The Minnesota Vikings defeated the Houston Texans 23-6 at Reliant Stadium to improve to 9-6 and keep their playoff hopes alive.

Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder played efficiently, completing 16 of 30 passes for 174 yards and one touchdown. Ponder connected with tight-end Kyle Rudolph on a three yard play action pass to go ahead 7-3. Ponder’s favorite receiver was rookie Jarius Wright, who caught five passes for 53 yards.

Running back Adrian Peterson carried the ball 25 times for 86 yards. This was Peterson’s first game being held under 100 yards after running for over 100 in the last eight games. Peterson needs 208 yards to surpass Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record.

Vikings rookie kicker Blair Walsh hit three field goals from 39, 41 and 56 yards to help Minnesota stay ahead. Walsh broke an NFL record with nine field goals of 50 yards or longer.

The Houston Texans offense was out of sync the entire day and was only able to compile 187 total yards. Quarterback Matt Schaub completed 18 of 32 passes for 178 yards. This was Schaub’s fourth game this season without throwing a touchdown pass and the Texans lost three of those four games.

Schaub’s favorite target was wideout Andre Johnson, who hauled in seven passes for 97 yards. Back-up quarterback T.J. Yates came in on Houston’s final drive. Running back Arian Foster was limited to 10 carries for 15 yards and one fumble. His 1.5 yards per carry was a season worse for the four year back. Foster left the game because of an irregular heart beat.

Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt recorded one sack to expand his total to 20.5 sacks. Watt needs 2.5 sacks to surpass Michael Strahan’s single season record.

The Vikings will have another tough match-up next week against NFC North rivals the Green Bay Packers. The Texans will end the season next week against AFC South rivals the Indianapolis Colts and will look to clinch home field advantage in the playoffs.

Image Courtesy : Houston Texans

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The New York Giants held their Superbowl celebrating parade on Tuesday after their victory over the New England Patriots on Super Bowl Sunday. The team took the Lombardi Trophy back to New York to share the experience with the fans after a ‘come from behind’ drive orchestrated by Eli Manning and their high powered offense.

After a miraculous catch by wide receiver Mario Manningham, Manning marched down the field, capping off a nine play, 88 yard drive with Ahmad Bradshaw rushing the touchdown. The New York Giants paraded through Manhattan receiving the key to the city and finishing off a memorable day with a pep rally at Met Life Stadium.

One of the most unforgettable experiences any sports fan can have is seeing their team in a parade like this. People were chanting, “Let’s go Giants!” as the head float, carrying Eli Manning, defensive end Justin Tuck and members of the coaching staff rolled on by. Fans were throwing footballs for the players to autograph and the players would throw them right back.

Coughlin, who received a phone call from President Obama on his way to the parade, said, “All things are possible for those who believe. We always believed, we always knew we could get here.”

The celebration started at 11 a.m. and continued all day with a ceremony at City Hall followed by a ceremony at Met Life Stadium. Players were leading the fans in with an “I gotta ring!” chant which was led by running back Andre Brown and continued throughout the day. Former Giants Super Bowl winner Michael Strahan helped present each Giant player a key to the city alongside Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Victor Cruz even made his signature move after receiving his key and salsa’d on stage.

Players went on to comment on the experience of celebrating their victory with the fans. Punter Steve Weatherford was quoted for saying, “It’s unbelievable, celebrating this is front of the greatest fans in the world.”

Eli even made the joke, “We needed to lose four in a row,” saying that it wasn’t tough enough. He went on to say that Coughlin reiterated, “Make it tough just make it possible.” You can say the Giants did that. Starting the season 6-2 and then losing four straight is definitely a way to make it tougher.

The Giants became the first 9-7 team to ever win a Super Bowl. Entering week 16, the Giants were 7-7 and wound up winning the last six games to reach the goal that every NFL player strives for; the Lombardi Trophy.

The Giants had a record setting eight fourth-quarter comeback victories this season, including one in the Super Bowl; so you can see why President Obama complemented Coughlin and the Giants with words like, “finishing” and “being resilient.”

Image Courtesy of   https://www.facebook.com/newyorkgiants

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There is perhaps no other pass rusher in the modern era of the NFL who has managed to become as revered across the league as DeMarcus Ware. His numbers speak for themselves, as he has led the league in sacks twice in his career, and is on pace to lead the league in sacks once again this season. In 2008, this included the first 20 sack season since the year that Michael Strahan broke Mark Gastineau’s sack record, yet Ware still fell short in the Defensive Player of the Year voting to his fellow speed rusher James Harrison.

Admittedly, this did not make DeMarcus Ware a huge snub by any means, since despite Ware clearly being the superior pass rusher, Harrison’s numbers seemed to suggest that he was simply the more complete player. Most would have argued that James Harrison was a better force against the run who also thrived in pass coverage allowing Dick LeBeau’s zone blitzing scheme to function well. However, it is not as if Ware has ever been any slouch against the run, or in pass coverage, especially this season. The debate over who deserved the DPOTY Award in 2008 can be laid to rest by now, but when evaluating how deserving DeMarcus Ware is of the award, one should let it sink in that the man has yet to win it a single time thus far.

This is actually quite remarkable when considering not only that most have accepted D-Ware as the premier pass rusher in the NFL, but also when considering what his potential legacy may be. Parallels can easily be drawn between Ware and Hall of Fame pass rush specialist Lawrence Taylor. Most fans who are savvy enough about football history know that LT was highly regarded as not only the NFL’s best pass rusher during his time, but also someone who would go down as the most feared defensive player that the NFL had ever seen.

Lawrence Taylor is an example of a player who had such an impact that he single-handedly changed the way the game was played. One notable example is the 2-point stance that offensive tackles often employ on pass plays. What many do not know is that this stance was originally intended to remedy the effect of having to block such a quick pass rusher with an amazing first step off the ball like Lawrence Taylor. The other example worth noting is the use of TEs to assist offensive tackles in protection. Joe Gibbs having his TEs motion to whichever side Taylor was on is perhaps the most famous example of this, but any instance of a TE aligning across from the defense’s best pass rusher is, in fact, a remnant of the LT era of the NFL. Given these innovations, even those who have never witnessed Lawrence Taylor firsthand can easily see how great he truly was.

The innovations that Lawrence Taylor was able to cause with his play allow him to lay claim to an impact that DeMarcus Ware will never have an opportunity to achieve. For this reason, Ware may have to settle for his career being considered inferior to Taylor’s no matter how many sacks he is able to rack up, but one should at least take into account the context of their respective eras. Obviously, Ware cannot be blamed for his inability to change the game as much as Taylor did since Ware did not have the opportunity induce the changes that were already made. What makes this especially significant is when one considers the effect that this may have had on Ware’s production in comparison to LT’s.

Since the aforementioned innovations were initiated as a direct response to Lawrence Taylor, he therefore had the luxury of not dealing with them at the beginning of his career. DeMarcus Ware, on the other hand, has had to deal with offensive tackles employing a two-point stance, as well as Tight Ends assisting these offensive tackles in pass protection since the beginning of his career. With this in mind, it can be speculated that had Ware played during Taylor’s era, his production could have easily matched that of Taylor, along with the possibility that the same exact pass protection innovations would have been made in response to him instead.

While it may seem utterly pointless to speculate about the careers of two players if they had played at different times, the fact that DeMarcus Ware is arguably this generation’s version of Lawrence Taylor is a scary thought. Most importantly, it makes it all the more perplexing that Ware has still yet to be crowned as Defensive Player of the Year. Given that he is the second coming of Lawrence Taylor, it would be a crime to not give him the award any time soon. If DeMarcus Ware is to be rightfully given his long overdue Defensive Player of the Year Award, it may as well be this season in which he leads the league in sacks once again, while also succeeding in all dimensions of the game.

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