Two first-down passes to Jason Witten were called back because of dumb penalties, an illegal formation and a late hit -- by an offensive lineman. Romo held the ball too long and took a bad sack. He threw it away in the pocket and took a grounding call.
Meanwhile Manning played a solid game, if not a great one. The winning drive was a 37-yarder, three completed passes and then two runs. Nothing spectacular there. He threw only 18 times, hitting 12 for 163 yards, and the Giants didn't run much either. But they never turned the ball over and took only three penalties. They did enough to win if the more talented Cowboys obliged by beating themselves, which they did.
Eli's big brother Peyton was supposed to be the one playing next week, but a series of mishaps deep in Chargers territory and the dazzling play by San Diego's backups scotched another Colts-Patriots showdown.
On consecutive possessions straddling halftime, Manning drove the Colts deep, then had passes intercepted after they bounced off his receivers' hands. Antonio Cromartie picked one at the 11, Eric Weddle the other at the 2.
Manning had started the game by leading a masterful 76-yard touchdown drive, then was matriculating the ball down the field again when Marvin Harrison fumbled it away on the San Diego 22 following his first catch since Oct. 22.
The Chargers lost star running back LaDainian Tomlinson to a bruised knee late in their first scoring drive, in the second quarter. He fumbled after being gang tackled at the Colts 9, and while the Chargers kept the ball, they lost L.T. Quarterback Philip Rivers went out on the last play of the third quarter, a 56-yard touchdown on a screen pass to one of Tomlinson's replacements, Darren Sproles. Rivers jumped to make the pass, then landed funny, tweaking his knee.
Tight end Antonio Gates, who dislocated a toe last week, caught only two passes and wasn't a factor.
Which left it to Volek, the heir apparent Steve McNair for a while before things went mid-South for him in Tennessee. The Colts had gone ahead 24-21 early in the fourth quarter when Anthony Gonzalez got loose down the left sideline and went 55 yards with a pass from Manning.
Volek hit his first two passes, but threw an incomplete on third-and-4 from the San Diego 43. But a face-mask penalty against cornerback Marlin Jackson gave the Chargers a first down. That's when Volek dumped it to Naanee on that screen pass, and the rookie went 27 yards to the Colts 15.
Four plays later Volek scored on a quarterback sneak with 4:50 to go. The Colts had two more possessions, but couldn't score. The Chargers will go to Foxboro next week a banged up bunch of underdogs against the Patriots, who won their 17th straight.
Tom Brady completed his first 16 passes -- the 17th hit the hands of tight end Ben Watson -- and ended up 26-for-28 for 262 yards and three touchdowns, one of them on a picturesque fake direct snap. That is, Brady jumped into the air as though he were faking that the snap had gone over his head, the way he would on a direct snap to the running back. But Brady had taken the snap. The Jags all tackled running back Kevin Faulk and Brady tossed the ball to Wes Welker for the score.
The Jaguars threw their defense at Randy Moss, limiting him to one catch, and dared Brady to beat them dumping it underneath to his other receivers. He did, 31-20. He also handed off to Laurence Maroney for 122 yards. Jaguars quarterback David Garrard was able to move the ball at times through the air, but the twin running attack of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew never got going. The Patriots, as usual, were just too much, though the Jaguars hung around admirably to the end.
The Seahawks looked for a few minutes like they might start the weekend off with an upset in Green Bay. With snow falling, Packers running back Ryan Grant fumbled the ball away on the Packers' first and third plays from scrimmage, giving Seattle the ball at the Green Bay 1 and 43. The Seahawks converted both opportunities for a 14-0 lead with the game barely four minutes old.
Then they got outscored 42-6, a thorough beatdown. Grant ended up running for 201 yards on 27 carries and scoring three touchdowns. Brett Favre made another of his signature plays, a stumbling, underhanded toss to Donald Lee for a first down.
The Seahawks were beaten every which way you can be beaten. Only those two flukey touchdowns at the start made the score seem respectable for most of the game. By halftime, though the score was only 28-17, the Packers were in complete control.
They'll be the surprise host of the NFC Championship Game next Sunday against the Giants. The Chargers will try to outdo their upset of the Colts by knocking off unbeaten Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. Green Bay and New England will be heavy favorites.
That's a nice thing to be in the NFL. Some days.
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About the writer
King Kaufman is a senior writer for Salon. You can e-mail him at king at salon dot com or visit his Facebook page.
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