Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Former Arkansas State assistant and Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin may be thanking the football gods that in his sport coaches don’t dress like the players.

Donning throwback, black and gold horizontal stripes, Pittsburgh was a John Belushi short of a Killer Bees sketch as it beat Washington and rookie quarterback sensation Robert Griffin III 27-12. Honestly, every time Pittsburgh broke a huddle it looked like a chain gang trying to escape.

There was finally a Ryan Mallett sighting in New England, or actually, Merry Olde England. The Patriots routed the St. Louis Rams 45-7 in London, with Mallett (Arkansas) relieving Tom Brady at quarterback to complete a 17-yard pass and to net minus 1 yard rushing.

St. Louis’ defensive scheme seemed to involve letting Brady wear himself out. Clearly taken in by the ruse, Brady passed for 304 yards and four touchdowns and then left it up to Mallett to pull out the victory.

For Arkansas Razorbacks fans, it was also jolly good to see former defensive end Jake Bequette get onto the pitch for New England, but his tackle count was nil in the Pats’ ripping victory.

The Pro-Arkansas running backs met different fates Sunday.

Oakland’s Darren McFadden (Oak Grove, Arkansas) led the Raiders with 114 rushing yards and was the second-leading receiver with four catches for 23 yards in Oakland’s 26-16 victory over Kansas City.

Peyton Hillis (Conway, Arkansas) returned to action at fullback for the Chiefs and had four carries for 23 yards, most coming on a 17-yard run, and one reception for 5 yards.

Carolina’s DeAngelo Williams (Wynne) rushed 11 times for 33 yards and a long of 17 as the Chicago Bears edged the Panthers 23-22 on Robbie Gould’s field goal with four seconds left.

Speaking of heartbreak, Dallas running back Felix Jones (Arkansas) led the Cowboys’ rushing game, before they abandoned it out of necessity, in a 29-24 victory by the New York Giants. Jones gained 19 yards on 13 carries and scored on a 4-yard run that cut it to 23-7 with 5:27 left in the first half.

But Dallas, trailing 23-0 just two minutes into the second quarter, had to veer away from the ground game in the second half and wound up losing on a last-second pass as replay showed receiver Dez Bryant to have reached out of bounds on what appeared to be the winning, 37-yard touchdown reception.

Giants defensive back Michael Coe (Arkansas by way of Alabama State) had a tackle and forced a fumble on special teams and backup guard Mitch Petrus (Carlisle, Arkansas) got playing time as the Giants netted 293 yards, 190 on Eli Manning’s passing.