The fourteenth Sunday of the NFL season is in the books so here are the different thoughts and opinions I have on various things I witnessed this past weekend. So many upsets this week. A few teams clinched playoff spots, a few helped their playoff chances and a few shot themselves in the foot. Just remember I am a Dallas Cowboys fan and I'm extremely biased. Feel free to agree or disagree about anything mentioned here. All comments are welcome.
Winning Fugly
It wasn't pretty, but a win is a win. Especially when it comes against your top division rival. The Cowboys tried to blow it all day long yet in the end they topped the Eagles 29-23 in OT to take a 2 game lead in the NFC East with three left to play. And they hold the tiebreakers too. You know, sometimes life is beautiful.
I wasn't happy when Jerry Jones sent a first round pick to the Raiders for Amari Cooper. Dallas desperately needed help at WR, but it seemed like an awful high price to pay for a guy who hadn't so far lived up to his potential. I'm starting to change my mind. Cooper has stepped up to the plate in Dallas and is playing like the #1 WR he was supposed to be coming out of college. He is making the big plays and opening up the passing game for the rest of the receiving corp. He torched the Eagles: 10 receptions, 217 yards, 3TD.
Dak Prescott had a roller coaster game. The good was very good: 42/54, 455 yards, 3 TDs. The bad was very bad: 2 INTs, 1 fumble, missing a wide-open Michael Gallup on two bombs that would have been easy TDs. Dak's turnovers set up easy scores for Philadelphia that kept them in the game. The Cowboys had 576 yards of total offense, their most in one game since 1978 when a couple of Hall-of-Famers named Staubach and Dorsett were wearing the star. They should have ran away with this one. Prescott has to get a handle on the turnovers or this season could turn ugly in a hurry.
This game was tainted by some truly terrible officiating. Dallas fumbled the opening kickoff and the officials missed it. The Eagles were robbed on that one. Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert had a long TD catch called back on an awful offensive pass interference call that was a total joke. Philly ended up scoring anyway. The Cowboys were victimized by bad calls as well, cheap roughing the passer calls and Zeke was flagged for helmet to helmet contact. How a running back can be called for a roughing penalty when people are trying to tackle him I still don't understand.
Eagles nation is on fire over the officiating and blaming it for the loss. Nice try. You give up 576 yards you are usually going to lose. Funny, I don't remember the Eagles complaining about the refs the last time these two teams met when ZERO flags were thrown on the birds. That was a joke.
So much for choking the Cowboys! Good luck against the Rams next week. HA!
Punched right in the mouth
There is an interesting dichotomy among the division leading teams in the NFC. Last week the NFC South leading Saints, with their #1 scoring offense, were held to 10 points by the NFC East leading Cowboys. This week the NFC West leading Rams, averaging 34+ points per game, were punched in the mouth by the NFC North leading Bears 15-6.
I know I'm in the minority here, but I love to watch top notch defense shut down a high flying offense. The Bears game plan was simple: shut down RB Todd Gurley and put the ball in the hands of QB Jared Goff. Goff doesn't play as well without his favorite target WR Cooper Kupp and the California native isn't used to playing in freezing temperatures.
To say the plan worked is an understatement. The Bears held Gurley, the NFL's leading rusher, to 28 yards on 11 carries. Forced to shoulder the load for the offense, Goff responded with a 20/44, 180 yard, 4 INTs performance. It was brutal to watch.
The Bears have a Super Bowl caliber defense, but their offense is pretty poor. QB Mitch Trubisky tends to make more plays with his legs than his arm and that is a recipe for disaster in the NFL. The running game is inconsistent. This week they showed up, Jordan Howard had 101 yards on 19 carries and Tarik Cohen had 69 yards on 9 carries. Ironically the best way to stop the Bears is the same plan they used to stop the Rams. Shut down the run and make Trubisky make plays. If you let Chicago run, they'll put up a few points. And with that defense, a few is all they'll need.
The Miami Miracle
What is it about Miami that frustrates the Patriots? For the fifth time in the last six years, the Dolphins defeated the Patriots at home. Of course they needed a miracle play to do it, but destiny is destiny.
You've probably seen it by now, and if you haven't click here to watch, but the Dolphins found themselves trailing by 5 with 7 seconds left on the clock on their own 31 yard line with no timeouts. Too far away for a Hail Mary, the Dolphins had to fall back on the always funny to watch hook and ladder lateral scramble. You've seen these plays before, they look like something out of a Three Stooges movie. Players running around like mad, chucking the ball all over the place until they fumble or make an illegal lateral. They never work.
Except this week it did. QB Ryan Tannehill threw a 15 yard pass to Kenny Stills, who lateraled the ball to DeVante Parker. Parker ran around in a circle before lateraling to Kenyan Drake, who ripped through the Patriots defense to run for 50 yards and a game winning TD as time expired. The best part was one Patriot defender had the angle to stop Drake before he scored: Rob Gronkowski. Yes, TE Rob Gronkowski. Gronk, who hasn't been healthy most of the year, stumbled as he took off after Drake and eventually fell on his face as Drake crossed the goal line.
Belichick looks dumb with this one. I'm sure Gronk plays defense on Hail Marys since he is tall and has the physical presence to block receivers away from an all-or-nothing bomb. But the Dolphins were on their own 31 yard line, Tannehill or any NFL QB for that matter doesn't have the arm strength to throw a ball 70 yards in the air in a game situation. A lateral play was the Dolphins only realistic option and you need defenders who can run and tackle in this situation.
This was a huge loss for the Pats. They fall two games behind the Chiefs for the top seed in the playoffs with three games remaining. History tells us the Patriots need home playoff games to advance to the Super Bowl. Right now the path to the Super Bowl runs through Kansas City.
Crazy AFC
The Patriots weren't the only AFC playoff contender to have a bad day on Sunday.
The Steelers traveled to Oakland to face the pitiful Raiders and lost 24-21. They had a chance to tie the game and send it to overtime time after their own crazy hook and ladder play set them up for a 40 yard field goal, but kicker Chris Boswell slipped during his attempt.
The loss dropped the Steelers to 7-5-1, but they stay in first place in the AFC North since the Ravens lost to the Chiefs 27-24 in overtime. With Lamar Jackson at QB the Ravens passing game is practically non-existent. They run the ball well, but in this league your QB has to be able to make some throws if you want to win. Scoring 24 points against the atrocious KC defense isn't anything to be excited about.
Denver was still lurking around the edges of the playoffs, but they lost to the dreadful 49ers 20-14. Now sitting at 6-7, they can start looking forward to next year. And if they are smart, start looking for a new head coach right now.
The Texans had their nine game winning streak stopped by the Colts 24-21 at Houston. This is a brutal loss for the Texans since the Colts were shut out by Jacksonville last week and looked like garbage. Houston is in a battle with New England for the #2 seed in the playoffs with identical 9-4 records. The problem for them is the Patriots hold the tie-breaker. They need to win out to have any chance.
The Chargers scraped by the injury ravaged Bengals at home in San Diego Los Angeles 26-21. They are going to need to play much better than that if they want to make any noise in the playoffs. The Chargers 10-3 record is second best in the AFC, problem is they play in the same division as the Chiefs.
Ugly Sunday for the AFC.
Random Thoughts
The Browns handed the Panthers their fifth straight loss 26-20. Carolina was 6-2 after their first eight games, 0-5 since. And they play the Saints two times in the next three weeks. No playoffs for you this year. Wouldn't surprise me if head coach Ron Rivera is done.
49ers TE George Kittle had an amazing first half against Denver: 7 receptions, 210 yards and a TD. Then he didn't make a single catch in the second half. What the hell happened?
A month ago the Bills nabbed Matt Barkley off the scrap heap and beat the Jets 41-10. This week they had a healthy Josh Allen as the Jets came into Buffalo. And they lost 27-23. Nothing about these two dumpster fires makes any sense.
Saquon Barkley racked up 170 rushing yards on only 14 carries as the Giants steamrolled the Redskins 40-16. And a lot of people still think drafting him was a mistake. A lot of people are dumb.
The Detroit Lions improved to 5-8 after beating the Cardinals 17-3. I and I'm sure most of you don't give a shit, but Mikey might be reading and he has so little to celebrate. His Michigan St Spartans are playing in the Redbox Bowl for christ's sake.
Let me know your thoughts on Week 14.
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