NFL Week 12 Best Highlights of the Games 2009

Football and the race to the super bowl gets a little bit closer so here you can see in pictures and words all of the best Highlights from all the football action of NFL Week 12. As the NFL players celebrate Thanksgiving this week, there are a handful of teams still fighting for their playoff existence. Indianapolis and New Orleans keep their perfect standing and Vince Young shows us what he is really made of.

Winners and Losers in the NFL Turkey Day

Aaron Rodgers is getting tougher and looking better every week. Mark Sanchez incorporates a little red light green light 1,2,3 and pulls out a turkey day win but the New York Giants come up very very short. Read on to see why and get a view with some of the best shots of all the games.

Thanks as always to NFL.com for the greatest pictures of the day .

Green Bay Packers 34

Detroit Lions 12

Detroit's loss this week was an emotional setback for the Lions. Just four days after Matthew Stafford's gutsy play capped its biggest comeback win since 1957. Stafford was only 20 of 43 yards for 213 yards, and his four interceptions were one fewer than he had earlier this season. The Lions were ineffective in just about everything, except special teams and limiting the run. The offense gained only 272 yards. Calvin Johnson caught only two passes ,including a 1-yard TD and Kevin Smith gained only 43 yards.

The Lions Come Up Short

The Lions' defense couldn't pressure Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, who was clearly the player of the game. He completed 28 of 39 for 348 yards and matched a career high with three touchdown passes. Rodgers connected with Donald Driver ,THE Donald Lee (his first reception of the season) and James Jones (21 yard catch) for scores. Donald Driver finished the afternoon with a solid 142 receiving yards, and one touchdown.

Charles Woodson - Best Corner in the NFL

One of the best corner backs in the NFL, Woodson finished the game with two interceptions, a touchdown on an interception return, a sack and a forced fumble. When Woodson returned his second interception late in the game, he had a little fun and struck a Heisman Trophy pose in the end zone, just as he did, back in the days when he played for Michigan and ultimately won the Heisman Trophy.

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OAKLAND RAIDERS VS DALLAS COWBOYS

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Oakland Raiders 7

Dallas Cowboys 24

AFC West NFC East

The Cowboys had little trouble gobbling up the Raiders on this Thanksgiving Day. They controlled this game from the start and that is pretty much how the rest of the game went. The Cowboys now lead the NFC division. They have the NFL's fourth-ranked offense, second-ranked scoring defense and are among the leaders in several special teams categories.

Tony Romo has never lost a Thanksgiving Day game as a starter so today when he finally remembered his magical connection with Miles Austin, they were able to put the Raiders away without a hitch. Romo completed 18 of 29 passes for 309 yards, two touchdowns and 0 interceptions. One of the touchdowns went to Austin who caught a total of 7 passes for 145 yards. THE Jason Witten had the best game of his season catching 5 passes for 107 yards.

And lets not forget the running back trio of Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice. These three guys combined for 197 yards rushing including a 46 yard touchdown run by Jones.

QB Bruce Gradkowski played a pretty decent game considering all the pressure he has been under. It can not be easy for a new starting QB to come into Cowboys Stadium on Thanksgiving Day and play against one of the best defenses in the NFL.

Gradkowski completed 19 of 35 passes for 200 yards and no interceptions. He threw the one and only touchdown to rookie Darrius Heyard-Bey. This was Darrius's first career touchdown in the NFL. Another key weapon for Gradkowski to concentrate on is THE Zach Miller. He caught 5 passes for 73 yards. Trevor Scott tied a career high sacking Romo two times.

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New York Giants vs Denver Broncos

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New York Giants 6

Denver Broncos 26

Elvis Dumervil dumped Eli Manning twice, extending his NFL-leading sack total to 14, and his second one resulted in a fourth-quarter fumble that sealed Denver's first win since Oct. 19.

Anyone remember when the Giants was his into a forgettable season. They've lacked their trademark resilience, don't fight through adversity, no longer impose their will. They don't look anything like the team that won the Super Bowl two years ago.

Broncos kicker Matt Prater is the AFC special-teams player of the week, thanks to his four mutherf--king field goals in a Thanksgiving night win over the Giants.

There is something terribly wrong with the Giants' defense, and it starts up front: The Giants' pass rush can't get to the passer. That hasn't happened in years, and it hasn't happened with Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Mathias Kiwanuka in the lineup.

Remember when Umenyiora up and left a Sheridan-run meeting in the preseason? Maybe that was the signal that something was wrong. All I know is that December is Bill Sheridan's chance to straighten out a defense that, frankly, looks beyond help and to demonstrate to coach Tom Coughlin he made the right move when he chose him to replace Steve Spagnuolo

Now they face a two-week battle for playoff survival against the hated Cowboys and Eagles.

Strahan . . your guys need another pep talk .. any chance you can make it there before the game against the Cowboys?

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Tampa Bay vs Atlanta

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17

Atlanta Falcons 20

Atlanta pulls one from the fire, with 26 seconds left, Roddy White caught a 5 yard touchdown that put the Falcons ahead. For Tampa it was a hard luck loss.The Bucs played by far their best defensive game of the year but were undone by some costly penalties.

With head coach Raheem Morris calling the defensive plays and the Bucs returning to the Cover 2 defense they made famous, Tampa Bay roughed up Atlanta most of the game

Backup quarterback Chris Redman, playing in place of the injured Matt Ryan, drove the Falcons to a first down at the Bucs 10-yard line with less than a minute to play, then threw two incomplete passes after spiking the ball to stop the clock. Redman finished the game 23 of 41 passing for 243 yards and two touchdowns.

Freeman, coming off a four-turnover performance in a 31-point loss to New Orleans, bounced back nicely in his fourth career start. He completed 20 of 29 for 250 yards and didn't have any turnovers. Managing to recover a fumble was his only major mistake.

Freeman completed passes to eight different receivers, led by Kellen Winslow's seven catches for 81 yards. Antonio Bryant provided all the offense on one Bucs' scoring drive when he caught two passes for 80 yards, including a 42-yard touchdown catch.

Next Sunday Atlanta plays a critical game with Philadelphia. A win over the Eagles would give Atlanta a leg up in the wild card race.

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Miami Dolphin vs Buffalo Bills

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Miami Dolphins 14

Buffalo Bills 31

The Miami Dolphins battled all season to get back in the playoff mix after an 0-3 start and today in Buffalo they undid all the good they have done. So ends a flickering post-season dream for the the fins, unless everybody else in the AFC starts playing as far out of character as Miami did in Buffalo.

The Bills Ryan Fitzpatrick sealed a victory with a TD a rub-it-in touchdown bomb to Terrell Owens today at Ralph Wilson Stadium. TO then delivered a series of celebratory leg kicks meant to mimic Joey Porter. Fitzpatrick also ran for a TD while completing 17 of 26 for 226 yards and one interception. Owens had 96 yards on five receptions, and Fred Jackson had two rushing touchdowns for the Bills. Rian Lindell kicked a career-long 56-yard field goal to put Buffalo on top late in the fourth quarter.
Chad Henne threw three picks in the final four minutes after a nice game before then. Henne ended with 175 yards and one touchdown on 17-of-31. Ricky Williams rushed for 115 yards and a score on 27 carries in defeat.

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Washington Redskins vs Philadelphia Eagles

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Washington Redskins 24

Philadephia Eagles 27

NFC East

The Eagles with the win against the Redskins makes it two straight comeback victories. Trying to set an early tone and perhaps underestimating Washington, the Eagles opened with an onside kick that backfired. Then, already playing without star running back Brian Westbrook , the Eagles lost big play receiver DeSean Jackson in the second half to head and neck injuries.
The Redskins played without defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth who has a bad ankle,running back Clinton Portis with a concussion, tight end Chris Cooley another one with a bad ankle,and cornerback DeAngelo Hall who has a sprained MCL.

But they still pushed the Eagles to the very end of the game.
First, let me say that the Redskins lost today's game because Jim Zorn and his play callers went conservative early in the fourth quarter for no apparent reason. The Redskins were leading the Eagles 21-16 at the Lincoln and have a 3-7 record. Knowing that, the Skins decided to play for the field goal, which still kept it a one-score game.

There was a body slam that Eagles defensive end Juqua Parker put on Jason Campbell during the Redskins' fourth-and-1 play with just over a minute left the game. It was completely unnecessary on Parker's part and it should have been a 15-yard penalty. It's fine that he hit Campbell as soon as he released the ball, but then he took him and slammed him to the ground. OUCH!

That should be an easy call for the official. It was an excessive play by Parker and it could have cost his team the game. But the officials completely ignored it. Again, the Redskins should have never put themselves in a position to need a call like that at the end of the game. But it was horrendous no-call nonetheless and it was a heartbreaking loss for the Redskins

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Seattle SeaHawks vs St Louis Rams

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Seattle Seahawks 27

St Louis Rams 17

The game started on an ominous note for the St Louis Rams when they announced the attendance of 47,475 was their worst in 15 seasons.
Steven Jackson was the lone bright spot for the Rams with 89 yards rushing on 23 carries and a late score after missing three days of practice due to back spasms. He fell short of a fifth straight 100-yard game while running behind a makeshift offensive line much of the way, with two starters inactive and center Jason Brown (right knee) sidelined near the end of the half.

Justin Forsett set career highs with 130 yards and two touchdowns and the go-ahead score came on the Seattle Seahawks third defensive touchdown of the season in a 27-17 victory over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday.

Matt Hasselbeck has been the quarterback for the Seahawks' past eight victories over St. Louis and this time he and his Hawks beat them despite one of his worst statistical days of the season, going 14 for 25 for 102 yards. Is he lucky or are the Rams just so bad?

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Carolina Panthers vs New York Jets

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Carolina Panthers 6

New York Jets 17

Red Light Green Light 1-2-3

Red: Don't do anything stupid, rookie.

Yellow: Young man, you better be pretty sure it's not going to the other team or you will be sitting with Kerry Rhodes.

Green: Go for it, Sanchise, the risk is worth the reward.

Sanchez was a very cautious 13-of-17 for 154 yards against the Panthers, executing an extremely conservative game plan with 39 runs. He took three sacks instead of heaving the ball into triple coverage. He scrambled three times for 27 yards when there was nobody open.

Darrelle Revis intercepted two passes of the 4 interceptions of the day, one of them he returned he ran for 67 yards into the endzone and New York overcame an injury scare to quarterback Mark Sanchez before holding on.

Jake Delhomme completed 14 of 34 for a mere 130 yards. He threw four interceptions, moving his season total to 18. The Jets held Steve Smth to one catch for 5 yards and DeAngelo Williams to 40 yards rushing on 16 carries.

The Jets won at home for the first time since beating Tennessee in Week 3. New York also kept its slim playoff hopes alive by sending Carolina to its second straight loss.

Kerry Rhodes , demoted in favor of Eric Smith , intercepted Jake Delhomme twice. On Rhodes second interception, the Jets win was sealed. Not an easy week for Rhodes as this was the first time in his NFL career where he did not start but for his stellar performance he was given the game ball.

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Cleveland Browns vs Cincinnati Bengals

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Cleveland Browns 7

Cincinnati Bengals 16

AFC NORTH

The Bengals are undefeated in the AFC North and have won their first six division games for the first time in franchise history. Bernard Scott made his second start in place of Cedric Benson and rushed for 87 yards, but Larry Johnson stole the show, registering his first 100-yard rushing game as a Bengal. Johnson finished with 107 yards on 22 carries.

Carson Palmer passed for 110 yards and a touchdown. It was the fourth lowest passing total of his career.

Shayne Graham kicked three field goals, including matching his career-long with a 53-yard FG just before halftime.

Brady Quinn provided the only offense for Cleveland, passing for 100 yards and recording his first career rushing touchdown.

The Browns fell to 1-10 on the season and were held under 10 points for the seventh time this season.

The second half opened with Brady Quinn morphing into a receiver/runner on the Browns opening drive and this little trick gave Cleveland the only points of the game. Joshua Cribbs cut in front of the quarterback to take a snap, then threw back to his left for an 18-yard completion to Quinn, who was covered by a linebacker and held on as he was tackled.

Quinn completed the drive with a 9-yard draw play that cut the lead to 13-7, diving in headfirst for his first career rushing touchdown.

Clevelands' passing game? Not so good. In his third start since regaining the job, Brady Quinn went 15 of 34 for 100 yards. Carson Palmer was 13 of 24 for 110 yards, not missing a play after Shaun Rogers caught him from behind and made a horsecollar tackle, slamming the quarterback hard on his back. A dazed Palmer rolled over and lay face down for several seconds, then got up and walked off all alone.

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Indianapolis Colts vs Houston Texans

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Indianapolis 35

Houston 27

What can you say about the Colts this season? They make it interesting, but they still find a way. The amazing thing is that they are winning yet not healthy. Is that what a good quarterback can do for a team?

It was the fifth straight week the Colts have trailed in the fourth quarter but once again Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit and in the end they pulled out another win, their 20th straight regular-season victory. Indianapolis is one win shy of the New England Patriots ' NFL-record 21-game run from 2006-08. The Colts can tie the record if they beat Tennessee at home next weekend.

Manning finished 27 of 35 for 244 yards with 3 touchdowns and interceptions.

Matt Schaub was 31 of 42 for 284 yards with two TDs and two interceptions (both interceptions . At half time the Texans were leading 20-7. Was it their confidence coming into the second half that led them to turn the ball over 3 times - two interceptions and one fumble. Did they wave the white flag to allow the Colts to out score them 28-7? Where was the team that played the first halve of this game? Maybe the Texans need to start playing in the "go for the kill" instead of just a survival mode.

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Kansas City Chiefs vs San Diego Chargers

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Kansas City Chiefs 14

San Diego Chargers 43

Watching the San Diego Chargers play this season is like watching guys who live by the motto "I got your back and you got mine". With that kind of trust factor amongst a team it is no wonder that the Chargers are one game ahead of the Denver Broncos for division supremacy.

San Diego's' defense coordinator Ron Rivera's plan to stop Kansas City's passing attack and forcing turnovers was executed to a tee, and you can see that in the numbers. For the Chargers scored 28 of their 43 points off turnovers. And Kansas City's quarterback Matt Cassel threw for just 178 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

The trust factor among the Chargers is quite evident for a few of their top defenders had to be sidelined for injuries and some of the reserves had to come in. Take the example of star linebacker Shawne Merriman had to leave the game in the second quarter with a foot injury so in comes Larry English to pick it up and had one fumble recovery and four tackles.

And then there is the offense and LaDainian Tomlinson who has now passed Marcus Allen and Edgerrin James to take over 10th place for all time rushing on the NFL's all time list.

Phillip Rivers completed 21 of 28 for 317 yards and two touchdowns. Antonio Gates made a beautiful one handed catch on a 19-yard touchdown in the first quarter, and followed that up with a 15-yard score in the second quarter.

As Rivers was quoted after the "Everyone is having trust in each other. Everyone is going out there and doing our jobs and we're getting the job done. All we want to do is just get better every week. That's what we've been doing. If this was our best performance, than we're looking forward to the challenge of trying to top it next week."

That one should not be a problem for the Chargers since the hapless Cleveland Browns are next on the schedule.

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Jacksonville Jaguars vs San Francisco 49ners

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Jacksonville Jaguars 3

San Francisco 49ners 20

The Jaguars, one of the league’s least penalized teams, drew six flags for 60 yards. A holding penalty killed one drive, and Garrard stalled another with an intentional grounding.

Garrard completed 25 of 36 passes for 307 yards. He was sacked 6 times and had 2 fumbles inside the red zone. At one point he completed 10 passes for 146 yards. Is this what happens when your pass protection blows a leak?

Maurice Jones-Drew had 15 carries for 75 yards yet he failed to get a first down when all he needed was one yard. San Francisco's defensive front and linebacker Patrick Willis put a stop to MJD 's usual impact. Yet at Candlestick Park on this day MJD rushed for 1,000 yards, a first in his career.

Alex Smith working mostly from the shotgun completed 27 of 41 passes for 232 yards and 2 touchdowns. And for the first time this season he did not throw one interception.

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ChIcago Bears vs. Minnesota Vikings

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Chicago Bears 10

Minnesota Vikings 36

NFC NORTH

Favre was deadly.Statistically, Favre had one of the strongest games of his career, throwing for 392 yards on 34-of-48 passing and three touchdowns. On third downs he completed 13 of 15 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns. The Vikings converted 12 of 18 of their third down attempts. 67 per cent how crazy is that.

Adrian Peterson ended the Vikings' scoring with a 5-yard touchdown run off the left side. Peterson finished the day with 85 yards on 25 carries.

The Bears offense was stagnant in the second half, amassing only 2 yards on 12 plays and no first downs. The Bears offense only managed to be on the field for 19:05 and ran 38 plays -- The Vikings were on the field for 40:55 and ran 83 plays.

Total yardage for the Bears 169. As for the Vikings they amassed 537 yards. How painful that statistic is for Chicago for this is the most yards a team has racked up against Chicago since 1982.

As for Cutler . .well not as bad as last week. At 26 years old this QB is leading the NFL in interceptions . . his 20 interceptions this season are a career high. Compared that to last season where he had 18 interceptions in 16 games. He forces passes, looks for open receivers who arent there and he does try to make big plays to try to keep his team in the game. He has been trying to win games by himself .. pretty impossible when you are playing in what is known as the ultimate team sport. My heart goes out to this guy.

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Arizona Cardinal vs Tennessee Titans

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Arizona Cardinals 17

Tennessee Titans 20

Vince Young. He threw for 387 yards. He rushed for 8 yards. He played the game of his life. and he played it in style.

• He orchestrated a game winning 99 yard drive in which he coverted 3 fourth downs
• He did this all with his arm
• And he did this in the final 2 minutes

"Everything is possible. You've got to believe that, and our confidence level is definitely very high on that." These are Youngs words moments after his 10 yard final second touchdown pass to Kenny Britt finished the game with a Titan win.

There are not many words to describe the beauty, the finesse and the unbelievableness of this final play, for this play is a must see. And so I have added a video of the drive.

The Titans are on a 5 game winning streak and Young has been good for four of those games.... but in this game against the Cardinals, Young was excellent!

Tennessee has not lost since Young replaced Kerry Collins as the starter. They are the first team to win five in a row after starting 0-6.

Arizona snapped a three game winning streak. Matt Leinart (completed 21/31 passing for 220 yards) made his first start since Oct 7, 2007 due to Kurt Warner recovering from a concussion. They are looking ahead to an NFC match up with Minnesota next week.

"We erred to the side of caution" said Kurt Warner on the decision to bench him for the game.

The Titans outgained Arizona 532-392, a season high for Tennessee. Young was sacked 4 times, 3 of them from Darnell Dockett.

And then there is RB Chris Johnson with 18 carries for 154 rushing yards. He joins Eric Dickerson (1984) and Earl Campbell (1980) by running for at least 125 yards in his sixth straight game.

Something tells me we are going to see a lot more of this pair.

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Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens

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Pittsburgh Steelers 17

Baltimore Ravens 20

Baltimore is right in the thick of the playoff hunt. .

The Ravens and the Steelers put on a Sunday night show, Steelers Ben Roethlisberger still recovering from a concussion allowing Dennis Dixon (went 12 for 26 for 145 yards) to step up and though he played solidly through four quarters it was all for naught. Ultimately an interception by Ravens rookie Paul Kruger resulted in a victory for Baltimore.

The Steelers brought down Joe Flacco 5 times and forced three fumbles. Flacco completed 23 of 35 for 289 yards. Ray Rice racked up 155 yards. In the fourth quarter it was Rices' 44 yard reception that set up the Ravens game tying field goal.

In overtime it was LB Paul Kruger who intercepted Dennis Dixons pass on the Steelers second drive and returned it 26 yards to the Steelers 28. All it took was 6 plays and then Billy Cundiff kicked a 29 yard field goal for the win.

The Steelers past 2 losses have come in overtime.

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New Orleans Saints vs. New England Patriots

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New Orleans Saints 17

New England Patriots 38

Drew Brees' perfect game against the Patriots was not a game to miss. Brees completed 18 of 23 passes for 371 yards and five touchdowns. He leads the league now with 27 touchdown passes and in his last 5 games has thrown for at least 300 yards.

And when Drew wasn't on the field . . the Saints defense was. And they stopped the NFL's number 2 offense to 17 points.

Brady completed 21 of 36 passing for 237 yards. He had no touchdowns and two interceptions.

There's obviously a big gap between us," Brady said. "It wasn't nearly as competitive as we all were expecting."

That is an understatement if ever there was one.

And then there was Belichick who called his defense "really bad."

I think these pictures say it all ..