Bills receiver Steve Johnson has been fined $10,000 for his questionable touchdown celebration in last weekend's loss to the Jets. Johnson declined to confirm whether he had been punished except to say he had an overnight courier envelope from the NFL waiting for him at his locker when he arrived for practice on Wednesday. He said he was done discussing the celebration and is instead focusing on looking forward to helping the Bills end a four-game slump. "If I do, I get fined. But we've got to move on," he said. "It's the Tennessee Titans. I'm not really worried about a fine right now. It's part of the game. People get fined. But we've still got a football game on Sunday." Johnson was fined as a result of a celebration in which he mocked Jets receiver Plaxico Burress by mimicking shooting himself in the thigh after scoring on a 5-yard catch late in the first half. Burress served 20 months in prison on a weapons charge after accidentally shooting himself in a New York City nightclub in 2008.

Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez says there is no way the team makes the playoffs this season unless they improve their offense. "Not a chance," Sanchez said Tuesday on "The Michael Kay Show" on 1050 ESPN Radio. "Not even close." Sanchez mentioned how the Jets were outperformed in several statistical categories by the Bills this past weekend, despite winning. "You can't win like that," he said. "That's not a winning formula."

Jets wide receiver Plaxico Burress says his contemporary on the Bills, Stevie Johnson, called to apologize for his touchdown celebration on Sunday. Johnson mocked Burress, who was arrested on gun possession charges in New York a few years ago, by pantomiming a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Burress said the Bills wide receiver left a voice message on his phone and sent him a text message to apologize. "I don't think he took into consideration that happened to me when he did it," Burress said. "And I think a day later he's realized what he did and how he made himself look and embarrassed his team, organization, his players, his coaches, but those are the things you learn and being immature at times."

Green Bay 27, Detroit 15 Trench Counter: Packers +6.4, Lions -6.4 They didn't pull away until the second half, but the Green Bay Packers (11-0) remain undefeated following an impressive win over the Detroit Lions (7-4) on Thanksgiving afternoon. Leading 7-0 at halftime, Green Bay scored 17 straight points to take a 24-0 lead after three periods at Ford Field. Aaron Rodgers was spectacular once again, passing for 307 yards and two touchdowns on 22-for-33 attempts. He targeted eleven different receivers and six players had at least 20 receiving yards. The Lions scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make the final score look more respectable, but they were thoroughly outplayed at home. Matthew Stafford, playing with an injured hand, tossed three interceptions and they were flagged for eleven penalties (82 yards). The Packers earned four of their 18 first downs because of flags. Detroit defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was ejected after a scuffle that saw him step on the arm of a Green Bay offensive lineman. Dallas 20, Miami 19 Trench Counter: Cowboys -6.8, Dolphins +6.8 The Miami Dolphins (3-8) saw their three-game win streak end as they couldn't capitalize on the early miscues of Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys (7-4). Romo threw interceptions on two of the team's first three drives, but the Dolphins only managed to score three points on their first three drives. Dallas also shot themselves in the foot with eleven penalties, resulting in three Miami first downs. Shayne Graham missed a 47-yard field goal in the second quarter that loomed large in the close loss. After struggling early, Romo righted the ship to finish with 226 yards, two touchdowns and the aforementioned interceptions. His favorite target was Laurent Robinson, who had seven catches for 79 yards and two scores. Robinson has seven touchdowns in the team's last five games (4-1). After failing to score on their first four drives, the Cowboys didn't do so on back-to-back possessions for the remainder of the game. Baltimore 16, San Francisco 6 Trench Counter: Ravens +16.4, 49ers -16.4 Baltimore Ravens (8-3) coach John Harbaugh got the better of his little brother, San Francisco 49ers (9-2) coach Jim Harbaugh on Thursday night. It was the first NFL game in history that featured brothers as opposing head coaches. Baltimore's defense dominated the game, tying a franchise record with nine sacks, recording four pass deflections, a dozen quarterback hits and an interception. Meanwhile, Joe Flacco and the offense did more than enough to ensure victory. He went 15-for-23 with 161 yards and a touchdown, while Ray Rice used 21 carries to travel 59 yards. The 49ers played fairly well defensively as well, but they were not as dominant and Alex Smith had one of his worst games of the season. The resurgent former No. 1 overall pick averaged 5.8 yards per pass and threw had a rare turnover. San Francisco couldn't get going on the ground either, with Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter combining to rush 18 times for just 53 yards. The 49ers punted on five of their nine drives and were flagged seven times for a total of 97 yards. Atlanta 24, Minnesota 14 Trench Counter: Falcons +6.6, Vikings -6.6 After jumping out to a 17-0 lead in the first half, the Atlanta Falcons (7-4) held off the Minnesota Vikings (2-9) to keep pace in the NFC playoff picture. Christian Ponder led the Vikings to a comeback in the second half, engineering a pair of touchdown drives in the second half to make the score 17-14 with 13 minutes left in regulation. Three possessions after Ponder connected with Percy Harvin on a 39-yard touchdown, Matt Ryan found Matt Palmer for a three-yard touchdown to put the game out of reach. Ryan finished 27-for-34 with 262 yards and three scores at the Georgia Dome. Cincinnati 23, Cleveland 20 Trench Counter: Bengals +6.1, Browns -6.1 The Cleveland Browns (4-7) had an early lead against the Cincinnati Bengals (7-4), but they ultimately lost on a 26-yard field goal by Mike Nugent with 38 seconds left in regulation. The Bengals gained 115 more total yards than the Browns, averaging six yards per play against 4.2 per offensive snap for Cleveland. Trailing 20-10 with close to four minutes left in the third quarter, the Bengals scored 13 unanswered points to finish the game. Andy Dalton went 21-for-31 with 270 yards and a touchdown pass, finishing with a rating of well over 100. Cedric Benson helped the Bengals balance their attack with 21 carries for 106 yards and a score. A.J. Green caught three passes for 110 yards, extending his rookie-to-rookie connection with Dalton. After scoring on a field goal midway through the third period, Cleveland's final five drives went: interception, punt, punt, missed field goal (55-yarder) and turnover on downs. Carolina 27, Indianapolis 19 Trench Counter: Panthers -2.5, Colts +2.5 The Indianapolis Colts (0-11) remained winless after a close loss to the Carolina Panthers (3-8) at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Panthers jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but the Colts tied the game heading into halftime and had a chance to force overtime late. On second-and-3 from the Carolina three-yard line, Curtis Painter was intercepted. Painter, who fumbled but had it recovered by a teammate, went 15-for-29 with 226 yards, a touchdown and two picks. Cam Newton went 20-for-27 with 208 passing yards and nine scrambles for 53 yards and a touchdown. He is the first quarterback to score 10 rushing touchdowns since Daunte Culpepper (2002). Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams combined to rush 25 times for 139 yards and two scores. Carolina had possession of the football for a little more than 36 minutes. Houston 20, Jacksonville 13 Trench Counter: Texans -9.3, Jaguars +9.3 The Houston Texans (8-3) edged the Jacksonville Jaguars (3-8) despite losing Matt Leinart to an apparent collarbone injury in the first half. T.J. Yates took over for Leinart, but the Texans didn't score in the second half. Houston had just nine first downs and averaged only 3.6 yards per play, while Jacksonville accumulated 14 first downs. The Texans were led by their defense. They sacked Blaine Gabbert and Luke McCown seven times, had six pass deflections and 12 quarterback hits. Jacksonville was led by Maurice Jones-Drew, who rushed 18 times for 99 yards, and also caught a team-high four passes for 67 yards. McCown, who began the season as the No. 1 option, replaced Gabbert midway through the fourth quarter and was more effective. McCown went 7-for-11 and averaged 5.6 yards per passing attempt. N.Y. Jets 28, Buffalo 24 Trench Counter: Jets +2.2, Bills -2.2 The New York Jets (6-5) and Buffalo Bills (5-6) traded touchdowns through the first three quarters before the momentum shifted one final time. Dave Rayner hit a 53-yard field goal with 9:46 left in regulation to give Buffalo a 24-21 edge, but Mark Sanchez marched the Jets down the field 67 yards on 12 plays over 4:43 for the game-winning score. Sanchez, who had four touchdown passes despite hearing boos from the home crowd, found Santonio Holmes for a 16-yard score with a little over a minute remaining. The Jets had two turnovers and held the ball for just 23 minutes, but New York forced Buffalo to punt seven times. Sanchez was also protected by his offensive line, which kept him unsacked, while Ryan Fitzpatrick was sacked three times and hit on five other occasions. Arizona 23, St. Louis 20 Trench Counter: Cardinals +5.4, Rams -5.4 The Arizona Cardinals (4-7) scored 17 points in the third quarter and Jay Feely hit a 22-yard field goal with 4:09 left to beat the St. Louis Rams (2-9) at Edward Jones Dome. The Cardinals had four more first downs and 102 more yards than the Rams, who tied the game midway through the fourth period on a 16-yard pass from Sam Bradford to Brandon Lloyd. John Skelton threw two interceptions and Beanie Wells lost a fumble, but St. Louis was called for eight penalties. Despite his fumble, Wells had a banner afternoon, rushing 27 times for 228 yards and a touchdown. He helped take the pressure off Skelton, who went 12-for-23 with 114 yards and the aforementioned interceptions. Tennessee 23, Tampa Bay 17 Trench Counter: Titans +1.4, Buccaneers -1.4 The Tennessee Titans (6-5) used a dominant fourth quarter to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-7) at LP Field. Entering the final period trailing by seven, the Titans scored the final 13 points of the game. Matt Hasselbeck found Damian Williams for a two-yard score to give Tennessee a 20-17 advantage with 3:01 left in regulation. The two teams combined for nine turnovers, including six fumbles. Chris Johnson had his best game of the season, rushing 23 times for 190 yards. He averaged 8.3 yards per carry and accumulated for more than half of his team's yards. LeGarrette Blount had 103 yards on 20 carries, but he lost two fumbles (Johnson lost one). Tennessee was 7-for-17 on third down in the game. Oakland 25, Chicago 20 Trench Counter: Raiders +0.4, Bears -0.4 Sebastian Janikowski kicked six field goals and Michael Bush added a touchdown run with four minutes to go as the Oakland Raiders (7-4) topped the Chicago Bears (7-4) in California. Carson Palmer threw for more than 300 yards, but failed to throw a touchdown. Chicago had 401 total yards (60 more than Oakland), but they committed three turnovers (all on interceptions by Caleb Hanie). Despite the miscues, Hanie did tally 254 yards and two scores to keep the Bears alive. Chicago briefly took a 7-6 lead with 4:41 left in the second quarter, but the Raiders scored 12 consecutive points to take control of the game. The two teams were separated by just four seconds in time of possession. Washington 23, Seattle 17 Trench Counter: Redskins +7, Seahawks -7 The Washington Redskins (4-7) jumped out to a 7-0 lead against the Seattle Seahawks (4-7) and then rallied late for a win at CenturyLink Field. Seattle took a 17-7 lead with 12:45 left in regulation on a 15-yard connection between Tarvaris Jackson and Golden Tate. Washington then scored 16 unanswered points in 10 minutes thanks to solid play from Rex Grossman. He led the Redskins on back-to-back touchdown drives to begin the fourth quarter. After Tate's touchdown, the Seahawks did the following on their final four drives: punt, punt, turnover on downs and interception. Washington had seven more first downs and 416 total yards (against 250 yards for Seattle). The two teams combined for 19 penalties that cost them 206 yards. Denver 16, San Diego 13 (OT) Trench Counter: Broncos +0.5, Chargers -0.5 Tim Tebow helped lead the Denver Broncos (6-5) to another last-second win, this time over the San Diego Chargers (4-7). The Chargers had a 10-0 edge in the first half before Tebow found Eric Decker for an 18-yard touchdown pass. After a Nick Novak field goal a few minutes into the third quarter, Matt Prater hit a pair of three-pointers over the final 16 minutes of regulation to send the game to overtime. Prater won the game on a 37-yard field goal with 29 seconds left in overtime. After Novak missed a 53-yarder that could have won the game, Tebow helped lead Denver down the field to set up the game-winning kick. Tebow ran twice for 16 yards and then handed the ball over to Willis McGahee for 24 yards. Winners of four straight, the Broncos are just a game back of the Raiders for first place in the AFC West and in the thick of the Wild Card race. New England 38, Philadelphia 20 Trench Counter: Patriots +11.1, Eagles -11.1 The Philadelphia Eagles (4-7) led 10-0 with a few minutes left in the first quarter, but the New England Patriots (8-3) scored 21 straight points to take a lead they would never relinquish. Tom Brady finished 24-for-34 with 361 yards and three touchdowns as New England's offense clicked all afternoon. The Patriots had 29 first downs, including three as a result of Philadelphia penalties. Both teams accumulated more than 450 total yards, but the Eagles were just 4-for-13 on third down and Vince Young completed the game's lone turnover on an interception. Young, starting in place of the injured Michael Vick, went 26-for-48 with 400 yards and a touchdown. He also scrambled six times for 40 yards. After scoring a touchdown and a field goal on their first two drives, the Eagles punted five times on their next nine drives.

Bills receiver Stevie Johnson mocked being shot in the thigh after scoring a second-quarter touchdown against the Jets on Sunday. Jets receiver Plaxico Burress served 20 months in prison for shooting himself in the leg in a nightclub in 2008 while he was with the Giants. Johnson caught the 5-yard pass, got up and, in his short celebration, acted as if he shot himself. He then ran to the left side of the end zone mocking the "flight" celebration the Jets often use after scoring. It was only when Johnson fell to the ground at the end of that second demonstration that he was penalized 15 yards for excessive celebration.

All signs point to LaDainian Tomlinson missing Sunday's game against the Bills with a sprained MCL, according to league sources. Tomlinson was listed as questionable on the team's injury report Friday, though, Jets coach Rex Ryan hinted that was an optimistic view. "If you're on a scale he's sliding into that one (doubtful)," Ryan said. "He wants to go as badly as it gets. I want to make sure that he has protection from himself. I'm not going to force the issue, that's for sure." Tomlinson sprained his medial collateral ligament during New York's Week 10 loss to the Patriots and then sat out last week's loss to the Broncos.

The Jets quietly extended the contract of offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer after last season, according to a source. Schottenheimer is under contract through at least the 2012 season, meaning any decision on his future will involve financial considerations. He has come under fire because the Jets could miss the playoffs for the first time since 2008. They have dropped two straight, having scored only 29 points in those two games, and are ranked 22nd in total offense.

Jets wide receiver Plaxico Burress returned from his hometown charity trip in Virginia Beach a day early, but did not practice on Tuesday because he was attending another charity function at Central Park East Middle School in East Harlem. Burress, who had been given two personal days by coach Rex Ryan a few months ago, arrived at the Jets' practice facility on Tuesday afternoon for meetings and film study. "I came back in [Monday night]. I wasn't supposed to come back until [Tuesday], but I came back [Monday night] and tried to catch up as much as I could going into this week," Burress said. "Even though it's a big game they let me go out and try to fulfill my obligations, so I just tried to come back and do as much as I can for the rest of the week." Ryan gave Burress the personal days well in advance, without realizing this week was an odd week. The Jets -- like all other NFL teams -- usually have Tuesday off, but because of Thanksgiving, Ryan changed the schedule to allow his players to spend time with their families and friends on Thursday.

In an effort to motivate starting quarterback Mark Sanchez, Jets coach Rex Ryan gave Mark Brunell some first-team snaps in practice on Monday and Tuesday. "He's not happy with me," Ryan said of Sanchez with a smile, adding, "He hasn't talked to me -- for real. He has not said one word." The Jets have dropped two straight, crushing losses to the Patriots and Broncos marred by Sanchez interceptions that were returned for touchdowns. "He probably knows what I'm doing," Ryan said. "I know Mark Sanchez extremely well. I know how tough he is. If it takes me to do this, and take a punch in the nose, I don't care, I'll take it. But we have to have it from him. He's the guy. He's my guy and we have to have it from him. "Everybody has to play (with an edge), and I just love it when he's that way. When he's that way, we're extremely hard to beat."

The AFC The Buddy Nix Brian Galliford of Buffalo Rumblings: "The Buffalo Bills signed quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to what is effectively a seven-year, $62 million contract on October 28. The deal guaranteed Fitzpatrick $24 million -- $10 million of which has already been paid -- and will pay him $33 million in base salary in the first three years of the deal. When Fitzpatrick signed the contract, he was in the midst of putting together a career year." The Jeff Ireland Omar Kelly of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "Fred Jackson came into Sunday's game as the NFL's leading rusher, the talk of the league. Buffalo's leading rusher was on the doorstep of surpassing the 1,000 yard rushing threshold. But he'll have to wait another week." The Jonathan Kraft Richard Hill of Pats Pulpit: "And just like that ... the Patriots are back in the 1st Seed of the AFC." The Mike Tannenbaum Gang Green Nation: "The stats and progressions, as well as the problems and complaints, are remarkably similar for all 3 players through Year 3. Remember when David Carr was gonna be a star? Remember when Eli manning wasn't the answer? Made too many mistakes, had happy feet, was regressing, etc.?" The Ozzie Newsome Bruce Raffel of Baltimore Beat Down: "Baltimore rookie wide receiver Torrey Smith had six catches for 165 yards and a touchdown in the Ravens' 31-24 win over Cincinnati. Smith joins Ken Burrow (two in 1971) and Randy Moss (three in 1998) as the only rookies to have multiple games with at least 150 receiving yards and a touchdown catch since 1970." The Mike Brown Joe Reedy of The Cincinnati Enquirer: “The Calvin Johnson rule has caused heartache for many teams over the past two seasons. On Sunday, it was the Bengals' turn to be bitten by it. With 5 minutes, 43 seconds remaining in the game, Jermaine Gresham appeared to have a 9-yard touchdown catch from Andy Dalton to bring the Bengals within a field goal. Gresham beat Ravens cornerback Cary Williams in single coverage near the left sideline, caught it at the Ravens 3, bobbled it but hauled it in at the 1 as he crossed the plane.” The Tom Heckert Dawgs By Nature: “Our offense is bad. The good news is we were able to see some success between the 20s last week against a fairly poor Rams defense that only got worse with injuries during our game. Our weak point last week was easily red zone offense, as evidenced by four Phil Dawson field goals and zero touchdowns. Contrary to frustrated fan opinion, we did try to pass the ball in to the endzone on multiple occasions, we just couldn't execute.” The Kevin Colbert Scott Brown of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “With injuries as much an unpleasant fact of life in the NFL as TV timeouts, the Steelers have needed players like Chris Hoke to embrace the designation that coach Mike Tomlin assigns to those on the 53-man roster: starters and starters-in-waiting.” The Rick Smith John McClain of The Houston Chronicle: “Bryant Johnson and kicker Neil Rackers played with Leinart at Arizona. Rackers kicked for the Cardinals during Leinart’s four seasons (2006-09). “We’re in good hands,” Rackers said. Because the Texans have the NFL’s third-ranked running game and top-ranked defense, Leinart isn’t being placed in a situation where he has to throw 40 times to win or has to try to win the game by himself.” The Chris Polian Nate Dunlevy of 18to88.com: “The 1997 Colts were the worst team in football. They lost the first 10 games of the year. The 1999 Colts were one of the best teams in football, winning 11 games in a row. What changed between 1997 and 1999? How did the Colts manage to turn over the whole roster to go from also-ran to contender in just two seasons? Surely, there must have been a major influx of talent that made the difference.” The Gene Smith Alfie Crow of Big Cat Country: “The Jacksonville Jaguars currently lead the Cleveland Browns 7-0, thanks to a long nice drive by Blaine Gabbert and Maurice Jones-Drew. Jones-Drew wound up punching the ball in for a touchdown on the drive, but decided to troll the city of Cleveland with his touchdown celebration by doing the LeBron James chalk toss.” The Mike Reinfeldt Hank Koebler IV of Music City Miracles: “Time to stop making excuses and pulling punches. Chris Johnson has been nothing short of god-awful this season. Yes, the offensive line has had issues with run-blocking, but it was an inconsistent run-blocking unit last season, too. Yes, he had a great game against the Panthers last week, but an old woman pushing a walker can get 100 yards against the Panthers’ defense.” The Brian Xanders Tim Lynch of Mile High Report: “Tim Tebow mania. Why not call it Broncomania? For that is what it is. The way Tim Tebow wins football games is the way Broncos have won most of their games in the past 30 years. Yes, this is nothing new to the seasoned Broncomaniac, because we've been here before.” The Scott Pioli Patrick Allen of Arrowhead Addict: “Tyler Palko has an up and down game. He did some things very well but also threw a few errant passes that led to three New England interceptions. It was obvious as the night went on that the Chiefs just didn’t have the talent to hang with the Patriots. The injuries have mounted up on the Chiefs and as they now fall to 4-6, their season is slowly starting to turn into one of evaluation.” The Al Davis Silver & Black Pride: “Michael Bush continued to run the ball and run himself into a nice paycheck from someone next year. DHB and Kevin Boss were heavily targeted for the first time in the Carson Palmer era and acquitted themselves well (save one DHB drop that brought back memories of the bad old days).” The Dean Spanos Steve Adler of Bolts From The Blue: “The Chargers traveled to the windy city in hopes of breaking a four game losing streak. As loses have piled up, the frustration of the fan base has increased. Coming into Sunday, I was having a hard time remembering a time when the fan base was so defeated.” The NFC The Stephen Jones The Landry Hat: “After another great game Sunday, where Romo went 23/37 292 yards and 3 TD’s and zero INT’s (for a 3rd straight game) as Dallas won 27 to 24 in OT, the case can easily be made that Tony Romo can claim the month of November for himself.” The Jerry Reese Ed Valentine of Big Blue View: “For the second consecutive week there was no fourth-quarter magic for the New York Giants. Instead, the Giants suffered a second straight disappointing loss Sunday night, falling to the Philadelphia Eagles, 17-10. The loss drops the Giants (6-4) into a first-place tie in the NFC East with the Dallas Cowboys. Most of the game was about offensive ineptitude for the Giants, who couldn't run the ball, couldn't catch it and couldn't seem to block anyone.” The Howie Roseman Bleeding Green Nation: “The Eagles have choked up five fourth quarter leads this season and as they headed into the final frame of this one, it looked as though it was going to happen again. Eli Manning led the Giants on a 5 play, 73 yard drive to tie the game at 10 all and it looked like the weekly collapse was on. But then, something pretty amazing happened.” The Bruce Allen Kevin Ewoldt of Hogs Heaven: “OK, so just when we've all but given up on the Redskins, they reel us back in with a first half lead, send the Cowboys to overtime....and find a way to lose.” The Jerry Angelo Steven Schweickert of Windy City Gridiron: “The running game really struggled early on, and while Matt Forte and Marion Barber started getting a few better carries in the fourth quarter, the Chargers really came to stop the run. Seemed like lots of times the linebackers and safeties were brought in to stop the run while the receivers got to work in one-on-one situations, which even this collection of receivers can work with.” The Martin Mayhew Sean Yuille of Pride of Detroit: “Things weren't looking good early on, but the Lions battled back to beat the Panthers by a score of 49-35. Detroit is now 7-3 and can guarantee its first .500 or better season since 2000 with one more victory in 2011.” The Mark Murphy Acme Packing Company: “Between first down run by Tim Masthay, the first missed field goal of the season by Mason Crosby, and the nearly botched onside kick by rookie D.J. Smith, it was a weird game. Randall Cobb also had a 55 yard punt return, so I guess I'd say overall it was a positive game.” The Mark Wilf Christopher Gates of Daily Norseman: “It would have really been pretty easy for the Minnesota Vikings to have folded up the tents at halftime of their game against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday afternoon. After all, they had just allowed two touchdowns in a very short span of time, they had allowed 24 unanswered points to the Raiders, and had watched their superstar offensive player get helped off of the field.” The Thomas Dimitroff Dave Choate of The Falcoholic: “It's never easy with this team, but sometimes it doesn't have to be. The Falcons played a terrific game on defense aside from a couple of hiccups and got fantastic offensive performances out of Matt Ryan, Michael Turner and Roddy White, among others. It was enough to propel them to a 23-17 win over the Tennessee Titans, who rallied furiously behind rookie quarterback Jake Locker but couldn't close it out.” The Marty Hurney Cat Scratch Reader: “Cam Newton looked like a rookie again. The run defense got tired and Matt Stafford lit up the Panther secondary. Yet in spite of giving up the lead they came back and tied the game with just 5 minutes remaining. I was thinking maybe we could hold on and force over time. Just the opposite happened and the Lions scored 14 more points to punch the Panthers in the gut and leave Detroit feeling worse about the loss than they should.” The Mickey Loomis Canal Street Chronicles: “With the break in Saints game action this week as a result of the bye, it makes an opportune time to take brief stock and see where the team is in relation to the 2010 squad, whose season was decent (11-5 and a playoff berth), but ended in Seattle on Wild Card Weekend in most disappointing fashion.” The Mark Dominik Bucs Nation: “In the end, the Buccaneers lost by nine points. And despite all that, this was probably the Bucs' best game of the year in terms of quality of play.” The Rod Graves Jess Root of Revenge of the Birds: “Larry Fitzgerald only had three catches, but with his first one, he passed 9000 career receiving yards, making him the third youngest in NFL history to reach that plateau. Milestones are always a positive, especially when it is a player that will have a bust in Canton one day.” The Billy Devaney Ryan Van Bibber of Turf Show Times: “The St. Louis Rams are officially a disaster. The fans who showed up at the Edward Jones Dome today to watch the game no doubt thought about that as they filed out, at the start of the fourth quarter with the Rams buried by an insurmountable 17-7 lead.” The Trent Baalke David Fucillo of Niners Nation: “The defense almost pitched a shutout, but let up a bit late and gave up an impressive touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald. Other than that, the defense put together a fairly ridiculous performance, forcing five turnovers and generally making the Cardinals offense look pretty awful.” The John Schneider Danny Kelly of Field Gulls: “The Seahawks started off with a bang on their first play from scrimmage with an end-around throw by Sidney Rice that went for 55-yards to Mike Williams. Tarvaris Jackson threw it two times after that and both times the St. Louis Rams caught those passes and that tells the story of the Seahawks offense in the first quarter. Seattle trailed 7-0 after the first frame.”