Former Michigan Athlete of the Week: Tom Brady

Tom Brady

Tom Brady had a 30-23 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night, completing 20/31 passes for 316 yards and 2 touchdowns. His New England Patriots are 4-0.

Honorable mention: Jay Feely hit the game-winning field goal for the Arizona Cardinals in a 13-10 win. LaMarr Woodley had 3 tackles, 1 sack, and 1 forced fumble but his Pittsburgh Steelers lost a 34-27 game to the Minnesota Vikings. Oakland Raider Charles Woodson had 7 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 sack, and 1 quarterback hurry in a 24-14 losing effort against the Washington Redskins.

Former Michigan Athlete of the Week: Jay Feely

Jay Feely

The pickings are pretty slim this week, but Jay Feely was 4/4 on field goals and 1/1 on extra points as the Arizona Cardinals beat the Detroit Lions by a score of 25-21.

Honorable mention: Ryan Mundy had 8 tackles and 1 fumble recovery, but his New York Giants lost to the Denver Broncos by a score of 41-23.

Former Michigan Athlete of the Week: Jay Feely

Jay Feely missed a 38-yard field goal that would have won the game for the Arizona Cardinals at the very end of regulation.  Instead of securing the victory, his team was forced into overtime and eventually lost to the Buffalo Bills, 19-16, giving the Cardinals only their second loss of the season.  That's not a great way to get named the former Michigan athlete of the week.

Then again, Feely's team never would have been in position to win the game if not for his incredible 61-yard game tying boot just one minute before.  The kick sets Arizona's franchise record for longest field goal and is only two yards short of the NFL record.  Only five kickers in NFL history have successfully kicked a field goal of longer distance.  

"You don't think there is any way a guy is going to make a 61-yarder," Buffalo Coach Chan Gailey said, "and then you think for sure he is going to make the short one and he doesn't."

Honorable Mention:  Mike Martin recorded six tackles, a tackle for for a loss, and a hit on the quarterback, as his Titans won over the Pittsburgh Steelers by a score of 26-23.  Martin helped his defense hold the Steelers to only 56 yards on the ground and a mere 2.5 yards per carry.  He came in for some praise from the Titans' head coach following the performance.

"I think when we drafted him we felt really good about him, and I think we all felt he could contribute right away like Casey did, like Klug did," coach Munchak said.  "He's hard to block.  That's why we like him.  He beats double teams, he's hard to block in the zone game when the center is trying to reach him on the back. . . .He's going to be a very good football player for us.  You saw flashes of that last night.  He was making plays.  Those (defensive tackles) are doubled a lot, and I think our defensive tackles have really all year played pretty good."

Miscellaneous:  

• Tim Jamison tore his Achilles and was placed on the Texans' Injured Reserve.
• Tom Brady put the ball in the air 58 times and threw for 395 yards in a 24-23 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.  Braylon Edwards caught his first touchdown pass of the season in the game.
• Brandon Graham recorded one tackle and Jason Avant caught two passes for 21 yards as their Eagles lost to the Lions, 26-23.
• Stevie Brown tracker continues:  he tallied four tackles for the Giants in their shocking 26-3 beat down of the 49ers.

Former Michigan Athlete of the Week: Tom Brady

Sexy. And Gisele Bundchen ain't too bad, either.

Tom Brady threw for 338 yards and three touchdowns on Sunday in the Patriots' 49-21 victory over the Buffalo Bills to secure home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. Brady finished the regular season with 5,235 passing yards, good for second most in NFL history behind Drew Brees' 2011 total of 5,486. After a first-round bye, Brady and the Patriots will face the winner of the Texans-Bengals game; his chances of getting another Super Bowl ring currently stand at 4/1 according to Vegas.

Honorable Mention: Jay Feely hit another game winning field goal as the Cardinals defeated the Seahawks, 23-20, in overtime. Feely had a rough start to the season, going 6-for-11 on field goal attempts before getting on track and finishing 19-for-24 (79.2%).

Miscellaneous: Ryan Mundy will step in as the starting free safety and LaMarr Woodly will likely return to the starting lineup when the Steelers visit Denver during Sunday's wild-card game. Jake Long and Steve Hutchinson were placed on the Injured Reserve. New Jaguar Morgan Trent picked off a pass for the second straight week.

Former Michigan Athlete of the Week: Brandon Graham

"Great! Now that I'm hurt, I won't have to wear green and white"
- Brandon Graham

After recording only one tackle last Sunday, Brandon Graham is being selected as the Former Michigan Athlete of the Week for mostly symbolic reasons. Graham started six of the 13 games in which he played last season, recording 13 tackles, one sack and two forced fumbles. That was until week 14 against the Cowboys when Graham suffered a torn ACL and subsequently underwent microfracture surgery, which kept him on the Injured Reserve until late October of this year. Consistent with an injury of that severity, Graham's transition back to playing at a high level has not been seamless. And Philadelphia fans don't like that.

As the 13th overall selection in the 2010 draft, Graham admits that he has not yet lived up to expectations. But Eagles fans are not a patient bunch and are directing some heat towards Graham, "chasing him off of Twitter" and bemoaning that his draft spot wasn't used to instead select Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, who, to his credit, has performed very well. “That's why it’s tough for me, because I gotta see stuff like that,” said Graham, “and I know I’m like, I could be that.’ I know what I can do. Just to see Pierre-Paul is balling, doing his thing, it’s tough on me...I don’t even worry about it because I’ve got three years and I’ve got a chance to prove myself and they know what I can do.” Graham continues to work hard and tweet. His Eagles hold a 6-8 record yet still have an outside chance of making the playoffs by winning the unimpressive NFC East.

Honorable Mention: Tom Brady threw for 320 yards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions as the Patriots defeated the Denver Broncos and Tim "he just wins games" Tebow by a score of 41-23. Brady added a touchdown on the ground which was followed by an emphatic spike as New England improved to an 11-3 record. Brady has thrown for 4,593 yards this season and is on pace to break Dan Marion's single-season passing record of 5,084 yards. That's if Drew Brees, who's thrown for 4,780 yards, doesn't beat him to it. But Brees' season total through the air may be adversely impacted by Coach Sean Payton, who unlike Belichick, has shown a tendency to rest his star players on the final week of the season if his team's playoff seeding has already been determined. Go Brady.

Miscellaneous: Jake Long sat out against the Bills, which broke his 60 game start streak. Morgan Trent now plays for Jacksonville and saw action last week. Jay Feely hit a game winning field goal on Sunday against the Browns.

Former Michigan Athlete of the Week: Jay Feely

Kicker Jay Feely sent both of his field goal attempts through the uprights on Sunday, converting from 48 and 23 yards out, which allowed his Arizona Cardinals to defeat the Dallas Cowboys in overtime by a score of 19-13. Holding a record of 5-7, it marks the first time this year that the Cardinals - Feely's seventh NFL team - have defeated a squad with a winning record. After struggling early in the season, Feely has since converted on his last five field goal attempts and is now 11-for-16 on the year. Interestingly, this is the second consecutive match-up between Arizona and Dallas that Feely has decided the game: last year, he sent a 48-yarder through the uprights to give the Cardinals the lead with only 5 seconds remaining on Christmas day.

Honorable Mention: Tom Brady put on another impressive statistical performance, throwing for 289 yards and two touchdowns with zero picks in a 31-24 win over the 0-12 Colts on Sunday. However, the game was not nearly as close as the final score indicates, so despite nice stats, it's hard to say that Brady was the difference-maker, thus relegating him to Honorable Mention this week behind Feely.

Former Michigan Athlete of the Week: Jay Feely

Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely had a fantastic day for a kicker on Sunday.  As you can see above, Feely was a juggernaut.  He was 5-for-6 on field goals, including a 55-yarder.  He also scored a touchdown on a 5-yard run and made all 4 of his extra points.  In the 43-13 victory over the Broncos, Feely had 25 points.

But there were a lot of guys deserving of honorable mention . . .

a. Tom Brady, of the New England Patriots, helped beat the Chicago Bears, 36-7.  Brady was 27/40 for 369 yards and 2 touchdowns in the snow.

b. Dhani Jones, a Cincinnati Bengals linebacker, had 8 tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 quarterback hurry in a 23-7 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

c. LaMarr Woodley, who helped his Steelers beat Jones's Bengals, had 5 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, 2 quarterback hurries, 1 interception, and 1 pass breakup.

Former Michigan Athlete of the Week: Braylon Edwards

New York Jet Braylon Edwards had a decent game in a losing effort on Sunday. His stats weren't overwhelming (4 catches, 74 yards, 1 TD), but his touchdown catch was highlight-reel worthy. Against the Dolphins, Edwards caught a ball at the 1-yard line with a defender draped on his back. He planted his feet and, in a struggle that seemed never-ending, eventually forced himself and the ball across the goal line.

Honorable mention: Jay Feely, also playing for the Jets, hit two field goals and one extra point. Two field goals aren't normally that noteworthy, but one was from 55 yards.