Crunch Time

Sorry, this post was suppose to be a podcast but I was not able to get it to work. It is from 2 weeks ago.

Pittsburgh Steelers 16 Kansas City Chiefs 13 OT

The Kansas City Chiefs held their first lead during regulation on Monday night when they faced off against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Overall I thought the team looked a lot better than they have the past few games. They had one turnover which was very costly, but it’s a lot better than their average of 3 per game. The score was 10-10 entering the 4^th quarter and a Pittsburgh field goal gave them the lead with 9 minutes left. On the Chiefs last possession in the 4^th quarter Matt Cassel found Dwayne Bowe for a 27 yard strike to put them in field goal range. Ryan Succop then knocked the field goal through from 46 yards out to send the game to overtime. In overtime on the Chiefs second play, Matt Cassel threw an interception that was returned to the Chiefs 5 yard line. There Shean Shiusam nailed a 23 yard field goal for the win.

Note-Ben Rothlisburger left the game in the third quarter with a shoulder injury and the Chiefs went 2-16 on third down conversions.

Baltimore Ravens 55 Oakland Raiders 20

Ravens gave the Oakland Raiders a thrashing on Sunday. Oakland had turnover and penalty issues. They had 2 lost fumbles and Carson palmer threw 1 interception. The team had a total of 10 penalties for 105 yards. Aside from his 1 interception, Carson Palmer had a pretty good game throwing for 350 yards and 2 tochdowns. Joe Flacko threw for 341 yards and 3 touchdowns and led the Ravens to a 55-20 win over the Raiders. The 55 points scored by the Ravens set a new record for points.

Denver Broncos 36 Carolina Panthers 14

The Denver Broncos offense only scored two touchdowns on Sunday but they still managed to score 36 points. Special teams and defense really put a thrashing on the Panthers. Denver defense sacked Cam Newton 7 times, had a safety, and forced two interceptions which one was returned by cornerback Tony Carter 40 yards for a touchdown. The special teams for Denver were shining also, Matt Prater had two field goals and Trindon Holliday had a 76 yard punt return for a touchdown. Peyton Manning had a solid game throwing for 295 yards and had a touchdown. It was an all-around team effort and led to a 36-14 win for the Broncos putting their record at 6-3 first in the division.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 34 San Diego Chargers 24

The Buccaneers had an all-around team win as well on Sunday when they scored 2 touchdowns on offense and one each on defense and special teams to defeat the San Diego Chargers. Phillip Rivers threw for 323 yards and had 3 touchdowns but also had a costly 2 interceptions. Wide Receiver Danario Alexander caught 5 passes from Rivers for 134 yards. Josh Freeman threw for 205 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Buccaneers also scored on a blocked punt by Adam Hayward and they also an 83 yard touchdown return by cornerback Leonard Johnson. With an all-around solid performance by the team and a couple of mistakes by Phillip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got the W and improved their record to 5-4.

 

With 7 games left in the regular season, the standings are

Denver 6-3

San Diego 4-5

Oakland 3-6

Kansas City 1-8

That wraps up this week on AFC West Weekly, thank you.