The Silvey Lining is a sports column by journalism senior Scott Silvey. He is also a Mustang Daily copy editor.

The cosmos can often times throw a person into a situation that they want no part of. Remember that time you got roped into going to watching that “Care Bears” movie with your five-year-old cousin after the babysitter cancelled?

After the movie you spent the next few hours arguing with the kid about the merit of whether Good Luck Bear was a better leader than Tenderheart Bear.

Ok, so maybe that was just me. But it turns out I’ve got nothing on Dennis Dixon.

The third-string Steelers quarterback was thrust into the spotlight on Sunday night when Ben Roethlisburger and Charlie Batch were both unable to play against the Ravens in Baltimore.

Dixon ’s only NFL completion was a 3-yarder to Hines Ward last year. The guy wasn’t even a traditional quarterback in college, as he ran the spread offense and kept many plays alive via his feet and yet here he is starting in a nationally televised game against one of the world’s scariest defenses.

The poor guy can’t catch a break. In 2006, Dixon had Oregon within a couple of games of a national championship appearance and had almost assuredly wrapped up the Heisman Trophy when he suffered an ACL tear and was sidelined for the season. The Ducks would lose out and Dixon would never be considered among the great Pac-10 quarterbacks of the era.

Somehow he plays well enough to guide the Steelers into overtime where he eventually makes the mistake people were waiting for, throwing an interception that leads to Baltimore ’s winning score.

The fans jump all over him, and he is proclaimed to be a bust. It was sad to see the Steelers show no faith in him, constantly running on first and second down while allowing the Ravens to gear up for a 3rd-and-7 situation that could only mean a pass.

And sometimes even in those situations the Steelers would run.

If you’re going to send him out there, don’t send him out there with an unloaded weapon.

But chances are, Big Ben will be back next week, especially after Ward called him out in a pregame interview, so Steelers fans can file this memory away like many other fans have had to do with third-string quarterbacks who somehow starts a game.

Vin-sanity

How many fourth downs in a fourth quarter two-minute drill can one quarterback convert in a single game?

Three if you’re Vince Young.

The self-proclaimed future hall of famer certainly looked like one when it mattered on Sunday. Young looked more like Joe Montana as he drove the Titans 99 yards in two minutes for the game-winning touchdown pass as the clock expired.

Young was 9-of-16 passing for 94 yards on the final drive alone. Compare that to Derek Anderson’s entire game-winning line against Buffalo earlier this year — 2 of 17 for 23 yards.

Some backup quarterbacks don’t even get 16 pass attempts in a career, let alone on one drive.

The whole Young versus Leinart thing was completely played out in the media, but how ironic was it that Young this time won the game with his arm, rather than his legs. The maturation process is almost complete.

The Perfect Storm

With five games to go in the regular season, the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts are closing in on twin 16-0 seasons.

In a league that proclaims to be all about parity, the NFL is on its way to having two perfect teams to go along with a 15-1 team in Minnesota.

The Saints close out the season with road games against Washington, Atlanta (who may be without Matt Ryan) and Carolina and with home games against Dallas and Tampa Bay.

Those teams have a combined record of 22-33.

Meanwhile Indianapolis has a slightly tougher road. The Colts host Tennessee, Denver and the Jets while traveling to play Jacksonville and Buffalo for a combined record of 27-28.

Pretty much everyone thought that if the Saints were going to lose, it would be on Monday night against the Patriots.

Not only did they win, they dominated New England. The Saints made Tom Brady looked more like Jay Cutler than himself.

Even Bill Belichick imploded again, going for another extremely questionable fourth down late in the third quarter in a desperate attempt to keep up with the Saints offense.

Indianapolis has won four straight games while trailing at some point in the fourth quarter. Teams continue to give Peyton Manning too much respect and he makes them pay dearly.

The question is, can a team like the Saints win consistently in the playoffs? They did make a run to the NFC Championship Game a couple years ago, but can that defense continue to play at a high level for three consecutive weeks.

We already know the Colts can.

Lost in all of this are the Vikings, who seem to have either a future hall of famer, or at least a perennial pro-bowler at every position. Minnesota easily has the most talent in the NFL. They could potentially be the most talented team in NFL history. But can head coach Brad Childress actually coach? The guy was on the verge of being fired before Brett Favre came in. He’s always had the talent to make the Vikings a contender. He just hasn’t made the right choices. We’ll find out what he can do in the playoffs this year, finally facing a Superbowl or bust mentality.

The Silvey Lining is a sports column by journalism senior Scott Silvey. He is also a Mustang Daily copy editor.

Every once in awhile there is a game so epic that you can’t help but watch it. The game goes down to the wire with both teams fighting desperately for a big win to keep their season alive. Then something amazing happens and the game is remembered for generations to come.

OK, so Cleveland and Detroit wasn’t all that, but it was close.

If these teams were a combined 16-2 instead of 2-16 coming in, this game would be remembered as one of the great games of the decade.

Matthew Stafford throws a last-second Hail Mary, getting almost killed in the process, and draws a pass interference call.

After he is peeled off the turf, Stafford gets up and with triple zeroes on the clock and throws a touchdown with what appears to be a broken arm. He then limps off the field pointing to his arm, unable to even pump his fist because his arm is probably shattered and wProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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hes ever, even if it was between two of the worst teams of all time.

Here is a short transcript of the entire call from the broadcasters. Keep in mind; they don’t raise their voices in the slightest.

“Throws, touchdown Detroit. They did it; the Lions came back and did it.”

It was like he was reading from a cue card or something. We need to get Gus Johnson into some of these terrible games.

If there’s one way to spruce up a bad game, it’s to have Johnson screaming at the end of it. He has a talent for making boring things interesting, which is why he calls a lot of New York Knicks games.

Still, even without Johnson, this game was amazing. The Browns scored four offensive touchdowns on Sunday. In its past games combined, Cleveland had just five offensive touchdowns.

So in one game, we got an entire season’s worth of offensive production. Could you imagine if that happened to a team like the Colts or Cardinals?

Final score from Tempe, Indianapolis 448, Arizona 384.

The Manning Complex

The Colts have been treading on thin ice in their past four victories, winning by a total of just 10 points. Teams are so scared of Peyton Manning’s two-minute drill, that they do stupid things at the end of all of these close games to give them away.

In Week 10, Bill Belichick went for a fourth down on his own 28 to try to keep Manning off the field. It failed, and even the unflappable Belichick was forced to defend himself to the media all week.

In their game against Baltimore, John Harbaugh decided he didn’t want Manning to see the field with 2:30 to go in what would likely be a one-point game.

Trailing 17-15 with 2:50 to go, Harbaugh called a third-and-7 pass play from the Colts’ 19. The pass was intercepted and any realistic chance of a Ravens win went out the window.

You have to wonder, are teams giving Manning too much respect? As Herm Edwards said, “Hello, you play to win the game.”

That means having faith that your defense can go out there and stop Manning from driving 60-70 yards for the winning score.

The Ravens have always had one of the better defenses in the league. They gave up just 17 points to the Colts. But you mean to tell me that Harbaugh had so little faith in his defense that he thought it would be worth it to throw that ball on third down instead of just running it and kicking a field goal? If I were Ray Lewis, I’d be having some words with my coach about now.

Con-Grad-ulations Raiders

Maybe Oakland finally figured it out. If you bench bums who don’t give a damn about your team, the morale will jump and you’ll get a solid all-around effort.

Bruce Gradkowski did not turn the Raiders into world champs all of a sudden. But he infused them with passion, and they all played like they had something to actually play for.

Gradkowski knows this is probably his last shot at a starting job in this league. I’m sure he probably realizes that the Raiders will likely try to bring in someone better in the offseason.

But that’s not going to stop him from playing like every down means something. Teams pick up on that kind of mentality.

While they beat Cincinnati, which was playing without Cedric Benson, they still played a dangerous Bengals team.

They got a Benson-esque game from rookie running back Bernard Scott and Carson Palmer even ran for two touchdowns.

So this was an impressive win for the Raiders. They could play a major spoiler role coming down the stretch with games against the likes of the Cowboys, Steelers and Broncos.

While Tom Cable probably won’t be keeping his job after this season (and frankly, nor should he), I applaud the move to Gradkowski. It’s hard to give up on a No.1 overall draft pick.

We see that going on across the Bay right now. The 49ers keep going to former No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith, despite his many failures. While most San Francisco fans would say Smith is the quarterback only because he’s the best of the worst on that team, there is still a stigma with these players.

People see what “could be” with a former top pick, not usually “what really is.”

Over the past five weeks Cal poly has thrown for 212 yards per game. Quarterback Tony Smith has passed for 849 yards in those games. Photo by Nick Camacho- Mustang Daily

Weber State forced Cal Poly’s potent offense to five turnovers in the first round of FCS playoffs last year. Quarterback Jonathan Dally threw a career-high five interceptions, one turnover less than the Mustangs had all year.

The Mustangs fell to Wildcats 35-49 in their final game of the 2008 season.

For the second consecutive year Weber State will be the final contest in the Cal Poly football season as the Mustangs (4-6) travel to take on the Wildcats (6-4) this Saturday.

Heading into the last week of the season, all post-season scenarios for the Mustangs are out the window, but the Wildcats still have a chance for a playoff spot.

“We’re going to try and disrupt what they’re trying to do,” Walsh said at Monday’s press conference. “ If they think they’re a playoff team, let’s go beat a playoff team.”

The Mustangs saw their streak of six-straight winning seasons end with a loss against South Dakota last week. The loss came despite Cal Poly’s best offensive output of the season. The Mustangs posted 48 points with 533 yards of total offense in their home finale.

But, the Mustangs also allowed a season high 50 points and 553 yards against them.

The Mustangs had been undefeated at home before last week’s loss and has yet to win a road game this season.

After starting the season 0-2, the Wildcats have gone 6-2 over the past eight games and remain alive in the race for an at-large playoff berth.

Led by junior quarterback Cameron Higgins the Wildcats average 29 points-per-game. Higgins has passed for 2,784 yards with 24 touchdowns this season.

Leading receivers Nick Toone and Mike Phillips combined for 1,499 yards receiving. Toone was named National and Big Sky Conference Special Teams Player of the Week with his 181 all-purpose yards in a 29-7 over Northern Arizona last week.

Leading rusher Trevyn Smith has rushed for 872 yards this season.

Cal Poly’s defense has struggled recently against the pass. Last week South Dakota quarterback Noah Shepard passed for 413 yards against a Mustang defense trying to get pressure on him.

“When you bring pressure you better get there,” Walsh said. “Because if you don’t it not fair to the players in coverage. Right now we’re not getting there and I think that’s making us a little gun-shy on how much we want to (blitz). ”

Cal Poly surrendered three plays of 35 yards or more that ended up in scores. Since lining up against South Dakota State, the Mustangs have allowed a total of 162 points excluding a contest against Dixie State, with a 32.4 point per game average.

“I don’t think we’re playing as fast on defense as we’ve played (earlier this season),” Walsh said. “(Against South Dakota we played) at a whole different speed than we are right now and I think that has a lot to do with the wear and tear of the season.”

Offensively Cal Poly showed flashes of a very dominant passing game. Quarterback Tony Smith connected on 24-of-35 passes for 407 yards and six scores — all career highs.

His number one target last Saturday was junior wide receiver Dominique Johnson who caught 13 passes for 273 yards and a school-record five touchdowns.

“He may have the best hands that I have ever had the opportunity to be around,” Walsh said. “We (challenged him) to make some plays and he made plays in the course of that game.”

In the past three weeks, the Mustang rushing attack hasn’t been effective as it has been during the course of most of the season.

Over the span of the past three weeks the Mustang rushing game has averaged 122 yards per game. In those games, Cal Poly has a 0-3 record. In their four wins this season Cal Poly has averaged 217 yards on the ground per per game.

Weber State has allowed 151 yards per game on the ground this season.

Kickoff is set for 11:05 a.m. Saturday at Stewart Stadium in Ogden, Utah.

The Silvey Lining is a sports column by journalism senior Scott Silvey. He is also a Mustang Daily copy editor.

After seven or eight weeks, an online reader was kind enough to point out that there is already a column named Tuesday Morning Quarterback and it’s on ESPN.com no less. So it is with a sad heart that I must change my column name back to ‘The Silvey Lining’ which is what it originally was when I was the Sports editor here.

Just when you think you’re the only one in the world creative enough to have a football column come out on Tuesday, they rip your heart out and stomp on it.

OK, so I wasn’t that hurt, but I did want to avoid all the inevitable plagiarism concerns.

But speaking of changing names, one NFL player who might want to change his name to Roger Craig is Tennessee running back Chris Johnson.

Craig, a former 49ers running back was the first player in league history to have more than 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in a single season.

On Sunday, Johnson had 132 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving in a route of the Buffalo Bills.

In just nine games, Johnson already has more receiving yardage than he did all of last season.

Well past the halfway mark of the season, Johnson has got to be the offensive player of the year. But I would suggest that if the Titans manage to get anywhere near .500, even if it is Vince Young who is the visible difference, that Johnson should be considered as an MVP candidate even on a losing team.

He’s already over 1,000 yards rushing this year and he’s averaging more than six yards per carry on a team that until a few weeks ago had a very minimal passing threat. He’s running against eight or sometimes even nine men in the box, and he is still the best running back in the league.

Spotlight too bright on Cutler?

Jay Cutler should be used to the spotlight by now. After all, he thrust himself into the limelight faster than “balloon boy” after demanding to be traded during the offseason.

But when it comes to playing during primetime, he certainly doesn’t seem like he’s accustomed to the bright lights.

In the three games Chicago has played on either Sunday night or Thursday night football, Cutler is a combined 73 of 131 for 884 yards, three touchdowns and 11 interceptions (including a career-high five on Thursday in San Francisco) and the Bears are 0-3 in those games.

Now maybe two of those interceptions on Thursday were Devin Hester’s fault. The speedy defensive back turned wide receiver slipped on one route making it appear that Cutler had thrown a nice pass straight to a 49er defender and on another play, he refused to bowl over the referee who appeared to be playing bump and run coverage by stepping into Hester’s path while he was running the route. Instead, Hester slowed and tried to go around the referee, but Cutler threw it too far in front for the pick.

I guess when your number one receiver was a cornerback two years ago; you probably shouldn’t expect great things, regardless of who you have playing quarterback.

Cutler and the Bears will get another chance to redeem themselves this Sunday night when they host the Eagles in another primetime affair.

Orton actually the key to success

Since we’re talking about Jay Cutler, we might as well also talk about the person he will forever be linked to – Kyle Orton.

These guys are going to be compared forever, and while Cutler is putting up more yardage than any Bears quarterback in recent history, it’s starting to look like the Herschel Walker deal all over again.

Who knew that given some talented receivers and an amazing offensive line that Orton could be so dominating.

I was convinced that anyone could come in and play quarterback for the Denver Broncos – hell you or I could have done it – that is, until I saw Chris Simms yesterday.

Give the Redskins defense some credit, they have one of the better pass defenses in the NFL this year, but Orton was lighting them up in the first half. By halftime, Orton had two touchdown passes and had thrown for more yardage than the Redskins give up in a game.

The ultimate game manager, Orton even made some impressive deep throws that didn’t seem possible when he was with Chicago. It wasn’t like the Redskins were actually covering Brandon Marshall, so he didn’t really need to work it into a seam, but still.

Orton left with an ankle injury and that’s when the Chris Simms express rolled into the station. Unfortunately for Broncos fans, it never quite made it out of the station after the second half started.

Simms was 3 of 13 for 23 yards and an interception. Some of those throws were incomplete to wide open receivers, including a fourth and 10 play at the end of the game to keep the team alive.

But let’s give credit to the Redskins. They called a fake field goal two plays in a row on a 4th and 20 no less. After they lined up for it the first time, they realized they had just 10 men on the field and had to call a time out. So they came out again with a full compliment of players, faked it again and punter Hunter Smith threw a bomb across the field for a touchdown.

You have to wonder, did Jim Zorn call that play with the mindset that he’s going to be fired at the end of the season anyway, or did Sherman Lewis come up with that play while sitting in his Bingo parlor with a bunch of his friends?

Either way, it was just crazy enough to work.

Tuesday Morning Quarterback is a sports column by journalism senior Scott Silvey. He is also a Mustang Daily copy editor.

A number of players and teams stepped up this week to redeem themselves, showing that they aren’t holding on to the past.

After all, experts say that to survive in the NFL players must have a short memory.

“Hey Vince Young, forget about how the Titans pulled you to start a quarterback who is old enough to remember going to the premiere of Gone with the Wind,” they might say.

Young moved his career record to 19-11 in a win over San Francisco. The 49ers were starting a quarterback of their own who was seeking some redemption.

Alex Smith didn’t quite get it done in the clutch as the Titans held on after he threw a pick six while trying to drive down for the tying score. Still, I think Smith earned the job for at least another week. That late-game interception wasn’t really his fault as it came off a strange deflection straight up into the air.

But the story of the game was Young’s performance.

Kerry Collins was supposed to be the game manager — yet Young went 12 of 19 for 172 yards with no turnovers. He added a rushing touchdown, which is one of the things people thought he might do well when drafted.

Still, Young has a long way to go before his predictions of winning a Super Bowl and going to the hall of fame come true.

Battle of the Bay

The Buccaneers are a team that came into Sunday’s game against Green Bay looking for some redemption. Hell, I’m sure they were just looking to find any redeeming qualities the team might possess.

I defy you to name more than five players on Tampa Bay (aside from quarterbacks, since they always seem to have 10-15 on the roster). You can’t do it, can you? I don’t even think new head coach Raheem Morris can name more than a couple of his players. I’m sure he just calls them by number.

Tampa Bay was even wearing those hideous orange cream uniforms. When I heard earlier last week that they were going to wear them I thought they were just channeling the ghost of the infamous Yuccaneer past. If you’re going to be bad, look hideous doing it as well I guess.

Making his first NFL start, Josh Freeman threw three touchdown passes and the previously winless Buccaneers put a fourth quarter beatdown on Green Bay.

While Freeman completed less than half his passes, he was playing against a Green Bay defense that forced Jay Cutler into four interceptions on opening day. Freeman made the smart plays, avoiding the pressure and throwing the ball away.

Five years in the making

I’ve never been accused of being a Chargers fan, but I was pretty peeved when Eli Manning and his father threw a hissy fit to avoid having to go to San Diego on draft day five years ago.

It was John Elway-esque. Elway refused to play for the then-Baltimore Colts, saying he would go play baseball instead. He forced the Colts to trade him to Denver, and the rest is history.

The selfishness of many professional athletes boggles me, including Manning. To me, that’s the defining moment in his career thus far, not the Super Bowl win. (The defining moment of that Super Bowl will always be David Tyree’s insane catch.)

Obviously no one wants to play for a losing team. But you man up and accept it, especially when you’re playing for a half million dollar check every Sunday.

So when Manning and Phillip Rivers met again five years later, I found myself hoping Eli got his comeuppance.

It looked bleak for San Diego, as LaDainian Tomlinson had just 22 yards rushing to lead the team. But Rivers led a dramatic late drive to give the Chargers a one-point win.

Score one for the good guys. But something tells me Manning wouldn’t give it all up to go back and take his selfishness back. He’s probably laughing his way to the bank in the back of a limousine while polishing his championship ring right now.

Wild no more

If there is a team in the NFL that doesn’t need any redeeming, it’s the Patriots. They win an average of what seems like 14 games a season.

But they let some games get away last year; particularly a game against Miami where the newly-coined Wildcat offense went berserk for 38 points and Bill Belichick’s head exploded like in the movie “Scanners.”

And although New England would win the rematch, the Wildcat again would pose problems.

I’m sure Belichick spent the majority of the offseason figuring out how to stop the Wildcat. He didn’t need to work at all on his offense with Tom Brady coming back and with two of the best receivers in the league, he was left to ponder the crazy offense.

While the Dolphins threw in a wrinkle this year with rookie quarterback Pat White often times leading it — the Patriots didn’t really let it get off the ground this time.

With the exception of a 16-play, 11-minute drive in the third quarter, the Wildcat sputtered most times in a 10-point loss.

But you know who I feel sorry for in this equation? Chad Henne. He runs on and off the field five or six times per drive. He’s probably out of stamina by the time the first third down of a drive rolls around. And then half the time he gets on the field, he sprints out to a wide receiver position where he is promptly ignored by the defensive back who is already cheating away from Henne towards the line of scrimmage.

Just once I want to see them throw a wide receiver screen to Henne, or have him run a route.

Ronnie Brown can actually throw the ball, and Pat White was a quarterback, so why not give it a shot?

Tuesday Morning Quarterback is a sports column by journalism senior Scott Silvey. He is also a Mustang Daily copy editor.

There are two kinds of wakeup calls in life. A good wakeup call occurs when you hit rock bottom — say, losing to the Oakland Raiders — before you realize that you’ve made some mistakes and start responding to adversity.

The Philadelphia Eagles did just that on Sunday, pounding the New York Giants into pudding. The game was over by halftime when the Eagles led 30-7.

Now, it might just be my Cal Poly bias, but Eli Manning looks like he could use a certain 6-foot-6 receiver out there. The Giants were one of the worst red zone teams in the league last year. This year they’re even worse at 28th and despite throwing the ball to six or seven receivers, former Mustangs receiver Ramses Barden has yet to get a chance to prove himself on the field.

While the Eagles responded to their wakeup call of a few weeks ago, the Denver Broncos just received one of the negative variety.

Sometimes when you’re riding high nothing can go wrong. You’re invincible, on top of the world — and then reality brings you crashing down. You get a wakeup call that convinces you that you’re not the amazing team you thought you were.

But aside from the people drinking the Bronco Kool-Aid and the team itself, did anyone actually think this Denver team would go into Baltimore and leave with a win?

I think Kyle Orton averaged 0.01 yards per pass attempt in the game. At some point, that conservative playcalling isn’t going to work — like when you’re down by 20 points.

Still, we’re halfway through the season and Orton’s only interception is to Randy Moss. And I’ll give him some leeway on that, because he probably traded for Moss in Madden 10 (doesn’t everyone?) and thought he was at home playing Xbox 360 momentarily.

NFL chickens out versus World Series

Was anyone else annoyed when they flipped to NBC for the Sunday night game and realized it was cancelled because they didn’t want to compete against the World Series?

I certainly was. Look, I enjoy baseball, especially during the postseason, but can I make up my own mind on what I watch?

Sunday night football is like an American tradition. It’s like having turkey for dinner on Thanksgiving – you just do it, even if you can’t stand turkey. And you continue to stuff down that turkey regardless of how bloated you get.

Just like I watch the Sunday night games every week, regardless of what two potentially terrible teams play and I watch it to the bitter end.

So if it’s a Sunday night in November, chances are, I’m watching a football game. Instead, I was forced to watch what luckily turned out to be a great baseball game.

Even the notoriously feisty NHL punked out and didn’t play in the evening. Sadly I think I’m the only one west of the Mississippi who still watches hockey anyway, so I guess that San Jose tilt with Carolina didn’t drop much in the ratings.

Still, can you imagine if the NFL had put Favrebowl II up against the World Series? I think we’d find out really quick where the hearts of American fans lie.

Everyones Favre-ite quarterback

Speaking of Favrebowl II … Ok, we get it Brett. You’re the best. We got it. The Packers should have never traded you. You could still be quarterbacking for them. We completely understand.

Now that you’ve proved that point and won’t be seeing them again this year, can you please revert back to the borderline average quarterback you’d become over the past few years?

Seriously, this ‘feel-good’ story doesn’t leave me feeling very good. Now, I’m a Chicago Bears fan, so my hatred of both Green Bay and Minnesota runs deep, but I couldn’t help feeling just a little bit sorry for Aaron Rodgers as he was getting pummeled towards the end of that game on Sunday.

He was doing his best Favre impersonation even. He’d take a huge hit from someone, get up limping and then continue to play before taking another huge shot. He even threw some terrible balls into double coverage just like Favre. Then he’d take a hit and stay down for a minute, then get up and come out for the next series.

Does anyone even doubt after all this that Favre played that year in New York just so he could get to Minnesota and do exactly this to Green Bay?

Well hats off to you Brett, you win my vindictive ex-employee of the century award.

Game of competitive losing

As I was scanning the scoreboard this morning while watching the Bears game I saw one score that piqued my interests for all the wrong reasons.

It read: St. Louis 3, Detroit 2.

Now don’t get me wrong, I was already watching one of the worst teams in NFL history already (the Browns), but I almost couldn’t resist turning it over to two teams with a combined 1-12 record coming into the game.

Wouldn’t it have been poetic justice for two horrible teams to end a game with a 3-2 score? It would have been like the Cardinals beating the Tigers in an interleague baseball game.

Like many horror movies, the game was so bad that it turned out to be unintentionally good.

How many times have you seen a guy run out of the end zone only to run back in and get tackled for a safety? It was brilliant.

As Deion Sanders remarked on the NFL Network, “Doesn’t this seem like a AAA-level football game?”

The best quarterback on the field was St. Louis kicker Josh Brown who threw a 57-yard touchdown pass, throwing against his body while running. He was the only player to throw a touchdown.

Ultimately, Steven Jackson led the Rams to their first win in 17 games. Jackson is second in the NFL in rushing on a team that is unlikely to win another game this season. He must be in some serious back pain having to carry an entire franchise on his shoulders.