NFL - Week Thirteen Review

The two biggest games of the weekend saw one live up to the billing, but the other game was over-hyped and turned into a blowout rather quickly.
The Pittsburgh Steelers knocked off the Baltimore Ravens, 13-10 as Troy Polamalu sacked Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco, forcing a fumble and setting up the Steelers for the game-winning touchdown pass by Ben Roethlisberger in the final three minutes.
With the win, Pittsburgh (9-3) took over first over first place in the AFC North.
The New England Patriots dismantled the New York Jets on Monday Night Football as Heftyinfo NFL Player of the Week Tom Brady threw four TD passes and the Patriots defense, which was dead last in the league in yards allowed entering the game, limited the Jets to just a field goal in the 45-3 rout.
The Patriots have the best record in football, along with Atlanta, at 10-2 following the win.
The Chicago Bears (9-3) struggled but did manage to defeat host Detroit, 24-20 while the Atlanta Falcons maintained their (10-2) best record by rallying to defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 28-24.
Eric Weems returned a kickoff 102 yards for a score and Falcons' QB Matt Ryan threw two touchdown passes in the win.
Meanwhile, the New Orleans Saints (9-3) continued to roll with a 34-30 win at Cincinnati to keep pace with Atlanta in the NFC South. Saints' QB Drew Brees passed for 313 yards and two touchdowns and Chris Ivory rushed for 117 yards and two scores.
The Bengals rallied from 14 points down and took a 30-27 lead before Brees hit Marques Colston with the game-winning scoring pass with 31 seconds left.
The Green Bay Packers blasted the San Francisco 49ers, 34-16 at Lambeau Field behind three TD passes from Aaron Rodgers.
Minnesota crushed Buffalo, 38-14 as Tarvaris Jackson took over at quarterback for the Vikings when Brett Favre suffered a sprained shoulder in the first quarter. Vikings' running back Adrian Peterson ran for 107 yards and three touchdowns and Jackson threw two TD passes to pace the easy victory.
Cleveland got a late field goal from Phil Dawson to edge the Miami Dolphins, 13-10.
Kansas City held on to defeat the Denver Broncos, 10-6 in a yawner that proved to be the last game for Broncos' Head Coach Josh McDaniels, who was fired on Monday. Denver is 3-9 and have a 5-17 record since starting 6-0 in 2009 under McDaniels.
The Chiefs' victory was significant because the Oakland Raiders (6-6) shocked the San Diego Chargers, 28-13 in San Diego, ending the Chargers' four-game winning streak and increasing the Chiefs lead to two full games over both San Diego and Oakland.
The Chargers saw their 18-game win streak in December (dating back to 2006) snapped as well as the raiders stormed in front 14-0 following two turnovers in the opening quarter. The Raiders rushed for 251 yards against the NFL's top defense as Darren McFadden and Michael Bush each scored a touchdown.
The New York Giants (8-4) regained a first-place tie with Philadelphia with a 31-7 pasting of the Washington Redskins. The Giants gained 197 yards on the ground as Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw each scored two touchdowns.
The Eagles (8-4) rode the arm and legs of quarterback Michael Vick to shoot down the Houston Texans last Thursday night, 34-24.
Jacksonville beat Tennessee, 17-6 to improve to 7-5 and take over first place in the AFC South.
The Indianapolis Colts lost at home to Dallas, 38-35 in OT as Peyton Manning threw four more interceptions in the defeat that dropped to Colts to 6-6 and second place in the AFC South.
Both Seattle and St. Louis remained in a deadlock in the NFC West at 6-6 with wins. The Seahawks beat Carolina, 31-14 behind three touchdown runs from Marshawn Lynch while the Rams topped Arizona, 19-6 as kicker Josh Brown kicked four field goals and Steven Jackson rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown.