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Belichick among choices for Motorola coach of the week

New England head coach is one of three nominees for the Motorola Coach of the Week award after the Patriots' 24-20 win over Indianapolis.

Visitors to nfl.com select the winner.

Here's a bit about each of the coaches and their teams:

BILL BELICHICK led his Patriots to beat a previously undefeated Indianapolis Colts by a score of 24 - 20 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis and to remain the only undefeated team in the NFL at 9 - 0. Tom Brady completed 21 passes for 255 yards and put up three touchdowns, including two within four minutes in the fourth quarter. In the second half of the game, the Patriots outgained the Colts 228 -100 yards. The Patriots defense limited Peyton Manning to one touchdown pass and forced two turnovers, including one key forced fumble off a sack by DE Jarvis Green that was recovered by LB Rosevelt Colvin allowing the Patriots to run down the clock for the win.

ROMEO CRENNEL brought the Cleveland Browns to a 5 - 3 record with a 33 - 30 win over the Seattle Seahawks. Browns QB Derek Anderson threw for 364 yards and led an offense that gained 428 yards. Cleveland's RB Jamal Lewis ran the ball into the end zone four times and caught four balls for 67 yards while Kellen Winslow made 11 catches for 125 yards. The Browns defense forced the Seahawks offense to turn over the ball two times and stopped the Hawks on 4-1 to turn the ball over to the Browns in overtime. Phil Dawson kicked a 25-yard field goal in overtime to give the Browns their third straight victory for the first time since 2001.

SEAN PAYTON led New Orleans to a 41 - 24 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Saints' fourth straight win. This victory brings the Saints (4-4) to only a half-game behind division-leading Tampa Bay (5-4). This latest victory over Jacksonville (5-3) was the Saints' most impressive, given the quality of the opponent. Drew Brees completed 35 of his 49 passes for 445 yards, helping the Saints gain 538 total yards. Brees also put up three touchdowns passing to three different receivers and Reggie Bush ran one into the endzone in the first quarter. On defense the Saints forced three turnovers including one third-quarter interception that Mike McKenzie ran back for a touchdown.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 10:32 PM | Permalink | Comments 1

J. Green up for GMC Defensive Player of the Week

Hey all --

Yet another Patriots' player has the chance to win a weekly award, as defensive lineman Jarvis Green is one of five nominees for the GMC Defensive player of the week.

Fans can vote at nfl.com.

Here's a bit about each of the players nominated:

* New England’s JARVIS GREEN collected five tackles (four solo), one sack and one forced fumble in the Patriots' 24 - 20 win over the Indianapolis Colts. Green's fourth-quarter sack and forced fumble led to the final Patriots' possession in which they were able to run out the clock for the win.

* New York Jets’ DAVID HARRIS made 24 tackles (20 solo) in the Jets' 23 - 20 loss to the Washington Redskins. Harris made a critical stop on Clinton Portis late in the fourth quarter that allowed the Jets to embark on their game-tying field goal drive to push the game into overtime.

* Pittsburgh’s JAMES HARRISON registered nine tackles (eight solo), 3.5 sacks, six quarterback hits, an interception, one defensed pass, two forced fumbles and one recovered fumble in the Steelers’ 38 – 7 win over the Baltimore Ravens. Harrison forced a fumble and recovered the ball on the Baltimore 20 that led to a first-quarter drive to the endzone to start Pittsburgh on their way to a 35-point first half.

* Atlanta’s LAWYER MILLOY recorded eight tackles (six solo) and one interception in the Falcons' 20 - 16 win over the San Francisco 49ers. Twice Milloy made tackles on third down that resulted in a loss of yards and prevented the 49ers from converting, forcing them to kick field goals instead of getting into the end zone. Milloy led a secondary that limited the 49ers to 251 total net yards.

* Detroit’s SHAUN ROGERS made three tackles, 2.5 sacks and one interception in the Lions' 44 - 7 win over the Denver Broncos. Rogers returned the interception 66 yards for a touchdown to put the Lions up 36 - 0 in the fourth quarter.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 10:28 PM to Jarvis Green | Permalink | Comments 0

Pats-Steelers flexed to 4:15 p.m.

One day after announcing that the Patriots' game in Buffalo on Nov. 18 would be flexed to Sunday Night Football, the NFL and CBS announced that New England's Week 14 home game with Pittsburgh will be flexed to 4:15 p.m.

It was originally slated for a 1 p.m. start.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 9:03 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Pats-Colts racks up viewers

Hey all --

The Patriots-Colts game on Sunday, as expected, drew giant ratings for CBS.

New England's 24-20 win drew an average audience of 33.8 million viewers, making it the largest audience for a Sunday afternoon regular season game since 1987 -- which is as far back as CBS keeps records on such numbers. 66.4 million viewers watched the game for at least six minutes.

The previous high for a Sunday regular-season game was Cowboys-49ers on Nov. 12, 1995.

Pats-Colts earned a national rating/share of 20.1/36, the highest-rated Sunday afternoon regular-season game since another Cowboys-49ers game, on Nov. 10, 1996, drew a 20.2/36. It was the highest-rated program since the Academy Awards (23.8/37).

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 8:47 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

M. Rivers cut again

The Patriots have released tight end Marcellus Rivers again, in a move that shows that Benjamin Watson will be fully healthy by the time New England plays again, and leads one to believe that his spot on the 53-man roster will soon be filled.

Who it will be filled by is another question altogether. Bill Belichick said yesterday that the team will start the clock on veteran Troy Brown this week, and corner Eddie Jackson and wideout Chad Jackson have been practicing for the last three weeks as well.

This is the fourth time this season that Rivers has been released by the Pats; he did play in three games this season but did not record any statistics. Against the Redskins, he had two dropped passes, including one in the end zone.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Opie, Anthony & Brady

According to profootballtalk.com, the Opie and Anthony radio show has been pushing a rumor that Tom Brady failed a drug test. The site, which keeps a daily inventory on NFL rumors, throws cold water on the show's assertion. Click here to see the site's daily rumor mill, which also contains a link to the mysterious audio glitch that CBS has taken the blame for, and that has fed the Patriots-Colts crowd noise dispute.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 9:35 AM to Tom Brady | Permalink | Comments 5

Download Tuesday's sports cover

Today's cover goes into the latest allegations in the Patriots-Colts rivalry, as well as news that Curt Schilling is close to a deal with the Red Sox, and a report on URI's exhibition win over Concordia.

Download a copy of the page in PDF format

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments 0