The quality of the football was good... but the celebrations were even better!
Monday 7 December 2015 13:52, UK
Week 13 in the NFL served up dramatic and breathtaking plays, wild comebacks, spectacular finishes and just a couple of rather ridiculous touchdown celebrations.
In other words, it was just another typical weekend for America's favourite sports league.
Here are six storylines that caught my eye over another memorable weekend.
Cam for MVP?
When entering any discussion about Cam Newton being this year's NFL Most Valuable Player, we cannot read too much into Sunday's showing against the New Orleans Saints because their defence has been historically bad this year.
But you can only beat who is in front of you and the Carolina Panthers had to score fast and often to overcome Drew Brees and the Saints. And that meant that Cam had to step forward with another huge display to keep his team undefeated - he did just that and more as the Panthers outlasted New Orleans to win a 41-38 thriller on the road.
Newton was outstanding as he threw for 331 yards and five touchdowns and he continues to pass every test you could set a potential league MVP. Does he lead from the front and play well when his team needs it the most? Check. Does he provide special headline-making plays that win big games for his team? Check. And does he put his team in a position to make a serious run at the Super Bowl? Check, check and check.
Newton is passing every test placed before him this season and that's why his Panthers are on a march to the Super Bowl and he should be named this year's league MVP.
Young passers set to shine
As the likes of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger and even Tony Romo move into the latter years of their career, the next generation of young passers are ready to take centre stage.
Now, I'm not saying the young group leading the way can match the pedigree and production of those veterans but over the next decade we will be looking at an NFL that prominently features Newton, Indianapolis' Andrew Luck (even with this being a down year for him), Tennessee's Marcus Mariota, Jacksonville's Blake Bortles, Tampa Bay's Jameis Winston, Oakland's Derek Carr, Seattle's Russell Wilson and possibly even Brock Osweiler of the Denver Broncos.
There are clearly not enough good quarterbacks to go around when the likes of Austin Davis are getting starts for the Cleveland Browns, but there are enough quality young stars to offer plenty of promise for the future.
Tough to call
NFL games are so hard to predict because you literally don't know what is going to happen from play to play, let alone for the course of an entire contest. Two games that summed up the unpredictable nature of the NFL on Sunday were Philadelphia's visit to New England and San Francisco's trip to Chicago.
Philadelphia went on the road having been blown out in back-to-back losses to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions, shipping 45 points in each of those contests. And they were set to take on a Patriots team whose quarterback, Tom Brady, had won 62 of his last 66 games at home.
The result? Philadelphia ran out 35-28 winners against a New England team that was banged up and missing some key players. But even bearing that in mind, this was a shocking result as the NFL world was getting ready to write off Chip Kelly and the Eagles.
In Chicago, San Francisco had played the Bears hard for more than 59 minutes but were set to lose a heart-breaker as Robbie Gould - Mr Reliable in the Windy City for years - trotted onto the field to attempt a 36-yard field goal to win the game.
But somehow, Gould hooked his kick wide left from a very makeable distance and the game went into overtime. From there, Blaine Gabbert - who is looking like a very serviceable NFL quarterback for the Niners and who had earlier tied the game on a 44-yard touchdown sprint - delivered the match-winning points on a 71-yard touchdown pass to Torrey Smith.
And that is why they tell us to expect the unexpected when it comes to the NFL!
Seahawks rounding into form
As they did last season, the Seattle Seahawks appear to have survived the early-campaign wobbles and would you bet against them making some serious noise when the NFC playoffs begin?
Seattle dominated the NFC North-leading Minnesota Vikings in Week 13, recording a comprehensive 38-7 win that was as one-sided as that score-line suggests. The Seahawks match up well against physical offenses and that showed with their defence producing the goods on Sunday.
But this is a team changing its identity on the fly - the Seahawks used to be a run-first, pass later kind of squad but now they are building their attack around quarterback Russell Wilson and he is responding with some of the most consistent and productive play of his career to date.
A Brit of all right!
It was a memorable night for British running back Jay Ajayi as he provided the winning points for the Miami Dolphins in their 15-13 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.
The London born-and-raised running back - who is a massive Arsenal fan - scored a two-point conversion for the Dolphins who held off a second-half Ravens comeback to win their fifth game of the year.
Ajayi had to bide his time as injury sidelined him for the first half of the 2015 season but he has shown enough flashes of form to hint at a heavier workload in Miami's attack in 2016 and beyond. Keep flying that flag and doing us proud, Jay!
Brown but not out
For as long as I have been covering the NFL, players have been trying to out-do each other with headline-making touchdown celebrations. I've seen them all - The Ickey Shuffle, The Fun Bunch and even Terrell Owens dancing, grabbing a pen from his sock and signing the football, to Joe Horne pulling a hidden mobile phone from behind the goalpost to call his family moments after he scored a touchdown.
But I have never seen a player show a clear and blatant disregard for his own family jewels! Sunday night saw Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown celebrate his 71-yard punt return touchdown against the Indianapolis Colts by running full speed through the end zone and jumping at the goalpost, wrapping his legs either side and smashing the parts that others cannot reach before falling flat on his back.
Brown was unaffected by the celebration and ended the evening with eight catches for 118 yards and three scores during a 45-10 win for his team but reports out of the Steelers' locker room do suggest he was singing like The Bee Gees after the game.
