NFL 2010 Tom Brady QB New England Patriots
Tom Brady

NFL 2010 Enters Final Quarter

It's Week 14 of the NFL season and only four games remain to decide who advances to the playoffs. And who goes is anyone's guess as 27 teams remain in contention for a postseason berth.

"It's the fourth quarter of the season," says head coach MIKE MC CARTHY of the 8-4 Green Bay Packers. "There are four games left. This is December football. We want to be playing our best football and that's our challenge."

For the first time since realignment in 2002, seven of the eight divisions have two teams either in or within one game of first place through the first 13 weeks of the season. And with plenty of division games down the stretch, a lot can happen.

"All the division games at the end of the season keep things interesting," says New York Giants defensive tackle BARRY COFIELD. "That's what fans love, and being a big football fan myself, I love watching these games at the end of the year. There's some competitive football being played down the stretch and it's what any fan would want to see."

"We've started a run and need to keep it going," continues Cofield. "There are a lot of teams in the NFC playing well and they have good records. We're going to have to finish with a strong record to be in the playoff hunt. This is what you play for and that's exciting. When you get to the end of the season, you want to have something to play for. We need to treat every game as a must-win."

Some of the key games this week:

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (10-2) at CHICAGO BEARS (9-3)

Two first-place teams on winning streaks will meet at Soldier Field when the Patriots visit the Bears. Both teams are coming off victories in Week 13. New England, winners of four in a row, defeated the New York Jets 45-3 on Monday night while the Bears, who have won five consecutive games, knocked off the Detroit Lions 24-20.

"It's nice to win," says New England head coach BILL BELICHICK. "But there's another quarter of the season left to be played. There's a lot of football left."

The Patriots have scored at least 30 points without committing a turnover in each of their past four games and are the first team in NFL history to have such a streak. Quarterback TOM BRADY has thrown at least two touchdowns without an interception in each of his past five games, tied with JOE THEISMANN for the second-longest streak in league annals (DON MEREDITH, six games).

"It was a big win (over the Jets)," says Brady. "But there are many more big games for us down the stretch and none bigger than Chicago coming up this week."

The Bears seek their sixth consecutive victory. Last week, wide receiver EARL BENNETT recorded the first 100-yard receiving game (104 yards) of his career. The performance came just a week after he had a career-best two TD catches.

"How can you not be pumped to play the three-time Super Bowl champions?" says safety CHRIS HARRIS. "Right now in December, every game is a playoff game for me. We're at 9-3 and we definitely don't want that to slip away. So we have to approach every game as if it is a playoff game. Every single game right now counts.

"We have some good football teams on our schedule coming up. I'm very confident about the team that we have here, and I still don't think that we've peaked."

ST. LOUIS RAMS (6-6) at NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (9-3)

Two streaking teams will meet on Sunday at the Louisiana Superdome. The Rams, who are tied for first place in the NFC West, aim for their third consecutive road victory behind rookie quarterback SAM BRADFORD and running back STEVEN JACKSON, who tied MARSHALL FAULK for the most 100-yard rushing games in team history last week (27). The defending Super Bowl champion Saints have won five in a row and quarterback DREW BREES (21,932) became the franchise leader in passing yards last week, surpassing ARCHIE MANNING (21,734).

"We're looking forward to going down to New Orleans," says St. Louis head coach STEVE SPAGNUOLO, whose team defeated Arizona 19-6 in Week 13. "We all know that this is one of the premier teams in the league. They're the Super Bowl champs. Hopefully what we've done on the road the past two games will help us. It's a great challenge."

The Saints defeated Cincinnati 34-30 last week and have scored at least 30 points in four consecutive games during the club's five-game winning streak.

"We have 25 percent of the season left," says New Orleans head coach SEAN PAYTON. "We have a month of football remaining. We're playing better football. There are things we still have to clean up and get ready for St. Louis."

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (8-4) at SAN DIEGO CHARGERS (6-6)

It will be an AFC West showdown on Sunday afternoon as the Chargers look to gain ground on the first-place Chiefs, who lead the division by two games over San Diego and Oakland.

"This game is now the biggest game of the year and the biggest game since we've been here," says Kansas City head coach TODD HALEY. "Each week the games get bigger and they get more important."

Last week, the Chiefs defeated Denver 10-6 and improved to 6-0 at home this season, including a Week 1 victory over the Chargers.

"It was a big win for us," says Kansas City quarterback MATT CASSEL. "We were able to come out and overcome some adversity. The defense played well and continued to keep us in the game."

The defense will be looked upon this weekend to stop San Diego quarterback PHILIP RIVERS, who ranks second in the NFL with 3,642 passing yards and is third with a 102.5 passer rating.

 

NFL Factoid

New Orleans quarterback DREW BREES passed for 313 yards in the Saints' 34-30 victory at Cincinnati. Since joining New Orleans in 2006, Brees has passed for 21,932 yards, the most passing yards by a quarterback over any five-year span in NFL history. The performance marked his 36th 300-yard passing game since 2006, also the most by a player over any five-year period in league annals.

 

ON THE OFFENSIVE

NFL teams are producing yards at a historic pace this season. Through the first 13 weeks (192 games), NFL games are averaging 679.2 total yards per game. That number includes an average of 453.0 net passing yards per contest.

If both marks maintain their current pace, each would be the highest average in a season in NFL history

TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE

With net passing yards accumulating at a record pace, there have also been 570 touchdown passes (see above note) -- the most of any season through Week 13 in NFL history.

Quarterbacks have been proficient as well as prolific. Eleven qualifying passers currently have a touchdown-to-interception ratio of better than two-to-one (minimum 200 attempts) in 2010, which is on pace to match 2008 for the most such passers in a season.

QUICK AND EFFICIENT

Philadelphia quarterback MICHAEL VICK leads the NFC with a career-high passer rating of 105.7 this season. He also leads all NFL quarterbacks with 467 rushing yards.

If he maintains his passer rating and rushes for 33 more yards, Vick would become the second qualifying passer in NFL history with a rating of 100.0 or better to rush for 500 yards in a season. Only Pro Football Hall of Famer STEVE YOUNG, who posted a 107.0 passer rating and rushed for 537 yards in 1992, has accomplished the feat.

T.O. SHOW

Cincinnati wide receiver TERRELL OWENS has 71 catches for 961 yards and nine touchdowns in his first season with the Bengals.

With 39 receiving yards and one touchdown this Sunday against Pittsburgh, Owens would become the third player in NFL history with 10 1,000-yard receiving seasons and the fifth player to score at least 10 touchdowns in nine seasons.

AWESOME ARIAN

Houston running back ARIAN FOSTER, who was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Texans in 2009 out of Tennessee, leads the NFL with 1,230 rushing yards in 2010.

If he finishes the season as the NFL's leading rusher, Foster would join PRIEST HOLMES as the only undrafted players to accomplish the feat since the advent of the common draft in 1967. Holmes led the league with 1,555 rushing yards in 2001 with Kansas City.

Foster, who also leads the league with 13 rushing touchdowns through 12 games, continues to move up the all-time single-season rushing leaderboards among undrafted players.

MANNING ON THE MOVE

Indianapolis quarterback PEYTON MANNING leads the NFL in passing with 3,709 yards in 2010. If he finishes as this season's passing yardage leader, Manning would become the 11th quarterback in NFL history and the third QB since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to accomplish the feat at least three times.

Manning, who led the NFL in passing yards in 2000 and 2003, would join Pro Football Hall of Famers DAN MARINO (five) and DAN FOUTS (four) as the only players with at least three such seasons since 1970.

PATRIOTIC PAIR

New England's decision to select two rookie tight ends in the 2010 NFL Draft -- ROB GRONKOWSKI (Round 2, Arizona) and AARON HERNANDEZ (Round 4, Florida) -- has paid immediate dividends for the Patriots.

Gronkowski leads all rookie tight ends with six touchdown catches, while Hernandez ranks second with four. If Hernandez catches a touchdown this Sunday at Chicago, he and Gronkowski would be the first pair of rookie tight end teammates with at least five TD receptions in the same season in NFL history.

NFL 2010 Week 13: Four Games Remain as NFL Enters Final Quarter