Whoa! What a week 15! The Colts win, the Pack lose, and CJ Spiller goes off because I decided to bench him!
Here are my random thoughts from the Sunday that was Week 15:
Packers - What the F? How did the CHIEFS, of all teams, figure it out? Well, before we rush to give them too much credit, let's first take into account the circumstances surrounding the Pack's first loss of the season. Yes, the Pack are without Greg Jennings, but according to conventional wisdom, that shouldn't have mattered. While it perhaps does not matter with Aaron Rodgers at the helm, I have to think losing your best receiver hurts your offense just a little bit--new guys are running Jennings' routes, other guys are running unfamiliar routes, it's an away game in a stadium that is traditionally a tough place to play, etc. So I think the loss of Jennings was a bit of a negative. Also, the Packers' O-line was decimated. Guys kept dropping like flies, one was carted off with a broken leg. Even so, you would think this wasn't a huge deal--the Pack's O-line was busted up all last year, and they managed to take the title then--in fact, aren't these the Packers that espoused the "next man up" mantra all of last year on their 6 game winning streak to the title? You would think this, of all groups, is somewhat immune to injuries. I think you stockpile the injuries issue on top of the fact that KC has a decent D, with DB's who can successfully jam receivers at the line and pass rushers who were able to get through a patchwork O-line for the Pack, and you all of a sudden had a perfect storm. That's why every play the Pack ran on offense looked like a complete shitshow--Rodgers scrambling around, getting moved off of his launch points, receivers' timings being thrown off by press coverage, Tamba Hali running roughshod all over the place. And BAM, a team that couldn't seem to score a TD for some 48 consecutive drives managed to get one TD and 4 FGs and knock off the Packers. And lo and behold, the rest of the NFC now has a roadmap and a prayer to reach the Super Bowl. Jam 'em, rush 4 or 5 on Rodgers every passing down, disrupt his timing, disrupt receivers' routes early, and hope like hell that you can get some pressure on the QB and force bad throws. Do that, and you have a passing chance of beating the Packers.
Romeo Crennel - KC's interim head coach put on a great audition for his GM on Sunday, solving the Packers and getting a HUGE home win for the Chiefs and keeping them alive in the AFC playoff hunt. Perhaps the best moment of the weekend was watching KC's players, defensive and offensive alike, drench Crennel in gatorade and rally around him. You could tell that he is a player's coach, and the Chiefs' players seem to love him and want to play hard for him. Good for a guy who, in my opinion, didn't do a bad job in Cleveland. My vote is for Crennel for that coaching job. Let's see what he can do.
Colts - Really, this is more a post about the Titans. How do you go into Indy and lose? It's not like Indy is a tough place to play--we know their fans bail on them when the team doesn't perform well (see: Indy's return flight from the loss in Super Bowl XLIV and all 4 fans who were there to greet them). So I can't imagine crowd noise was a huge factor. For a team that has been making a playoff push, played the Saints to a nailbiter last week, and have the athletes in place to win games, how do the Titans explain this loss? Good for the Colts, though--defense rose up, running backs did their job (205 yds rushing), and oh yeah, Curtis Painter didn't play. And whoa, Tennessee--19 rushes and 56 passes? That's the balance of a team that got blown out from the opening snap. There is no excuse to run only 19 times in a game that was closely contested for the majority of the game. Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker aren't THAT good. Run the ball, boys!
Broncos/Pats - This was a good game for about one quarter. The Broncos gashed the Pats' dreadful D for 133 rushing yards in the first quarter, jumped out to a 16-7 lead and then never got anything going the rest of the way. Clearly, the Pats decided to guard against the run and let Tebow beat them with his arm. Bold move by a shitty secondary, but it paid off. Also, turnovers crushed the Broncos early. What did we learn from this game? The Broncos' D really isn't THAT good--remember, they let Minnesota score 32 on them a couple weeks ago. We also confirmed that Tim Tebow isn't a miracle-worker. The guy can create and extend plays like a handful of other QBs in the league and there is no question he is a strong leader of that team. But he is a below-average (but improving) passer on a pretty mediocre team. Good thing for the Broncos that they play in the AFC West and STILL have a one-game hold on the division with two to play. Pathetic division.
Ravens - You are dreadful on the road. Flacco is doing his best 2006 Rex Grossman this year. Flashes of brilliance, flashes of feces. Last night was truly putrid. The INT to Spikes--how does he not see a LB camping out right in the middle of his passing lane?--was inexcusable, and the other dropbacks when he didn't throw a pick, he either held the ball too long or always settled for dumpoffs. Perhaps I should credit the Chargers' D more, but Flacco has been too inconsistent for me to be a believer in the Ravens this year. Especially now that the Ravens are looking at being a wild-card on the road instead of a 2-seed with a home game. And come on, Ravens' D--torched by Phillip Rivers, and his throws weren't even that good--he just had open receivers all night long. Dreadful performance by what we thought was a title contender. At least for this week, I'm no longer a believer in the Ravens.
Texans - This was the first big "Uh oh" game for the Texans since they lost Schaub. The team has come back to earth with TJ Yates at the helm and laid a big egg at home against the lowly (but underrated) Panthers. As with the Ravens, I'm a seller of the Texans. Too predictably run-heavy, rookie QB in the playoffs--it doesn't add up to a Super Bowl run to me. Pats and Steelers are the two big horses in the AFC race at this point.
Eagles - Hard to believe that this team can win out, have a couple of things happen to the Cowboys and Giants, and actually WIN the NFC East and play a HOME PLAYOFF GAME. WHAT! The NFC East is doing its best NFC West impression this year. First team to 9 wins...wins! And the way the Eagles are playing with Vick back in the fold--I wouldn't count them out. As long as Dallas loses out (they play the Eagles at home and Giants away--wouldn't be surprised to see them lose both), and the Giants lose one (the Jets in Week 16?), the Eagles are in. That's a lot that has to happen, but hey, it's the NFC East, a division which no one seems willing to win.
Dolphins - Whoa! Reggie Bush lives! Good for you, Reggie. I still will take Darren Sproles over you, but as your biggest fan when you were in New Orleans, I wish you only the best!
Seahawks - This must be the most underrated D in the league right now. They are straight ballers. Brandon Browner should be heading to the Pro Bowl. They quashed a dangerous Eagles team and absolutely destroyed the Bears in Chicago yesterday. Quite a commendable win and late-season performance from a team that most had given up for dead at the beginning of the year.
Giants - News flash! The Giants won a game they were supposed to lose last week and lost a game they were supposed to win this week. In other news, the sun came up this morning! Eli, just when you trick everyone into thinking you are elite, you go and poop all over the field like this. What are we to do with you?
Lions - Ho hum, another two TD deficit erased in the fourth quarter to basically seal up a wild-card spot in the playoffs. I don't think anyone wants to play this team in the postseason.
Saints - Playing their best football of the year, but started off shaky yesterday with two lost fumbles in the first 3 possessions. Coming into the game, the Saints had fumbled 4 times all year, losing 3 of them. Both were best, by far, in the league. Even after the early brain farts, the Saints found their stride in the second half and scorched the Vikings before pulling the starters. Strong road win, albeit in a dome, for the black and gold. Drew Brees should now be garnering a whole lot of MVP attention. He is breaking records every game, and is on pace to eclipse Marino's record next week in the Dome. Better completion percentage than Rodgers (better even than his own record of 70.6% from 2009), more yards, three fewer TDs, five more INTs. But Brees has the talking heads all wondering who the NFC's best team is, which is quite a feat. I still think it's the Packers, only because they have the inside track to homefield advantage and have a more opportunistic, although porous, D. So for now, I'm still high on the Packers. Let's see how the Saints handle the Falcons on MNF next week. One win, and the Saints lock up the NFC South again. Good for them, and good for Sean Payton, who has made double-digit win totals the standard in the Big Easy.
Here are my random thoughts from the Sunday that was Week 15:
Packers - What the F? How did the CHIEFS, of all teams, figure it out? Well, before we rush to give them too much credit, let's first take into account the circumstances surrounding the Pack's first loss of the season. Yes, the Pack are without Greg Jennings, but according to conventional wisdom, that shouldn't have mattered. While it perhaps does not matter with Aaron Rodgers at the helm, I have to think losing your best receiver hurts your offense just a little bit--new guys are running Jennings' routes, other guys are running unfamiliar routes, it's an away game in a stadium that is traditionally a tough place to play, etc. So I think the loss of Jennings was a bit of a negative. Also, the Packers' O-line was decimated. Guys kept dropping like flies, one was carted off with a broken leg. Even so, you would think this wasn't a huge deal--the Pack's O-line was busted up all last year, and they managed to take the title then--in fact, aren't these the Packers that espoused the "next man up" mantra all of last year on their 6 game winning streak to the title? You would think this, of all groups, is somewhat immune to injuries. I think you stockpile the injuries issue on top of the fact that KC has a decent D, with DB's who can successfully jam receivers at the line and pass rushers who were able to get through a patchwork O-line for the Pack, and you all of a sudden had a perfect storm. That's why every play the Pack ran on offense looked like a complete shitshow--Rodgers scrambling around, getting moved off of his launch points, receivers' timings being thrown off by press coverage, Tamba Hali running roughshod all over the place. And BAM, a team that couldn't seem to score a TD for some 48 consecutive drives managed to get one TD and 4 FGs and knock off the Packers. And lo and behold, the rest of the NFC now has a roadmap and a prayer to reach the Super Bowl. Jam 'em, rush 4 or 5 on Rodgers every passing down, disrupt his timing, disrupt receivers' routes early, and hope like hell that you can get some pressure on the QB and force bad throws. Do that, and you have a passing chance of beating the Packers.
Romeo Crennel - KC's interim head coach put on a great audition for his GM on Sunday, solving the Packers and getting a HUGE home win for the Chiefs and keeping them alive in the AFC playoff hunt. Perhaps the best moment of the weekend was watching KC's players, defensive and offensive alike, drench Crennel in gatorade and rally around him. You could tell that he is a player's coach, and the Chiefs' players seem to love him and want to play hard for him. Good for a guy who, in my opinion, didn't do a bad job in Cleveland. My vote is for Crennel for that coaching job. Let's see what he can do.
Colts - Really, this is more a post about the Titans. How do you go into Indy and lose? It's not like Indy is a tough place to play--we know their fans bail on them when the team doesn't perform well (see: Indy's return flight from the loss in Super Bowl XLIV and all 4 fans who were there to greet them). So I can't imagine crowd noise was a huge factor. For a team that has been making a playoff push, played the Saints to a nailbiter last week, and have the athletes in place to win games, how do the Titans explain this loss? Good for the Colts, though--defense rose up, running backs did their job (205 yds rushing), and oh yeah, Curtis Painter didn't play. And whoa, Tennessee--19 rushes and 56 passes? That's the balance of a team that got blown out from the opening snap. There is no excuse to run only 19 times in a game that was closely contested for the majority of the game. Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker aren't THAT good. Run the ball, boys!
Broncos/Pats - This was a good game for about one quarter. The Broncos gashed the Pats' dreadful D for 133 rushing yards in the first quarter, jumped out to a 16-7 lead and then never got anything going the rest of the way. Clearly, the Pats decided to guard against the run and let Tebow beat them with his arm. Bold move by a shitty secondary, but it paid off. Also, turnovers crushed the Broncos early. What did we learn from this game? The Broncos' D really isn't THAT good--remember, they let Minnesota score 32 on them a couple weeks ago. We also confirmed that Tim Tebow isn't a miracle-worker. The guy can create and extend plays like a handful of other QBs in the league and there is no question he is a strong leader of that team. But he is a below-average (but improving) passer on a pretty mediocre team. Good thing for the Broncos that they play in the AFC West and STILL have a one-game hold on the division with two to play. Pathetic division.
Ravens - You are dreadful on the road. Flacco is doing his best 2006 Rex Grossman this year. Flashes of brilliance, flashes of feces. Last night was truly putrid. The INT to Spikes--how does he not see a LB camping out right in the middle of his passing lane?--was inexcusable, and the other dropbacks when he didn't throw a pick, he either held the ball too long or always settled for dumpoffs. Perhaps I should credit the Chargers' D more, but Flacco has been too inconsistent for me to be a believer in the Ravens this year. Especially now that the Ravens are looking at being a wild-card on the road instead of a 2-seed with a home game. And come on, Ravens' D--torched by Phillip Rivers, and his throws weren't even that good--he just had open receivers all night long. Dreadful performance by what we thought was a title contender. At least for this week, I'm no longer a believer in the Ravens.
Texans - This was the first big "Uh oh" game for the Texans since they lost Schaub. The team has come back to earth with TJ Yates at the helm and laid a big egg at home against the lowly (but underrated) Panthers. As with the Ravens, I'm a seller of the Texans. Too predictably run-heavy, rookie QB in the playoffs--it doesn't add up to a Super Bowl run to me. Pats and Steelers are the two big horses in the AFC race at this point.
Eagles - Hard to believe that this team can win out, have a couple of things happen to the Cowboys and Giants, and actually WIN the NFC East and play a HOME PLAYOFF GAME. WHAT! The NFC East is doing its best NFC West impression this year. First team to 9 wins...wins! And the way the Eagles are playing with Vick back in the fold--I wouldn't count them out. As long as Dallas loses out (they play the Eagles at home and Giants away--wouldn't be surprised to see them lose both), and the Giants lose one (the Jets in Week 16?), the Eagles are in. That's a lot that has to happen, but hey, it's the NFC East, a division which no one seems willing to win.
Dolphins - Whoa! Reggie Bush lives! Good for you, Reggie. I still will take Darren Sproles over you, but as your biggest fan when you were in New Orleans, I wish you only the best!
Seahawks - This must be the most underrated D in the league right now. They are straight ballers. Brandon Browner should be heading to the Pro Bowl. They quashed a dangerous Eagles team and absolutely destroyed the Bears in Chicago yesterday. Quite a commendable win and late-season performance from a team that most had given up for dead at the beginning of the year.
Giants - News flash! The Giants won a game they were supposed to lose last week and lost a game they were supposed to win this week. In other news, the sun came up this morning! Eli, just when you trick everyone into thinking you are elite, you go and poop all over the field like this. What are we to do with you?
Lions - Ho hum, another two TD deficit erased in the fourth quarter to basically seal up a wild-card spot in the playoffs. I don't think anyone wants to play this team in the postseason.
Saints - Playing their best football of the year, but started off shaky yesterday with two lost fumbles in the first 3 possessions. Coming into the game, the Saints had fumbled 4 times all year, losing 3 of them. Both were best, by far, in the league. Even after the early brain farts, the Saints found their stride in the second half and scorched the Vikings before pulling the starters. Strong road win, albeit in a dome, for the black and gold. Drew Brees should now be garnering a whole lot of MVP attention. He is breaking records every game, and is on pace to eclipse Marino's record next week in the Dome. Better completion percentage than Rodgers (better even than his own record of 70.6% from 2009), more yards, three fewer TDs, five more INTs. But Brees has the talking heads all wondering who the NFC's best team is, which is quite a feat. I still think it's the Packers, only because they have the inside track to homefield advantage and have a more opportunistic, although porous, D. So for now, I'm still high on the Packers. Let's see how the Saints handle the Falcons on MNF next week. One win, and the Saints lock up the NFC South again. Good for them, and good for Sean Payton, who has made double-digit win totals the standard in the Big Easy.
