Week 15 NFL
Recap
Cincinnati
Bengals over Philadelphia Eagles
Well Andy
Dalton and the Bengals got a win over the struggling Eagles and moved to 8-6
right in the playoff race with a huge game against the Steelers coming up next
week. This game went about as you would
have expected. Andy Dalton wasn’t great
but played good enough, AJ Green caught a touchdown and the Eagles to nobody’s
surprise couldn’t stop turning the ball over.
The Bengals now find themselves in prime position to make the playoffs
with a game against the Steelers next week that will decide their fate. The Eagles disaster season continues as Andy
Reid’s presumed exit from Philadelphia is not going to well.
Houston Texans over Indianapolis Colts
After last
week’s devastating loss to the Patriots the Texans came back this week to beat
the Colts and clinch their division title.
J.J. Watt completely dominated the game defensively finishing with 10
tackles, 6 tackles for a loss, 3 sacks and a forced fumble. He basically shut down Andrew Luck and the
Colts offense by himself and was a devastating player during the game. Offensively the Texans were able to throw the
ball effectively to Andre Johnson and run the ball well with Arian Foster as
they secured the victory. This team
despite the loss to the Patriots last week will still likely be the top seed in
the AFC, something that could prove crucial come playoff time. The Colts despite the loss still seem primed
for a wild card spot. Andrew Luck has
been impressive all season and despite losing to Houston was still pretty
impressive Sunday given J.J. Watt’s performance.
Denver
Broncos over Baltimore Ravens
The Broncos
continue their climb up the AFC standing with their dominant performance
against the Baltimore Ravens. The team
won its 9th game in a row, going up 31-3 before Baltimore got a few
garbage time touchdowns, as Joe Flacco struggled mightily until then. The offense led by likely MVP Peyton Manning
scored efficiently and the defense was dominant as well. In many ways this looks like the most
complete team in football right now and could even be considered favorites in
AFC. The Ravens continue their slide as
they lost their 3rd game in a row this game coming after the firing
of offensive coordinator Cam Cameron. It
didn’t seem to help at all as they still continued to not feed Ray Rice and
attempted to rely on the inconsistent Joe Flacco. They Ravens still clinched a playoff spot
this week but seem to be the team everyone would want to play in the AFC
playoffs.
Miami Dolphins over Jacksonville
Jaguars
Well in this
battle of non-playoff AFC Florida teams the Dolphins were able to come out with
a victory. The team moved to 6-8 with
that victory as they got a solid performance from their offense and
defense. Tannehill was able to manage
the game well, Reggie Bush played well and the defense was able to shut down
Chad Henne in his return to Miami. The
game’s only major implications are for draft position as the Dolphins hurt
themselves in that regard while the Jaguars helped themselves as they gun for
the first pick.
Washington
Redskins over Cleveland Browns
The Redskins
won this week without RGIII, who at this point might be my favorite player in
football to watch, as Kirk Cousins played quite well in leading the team to its
5th straight victory. The
offense was able to move the ball well against the Browns while the defense for
the most part was able to shut down the Cleveland attack. This was an important victory for a
Washington team that controls its own destiny for the NFC East crown. A team with RGIII come playoff time is
extremely dangerous considering how difficult it is to gameplan for him given
his variety of tremendous gifts. Kirk
Cousins performance was key this week though against a Browns team with a
pretty good defense he played really well in his first start. The Browns moved to 5-9 as they head to
another season of mediocrity. The team
has some talent though and a couple of smart offseason moves and this team
could possibly be headed to the postseason.
Minnesota Vikings
over St. Louis Rams
Adrian
Peterson is not human. That is the only
reasonable explanation for a player who tore his ACL about a year ago to
possibly breaking the NFL rushing record this season. Considering that it is a passing league now
it seems even more improbable that he is pulling this off. Well Peterson is trying to be one of the few
running backs in football history to carry a team to the post season, a feat
that if he accomplished would likely merit the MVP award. After a good start Christian Ponder has
struggled for most of the season but it hasn’t mattered because of how good
Peterson has been. The Rams are now out
of the playoff hunt moving to 6-7-1 in a game that was basically a playoff game
for them. The future of the team is
going to depend on how the picks they got for RGIII turnout and how Sam
Bradford ends up. He has made some
strides this season but is already far behind the product that is RGIII.
New Orleans Saints over Tampa Bay
Buccaneers
Well this
game was in a word shocking. The
Buccaneers lost their 4th straight game in sad fashion as they got
absolutely destroyed by the Saints. After
seemingly getting it together midway through the season the Bucs have
completely collapsed culminating in this loss on Sunday. Their defense was absolutely shredded by the
Saints offense and Drew Brees, which is understandable, but their offense not
being able to score and Josh Freeman turning the ball over 5 times against what
might be the worst defense in football is just unacceptable. The Saints on the other hand continue their
inconsistent Sean Paytonless season.
They like the Bucs are 6-8 and are quite a flawed football team. However the performance they put up Sunday
was quite impressive and boads well about the team’s talent level in future
seasons.
Atlanta Falcons over New York Giants
For what
might be the first time all season the Falcons looked like a team playing up to
their record. This team is now 12-2 and
likely going to be the top seed in the NFC but this win was the first time this
season they looked like the team to beat.
They dominated the Giants offensively and defensively, Matt Ryan
continued his fantastic season while the defense completely shut down Eli
Manning. This team now looks like a team
that could win a playoff game or two and make some noise in the NFC
playoffs. On the other hand the Giants
continue to be the most unpredictable and inconsistent team in football. Game to game this team is completely
unpredictable, they might get blown out like they did on Sunday or they might
blow out an elite team like they’ve done to the Packers and 49ers. Whatever team shows up is a great mystery,
this team is now in real danger of missing the playoffs, but if they get there
they are without question dangerous.
Green Bay
Packers over Chicago Bears
The Packers
clinched the NFC North title this season as the Bears 2nd half
struggles this season continue. After
moving to 7-1 this team is now in danger of missing the playoffs as their
defense has regressed from their all-time great pace. While I’m still a Jay Cutler believer he has
struggled in recent weeks as with the team.
The offense seems to be completely dependent on Cutler flinging it to
Brandon Marshall with no other real strategy beyond that. The Packers on the other hand continue their
climb up in the standing after their slow start. The team is quite dangerous for no other
reason no quarterback can play as well as Aaron Rodgers can even if he is a
little less consistent. The team is
continually dependent on him and any success they have in the postseason will
be because of his exceptional play.
Seattle
Seahawks over Buffalo Bills
Well that
game was embarrassing. The Bills played
absolutely awful on Sunday and as a fan of the team I’m embarrassed to cheer
for them. Taylor’s first rate thoughts on a lifetime as a Bills fan sum it upwell so I would recommend reading those.
This game however was just
sad. The defense looked like had never
seen a quarterback run before and didn’t know it was in the rulebook as they
allowed Russell Wilson to run for 3 touchdowns.
Whatever Seattle was doing on Sunday the Bills were going to be useless
in trying to stop it defensively or play even half decent on offense. The only positives for Bills fans from Sunday
are that Chan Gailey will likely be fired soon and we have Stevie Johnson and
CJ
Spiller are
on our team, they are both elite football players and extremely fun to
watch. The Seahawks put up their 2nd
straight dominating effort as they look to try to make a run at the NFC West
division crown. This team is looking
like one of the best in all of football with a great offense to go along with
their already elite defense. This team
is peaking at the right time and could actually fulfill Bill Simmons’ ridiculous Super Bowl prediction.
Carolina
Panthers over San Diego Chargers
Well the
Chargers are definitely terrible. After
upsetting the Steelers last week the Chargers decided to get back to work and
get dominated by the Panthers this week.
Phillip Rivers continues his transformation into a below average
quarterback while the talent level on the rest of the team is quite low. The offense doesn’t have that many playmakers
and the defense can’t really stop people.
It will be sad though because it seems like after this season the Norv
Turner era will finally come to a close.
The Ron Rivera era on the other hand will likely not. The Panthers seem to dominate or lose a close
game every week, in Ron Rivera’s two seasons the team is 1-11 in games decided
by a touchdown or less. This team does
have talent though, Cam Newton is a unique talent and if used correctly is one
of the most dangerous players in football.
Arizona Cardinals over Detroit Lions
Well there
is a surprise. The Arizona Cardinals
were able to score 38 points in an actual football game! Don’t worry it’s not like their offense was
able to be effective or anything, they had less than 200 total yards, and Ryan
Lindley played amazing by his standards going 14 for 21 with 104 yards no
touchdowns and only 1 interception. The
defense had two interception returns for a touchdown along with recovering to
other turnovers that allowed them to put up that number of points. The Lions have now returned to their state of
being well the Lions. This sad team is a
mess offensively; a haven for turnovers, and defensively it is a joke. This vaunted defense line can’t slow down
anyone, well besides Ryan Lindley but he doesn’t really count, and this team
has regressed significantly. I didn’t
expect them to be as good as they were last season, but I thought they might at
least fight for a playoff spot.
Oakland Raiders over Kansas City Chiefs
Well any
time Sebastian Janikowski is the player of the game you know something special
happened. That is this week’s game between
the Chiefs and Raiders where the Raiders put forth a show offensively coming
away with 5 Field Goals! Janikowski
finished the day 5 for 6 including 2 from over 50 yards, quite an impressive
performance, outside of that very little impressive. The Raiders had some success moving the
football gaining 385 yards of total offense while they struggled to convert
those drives into points. The Chiefs put
forth an offensive performance for the ages.
They finished with 117 yards, 7 first downs, 2 of which were by penalty,
1 turnover, under 20 minutes of time of possession, and were sacked 4
times. The battle between the Chiefs and
Jaguars for the first pick in the draft just got intense.
Dallas Cowboys over Pittsburgh Steelers
With this
victory the Cowboys moved to 8-6 and shockingly are still right in the hunt for
the NFC East title race. This team which
seemingly was done multiple times this season keeps finding ways to stay alive
led by the underrated Tony Romo. Since
his 1 touchdown 4 interception game against the Giants Romo, in his last 8
games he’s averaged 274.5 yards per game, 7.7 yards per attempts, completed
67.7 % of his passes and thrown 13 touchdowns with only 3 interceptions. While Romo’s inconsistency is part of the
package the guy can play like an elite quarterback at times and is helping to
lead the Cowboys into the playoff race.
The Steelers are a team that is struggling mightily right now. They are 7-7 and likely have to win their
final two games to make it to the postseason.
The defense while still very good isn’t at the elite level it once was,
while the offense is dependent on an injury prone Ben Roethlisberger. Whether or not they make the playoffs, or do
any damage when their will depend entirely on Ben’s health and abilities. Their game next week against the playoffs is practically
a post season play in game.
San
Francisco 49ers over New England
Patriots
The Sunday
Night game this week lived up to the expectations. The 49ers and Patriots played a dramatic back
and forth game while the 49ers were able to come up victorious. After taking a 31-3 lead over the Patriots,
the Patriots came storming back scoring touchdowns on 4 consecutive drives to
tie it up before the 49ers ended up winning 41-34. Colin Kaepernick was quite impressive against
the Patriots throwing for 4 touchdowns and making a few plays running the
ball. The Patriots played poorly for
most of the game except for their absurd stretch where they scored touchdowns
on 4 straight drives and were able to hold the 49ers. This possible Super Bowl matchup was an
interesting test for those 2 teams, and also an extremely important one. The Patriots likely lost a first round bye in
this game while the 49ers all but guaranteed a division title and made a first
round bye considerably more likely.
These are two of the best teams in football, and when a team with an all-time
great offense like the Patriots competes against a complete team like the 49ers
you are in for quite a show.
Tennessee Titans over New York Jets
Well it’s
finally over. The Titans finished off the
Mark Sanchez era as Sanchez had a classic performance completing less than half
of his passes, throwing 4 interceptions and only throwing for 131 yards. Not much positives to get out of that. However the Jets have announced that they are
starting Greg McElroy and not Sanchez or Tebow so you would hope the endless
publicity that comes with those 2 will come to an end. I doubt it but still it would be nice to
think about. For the Titans, their
defense shut down Sanchez while their offense got one big run out of Chris
Johnson for a 94 yard touchdown. Outside
of that he had a classic Chris Johnson performance of 20 carries for 28 yards,
he’s had better days. The Titans got
their 5th win of the season though in a disappointing season.
Stay Hungry
My Friends
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