NFL - Week Nine Review

The big games lived up to the hype this weekend as the New York Giants won  a thriller over the New England Patriots, 24-20 while the Baltimore Ravens escaped from Pittsburgh with a last second 23-20 victory thriller.
In addition, the Green Bay Packers remained undefeated by hanging on for a 45-38 shootout win at San Diego.

Aaron Rodgers has 24 TD passes in 2011.

The Heftyinfo NFL co-Players of the Week play for Green Bay and made the difference in the win for the 8-0 Packers as quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw four touchdown passes on 21-of-26 passing while safety Charlie Peprah intercepted two passes and took the first one back 40 yards for a score.
Peprah's second pick sealed the game for the Packers as Philip Rivers (385 passing yards with four TD and three INT) was driving the Chargers in the final minute toward the potential tying score. Green Bay's defense ran back two interceptions for touchdowns to help make the difference in the outcome.
The New York Giants scored on a one-yard TD pass from Eli Manning to Jake Ballard with 15 seconds remaining in a 24-20 win over the New England Patriots.
Manning passed for 250 yards while Pats' QB Tom Brady (342 yards with two TD passes) was intercepted twice.
The Sunday Night game saw the Ravens rally for a 23-20 win at Pittsburgh, giving them a season sweep of the Steelers for the first time in five years.
Baltimore QB Joe Flacco hit rookie wide receiver Torrey Smith for a 26-yard scoring pass with eight seconds left in the game. The Steelers had gone ahead 20-16 when Ben Roethlisberger hit Mike Wallace on a 25-yard touchdown pass with five minutes to play.
The Ravens are tied for first place in the AFC North with the Cincinnati Bengals, which topped the Tennessee Titans, 24-17 behind solid defense and three touchdown passes from rookie QB Andy Dalton.
The Houston Texans smashed the Cleveland Browns, 30-12 behind 100-yard rushing efforts from Ben Tate (115) and Arian Foster (124), who each scored a touchdown while the Houston defense held the Browns to just 172 yards in total offense.
The New York Jets blew out the Buffalo Bills, 27-11 as the defense led the way by limiting the Bills to just a field goal until "garbage" time in the final quarter. The Jets exploded for 17 points in the third quarter to put the game away.
Miami got a win at Kansas City in BIG fashion, winning 31-3 against a Chiefs team that was on a legitimate roll coming into this game.
Dolphins' QB Matt Moore threw for three touchdowns while the defense played air tight when it mattered, limiting Kansas City to just a field goal.
New Orleans took over first place in the NFC South with a 27-16 home victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Saints' QB Drew Brees had a pair of touchdown passes and the ground game pounded out 195 rushing yards to pace the winning effort.
Atlanta (5-3) kept pace with the Saints with a third consecutive win in a dominant 31-7 outcome at Indianapolis. Falcons' QB Matt Ryan connected with wide receiver Julio Jones on touchdown passes of 50 and 80 yards.

The San Francisco 49ers won 19-11 at Washington and are quietly 7-1 following their sixth straight win. Quarterback Alex Smith (pictured left) had a TD pass and kicker David Akers drilled four field goals to lead the way.
Dallas won a lack luster home game, 23-13 over Seattle as Tony Romo had two touchdown passes in the second half.
Tim Tebow ran for over 100 yards and running back Willis McGahee gained another 163 yards as Denver ran for a record high 298 yards against the Oakland Raiders' defense in a 38-24 win at the "Black Hole" in Oakland.
Raiders' QB Carson Palmer, making his first start since being traded by Cincinnati two weeks ago, had three touchdown passes, but also three interceptions in the loss.
The Arizona Cardinals used a 99-yard punt return for touchdown by rookie Patrick Peterson (his third kick return touchdown of the season) in overtime to defeat the St. Louis Rams, 19-13 and improve to 2-6 in the NFC West.
 The Monday Night Football game went down to the wire as the Chicago Bears earned a huge road victory at Philadelphia, 30-24 behind two touchdown passes from Jay Cutler and 133 yards rushing from Matt Forte'.
The Bears rallied from seven points down in the second half with Cutler throwing the go ahead scoring pass to wide receiver Earl Bennett, who had five catches for 95 yards in the win.
The Chicago defense limited the high powered Eagles' offense to just 119 yards rushing for the game. Philadelphia came into the game as the top running team in the NFL. In addition, Eagles' QB Michael Vick was held in check, gaining only 34 yards rushing while throwing an interception and no touchdown passes.