GAME: N.Y. Giants at Arizona

TIME: 4:15 ET

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Can the Giants’ young secondary of cornerbacks Aaron Ross and Corey Webster slow down Arizona WRs Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald? Ross has a sore hamstring, but he was NFC Defensive Player of the Week last week. New York is also keeping rookie Kenny Phillips at safety with Michael Johnson. But the key to the Giants this season has been their defensive line and the pressure it applies to opposing quarterbacks. They will be coming after Arizona QB Kurt Warner, hoping to rattle him as much as possible. RB Brandon Jacobs will be available as the Giants shoot for their fourth consecutive 200-yard rushing game. The Cardinals are vulnerable in the secondary, and if Giants QB Eli Manning is able to work off play-action he can put up big numbers even if Plaxico Burress (hamstring) doesn’t play much or not at all. Domenik Hixon would replace Plax. Arizona’s running game has been non-existent lately with rookie Tim Hightower gaining 57 yards on 24 carries the past two weeks. The Cardinals clinch the NFC West with a win and losses by San Francisco and Seattle.

NFL Week 12

Week 12 action

Steelers 27, Bengals 10 — Recap | Box
Jets-Titans — Preview | Notes
Patriots-Dolphins — Preview | Notes
Eagles-Ravens — Preview | Notes
49ers-Cowboys — Preview | Notes
Bucs-Lions — Preview | Notes
Vikings-Jaguars — Preview | Notes
Bears-Rams — Preview | Notes
Texans-Browns — Preview | Notes
Bills-Chiefs — Preview | Notes
Raiders-Broncos — Preview | Notes
Giants-Cardinals — Preview | Notes
Panthers-Falcons — Preview | Notes
Redskins-Seahawks — Preview | Notes
Colts-Chargers — Preview | Notes
Packers-Saints — Preview | Notes



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Analysis

• Marvez: Haynesworth MVP-worthy
• Harrison: Dolphins win the Parcells way
• Boeck: Cards’ Warner dispels doubts

Video

• Schein’s Week 12 picks
• Online OT: Complete NFL coverage

Photos

• Steelers tame Bengals
• What we learned
• Fantasy studs

CZAR’S SCOOP: The Cardinals don’t want to release veteran RB Edgerrin James, but they also don’t believe he hits the hole like Tim Hightower. They want to keep him as insurance in case something happens to Hightower. One thing to remember about Jacobs and Ward is that both running backs will be unrestricted free agents in the off-season. The Giants would like to keep both of them, but Ward figures to be able to escape. The Giants won’t allow Jacobs to leave. Boldin, who is represented by Drew Rosenhaus, figures to force the organization to trade him in the off-season even though he has two years remaining on his contract. Boldin will force management’s hand unless they actually come around and pay him what Larry Fitzgerald is making: $10 million a year. The Cardinals still haven’t made any progress with Warner on a new contract. However, there are few starting jobs available for the 37-year-old QB next season.

GAME: Philadelphia at Baltimore

TIME: 1 ET

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Eagles RB Brian Westbrook will start and see how far he can go with his bad ankle. Correll Buckhalter will definitely play a lot because no one on Philly’s staff knows how long Westbrook can last and how he will feel. Interestingly, though, they are the only two active Eagle running backs. Brent Celek will start for Eagles TE L.J. Smith. On defense, the Eagles will start Will linebacker Akeem Jordan for Omar Gaither, believing he can stick with Ravens rookie RB Ray Rice. Baltimore figures to share the carries between Rice and Le’Ron McClain. How successful the Ravens are depends on how effective the ground game is. If rookie QB Joe Flacco is set up in obvious passing situations behind a banged-up offensive line, he could be in trouble with the Eagles having 36 sacks. Adam Terry starts at LT and Willie Anderson at RT for Baltimore. Baltimore does have some good news: WR Derrick Mason will start despite a sore shoulder.

CZAR’S SCOOP: The Eagles have taken their spread-the-ball-around philosophy to a new level this season. No fewer than nine players are on pace to catch at least 25 passes. No Andy Reid-coached Eagles team has ever had more than six. Slow starts: in the last four games, McNabb has completed just 6 of 27 passes in the first quarter. He tends to throw a lot of fastballs early, plus the Eagles lead the NFL in dropped passes.
Short-yardage remains the Eagles’ Achilles’ heel. They threw on all 18 third downs in last Sunday’s tie with the Bengals, converting just three. The Eagles have thrown 152 more times (391 to 239) than they have run the ball this season. Don’t forget that Ravens rookie head coach John Harbaugh was an Eagles assistant for 10 seasons, including spending last year on Jim Johnson’s defensive staff. Knowing what Johnson likes to do should help Harbaugh with his offense.

GAME: Minnesota at Jacksonville

TIME: 1 ET

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Both of these teams want the run to set up their passing game. The Vikings plan to pound Adrian Peterson, who has scored five TDs on the road this season, behind their physical offensive line. The Jaguars are allowing 113.2 rushing yards per game. The Jaguars have shown signs of getting their running game untracked in recent weeks along with improved play on the interior of their line. But making significant headway against the Vikings’ second-ranked run defense and DTs Kevin and Pat Williams will be difficult. Minnesota doesn’t give up many big passes and averages a sack once every 12.6 pass plays, so QB David Garrard better throw quickly and go to shorter routes. Jaguars WR Matt Jones is expected back from a thigh bruise. Vikings DE Jared Allen re-injured his sprained right shoulder last Sunday and missed practice this past week, but he should play. Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio led the Vikings in tackles from 1992-94 when he was the starting middle linebacker.

CZAR’S SCOOP: The Vikings have never played in Jacksonville and are 0-4 in outdoor road games this season. They’ve lost at Green Bay, Tennessee, Chicago and Tampa Bay. This marks the first time that Mike Tice, a Jaguars assistant head coach, has faced his former team. Vikings owner Zygi Wilf fired him at the end of the 2006 season, minutes after the team beat the Bears 34-10 to finish 9-7. Wilf had the team’s PR staff distribute a one-page statement saying Tice had been fired. Tice’s son Nate, a ball-boy at the time, was handed the piece of paper. That’s how he found out that his father was unemployed. Basically, Wilf blamed Tice for the team’s Love Boat incident. Tice was also damaged by his involvement in Super Bowl ticket scalping that brought a $100,000 league fine.

GAME: San Francisco at Dallas

TIME: 1 ET

Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett has been a verbal target of Terrell Owens. ( / Getty Images)

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: The Cowboys have lost their home-run hitter in rookie Felix Jones, which hurts the offense as well as special teams. Dallas doesn’t want to run Marion Barber into the ground because they are going to need him down the stretch, which puts more pressure on QB Tony Romo to produce and get WR Roy Williams more involved in the offense. The 49ers don’t bring that much pressure so Romo should be able to pick his spots. San Francisco will give RB Frank Gore plenty of touches early on in an attempt to take the teeth out of Dallas’ pass rush. QB Shaun Hill gets rid of the ball quickly and is accurate, but he does work better in the short passing game whereas J.T. O’Sullivan loved to chuck it down the field. It doesn’t help that rookie WR Josh Morgan is out again for San Francisco, which is 3-26 since 2003 when playing a road game that starts at 10 a.m. Pacific time. Dallas isn’t very good on coverage units so 49ers kick returner Allen Rossum could break one. LB Patrick Willis missed two days of the practice, the last one because of the flu. He could be a little dehydrated.

CZAR’S SCOOP: Cowboys WR Terrell Owens continues to criticize offensive coordinator Jason Garrett’s play-calling while saying that opponents have figured out the Dallas offense and that Garrett isn’t trying anything new. T.O. better realize that Garrett earns $3.5 million a season and that owner Jerry Jones believes he will be a head coach one day. One reason the Cowboys traded for Roy Williams was just in case T.O.’s production started to slide, which it has. 49ers CB Walt Harris will likely get matched up on Roy Williams and Nate Clements on Owens. Romo’s injured right pinkie is improving, but he continues to wear a splint in practice. He would like to remove it for games. “Every day, it gets a little bit better,” Romo said. Rome did throw without the splint prior to practices last week. He did pass for 198 yards and a TD with two INTs against the Redskins. However, the big story was that he took a homeless man to the movies. Go figure. Jed York, 27, is the new front man for owners Denise and John York. The Yorks are still trying to find funding for a stadium in Santa Clara.

GAME: Chicago at St. Louis

TIME: 1 ET

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Defensively the Bears have got to get back to stopping the run, which they did very successfully throughout the first 10 weeks before a major slip-up against the Packers last week. But they also have to generate a pass rush, preferably with the front four, which has just 11 1/2 sacks for the season. Rams QB Marc Bulger has been struggling, but given time he can be very dangerous. The Bears have just five sacks in the past five games, including just one in the last 116 drop-backs by their opponents. Bears QB Kyle Orton’s ankle remains weak and the Rams must flush him from the pocket, forcing him to throw on the move. After averaging 334 yards of offense in the first eight games, Chicago’s offense has stumbled in the low 240s the past two games. Rams RB Steven Jackson will miss another game with a thigh injury, leaving Antonio Pittman to carry the load. Coach Jim Haslett said that Jackson’s injury can be attributed to him missing training camp while holding out for more money.

CZAR’S SCOOP: One of the leading candidates to buy the Rams from Chip Rosenbloom and Lucy Rodriguez has dropped out because he was been unable to find the proper financing because of the current bank crisis. Rosenbloom will be at the game as will his step-brother Steve to honor their father, Carroll Rosenbloom. It was Carroll’s decision to leave the Rams’ franchise to his wife, Georgia, when he died in 1979. At the time, Steve was learning the business from his father. Within months, Georgia fired Steve from the Rams because he was so unhappy that his father didn’t leave him the football team. Steve eventually worked for the Saints, but that career didn’t last long. Rams TE coach Jim Chaney was Orton’s offensive coordinator at Purdue. With the Rams struggling at 2-8, Jim Haslett is a definite longshot to be next year’s head coach. The Bears are still waiting for Devin Hester to explode. After scoring 11 touchdowns on punt and kick returns in the two previous seasons, Hester hasn’t come close this season.

GAME: Tampa Bay at Detroit

TIME: 1 ET

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: The Bucs haven’t been stretching the field much lately as WR Joey Galloway has been the odd man out. But word is Galloway had a very good week of practice and that maybe he and Jeff Garcia have got their timing down. Yes, Bucs RB Cadillac Williams will be active, but he may not get more than a few carries. It depends on how he feels. Veteran RB Warrick Dunn should get the bulk of the work with FB B.J. Askew getting some short-yardage work. Fumbling rookie Clifton Smith should play, but it doesn’t look like Noah Herron will be active. The Lions beat the Bucs here last season and they have a chance if rookie RB Kevin Smith continues to get consistent touches. He has 208 rushing yards on 4.4 yards per carry the past two games. QB Daunte Culpepper is still learning the playbook in his third start, while it doesn’t help that WRs Calvin Johnson and Mike Furrey missed valuable practice time. Regardless, look for Culpepper to unleash some bombs to Johnson, believing he has a size and speed advantage against Bucs CBs Ronde Barber and Philip Buchanon.

CZAR’S SCOOP: Garcia has a 104.3 passer rating in three career starts against Detroit. The Lions are the only team officially eliminated from playoff contention. Dunn is 33 and certainly on the downside of his career. But he’ll be asked to carry a heavy workload with Earnest Graham sidelined for the season. This isn’t what the Bucs planned when they brought him back, but until Cadillac Williams is ready to be a full-time player there are no other options. Jon Gruden believes Dunn has the ability to be the every-down back. “He relishes this time — big games. He knows the team needs him to step up.” Gruden said. This is the third straight Lions home game that is blacked out, with more than 8,000 unsold seats as of Thursday. The team’s marketing department is feverishly at work offering discount tickets to ensure that the Thanksgiving game against Tennessee is not blacked out. The Lions have been hosting a Turkey Day game since 1934 when the franchise moved from Portsmouth, Ohio, to Detroit.

GAME: Carolina at Atlanta

TIME: 4:15 ET

Quarterback Jake Delhomme and the Panthers are trying to get to 9-2 for the first time in franchise history. (Streeter Lecka / Getty Images)

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Both teams are relatively healthy heading into this NFC South showdown. The Falcons took a step backwards last Sunday, losing at home to Denver. Carolina’s offense is centered around RBs DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, who are both coming off 100-yard games last Sunday. Carolina will try to take the crowd out of the game early with the ground game, and likes to run left behind LT Jordan Gross and LG Travelle Wharton. Atlanta’s secondary gives up 226.4 yards per game, so Panthers QB Jake Delhomme needs to get back on track after two subpar games. The Falcons may use their no-huddle, which has been successful this season with rookie QB Matt Ryan, more in this game, simply to quicken the tempo against the Panthers. Ryan struggled in an early season loss to the Panthers and Michael Turner was limited to 56 yards, too. Both must play better and Ryan needs time to find big-play receiver Roddy White deep. The Panthers are 8-2 for the first time since 2003, when they went on to lose to New England in Super Bowl XXXVIII. They have never been 9-2.

CZAR’S SCOOP: Falcons DT Grady Jackson appealed his possible four-game suspension in the StarCaps’ scandal on Friday. Jackson has played in the last three games since getting notice of his suspension for taking the diuretic Bumetanide that the league believes is a masking agent under its steroids policy. Jackson, like Saints guard James Nesbitt, filed a class-action lawsuit on Nov. 10 against the manufacturer of StarCaps diet pills. In the team’s six wins, Ryan has one interception and nine touchdown passes; in the four losses he has five INTs and only two TDs. Remember all those training camp stories about Carolina John Fox’s job being in jeopardy. Well, Fox and GM Marty Hurney definitely have turned this season around. Fox’s replacement was supposed to be new Carolina resident Bill Cowher, who is rumored to be interested in Cleveland should Ted Lerner fire Romeo Crennel.

GAME: Washington at Seattle

TIME: 4:15 ET

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: First-year head coach Jim Zorn returns to Seattle and you can bet that Mike Holmgren is worried about how much he knows regarding his red-zone and short-yardage offense. When he was the quarterbacks coach in Seattle, Zorn played a major role in implementing that part of the Seattle offense. Seattle QB Matt Hasselbeck will have different audible reads today. Redskins RB Clinton Portis will start again despite admitting his knee is about 75 percent. Washington needs to settle down QB Jason Campbell, who has thrown three INTs in his last two losses. On Washington’s defense, LCB Shawn Springs returns to the starting lineup while H.B. Blades starts for SLB Marcus Washington. Seattle WR Deion Branch still is less than 100 percent. Interestingly, the healthiest Washington running back is former Seahawk Shaun Alexander.

CZAR’S SCOOP: The Seahawks placed DE Patrick Kerney (five sacks) on injured reserve this week after an MRI revealed his shoulder injury wasn’t healing. It marks the second time in three seasons that Kerney has finished the season on IR. “You can get angry about it, you can get sad about it, but it’s not going to heal your shoulder any faster,” Kerney said. “You take it for what it’s worth. Now my job is to get better and get stronger for next season.” With his Seattle career heading into its final weeks, Holmgren is letting it known that he hasn’t always agreed with GM Tim Ruskell’s personnel decisions. Alexander said this week that it was Ruskell, not Holmgren, who decided to release him. Alexander said that Ruskell didn’t want him around, competing with Julius Jones and T.J. Duckett. “The coaching staff wasn’t happy with this decision,” Alexander said. Holmgren verified Alexander’s account, saying, “I was not convinced he had lost his quickness.”

Other Games

N.Y. Jets at Tennessee: Well, something has got to give here. Both the Jets and Titans love to run and Thomas Jones has carried 56 times in the past two games to lead the AFC with 854 yards rushing; he’s already scored 10 touchdowns. The unbeaten Titans have a two-headed running game in LenDale White and rookie Chris Johnson while the Jets own the fourth-best rush defense at 81.3 yards a game. QB Brett Favre has been taking fewer chances down the field, but this may be a good game to air it out because Tennessee is really short in the secondary, having put two guys on IR this week. Favre will be facing a stiff rush with the return of DE Kyle Vanden Bosch.

New England at Miami: The Patriots can’t afford another loss to the Dolphins because that would give Miami the tiebreaker edge when playoff berths are considered at the end of the season. The Dolphins exposed the Patriots with their wildcat offense in the first game and they won’t fool New England this time around. New England continues to be short-handed at running back, needing a big game from Kevin Faulk. Even when Tom Brady was starting, the Patriots struggled in Miami. Matt Cassel needs to come out firing and keep Randy Moss and Wes Welker (74 receptions) involved.

Houston at Cleveland: The Texans haven’t won a road game since last Nov. 4 in Oakland. Browns QB Brady Quinn has a broken index finger on his throwing hand and the injury will definitely affect his grip and ability to throw in what should be windy conditions. This is the fifth time these two teams have met and Quinn is the fifth different QB starter for the Browns. In three games against the Browns, Houston WR Andre Johnson has seven catches for 62 yards. The word in Houston is that owner Bob McNair is leaning toward retaining coach Gary Kubiak, although defensive coordinator Richard Smith looks like a goner.

Buffalo at Kansas City: The Chiefs have lost 18 of their last 19 games, making it the worst stretch in the franchise’s 49-year-old history. Back in the late 1970s, the Chiefs lost twice in a 19-game period. Luckily, the Chiefs are facing Buffalo QB Trent Edwards, who has thrown eight INTs in the Bills’ four-game losing streak. Edwards threw three picks in his first seven attempts against the Browns on MNF. Through 10 games, the Chiefs have collected six sacks. In a 16-game NFL, the lowest total was 13 by the 1981 Baltimore Colts. It’s no secret that the Chiefs miss Jared Allen’s outside pressure, considering he led the league with 15 1/2 sacks last season.

Oakland at Denver: Two turf toes have hampered Raiders RB Darren McFadden this season, but one of his backups at the U. of Arkansas, Peyton Hillis, who was drafted in the seventh round, has proven to be a big plus for the Broncos this season. “Coming out of high school, me and Peyton were 1-2 in the state of Arkansas in rushing,” McFadden said. “So I knew he’s very capable of running the ball.” The Broncos crushed Oakland in the season opener 41-14 and Mike Shanahan’s team has won seven of the last eight in the series. Oakland has scored a league-low 33 points in the first half this season.

Indianapolis at San Diego: Last season, this game proved to be CB Antonio Cromartie’s coming-out party as he intercepted Peyton Manning three times. The Colts lost when Adam Vinatieri missed a field goal in a rainstorm. The Chargers have been snake-bit this season, losing three games when their opponent scored the winning points in the final half-minute. The Chargers have lost four games by a total of 5 points. “The reality is what it is,” said TE Antonio Gates said. “We know time is running out.” After being responsible for just four interceptions and a safety in the first six games, Philip Rivers has become far more mistake-prone in the past four games, with six interceptions, two lost fumbles and another fumble that resulted in a safety. Plus, his miscues have at times proved to be very costly: The Colts’ Joseph Addai rushed for 105 yards last week, ending a team streak of 17 games without a 100-yard rusher.

Green Bay at New Orleans: This figures to be a shootout. Saints QB Drew Brees is still on pace to break Dan Marino’s record for passing yards in a season. Marino threw for 5,084 in 1984. Brees has thrown for 3,251 through 10 games, putting him on pace for 5,202. Brees has thrown for more yards than any quarterback in NFL history through the first 10 games of the season. There’s a good chance that Saints RB Reggie Bush won’t play, which means more pressure on Brees. The bad new is Green Bay has a very good secondary and both Charles Woodson and Al Harris are super in man coverage. This season, the Packers have shut out receivers such as Bernard Berrian, Bobby Engram and Justin Gage. They limited Reggie Wayne to two catches for 24 yards and last Sunday Devin Hester had one catch for seven yards. The Saints have 13 players on IR. Harris, who sat out Weeks 4-7 with a spleen injury, hasn’t allowed a completion in his three games back.