by Trevor Fik (Staff Writer)
Email: cascade.sports@ufv.ca
Thursday’s American Thanksgiving served up a veritable feast of NFL football action, complete with a deliciously lopsided victory for an appetizer, a rousing and hard-fought match for the main course, and a little fighting and conflict to round out the weekend nicely.
What better way to kick off an NFL thanksgiving weekend than to begin it with a perfect passing effort from an all-star quarterback and a come-from-behind victory from a team that will undoubtedly be Super Bowl contenders. The Patriots were down 17-10 at the end of the first half against a Detroit Lions’ team that has shown all the evidence of a squad that went winless just a couple of years ago. Unable to reach the end zone in the first half, Tom Brady rallied in the second to match a career high four touchdown passes. His favorite target was none other than former Seattle Seahawk Deion Branch, who pulled in two touchdowns in the second half. One of the grabs resulted in a 79-yard touchdown catch that put the Patriots at par with the Lions 24-24 at the end of the third quarter. Touchdowns to Branch and Wes Welker, with a run from running-back Ben
Jarvus Green-Ellis, capped off the Patriots victory with a 45-24 performance.
After the game, Detroit Lions’ centre Dominic Raiola compared Tom Brady to a “surgeon,” adding that the quarterback picked apart the defense in his stellar performance.
With this victory, the Patriots go to 9-2 on the season, a record they share with the New York Jets. In what could be a preview of possible NFL play-off action, the two teams will meet on December 6 to decide who will sit atop the AFC East.
Down 20-6 at the half, and nursing a two-game win streak (their longest of the season), the Dallas Cowboy’s laid the foundation for one of their hardest fought campaigns in recent memory. Beginning with a 60-yard by Dallas wide-out Miles Austin, the Cowboy’s (with back-up quarterback Jon Kitna at the helm) mounted an offensive effort that saw the team evade two goal-line stands, come back from a series of questionable fourth-down play calls, and still come up short against the defending Super Bowl champions. With a last minute Drew Brees-Lance Moore connection, the Saints put the nail in the coffin of a dismal Cowboys’ season, defeating Dallas 30-27. The match was not a complete downer for Dallas, however; it showed that they still have the heart to see a game to the bitter end.
And what would any holiday be without a bit of fighting between relatives and a few referees being called in to intervene? In Sunday’s blowout between the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans, Texans star wide-out Andre Johnson engaged in a shoving match with Titan’s corner Cortland Finnegan. What started as some tussling at the line of scrimmage quickly turned in to an all-out brawl as both players had their helmets ripped off in the ensuing scrap. Houston went on to win the game 20-0, with both players being ejected from the game.
