It’s doubtful we’ll ever see a better catch than the three-fingered snare the Giants’ Odell Beckham Jr. made on Sunday night.
“It was a bit like Spider-Man. A near superhuman activity,” Jim Gates, a professor of physics at the University of Maryland, told The New York Times.
Yet for all of Beckham’s acrobatics, the most telling thing that happened in the NFL in Week 12 was not the league’s high-flying circus, but the return to the running game. It was not limited only to the 167 yards ground out by C.J. Anderson in the Broncos’ critical 39-36, come-from-behind victory against the Miami Dolphins.
The Ravens’ Justin Forsett ran for 182 yards and two touchdowns in Baltimore’s win over New Orleans on Monday night. Green Bay’s Eddie Lacy had 25 carries for 125 yards against the Vikings on Sunday.
A balancing act, not a high-wire act, is the key to winning football late in the season in the NFL when the wind howls and the air chills. The Broncos, with Peyton Manning directing traffic and throwing passes, had 35 runs and 35 passes Sunday. The Packers, with Aaron Rodgers under center, ran the ball 32 times and passed 30 times.
New England coach Bill Belichick — Mr. Grinch in a hoodie — knows the value of the running game. Even though the Patriots called 53 pass attempts for Tom Brady in a 34-9 win over the Lions, Belichick knows he needs to throw some body shots, too. That’s why he signed 250-pound LeGarrette Blount after Blount was cut by Pittsburgh last week. Blount pounded out 78 yards on just 12 carries.
Being something of an old-school football fan (or is it just old?), I enjoy watching a mix of running and passing. That’s what made the 1997-98 Broncos so fun to watch. With John Elway passing and Terrell Davis running, Denver had a two-fisted attack. In Super Bowl XXXII, Davis pounded the Packers for 157 yards on 30 carries en route to winning MVP. Elway was just 12-for-22 passing for 123 yards and an interception, but the Broncos won 31-24.
In Super Bowl XXXIII, Dan Reeves’ Atlanta Falcons were intent on stuffing Davis. They did — sort of, kind of — “limiting” Davis to 102 yards. That game gave T.D. his seventh consecutive postseason game of 100 yards rushing.
Reeves essentially dared Elway to beat him. And Elway did. At age 38, Elway became the oldest player ever to be named Super Bowl MVP. In the final game of his career, he completed 18-of-29 passes for 336 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Balance, as Mr. Miyagi told Daniel-san in “The Karate Kid,” is the key.
Chew on this
• 76 losses for Sixers? Another historic chapter of futility could be written in Philly this season. The 76ers lost 114-104 to the Blazers on Monday night to drop to 0-14 on the young season. Philadelphia’s worst start in franchise history was 0-15, set during the 1972-73 season when they also finished with the worst, 82-game record in league history at 9-73.
FYI: The Sixers have have held a fourth-quarter lead this season for a grand total of five minutes over their 14 games.
• Happy birthday. On this day in 1914, “Joltin” Joe DiMaggio, The Yankee Clipper, was born in Martinez, Calif. We all know him for his 56-game hitting streak — a record that I don’t think will ever be broken.
Want a great stat? Consider this: DiMaggio struck out only 369 times across his entire career, which included 6,821 times at bat. Only 5.4 percent of his at-bats resulted in a strikeout, one strikeout for every 18.5 times at bat.
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or twitter.com/psaundersdp
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