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The are the most riveting act in football.After withstanding a couple of fourth-quarter haymakers versus the reigning NFC champions in an intoxicating Week 10 comeback victory last Sunday night over the , Bruce Arians' squad showed its mettle again on Sunday Night Football, hanging on for a white-knuckle win over the AFC North leading .The are a great story, featuring a , an in , in and and a dark horse in .With Fitzgerald's unselfishne s as a model, this is a true team.When Johnson fails to move the chains against a physical defense, comes through in clutch. When playmakers such as and are unavailable due to injuries, and contribute game-changing plays. Every week, it's a different star.First in offense and third in defense, the are the rare team capable of losing the turnover battle while reeling off wins against quality opponents.Blemished record or not, this team has outplayed the competition in entertaining style week-in and week-out.Here's what else we learned in Week 11.Take away the records, and this looked like most - games in the Mike McCarthy era. Green Bay's defensive line deserves the most credit in the resounding win for absolutely manhandling Minnesota upfront all day. , , , , and friends all took turns punishing with six sacks. They also stuffed to the tune of 35 rushing yards. There was a lot for the to be excited about in this season-altering win. Now 7-3 and tied with Minnesota atop the NFC North, the enter a stretch against three straight losing teams with a head of steam. (100 yards on 22 carries) looked completely refreshed after his week off. also threw in his handful of outrageous throws, often on the run, just like he was in September. was impre sive in a losing effort. He took shot after shot and kept getting up despite clearly hurting his non-throwing shoulder in the first half. (Bridgewater briefly went to the locker room and mi sed the end of one drive.) Still, Bridgewater had 4-to-5 beautiful dimes in the contest. He just never had a true shot because of his offensive line. It was one of his better games of the season despite the final score. -- Gregg RosenthalNewton is sitting on the lowest completion rate (56.9) of his career, but he's shown obvious improvement as a pa ser the last two weeks. After completing his first 11 pa ses for the first time in his career versus the last week, Newton to sed four first-half touchdown pa ses on Sunday -- the most he has thrown in a single game since the 2010 SEC Championship. The ' 31 first-half points were the most in franchise history. A minute into the second half, Newton added a fifth touchdown strike to rookie , who was making his first career start with sidelined. The ' 14 consecutive regular-season wins are the third-most in the NFC since the 1970 merger. They travel to Dallas on a short week for a Day attraction.'Skins fans will be spared this week from glowing columns suggesting the organization will break the bank to secure a long-term future for impending free agent . With an interception and two lost fumbles, the quarterback accounted for three of the five ' turnovers that led to 27 points -- hardly the recipe for knocking off an undefeated road foe. Although he's authored several definitive drives this season, Cousins can't make all of the NFL throws, doesn't take care of the football and finds consistency elusive. He's not a top-20 NFL quarterback.A scary thought for opponents: Between Newton's improvement as a pa ser and the emergence of Funche s Bojan Bogdanovic Jersey on offense to go with the rise of "" pa s rusher and safety as consistent playmakers on defense, the are growing stronger by the week. They welcome star defensive end back from IR boomerang in Week 12. This defense hasn't played a snap in the red zone over the past two weeks.-- Chris We selingAfter a week of speculation and he-said, she-said over 's unceremonious departure from Cincinnati in 2011, the quarterback finally stuck it to his former team -- it just took a while. Palmer got off to an uncharacteristically slow start, to sing two picks in the first quarter alone. However, he got going in the second quarter with a beautiful touchdown pa s to and then continued to light up the secondary in the second half en route to a 317-yard, four-touchdown performance. To top it all off, Palmer led the on a 70-yard game-winning drive in just 52 seconds after the tied the game late in the fourth quarter. Palmer connected with and twice in the span of 24 seconds on the perfectly executed drill before kicker nailed a 32-yarder at the buzzer.Still going unrecognized in the MVP debate, Palmer now leads the league in touchdown pa ses (27) -- (24) looks to surge back ahead on Monday night -- and has moved the against two dominant secondaries two weeks in a row. Try ignoring him now. Try. Is it po sible that 'Primetime' is actually a flattering moniker? One week after being humbled by a stingy secondary on Monday night, Dalton rebounded with a 315-yard, two-touchdown outing. He didn't throw an interception, and his lone fumble, allowed by a collapsing offensive line, resulted in just three points. With locked up for much of the night, Dalton found succe s underneath with (8 rec, 128 yards). On Sunday night, the quarterback wasn't quite a Red Rifle, nor was he a Red Ryder B.B. gun. His new nickname is TBD, as is Cincinnati's fading home-field advantage. They say football's a game you have to play for sixty minutes, but one quarter nearly decided this matchup. After closing the first half with a go-ahead touchdown, the got the ball first in the third and had an opportunity to build on their own momentum, but Cincinnati's offense stalled. In three drives, Dalton led the to just one first down for -1 yards and three punts. On the other side of the ball, Arizona made adjustments and turned its three drives into 21 points and 195 yards, swinging the entire trajectory of the game. -- Jeremy BergmanAll he does is win. 's first pa s was a misguided lob picked off by , the linebacker who played hero again one drive later by jumping on a fumble. The sloppy woke from there, scoring 24 of the game's final 31 points, sparked by Ha selbeck unfurling one of the season's uglier touchdown pa ses to . Take a look:Ha selbeck doesn't make it look pretty, but the wily veteran hit 11 of his first 14 pa ses to finish 23 of 32 on the day for 213 yards with two touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. At 40, he's a smart-but-limited athlete, mi sing a wide-open in the second half before costing the points with an ugly pick hauled in by safety . Indy's pa sing game lacked rhythm for much of the way, partly because Atlanta wasn't scared of the ground game. You'd like to see carry the load with sidelined, but the 32-year-old runner was held to 18 yards in the first half and 31 overall at just 2.4 yards per carry. Gore also caught five pa ses for 42 yards, but was more effective on Sunday with a pair of short touchdown grabs.'s season remains a mixed bag. After shaking off an early interception, the quarterback put Atlanta on the board with a beautiful scoring strike to wide-open fullback , who pulled down a pair of touchdowns on the day. Ryan carved up Indy's secondary for 280 yards and three scores, but also threw a trio of picks, including a killer fourth-quarter interception that linebacker took into the end zone to tie the game at 21-21. Ryan's final pick came off a failed Hail Mary as time expired.Sunday was another example of why remains the NFC's finest receiver. Getting the best of , the star shredded Indy for 160 yards off nine grabs for his third-straight 100-yard outing. Running an up-tempo attack, Ryan took advantage of a defense that repeatedly left receivers open. It wasn't just Jones, as DiMarco's first score came with nobody near him. Indy's defense was much more effective in the second half, putting pre sure on Ryan and closing down pa sing lanes.-- Marc Se sler has never rushed for 160 yards or combined for 200 yards from a scrimmage in a game. Undrafted Rawls accomplished the former in his previous start versus the and pulled off the latter in a dominant performance Sunday, cutting sharply and lowering his shoulder with a violent running style to become the first back since Shaun Alexander in 2006 to clear 200 yards in a game. Rawls has reached 100 rushing yards three times this season, while Lynch has topped 75 yards just once.Showing their most balanced attack of the season behind an improving offensive line, the piled up 508 yards on 28 first downs. Nobody is claiming that Rawls is already a better player than Lynch, but the rookie is more dynamic in space and offers chunk-play potential. The can't just leave him on the shelf once Lynch returns to full health. Rawls has earned a larger role going forward. has shown more promise in two starts than a regre sing had in eight. Although the (3-7) scored just 13 points, Gabbert matched the total points scored by Kaepernick's offense in the last three games combined versus Seattle JaKarr Sampson Jersey |
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