The Hangover: Week 7

By Adam Cancryn

It's Week 7. The week the Messiah touched down in the Mile High city and all the townspeople began speaking in tongues, leaving them with no choice but to chant the one universally recognizable name: Tebow.
Before Tebow-mania takes over the rest of the nation, go back and read this Sports Illustrated piece from February on the last star quarterback to come through Denver, and the get run out of town.

• The Bears and Bucs squared off in London in the latest installment of the NFL's marketing push across the pond. That push is likely to end in a permanent team over there, but the logistics of it all are still iffy, ProFootball Talk is saying.
• With Cam Newton starting, the Panthers have adapted their offense to him, rather than making him adapt to the offense. That means borrowing heavily from college offenses and the strategies Newton ran and played against last year. On the first drive of their game v. the Redskins, Carolina used the pistol formation, the wildcat and ran a zone read. They're one of the few teams to run the option regularly as well.
• It appears the Broncos have also done this with Tim Tebow. Part of it was the line's miserable play and Tebow's happy feet, but Denver ran a lot of screens and short passes. That is, when he wasn't just taking off and running. All in all, it looked a lot more like a Florida Gator gameplan than the pro style they ran with Kyle Orton at the helm.
• The Jets' turnover on the game's first drive overshadowed their early emphasis on the running game, which yielded 43 yards on six attempts during their first two possessions.
• That commitment to the ground paid dividends in the second half, when the Jets mounted a steady comeback and eventually overtook the Chargers. Shonn Greene's 112 yards marked his first 100+ yard game since week four of last season, The Star-Ledger's Jenny Vrentas said. It also contributed to New York's highest rushing total of the year.
• Lost in the fray of Tebow/Orton mania is running back Willis McGahee's rejuvenation. Finally given steady work, McGahee has performed admirably, eating up yards efficiently. He averaged just over 4.2 yards per carry this week, and over the last two weeks averaged 6.9 yards and then 7.8 yards per carry.
• McGahee becomes even more important now that Tebow is the starter, because it appears Denver wants to shield their first-time starter from taking too much offensive responsibility. Tebow threw the ball just five times in the first half, and at one point was 3/10 for 24 yards.
• For Tebow, it was a poor, poor day. Until that all changed in the fourth quarter. After his 3/10 start, he went 10/17 for 137 yards and two touchdowns in regulation, along with a game-tying two-point conversion.
• In some corners of the sports world, Tebow is already halfway to enshrinement. FOX called him the "definition of a gamer," and NFL.com titled it the "Miracle in Miami." I've heard whispers about Bob Costas' Sunday Night Football monologue as well, which was likely as melodramatic as usual. 
• Others are taking a more measured approach, with SI pointing out that if you put Tebow's horrible first 55 minutes together with his strong finish, the Broncos still don't know what they have at the quarterback position. All in all though, it's a passing grade for Tebow and a starting point for what Denver hopes will be a long career.

• In other quarterback news, John Beck is the Redskins' 21st starting quarterback in 19 years.
• After Beck lost a fumble, Washington started the next drive with eight straight running plays. If that doesn't inspire confidence in your quarterback...
• The Bears' Matt Forte showed again why someone will pay him at the end of the year, even if Chicago won't. More than 190 all-purpose yards for Forte, overshadowing a shaky performance from quarterback Jay Cutler and a defense that just barely finished the Bucs off in the first quarter.

• For Josh Freeman, an uneven performance he nearly turned into another come-from-behind win. After throwing three interceptions, he nearly brought Tampa Bay all the way back with 13 fourth-quarter points. However, the rally ended on, you guessed it, an interception.
• For the first half at least, the San Diego offense looked much more potent with tight end Antonio Gates back in the lineup. He quickly made an impact, catching a goal line touchdown. 
• 'Skins-Panthers in the first half: 11 penalties and 15 points combined.
• The Texans heard skepticism all week about their ability to finally win the division. Then they went out and played their most complete game of the season. Don't see anyone in that weak division stopping their march to the playoffs.
• Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez moved to number two on the all-time receptions list in his game v. the Lions, passing both Marvin Harrison and Cris Carter. Only Jerry Rice sits above him. In a lineup of greatest receivers, not just tight ends, ever, Gonzalez's understated but effective career warrants his inclusion.
• Cam Newton's seventh rushing touchdown of the year tied the single season record for rushing touchdowns by a rookie, held by Vince Young. Next on his radar is the all-time season record of 12, by the Patriots' Steve Grogan.
• The Jets' Plaxico Burress finally demonstrated why New York was so high on him, scoring three touchdowns. In red zone situations, having that 6'6" stork of a receiver is a huge advantage.
• Your dueling catches of the week feature Detroit's Calvin Johnson and San Diego's Malcom Floyd:

• Floyd's catch is more acrobatic, but Stafford's pass to Johnson is a fastball of a throw.
• Jake Locker with a cameo during Tennessee's loss to the Texans. He promptly got sacked, and finished 1/1 for 12 yards.
• There's some question about whether Hasselbeck was benched or injured. Either way, it's not likely to affect his starting status. He's had a couple poor games in a row now, but the Titans' season is far from a lost cause.
• The Jets defense is no longer the scary squad that it once was. But they came up big in the second half this week, and that combined with the commitment to a successful running game makes them much more dangerous than they looked just a week ago.
• In Oakland, Kyle Boller's first pass was picked off and returned for a touchdown. His third pass was intercepted as well, and after throwing another, Carson Palmer took his place. The Kyle Boller era in Oakland: 15-28, 161 yards, no TDs and three interceptions.
• Unfortunately for the Raiders, the Palmer era looked eerily similar: 8/21 for 116 yards and three interceptions, as they got shut out by the Chiefs, 28-0.
• The Suck for Luck powerless rankings:
• Colts- The Dolphins made a play for the top spot early on, but Indianapolis holds on with an 62-7 drubbing. Worse than Curtis Painter is the team's defense, which, if not dead on arrival, passed away at some point near the end of the first quarter.
• Dolphins- At least they're owning it. After falling prey to the world's latest miracle, Miami fans cheered the Broncos' game-winning 52-yard field goal. Let's not go as far as to say anybody threw a game, but this week it sure looked like something similar.
• Cardinals- A slight shakeup here, as the Cardinals dropped to 1-5 with their loss v. the Steelers. While Arizona could probably use a defensive back more than a quarterback, Kevin Kolb hasn't wowed anybody out there in the desert.
• Vikings- Another strong showing by Christian Ponder hurts the chances of Minnesota as a landing place for Andrew Luck, but remember that the Vikes are in the middle of campaigning for a new stadium. A little star power never hurt.
• Dallas' Felix Jones might have just lost his starting job. DeMarco Murray, a kind of Felix Jones clone without all the injuries, set the tone with a 91-yard touchdown jaunt in the first quarter, and ended up with 253 yards on the ground. That broke the single-game record team previously held by Emmitt Smith.
• No Titans receiver recorded more than 30 yards receiving this week.
• The ground game is back, if only for one week. Dallas' Murray goes huge, Minnesota's Adrian Peterson puts up his usual 175 yards and a TD, and Michael Turner (122 yds), Arian Foster (115 yds rushing, 119 receiving, 3 TDs), Ben Tate (104), Shonn Greene (112) and Matt Forte (145, 1) all go over 100 yards as well.

• Peterson and Ponder weren't enough to stop the Aaron Rodgers machine, but things look a little brighter in Minnesota. Ponder is mobile and competent enough to balance out the Vikings' offense, opening up some more holes for Peterson. The wins will soon follow.
• Not much to say about the Sunday night game, in which the Colts rolled over and died. The Saints' 62 points tied for the most since 1970, and Drew Brees was somehow even more precise than Aaron Rodgers. He finished with four incompletions, while Rodgers had six after starting 13/13.

Your Monday matchup is Baltimore and Jacksonville. Not the greatest, but hey, it can't be worse than Sunday night, right? Right?