What do you think?

Earl Thomas played a crucial role in Seattle’s shocking upset over New Orleans, making plays all over the field.

Thomas had 8 tackles in the victory over the Saints, who entered the game as 11 point favorites.

Thomas had 8 tackles and was all over the field making plays, proving his deserving of being named Pro Bowl alternate a couple weeks ago.

Over in the Kansas City versus Baltimore game, Jamaal Charles carried the ball just 9 times (the fewest number of carries all year) but still managed 82 yards, an average of 9.1 yards-per-carry.

This high average was helped by a 41-yard TD run in the 1st quarter (video).

Kansas City would have clearly benefited from giving JC more carries, but the Chiefs played “catch up” all game and only managed a total of 25 yards of offense in the 2nd half.

JC also had 1 catch for 15 yards.

Teammate Derrick Johnson finished with 7 tackles.

Ricky Williams expressed his dissatisfaction with head coach Tony Sparano and desire to move on following the team’s horrible 38-7 loss to New England over the weekend.

“I’ve been a Miami Dolphin off and on for eight years now. I was thinking about when I got drafted. Looking back, it’s almost like there’s different phases of my life. It’s like when you graduate from one phase, it’s an internal school of life. A lot of times when you graduate from one lesson to another lesson, you actually change locations,” Ricky told Miami’s WQAM radio station.

“This has been a long lesson. I flunked a couple times. It seems like now it’s time to move on.”

Ricky’s contract expires this year.

Other than an amazing season for Jamaal Charles, the former Longhorn defenders outperformed the offensive players for the most part this season.

Turnovers were plentiful this week, with a handful of players getting in on the action.

Quentin Jammer, Tarell Brown and Michael Huff all picked off passes over the weekend. Derrick Johnson, Michael Griffin, Frank Okam and Tim Crower all forced or recovered a fumble.

DJ recorded 5 tackles this week put together the best season of the bunch and the best of his career, leading his team with 121 tackles (15th in the NFL), 1 sack, 4 forced fumbles. DJ was recently named as a Pro Bowl alternate.

Michael Huff also had his most productive season of his career, racking up 94 tackles, 3 forced fumbles, 3 INTs and 4 sacks. Huff had 1 tackle over the weekend and returned his INT 17 yards.

Teammate Lamarr Houston had 4 tackles and sack to round out his rookie campaign with 39 tackles, 5 sacks and a forced fumble.

Michael Griffin finished his year with 108 tackles after tallying another 5 tackles this week and also ended the season with 2 forced fumbles and 4 INTs (tied for 19th in the NFL). Griffin returned his fumble recovery for 20 yards late in the game.

Nathan Vasher bounced back late in the season after a very quiet start to the year, finishing with just 19 tackles and an INT, but with 12 of those tackles coming in the final 3 weeks. Vasher only became a starter in Week 14.

Quentin Jammer ended his campaign with 45 tackles and 2 INTs after adding 3 tackles and picking off a pass this week.

Roy Miller had solid season with 48 tackles and a sack after tallying 2 tackles and his sack over the weekend in a big win over New Orleans.

Tarell Brown added 5 tackles and returned an INT for 62 yards and score in the 4th quarter (video). After adding 3 tackles this week, Brown finished the year with 39 tackles and the one INT.

Aaron Ross had the most tackles of his career, adding 5 this week to close out the season with a total of 35 tackles and a sack.

Brian Orakpo had just one tackle this week but finished the year with 56 tackles, 8.5 sacks (tied for 24 in the NFL) and a forced fumble in his second season.

Tim Crowder recovered a fumble this week and ended the year with 31 tackles, 3 sacks and the one forced fumble.

Not a very great week for the offense.

JC, the one bright spot on offense this week, carried the ball 14 times for 87 yards, including a 47-yarder and a 5-yard TD run in the 3rd quarter. JC also caught the ball 2 times for 13 yards.

JC fell just short of the rushing title, ending the year with 230 rushes for 1,467 yards and 5 TDs. Arian Foster beat out JC for the title, with 1,616 yards and Michael Turner, Chris Johnson, Maurice Jones-Drew and Adrian Peterson came in just behind JC in the title race.

JC had significantly less carries than the other top RBs and managed 6.38 yards-per-carry, which is just .02 yards-per-carry shy of Jim Brown’s NFL record. He needed just 5 more yards on those 230 carries to break the record.

“Five yards over a season,” said Yahoo Sports. “That’s nothing. As we saw Sunday night in Seattle, the difference between a few yards can be as simple as where the official spots the football. Charles was this close to setting the record.”

JC also racked up 45 catches for 468 yards and 3 receiving TDs to close the year with 1,935 total yards.

Colt McCoy struggled for the second week in a row, completing 20 of 41 passes (with most completions coming when the loss was already sealed) for 209 yards.

Colt was under pressure all game and tossed 3 INTs this week for the second week in a row, after going up against two top defenses in Baltimore and Pittsburgh to round out the year.

Colt threw a 20-yard TD pass late in the game and finished the year having completed 135 of 222 passes (60.8%), 1,576 throwing yards, 6 TDs and 9 INT (6 of those INTs coming in the final 2 games).

With Colt under center, Cleveland went 2-6, but the rookie gained valuable game experience after entering the season with no real intention of seeing action. Colt also showed off his leadership skills and began earning his team’s trust.

“Guys in that locker room are committed to changing the way it’s been around here, and I’m one of them,” said Colt.

Over in Cincinnati, Cedric Benson carried the ball 21 times for just 53 yards and added 3 catches for 12 yards. Benson finished the year with 321 rushes for 1,111 yards (2nd most of his career) and a career-best 7 TDs. Benson finished 13th in the league in rushing yards.

Teammate Jordan Shipley caught just 2 passes for 14 yards and finished his rookie year with 52 catches for 600 yards and 3 TDs. Quan Cosby caught just 2 passes for 15 yards all season.

Ricky Williams carried the ball 6 times but gained up just 5 yards and lost a fumble in a crushing defeat against New England. Ricky ended his season with 159 carries for 673 yards and 2 TDs.

Roy Williams also had a rough week, catching just 1 pass for 6 yards (his only catch in 3 weeks), to finish the year with 37 catches for 530 yards and 5 TDs.

Finally, Phil Dawson finished what might be his final season in Cleveland, as he enters free agency this off-season.

Other Noteworthy Performances

David Thomas – inactive with knee injury
Casey Hampton – 1 tackle
Cory Redding – 4 tackles
Henry Melton – 1 tackle

After being waived by Houston in October and cut by Seattle just weeks later, Frank Okam has since emerged as a solid contributor in Tampa Bay. Okam tallied just his 3rd tackle of the season last week but had 7 tackles this week, which is a career best.

Okam’s teammates Roy Miller and Tim Crowder both had 3 tackles.

Nathan Vasher has also hopped around from team to team this season after being released by Chicago earlier this year and dropped by San Diego after just a couple weeks with the team, despite signing a two-year contract.

Detroit picked up Vasher in September, who had just 5 tackles all season long before this week. Vasher recorded 8 tackles on Sunday and picked off a pass, his first INT since Week 6 of last season.

The pick set up Detroit’s game-tying field goal. On the following series, Miami threatened to score with time winding down but Vasher made a crucial tackle to keep Ronnie Brown inbounds, forcing time to expire and giving Detroit the come-from-behind win.

Vasher seems to like his new home in Detroit.

“I think you have to be able to fit with one team and I really like it here,” Vasher said. “It’s a good situation and I can continue to grow as a player and be productive and get things turned around.”

Jamaal Charles rose another spot into the 2nd position on his quest to win the NFL rushing crown. JC ran 13 times for 77 yards over the weekend.

With 1,380 yards so far this season, JC trails NFL leader Arian Foster by just 56 yards and ranks just ahead of Chris Johnson, Maurice Jones-Drew and Michael Turner. JC has tallied all these yards off just 216 carries, and all other top rushers have carried the ball nearly 300 times, hence JC’s shocking (and potential record-breaking) 6.4 yards-per-carry.

JC also caught 4 passes for 40 yards, including two TD passes of 14 yards (video) and 5 yards in the 1st quarter (video).

Teammate Derrick Johnson had 4 tackles and leads Kansas City with 116 total tackles this season.

Colt McCoy had a rough outing against a top-notch Baltimore defense, completing 15 of 29 passes for 149 yards and 3 INTs. Colt had played great for a rookie, but his record dropped to 2-5 after his 3rd INT of the game sealed the loss.

Colt ran the ball 4 times for 30 yards.

Head coach Eric Mangini defended his decision after the game to stick with Colt for the rest of the season.

“He’s played very effectively and done a lot of really good things from an operation standpoint,” Mangini said. “There’s going to be some of this. I’d still say he set a pretty high bar.

Cleveland’s only TD pass in the game came off a 29-yard trick play pass by Mohamed Massaquoi.

Ricky Williams carried the ball 14 times for 71 yards, his 2nd best outing of the year, and caught 2 passes for 21 yards.

Fellow RB Cedric Benson struggled over the weekend, rushing 24 times for just 52 yards.

Jordan Shipley had just 1 catch, but it was for a 3-yard TD in the 4th quarter (video), his 3rd TD of the season. Shipley hasn’t totaled more than 40 receiving yards in a game since Week 7.

Fellow WR Roy Williams continues his woes in Dallas, this week catching no passes. One pass bounced off Roy’s hands, resulting in an INT returned 66 yards for a TD in the 1st quarter.

Michael Huff picked off his 2nd pass of the season, this time in the 3rd quarter to help keep Oakland within 3 points of Indianapolis. Huff also had 5 tackles.

Other Noteworthy Performances

Aaron Ross – 2 tackles
Michael Griffin – 6 tackles
Tarell Brown – 2 tackles
Casey Hampton – 1 tackle
Earl Thomas – 3 tackles
Quentin Jammer – 2 tackles
Cory Redding – 5 tackles

Jamaal Charles continues breaking long runs and breaking records.

JC added another 126 yards on the ground this week off just 11 carries, sliding him into 3rd place in the league with 1,303 rushing yards. JC is just 42 yards away from passing Arian Foster and Maurice Jones-Drew for 1st place.

JC’s yardage numbers were helped by yet another big run, this time an 80-yard scamper, his longest of the season (video). Unfortunately, JC was caught from behind just a few yards short of the endzone, and he came up limping. However, the injury was not serious enough to prevent JC from scoring on a 2-yard run later in the game, which helped seal the Kansas City victory (video).

What’s really extraordinary is the way in which JC is eating up these yards, carrying the ball fewer times this season than all other RBs in the top 12 of the league due to splitting time with teammate Thomas Jones.

JC, the league’s most explosive back, is now averaging an astonishing 6.4 yards-per-carry, which would set an NFL record among all RBs who have ever carried the ball more than 200 times in a season. At this pace, JC is likely to pass the likes of Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, O.J. Simpson and Eric Dickerson, among others, in this category.

“Charles is having an absurdly efficient season, but he has also been doing this for three years,” said Chase Stuart of the New York Times. “No one can touch Charles’s 6.04 yards-per-carry average after three seasons in the league.”

JC also added 3 catches for 27 yards, just one week after his quietest performance of the year.

Teammate Derrick Johnson once again led the Chiefs with 10 tackles this week, and currently ranks 13th in the NFL.

Fellow RB Cedric Benson also had a dominating performance this week. Benson had a season-high 31 carries for 150 yards, including an 18-yard TD run in the 2nd quarter (video).

Meanwhile, there’s more drama in Tennessee.

Bo Scaife was a healthy scratch this week, meaning Jeff Fisher benched him for other reasons than an injury. The speculated cause for the benching is Scaife’s candid remarks from last week, where he explained that a “divided lockerroom” exists within Tennessee over Vince Young’s behavior, but Fisher denies this is the case.

The benching breaks Scaife’s streak of 11 straight starts and comes one week after a 2 TD performance.

Scaife’s status for next week is still up in the air.

VY made his first appearance on the sideline after suffering the season-ending injury a couple weeks back.

Michael Griffin did play in the game and had 7 tackles and a forced fumble.

Continuing on the defensive side of the ball, Frank Okam recorded his first 2 tackles of the season after recently joining Tampa Bay since Houston cut him earlier this year.

Cory Redding came up big for Baltimore by intercepting a tipped pass, the first of his career, on a crucial 4th down in the 4th quarter to seal a victory against New Orleans.

Fellow defensive lineman Brian Orakpo recorded just 1 tackle before leaving the game with a hamstring and groin injury. His status for next week is currently unknown.

Michael Huff had 4 tackles but 5 would have been nicer. Huff missed a tackle on Tim Tebow, letting the rookie QB run for a 40-yard TD on a 3rd and 24. Earl Thomas had 6 tackles.

Colt McCoy bounced back strong from an injury this week and completed 19 of 25 passes for 243 yards. Colt also threw 2 TD passes.

The 1st TD came off a 20-yard toss in the 1st quarter (video), and his 2nd TD came off a 46-yard pass with 2 minutes left to bring Cleveland to within 2 points (video).

On the other side of the game, Jordan Shipley caught just 2 passes for 14 yards and Quan Cosby caught just 1 for 11 yards but recovered a onside kick to clinch the victory for Cincinnati.

Other Noteworthy Performances

Casey Hampton – 2 tackles
Roy Miller – 1 tackle
Aaron Ross – 1 tackle
Tarell Brown – 1 tackle
Quentin Jammer – 4 tackles
Ricky Williams – 7 carries for 19 yards; 5 catches for 34 yards

Jamaal Charles called his performance “embarrassing” after carrying the ball just 10 times for 40 yards and catching 2 passes for 9 yards on Sunday, his fewest carries and yards all season.

“It was an embarrassing day for me,” Charles told the Kansas City Star. “I signed the contract, and then I didn’t come through for the people I’m supposed to come through for. It was embarrassing. I didn’t do (well) enough.”

Charles, who came into the game 3rd in the league in rushing, just signed a 5-year, $32 million contract extension ($13 million guaranteed) earlier in the week.

JC’s performances mirrored that of the entire Kansas City offense, as the Chiefs generated just 67 total yards of offense in a shutout loss.

Teammate Derrick Johnson led the team with 9 tackles and continues to lead the Chiefs in that category on the season.

Fellow RB Cedric Benson didn’t fair much better, rushing for just 19 yards off 8 carries and adding 3 catches for 26 yards against Pittsburgh, who hasn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher all season. Like JC, Benson’s yardage was also his lowest of the year.

Continuing this trend of quiet performances over the weekend, none of the WRs had very productive games. Roy Williams caught just 2 passes for 23 yards and hasn’t had a TD since Week 6.

Jordan Shipley was limited to just 3 receptions for 26 yards and has had just 12 catches for 89 yards in the past 3 weeks.

David Thomas caught only 1 pass for 4 yards and hasn’t had more than 2 catches in a game since Week 9. Thomas hasn’t played a big role for New Orleans all season.

However, fellow TE Bo Scaife had a big day, catching 4 passes for 20 yards but 2 TDs in the 4th quarter. The first TD came off a 4-yard pass and second TD came off a 2-yard reception (video).

The defense fared better than the offense this week.

Roy Miller had 5 tackles, his 2nd most of the year, and Lamarr Houston tallied 4 tackles in a dominating performance.

Michael Griffin, Michael Huff, and Cory Redding all recorded 5 tackles, with Redding also adding a sack.

Brian Orakpo had just 2 tackles but played a “big role” in a loss, when Tampa Bay clearly held Orakpo on the only TD, which helped the Bucs defeat Orakpo’s Redskins.

Other Noteworthy Performances

Ricky Williams – 10 carries for 34 yards
Quentin Jammer – 1 tackle
Shaun Rogers – 2 tackles
Henry Melton – 1 tackle
Tim Crowder – 3 tackles
Tarell Brown – 4 tackles
Casey Hampton – 3 tackles
Aaron Ross – 4 tackles

What do you think?

Ricky Williams has now rushed for more yards than any other former Longhorn, having just passed Earl Campbell with 48 yards off 10 carries on Sunday.

Since entering the NFL in 1999, Ricky has racked up 9,436 yards on the ground and ranks 29th all-time, one spot ahead of Campbell (9,407) and 9 spots ahead of ex-Horn Priest Holmes (8,172). Ricky will likely pass Shaun Alexander to move into 28th place before the season ends.

Fellow RB Cedric Benson found the endzone twice, carrying the ball 19 times for 49 yards and catching 2 passes for 14 yards. His first TD came off a 1-yard run in the 4th quarter (video) and second score came off a hard-fought, 4-yard run up the middle later in the same quarter (video).

Benson has been strong in short yardage situations but has been held to under 4.0 yards-per-carry in 6 of the last 7 games.

From strong to explosive. Jamaal Charles added another game to his season-long tear, rushing the ball 21 times for 116 yards and catching 2 passes for 20 yards. JC has rushed for more than 100 yards in 3 games in a row and has gained more than 100 total yards of offense in all but 2 games so far this season.

Despite the strong showing, JC dropped from 2nd to 3rd in the league in rushing, just behind Maurice Jones-Drew and Arian Foster. However, JC’s numbers are even more impressive when considering the fact that he averages less carries per game than all other running backs in the top 16 and continues to lead the NFL in yards-per-carry.

Colt McCoy sat out again with a high ankle sprain but Phil Dawson played the hero for Cleveland, nailing a game-winning 23-yard field goal as time expired.

Roy Williams had another quiet day, as he has most of the season. Roy caught just 2 passes for 32 yards and failed to catch a TD pass, something he last did in Week 6.

However, he did find the endzone on a 2-pt conversion late on the game that helped give Dallas the win.

Fellow WR Jordan Shipley had 4 receptions for 25 yards. Shipley has had more than 50 yards receiving in a game just once in the last 6 games.

On the defensive side of the ball, Michael Huff had his first INT of the season, picking off Philip Rivers and returning the ball 15 yards (video). Huff also had 6 tackles in the game.

Fellow DB Michael Griffin totaled 6 tackles and Earl Thomas had just one tackle, his lowest outing of the season.

Cory Redding had a season-high 6 tackles and a sack, while serving on a Baltimore defense that held Pittsburgh to just 55 rushing yards in a physical Sunday night game.

A career day for Brian Robison, who started in place of the injured Ray Edwards for Minnesota and had 3 tackles, 2 fumble recoveries, a pass breakup and a QB hit.

Other Noteworthy Performance:

Derrick Johnson – 3 tackles
Roddrick Muckelroy – 1 tackle
Brian Orakpo – 4 tackles
Aaron Ross – 2 tackles
Quentin Jammer – 3 tackles
Bo Scaife – 1 catch for 7 yards
Roy Miller – 3 tackles
Casey Hampton – 2 tackles
Lamarr Houston – 2 tackles and 1 sack

Current positions:
Arian Foster – 1,147
Jamaal Charles – 1,021
Adrian Peterson – 1,016