Week 13 Roundup

The media obsessed over the quarterback. Hey, it’s understandable—he’s a marquee idol, he’s a heckuva player, he’s dating a blonde who is an even bigger target of the paparazzi. And Big D sure looked bad when he was on the shelf with the busted digit. But there was another guy who was banged up during that spell, whose absence crippled the Dallas attack. I refer to Jason Witten, the top shelf tight end in the league. On Turkey Day evening, while the tryptophan was drowsing America, Witten was showing why he is so valuable. He grabbed nine passes from his tabloid QB for 115 yards, and a seven-yard TD in the second quarter that let the country turn off their TVs, the 34-9 rout official, and spend some quality time with the family. Dallas is once again a fashionable choice to go deep in the playoffs, and a good bit of that is due to the healing of Witten’s injured ribcage.

Lambeau Field, big game against a top opponent, snow falling, late-game lead—hard to believe the Pack lost a thrilla to Carolina, 35-31. But don’t blame Aaron Kampman. The Green Bay defensive end had two sacks, and had heavy pressure on the QB on several other plays. Tough loss for the green and gold, but another stellar game for their star down lineman with the non-stop motor.

Running back recap, in brief—Steven Jackson pounded for 94 yards, and another 16 receiving, in a physical 16-12 loss to Miami. LaDainian Tomlinson managed 66 total yards and a three-yard touchdown run in a damaging home loss to Atlanta, 22-16. Joseph Addai had 63 even more difficult yards from scrimmage against Cleveland, but Indy pulled that one out, as they have all season long, 10-6.

Only Adrian Peterson had a day. And it was physical—blasting away against a tough Chicago D for 131 yards on 28 carries as the Purple took the division lead, 34-14. One run in the second quarter was quintessential All Day—three defenders seemed to have him stuffed at the line, only to have Peterson work free and take off down the right sideline. 55 yards later, Minny was in business for its first score. In the fourth, Peterson iced the game by banging in from a yard out, despite 12 defenders on the field. A national TV audience saw him covered with blood on his jersey, his helmet, his pants—all in a day’s (OK, night’s) work.