Hokies In The NFL: Week 12

James Anderson, LB Chicago Bears -- Anderson totalled three tackles, all of the solo variety, and one sack against the Rams in St. Louis' surprise 42-21 blowout of Chicago.
3 TAK, 3 SOLO, SACK

Nick Becton, OT San Diego Chargers -- Becton was waived last week by the Chargers. He has yet to find another team.

Jarrett Boykin, WR Green Bay Packers -- Boykin continued his success with the Pack in another week without a competent quarterback at the helm. Boykin caught 5 passes for 60 yards and scored on a 6-yard pass from Matt Flynn in the fourth. The Packers, however, would tie the Vikings 26-all in overtime, which would be the final score.
5 REC, 60 YDS, 1 TD

Duane Brown, OG Houston Texans -- Duane's Texans hit rock bottom, losing to the lowly Jaguars, whose fans buy billboards expressing their want for Tim Tebow to be their quarterback, 13-6 at home. Case Keenum was sacked twice, but I couldn't tell you if he was responsible.

Roc Carmichael, CB Philadelphia Eagles -- The Eagles had a bye. No news if Carmichael will remain a starter after a less than stellar performance against Washington.

Kam Chancellor, S Seattle Seahawks -- Kam and the Seahawks also had a bye as wide receivers' prayers around the league were answered...for this week at least.

Brandon Flowers, CB Kansas City Chiefs -- The Chiefs are in a tailspin, losing two-straight after nine-consecutive wins, this one in a shootout with the Chargers 41-38. Philip Rivers went 27-of-39 for 392 yards and 3 TD's, so I'm assuming it wasn't a good game for the Kansas City secondary. At any rate, Flowers only had 4 tackles, 3 solo, so they might not have been throwing for it on him. He also registered a pass defensed.
4 TAK, 3 SOLO, PD

DeAngelo Hall, CB Washington Redskins -- Washington was beaten badly by San Francisco, 27-6, but it wasn't as much about what the Redskins did defensively as offensively. Hall only tallied one tackle, a solo effort, and also contributed a pass defensed.
1 TAK, 1 SOLO, PD

Jayron Hosley, CB New York Giants -- Hosley DID play in this game, there IS proof! For the first time in a while, the former record-setter at Tech picked up a stat, a pass defensed in the Giants' 24-21 loss to Dallas.
PD

Will Montgomery, G Washington Redskins -- And for the umpteenth time: John, how did Will Montgomery play? Other Washington fans: feel free to chime in. I'm guessing not good, but...he's the man to ask so far. Officially, RGIII was sacked four times, but I don't know if any of those are Montgomery's fault.

Josh Morgan, WR Washington Redskins -- After a week on the inactives list, Morgan returned to the lineup (perhaps due to Leonard Hankerson's season-ending injury) and was second on the team in receptions (5) and receiving yards (45). He did not return any kicks or punts.
5 REC, 45 YDS

Eddie Royal, WR San Diego Chargers -- Eddie took a backseat to Keenan Allen, but to be fair, Allen is a stud rookie and is bursting out of his shell. He still had a good day, and tallied 87 yards on 4 receptions. Not bad sir.
4 REC, 87 YDS

Andre Smith, TE Dallas Cowboys -- Smith was inactive for the Cowboys against the Giants.

Tyrod Taylor, QB Baltimore Ravens -- Tyrod DID play seven plays at wide receiver and five at quarterback, the most he has played since he was given the reigns in last year's final regular season game as Baltimore had clinched and was resting their starters. He threw one pass, which was incomplete, and rushed 4 times for 7 yards. But the biggest story regarding Tyrod didn't involve his play, but rather the comments of one Joe Flacco, who in response to being benched/moved to wide out for several plays so that Tyrod could run the wildcat, said "I don't like that stuff. I think that it makes you look like a high school offense." He continued, explaining his Marcus Davis-esque effort on those plats like so, "I'm not doing a single thing. I'm not getting it. I'm not blocking, I'm not doing anything." But he wasn't done there, saying, "I don't care how we use it in the game - successful or not successful, after a big play, not after a big play. I don't care where it's used, I'm just not a huge fan of it. I'm the quarterback. I want to be behind the line of scrimmage, I want to be taking snaps. That's really the only thing. I don't necessarily take it personally either in terms of our offense trying to get better. I think just it makes us look like not an NFL team." Regarding Tyrod, he was quoted as saying, "We all have open conversations about it. [Tyrod] is a quarterback, too. He probably feels a certain way about it, too. But having said that, we're all going to do our best to make those plays work and execute them well. We'll see what happens."

As the Baltimore Sun pointed out:

"However, the latest comment comes at a time where Flacco is having statistically the worst season of his career. He has already set a career-high with 14 interceptions, the same number of touchdown passes that he has. He ranks fifth in the league in interceptions, 14th in passing yards (2,742), 25th in yards per attempt (6.8), 15th in yards per game (249) and 29th in quarterback rating (76.8)."

So perhaps this is not the most opportune time for Flacco to be mouthing off, especially when their offense is ranked No. 30 in the NFL. As the Sun continued on the issue, it appears Taylor has the support of his teammates on this one:

Other Ravens have been supportive of the wildcat as an added dimension and a way to get the uber athletic Taylor on the field more.

"Obviously Joe - he'd rather be lined up getting the snaps, but it's a change-up," running back Ray Rice said. "We're just trying to [as] best as we can right now to improvise a little bit. Joe can be voicing his opinion, but it's a wave that's going on in the NFL. ... It's not our everyday offense. It's just something that gives teams a little bit something to prepare for and know that we have it in our arsenal."

Added tight end Ed Dickson: "As long as they don't take away from what we do well [and] it gives us a change of pace, I like it, especially when you've got a guy like Tyrod. You've got to give him the ball. We have two great quarterbacks. There are things that Tyrod can do well and Joe can do well, and we can use them both."

Despite all of this, sources indicate that the coaching staff knows how Flacco feels about it and will likely end this package going forward. Way to go Flacco, you giant NFL cock block!

0/1, 4 RUSH, 7 YDS

Darryl Tapp, DE/LB Washington Redskins -- HE STRIKES AGAIN! Tapp had two tackles, but NONE of the solo variety. So it's a split really...

2 TAK

Michael Vick, QB Philadelphia Eagles -- It's probably the beginning of the end for Michael Vick, as regardless of if he's able to make it back to the field this year, Nick Foles was officially named the starter for the rest of the year during the bye.

Ryan Williams, RB Arizona Cardinals -- Inactivo. It's spanish, trust me.

Jason Worilds, LB Pittsburgh Steelers -- Worilds had a decent game, finishing with 5 tackles, 3 solo. He also had this nice ESPN Pittsburgh Blog post written about him, where the author argues for him to be re-signed, perhaps to be moved to Lamar Woodley's spot.
5 TAK, 3 SOLO

Practice Squad:
Corey Fuller (WR Detroit Lions), Vinston Painter (OT, Denver Broncos), Bruce Taylor (LB, Cincinnati Bengals)

Injured reserve:
Jeff King, TE Arizona Cardinals -- season-ending knee surgery
David Wilson, RB New York Giants -- season-ending neck injury

Currently a free agent:
Shayne Graham, K; Xavier Adibi, LB; Vincent Fuller, DB; Cody Grimm, DB; Matt Lehr, OG; Carlton Powell, DT; Ed Wang, OT; Eddie Whitley, S; Danny Coale, WR; Nick Becton, OT