simmytbone
12-27-2014, 05:26 AM
Hey guys,
The Packers and Lions are set to do battle for the NFC North Division Title and the loser will get a Wild Card, but also, the Winner could possibly get a Bye Week
also, the Lions are on the verge of sweeping the NFC North Division
The Packers def. the Buccaneers while the Lions swept the Bears and a week earlier, they swept the Vikings to finish 7-1 @ home in 2014
Here are the stories:
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/gametracker/recap/NFL_20141221_GB@TB
Rodgers, Packers clinch playoff spot, 20-3 over Bucs
By FRED GOODALL | AP Sports Writer
Dec. 21, 2014
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) With the NFC North title still up for grabs, Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers couldn't afford a slip-up against the struggling Tampa Buccaneers.
Rodgers threw for 318 yards and one touchdown and Eddie Lacy scored on a 44-yard run to pace a 20-3 victory that clinched at least a wild-card playoff berth Sunday.
Lacy finished with 99 yards rushing on 17 attempts. Jordy Nelson caught a 1-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter and had nine receptions for 113 yards, while Rodgers completed 11 throws to Randall Cobb for 131 yards.
A 21-13 loss to Buffalo a week ago cost Green Bay (11-4) sole possession of first place in the division. It also hurt its chances for earning home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. Green Bay closes the regular season at home against Detroit (11-4), with a victory giving the Packers another NFC North crown.
Rodgers rebounded from the only game this season in which he's failed to throw for a touchdown, completing 31 of 40 passes without an interception. He threw 24 yards to Nelson on third-and-13 to extend the drive that produced Lacy's long TD run, and a 19-yard completion to Nelson set up Rodgers' 36th TD pass of the year.
The Bucs (2-13) have lost five straight and remain in contention for the first overall pick in the 2015 draft. Their sputtering offense was outgained 154-6 in the opening quarter; Josh McCown was sacked seven times and intercepted once; and Doug Martin was held to 17 yards rushing on 10 attempts.
Tampa Bay kept it close with a solid defensive performance, forcing Rodgers' fourth turnover in two weeks with Michael Johnson's sack-fumble in the opening half. A goal-line stand denied the Packers points in the third quarter after Lacy gained 5 yards on first down to the Bucs 1. Lacy and John Kuhn were stopped for no gain on the next two plays, and Rodgers threw an incompletion in the end zone on fourth down.
Nevertheless, the Packers wound up with 431 yards total offense.
McCown, meanwhile, was 12 of 26 for 147 yards. Mike Evans had four receptions for 49 yards and Vincent Jackson had three for 60 yards, moving both of them to the brink of 1,000-yard seasons.
Meanwhile, Last Week....
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/gametracker/recap/NFL_20141214_MIN@DET
Lions sweat out 16-14 win over Vikings
By NOAH TRISTER | AP Sports Writer
Dec. 15, 2014
DETROIT (AP) It was the type of kick that always seems to go through the uprights against the Detroit Lions.
Nobody has ever made a field goal from 68 yards in an NFL game, but when Minnesota's Blair Walsh lined up at that distance on the final play Sunday, there were some nervous folks at Ford Field.
''Stranger things have happened to us,'' Detroit offensive lineman Rob Sims said. ''But maybe this is our time. Maybe things are changing.''
Walsh's kick came up short and wide to the left, and Detroit held on for a 16-14 victory over Minnesota.
Matt Prater's 33-yard field goal with 3:38 remaining gave the Lions their first lead of the game, and Detroit withstood two more tense possessions for the Vikings.
Detroit (10-4) pulled into a first-place tie in the NFC North with Green Bay, which lost to Buffalo earlier Sunday. The Lions are now agonizingly close to a playoff spot.
And agonizing is a pretty good way to describe this latest victory.
Detroit spotted Minnesota a 14-0 lead before slowly rallying with the help of two second-quarter interceptions. The Lions have won three in a row, and Detroit can clinch a playoff spot with a win at Chicago next weekend.
Minnesota's Teddy Bridgewater was 31 of 41 for 315 yards with a touchdown, and the Vikings (6-8) held Detroit to 11 first downs, but after Jason Jones blocked Walsh's 26-yard field goal attempt with 7:43 left, the Lions drove 65 yards to set up Prater's third short field goal of the game.
Trailing for the first time all day, the Vikings had a good chance to take the lead again after Cordarrelle Patterson returned the ensuing kickoff to the Minnesota 49. But a holding call pushed the Vikings back, and Bridgewater eventually threw incomplete on fourth down.
The Vikings got the ball again at their 30 with 45 seconds left, but could only make it far enough to set up Walsh's long attempt at a game winner. Coach Mike Zimmer decided to go for the field goal instead of a last-ditch pass.
''Either one is kind of a shot in the dark, but Blair has hit 70-yarders in practice before,'' Zimmer said. ''So I figured that was the best chance to win.''
The Lions lost to Baltimore last year on a 61-yard field goal, and to Buffalo this October on a 58-yarder. They were also on the losing end of Tom Dempsey's 63-yarder for New Orleans in 1970.
But Walsh couldn't convert. He also missed from 53 yards earlier in the game.
Matthew Stafford threw for 153 yards and a touchdown for the Lions.
In its last home game of the regular season, Detroit looked flat in the first half, falling behind by two touchdowns and drawing boos from the crowd at Ford Field. The Lions couldn't manage a first down until the second quarter, on their fifth offensive possession.
Matt Asiata opened the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run. Bridgewater added an 8-yard TD pass to Greg Jennings in the second quarter, and the Vikings were in Detroit territory again when Glover Quin intercepted Bridgewater and returned it 56 yards to the Minnesota 11.
''We did everything we could to hurt ourselves in the first half, in every phase, but GQ made a huge play to get us back into the game,'' Stafford said.
Stafford threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate, and Bridgewater's next pass was behind Jennings and intercepted by Darius Slay, giving the Lions the ball at the Minnesota 32.
Prater's field goal made it 14-10 at halftime.
Prater, who helped stabilize Detroit's terrible kicking game when he joined the Lions in October, connected from 30 yards in the third quarter to cut the deficit to one. Jones' block in the fourth meant Detroit only needed a field goal to take the lead.
''I'm not going to apologize for a win, and I hope that none of my players come in here and apologize,'' Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. ''This was an important win for us, and I don't care if we only scored a half-point.''
NOTES: The Lions went 7-1 at home during the regular season. The previous time that happened was 1995, when the team still played at the Silverdome. ... Bridgewater was sacked 12 times in two games against the Lions this year, including four times Sunday. ... Walsh's career long is 56 yards.
and finally, this week....
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/gametracker/recap/NFL_20141221_DET@CHI
Stafford, Suh lead Lions over Bears 20-14
By ANDREW SELIGMAN | AP Sports Writer
Dec. 21, 2014
CHICAGO (AP) After benching Jay Cutler, the Chicago Bears nearly hung an embarrassing loss on the playoff-bound Detroit Lions.
Thanks to a late touchdown run by Joique Bell, the Lions managed to get past Jimmy Clausen and the chaotic Chicago Bears 20-14 Sunday. That set up a showdown with Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers for the NFC North championship.
''This is what we play for,'' Calvin Johnson said after catching six passes for 103 yards. ''We're right there on the door step, we have one more task ahead of us and that's to go out next week and get another W.''
Bell scored on a neat touchdown run in the fourth quarter, and Detroit overcame two interceptions by Matthew Stafford.
Chicago benched Cutler days earlier, having seen enough after he led the NFL with 18 interceptions and 24 turnovers in the first year of a seven-year contract he signed in the offseason. They turned to the cast-off Clausen, who hadn't started a game since 2010.
Matthew Stafford outplayed Clausen, but just barely. He completed 22 of 39 passes for 243 yards and hit the 4,000-yard mark for the fourth straight year, but it was hardly an easy afternoon for him.
''We stood tall,'' Bears coach Marc Trestman said. ''We played hard. We're not trying to sugar-coat it. We didn't win. We're here to win. But I felt our players were in it to win for four quarters today but I've felt that way throughout the season. That hasn't changed.''
Ndamukong Suh had two sacks, and now the playoff-bound Lions (11-4) can wrap up the NFC North title with a win next week against Green Bay. Regardless, the Lions will make their second trip to the postseason in four years and third in 16 years after Philadelphia's loss to Washington on Saturday.
They were hoping to lock up their first division championship since 1993. But with the Packers beating Tampa Bay, the North will be decided in next week's game.
Stafford threw interceptions in the end zone and near the goal line on back-to-back possessions in the second quarter with the Lions leading 7-0.
Jeremy Ross muffed a punt near the end of the first half, leading to a touchdown for Chicago, and center Dominic Raiola stepped on Chicago defensive tackle Ego Ferguson's right ankle while he was on the ground early in the third quarter.
Despite all that, the Lions came away with their highest win total since they went 12-4 in 1991.
Reggie Bush ran for a touchdown and 54 yards. He added 44 yards receiving, and Detroit handed Chicago (5-10) its fourth straight loss.
Clausen completed 23 of 39 passes for 181 yards in his first start since his 2010 rookie season with Carolina. He threw touchdowns to Matt Forte and Alshon Jeffery and played turnover-free ball until a late interception by Glover Quin.
The Bears were leading 14-10 early in the fourth when Tim Jennings bumped Corey Fuller on a deep third-down pass, resulting in a 46-yard interference penalty.
On the next play Bell - who sat out the first quarter after violating unspecified team rules - dodged two defenders and broke a tackle by Brock Vereen for a 17-yard TD that put Detroit up 17-14. Prater added a 30-yard field goal to make it a six-point game with 2:35 remaining.
Prater gave Detroit a 10-7 lead with a 39-yard field goal on the opening drive of the second half. But the Bears answered with an 80-yard touchdown drive. Clausen capped it by lofting a 20-yard pass over Darius Slay to Jeffery in the end zone, giving Chicago its first lead at 14-10 with 2:45 left in the third.
The Bears' Jeremiah Ratliff blocked a 37-yard field goal by Prater early in the fourth, keeping it a four-point game.
The Lions might have run away with this one if not for Stafford's interceptions in the second quarter and a muffed punt by Ross that led to an 11-yard touchdown catch by Forte with 30 seconds left in the first half. But if Detroit let up knowing that it clinched a playoff spot, Stafford did not see it that way.
''We came out with great energy,'' he said. ''We moved the ball the whole day. We weren't stagnant.''
Notes: Raiola said he did not intentionally step on Ferguson's ankle and apologized to him for it. No penalty was called on the play. ''it was totally unintentional,'' Raiola said. ''I was stumbling out of the play, come on now, I'm not out here trying to step on people.'' Ferguson was angry about it after the game, saying, ''You can't take away what happened with that play. You saw the play.'' ... The Lions have won four straight against Chicago. ... Bears DE Willie Young will miss the season finale after leaving the game in the third quarter after injuring his left Achilles tendon. He will not play next week at Minnesota.
credit: cbssports.com
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2014122107/2014/REG16/packers@buccaneers
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2014121405/2014/REG15/vikings@lions
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2014122101/2014/REG16/lions@bears
Who will win the NFC North and who will clinch the Wild Card?
That's the Question!
Find out this Sunday on the NFL on Fox as part of America's Game of the Week
The Packers and Lions are set to do battle for the NFC North Division Title and the loser will get a Wild Card, but also, the Winner could possibly get a Bye Week
also, the Lions are on the verge of sweeping the NFC North Division
The Packers def. the Buccaneers while the Lions swept the Bears and a week earlier, they swept the Vikings to finish 7-1 @ home in 2014
Here are the stories:
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/gametracker/recap/NFL_20141221_GB@TB
Rodgers, Packers clinch playoff spot, 20-3 over Bucs
By FRED GOODALL | AP Sports Writer
Dec. 21, 2014
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) With the NFC North title still up for grabs, Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers couldn't afford a slip-up against the struggling Tampa Buccaneers.
Rodgers threw for 318 yards and one touchdown and Eddie Lacy scored on a 44-yard run to pace a 20-3 victory that clinched at least a wild-card playoff berth Sunday.
Lacy finished with 99 yards rushing on 17 attempts. Jordy Nelson caught a 1-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter and had nine receptions for 113 yards, while Rodgers completed 11 throws to Randall Cobb for 131 yards.
A 21-13 loss to Buffalo a week ago cost Green Bay (11-4) sole possession of first place in the division. It also hurt its chances for earning home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. Green Bay closes the regular season at home against Detroit (11-4), with a victory giving the Packers another NFC North crown.
Rodgers rebounded from the only game this season in which he's failed to throw for a touchdown, completing 31 of 40 passes without an interception. He threw 24 yards to Nelson on third-and-13 to extend the drive that produced Lacy's long TD run, and a 19-yard completion to Nelson set up Rodgers' 36th TD pass of the year.
The Bucs (2-13) have lost five straight and remain in contention for the first overall pick in the 2015 draft. Their sputtering offense was outgained 154-6 in the opening quarter; Josh McCown was sacked seven times and intercepted once; and Doug Martin was held to 17 yards rushing on 10 attempts.
Tampa Bay kept it close with a solid defensive performance, forcing Rodgers' fourth turnover in two weeks with Michael Johnson's sack-fumble in the opening half. A goal-line stand denied the Packers points in the third quarter after Lacy gained 5 yards on first down to the Bucs 1. Lacy and John Kuhn were stopped for no gain on the next two plays, and Rodgers threw an incompletion in the end zone on fourth down.
Nevertheless, the Packers wound up with 431 yards total offense.
McCown, meanwhile, was 12 of 26 for 147 yards. Mike Evans had four receptions for 49 yards and Vincent Jackson had three for 60 yards, moving both of them to the brink of 1,000-yard seasons.
Meanwhile, Last Week....
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/gametracker/recap/NFL_20141214_MIN@DET
Lions sweat out 16-14 win over Vikings
By NOAH TRISTER | AP Sports Writer
Dec. 15, 2014
DETROIT (AP) It was the type of kick that always seems to go through the uprights against the Detroit Lions.
Nobody has ever made a field goal from 68 yards in an NFL game, but when Minnesota's Blair Walsh lined up at that distance on the final play Sunday, there were some nervous folks at Ford Field.
''Stranger things have happened to us,'' Detroit offensive lineman Rob Sims said. ''But maybe this is our time. Maybe things are changing.''
Walsh's kick came up short and wide to the left, and Detroit held on for a 16-14 victory over Minnesota.
Matt Prater's 33-yard field goal with 3:38 remaining gave the Lions their first lead of the game, and Detroit withstood two more tense possessions for the Vikings.
Detroit (10-4) pulled into a first-place tie in the NFC North with Green Bay, which lost to Buffalo earlier Sunday. The Lions are now agonizingly close to a playoff spot.
And agonizing is a pretty good way to describe this latest victory.
Detroit spotted Minnesota a 14-0 lead before slowly rallying with the help of two second-quarter interceptions. The Lions have won three in a row, and Detroit can clinch a playoff spot with a win at Chicago next weekend.
Minnesota's Teddy Bridgewater was 31 of 41 for 315 yards with a touchdown, and the Vikings (6-8) held Detroit to 11 first downs, but after Jason Jones blocked Walsh's 26-yard field goal attempt with 7:43 left, the Lions drove 65 yards to set up Prater's third short field goal of the game.
Trailing for the first time all day, the Vikings had a good chance to take the lead again after Cordarrelle Patterson returned the ensuing kickoff to the Minnesota 49. But a holding call pushed the Vikings back, and Bridgewater eventually threw incomplete on fourth down.
The Vikings got the ball again at their 30 with 45 seconds left, but could only make it far enough to set up Walsh's long attempt at a game winner. Coach Mike Zimmer decided to go for the field goal instead of a last-ditch pass.
''Either one is kind of a shot in the dark, but Blair has hit 70-yarders in practice before,'' Zimmer said. ''So I figured that was the best chance to win.''
The Lions lost to Baltimore last year on a 61-yard field goal, and to Buffalo this October on a 58-yarder. They were also on the losing end of Tom Dempsey's 63-yarder for New Orleans in 1970.
But Walsh couldn't convert. He also missed from 53 yards earlier in the game.
Matthew Stafford threw for 153 yards and a touchdown for the Lions.
In its last home game of the regular season, Detroit looked flat in the first half, falling behind by two touchdowns and drawing boos from the crowd at Ford Field. The Lions couldn't manage a first down until the second quarter, on their fifth offensive possession.
Matt Asiata opened the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run. Bridgewater added an 8-yard TD pass to Greg Jennings in the second quarter, and the Vikings were in Detroit territory again when Glover Quin intercepted Bridgewater and returned it 56 yards to the Minnesota 11.
''We did everything we could to hurt ourselves in the first half, in every phase, but GQ made a huge play to get us back into the game,'' Stafford said.
Stafford threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate, and Bridgewater's next pass was behind Jennings and intercepted by Darius Slay, giving the Lions the ball at the Minnesota 32.
Prater's field goal made it 14-10 at halftime.
Prater, who helped stabilize Detroit's terrible kicking game when he joined the Lions in October, connected from 30 yards in the third quarter to cut the deficit to one. Jones' block in the fourth meant Detroit only needed a field goal to take the lead.
''I'm not going to apologize for a win, and I hope that none of my players come in here and apologize,'' Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. ''This was an important win for us, and I don't care if we only scored a half-point.''
NOTES: The Lions went 7-1 at home during the regular season. The previous time that happened was 1995, when the team still played at the Silverdome. ... Bridgewater was sacked 12 times in two games against the Lions this year, including four times Sunday. ... Walsh's career long is 56 yards.
and finally, this week....
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/gametracker/recap/NFL_20141221_DET@CHI
Stafford, Suh lead Lions over Bears 20-14
By ANDREW SELIGMAN | AP Sports Writer
Dec. 21, 2014
CHICAGO (AP) After benching Jay Cutler, the Chicago Bears nearly hung an embarrassing loss on the playoff-bound Detroit Lions.
Thanks to a late touchdown run by Joique Bell, the Lions managed to get past Jimmy Clausen and the chaotic Chicago Bears 20-14 Sunday. That set up a showdown with Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers for the NFC North championship.
''This is what we play for,'' Calvin Johnson said after catching six passes for 103 yards. ''We're right there on the door step, we have one more task ahead of us and that's to go out next week and get another W.''
Bell scored on a neat touchdown run in the fourth quarter, and Detroit overcame two interceptions by Matthew Stafford.
Chicago benched Cutler days earlier, having seen enough after he led the NFL with 18 interceptions and 24 turnovers in the first year of a seven-year contract he signed in the offseason. They turned to the cast-off Clausen, who hadn't started a game since 2010.
Matthew Stafford outplayed Clausen, but just barely. He completed 22 of 39 passes for 243 yards and hit the 4,000-yard mark for the fourth straight year, but it was hardly an easy afternoon for him.
''We stood tall,'' Bears coach Marc Trestman said. ''We played hard. We're not trying to sugar-coat it. We didn't win. We're here to win. But I felt our players were in it to win for four quarters today but I've felt that way throughout the season. That hasn't changed.''
Ndamukong Suh had two sacks, and now the playoff-bound Lions (11-4) can wrap up the NFC North title with a win next week against Green Bay. Regardless, the Lions will make their second trip to the postseason in four years and third in 16 years after Philadelphia's loss to Washington on Saturday.
They were hoping to lock up their first division championship since 1993. But with the Packers beating Tampa Bay, the North will be decided in next week's game.
Stafford threw interceptions in the end zone and near the goal line on back-to-back possessions in the second quarter with the Lions leading 7-0.
Jeremy Ross muffed a punt near the end of the first half, leading to a touchdown for Chicago, and center Dominic Raiola stepped on Chicago defensive tackle Ego Ferguson's right ankle while he was on the ground early in the third quarter.
Despite all that, the Lions came away with their highest win total since they went 12-4 in 1991.
Reggie Bush ran for a touchdown and 54 yards. He added 44 yards receiving, and Detroit handed Chicago (5-10) its fourth straight loss.
Clausen completed 23 of 39 passes for 181 yards in his first start since his 2010 rookie season with Carolina. He threw touchdowns to Matt Forte and Alshon Jeffery and played turnover-free ball until a late interception by Glover Quin.
The Bears were leading 14-10 early in the fourth when Tim Jennings bumped Corey Fuller on a deep third-down pass, resulting in a 46-yard interference penalty.
On the next play Bell - who sat out the first quarter after violating unspecified team rules - dodged two defenders and broke a tackle by Brock Vereen for a 17-yard TD that put Detroit up 17-14. Prater added a 30-yard field goal to make it a six-point game with 2:35 remaining.
Prater gave Detroit a 10-7 lead with a 39-yard field goal on the opening drive of the second half. But the Bears answered with an 80-yard touchdown drive. Clausen capped it by lofting a 20-yard pass over Darius Slay to Jeffery in the end zone, giving Chicago its first lead at 14-10 with 2:45 left in the third.
The Bears' Jeremiah Ratliff blocked a 37-yard field goal by Prater early in the fourth, keeping it a four-point game.
The Lions might have run away with this one if not for Stafford's interceptions in the second quarter and a muffed punt by Ross that led to an 11-yard touchdown catch by Forte with 30 seconds left in the first half. But if Detroit let up knowing that it clinched a playoff spot, Stafford did not see it that way.
''We came out with great energy,'' he said. ''We moved the ball the whole day. We weren't stagnant.''
Notes: Raiola said he did not intentionally step on Ferguson's ankle and apologized to him for it. No penalty was called on the play. ''it was totally unintentional,'' Raiola said. ''I was stumbling out of the play, come on now, I'm not out here trying to step on people.'' Ferguson was angry about it after the game, saying, ''You can't take away what happened with that play. You saw the play.'' ... The Lions have won four straight against Chicago. ... Bears DE Willie Young will miss the season finale after leaving the game in the third quarter after injuring his left Achilles tendon. He will not play next week at Minnesota.
credit: cbssports.com
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2014122107/2014/REG16/packers@buccaneers
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2014121405/2014/REG15/vikings@lions
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2014122101/2014/REG16/lions@bears
Who will win the NFC North and who will clinch the Wild Card?
That's the Question!
Find out this Sunday on the NFL on Fox as part of America's Game of the Week