Coach Killers: Week 13 Edition

SRW · Dec 2, 2007

Coach Killers, Week 13: Maybe A.J. Feeley Isn't the Answer in Philly

Every week, NFL FanHouse hits the lowlights from Sunday's action, looking at those players who did the most to move their head coaches that much closer to returning to the Bed and Breakfast business.

A.J. Feeley, Eagles
Well, so much for a quarterback controversy in Philadelphia. After one of the most impressive performances of the season last Sunday night, Eagles backup A.J. Feeley followed that up with what we've come to expect from A.J. Feeley: noodle-armed underthrows, poor decision making, and a bunch of passes to the other team. Check, check ... and check.

For the second straight week, Feeley threw a pick on the Eagles' first possession, but luckily, Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatupu didn't return it for six. That would be the highlight of Feeley's day.

The first interception set up a Shaun Alexander touchdown, which, these days, happens about as often as a Lions Super Bowl run. Pick No. 2 led to another Seattle touchdown. No. 3 killed an Eagles drive late in the third quarter with Philly trailing 28-24, and the final interception came with 23 seconds to go, Eagles still down by four.

Yeah, I think you could say this one's on Feeley.

Falcons Defense
I know Atlanta is a team in transition, and presumably still dealing with the loss of Ron Mexico (not really, but it's a semi-legit excuse), but ... good Lord ... the Rams? Really? Sure, St. Louis has won three of four, and if not for Butter Fingers Frerotte, the team could be on a four-game winning streak. Whatever, this might be the stat line of the day: 25 of 35, 311 yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs.

That, folks, is the quarterback stylings of Gus Frerotte, who had his best game of the season. The Falcons, on the other hand, continue to make a mockery of the sport, mustering only 16 points against the league's 24th-ranked defense.

Things got so bad that head coach Bobby Petrino benched Joey Harrington (for like the 12th time this season) for former third-stringer Chris Redman. This is the same Chris Redman who wasn't deemed good enough to back up Kyle Boller in Baltimore a few years ago (of course, Brian Billick also released Derek Anderson, so maybe we can't hold that against Redman).

The best news for the Falcons: the season's over in a month.

Lions Defense

I'll admit it: Jon Kitna had me going. At the beginning of the year, he predicted the Lions could win 10 games. Four weeks ago the team was 6-2, and now, after getting housed by the Vikings, Detroit is 6-6 and tied for second place in the division. So much for that.

Purple Jesus returned to Minnesota's lineup on Sunday, and the Savior picked up right where he left off before his Week 10 knee injury. He finished the day with 118 rushing yards on 15 carries (7.9 average), including 2 TDs.

It's hard to blame Adrian Peterson's success on the Lions defense -- he does that to nearly every opponent -- but it's not every day that second-year quarterback Tarvaris Jackson puts on a show. Jackson was 18 of 24 for 204 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 INT, which are Hall of Fame numbers as far as he's concerned.

Silver lining for the Lions: their running game was a smashing success. Detroit gained 23 yards on 7 carries, and Kevin Jones ended the day with one yard on three carries. Awesome. Only 2,997 more to break the 1,000-yard mark.

Chiefs Defense
First, let's start off with some good news: head coach Herm Edwards didn't bungle any timeouts. So there's progress on that front. Too bad the run defense didn't show up on Sunday, though.

To be fair, it wasn't all on Gunther Cunningham's guys -- the Chiefs quarterbacks were playing catch with Chargers cornerback Antonio Cromartie all day long -- but Kansas City couldn't contain LaDainian Tomlinson, or take advantage of another shaky outing from Philip Rivers.

LdT ended the day with 177 rushing yards on 23 carries (7.7 average), 2 TDs, and also added 20 receiving yards. Rivers completed less than 50 percent of his throws, going 10 of 21 for 157 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT.

Whenever a defense can make the opponent one dimensional, you have to like its chances. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, even though Rivers wasn't doing much, Tomlinson was running wild. And we all know that Kansas City's offense, as currently constituted, isn't built to come back. In fact, I'm not even sure it's built to score.

Jay Cutler, Broncos

If not for Eli Manning's miraculous comeback, Cutler would've just missed the cut, but because Elisha is THE FRANCHISE, here we are. Cutler, much like Manning the Younger, was drafted to get his team back to the Super Bowl as quickly as possible. Cutler's had more early success than Lil' Peyton, but that didn't help him against the lowly Raiders on Sunday.

When it was all over, Cutler had completed just 50 percent of his throws (16 of 32 for 214 yards), with no touchdowns and two interceptions. One of which came on the Broncos' last drive, trailing by just seven points.

Cutler had nothing to do with the defense getting treaded, but anytime Josh McCown outperforms you -- to the tune of completing 67 completion percent of his throws, three touchdowns and no picks -- it's been a bad day.

Travis Henry, potentially playing in his last game for a while, busted out a whopping 49 yards on 15 carries, but he did pay dividends for the fantasy geeks by scoring two touchdowns. And that pretty much highlights the day for the Broncos.
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Omen · Dec 3, 2007

cant beeliev gibbs didnt make it for messing up the time outs

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Coach Killers: Week 13 Edition

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Coach Killers: Week 13 Edition

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