NFL Sunday Recap - The Future and The Past

Two games this weekend highlighted the how far some players have come, and how far some still have to go:

Vikings @ Cardinals:
In the battle of the two oldest QBs to ever face each other, you had the amazing play of Brett Favre versus Kurt Warner in his first game back after sitting one out with  a concussion. So does Favre and his records win? Or Warner after having an extra week of rest? Well, coming in, it looked like a win for the Vikes. Favre has been playing some of the best football of his career, and had the team at 10-1, one game out of home-field advantage in the playoffs. With Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin on his team, how could he lose? Its December, thats how! Since 2005, Favre has thrown just 13 TDs against 31 picks after December 1st. Unfortunately for him, this game was played on December 6th. His 2 scores against 2 picks in this game wouldn't help the team, but they weren't the only problem. The running game couldn't get things moving either, as Peterson only had 13 carries, and barley averaged a yard per.

Meanwhile, Warner has been slowly creeping up on the league. After he and his team struggled with consistency issues early in the season, they now have a firm grip on their division. Since throwing the ball to the wrong team five times in a 34-21 loss to the Panthers, Warner has thrown 12 TDs and only committed one turnover(a lost fumble). The Cards are 4-0 in those games, which includes last nights 31-17 win. After talk of Matt Leinart taking over early this season, Warner seems to have become the anti-Favre, and could end the season with an outside shot as MVP.
Buccaneers @ Panthers:
From a game with the NFL's two most experienced QBs, we go to one where the starters have a combined 9 starts between them. Thats second only to the Matt Sanchez-Chad Henne battle in Week 4 for least starts this season. And just like you might expect, not much happened in the passing game. In fact, not much happened at all in this mistake-filled game. For the Bucs, Josh Freeman looked like he might finally be the answer after Plans A and B were failures. The teams only win came with him under center, and his only bad game came against the Saints in his third start. Until now. Throwing the ball 44 times is tough on any QB, and a rookie is expected to make mistakes in that many attempts. But 5 picks? When you have 44 pass attempts to 26 rush attempts with a rookie QB, thats a recipe for disaster.

If Freeman was played like crap, then Matt Moore played like vanilla. In his first start since 2007, his job was basically to manage the game. He gave the ball to Jonathan Stewart 26 times for 120 yards, had only 20 pass attempts for 161 yards, and turned the ball over once. The only non-field goal score of the game came on a Stewart run, and Moore just had to not play as badly as Jake Delhomme did and he'd come out a winner. Well, he passed that test with flying colors, and the Panthers won, 16-6. In 20 years, maybe these guys will have had the careers of Favre and Warner. They have to start somewhere.

Rookie Roundup: Using a complex scoring system to rank two major rookies for the season

Mark Sanchez: 7/15, 104 yards, 1 TD, 2 sacks, 8  rush yard, 1 fumble
Points: 3, 59.15 overall

Matthew Stafford: 11/26, 143 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT, 3 sacks, -2 rush yards
Points: -8.05, 69.15 overall

Week 13 Winner: Sanchez

What Have We Learned?: Three things we can take away from this weekend
You can go home again
Michael Vick returned to Atlanta for his first game there since going to prison. Eagles coach Andy Reid made him a captain for the game, and he led his team out of the tunnel to a mixed reaction of cheers and boos. Fortunately for him, these weren't just token gestures. He saw a decent amount of playing time, including red zone appearances that saw him score TDs passing and rushing. They were his first scores since 2006, and were significant in the Eagle's 34-7 rout of the Falcons.

The Cowboy Collapse has begun
The Cowboys are terrible in December, but so is Eli Manning in December at home. So the Giants-Cowboys game at Giants Stadium looked like a recipe for disaster. And it was, for the 'Boys. Sure, Tony Romo may have gone 41/55 for 392 yards and 3 TDs, but thats about the only thing they had going for them. The running game couldn't get moving, and the defense showed no signs of stopping anything from the Giants offense. Brandon Jacobs, previously known only for his ability to run the ball, had a 74 yard reception for a score, Dominic Hixon's 79 yard punt return would add one on special teams, and the Cowboys couldn't recover an onside kick late in the game that sealed it. This is the first time the Giants have swept the Cowboys since 2004. The run to missing the playoffs in Dallas has begun.

If they had won more Super Bowls, the Colts could have been the team of the decade
With their win over the Titans, three things happened. First, the Colts improved to 12-0. Second, they swept Tennessee for the first time since 2005. Third, they tied the Patriots record for consecutive regular season wins. It seems like every year, the Colts have double digit wins, lock up their division early, and flirt with going unbeaten. And every year except 2006, they lose in the playoffs without even sniffing the Super Bowl. The Patriots and their undefeated regular season and three Super Bowl wins in four tries will probably be NFL team of the decade. With a couple more wins in the playoffs, though, that title could have easily belonged to the Colts.