NFL WEEK 12 RECAP

Another week in the books, and another quick turnaround, with Week 13 starting on Thursday:

BEST GAME OF WEEK 12: I'm not sure there was a best game in Week 12 - the Colts and Chargers might have been the best of the bunch. Giants-Cardinals was good, too - and would have been better had the Cardinals guy caught the onside kick. And Patriots-Dolphins was pretty good...but this week was a bit short on a best game.

BEST PERFORMANCE WEEK 12: You'd think there would be a clear cut favorite in a week where two teams scored 50+ points, but I'll go with the guy whose team scored 48. Matt Cassel threw for 400 yards for the second straight week (415), had three touchdowns versus 1 interception, and also rushed for a TD. He's creating quite a payday for himself for next year.

WORST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 12: More candidates here than, say, the best game of the week. While I'd like to give it to the Eagles' offense for not being able to tackle Ed Reed (whose record-setting 108-yard interception return was not only bogus because he should have been tackled but which also gave my fantasy opponent a 5-point win rather than a 1-point win for me, costing me any shot at the playoffs...whew, it felt good to get that off my chest), there are other more deserving candidates. Such as the entire Rams team, who never showed up to play the Bears, or the Jaguars, who were down 14-0 before I even had the remote in my hand. But for individual performance, I'll go with Brady Quinn, who went 8-for-18 with just 94 yards and 2 interceptions, losing a winnable game.

BEST GAME IN WEEK 13: Steelers-Patriots is intriguing to get another guage of where those two teams are at, especially from the standpoint of a Jets fan. But I think of all the NFL games, Carolina-Green Bay is an interesting NFC matchup, as well as Giants-Redskins. The Giants are amazing each week - a division matchup is a good test for them and this is also a huge measuring stick for Washington.

BEST PERFORMANCE PREDICTED IN WEEK 13: I'm going way out on a limb here, and I'm going to serve up a Thanksgiving surprise. Something in my gut (I always listen to my gut when Thanksgiving rolls around) tells me Detroit is going to play Tennessee tough on Thursday. And I think I'm going to pick them to win. They're desperate to get a win, this is their annual show-off game, and they're not going to want to embarrass themselves. Plus, they started out strong against Tampa Bay on Sunday before folding. Maybe this week they play a full game. It's a tall order against Tennessee, but I bet there's a letdown for them after they lost their first game. So I'm going to say Lions 27, Titans 24, as the best performance in Week 13.
-Last Week: I said Tony Romo for 303 yards and 2 touchdowns. He had 341 yards and 3 touchdowns. Usually I overestimate, this time I was under. But I was right about him having a big bounceback week, so I'll take credit there.