The San Diego Chargers are finally playing well, while the Buffalo Bills have completely lost their way.

Behind Philip Rivers’ three touchdown passes, two of which went to Antonio Gates, the Chargers kept their playoff hopes barely alive in their 37-10 victory over the Bills Sunday, while eliminating the Bills from playoff contention for the 12^th straight season.

The Chargers have won two straight following a six game losing skid to move to 6-7, but a few minutes after their game ended the Broncos beat Chicago in overtime to move into first place atop the AFC West at 8-5. The Raiders are still ahead of the Chargers as well, despite losing to Green Bay sitting at a 7-6 record.

“Until they say we’re done, there’s always a chance,” said safety Eric Weddle, “Even if we were done, we’d be playing our hearts out.”

The Chargers will have to win out and hope they get some help from other teams to have a shot at winning the AFC West, but it won’t be easy as the Ravens, in a divisional race of their own, are up next for the Chargers.

For Buffalo, this marked their sixth straight loss and the final nail in the coffin on a season that started out with so much promise. The Bills started 5-2, but haven’t won in over a month and a half.

“I think the last few weeks we made some progress. Today obviously we took a step backward,” Buffalo quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said. “We didn’t do anything well.”

Both teams came into the game desperate for a win to keep their seasons alive and the Chargers put their foot on the gas pedal and never let up.

Rivers finished with 240 yards on 24 of 33 passing and running back Ryan Matthews continued his good running with 114 yards on 20 carries.

The Bills tried to make it a game when Rivers fumbled a ball that was recovered by Bryan Scott in the end zone for a touchdown that pulled the Bills close at 16-10, but San Diego kept their composure and with a successful fake punt by Weddle, the Chargers were able to punch it in on Antonio Gates’ two yard reception.

“We had a very small window to make that a game and we didn’t stop that drive when they faked the punt,” Chan Gailey said. “We didn’t stop that drive and we couldn’t get anything going offensively consistently.”

After the touchdown on Buffalo’s first play, Fitzpatrick was picked off and it was returned by Steve Gregory for the touchdown to make the score 30-10 and seal the game.

Fitzpatrick finished the game 13 of 34 for 176 yards and two interceptions a far cry from the numbers he was putting up at the beginning of the year.

San Diego will need some help from other teams if they hope to make the playoffs trailing in the AFC West. Their schedule also doesn’t lend itself to them as they face the Ravens, Lions, and Raiders to finish the year. The Bills, now looking to play spoiler have the Dolphins, Broncos, and Patriots remaining on their schedule.

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To the typical NFL fan, Thanksgiving traditions, such as eating turkey and rejoicing in familial love, will always fall short of watching the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys host back-to-back games at their respective stadiums.

This year’s match-ups managed not to disappoint as the Lions and their undefeated division Packers rival remained scoreless throughout most of the first half before the Packers began to break the game open shortly after halftime Aaron Rodgers had no problem picking apart a depleted Lions secondary, which was missing one of its starting cornerbacks, as well as a very underrated safety in Louis Delmas.

Due to the relatively one-sided nature of this game, the main story line that came along with it mostly pertains to Ndamukong Suh’s ejection. As most people know by now, Suh’s ejection came after aggressively stomping Packers linemen Evan Dietrich-Smith shortly after the play had ended.

The first thing most people would think upon seeing this is that it certainly is not the first time that Suh has been involved in an incident with an opposing player, leading one to question if he can ever learn from his mistakes.

However, what makes the incident even more absurd is that it happened just days after Sports Center ran a segment reporting that he and Lions running back, Jahvid Best, donated equipment to a high school football team that had all of their equipment stolen.

This was certain to come off as an attempt to clean up Suh’s image after he had previously established himself as one of the NFL’s dirtiest players. However, after his ejection on Thanksgiving, he has clearly cemented himself into the the dreaded thug stereotype.

The odd thing about this is, disregarding Suh’s on-the-field shenanigans, he actually appears to be a well-spoken person in interviews and press conferences.  Yet, for whatever reason, the intensity that goes along with being a defensive tackle in the NFL seems to overcome him whenever he is on the field.

With this in mind, it now remains to be seen whether or not Ndamukong Suh can truly clean up his image or if his reputation is a product of some sort of compulsive behavior that he is incapable of controlling.

Moving on to the Cowboys-Dolphins game afterwards, the excitement came down to the last second of the game. Both offenses struggled early on with two early interceptions from Tony Romo, who was able to rebound significantly throughout the rest of the game, in addition to DeMarco Murray having yet another solid performance despite the poor run blocking from the offensive line.

Despite this rebound, the Cowboys secondary had a difficult time keeping Matt Moore in check throughout the second half of the game after holding them to just 6 points at halftime. The Dolphins’ first touchdown drive came after Terence Newman committed a pass interference penalty, which involved Newman practically strangling Brandon Marshall on a pass which placed the ball on the 1 yard line.

While Terence Newman certainly showed that his speed is not what it used to be on that particular play, he should take no blame for the decision to commit what appeared to be a deliberate penalty. Brandon Marshall clearly had Newman beat on the play with Abram Elam being fairly slow to provide help over the top.

This eventually proved to be a microcosm for the Cowboys’ second half struggles on the back end. Even after the Cowboys answered back with a touchdown of their own to take a 17-16 lead, Abram Elam managed to commit a penalty of his own to keep the Dolphins’ ensuing drive alive.

It obviously did not help that Orlando Scandrick and Alan Ball were both having some difficulty covering the Dolphins’ receivers, which led to a field goal that gave the Dolphins a late 4th quarter lead. After this happened, the outcome of the game became dependent on which Tony Romo would decide to show up, the mentally tough-clutch version or the reputed choker.

Luckily, for the Cowboys, Romo made some key throws in the face of pressure to put the Cowboys in field goal range before Dan Bailey made a last second field goal to give the Cowboys a relieving one point win over the Dolphins.

Although the win puts the Cowboys in first place of the NFC East, there is obviously some area of concern such as the aforementioned secondary woes. Terence Newman has not aged quite as well as anyone would have liked, while Scandrick and Ball are both average cornerbacks at best.

A game in which a quarterback such as Matt Moore was able to have a great statistical performance is, without question, something that should only highlight these issues, even in spite of the victory.

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For the first time in almost a year, the Miami Dolphins gave their home crowd something to cheer about. Reggie Bush scored the clinching touchdown and emphatically threw the ball into the stands. Bush scored twice and Rex Grossman, who got the start over John Beck this week, was picked off twice as the Dolphins cruised to a 20-9 victory over the Washington Redskins.

This was the second straight victory for a Dolphins team that started the season 0-7. ”It was nice to come in this locker room and celebrate a win,” coach Tony Sparano said. “I see 2-7 now as a hill but not a mountain. That’s how our players see it, too.” The Dolphins had a small 10-6 lead going into the half, but were able to put together 70 and 81 yard scoring drives to pull away as they held off any chance of a fourth-quarter comeback by the Redskins.

“The first seven games we were kind of in disarray,” Bush said. “We were trying to find our identity. The difference now is we’re playing 60 minutes and finishing at the end of games.”

Miami was up 13-9 with Grossman driving down the field to the 10 early in the fourth when he threw a pass right at linebacker Karlos Dansby who made the interception to end the drive. The Dolphins then came out and drove 81 yards for the touchdown on a 18 yard run by Reggie Bush, who finished with 47 yards on 14 carries

Vontae Davis, who returned from his one game benching, added another interception. Matt Moore, who had a terrific game against Kansas City last week, had an interception and a fumble but was 20 of 29 for 209 yards. The Dolphins went 8 for 14 on third down despite coming in as the worst in the NFL.

The Redskins dropped their fifth in a row after starting the season promisingly. “It’s frustrating being 3-6,” Grossman said. “We’re better than that.”Grossman was 21 of 32 for 215 yards and two picks. Grossman was the surprise starter this week after he was benched four weeks ago in favor of John Beck.

Shanahan said it had to do with the injuries to the offensive line that he decided to go with Grossman who’s more experienced. ”I thought Rex gave us a chance to win,” Shanahan said. “If you have this many guys go down, I didn’t want to go with the inexperienced guy and throw him to the wolves.”

The Redskins’ three scoring drives netted only 48 yards as they were set up close by two turnovers, but had to settle each time for field goals. Washington reached the Miami 20, 26, 5, and 10 yard lines. Graham Gano also missed two field goals form 50 and 49 yards out. The interception by Kevin Barnes set up the Redskins at the Miami 5, but they lost three yards on three plays and settled for a field goal.

On Ryan Kerrigan’s sack forced fumble the Redskins were again set up close at the Miami 24, but again settled for just three points. ”You get into the red zone three times, you’ve got to make plays to win the game,” Shanahan said. The Dolphins look to continue their new found success when the Bills come to town on a two game losing streak.

Washington heads home looking to snap the losing streak against division rivals the Dallas Cowboys winners of two straight.

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The Packers are again at the top of the Power Rankings this week as they remain undefeated. The Ravens and Steelers switch spots after Joe Flacco led a late drive to win the game at Heinz Field. The Bears, Texans, and Bengals all cracked the top 10 this week with the Patriots and Bills both losing and falling out of the top ten.

The big winner this week is the Dallas Cowboys who jump from 21^st to 15^th, with a win over Seattle to stay within striking distance of the Giants who have a tough schedule coming up. Another big move was the Jets who while only moving from 13^th to 11^th with their win over Buffalo, have jumped both the Patriots and Bills to be the highest ranked AFC East team.

The big losers this week are the New England Patriots who fell from 6^th to 13^th after their second straight loss. The Bills also saw themselves fall from 14^th to 8^th after getting beat at home by the Jets. The Chiefs dropped from 21^st to 16^th after their four game win streak was snapped by the winless Miami Dolphins in a big way.

The Cardinals, who last week fell behind the Rams, switched with the Rams again this week after beating St. Louis in OT on an amazing punt return by rookie Patrick Peterson. Rounding out the bottom of the rankings again this week are the Indianapolis Colts who lost again this week and look like they’ll be the front runners for Andrew Luck in next year’s draft.

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It’s the team that nobody saw coming. For the past few years, the Bills have been the laughing stock of the AFC East. They were the one team bringing down a division with the power house Patriots and the better than average Jets and Dolphins.

Not anymore. The Bills have quietly been putting together a good team and this year, we are finally seeing just how good this team and Harvard graduate QB Ryan Fitzpatrick can be. The Bills realize this and recently gave him a big contract extension of 6 years $59 million, locking up their franchise man for years to come. That extension is bad news for the rest of the AFC East.

He’s been worth every penny of that, having a career year, and has the Bills sitting in a 1^st place tie atop the AFC East with the New England Patriots at 5-2. He’s ranked 6^th in the league in quarter back, rating at 97.8 for the season. The Bills are third in the league, scoring 30.1 points per game this year.

While only being ranked 13^th overall in passing at 239.6 yards a game, the running game has received a boost from their QB play ranking 5^th overall at 140.6 a game. Running back Fred Jackson, who is having an MVP type season, is fourth in the league in yards with 721 and is ranked fourth among running backs in receiving with just over 350 yards.

He’s tied for first with Matt Forte of runs over 20 yards ranks second in yards per game with 103.0 and is fourth in yards per carry at 5.5, but is second in running backs to LeSean McCoy. DeMarco Murray and Michael Vick are one and two, but have half the carries of McCoy and Jackson. Jackson also has zero fumbles this season so far.

While the Bills defense isn’t one of the better in the league, they still put fear into a team as they lead the league in interceptions with 18 and three touchdowns off interceptions. This defense has potential the potential to be real solid in the coming years if they can keep everyone healthy. They showed this last week shutting out the Washington Redskins 23-0 and racking up 9 sacks in the process.

To the Bills credit, they’ve also been doing this against quality opponents. They’ve beaten Kansas City and Oakland, both who are tied for first with San Diego for the AFC West all sitting at 4-3. They’ve beaten the Patriots once already and beat a good Philadelphia Eagles team who has recently been turning things around after a horrible start.

They took care of business against an obviously weaker Washington team, shutting them out last week. The Bills only losses come at the hands of the Bengals and the Giants. Both these teams are atop of their divisions and have a 5-2 record. The Bills should have more respect than they do.

Consider that the Patriots have a worse defense in football, giving up 424.1 yards a game compared to the Bills who are 385.9, the Patriots are considered playoff contenders and potential Super Bowl threats. The same could be said for the Packers who rank below the Bills in yards per game giving up 391.0 and currently hold the 31^st spot in opponents passing yards per game, yet they’re widely regarded as being the best team in football.

These teams are led by their quarterbacks and Fitzpatrick has proven he can do that. Add to that a more potent running attack than either Brady or Rodgers has and this is a team that can go deep into the playoffs.

If that’s not enough for you, think about the New Orleans Saints team that won the Super Bowl a few years ago. They are very much like this Bills team in that they have a strong quarterback, a high scoring offense, and a defense that isn’t that great, but forces turnovers and scores points.

This Bills team is as good as they’re record and play this season has been. In a quarterback driven league they’ve found their man in Ryan Fitzpatrick. They are proving they can score points with anyone in the league and if teams with good quarterbacks and bad defenses can be in the hunt for the Super Bowl the same should be said for the Bills.

The fan base has been waiting patiently for this time to come and it has come quicker than expected, but not as a shock at all. So the next time you go to dismiss the Bills as a top team in this league, think about what they’re doing and show them some respect.

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Besides the Packers which are again atop the Power Rankings this week, there is some shake up near the top of this week’s rankings with some big losses and gains. The 49ers move up into the number 2 spot sitting at 6-1 atop the NFC West. The Steelers, after their big win over the Patriots, move up to number 3 and are the top team in the AFC just ahead of division rivals Baltimore who moved from 8^th to 5^th.

The Patriots and Saints saw themselves drop four spots from 2^nd and 3^rd to 6^th and 7^th respectively after bad losses this week. The Chargers are the big losers this week dropping all the way from 7^th down 15^th after a loss for the 2^nd straight week this time coming at the hands of division rivals the Chiefs.

The Eagles saw themselves jump four spots from 22^nd to 18^th after an impressive victory over the Cowboys. The Vikings also saw themselves making a jump from 28^th to 23^rd behind a second impressive game from rookie QB Christian Ponder and another stud performance from Adrian Peterson.

The Rams who got their first win of the season against the Saints saw themselves leapfrog the Cardinals who blew a 23-6 halftime lead against the Ravens. Bringing up the rear of the rankings again this week are the Dolphins at 31 and the Colts at 32 as both teams failed to get a win again and don’t look very good.

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The Packers top the Power Rankings again this week with another impressive performance from Aaron Rodgers. The Steelers make a push for the top jumping up to 5^th, and with a win over number 2 New England can jump up next week. The Texans, Falcons, and Chiefs all jumped up 5 spots to 12^th, 14^th, and 19^th respectively.

The Ravens saw themselves drop from 3^rd to 8^th after a horrible loss to the Jaguars. The Raiders dropped 7 spots from 9th to 16th after trouble at the QB position post Carson Palmer trade gave them a loss going into their bye week. The Bucs also dropped 5 spots from 12^th to 17^th after getting whooped in London by the Bears.

The Colts again round out the bottom of the rankings this week after getting obliterated by the Saints 62-7 and they don’t look poised to move anytime soon.

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The Packers still hold the top spot in this week’s Power Rankings. The 49ers and Giants are the big winners both jumping five spots up to 4^th and 10^th respectively. This week’s big losers are the Texans who fall five spots down to 17^th and the Cowboys who dropped from 14^th down to 21^st. The Colts, Rams, and Dolphins still round out the bottom of the pack.

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When animals and humans work together there is much that can be accomplished. This is exactly what transpires in Dolphin’s Tale, a film about a true story about a brave dolphin. It is based on a true story about a group of compassionate strangers who bonded together to save this dolphins life.

Swimming free is a dolphin without a care in the world until one day she is caught in a crab trap that is fatal for her existence and as a result loses her tail. She is rescued and transported to the Clearwater Marine Hospital where she is given the name Winter. Although she has been rescued there is a long way to go and now she is in the biggest battle she must fight for her life.

The fight is just beginning, without a tail her survival is very dim. In order to save Winter’s life it’s going to take the expertise of a dedicated marine biologist, the ingenuity of a brilliant prosthetics doctor and the devotion of a young boy who all must work together in saving Winter’s life. This will not only save Winter’s life but also help countless others around the world.

Winter is a dolphin that has been a source of perseverance, hope and courage to millions of people both able and disabled who have been touched by her remarkable story of recovery and rehabilitation. Winter’s real home is at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida. Dolphin’s Tale was filmed on location at the aquarium in Clearwater, Fla.

The motto for the aquarium is “rescue, rehabilitate and return,” which really sums up what this movie is all about. The movie will be released in 3-D in September. It stars Harry Konnick Jr, Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Kris Kristoffson and Cozi Zuehlsdorff as the young boy who rescues the dolphin.

The movie is directed by Martin Charles Smith, a former actor from films like The Buddy Holly Story and American Graffiti, though he is best known for his role as agent Wallace in The Untouchables. It really does have a great cast including fantastic performances by Konnick Jnr and Freeman who seem to always deliver something special no matter what role he plays.

There have been movies about handicapped people overcoming odds, which have truly been inspirational. There have been movies in which people develop special relationships with animals, which have also been very popular with children and adults alike. There have also been many family movies over the years that have entertained us.

The great thing about this film is that it incorporates all three genres into one amazing film. It also does this in 3D which is sure to again be popular with audiences of all ages. The inspiration behind the movie is no dolphin has ever lost its tail and lived. This is definantly a movie that will grip and touch the hearts of viewers.

The audience will walk away having hope and inspiration, as it is a movie about miracles. Any person who loves to see animals free and happy will absolutely love this film.

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A gulf coast Florida dog was saved from drowning by two dolphins eager to help their land cousin after the dog apparently fell into the water and was unable to get out of a canal.  Cindy Burnett, from Marco Island, FL, said that she accidentally left her gate open and her 11-year old Doberman, Turbo, escaped late one Sunday evening in February.

After discovering her missing dog, Burnett and her sons began the search for him.  “I searched and searched and called his name. I drove through this street at least five or six times,” she said.  The next morning, a neighbor, Sam Dalessandro was stocking his boat when he heard persistent splashing in the nearby canal.  When he looked to see what the commotion was about, he saw Turbo trapped in the canal surrounded by two dolphins.  The good neighbor called 911 and his wife, Audrey Dalessandro jumped in the water to save the dog. Firefighters showed up to help lift Turbo to rescue. Turbo was likely trapped in the canal for about 15 hours.  He was exhausted but was checked out and got a clean bill of health. The dolphins swam away once the dog was safe.

“He was shivering and a lot of distress,” Burnett said.

Burnett credits the dolphins with saving her beloved pooch.  “If he had to tread water all night long, I know he wouldn’t have been able to,” Burnett said.  She stated he could have been trapped for much longer if the dolphins had not been able to get the Dalessandro’s attention.

If it wasn’t for that dolphin, that dog would be in doggie heaven right now because we would have never seen it,” Dalessandro said told WZVN ABC7.

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