Week 15 NFL Recap: What We Learned

A look, now, at the biggest NFL football betting storylines from Week 15:

Upsets Galore. Just a remarkable string of events Sunday afternoon, including a couple of the bigger upsets of the season. But before all of that, a tip of the cap to Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers. In one of the greatest comebacks we’ve seen in a long time, Big Ben threw for 503 yards and three TDs without an interception in a wild 37-36 win over Green Bay. Only three QBs in NFL history have gone for over 500 yards and three scores without a pick in a single game — Roethlisberger, Y.A. Tittle and Warren Moon. Pretty fine company there.

Oakland 20, Denver 19: The Broncos came into this one as a 13.5-point home favourite over the beleaguered Raiders. With former backup QB Bruce Gradkowski (who’d been named the starter two weeks ago) out with a knee injury, third-stringer Charlie Frye was inserted into Oakland’s starting lineup. When he went down with injury (head) in the fourth quarter,  ex-starter JaMarcus Russell stepped in and rallied the Raiders to an improbable come-from-behind win. Just to complete the QB carousel, former first-round pick JP Losman — whom the Raiders signed late last week as an insurance policy — had to play one snap in the fourth quarter when Russell got the wind knocked out of him on a Vonnie Holliday hit.  Despite this quarterbacking mess, the Raiders still found a way to win. Or, more correctly, the Broncos found a way to lose. Breakdowns in coverage, bad penalties and an inability for the offense to convert in the red zone ultimately doomed Denver.

Tampa Bay 24, Seattle 7: The Seahawks were seven-point home favourites, and with good reason. Coming into this contest, the Bucs had not scored a touchdown since the third quarter of their game on November 29th against Atlanta. Of course, Tampa quickly reversed field in that regard, ripping off 24 consecutive points against the Seahawks in what has to be considered one of — if not the worst — Seattle losses of the decade.

Carolina 26, Minnesota 7: Minnesota rolled into Carolina as a nine-point road favourite, but was rolled up by Steve Smith and the Panthers. Smith hauled in a season-high 157 yards, torching the Vikings’ secondary all evening and forcing pundits to ask some serious questions about Minnesota as a contender in the NFC. The once-dynamic Vikings offense has gone cold as Brett Favre has thrown four interceptions to just three TDs in his last three games. Meanwhile, Adrian Peterson hasn’t run for over 100 yards since Week 10 vs. Detroit.

And then, the oh-so-close… Detroit came into Sunday as a whopping 14-point home underdog but nearly pulled one out against the NFC West champion Arizona Cardinals before losing, 31-24. Down 17-0 at the half, Detroit rallied for 17 points in the third quarter behind the play of QB Drew Stanton, who will likely start the remaining two games in place of the ineffective Daunte Culpepper. Detroit has covered two of its last three contests…St. Louis nearly pulled a rabbit out, narrowly losing 16-13 to Houston. The Texans came in as an 11-point road favourite for (this is unofficial, but…) what has to be the first time in franchise history, but had major issues running the ball against the Rams, registering just 52 rushing yards.