.

RUSHING OFFENSE: B VS B. The Packers rushed for 143 yards. RB Jackson looked solid getting 22 carries for 99 yards averaging 4.5 yards.  FB Kuhn had an outstanding game avoiding tackles and making the big plays to get the necessary yardage. He had 6 carries for 21 yards and 3 catches for 27 yards and one touchdown. While the bruising Kuhn converted two third downs in short yardage in the early going, he failed to plow his way across the goal line on two straight runs after the Packers had first-and-goal at the 2 to start the fourth quarter.

PASSING DEFENSE: B- vs C. The Packers defense held QB Brady to 163 yards and 2 touchdowns getting 3 sacks. The tight end combo of Hernandez (four catches for 31 yards) and Rob Gronkowski (one for 25) did the most damage on a night when mostly Woodson and Tramon Williams kept wideouts Wes Welker (three for 42) and Deion Branch (two for 33) in check, respectively. LB Bishop was solid getting seven tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble. NT Raji played solid too getting four tackles and two sacks. The Packers defense held the Patriots to 4 for 10 on 3rd downs.

RUSHING DEFENSE: D- vs D. The Patriots rushed for 113 yards averaging a huge 7.1 yards. RB Green-Ellis made the Packers pay for Woodson’s big drop two plays earlier with a 33-yard touchdown. That was the extent of Green-Ellis’ production, though, as he managed only 38 yards in six carries. RB Woodhead frequently hit the hole with little resistance and had nine carries for 59 yards, including explosive runs of 14 and 13 yards. TE Hernandez ripped off a 16-yard run on an end-around.

SPECIAL TEAMS: D+ vs C-. On special teams, the initial successful onside kick was a clever surprise to set the early tempos of the game. A Crosby's squib kick backfired allowing Patriots offensive lineman Connolly to rumble a record 71 yards for the longest kickoff return down to Green Bay's 4-yard line setting the Patriots up for their second touchdown. K Crosby went 2 for 2 in field goals. P Masthay had a good and bad punting performance, averaging 41.3 gross yards and 38.5 net yards with two punts inside the 20.  KR Shields has a solid game with 128 return yards.

COACHING: B- vs B. McCarthy's game plan for Flynn was both necessary and inspired. The Packers attempted a season-high 38 running plays, and their 143 yards was their second-highest total of the season. And while Flynn threw 37 passes, only eight of them traveled 10 or more yards in the air. That's a quantitative way of explaining that the Packers wanted to control the ball with the run and the short passing game. The Packers largely succeeded outgaining the Patriots 369-249. Yet, the game came down to the untimely mistakes and the failure to make the big plays to score in the red zone going only 2 for 5. Finally, what ultimately cost the Packers the game was another special-teams gaffe by Shawn Slocum’s coverage unit and faulty clock management by McCarthy in trying to direct an inexperienced Flynn to the game-winning touchdown in the culminating 4-minute drive.

OVERALL: B. The Packers lost their sixth close game of the season by four points or fewer. Coach McCarthy's career record in such games is now 5-16 including an 0-7 mark during the team's 6-10 swoon in 2008 and 2-6 this season. The Packers had a dominant performance owning a 2-to-1 advantage in time of possession (40:56 to 19:04) and nearly a 2-to-1 advantage in first downs (26-14).

The Sunday outing for Tim Tebow was good enough for the Broncos first-round pick to earn another start. Interim coach Eric Studesville said Monday he's decided to start Tebow again when the 3-10 Broncos play host the Houston Texans Sunday.

Studesville said Kyle Orton is still bothered by bruised ribs and that Tebow did a good job managing the game plan in his first NFL start Sunday at Oakland despite Denver's 39-23 loss to the Raiders.

Asked if team owner Pat Bowlen might have suggested the move to ensure there isn't a sea of empty seats at Invesco Field on Sunday, Studesville said he indeed met with the owner and chief operating officer Joe Ellis in the morning but that it was his decision alone. He says Bowlen and Ellis agreed with his call.

The season and probably the Bengals career of wide out Terrell Owens is over. The receiver decided to have knee surgery Monday, ending his season with three games left.

The receiver tore cartilage in his left knee two weeks ago, but kept playing. He aggravated the injury while making a cut on the opening series of a 19-17 win over the Browns Sunday, forcing him to hobble off the field.

Owens flew to Birmingham, Alabama, on Monday and was examined by Dr. James Andrews. The 37-year-old Owens was scheduled for surgery later in the day. He tweeted a photo of himself in a hospital gown getting ready for the operation late Monday afternoon.

“BIG THANKS 2 every1 4 their support (and) prayers! I’ll b back on the field …” he tweeted.

Owens almost for sure won’t be back with the Bengals in 2010, more so if the team goes young and tries to rebuild. He inked a one-year deal with a $2 million base salary at the start of training camp, when the Bengals were one of the few teams interested. He proved he could still play, leading the team with 72 catches for 983 yards and nine touchdowns.

He ranked among the NFL’s top six receivers in yards and catches heading into the game against Cleveland.

Now that the Dolphins are officially eliminated from the playoffs, we can start to focus on some other various topics besides which teams we play the upcoming week, and their strengths and weaknesses.

It seems that some other people within the organization, and around it are starting to steer their attention away from the football aspect of the team, to the off the field topics.

Surprisingly, head coach Tony Sparano revealed an answer regarding the future of the Dolphins offense today in his day after press conference. When asked on whether or not he would like offensive coordinator Dan Henning back for next year Sparano had this to say;

“I think that Dan Henning, for Tony Sparano, has been tremendous," Sparano said. "I think the guy has done a wonderful job during my time here."

"I look at the entire body of work, you guys just look at the last three or four games," Sparano told reporters. "I look at the whole body of work and this guy has done a tremendous job."

If Sparano wants to go ahead and guarantee his way out of Miami, he just did it. If he manages to bring back Henning for another year, and persuade Henning to not retire, or just gives any indication that he is trying to retain Henning on his staff, he might find himself without a head coaching job next year, at least in Miami.

Henning has repeatedly been the main problem on offense for the Dolphins, and is actually the reason why quarterback Chad Henne has been so inconsistent throughout the year. The way Henning’s very predictable and ancient offense is supposed to be run, everyone knows what we are going to do, play conservative ball and play for a field goal if at all possible.

And I’m sorry to say this, but that quote above from Sparano is the last straw for me.

Sparano’s staff reflects back on him, and I believe in that 100 percent. All year long it has been Sparano getting pumped up over a field goal, and yesterday when we scored the second of the two touchdowns we had, Sparano barely showed any emotion compared to what he shows after a field goal. To me, and what should be to him, a field goal reflects that your offense just couldn’t finish the job, and the ultimate thing to have in sports is finishers, and that is not what this team has, at all.

As much as the players love Sparano, he just is not suited for a head coaching job at this point in his career. While he may be a great motivator, he has shown that he and his offensive staff are not suited to make adjustments at all during the game. If anything they have shown that they can abandon a gameplan, and leave their quarterback out to dry, but other than that, I have seen little to no adjustments made by Sparano and his offensive crew.

But it is not just Sparano and Henning that should get the boot. Karl Dorell should also be on his way out. As the quarterbacks coach, I would have to say that his work with Henne has been sub-par. When Henne came into the league, his M/O was that he was inconsistent, but had all of the tools to be a successful NFL starter.

Unfortunately, Henne is still the same guy he was coming out of college. He is still inconsistent, and we still have not fully harnessed the skills that Henne has, and really, our coaching staff has no idea how to utilize them. In fact, they have no idea still how to use their best offensive weapon, Brandon Marshall!

That should be more than enough to fire at the very least your quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, but if Sparano wants to bring back Henning, then I’m sorry, but he has to go too.

And with Sparano leaving, that would put us in contention for a new head coach, most likely Bill Cowher. Cowher has said that the Dolphins are one of the top three teams on his “Coaching Wish List”, along with the New York Giants and the Houston Texans. The Giants, barring a collapse that keeps them out of the playoffs, will keep their head coach, while the Texans owner, Bob McNair, has said that he is fine with his coach, Gary Kubiak.

So that leaves the Miami Dolphins as possibly the lone team that Cowher would come out of retirement to coach. And with Cowher will come the responsibility of being his own general manager as well. I’m almost positive that would be a must in his contract.

So that would also mean that our current general manager Jeff Ireland would be on the outskirts of this franchise by the end of February as well.

And to tell the truth, I’m perfectly fine with that. While Ireland has done a respectable job in the draft and through free agency, he has had some major busts along the way with which there is no room for failure. He also has failed to form a roster to get this team over the hump and into the playoffs. No doubt that if Sparano is gone after it’s all said and done, Ireland would be too, because Cowher would be the teams number one target.

Let’s face it, this team has more than enough talent to get to the playoffs. But in the end, a team has to have some amount of gameplanning and ability to coach up a team at halftime, and not just motivate. If Stephen Ross wants to hire Sparano as the teams motivator, then go right ahead, but he has not served as a good coach for this team.

When he totally reconstructed the interior of the offensive line this off-season I thought everything would be alright since he was a former offensive line coach, and that was his specialty. I figured that he knew what he was talking about, and would coach up the new guys enough for our offense to keep on rolling this season. Obviously that was not the case as our running game has struggled because of the moves that we made this off-season. Letting go of Justin Smiley, Jake Grove and Donald Thomas was the biggest mistake Ireland and Sparano could have made, and to me, it is the main failure in their tenure here.

If Sparano wants to defend Henning, that’s fine by me, but actually saying you want him back next season after he has hindered your quarterback of the future, and the rest of the offense, while costing you a handful of wins is absolutely ridiculous, and may have been the worst thing Sparano could have said at this point in time.

There are rumblings that Sparano and Ireland could be gone right after the season, and with the body of work that they have put together, a mediocre team with so much potential, and the coaching staff that has let the whole fanbase and offense down, they should rightly so be on their way out. The time is now for this team to win, and some of our key players are not getting any younger. The time is now to make a change, a massive overhaul with the coaching staff, head coach, offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, offensive line coach, and general manager. The time is now to also  start to pile together a group of coaches that can make their players better, and play better than their potential for once. Cowher, or some other coach just may be able to do that better than Sparano can at this point.

In maybe his last stand as the old gunslinger, Brett Favre is back in the starting lineup for the Vikings, and it’ll be on the frozen tundra in Minnesota. Favre, who was upgraded earlier today from “out” to “questionable,” threw before the game in the snowy conditions, and it was decided that he is well enough to play.

Favre though will be without Adrian Peterson, though. The star running back is inactive with thigh and ankle injuries.

After being listed as out on Saturday with a sprained right shoulder that ended his NFL record streak of 297 straight games a week earlier, Favre threw about 15 passes pregame and will play against the Bears.

Athletic trainer Eric Sugarman says Favre woke up feeling much better and wanted to test out his injured arm.

The game is being played in the snow at the University of Minnesota's outdoor TCF Bank Stadium after the roof at the Metrodome fell last weekend.

The Raiders came into Sunday's game against the Broncos knowing that San Diego and Kansas City had already taken care of business. The Chargers routed the 49ers on Thursday night, and the Chiefs got the job done on the road in St. Louis. All the Raiders could do to keep their faint playoff hopes alive was win, and live to play another game next week.

They held serve and won 39-23 for their 7th win of the season to go along with 7 losses. The silver lining for the Silver and Black is that they will not lose 10 or more games in a season for the first time since 2002. The black shadow that hangs over this team is still the game they lost in Arizona to the Cardinals. If Sebastian Janikowski makes that chip shot at the end of the game and the Raiders win that game, then they'd be 8-6 and in control of their own destiny.

Now, this is how it looks with two games to play. First and foremost, Oakland has to win out. That alone won't be easy. That's because Peyton Manning is coming to town in a game that is of vital importance to the Colts who are tied for the division lead with the Jaguars.

Even if Oakland can win that game, they could still be eliminated next Sunday before they even kickoff against Indianapolis if Kansas City can beat the Tennessee Titans at home earlier in the day. However, if the Chiefs lose to the Titans, the door will remain open for Oakland.

But that's not the only help the Raiders will need. They also need the Chargers to lose at least one of their final two games. Next on the docket for San Diego? Cincinnati in Cincinnati. The Raiders need it to be windy, and cold and snowy.

So there it is. All the Raiders need to have a chance going into Week 17 is three upsets in Week 16. The Titans beat the Chiefs, the Raiders beat the Colts, and the Chargers fall to the Bengals. Simple enough, right?

Now, on to Week 17. Oakland goes to Kansas City. They win and they win the division. The only wrinkle is if San Diego happens to win in Cincinnati in Week 16. If they do that, then the Raiders need the Chargers to stumble in Denver the final week. If they do, the Raiders are division champs.

Look, even if the Raiders win their division, which they're not going to do, they aren't going to win a playoff game. I have said all along that when you've been as bad as the Raiders have been for this long, before you can be great, you need to be good, and before you can be good, you need to be average. This team is average. One more win assures them of an eight-win season. That's as average as one gets. Considering where they've been since 2002, eight wins would be monumental.

From there we can start talking about winning divisions again. For now, we can only lament over missed kicks, missed opportunities and… three upsets in Week 16.

The drama of the Monday night game between the Bears and Vikings just got a little more interesting, as the Vikings have upgraded QB Brett Favre from “Out” to “Questionable” on their injury report. The team also has placed guard Steve Hutchinson on injured reserve.

The 41-year-old will attempt to throw roughly two hours before kickoff at the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium, and a final determination will be made on whether or not he can play.

Favre saw his NFL record streak of 297 consecutive regular-season starts ended last Monday when the Vikings lost to the New York Giants at Detroit’s Ford Field due to a SC sprain of his right shoulder. Hutchinson, who saw his own streak of 131 straight starts ended two weeks ago, was placed on IR with a broken thumb.

In other roster news, the Vikes promoted quarterback R.J. Archer from the practice squad to the active roster.

Sunday there was no doubt the Steelers missed safety Troy Polamalu and tight end Heath Miller. With a short week ahead of them as they play Thursday vs the Panthers at home, it looks like both could find their way on the field.

Mike Tomlin spoke to the media today with the short week, and said that Miller is expected to play Thursday night, while the team will keep an open mind about playing Polamalu.

Polamalu was at the teams headquarters today and did not appear to be limping. Tomorrow will be the only day that the Steelers practice before Thursday nights game against the 2-12 Panthers.

"It's still early in the week in terms of where (Polamalu) is, his availability to practice and ultimately to play," Tomlin said. As far as Miller goes, Tomlin stated, "We anticipate Heath being fine."

The Steelers can clinch the AFC North title with a win over the Panthers and a Ravens loss to the Browns Sunday in Cleveland.

The Bill Cowher chatter has started up again, as today on ESPN there’s a story about Cowher’s return to the sidelines in 2011, and what teams may be in the running to land the coach if he does indeed return.

The teams in the running according to ESPN include the New York Giants, Houston Texans, or Miami Dolphins, two teams that won’t make the playoffs, and the other (the Giants) took a serious hit yesterday in blowing a 24-3 lead to the Eagles and losing on the last play.

Cowher still seems to be happy as an analyst for CBS. There’s no doubt that he’ll be back at some point on the sidelines, but it’s been a tough year for him personally with the passing of his wife Kaye. For now, with a career coaching record of 149-90-1, there’s no hurry for him to rush into a bad coaching situation like many have done in the past (Mike Shanahan anyone?).

Just when it looked as if the Ravens were getting comfortable being an almost Elite team, Sunday's victory over the defending champions should provide a big lift heading into an all but assured third consecutive post-season trip.

This was by far the most complete game the Ravens have played this season - all three phases – all four quarters. I must give kudos to the coaching staff as well. Cameron's offensive plan exploited a somewhat suspect Saints run defense and Greg Mattison blitzed with regularity.

With two games to play the Ravens have set themselves up nicely for the playoffs, plus with a Pittsburgh loss today the division is still up for grabs.

What about the Ravens game plan today and can we expect to see more of the rushing attack for the rest of the season?

The Ravens returned to a run-first mentality and made sure that their best offensive player got plenty of touches. (31 rushes for 153 yds TD – 5 catches for 80 TD) This took the pressure off Joe Flacco and allowed the Baltimore offense to work in more manageable third down situations. Flacco was efficient tossing two TDs for a 112.9 rating and most importantly zero turnovers. The end result was Baltimore scoring 30 points against a top ten defense.

One of the points that our staff has been lamenting for weeks has been about the Ravens  lack of an offensive identity. For the past two seasons Cam Cameron has wanted to build an offense  centered on the Quarterback and it's produced mixed results. While the idea may seem smart by league standards – let's face it it is a Quarterback's league , you must always maximize the talent you have on your roster.

While Cam has tried to integrate the new weapons the Ravens acquired on offense and help Joe Flacco continue forward in his progress he may have forgotten his biggest asset in his playbook - Ray Rice. Not only has Rice's stats suffered this season but he rarely has gotten the amount of touches that a player of his caliber demands.

The jury is still out on how good Joe Flacco will be as an NFL quarterback and I don't think he's reached his ceiling yet- at all. We won't really know until he has the same freedoms as the Brees, Roethlisbergers, and even Ryans of the NFL. Until Cameron is willing to provide that freedom we will never know and until that time comes Baltimore should be a balanced team that uses it's runners – all three of them.

Last week John Harbaugh all but said that he would have liked to have seen a run on 3rd and 2 against Houston to pick up a crucial third down. Perhaps the Head Coach stepped up this week and exerted some more influence on the offensive game plan.

It's always about results and of course Wins and Losses. For the Ravens to go away from a successful formula with an offense that has struggled over some stretches would make little sense at all.

What led to the Offensive Line putting together it's most physical game of the season?

Run-First.

Ask an Offensive lineman which he would rather do – Pass protect in a crouch or Drive forward and attack defenders? I have a feeling that the line was grinning at the game plan this week. It's one of the only times this year that I've seen them be very aggressive and get after the defense.

The unit still had some issues with False starts but I'd excuse that out of a willingness to get put a hat on someone. Let's hope they keep the momentum going.

Is Dannell Ellerbee finally out of the coach's doghouse?

Ever since John Harbaugh went wild on Ellerbee for his taunting antics during the Pre-season he's never been able to find the field or the active roster for that matter.

Ellerbee came on strong last season though when Training camp began the coach only said that the Ellerbee would compete just like Jameel McClain and Tavares Gooden for the job. Most close to the team cited attitude problems from Ellerbee as the reason for his benching. Here's hoping that he has that straightened out because he played like a man possessed today with 7 tackles and 1 sack. He provided a tough presence and was around the ball a lot today.

My opinion hasn't changed about him. He's the long term solution to replacing Bart Scott.

Who was the Offensive Player of the Game?

Do I have to type his name? Ed Dickson showed why the Ravens drafted him today. He has good hands and is a big target that could be more of a Marques Colston-like receiver. Willis McGahee was strong in relief as well.

Who was the Defensive player of the Game?

Ellerbee's performance was strong but the secondary was also solid and notched several hits on the Saints receivers. They seemed to cringe before a few passes came their way. Jarret Johnson played in his 111th consecutive career game tying a Peter Boulware's club record. Double JJ has been coming on as of late – I'll admit I forgot that he was slow out of the gate due to shoulder surgery. He's a tough ball player. Sam Koch should go to the Pro Bowl.