Tag: Falcons

2025 NFL Stat Oddity: Week 12

~ Scott ~ Leave a comment

The NFL Week 12 schedule delivered with three games going to overtime where taking the ball first or second was a debate. We also had a 21-point comeback in a game that maybe you should have expected it since one team has consistently been putting in half-assed efforts this year.

But I still heavily lean towards going on defense first in overtime with the new rules. This way you know exactly what you need on offense, you probably will have enough time to move the ball downfield using all four downs, any part of the field you want, and that’s the kind of football we rarely ever see in the NFL. You’re usually working against a major time constraint at the end of a half in the hurry-up offense. Not so much here.

Alas, the Jaguars and Lions both got the ball first and won their games after a score and defensive stop. But not the Colts. They actually let Patrick Mahomes touch the ball last like Kyle Shanahan did in Super Bowl 58 and he made sure they never saw the ball again. Who you’re playing and the context of the game still matter for your overtime decision, but in most cases, I think you’d be better to go on defense first just like they did in college for years. When there’s no sudden death anymore on that first drive? Not a hard choice.

We had seven games with a comeback opportunity this week (six on Sunday). Pretty good drama except for one of the worst Sunday Night Football games.

This season in NFL Stat Oddity:

Colts at Chiefs: Game of the Week

The Chiefs had been the only winless team (0-5) in one-score games this year, and that’s why I think it was important for them to win in adverse conditions on Sunday instead of easily pushing past the Colts by double digits like their other wins this year.

Sure, you don’t want to have a tipped ball getting intercepted by a lineman on the first throw of the game. You don’t want the refs calling bullshit facemask penalties on your right tackle to take a touchdown off the board when he’s a penalty machine enough on his own without phantom calls. You don’t want to fumble in the red zone while you’re still down 20-9 in the fourth quarter, finishing the game minus-2 in turnovers (2-0) and minus-4 in sacks (4-0).

But those mistakes are the reason this game was a grind that the Chiefs needed overtime to win 23-20, a game where they never technically led for any seconds before Harrison Butker’s fifth field goal of the day went through in OT.

Still, I think it’s the kind of clutch win against a good team (Colts were 8-2 and coming off a bye week) that the Chiefs can build from as they accomplished several good things in this game:

  • Mahomes threw for 352 yards, ran for 30 more, and limited his 4 sacks to just 6 lost yards.
  • Kareem Hunt paced the offense with 30 carries for 104 yards as the Chiefs ran 91 plays to 50 for the Colts, gained 494 yards, and held the ball for 42:35.
  • Despite the Colts getting corners Sauce Gardner and Charvarius Ward together for the first time, the Chiefs found ways to get Rashee Rice (141 yards) and Xavier Worthy (59 yards) open for 200 yards as they led the way instead of a 36-year-old Travis Kelce (43 yards).
  • The defense shut down Jonathan Taylor, holding him to 58 yards on 16 carries with nearly half of those yards coming on one run (27 yards).
  • Alec Pierce had been hot for Indy but was limited to a single 26-yard catch.
  • Daniel Jones was ice cold to finish this game, and the Colts went three-and-out on four straight drives to end it against a KC defense that was No. 24 in three-and-out rate this season.

This is the kind of gut-check win that has defined this run of success for the Chiefs. But it may have all been for naught in overtime after the Chiefs faced a 3rd-and-7 following a 3-yard run by Clyde-Edwards Helaire. Seriously, 2nd-and-10, season the line, and you’re going inside from the shotgun with CEH for 3 yards?

But that’s when Mahomes delivered his most important completion of the season for 31 yards deep to Worthy. Rice had another 20-yard play soon after that as this may have been his best NFL game ever as he finally established that quick connection that produces meaningful YAC in this offense. Then it was a matter of Butker hitting from 27 yards out, which he did for the 23-20 win.

The Chiefs still have some things to work on. But look around the rest of the NFL. Who doesn’t have flaws this year? They can build on this but it is a quick turnaround on Thursday against a Dallas team that can score and is playing with some confidence.

Meanwhile, the Colts (8-3) are in some trouble with the Jaguars a game behind and two games to come against each other. They could even fall out of the playoffs entirely, so the Chiefs may actually find themselves rooting for the Jags to win the AFC South since they actually have a H2H tie-breaker over a team in Indy.

Big missed opportunity from the Colts on a day where Jones was never sacked. Still, they kept going to him with the Chiefs shutting down the run and he didn’t deliver. It’s a problem after how good this offense was for half the season.

Eagles at Cowboys: The Most Half-Assed Team in the NFL

After six games this year, I said that the 2025 Eagles were one of the most half-assed teams in NFL history. A team that could drop 21 points by halftime and be lucky to only add a field goal in the second half like they did in Week 1 against Dallas when they won 24-20.

Well, I haven’t been keeping up with the stat as I see the Eagles haven’t been so bad at this in recent weeks. But Sunday was quite the spectacle as they penned their magnum opus: a 21-0 lead in Dallas in the first 20 minutes followed by the Cowboys outscoring them 24-0 the rest of the day. It’s the fourth time the Cowboys have erased a 21-point deficit to win, their largest comeback deficit in team history.

It’s incredible how this keeps happening to a team that’s trying to repeat. The Eagles scored three touchdowns on three drives before going punt, end of half, punt, punt, punt, missed field goal (56 yards), Saquon Barkley lost fumble, fumbled punt return, and a punt after Jalen Hurts was sacked on a key 3rd-and-2 in a 21-21 game.

Barkley finished with 22 yards on 10 carries and that fumble on a catch in Dallas territory in a tied game. The fumbled punt return actually didn’t end up hurting the Eagles as they stopped the Cowboys on 4th-and-goal from the 1, a curious decision as the Eagles didn’t look capable of putting together another scoring drive after this cold streak.

And they didn’t. Hurts looked like he might have something cooking before a 3rd-and-2 sack changed everything. The Cowboys got the ball back and big catches by Jake Ferguson and George Pickens (playing better than CeeDee Lamb this year) set up the field goal from 42 yards out to win the game with no time left.

The Cowboys had three pass plays of 43-plus yards to three different receivers in this game as they took advantage of some injuries in Philly’s secondary. But the offense has to take ownership on these dismal scoreless halves. They have way too much talent to be doing this, but this is what happens when your offensive coordinator has no clue what he’s doing.

I still don’t think the NFC East is in any jeopardy with the Eagles at 8-3 and the Cowboys at 5-5-1. Remember, no one has repeated as NFC East champs since the 2001-04 Eagles, so this game being the catalyst for another Philadelphia implosion would be an all-timer. But I don’t think we’re there.

However, this keeps Dallas alive in the wild card hunt, and it hurts the Eagles’ chances at that No. 1 seed. With the way this team is playing, taking Eagles first half ML, Bears full game ML on Friday might be a good call this week.

They seem to have forgotten games are 60 minutes long.

Giants at Lions: The Full Jameis Experience

How fun is the Jameis Winston experience when it’s like this? His touchdown catch from 33 yards out in the fourth quarter gave the Gants a 10-point lead, but that’s been their undoing all year. Sure enough, they did it again as Jahmyr Gibbs was incredible with multiple long touchdown runs in this game.

Then I can’t fault the Giants for going for the 4th-and-5 in a 27-24 game instead of kicking a field goal to go up 30-24, which is a 6-point lead, which is fool’s gold. My issue is they called some poor plays on second and third down, which led to the 4th-and-6. Gotta seize that moment as a touchdown there should win the game.

Instead, the Lions got the ball back, and sure enough, their kicker was good from 59 yards out to force overtime. Totally saved the day. Then after Gibbs exploded for 69 yards on the first play of overtime for a touchdown, Winston had his shot to answer and failed. Great fourth-down sack by Aidan Hutchinson to put a stamp on the 34-27 comeback win.

Buccaneers at Rams: First Half TKO

What can be said about SNF? It was one of the most pointless second halves I’ve ever seen in an NFL game as Baker Mayfield couldn’t return after a horrible decision to have him throw a miracle Hail Mary in a 31-7 game when he was already ailing. We’ll see if that costs this team a division title and playoff spot after their third-straight loss.

But just total control for the Rams from the start. Cade Otton’s weird bobbled catch, knees down, ball stripped away for a “pick six” quickly set this one on a path to a disastrous night for the Bucs. Just not giving themselves a fair shot to win.

But yeah, there was just a single field goal added after halftime as the Rams won 34-7. A game where both teams could have agreed to just kneel out the second half and be better for it.

Patriots at Bengals: Defensive Effort Wasted

The rare NFL game where both defenses scored a pick-six. You’re not surprised if Joe Flacco throws one of those, but Drake Maye doing it by lofting a horrible pass right to the Bengals’ defensive back was certainly unexpected.

But the Bengals wasted one of their best defensive efforts this year. Beyond the pick-six, they contained the running game well, and they came up with big stops in the red zone as the Patriots only had one touchdown drive.

But the Ja’Marr Chase suspension for spitting at Jalen Ramsey last week was a big one as Flacco could have used his best weapon in a game where multiple receivers were hurt, including a concussion for Tee Higgins. That left Flacco firing to a random cast on the final drive in a 26-20 game.

He converted a few fourth downs but not the last one to end the game as the Patriots escaped to a league-best 10-2 record. Are they actually that good of a team? I don’t think so. But they keep finding ways to win.

Steelers at Bears: Aaron Rodgers Misses Last Chicago Bout

We’ll see what comes of the Steelers’ season at 6-5, but maybe they’ll regret not letting Aaron Rodgers give it a go against the team he’s owned his whole career. Pittsburgh’s defense was bad in this game again outside of one pressure on Caleb Williams in the end zone that he exacerbated by giving up a strip-sack to T.J. Watt that was recovered for a touchdown.

The Steelers were up to their turnover tricks again, but I feel like they lost the game in three key places:

  • After the strip-sack, they got another turnover (hard to see) on a fumble at midfield, but instead of building on their 14-7 lead, they were stopped with Heyward on the Tush Push at midfield, and Chicago drove a short field for the game-tying touchdown. Big swing.
  • Mason Rudolph threw a pick on his first deep pass, then tried to get away with dink-and-dunk throws the rest of the way until he got strip-sacked in the late third quarter, which led to a Chicago touchdown and 10-point deficit.
  • Down 31-28, Rudolph had a couple of cracks at it and may have gotten it done for at least the tying field goal had the Steelers lined up properly (illegal formation penalty wiped out 22-yard scramble to midfield), then he has to do better on those last throws as Chris Bowell may have been able to make it from 60 to force overtime.

Just a disappointing day for Pittsburgh as it rushed for 186 yards and got a lot of YAC plays again on offense. But they let Caleb Williams get away with too many rough plays that they couldn’t capitalize on.

Vikings at Packers: What If Your QB’s Alter Ego Was One of a Functional Quarterback?

I think it would have been so funny if J.J. McCarthy’s “Nine” alter ego was a quarterback who only had good moments in games against Big Ten-region teams like the ones in his division. A trip to Green Bay (Wisconsin)? Sounds great.

But if Sunday was any indication of what kind of quarterback we’re dealing with here, he won’t be around many more years for the Packers to exploit him in Vikings-Packers games. Green Bay finally covered the big spread with ease this year in a 23-6 win that was never in doubt.

McCarthy threw for just 87 yards and that’s even worse when you take away 35 more yards from the 5 sacks where he flirted with safeties. All Minnesota could do was two long field goals on nine drives as McCarthy was picked twice to end the game.

Green Bay didn’t need to show much on offense to win this one comfortably.

Falcons at Saints: You Are Not Serious Teams

I picked the Falcons (+1.5) to win even without Michael Penix and Drake London because I just thought they were due a win, they’d turn things over to Bijan Robinson and the running game, and that pass rush could stop a rookie (Tyler Shough) in his third start.

Some of that was exactly right, but Kirk Cousins did his defense few favors by throwing a pick-six. Otherwise, the Saints’ offense 3 points on 10 drives. They even missed two field goals, so neither team looked very serious to me in a game between the NFC South’s worst teams.

We’ve fallen a far way from shootouts between Drew Brees and Matt Ryan. Then again, bringing out your quarterback on 4th-and-goal at the 1 so Taysom Hill can throw an incomplete pass to waste half of the third quarter does sound like something late-stage Sean Payton would have done too.

Jaguars at Cardinals: Same Old Script

Seemingly every Jacksonville game in 2025: Trevor Lawrence raises coach Liam Coen’s blood pressure with horrific turnovers, but the defense gets some timely pressures, someone with a private college-sounding name scores a touchdown, and they win by 1-3 points.

Seemingly every Arizona game in 2025: Jacoby Brissett throws a ton of passes, takes a late lead, the defense gives it up, and he can’t close the deal in a one-score loss.

Those two scripts collided on Sunday and the Jaguars moved to 7-4 with another 27-24 overtime win to the chagrin of other AFC fans as this team hasn’t played a lot of good football this year but keeps winning games like this.

They overcame 4 turnovers by Lawrence in this one, and that doesn’t include an ill-advised incompletion on 4th-and-1 that gave Arizona its chance for a game-tying field goal that forced overtime.

It was a little surprising to see the Jaguars want the ball first in overtime, but they made it work out. The offense got a 52-yard field goal, then Brissett reminded us why he’s now 7-25 at game-winning drives after throwing incomplete on 4th-and-4 at the Jacksonville 42.

Seahawks at Titans: 30-24? Really?

Have to pat myself on the back for this one and going with the first-half spread (Seahawks -6.5 or -7.5 depending when you placed it) as the best bet instead of the full-game spread, the Titans going under their team total, or thinking this might be the week for Rashid Shaheed to catch a long touchdown for his new team.

Instead, it was the JSN Show again with 167 yards and 2 touchdowns as the Seahawks led 16-3 at halftime, then 23-3 before eventually winning 30-24 with the backdoor cover open for Cam Ward, who still scored more points than I ever imagined in this one. Granted, the Titans had another return touchdown on a punt.

But these are the games where Seattle looks great. Beating up on the worst teams this year.

Jets at Ravens: Ho-Hum, the Ravens Won Again

Something’s just been off with the Ravens since Lamar Jackson came back. He struggled for a long time to get to 100 passing yards in this game, Derrick Henry only averaged 3.0 yards per carry, they were 2-11 on third down, and they were just fortunate to be playing the Jets, who never really get turnovers this year.

The Jets may have even been ready to pull off the upset as a 13.5-point underdog in Baltimore, but three key moments sunk them in the 23-10 loss:

  • Up 7-3 before halftime, Tyrod Taylor took a sack on 3rd-and-2 at the Baltimore 39 and the Jets had to punt instead of adding points.
  • After the Ravens took their first lead at 10-7 in the third quarter, the Jets failed on 4th-and-2 at their own 42, setting up the Ravens for a short touchdown drive and 17-7 lead. You don’t have Detroit’s offense anymore, Aaron Glenn. Punt there and make Baltimore earn it on a long field.
  • Down 20-10 with 6:58 left, Breece Hall fumbled in the red zone and that’s a wrap.

The Ravens (6-5) are above .500 for the first time this season but that doesn’t make them dangerous yet. Not playing like this on offense against bad teams.

Browns at Raiders: Chip Kelly’s Swansong

Yes, Shedeur Sanders winning his first start gets the headlines, but this one was really about the Cleveland defense sacking Geno Smith 10 times, which has led to offensive coordinator Chip Kelly getting fired Sunday night. He clearly didn’t have much of a line to work with, but he also never really had a plan for Ashton Jeanty either.

Meanwhile, the Browns did a good job of limiting Sanders’ exposure to the pass rush with just 1 sack on 20 throws while still giving him some freedom to make plays, like he did on an early 52-yard completion. I’m not sure what in the Kadarius Toney got into Jerry Jeudy on his fumble play, but that could have been another huge play for the offense to get points, and of course Sampson took a screen 66 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to ice it.

But the Raiders are just hot garbage this year, so I’m not sure this really proves anything either way for Sanders, who should be glad he didn’t get drafted there.

Next week: Thanksgiving means island games coming out the ass this week with three on Thursday (pretty strong slate, to be fair) and a Black Friday game (Bears vs. Eagles) that takes on higher importance now. That’s actually the highlight of the week as the best Sunday can offer is Bills-Steelers, Texans-Colts, and I can’t believe they’ve stuck with Broncos vs. Commanders for SNF. One of those nights I start writing even earlier. Then Giants-Patriots on MNF, which isn’t the most compelling way to start December.

2025 NFL Stat Oddity: Week 10

~ Scott ~ Leave a comment

Week 10 in the NFL started with one of the worst games you’ll ever see in this league between the Broncos and Raiders. Sunday night ended with one of the worst games I’ve ever seen Aaron Rodgers play. Who knows what Monday night holds, but hopefully it’ll be better than a Sunday where the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump were both referenced during live NFL broadcasts. How fitting.

In all, we had eight games with a comeback opportunity, which is the most in the last four weeks but still not the 9+ we had every week in Weeks 1-6. Maybe Monday gets us there though I’m still going with the Eagles to win that one.

This season in NFL Stat Oddity:

Colts vs. Falcons: Game of the Week

This might be the shortest edition of Stat Oddity I’ve ever written for a regular-season slate (2,800 words), but that’s because I didn’t sleep well Saturday night as I actually set my alarm to get up and watch this entire game. It’s the only international game I’ll be doing that for this year, and it was 100% worth it.

I thought both offenses were great early on, then once Daniel Jones threw that pick before halftime and both teams mismanaged the shit out of that clock, the game took a real turn. The pass pressure was dialed up on Jones, he’s making mistakes more akin to how we knew him with the Giants. But the Colts still have those great weapons like Alec Pierce and Tyler Warren, and of course Jonathan Taylor was a badass on Sunday. The 83-yard touchdown run was crazy, bad tackling, speed, the whole 9 yards.

But the Falcons certainly had their shot to win after taking a 25-22 lead on a great drive where their run game looked dominant. They had Jones in a 3rd-and-21 but still managed to let him scramble for 19 yards. With the Colts out of timeouts at 1:26, that snap needed to be the one that set up the Falcons to win. Instead, it led to 4th-and-2, and Warren came down with the risky throw to convert. The Colts eventually settled for a field goal and overtime after another grounding penalty on Penix.

In overtime, I feel like you want to go second now with these new rules. Know exactly what you need and get to play with all four downs to get it. Hopefully some decent time too so you don’t need to rush much. I think it’s also better to go second if you’re not the better offense as you might need that extra down.

Alas, the Falcons won the toss and wanted the ball first. After being gifted one first down on a poor holding penalty on the defense, they didn’t get another and punted. Ho-hum. The Colts didn’t have far to go for the winning field goal, but with that kicker, you’re much better off just going for the touchdown. Taylor provided that from 8 yards out and the game was over with him hitting 286 yards from scrimmage and 3 more touchdowns.

It’s not like Jones didn’t help earn the win, but this was probably the day where Taylor overtook him for the Colts’ MVP candidate. That was big time overseas and the Falcons are not a bad defense.

The Colts had a bye week before their showdown in Kansas City in Week 12, and they need it to fix up some things with their pass pro as Jones’ great sack rate is in the toilet after these last two games.

Meanwhile, I’d say it’s hard to believe the Falcons are 3-6 and haven’t won since the Buffalo win. But is it that hard to believe? These are the Falcons. They have their own brand of choking that only the Chargers can beat. They were 0-8 on 3rd down and 3-29 on their last three games. That’s inexcusable with these skill players.

But that’s Falconing. Still, the Colts outgained them 519-290 in yards, so the right team won in the end. Great game to watch from start to finish.

Bills at Dolphins: Super Bowl Hangover in Week 10?

I’m so used to Buffalo beating Miami that it’s still hard to believe this one happened the way it did. Sure, the Bills had another turnover regression moment with 3 giveaways, all in Miami territory, but it’s not like Tua Tagovailoa didn’t throw 2 picks too. He just didn’t have any sacks and the run game (197 yards) shredded Buffalo.

This is why you don’t give too much credit to Buffalo for beating Kansas City in the regular season. You have to do it in the playoffs, and the Bills sure looked like a team who was hearing everyone kiss their ass all week and they never had any intensity to step up for this game too. The Dolphins led 16-0 early and Buffalo never really threatened save for that first touchdown drive. But then they failed on the 2-point conversion (0/4 this year), so it was still a 10-point game before Miami added onto the lead.

I’ve been saying since September the Bills just don’t look right this year despite the No. 1 seed talk because of such a favorable schedule. Well, losing at home to the Patriots and losing on the road to Atlanta (hasn’t won since) and now Miami (poor team) was part of that easy schedule, and they’re 0-3 in those games. They may have even lost to Miami at home if not for that roughing the punter penalty in the 4th quarter of a tied game.

The Bills have a lot of issues, and I’ve been up too long this day to write about them all and how they relate to Josh Allen and his share of blame. That can wait for Wednesday’s QB rankings.

But the Bills are definitely struggling right now, and they’ll get a somewhat competent Tampa team next week to try to sort this out against.

Steelers at Chargers: Little Fight

You know it’s a rough night for the Steelers when Mike Tomlin’s defense had a more respectable outing than his offense and even his special teams. Chris Boswell missed a 45-yard field goal and they had another embarrassing muffed return that was fumbled to the Chargers.

But this was Aaron Rodgers’ first really bad game with the Steelers. In fact, it was one of the worst games of his career as only a garbage time touchdown drive saved some of the numbers from being in the bottom 3 of his long career for one game. Just never looked comfortable all night, missed some open receivers on big plays, ran backwards into the end zone for a safety early, and just looked pretty off. It happens, but that’s the first time he really shit the bed in a Steeler uniform.

But the defense did a respectable job against Justin Herbert and his receivers. Would have been even better if they could catch the interceptions thrown to them.

The Ravens are right on the Steelers’ heels now, so it’s only going to get tougher and the stakes higher. I don’t think the Steelers are a good team right now since they’re pretty incapable of playing complementary football. If they can ever show up on both sides of the ball for the same game, then they may have something in a goofy AFC this year where the Patriots, Colts, and Broncos are all 8-2.

But this team is flawed, and the lack of a good wide receiver besides D.K. Metcalf, who hasn’t even been that great, is a huge misunderstanding of what Rodgers is as a quarterback. That was always the concern, and that’s why this offense still has no real identity after 9 games.

Rams at 49ers: NFC West Juggernaut No. 1

The NFC West teams were all in battle against each other in the same window, and both games ended up being bloodbaths. The Rams jumped out 21-0 on the 49ers, which is usually not how Sean McVay vs. Kyle Shanahan goes. It’s also unheard of for the 49ers to mount a huge comeback win in these spots, so I’m surprised they even got it to 28-20 at one point early in the fourth quarter.

But the defense, missing studs like Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, never had an answer for Matthew Stafford, who remains red hot with his third-straight game of 4 touchdown passes and no picks.

Mac Jones quietly had a solid game too, but it never really mattered because of the way the Rams got off to that fast start.

Cardinals at Seahawks: NFC West Juggernaut No. 2

The other NFC West battle was over even earlier. The Seahawks were up 28-0 not even a full minute into the second quarter with DeMarcus Lawrence returning two fumbles from Jacoby Brissett for touchdowns. The Arizona offense was sitting on negative net points before finishing the game with net 8 points in garbage time.

Apparently, the 2025 Seahawks turned into the 2007 Patriots (Games 1-10 Version) during their bye week. I’m sure playing the Commanders and Cardinals has a lot to do with it, but Seattle looks pretty legit to me. Those games with the Rams, starting next week, should be special.

Lions at Commanders: Dan Campbell Takes Over

Well, I think playing a defeated Washington team that didn’t have Jayden Daniels and a team the Lions were looking for some playoff revenge for played huge factors in this 44-22 rout that helped Dan Campbell move to 13 straight wins and covers following a loss since 2022.

But who knew the best person to replace offensive coordinator Ben Johnson might be offensive coordinator Dan Campbell? He took over play-calling duties for this one and the Lions responded with 44 points on 8 drives (no punts) before running out the clock. Close to perfect with 546 yards to back it up.

Again, I think the state of the opponent mattered a lot. But Detroit could be peaking going into Philadelphia next week, a huge NFC showdown we never got to see last season.

Patriots at Buccaneers: TreVeyon and the Hendersons

The Patriots may have had about three good rushes all game long in Tampa, but two of them basically powered their only points of the second half after rookie TreVeyon Henderson scored on touchdown runs of 55 and 69 yards in a 28-23 win.

It took a Rhamondre Stevenson injury to finally see the speed we saw a taste of in the preseason from Henderson, but this wasn’t the only rookie who had a breakout game. Kyle Williams scored on a 72-yard touchdown catch that was mostly YAC to showcase his speed, so the Patriots are discovering weapons as the season goes on.

When I look at the Buccaneers, I can acknowledge that Emeka Egbuka is one of the most polished rookie wideouts ever. A gifted player with natural ability and real WR1 potential for years to come. But I also think the offense is quite obviously not the same when you don’t have Bucky Irving, Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin out there.

Baker Mayfield has also all but given up on scrambling since the 3rd-and-14 run against the 49ers, so I’m not sure what that’s all about. Hiding an injury? The fact is the Bucs were held to 16 points on 10 drives at home before their last touchdown had a strong odor of garbage time following Henderson’s huge run, which he didn’t have to necessarily score given the clock situation. But I can’t fault him for that one.

Henderson scored as many 55-yard touchdown runs in one half as the Patriots had (2) in every Tom Brady start in 2001-19 combined. That’s how special those plays are, and they certainly helped on a day where Drake Maye wasn’t his best, completing 16/31 passes with a red-zone pick that he forced in a spot where he actually would have been better off taking a sack (that’s ironic) in a 21-16 game late.

That gave Baker a chance to take the lead, something he’s done so well this year. But the pressure got to him on 4th down and the Bucs turned it over on downs before Henderson’s last big run.

Ravens at Vikings: McCarthyism May Not Be Sweeping the League in 2025

Yeah, we’ll keep saying J.J. McCarthy is young and needs a lot of developing. He certainly showed it in this game as he got worse the longer it went on. Meanwhile, the Ravens had a shaky start with a lot of field goals before finally finding the end zone after the Vikings barely coughed up a fumble on a kick return.

It took a lot for Lamar Jackson to keep his streak alive of 30 games with a touchdown pass, but he got there. Then the Vikings made it a one-score game anyway before the defense stopped McCarthy late.

Three straight wins for the Ravens (4-5) and they’re building confidence.

Jaguars at Texans: Game Over, Man

Yeah, I’m out on the Jaguars (5-4) as a playoff team this year. Blowing a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter to Davis Mills is exactly the kind of game that could trigger a losing streak and implosion to a season.

It’s not like the Jaguars were ever that far better than Houston in this game. They just feasted on field position early, then the defense took care of Trevor Lawrence late, including an unbelievable pick six to even cover the spread in the end.

Good to see a great defensive unit earn a win here as the Texans have been playing hard for DeMeco Ryans on that side of the ball. Just didn’t expect Mr. Long Neck to be the one to lead one of the greatest comebacks in franchise history while C.J. Stroud nursed a concussion.

Saints at Panthers: Attaboy for Tyler Shough

I knew you couldn’t trust the Panthers (-5.5) with a big spread but I didn’t think they’d lose this convincingly. The Saints took the lead with 9:21 left in the second quarter and never looked back in a 17-7 win. They shut down Rico Dowdle (18 carries for 53 yards), and as expected, Bryce Young wasn’t able to build a passing game.

Meanwhile, rookie Tyler Shough shined in his first NFL win with 282 yards and 2 touchdowns. Funny how he was more impressive in this one game than Cam Ward’s been all year as the No. 1 pick. I know, Ward will get the “bad coaching” pass for 2025, which is valid to a point. But with the way Shough and Dart have played this year without the greatest of situations around them, it makes you wonder about that draft class, especially with the Shedeur Sanders slide too.

Giants at Bears: Winning the Games Eberflus Didn’t

Despite the 6-3 record, I don’t think the Bears are a serious contender and still wouldn’t trust them to make the playoffs. But this year is about Caleb Williams getting better and Ben Johnson winning the games Matt Eberflus almost always lost.

On that front, this year has been a success after the Bears rallied from 10 down in the fourth quarter with a 24-20 win after Williams was excellent on two quick touchdown drives. Poor Russell Wilson took another failed comeback on his record after coming off the bench for a concussed Jaxson Dart, which was always the concern with his playing style. Dart is a special player when he’s healthy but who knows how long that will last.

At this point, I don’t see any value in bringing Brian Daboll back next year. He loses way too many games like this with the defense blowing the lead and the offense unable to recover.

Browns at Jets: Special Special Teams

If you had to script how Justin Fields can win a 27-20 game against a stingy defense, this would certainly do the trick:

  • Jets had two special teams touchdowns in the first quarter
  • Fields had 54 passing yards with 42 coming on a game-winning screen pass touchdown to Breece Hall, who showed off after a week the team traded its two best defenders and easily could have dealt him too
  • Dillon Gabriel was sacked 6 times

Leave it to the Browns to lose a game to a team like this in a game script like that.

Next week: Some of these games will be flat out duds, but with this much great stuff on the schedule, it has to be the best Sunday of the season.

  • Bucs at Bills
  • Chargers at Jags
  • Bengals at Steelers (Unc Bowl II)
  • Seahawks at Rams (NFC Game of the Year?)
  • Chiefs at Broncos (AFC West Game of the Year?)
  • Lions at Eagles (SNF)

2025 NFL Stat Oddity: Week 9

~ Scott ~ 1 Comment

We’re into November now with this NFL season, and it didn’t take long for nutty stuff to happen. After last week’s historic blowout slate, Week 9 saw the teams with the best records (Packers and Colts) both lose, including the biggest upset of the season with the Panthers (+13.5) in Green Bay.

We also saw insane finishes in the NFC North, the longest field goal ever, some Atlanta DOOM, and a Chiefs-Bills game that felt different than the nine that came before it.

In all, there were seven games with a comeback opportunity with MNF pending. That’s certainly up from the 9 combined in the previous two weeks, but it’s still a below-average number as the prime-time games were routs. I think Cowboys vs. Cardinals will deliver the points though.

This season in NFL Stat Oddity:

Chiefs at Bills: Game of the Week

One thing I never liked to buy into was that the Chiefs hide stuff in the regular season against Buffalo so they can do it in the playoffs to beat them. But I was sold last year after the night-and-day differences between their November loss and the AFC Championship Game that this is the case.

On Sunday, it sure looked like the case again as the Chiefs didn’t seem to have a real game plan for offense (or defense). Patrick Mahomes only had 10 pass attempts almost before halftime, though they still weren’t really testing that run defense without Ed Oliver with Kareem Hunt and company. He wasn’t even throwing to Kelce as it was just the Rashee Rice Show.

Then Mahomes hits a deep ball to Hollywood Brown where I’m not sure how he doesn’t score, and the Chiefs can’t punch it in from the 1-yard line before halftime. That sequence hurt. Then the rest of the game devolved into Mahomes trying to survive the pass rush and throwing miracles down the field, hitting some like the 4th-and-17 conversion to Rice to start the fourth quarter.

By the way, the Chiefs didn’t have either starting tackle for the 4th-and-17, and that’s the first conversion on 4th-and-17 by a team trailing by one or two scores with more than half of the fourth quarter left since 1978. That made it a game again at 28-21.

But even when the offense got the ball back, two straight plays went nowhere to rookie back Brashard Smith, including a screen that went off a lineman’s head. On 3rd-and-11 with Joey Bosa bearing down on Mahomes, he just threw one up for Xavier Worthy that was picked, the equivalent of a 44-yard punt with 4:18 left.

The Bills gained two first downs, but Matt Prater’s 52-yard field goal hit the upright, leaving Mahomes 0:22 for a miracle. They got some shots from the Bufalo 40 at the Hail Mary, but Mahomes couldn’t set his feet on the last throw and it came up harmlessly short to end the game, dropping the Chiefs to 5-4 and 0-4 in close games this season.

You can apply the usual caveat that Buffalo has won in the regular season against the Chiefs five times in a row now while still going 0-4 in the playoffs against them. They have to show they can do it in January as you won’t see another game where Mahomes completes under 50% of his passes, a first in his career after 141 games of 50% or higher, an NFL record to start a career.

But I have a lot of problems with just ignoring this for Buffalo and Kansas City. There may not be a playoff rematch as I alluded to this week. These teams may not win their divisions, so it could be hard to meet up again if they’re both wild cards.

Beyond that, this felt different from the previous 9 meetings of Allen vs. Mahomes.

The Bills bullied the Chiefs on both sides of the ball. Cook rushed for 114 yards to end Kansas City’s streak of not allowing a 100-yard rusher. Allen got the sneak corrected to score twice against the Chiefs. He used his tight ends as well as ever with wide-open plays all day (101 yards for Kincaid).

On defense, the Bills hit Mahomes 15 times (possibly a career high depending on the source of hits), sacked him 3 times, and made him uncomfortable all game long. Those new additions really paid off as Joey Bosa was a nightmare for the backup tackles, and rookie corner Maxwell Hairston showed he has the speed to stay up with Worthy no problem. That stuff matters.

Even with the numbers the Chiefs have been posting on offense the last month, I felt like they weren’t at all sorted out on how they’re going to use these receivers together. Worthy’s production has gone down since Rice returned, they don’t even use Tyquan Thornton anymore after he played so well as a deep threat, and Hollywood Brown is seemingly always good for a lack of concentration drop (like to start this game) or bad YAC play where he doesn’t score (like before halftime).

I don’t think they have it figured out yet, and I don’t think “saving it for the playoffs” is something you can afford to do when you’re 5-3 and now 5-4. Winning the division is getting very close to having to run the table, and this team just may not be that good to do so this year. No team in the NFL might be able to rip off 8 in a row in 2025 if you just look around the league.

So, I don’t think it’s a loss you brush off lightly and hope for the rematch to go better, because at this point, there may never be a rematch. The Chiefs got some work to do on this bye week as the Broncos and Colts are up next.

Colts at Steelers: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Daniel Jones

I knew this was coming, which is why I picked the Steelers to win. But six turnovers with 5 by Indiana Jones? I didn’t see that coming. Maybe half that amount, but the Steelers went wild with forcing takeaways as they made the Colts fight for everything, including the long opening drive touchdown that made it look like it might be a long day again.

But T.J. Watt forced a strip-sack fumble, they held Jonathan Taylor to 45 yards, they got good pressure that led to a tipped ball and interception, and they got another strip-sack later in the game as well as a pick. Just great stuff from the defense all day while the offense was very conservative with quick throws as they just took advantage of the field position from the turnovers.

When the Colts lost to the Rams, I felt very encouraged by the team as it felt like Adonai Mitchell cost them two touchdowns. But after Sunday, I feel very discouraged about the Colts and Jones going forward if they’re going to play like this in Pittsburgh against a defense that’s been down bad for most of the year. I could see the Chiefs and Bills roughing this team up too in January (or Week 12 in Indy’s case).

Sunday doesn’t erase what the Colts did for 8 weeks, but it’s still a sobering loss and a huge win for the Steelers, who will try to rattle Justin Herbert without Joe Alt next.

Bears at Bengals: Fire the Whole Staff into the Sun

It cracks me up that the Bengals thought firing Lou Anarumo and drafting Shemar Stewart was going to fix this defense. They’re worse than ever, and Sunday may have been their masterpiece.

We talked about improbable comebacks in the last 5:00, and the Bengals had one here ready to go. Joe Flacco even threw an interception with 2:42 left, trailing 41-27, and still found a way to take a 42-41 lead with 0:54 left. Incredible.

The Bengals used their 3 timeouts to force a quick 3-and-out by the Bears. With 2:15 left and solid field position, Flacco quickly led a 55-yard touchdown drive in 32 seconds. The Bengals went for 2 and got it. They recovered an onside kick, which is so hard to do, and 49 seconds later it was another touchdown pass from Flacco, who threw for 470 yards and 4 touchdowns.

But since the Bengals went for 2 earlier, they led 42-41 now, which triggers four-down aggressive football from the Bears. That’s why I’m not a big fan of the going for 2 down 14 strategy. You are more likely to end up in these situations where the other team is down 1 and can pursue the win with no limitations on downs. Or you could end up down 8 after failing on the early 2PC, and now you need a 2PC just to tie or you’ll probably lose. It’s even less enticing in this era where setting up a field goal is so much easier with new kickoff rules and kicker range.

But the Bears were taking their sweet old time until Caleb Williams found Colston Loveland over the middle, and after some horrific tackling, he broke free for a 58-yard touchdown to stun the Bengals with a 47-42 lead. The kind of play that should get someone fired in Cincinnati.

The Bengals got a shot at a Hail Mary, but Flacco’s pass came up woefully short of the end zone to end it, giving him another interception. But he played well as did the offense. The defense is just a bunch of bullshit and Zac Taylor and his staff have no answers for anything.

Broncos at Texans: Another Comeback for Denver

The better team won in the end as the Texans were held to 2.8 yards per carry and 3/17 on third down. They also gave up touchdown passes of 27 and 30 yards on an otherwise poor day throwing from Bo Nix.

 But it would have been nice if C.J. Stroud didn’t leave the game after a concussion on a late slide in the second quarter, leading to Davis “Long Neck” Mills throwing 30 passes.

Houston tried to power through on 5 field goals, but that 15-7 lead in the fourth quarter didn’t hold up to these Broncos, who pulled off another comeback. Both teams had multiple chances with the ball in a 15-15 game, but Mills had a quick three-and-out late  that took a total of 24 seconds off the clock, including the punt. It reminded me of how Houston beat Buffalo last year when Josh Allen had 3 quick incompletions and the punt set up Houston in easy position to win the game.

This time, Nix used his legs for a huge 25-yard scramble that set up Wil Lutz for a 34-yard walk-off field goal to get the 18-15 win.  You might as well say there’s a new AFC South champ this year, and with the way Denver keeps winning games like this, we might see a new AFC West champ for the first time since 2015 too.

Vikings at Lions: McCarthy Not Losing in Michigan

I recall how poorly 7-of-8 quarters went for J.J. McCarthy earlier this year, and I’ve seen some of the shine coming off this Brian Flores defense. So, I wasn’t expecting much from the Vikings in Detroit, but McCarthy pulled it out in a 27-24 upset, one of the biggest upsets of the year.

I called it that he’d throw a touchdown to Justin Jefferson, his first since Week 1, which was also from McCarthy. But then the pseudo-rookie threw another to T.J. Hockenson, he rushed for another later, and he put the game away with a great 3rd-down conversion pass in a 27-24 game.

McCarthy had plenty of help from the D/ST in this one, but he no doubt played well too. A huge day for him and the Vikings.

Panthers at Packers: Underdog Strategy Works Out

I picked the Packers to reach the Super Bowl, and I don’t know whether to like it or hate the pick with each passing week. They can look so good in beating the Lions and Steelers, then so bad in losing to the Browns and Panthers with Jordan Love throwing an inexplicable incompletion in both losses.

In this one, Carolina played the big underdog strategy well with a strong running game from Rico Dowdle, limited mistakes from Bryce Young, and the defense was timely on when it stopped the Packers from finding the end zone.

Each team only had 7 possessions, and it’s almost impossible to win a game like that if you’re Green Bay and you waste four of them with a fumble, missed field goal, pick, and a turnover on downs that should have been a 2nd pick. Let’s talk about that play.

First, why? Why is Green Bay even going for a 4th-and-8 at the Carolina 13 in a 13-6 game with 11:00 left? At best you time the game with plenty of time left. Second best,  you convert for the first down and the drive continues, meaning it could still end in a field goal or no points. But the worst-case scenario is you don’t get it, and really that should have been picked as the touchback would have given the Panthers an extra 7 yards.

But I just don’t get the decision to go for it. I know they missed a 43-yard field goal in the third quarter, but do you expect a pro like Brandon McManus to miss a 31-yard field goal too? Just a horrible call. It’s almost like they saw the drive as 4-down territory, so even when Wilson was stuffed for a 5-yard loss on 3rd-and-3, they weren’t deterring from the plan and still went for it on 4th-and-8. Really dumb call.

The Packers were able to get the game-tying touchdown with Josh Jacobs on the next drive to tie the game at 13 with 2:32 left. But Bryce Young completed a couple of passes for 19 yards, Dowdle broke a 19-yard run, and the Panthers walked off the Packers with a 49-yard field goal in a 16-13 stunner.

The game was more offensive than the score suggests because of the drive count, but this is still a miserable loss for the Packers and right before their huge game with the Eagles. Maybe they overlooked Carolina after hearing all week how great they are after beating the Steelers. But you better show up every week in this league, a lost art.

Falcons at Patriots: Leaving Younghoe for This?

We haven’t seen Michael Penix Jr. in a close finish in so many weeks that I forgot what my DOOM nickname for him stood for. It’s Destiny of Ongoing Misfortune, and it’s on point after he already lost his third game in 12 career games after a kicker missed a clutch kick.

On this Sunday, the Falcons were the team down to New England, but instead of the Patriots taking a 24-7 lead into halftime if they got a field goal, Drake Maye took yet another sack, lost the ball, and that set up the Falcons for a 6-yard touchdown drive to make it 21-14 at the half. Huge swing there.

Atlanta’s defense continued to keep the team in the game in the second half as Maye took 6 sacks and threw a bad pick.

Penix got the ball back in a 24-17 game in the fourth quarter and threw another touchdown to Drake London with 4:40 left. It’s funny cause the touchdown came on 4th-and-goal at the 8. I was thinking you should probably kick the field goal, which you need eventually, as 4th-and-8 isn’t in your favor and you have enough time to get the ball back and drive for the go-ahead touchdown. They went for it and it worked out though in this new NFL.

But then the new kicker, John Parker Romo, was wide right on the extra point, keeping it a 24-23 New England lead. They got rid of Younghoe Koo for this? Unacceptable. But after the Patriots went 3-and-out, Penix delivered a 25-yard pass to London up to midfield. That was when things went haywire, as the second-down play allegedly was a matter of the Patriots simulating the snap for the Falcons, which is supposedly a penalty that wasn’t called, and it led to an intentional ground penalty by Penix that killed the drive and they punted in no man’s land on 4th-and-20 at their own 42.

You can see a Patriots player clapping in the deep middle of the field, which Penix points to after the play is over. I’m not sure if that’s really illegal, but the snap was early, and Penix needs to do a better job of gunning that at least by the feet of Bijan Robinson to avoid any grounding penalty.

Needing only one first down to end the game, Maye recovered and delivered a 17-yard pass on 3rd-and-5 to Hunter Henry to put the Falcons away. But what a bad time for the Falcons to miss an extra point and suffer a grounding penalty. Maye did some things very well early but was largely ineffective for the rest of the game.

But I guess getting bailed out by Atlanta mistakes is just something New England quarterbacks are used to doing.

Saints at Rams: No Help for Tyler Shough

If you’re a Saints fan, I think you’re encouraged by Tyler Shough’s first NFL start and discouraged by the team around him. The defense gave up 5 touchdowns on the first seven drives, and the running game for Shough produced one 29-yard run by Taysom Hill and a fumble lost by Alvin Kamara. No help.

The moment didn’t seem too big for Shough with only one turnover and one sack taken against a great pass rush. But Matthew Stafford shredded that secondary for another 4 touchdowns in an easy 34-10 win.

Jaguars at Raiders: Pete Carroll Never Learns

What a crazy game. It was almost scoreless at halftime before Brock Bowers reminded us why he’s the next big thing at tight end with the first of three touchdown catches on the day. Then Jacksonville kicker Cam Little made NFL history with a 68-yard field goal, smashing He Who Shall Not Be Named’s record of 66 yards.

The crazy thing is I watched Little kick a 70-yard field goal against the Steelers in the August preseason, but that doesn’t count as the official NFL record. So, it’s cool to see him get it for real, and it was a big 3 points in a back-and-forth game that went to overtime.

We also got to see the first game in NFL history where a team scored an overtime touchdown and the game didn’t immediately end due to the new rules. That also makes it the first game ever where both teams scored a touchdown in overtime.

The Raiders were right to go for the 2PC win as a tie does them no good in the standings. But throwing again without using Ashton Jeanty? I guess Pete Carroll never learns. The slant from the right was wide open too, but Geno Smith threw the other direction and it was batted down. I wonder if he threw right if it would have worked out for him.

Jaguars steal another one to move to 5-3 but I’m still not sold on this team.

49ers at Giants: San Francisco Escapes MetLife Intact

With all the injuries these teams have had, playing at MetLife Stadium has to be a daunting task for the road team given the venue’s reputation for altering careers. But it seems like the 49ers escaped unscathed, and they also got the 34-24 win, largely controlling the game for the last 50 minutes.

Still sold on Jaxson Dart, assuming he can stay healthy, to be a good one who elevates his teammates. But nothing he could do about the defense when it plays this poorly.

Chargers at Titans: Pyrrhic Victory

The Chargers got the 27-20 win in Tennessee but not the cover thanks to a couple of early return touchdowns by the Titans, including a pick-six thrown by Justin Herbert. That means Jim Harbaugh’s defense actually gave up net minus-1 points as Cam Ward had another rough day.

But it comes as a pyrrhic victory for the Chargers (6-3) after losing tackle Joe Alt again to an ankle injury that could require surgery. Herbert ended up taking six sacks in this game against an undermanned Tennessee defense.

The Steelers are up next too for the Chargers on SNF, so those turnovers and sacks could return as there’s no way Alt is playing next week.

Seahawks at Commanders: It’s All Over Now

We knew Seattle had the better team, but damn. This was over before halftime, a half that saw Sam Darnold throw 4 touchdowns and complete all 16 of his passes. I took a nap for the second half, and woke up to see a horrible elbow injury for my guy Jayden Daniels, which should end his season with the team at 3-6.

No point in risking it, but I’d have said the same thing about putting him back out there in a 31-point game in the fourth quarter. That’s four touchdowns against a great defense and a quarterback on fire. The game is decided. Protect your asset as no team has ever erased a deficit larger than 25 points in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t going to happen here, and now we’re stuck with Mariota again in a doomed season.

The only good news is it’s not Daniels’ throwing arm, so this will be a minor setback in his career. But I was wrong to think the Commanders would return to the playoffs this year. I’m glad I didn’t go all in and have them winning the NFC East and possibly going a step further to the Super Bowl. There were holes on defense they didn’t fix, and the injuries have piled up this year. That’s too bad.

But the Seahawks look excellent and could be a dark horse to go the distance.

Next week: The big one is obviously Monday night with Eagles at Packers. Fascinating game that’s totally unpredictable with the way those teams are playing, but I lean Philly on the strength of last year’s sweep and Tyler Kraft’s injury. But before we get there, we have a bad TNF game with Raiders vs. Broncos. Falcons at Colts in Germany could be good if the good Falcons show up. Ravens at Vikings might be good. Patriots at Bucs a highlight for 1 PM slate. Rams at 49ers is the 4:25 game to watch. Steelers-Chargers could be good on SNF. Not a bad schedule except for the start of the week, but even then, the Broncos can make any game a comeback opportunity.

2025 NFL Stat Oddity: Week 8

~ Scott ~ Leave a comment

After watching the NFL turn tricks all day Sunday, I want to know where my treat is. Where’s a good, competitive game? Is it really going to come from Commanders at Chiefs on Monday night with the 12-point spread? It might have to as this Week 8 has had just 3 games with a comeback opportunity.

That’d be the fewest in any week since I’ve started doing this weekly (2011). That’s 15 seasons.

Granted, there were six teams on a bye but 13 games should be enough to get better numbers than this as it’s been blowout city with 11-of-12 games decided by double digits, and many were by three scores or more.

You know things are fvcked when Justin Fields leads the biggest comeback of the day. At least it was finished by Breece Hall, so that checks out for the brand. But yeah, two fourth-quarter lead changes is it, and the Packers still won by 10, and their “comeback” was on the first play of the quarter in the red zone.

If Chiefs-Commanders does give us four games with a comeback opportunity for the week, that would tie Week 9 in 2014 and a couple of weeks in 2021 for the fewest since 2011.

I got a late start to writing this as I had some work to take care of, but I’m pretty sure I can run through this thing in record time. Many teams didn’t give much of a shit about their effort on Sunday, so why should I pour over what they did here? I’d like to sleep in today.

A lot of this can get more detail in my QB rankings later this week, and I’m also doing an awards update (MVP) for Thursday.

This season in NFL Stat Oddity:

Packers at Steelers: Game of the Weak Week

After a day of blowouts, I was expecting a tight, 23-20 kind of game that the Steelers would pull out. Maybe even an overtime game. But what a stunning performance from Jordan Love to go out there on Aaron Rodgers’ big night and steal the headlines and the game back from Pittsburgh after trailing 16-7 at halftime.

You know, the kind of comeback the Packers almost never made during Rodgers’ time in Green Bay. But it should be pointed out that the Pittsburgh defense never really had any edge on the Green Bay defense in this game. Yes, the run was getting stopped early with Josh Jacobs, but that dam broke a little later with the backup in there running the ball at will in the second half. But Jordan Love had a receiver drop a late-down pass to kill one drive, and his kicker missed two kicks that Chris Boswell wouldn’t have missed for Pittsburgh.

So, that 16-7 was always a bit of a mirage at the half. But what a job by Love to complete 20 passes in a row at one point, something Rodgers never even did with the Packers. Love finished with 360 yards and 3 touchdowns. This is the scary version of Green Bay we watched in Weeks 1-2 and haven’t really seen since. They got good sacks on Rodgers, who had been getting the ball away better this year. But not so much tonight as Parsons and company ate well.

The Pittsburgh defense just continues to be horrible and one of the biggest disappointments in the league. Also, this game really exposed the lack of wideouts available to Rodgers in this offense. He’s trying to use backs and tight ends like WRs, and that’s usually not a good thing for most quarterbacks, let alone one of the most wide receiver-centric passers in NFL history.

I swear that’s how you end up with Kenneth Gainwell, a running back, fumbling in the open field the way he did late in the game. That’s just not a play he’s used to making. So, I think the Steelers will make some move for a wideout before the trade deadline, but that’s not going to stop you from playing in 34-31 games.

The seeds were there Week 1 that this defense was going to be a huge problem when they made Justin Fields look good. At some point, Tomlin has to be viewed as the main problem by the mainstream media, and I swear a losing record is the only thing that will get people to turn on him.

With the Steelers’ upcoming schedule, 8-9 isn’t out of the question again. That was my original pick all spring long until I started buying into the fool’s gold of surrounding Rodgers with all of these vets. Turns out you have to actually have good schemes and be able to coach them to execute.

Missing that badly in Pittsburgh these days.

Cowboys at Broncos: Two Altitudes

I did think about the 42-17 final in Mile High in the second game of Dak Prescott’s second season (2017) this week. Probably should have mirrored that for this pick, but I gave Dallas a shot to cover the spread as Denver’s been starting games really slow and coming  back late.

However, that Dallas defense is a gift to opponents this year. Bo Nix and the running game chewed them up, and Dak had a weird game where he never completed a pass to Jake Ferguson at tight end, and the numbers for CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens look better than you’d expect against that secondary, which lost Patrick Surtian II to an injury even.

But just too much poor execution from Dallas all day, and it didn’t look aggressive enough on the road against a team that was nearly on a 70-point pace in 60 minutes if you go back to last week’s 33-point explosion in the fourth quarter.

Yes, the Broncos (6-2) are scary when they look like this, but you have to put everything into perspective. It was just a few weeks ago when they had to sack Justin Fields 9 times to seal a 13-11 win over the Jets overseas.

But Denver did a great job on this Sunday.

Jets at Bengals: Mike White Redux

Even with leads of 15 and 14 in the fourth quarter, the Bengals couldn’t close it out. That gave me some PTSD from the 2021 game, the Mike White game where he threw for 400 yards in a comeback win that Joe Burrow couldn’t close out. I’ll never get over that one as I lost about $11,000 in winning bets from that moneyline.

The 2025 Bengals may not get past this one as losing at home to the 0-7 Jets in this fashion is absurd. Giving up a comeback like this to Justin Fields? Are you shitting me? The quarterback who was 0-26 when his team allowed more than 20 points? 2-21 at 4QC opportunities? Granted, Breece Hall was actually the one who threw the game-winning touchdown on a ballsy, double-clutched decision to throw there.

But then the Bengals could have handed Aaron Glenn and Fields another loss and blown lead in this situation had they not run the ball on a 2nd-and-obvious-pass situation. That put Flacco in 3rd-and-long and pressed for time, and let’s not forget his receiver not bringing in the ball on first down to start that little series. Flacco couldn’t find anyone on the last two throws, and that was enough. The Jets finally got a win at 39-38.

Now, the Bengals (3-5) might be cooked instead of .500 again. What a league.  You kinda had to see this coming after the Woody Johnson comments about Fields earlier in the week, then the tragic news about former Jets center Nick Mangold (RIP) passing from kidney disease this weekend. Everything was pointing to statement win for the Jets, and sure enough, the Bengals helped them to one.

But that 2nd-and-10 run for a yard when you’re trying to go set up a game-winning field goal is exactly why Taylor has to go. Never mind they made Lou Anarumo the scapegoat for why their defense is garbage.

Tear it all down in Cincinnati.

Titans at Colts: Indiana Jones and the Scoring Boom

Even with game tape from Week 3 (though probably not a competent Tennessee coaching staff that can interpret it), and even with back-to-back punts in the second quarter, the Colts still efficiently dropped 38 points on few drives before calling the dogs off in the latest sweep of Tennessee.

Daniel Jones played very well again as did Jonathan Taylor showing off his speed on another 3-touchdown day. Colts-Chiefs can’t come here soon enough.

49ers at Texans: Mentee Over Mentor

The mentee (DeMeco Ryans) took care of the mentor (Kyle Shanahan) in this one as C.J. Stroud shook off a horrible Monday night game and ripped the 49ers a new one by halftime here. Think I only saw one pick that was a glaring mistake for Stroud as he was sharp.

The 49ers just weren’t very effective and did little outside of a George Kittle touchdown as promised on National Tight End’s Day, which didn’t really explode that much around the league.

But good win for Houston without Nico Collins.

Bears at Ravens: Season Saved

Only one team (1970 Bengals) has ever made the playoffs after starting 1-6, so the Ravens were in a real must-win situation without Lamar Jackson. Even though the Bears hogged the ball early, the Ravens held them to field goals. Then after an early punt, Tyler Huntley moved the offense efficiently and effectively. The Ravens scored on 6-of-7 drives at one point. A lot of field goals but the rookie kicker was good.

Then after Chicago cut the 10-point deficit into a 16-13 game in the fourth quarter, you could see the Ravens choking away another double-digit lead late. But that’s when Nate Wiggins intercepted Caleb Williams’ pass, setting up a 9-yard touchdown drive to blow the game back open and save the day.

Maybe save the season if Lamar can return this week. Guess we’ll have to see if he practices, and then see what they say about how he practiced exactly…

Bills at Panthers: Red Rifle Backfires

Oh, I’ll get to Josh Allen later this week after one of the most misleading stat lines of the season. But this was your typical get-right game for the Bills. That means multiple takeaways, forced or just backup quarterback screw-ups; it doesn’t matter. They used those plays and some great runs by James Cook to dominate this game in 40-9.

I’m glad I came to my senses late in the week and didn’t back Carolina ATS. Andy Dalton was a mess and the running game for Buffalo was much better than the Carolina backfield.

Browns at Patriots: Myles Garrett’s Historic Day Results in 32-13 Loss

Myles Garrett had 5 sacks and yet the Browns still lost 32-13. It wasn’t all offensive mistakes putting the defense in a bind again either. The Patriots had two long touchdown drives in the 3rd quarter after Garrett’s sacks kept holding Drake Maye to field goals early.

But in the end, New England blew past the Browns, and Stefon Diggs is finally on the board for a touchdown in 2025. This is probably going to be the best defense the Patriots face all year, and Maye has taken 9 sacks the last two weeks, so that is something to keep an eye on.

But this game is a great example of how defense is largely valued by unit play instead of any one individual. Garrett is officially the 20th player since 1982 to reach 5.0 sacks in a game. Those players now have a team record of 16-4, and the other three players lost by a combined 6 points in their games.

That means Garrett is the first player since 1982 to get 5.0 sacks and still lose the game by more than 3 points. Only the fourth to get 4.0 sacks and lose by more than 16 points. But when you agree to stay in Cleveland…

Buccaneers at Saints: Another Wasted Defensive Gem

Similar to how the Browns wasted Garrett’s effort vs. New England, the Saints’ offense wasted the performance of the whole defense in keeping Tampa in check.

I guess that Baker Mayfield MVP campaign went the way of Howard Dean, right? The Tampa defense won this game with a pick-six, 5 sacks, and 4 turnovers in total as the offense was pretty mid for the Bucs without Mike Evans, Bucky Irving, and Chris Godwin.

At one point, the Saints stopped the Bucs on 8 straight plays from the 1-yard line over two drives. Yes, I’m including the offsides penalty on first down that started things. Pretty crazy to watch that play out twice, though the Bucs did eventually score on the 9th play.

But just another bad day for the Saints, who benched Spencer Rattler for rookie Tyler Shough, who didn’t fare any better. Will that move be permanent next game? Probably with the way the NFL works. Guys like Rattler just don’t get a long leash.

Giants at Eagles: Skattebo Lived His Life Like a Candle in the Wind

I dunno, I guess I always thought Cam Skattebo’s first major NFL injury would be something… funny? He’d go to do a backflip celebration and land on a cameraman, or he’d headbutt a concrete wall. But a dislocated ankle was just sad to watch and you can see the impact it had on Jaxson Dart, who knows he has to get through the rest of his rookie year without a good defense, his best receiver, and now his best running back.

He also got hosed by the refs in this one as the Eagles got away with a very clear fumble on the Tush Push for a “forward progress stopped” bullshit call.

Given all the times we’ve seen the refs let them get forward progress for long after they deserved it, this call was just pure bullshit. Maybe the game plays a little differently if the Eagles don’t go up 14-7 two plays later.

But the Eagles did well without A.J. Brown. Running game was huge with 276 yards. Defense had 5 sacks. Most complete effort yet for the Eagles, and kinda what I had in mind when I picked them to cover the spread for the sake of they were “due” to win a game in blowout fashion this year.

It happened. And I’d rather not think about this game again. It signals the end of some fun times with New York’s rookie duo in the backfield. I know Thelma & Louise probably had a longer shelf life together than these two would with the way they play so recklessly, but it was really an innocent play that took Skattebo out. A shame.

Dolphins at Falcons: WTF?

Seriously, between losing 30-0 to the Panthers and now 34-10 at home to the Dolphins, I’m not sure Atlanta doesn’t have the two worst losses of 2025. The weekly variance for this team is disgusting and hard to explain.

Sure, the offense wasn’t great in this one when you replace Michael Penix Jr. with dusty-ass Kirk Cousins and no Drake London. Darnell Mooney was only coming back from injury and didn’t seem ready for the quarterback change either. That part makes some sense, though it does give you some proof that Cousins is so washed in 2025, because in any other year, he’d at least find a way to throw for 250 yards and a few touchdowns against a defense this bad. And how does Bijan Robinson not get fed the ball? It feels like they started Cousins last second and had no real plan.

But how does the defense have its worst game of the season against the trainwreck that is Tua Tagovailoa? That part I don’t get. The Dolphins’ first 3 touchdown drives were 79+ yards too, so it’s not like Tua threw 4 touchdowns on short fields. This was legit.

The Falcons are not legit, and I can’t help but look at the coach if you’re having such random results like this.

Next week: Welcome to November. While I doubt it was intentional, the Week 9 schedule does reek of “here’s some shit games to keep you busy before Chiefs-Bills takes over your life at 4:25.” And I’m okay with that. Colts-Steelers at least has some potential for good QB play. But TNF is Ravens-Dolphins, and it’s not like you ever get excited to watch Miami play. Seattle-Washington has lost some luster for SNF with the Jayden Daniels injury. Cardinals-Cowboys on MNF sounds like an opportunity to get an early start on writing.

2025 NFL Stat Oddity: Week 2

~ Scott ~ 1 Comment

The NFL has become such a week-to-week league where you never know what’s going to happen anymore. Sometimes it can be explained, then other times it just can’t.

How does Justin Fields go from maybe his best game ever against the Steelers to maybe his worst game ever against a Buffalo team that was giving up over 10 yards per play to Baltimore last week? Then the Ravens were struggling to score anything on the Browns without short fields, and Derrick Henry was in fact shut down for the full game after nearly rushing for 200 last week.

You can say “division games are different” but how do the Giants go from 6 points in an NFC East game against Washington to 37 points in another NFC East game in Dallas? How do the Giants and Cowboys trade score after score in the fourth quarter after the Cowboys played a 3-0 second half against Philadelphia last week?

There aren’t many teams I’d be willing to write a glowing review about today as everything just seems so temporary and misleading. Played well today? Great, you’re probably just one week away from your next disappointment.

Green Bay, my Super Bowl pick in the NFC, does look pretty good though when you consider how Detroit scored at will Sunday and how they made Jayden Daniels look as ineffective as he’s ever been in a game. That’s a team to watch.

But with a good Monday night doubleheader to go, we had 10-of-14 games with a comeback opportunity this week, which is another high number as I could easily see both Monday night games adding to that.

This season in NFL Stat Oddity:

Eagles at Chiefs: Not Very Super

First, I predicted the Eagles would win 23-20, so close enough. But if this is what the Eagles vs. Chiefs matchup looks like in 2025, I’m oddly more confident in the Chiefs prevailing in a Super Bowl rematch if it came down to that. At least they’d have Rashee Rice for that one, and maybe Xavier Worthy if his season isn’t destroyed by injury.

How did he get injured? Travis Kelce accidentally blew him up. Who made the biggest mistake Sunday for the Chiefs’ latest one-score loss? Kelce when he dropped a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter and turned it into an interception, killing a marathon drive when it looked like the Chiefs were ready to take the lead.

It’s just been that kind of start to the season for the Chiefs. Even in a game they lose 20-17, their quarterback played well enough to score 27 points on nine drives, which would again be elite production despite the flaws around him. But when your kicker shanks an early field goal into the parking lot, and your trustworthy tight end is catching harder passes and letting the layup go to the other team, it’s that kind of day again.

It’s not like the Eagles showed much. Jalen Hurts only threw for 101 yards on 22 passes. He only rushed for 15 yards this week too with the Tush Push looking as pathetic as ever with the blatant false starts they’re getting away with on those plays. Something has to be done there.

Hurts is 2-0 at Arrowhead now and they’re two of the worst games he’s ever played in his career. Steve Spagnulo blitzes the hell out of him in these games, and he basically hits one lucky deep ball in the fourth quarter of both while willing Kelce to turn the ball over in the red zone in both games. I’m talking about the 2023 Monday night game, of course, and that one had the MVS dropped touchdown to boot.

But no such luck for the Chiefs this week. In fact, the ending was much like Week 1 in Brazil where the Chiefs cut a two-score deficit into a one-score deficit in the last 3:00, then the defense couldn’t get the stop it needed to get the ball back. So you lose a one-score game, and this is happening because it’s the defense on the field late whereas last year it was usually Mahomes on the field late with the ball in his hands where you want it.

Offensively, they’re close to making it work even with the missing receivers, but it’s just not sustainable as Mahomes again outrushed the rest of his teammates combined as the best plays they have in the playbook are not in the playbook. They’re just scrambles by Mahomes. You can’t last a season doing that. By the way, those scrambles are why he still had the third-highest QBR (79.3) this week before MNF.

Defensively, they were much better this week outside of letting Hurts hit that 28-yard pass to DeVonta Smith on 3rd-and-10 in the fourth quarter. Actually more of a “dagger” than “The Dagger” in the Super Bowl that was already decided as this one helped make it a two-score game.

But if you look around the league, it’s defenses forcing takeaways that are the cornerstone of success in today’s NFL. You get takeaways, you get extra possessions, and you usually get great field position for easy scores.

The Chiefs need that field position right now with the lack of weapons and offensive cohesion. Yet they’re not getting it as the Chiefs have just one takeaway in their last six games. That’s horrible.

The 2024 Chiefs won at unprecedented rates in close games and games without getting takeaways. That’s great, but it’s very hard to sustain that year over year. We’ve seen that play out twice already this season, and while losing to two Super Bowl contenders by one score is hardly the worst thing in the world, it gets serious if they lose to the Giants this week too with Baltimore and Detroit soon to come.

I don’t think the Chiefs got the Eagles’ best shot on Sunday, but I also don’t think the Eagles have much in the way of reinforcements who could make a difference in February if they did meet again in a third Super Bowl. What, is Dallas Goedert going to suddenly make Jalen Hurts throw the ball an average amount of yards that don’t’ look like someone’s GPA?

But the Chiefs are banking a lot on the returns of Worthy and Rice (and maybe rookie Jalen Royals, another injured wideout they’ve been missing). That’s fine, but there are serious issues with this team’s inability to create takeaways on defense, and the offense has to answer the question of how do you deal with Kelce’s legacy in what should be his final season when he’s sabotaged the offense in both games already?

But if we’re comparing Sunday to last February, these Chiefs can hang with these Eagles. I’m not sure the Eagles know who they really are right now offensively either. Neither team looked very Super Bowl-worthy in this game.

Giants at Cowboys: Barnburner in Jerry World

You mean to tell me all those times we wasted 3 f’n hours watching Giants-Cowboys in prime time, and the one time they throw them on at 1 PM it turns out to be the craziest game in the history of this rivalry?

This game was nuts as both teams scored at least 20 points with five lead changes and a game-tying 64-yard field goal in the fourth quarter alone. Russell Wilson threw for 450 yards (career high was 452 against Houston in 2017), showing he’s still got something in the tank and shouldn’t be benched yet. It also speaks back to the 345 passing yards per game the Giants averaged in the preseason. Malik Nabers looks the part of an All-Pro with 167 yards and two touchdowns, including a 48-yard bomb with 0:25 left that will be forgotten immediately because of all the other madness here.

George Pickens made his presence felt for Dallas with some key catches during the fireworks. Brandon Aubrey might be the new standard for kickers with his 64-yard kick to force overtime, and then his 46-yard winner in overtime also came with 0:00 left on the clock, and I read that’s the first time ever a kicker made a field goal with no time left in the fourth quarter and overtime of the same game. A little hard to believe.

But what a way for Dak Prescott to get his 14th-straight win against the Giants. We also saw the playoff overtime system used in the regular season for the first time. The Giants won the toss and elected to receive, putting the defense on the field first – something Kyle Shanahan didn’t do for the 49ers in Super bowl 58 against the Chiefs in the only other game we’ve seen this used for.

I think the Giants made the right decision there. Shockingly, it took five possessions in overtime before anyone scored, and the Dallas score came after Wilson’s big mistake of throwing up a pick on 2nd-and-14.

I’m still not sold Dallas is a contender this year, or that we won’t see Wilson get benched for the rookie. But sometimes you just have to enjoy two veteran quarterbacks, two of the oldest we have in this league, slinging it all over the field like that. Incredible stuff.

Broncos at Colts: Meaningful Football in Indy Again?

While the ratings for Eagles-Chiefs will likely be good and the NFL seemed to build the late-afternoon schedule in Week 2 to showcase that game, there was a good one going on in Indy between the Broncos and Colts, the Peyton Manning Bowl.

The lack of meaningful games played by the Colts since the 2014 AFC Championship Game has been a tough pill to swallow given how great the team was in the Manning early and those early Andrew Luck seasons. The Broncos probably feel the same way about their post-Manning era as they finally made the playoffs for the first time since winning Super Bowl 50 last year.

So, this was a rare big game for both of these franchises to get to 2-0. Bo Nix wanted to make up for a bad season opener, and he mostly did. Daniel Jones wanted to prove Week 1 was no fluke, and he did that too. The Colts haven’t punted yet this season, the type of offensive efficiency that’s usually only reserved for QBs having God Mode runs as this is only the fifth time it’s happened since World War II ended.

Jones is playing legitimately good football with another 316 passing yards. Jonathan Taylor was incredible too with 215 yards from scrimmage in the game. The Denver defense was a paper tiger last year and it’s looking similar this year.

But I must say for as much as Colts coach Shane Steichen looks to be vindicated in benching Anthony Richardson for Jones, he’s very lucky the Colts stole this game as he didn’t do a good job closing it out. Denver got sloppy late with Nix throwing a pick in scoring range, then Wil Lutz missed a big 42-yard field goal with 3:15 left.

Down 28-26, the Colts only needed a field goal. But after Jones completed a pass to pick up a first down and burn Denver’s final timeout with 1:44 left, Steichen went with a super conservative strategy of three more runs before settling for a 60-yard field goal with a so-so kicker (Shrader) at best.

That’s crazy. I don’t care how good some kickers have gotten at long-range kicks, you have to keep throwing there and get closer. Sure enough, Shrader was short on the 60-yard field goal, but the Colts got bailed out with a leverage penalty on the Broncos. You be the judge:

I see why they called it by the letter of the law. You can’t touch an opponent or teammate to propel yourself to try blocking a kick. But I’d like to see a call when it’s something more egregious as he barely gained any advantage here. That’s a tough 15 yards.

Given a second chance, Shrader was good from 45 yards and the Colts won 29-28 to move to 2-0. I would dock an ending like this for Steichen in a Coach of the Year race, but this is becoming quite the story with Jones playing like this.

Maybe MetLife Stadium is the curse and that’s why Geno Smith and Sam Darnold couldn’t wait to get away from there and do better. The Butt Fumble of 2012 (shout out Mark Sanchez) cursed all quarterbacks who start there, which is why Eli never won another playoff game for the Giants after it, and all the failed careers for these other Jets and Giants quarterbacks.

I guess I need some kind of supernatural explanation for how Indiana Jones is leading one of the most efficient offenses we’ve seen these last two weeks. Doesn’t feel real yet.

Seahawks at Steelers: Bonehead Play of the Year

It’s kind of incredible (and sad) how Aaron Rodgers joins a team and suddenly the defense is terrible, and the running game barely exists. But the Steelers had some issues on defense to end 2024. They weren’t supposed to carry over after they added some real veteran talent, but this thing is not working out for Mike Tomlin after 8 quarters.

But this was a very winnable game for the Steelers that broke Seattle’s way thanks to three huge plays:

  • In the third quarter, Rodgers’ 3rd-and-goal pass was deflected by a diving Calvin Austin into an interception in the end zone when the Steelers had a chance to take a 21-14 lead.
  • Rookie running back Kaleb Johnson made one of the dumbest plays in NFL history when he let the kickoff alone in the landing zone and the Seahawks were able to recover it for a touchdown to make it 24-14.
  • Even with the Seahawks running a give-up draw on 3rd-and-19, Kenneth Walker still hit them for a 19-yard touchdown run to make it 31-17 with 3:41 left.

Rodgers struggled in this game with some passes it’s hard to believe he threw because of how risk averse he usually is. But between that red-zone pick off the bad deflection and Johnson’s moronic move, the Steelers looked like toast here. It didn’t help that they made Cooper Kupp look like the 2021 version of Kupp, giving Sam Darnold another viable weapon outside of Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who is proving me wrong by looking like a legit WR1 with 8/103 this week.

The Seahawks are a little better than I was giving them credit for. Given the way Justin Fields couldn’t complete passes against a Buffalo defense that was bleeding yards last week, I only think the worst about where the Pittsburgh defense is headed this year. Rodgers with one good wideout is just not going to be able to lead many multi-score comebacks.

The Steelers are in the danger zone right now as I’m not really sure what they can hang their hat on. Rodgers can still make some gifted throws, but the consistency isn’t going to be there like the old days.

Jaguars at Bengals: Jake Browning to the Rescue Again

The early reports on Joe Burrow’s injury is turf toe and it could be serious, meaning three months out or even the rest of the season. Either way, we should expect to see more of backup Jake Browning, who again got the job done similar to a 2023 game in Jacksonville, which was the kind of high-scoring win in crunch time the Bengals almost never win with Burrow at quarterback.

Even with throwing 3 interceptions, Browning has shown he can bounce back and give his talented receivers chances to make plays. Even Tinsley caught a one-handed touchdown from Browning, so it’s not just Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, who also scored Sunday in the Bengals’ 31-27 comeback win.

But I also think it’s funny that a year ago, Bengals fans complained about a 4th-and-16 defensive pass interference penalty in Kansas City that cost them a game in Week 2. It was the right call, mind you, but they weren’t letting that one go all season.

This time, the Bengals got a very questionable DPI flag go their way on a 4th-and-5 with 1:54 left, basically the ballgame again, when Travis Hunter was flagged for what looked like pretty good defense. He was engaged with the receiver who also made contact to Hunter’s face, and Hunter did get his head turned around and swatted at the ball. I wouldn’t want a flag here on either side.

Hunter played 43 snaps on defense (42 on offense), so he had a much bigger role this week as a dual threat. However, it sucks that his first high-profile defensive snap is a shady penalty that arguably decided the game.

But you have to stop the backup quarterback, and the Jaguars couldn’t do it just as they couldn’t stop Browning in 2023 either. He scored on a sneak touchdown with 18 seconds left, not really leaving the offense enough time to answer it.

Trevor Lawrence had an uneven game and missed several opportunities to put more points on the board and to convert late on a 4th-and-5 at the Cincinnati 7 with 3:42 left. That decision shows how the NFL has made progress with aggressive coaching as Liam Coen wasn’t going to settle for a 6-point lead and be in the same position of giving up the go-ahead touchdown (that the Bengals absolutely knew they needed) in the final 20 seconds.

In fact, it’s better to be up 3 there late as opposed to 6 as the offense will hopefully stay conservative on fourth down and go for the tying field goal. But the Bengals ended up getting the winning touchdown anyway.

Tough loss for the Jaguars, and we’ll just have to see what the news is on Burrow. But I think people shouldn’t sell the drop-off to Browing short. If he can win the clutch games Burrow couldn’t, what’s the real issue? The defense remained opportunistic this week with the timely stops of Lawrence too, so they’ll need to keep that up.

This injury all but tanks any Burrow for MVP talk, but hopefully he gets better news and can return eventually this season. But I’d be lying if I wasn’t looking forward to getting more data points on how Browning does in this offense and in moments like this.

Falcons at Vikings: Not the Baby LOAT

When people say it’s so easy to play quarterback now, show them this game. That didn’t look like much fun for J.J. McCarthy and Michael Penix, two young quarterbacks the NFL apparently wanted to showcase in this prime-time slot instead of the Super Bowl rematch in Week 2.

These defenses had these quarterbacks in hell, especially the revamped pass rush for the Falcons that already had a solid debut in Week 1. Every chance I had to write about the Falcons this offseason, I kept mentioning those two first-round rushers and veteran Leonard Floyd, and all three of them were in on the 6 sacks McCarthy took in this 22-6 grind.

Similar to Monday night for McCarthy without the short fields helping him score late, I’m just not that impressed with his arm. The passes look weak to me as if he was coming off a shoulder or elbow injury instead of a meniscus. It’s weird.

But while it felt like another game he could steal in the fourth quarter thanks to his defense keeping him in it at 12-6, think again. Even after McCarthy got some great field position (own 48) to start his rally attempt, the Falcons closed that down immediately with a strip-sack that led to a 54-yard field goal for new kicker Parker Romo, who delivered big all night.

Down 15-6, McCarthy threw incomplete on a 3rd-and-1 to a wide-open receiver deep. Shockingly, Kevin O’Connell had his team punt with 9:52 left and the team still down two scores on a night it struggled to slow down the running game as Bijan Robinson had a huge game.

I think it’s the worst punt of this young season by any coach. Don’t call the deep shot on 3rd-and-1 if you’re just going to punt there. Then why wouldn’t you just go for it? If you can’t get a yard, how do you expect to score twice the rest of the game? If you don’t get it, you at least give up a short field that shouldn’t take much time off the clock.

But the worst-case scenario happened. The Vikings did their sissy punt, and the Falcons used up 6:17 of game clock to add a touchdown to make it 22-6 with 3:22 left. Game over, basically.

McCarthy’s rotten night ended so poorly that he threw up a pick expecting to get an offsides penalty but instead it was for an illegal shift on the Vikings, so the interception stood. Rough.

I’m feeling pretty good about Robinson and the Atlanta pass rush going forward. With the Vikings, I liked the under 8.5 wins all offseason for this team as I was not buying McCarthy until he proved he could play. His defense is going to keep him in games and he could end up playing well by season’s end, but for right now, he doesn’t know what he’s doing and the Vikings are going to continue to struggle.

He doesn’t look like he’s going to be the Baby LOAT from Michigan (new Tom Brady) after all.

Bears at Lions: They Just Needed Ben Johnson Back in the Building

Maybe not 52-21, but this more or less was the outcome I expected in this one. The Lions show all is well with the offense without Ben Johnson, they take advantage of the Bears coming off a Monday night stinker, and Caleb Williams throws too many inaccurate passes.

But Jared Goff must have been really pissed about that fake “0-19 without McVay/Johnson” stat as he went off for 334 yards and 5 touchdown passes in this one. As many touchdown passes as incompletions.

If you took a poll of how Bears fans felt around the third quarter of Monday night’s game and today, that would probably be a very dramatic swing. They are down bad in many areas.

But the Lions will need to show something in Baltimore next week after a no-show in Green Bay for Week 1 against elite competition.

Bills at Jets: The Real Justin Fields Returns

See, that’s why I didn’t want to overreact to Justin Fields in Week 1, because I know what he’s been in the NFL and that’s not good enough to be a franchise quarterback. In this game, he played into the fourth quarter before a concussion knocked him out, and he still finished 3-of-11 for 27 yards passing.

What the hell is that? Tyrod Taylor came in and immediately completed 3 passes. Mitch Trubisky had to come into the game after Josh Allen injured his nose, and he completed a 32-yard pass to finish with more passing yards than Fields. Just ridiculous stuff.

But it was a weird Josh Allen game as he had no touchdowns of any sort and had a few bail-out penalties on third downs to extend early drives for points. The Jets never stood much of a chance, and James Cook was the star with 132 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns in an easy 30-10 win.

And yes, the Bills won the turnover battle again, had no turnovers again, and Cook’s fumble was recovered by the Bills again. They seemingly can’t be stopped with these turnover numbers.

Browns at Ravens: Not the Happiest Return for Joe Flacco

Joe Flacco made his return to Baltimore for the first time since losing his job to Lamar Jackson in 2018. The Browns were a 12.5-point underdog by kickoff, which is a pretty huge line for a Week 2 division game.

But it was only a 10-3 lead at halftime for Baltimore after the Browns shut down Derrick Henry (11 carries for 23 yards in the entire game) and limited the big plays with nothing over 15 yards in the first two quarters. Myles Garrett (1.5 sacks) is having a huge start to his 2025 season, and his third-down sack of Lamar Jackson forced the Ravens to settle for a field goal and 13-3 lead early in the third quarter.

However, that’s when the game took a turn in Baltimore’s blowout favor as a Flacco pass was picked off by Nate Wiggins, who returned it to the Cleveland 5, setting up another short field for a Baltimore offense that already had a 24-yard touchdown drive thanks to a blocked punt in the first half. The Ravens finished that for a touchdown and 20-3 lead, then later added a Flacco fumble return for a touchdown and another short-field touchdown to blow things open at 41-10.

Rookie Dillon Gabriel relieved Flacco instead of Shedeur Sanders, so let the talk there begin. The Browns scored a garbage time touchdown and lost 41-17.

Cleveland just gave up way too many short fields to make things easier on the Ravens on a day they didn’t bring their A game one week after the Buffalo choke. Should be a much  better test next Monday night against a Detroit team that just scored 52 points.

Patriots at Dolphins: Jock (Mike Vrabel) Stuffs Nerdboy (Mike McDaniel) in Locker

What a week for Miami coach Mike McDaniel. Rex Ryan calls you “nerdboy” on TV, then you are left rambling in your post-game speech after the latest 33-27 loss to the Patriots at home to fall to 0-2.

Basically, this Miami defense is trash, and Tua Tagovailoa’s decision making just seems impaired. Maybe it’s too many concussions but he’s just not seeing things well like on his big interception in a 30-27 game with 2:12 left.

There was a surreal moment where the Dolphins returned a punt 74 yards for a touchdown to take a 27-23 lead, then the Patriots immediately answered with Antonio Gibson returning the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for what is technically a game-winning non-offensive touchdown. Drake Maye, who played well, has his first win in a game he finished where the opponent scored more than 3 points, though it did happen on that Gibson return.

But would you have trusted Miami to stop them anyway? Just a bad football team right now and it’s a joke we have to watch them Thursday night against the team they almost never beat (Buffalo).

49ers at Saints: Return of the Mac

For a game with Mac Jones and Spencer Rattler at quarterback, they actually put on one of the best passing shows of the day with both throwing for over 200 yards and 3 touchdowns. That’s something we almost never see in the NFL anymore. Jones didn’t even have George Kittle or Brandon Aiyuk available to him.

But the good news is Jones didn’t have to win the game in the fourth quarter, something he’s horrific at. However, my prediction of a classic Kyle Shanahan blown lead and failed game-winning drive without his QB1 was so close to coming true. The 49ers were up 26-14, but there was Rattler with the ball in a 26-21 game with 2:40 and 94 yards to go for the lead.

The long field was unfortunate as the Saints must not have believed they could mix a run in there on 3rd or 4th-and-1 with the clock racing to the final minute. On 4th-and-1 at his own 42, Rattler was sacked by Bryce Huff and coughed up the ball, ending the threat.

It was another very respectable effort from Rattler against a superior opponent, but he’s gotta finish one of these drives eventually. Now 0-5 at game-winning drives.

Rams at Titans: Patience with Cam Ward

Well, two games in, and it doesn’t really look like Cam Ward is going to have that C.J. Stroud/Jayden Daniels type of rookie season. There were some flashes of brilliance on Sunday as he had another one-score game in the fourth quarter with an opponent favored to be a playoff team, but he’s going to have to work on his pocket presence and sacks after 5 more takedowns this week.

It was the two long sacks last week that knocked them out of field goal range against Denver that were killer. This week, he’s in a 20-16 game and gets a strip-sack by that talented front seven of the Rams, who turned that turnover into a 21-yard touchdown drive with Davante Adams scoring for his new team. Just like that it’s 27-16, and the Titans don’t have the firepower to handle that.

Panthers at Cardinals: The NFC West Stays Perfect (Barely)

The Cardinals, Rams, and 49ers are all 2-0. The Seahawks are 1-0 when they’re not playing one of their division rivals. The whole NFC West is still undefeated outside of the division going into Week 3, but the Cardinals have been playing it rather loosely, letting some bad teams hang around at the end.

I thought Bryce Young was on his way to getting benched again after giving up a fumble touchdown three snaps into the game and the Panthers were still trailing 27-9 with 10:32 left in the game.

But to his credit, Young mounted a comeback and got some big breaks along the way. After scoring a second touchdown in the quarter, the Panthers tried the onside kick with 1:58 left and actually recovered it – a play that’s dipped to a 5% success rate since last year with the new rules You lucky if you get one recovery in your career, so Young couldn’t waste it in a 27-22 game that was suddenly very winnable.

Then he even got another brutal sack that lost 29 yards on fourth down overturned by a defensive holding penalty, so there’s a second huge break after the 2:00 warning. A third break was the roughing the passer to negate a 2nd-and-17 incompletion. Was Arizona really going to blow an 18-point lead in basically half a quarter of work?

But then it all went south with a grounding penalty on Young, and suddenly it’s 2nd-and-20. Then it’s 4th-and-15, and there’s Calais Campbell for the game-clinching sack with 0:26 left. Crisis averted for Arizona after a close call with the Saints last week.

I’m not a believer yet in this team, but if they get to play Mac Jones next week instead of Brock Purdy, and with the Rams in Philly, the Cardinals could be 3-0 an in first place this time next week.

Next week: Just a horrible choice to put the Dolphins in prime time, and it will come with the fawning over Buffalo to boot. Good game to get some work done early that night.  Sunday has Rams-Eagles playoff rematch early on, then I think Broncos-Chargers is where my interest lies at 4:00. Chiefs-Giants on SNF is suddenly much more interesting with the teams trying to avoid 0-3 starts. Saved the best for last with Lions at Ravens on MNF.

2025 NFL Predictions

2025 NFL Predictions
~ Scott ~ Leave a comment

I’m starting my 15th season covering the NFL by running late in trying to push this out before kickoff in Philadelphia. As I end up doing more offseason articles each year, the seven months of repeating certain things gets tiresome, and you just want to get the new season started.

I usually come up with an overall theme for these seasons, but I don’t really have one for 2025. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. That’s the theme. So much about the world has gone or is going to shit, that you have to find comfort in the little things that make you happy.

Even though I had a 2024 prediction that Josh Allen would win MVP and the Chiefs would lose the Super Bowl in their three-peat bid, it wasn’t always that fun to watch unfold. I think I let too many ridiculous people on Twitter get to me about these topics, including that horseshit about the refs helping the Chiefs win games. It was also dark times late in the season with my uncle and a close family friend dying two months apart. Stress eating got the best of me.

But as soon as that Super Bowl blowout ended, I felt this huge relief. I slept like a baby that week, I started shedding pounds again, and now I’ve spent the summer walking around the house having to hold my shorts up as nothing wants to fit anymore. I’m at my lowest weight since high school.

The three-peat? Like Zed, it’s dead. If the Eagles repeat, what do I care? We already turned the MVP into a charity case for Allen, so what’s it matter if they do it for Joe Burrow next? I’ll make the futures bet today to take advantage of that nonsense. What if the Ravens or Bills finally break through and make the Super Bowl? GOOD. I’m sick and tired of writing every offseason about the Five-Year Rule and when they’re going to get over the hump. I wish one of them would just do it already (hint hint), and you know which one I’d prefer at this point – shocking as it is.

Spending three hours on Sundays watching Aaron Rodgers quarterback my childhood team should be a hoot. The quarterback I perfectly labeled 14 years ago (just a few months into my writing career) a front-runner extraordinaire who would be lucky to win another Super Bowl. I’m so numb to the Steelers having a non-losing record and doing squat in the playoffs that nothing could phase me this year.

I’m just going to try to enjoy it, and part of that has already started by blocking some of the most annoying people I’ve come across on Twitter in 14 years. Time is precious, and arguing with these people is a waste of it. Shout out to #AlwaysWrongGuy for being a punching bag I still enjoy getting my hits into. But those Brdy cultists – they know who they are – can login to their burners because I’m in a blocking mood right now.

It took me a long time to come up with my Super Bowl pick this year. I actually dropped a futures bet on it around August 12 on BetRivers, and the odds have already gone from +4575 to +3000. Almost like a certain trade made that happen.

But last year, I ended a 3-year drought of getting all the Super Bowl teams wrong. I even finally got the right game outcome with the Chiefs losing, but it was Green Bay winning. Whoops. Won’t make that mistake again (hint hint).

Right Super Bowl team, Wrong Super Bowl outcome.

This week at 365Scores, I already dropped my full NFL 2025 award predictions, and just this morning, I published my full predictions and Super Bowl LX pick. Read those for more detail than I’m going to provide here.

But I still have a standard I hold myself to, and I wouldn’t be meeting it if I didn’t make this the only place I post my final thoughts and final record predictions for all 32 teams along with my narrative for the postseason.

But if you need more detail about your team or curious about other teams – I recommend the Chiefs, Ravens, Packers, Vikings, Bills, Eagles, and Commanders – then be sure to click the links and read those previews at 365Scores. They’re all 2,500-6,500 words each.

NFC EAST

AFC EAST

NFC SOUTH

AFC SOUTH

NFC NORTH

NFC WEST

AFC WEST

Note: Some of the over/under picks in these articles were subject to change as I only made my final record predictions Thursday morning after going through the schedule. My final, official picks are as presented below.

AFC WEST

1. Kansas City Chiefs (12-5)

I’ve shown how the 2024 Chiefs were a copy of 2020, right down to winning a record number of close games, the starters losing one time going into the Super Bowl, beating Buffalo in the AFC-CG, and playing musical chairs with their OL before getting dominated in the Super Bowl.

Does that mean 2021 Chiefs = 2025 Chiefs? A 3-4 start followed by a hot finish to get to 12-5 and another AFC-CG. I do think the schedule is ridiculously frontloaded with four major Super Bowl contenders in the first six games, the games they’ll have to play without Rashee Rice, who should take over as the leading receiver this year.

But it’s the Chiefs. You know they’re going to be in the mix late in the year, and the offense should perk up with Josh Simmons at left tackle. The defense may take a step back, and that could be the difference in January too. But it’s still up to a Baltimore or Buffalo to make the decisive play in the playoffs and eliminate this team.

Maybe even before the AFC-CG this year…They can’t go to every Super Bowl, right?

2. Denver Broncos (11-6)

I’m sold on Bo Nix having a legit shot to be a problem (positively) under Sean Payton as he’s giving him a talented, balanced roster the likes of which he almost never did for Drew Brees all those years. That’s a shame.

But Nix played well against the Chiefs and would have won in Arrowhead if not for a blocked 35-yard field goal. I still have the Chiefs winning the division, but an 11-6 finish for Denver is going to be good enough for a No. 5 seed most likely.

3. Los Angeles Chargers (9-8)

I think the Chargers can beat the Chiefs in Brazil and that might be the highlight of their season. I still see them losing pivotal games for tie-breakers like Week 10 against the Steelers (SNF) and Week 18 in Denver. I love Ladd McConkey but still not a fan of the other receivers around Justin Herbert, who needs to be more aggressive and assertive this year. No one cares about those 3 INTs if you throw 4 in a playoff game.

But I think the Rashawn Slater injury is a big one as it’s going to hurt the potential the running game had with Joe Alt sliding to LT.

4. Las Vegas Raiders (6-11)

They should be more competitive and fun to watch with Pete Carroll, Geno Smith, Chip Kelly, and Ashton Jeanty in town. But it’s a numbers game and the other three AFC West teams are just better. Carroll hasn’t led a top 10 D since 2016, and there were diminishing returns with him and Geno in Seattle.

NFC WEST

1. San Francisco 49ers (11-6)

The 49ers have this incredible streak where they’ve gone 22 straight seasons (since 2003) where they’ve either missed the playoffs with a non-losing record (15 times) or they got to the NFC-CG or better (7 times).

I think that streak can continue as all 4 teams are capable of winning this NFC West. But I’m still siding with the 49ers as they can’t be more injured than 2024 (try as they might), I believe in Brock Purdy, and the tiebreaker for me is they play a last-place schedule.

What does that mean in comparison to the Rams’ 1st-place schedule? It means the 49ers get to play the Browns, Giants, and Bears while the Rams have to play the Ravens, Eagles, and Lions.

That’ll do, pig.

2. Los Angeles Rams (10-7)

When I wrote the Rams preview early on I was really hyped about this team, thinking it can match the Eagles’ feat (2-1 in the Super Bowl over the last 8 years). You take Sean McVay and Stafford, add Davante Adams, and the front seven had 16 sacks in the playoffs and Jared Verse could ascend to the next tier in Year 2. A Super Bowl is realistic.

Then Stafford’s disc issue came up, he’s 37, and you get worried. Throw in that schedule difference I just talked about with the 49ers getting a huge boost, and I cautiously slide the Rams into second place with 10 wins.

3. Arizona Cardinals (8-9)

I wanted to find another win for this team but ended up giving them the same record as last year. Honestly, the schedule works out to where it should be a good start before the inevitable Kyler Murray nosedive late in the year. Is there a new Call of Duty coming out? That’d just cement missing the playoffs for me.

I do like the prospects of Marvin Harrison Jr. reminding us why he was WR1 in a loaded WR draft though.

4. Seattle Seahawks (7-10)

My gut says Sam Darnold plays better than he did in 2018-23 but noticeably worse than last year with the Vikings. Pretty fair. He has a worse situation all around and the Seahawks have downgraded at wide receiver.

AFC EAST

1. Buffalo Bills (13-4)

The Bills really have to take advantage of a schedule that worked out to where they get to face the Ravens, Chiefs, Eagles, Bengals, and Buccaneers in Buffalo where they were 10-0 last year. Great path to a No. 1 seed, which I think they get.

But are they really that much better this year? They added some ex-Chargers (Josh Palmer, Joey Bosa), and beyond trying to get better play out of Keon Coleman and Dalton Kincaid, they’re hoping they can make Tre’Davious White a thing again in 2025. That’s not an impressive haul for the eternal bridesmaid of the AFC.

And don’t forget the turnover regression I’ve covered over and over. In fact, don’t be surprised if the Bills do something Sunday night against Baltimore than they never did in 2024 – lose a fumble by someone other than Josh Allen.

2. New England Patriots (8-9)

I think this team surprised people by being favored in roughly 11 games when the earliest lines came out. The schedule is favorable, Stefon Diggs should help, but I’m going to be cautious as I need to see Drake Maye succeed in various ways. Remember, he never finished a start he won where the Patriots allowed more than 3 points last year.

3. New York Jets (5-12)

My issue with Robert Saleh when the Jets hired him was that he basically had one good year as a defensive coordinator in SF. Aaron Glenn is the same way now from Detroit. But the bigger issue is pairing him with Justin Fields, a quarterback who is 0-22 when his opponent scores more than 20 points and 2-18 at 4QC opportunities.

He is not a franchise quarterback.

4. Miami Dolphins (4-13)

They probably won’t be this bad, but they were the sacrifice I was constantly willing to make to make sure the other 31 teams had the records they did. Hell, the sportsbooks have Mike McDaniel with better than even odds to be the first coach fired just like Miami did to Tony Sparano and Joe Philbin early in their fourth seasons.

On the bright side, just another day closer to death, Mike.

NFC EAST

1. Philadelphia Eagles (13-4)

They absolutely have a shot to repeat by retaining their super talented offensive core and having a ton of young defenders that can be solid to great. However, I still think Saquon Barkley’s long runs dry up this year and the passing game has to do more. The defense will miss the veterans and depth they lost too. But still a team that can get it done and end that absurd streak of no repeat winner in the NFC East since 2004.

Circle the Week 10 game in Green Bay. Potential No. 1 seed battle on MNF.

2. Washington Commanders (10-7)

I think Jayden Daniels is the next big thing at QB, but I was cautious to not go overboard after it didn’t work with C.J. Stroud and Houston last year. But you can see a path to how Daniels could ascend to MVP and win the NFC East and get to the Super Bowl in Year 2 a la 1984 Dan Marino, 2005 Ben Roethlisberger, and 2013 Russell Wilson.

Still, I can’t help but acknowledge the schedule will be much tougher, Kliff’s offense won’t surprise teams this year the way it did last year, and they didn’t do enough defensively in my book.

But Daniels is a huge MVP contender. He should have finished much higher in 2024 for it too if people actually cared about the value of making the god damn Washington NFL franchise relevant again.

I thought that was impossible in the salary cap era.

3. Dallas Cowboys (7-10)

I guess in the end I soured on my 8-9 win prediction and could only repeat 7-10 for Dallas with a healthy Dak and the best WR2 (George Pickens) he’s had since 2021. But Brian Schottenheimer Jr. is unproven in this spot, and the Micah Parsons trade was not good at all for this team’s 2025 prospects.

Are you having a good time now, Jerry? You did it, you did it, baby, you did it!

4. New York Giants (6-11)

They were the only team I talked about the preseason for since they were so prolific with 345 net passing yards per game and over 36 points. Sure, that’s likely going to lead to the ugliest first quarter of offense of any team this Sunday, but one could dream Brian Daboll has figured things out with his job on the line, right?

But a Russ redemption season would be cool, and Jaxson Dart had an impressive preseason. Might see him soon enough as that schedule is brutal.

AFC SOUTH

1. Jacksonville Jaguars (10-7)

I picked Liam Coen for Coach of the Year with the expectation he’ll get a career year out of Trevor Lawrence with his best weapons yet, and they’ll manage Travis Hunter well to take back this division.

Sure, it could be a disaster too from the guy who started his presser with “Duuuuvallll” like some kind of Willy Wonka Football Factory nerd. But trust the guy knows what he’s doing offensively.  

2. Houston Texans (9-8)

They didn’t make the leap last year as I expected, and I think the roster is all over the place offensively aside from Stroud to Nico Collins. I think they take a step back.

3. Tennessee Titans (5-12)

The most optimistic thought is Cam Ward, a very disrespected No. 1 pick, does his best C.J. Stroud (2023) and Jayden Daniels (2024) and takes this team to the playoffs. But I think there’s still a lot of work to be done here as Brian Callahan wasn’t showing much last year.

4. Indianapolis Colts (5-12)

Fvcking hell. How did this team get here? I temporarily can’t even suggest Arch Manning is the answer after Week 1. But the Colts can’t keep starting a different washed-up quarterback every year since Andrew Luck retired.

The sad part is the roster isn’t half bad outside of the most important position.

NFC SOUTH

1. Atlanta Falcons (10-7)

This didn’t work last year, but here we go again. I think Michael Penix Jr. opens up the offense, Bijan Robinson wins OPOY, and we look at them with Drake London as the new triplets. Raheem Morris got several pass rushers in the draft and free agency, so he should be better on that side of the ball.

It’s just another division where I’m looking for a change after Tampa Bay’s grip hasn’t been that strong. They had to survive an Atlanta sweep last year. But if Penix bombs in Week 1 against the Bucs, I’ll already be regretting this pick.

2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-8)

They’re obviously a talented team, but they lost Liam Coen, Baker still had a lot of turnovers with him last year, and they have some injuries this year like Chris Godwin. Mike Evans isn’t getting any younger either. They’re the weakest team in the 32-team era to win 4 straight division titles, so I think the streak ends here.

3. Carolina Panthers (7-10)

I’m still not sold on Bryce Young (or Dave Canales), hence a cautious 7-10 since they did play the Chiefs and Eagles (oh, Leggette would catch that shit if it was baked in raccoon flavoring) well last year.

4. New Orleans Saints (3-14)

Pour one out for Kellen Moore, walking into the worst quarterback battle in the NFC. It says everything that the biggest salary cap hit on this team is Tayson Hill this year.

AFC NORTH

1. Baltimore Ravens (12-5)

I probably could have found a way to give them another win instead of going 12-5 again. But that would mess with my Week 1 prediction and how I wanted Buffalo to get the No. 1 seed, and how I didn’t want any team with 14 wins in the AFC. So, 12-5 it is.

But they should be stronger defensively after that slow start, they should have Zay Flowers for the playoffs this time around, and that offense is obviously hard to stop with Lamar and Henry. Just need to find a way to protect the ball in January and take it away on defense for a change.

Just hope the rookie kicker replacing the asshole who’s disgraced his GOAT legacy doesn’t become the guy who throws the season for a loop. Because it’s always something in Baltimore in the playoffs.

2. Cincinnati Bengals (10-7)

I picked Joe Burrow to win MVP. Not because I think he’ll improve on last year’s stats and production. But because I think the Bengals will manage the turnover battle better, he’ll have a couple of clutch wins for a change, and even a 10-7 record/wild card is enough for those guys like Dan Orlovsky, Emmanuel Acho, and Chris Simms to give him the MVP.

They were soft launching it last year when he finished fourth in voting despite missing the playoffs. But I don’t think the defense is improved enough to go on a deep run to another Super Bowl or AFC-CG.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-7)

It would be something if the arrival of Aaron Rodgers led to Mike Tomlin’s first losing season. I was all for the 8-9 finish for months. But then the Steelers kept adding all these veterans like Darius Slay, Jalen Ramsey, Jonnu Smith, and the draft seemed solid with Derrick Harmon.

This really could be the best defense Rodgers has played with since 2010. But then I’m reminded that this sounds like what I said about him with the Jets in 2023 and 2024 before he had another one of his worst seasons just like in 2022 when he missed the playoffs in Green Bay.

I’m not optimistic about this team doing a thing in January, but I find myself still picking 10 wins for them. It’s Tomlin’s thing at this point.

4. Cleveland Browns (4-13)

I think Kevin Stefanski gets fired after he wants to stick with Joe Flacco and the fans and ownership force him to play Shedeur Sanders after Dillon Gabriel magically gets injured during the season. Just a messy situation and you already see why most teams wanted nothing to do with the headache over a third-string quarterback.

NFC NORTH

1. Green Bay Packers (13-4)

Wow, the Green Bay Packers really drafted a first-round WR (Matthew Golden) and traded big capital for an elite pass rusher (Micah Parsons). Where was that in the 2010s when Aaron Rodgers was trying to win another Super Bowl?

But you saw the stat. Favre and Rodgers won their Super Bowl in their age-27 season. Love is 27 this year. He played like an MVP in the second half of 2023 and injuries kept throwing him off a little in 2024. I think he has his most complete season in 2025 and this team’s stability on top of adding two elite talents puts them over the top for one of the most consistent winning coaches we have today.

2. Detroit Lions (10-7)

It’s not just that they lost both coordinators, but they also lost some interior linemen, and 15-win teams usually regress by 4-5 wins anyway. Detroit is still good and Dan Campbell will still be aggressive. But I see Goff taking a step back after a career year and the defense is still too dependent on Aidan Hutchinson.

3. Chicago Bears (8-9)

I love what Ben Johnson was selling this offseason, but I think the stacked division prevents him from winning Coach of the Year as you need to make the playoffs for that. But he’d be a slam dunk in the South divisions.

4. Minnesota Vikings (7-10)

Let’s make one thing very clear. I don’t “hate” J.J. McCarthy. I have no reason to (yet). I just hate that I don’t have information on him going into Year 2, and with the way Kevin O’Connell has gone from 13 wins (with a negative scoring differential) to 7-10 back up to 14-3 with Sam Darnold, he’s too volatile for my liking.

Throw in McCarthy being a wild card and I’m just going to keep it at 7-10/no playoffs for what is a playoff-ready roster. If I’m wrong, then so be it. I’ll judge McCarthy on merit. But for now, until he proves himself, I just trust the teams with LaFleur/Love, McVay/Stafford, and Jayden Daniels more.

And someone has to win the South.

PLAYOFFS

Most teams were coming out exactly the way I hoped for when getting to their win count. Took some adjustments as always, and the Vikings were the team I had to find wins for the most as apparently I got too sour on them. I really did stick to some of my 2024 gut picks that didn’t pan out, so maybe I was just a year early. Doubling down for sure on some of these.

In the end, I had four new playoff teams, which still feels low. Three of them are division winners.

AFC

  • 1. Buffalo (13-4)
  • 2. Kansas City (12-5)
  • 3. Baltimore (12-5)
  • 4. Jacksonville (10-7)
  • 5. Denver (11-6)
  • 6. Cincinnati (10-7)
  • 7. Pittsburgh (10-7)

Believe it or not, we finally get that Aaron Rodgers vs. Patrick Mahomes game, and it ends up being the final game of Rodgers’ career as he retires after the loss. The Ravens finish 2-1 against the Bengals and send them packing. The Broncos-Jaguars meet in the Bill O’Brien Saturday Invitational, and the winner loses in Buffalo.

That leaves the 3 teams you expect. I don’t love Baltimore in that No. 3 position, but if you’re going to get over the hump like the 2012 team did, why not go big? That team beat Manning and Brady on the road to get to the Super Bowl. The Baltimore defense finally gives Lamar a big turnover in January in Kansas City, leading to a game-winning field goal by the rookie kicker. The Ravens then complete the season sweep of Buffalo, beating them in the first and last game of the season.

NFC

  • 1. Green Bay (13-4)
  • 2. Philadelphia (13-4)
  • 3. San Francisco (11-6)
  • 4. Atlanta (10-7)
  • 5. Washington (10-7)
  • 6. LA Rams (10-7)
  • 7. Detroit (10-7)

The Lions put up a fight in Philly but fall short. Jayden Daniels educates the Falcons about the playoffs in Atlanta. 49ers-Rams could go either way, but I think Shanahan gets the win over McVay this time.

While Daniels eyes another road upset of a No. 1 seed, Parsons earns his extension with a huge play that leads to a Green Bay win. The 49ers have to keep their streak alive (no playoffs or NFC-CG), so they end Philly’s repeat bid after Brock Purdy gets his revenge for the elbow injury three years ago. They’re one game away from playing the Super Bowl at Levi’s.

That sets up another Packers vs. 49ers clash in the playoffs, and it’s one of the biggest yet. Shanahan blows a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter (redundant) as Jordan Love establishes himself as the comeback QB that neither Favre nor Rodgers ever was.

SUPER BOWL LX

It’s Ravens vs. Packers in February. Something fresh with neither team getting there since 2010 and 2012 respectively. All the hype is about Lamar owning the NFC in his career and how it’s his time now.

But in some weird way, Jerry Jones gets the last laugh as the Ravens kill Green Bay with Derrick Henry on the ground on a night where Lamar is solid but doesn’t throw more than 20 passes. The narrative flips to how they ended up missing Kenny Clark’s run defense and Parsons was a no-show for the big one.

Down 27-20 late, Jordan Love is intercepted by Jaire Alexander, the former Packer turned Raven. Baltimore ends the 75-year run the Five-Year Rule had as Jackson and Harbaugh finally make it happen in Year 8 together.

Ravens 27, Packers 20 (Super Bowl MVP: Derrick Henry)

I was going to say I could definitely live with this season outcome, then I realized this will make TruthBearer, the Lamar superfan on Twitter, be the next person I have to block.

At least I know I provided one happy ending today.

2024 NFL Stat Oddity: Week 17

~ Scott ~ Leave a comment

In picking NFL games weekly for over 20 years, I still long for the week where I go 16-0. I’ve been 15-1 before, and if the Lions take care of the 49ers Monday night, then Week 17 will be a 15-1 week too.

But those god damn Colts just had to screw it up with the upset of the week against the lowest-scoring team in the league. So, I’ll wait for another chance to go 16-0, and this would have been a great week as favorites absolutely killed it with a 14-1 record so far.

Most of the games weren’t even that competitive with only six games featuring a comeback opportunity, and we didn’t have a single fourth-quarter lead change in the NFL from the time Sam Darnold threw that touchdown to Justin Jefferson in Seattle last week up until the Falcons-Commanders game tonight.

It’s been a long week, and I’m not even going to bother covering Wednesday and Thursday’s games here. Let’s get to it.

This season in NFL Stat Oddity:

Falcons at Commanders: Welcome to the Salary Cap Era, Washington

One of my favorite annual stats to cite is no longer true. When I had to write about the Washington franchise, I always pointed out how this is the only NFL team that hasn’t had an 11-win season in the salary cap era since 1994. Every other team’s had multiple 11-win seasons in that time.

Well, the Commanders represent a new era for the franchise, Daniel Snyder is no longer the owner, and rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels is their savior. Daniels was again historic as a dual-threat on the night in a comeback win against Atlanta, and the Commanders are 11-5 and heading to the playoffs behind the player I think is the MVP of the league this year.

It wasn’t a great start as the Falcons led 17-7, but the Commanders were hurting themselves with a lot of offensive holding penalties, a penalty these refs were calling very tight all night and sometimes on both teams.

But the Commanders controlled the clock in the second half, and Daniels was almost perfect down the stretch. He led a long go-ahead touchdown drive to start the fourth quarter, he had a touchdown pass to put them up 11 negated by another holding penalty, and then after Michael Penix Jr. led a clutch game-tying touchdown drive by converting on multiple 4th-and-longs, Daniels again threw a strike on 3rd-and-10 deep to a streaking receiver.

But the pass was dropped, and the Commanders went three-and-out in the final minute of a tied game. That looked like it might cost them, but the Falcons badly mismanaged their two timeouts by wasting time and not getting closer for their new kicker, Riley Patterson. After getting a DPI penalty, they tried a 56-yard field goal that was straight enough but short, so we went to overtime.

The Commanders won the toss and Daniels in his first overtime game did not give Atlanta the ball back. He controlled the drive with his arm and legs on a night where he ran it 16 times for 127 yards before throwing his third touchdown pass to Zach Ertz, who made a nice catch in the end zone to put an end to this one at 30-24.

The Falcons (8-8) are back to being in trouble for the playoffs, because they picked the worst time to blow their first fourth-quarter lead in the Raheem Morris era. But they really blew the clock management in each half of this one. I’m not sure why teams are getting so bad at not calling timeouts or spiking the ball or getting the next play in quicker. Someone like Peyton Manning has to be watching these games in disgust with the poor jobs we’re seeing around the league.

But Daniels looks like the next big thing in the NFL. We’ll get to see what he can do in the playoffs where he can enhance his legacy after one of the greatest rookie quarterback seasons ever.

Arguably the greatest when you consider his efficiency, his dual-threat ability, the way he makes up for the defense to win games with clutch moments, and he’s doing it for a franchise that hasn’t known success like this in decades.

Broncos at Bengals: Sean Payton Choke Meme

Some coincidence that our only two game-winning drives in Week 17 came courtesy of rookie quarterbacks forcing overtime on the road in 30-24 games that didn’t feel like they were ever going to end with some piss-poor game management from each team.

This was the better game of the two with the higher stakes, and watching the Denver defense hold Cincinnati to just a touchdown in the first half. It really felt like another Cincinnati playoff game where the offense looked tight, underwhelming, and the defense was stepping up in a 10-10 game to start the fourth quarter.

But the floodgates really opened in the fourth quarter with the teams exchanging touchdowns before they exchanged turnovers with a Tee Higgins fumble and a bad Bo Nix interception. That pick and a big pass to Ja’Marr Chase gave the Bengals a 1st-and-10 at the Denver 21 at the 2-minute warning with the Broncos down to two timeouts.

Now this is a situation where you would love to manage the clock so that if you take a couple of plays to get a first down, you could time this up to win 20-17 on a field goal on the final snap, the best way to end a game like this. But the Bengals, a team with minimal success in these situations over the years, botched it big time. They completed a pass to Chase Bronw that led the back out of bounds, then Burrow threw an incomplete pass, so that’s two snaps that took 9 seconds and saved both timeouts for Denver. Horrible job.

After converting a third down, the Bengals tried to run with Brown, who made an understandable decision to not score. But he must not be a baseball player as his slide technique was bad and he injured his ankle on the play, which cost his team a timeout. Not good. If he goes down properly, they could just take 2 knees and kick a field goal in the last 10 seconds to win this one.

That changed things, but it was still weird to see Burrow just sneak it in for a touchdown that Denver probably didn’t mind given the circumstances. The Broncos were going to get the ball back with 1:29 and a timeout. That’s pretty good, and the other reason you fear being up a touchdown instead of a field goal in that situation is that the team could always go for two and the win should they score. If it’s a field goal game, they’re just going to get the field goal most likely.

Sure enough, the Cincinnati defense let down after an encouraging game to that point. I’m not sure it was the greatest game management once the Broncos got inside the 35, but on a 4th-and-1, Nix showed some stones when he threw deep for Marvin Mims for a 25-yard touchdown with 8 seconds left.

Originally, it looked like the Broncos were going to go for two, but they changed their minds after a review confirmed the touchdown. This has been the big second-guessing moment after the game if they should have just gone for the 2-point conversion there to win the game.

But this was an unusual circumstance, because an overtime tie for Denver is just as good as a win in getting them into the playoffs. With that knowledge, I can totally buy going for the extra point and overtime. There’s also the fact that I think Joe Burrow has one of the weakest killer instincts in the NFL and I wouldn’t fear going to overtime with him one bit.

Sure enough, the Bengals got the ball first in overtime, and as soon as the drive reached midfield with the Bengals in position to go win the game, Burrow took back-to-back sacks and the team had to punt. Tale as old as time.

But the Broncos also went three-and-out, so that was bad. Their playcalling down the stretch was brutal, including a very ill-timed screen pass in the fourth quarter that almost lost the game earlier for them.

The Bengals took their second overtime drive and wasted it with a 33-yard field goal that hit the upright on third down. Why kick it a down early when you have time to get even closer? That kick isn’t hitting the upright if the kick was a few yards closer. Typical Zac Taylor in these spots.

With 2:43 left, a competent team would make Cincy pay for this, but the Broncos have not looked smart these last few weeks. I’m far more annoyed by Payton’s approach to this drive than any decision to kick an extra point at the end of regulation. First, he saved the Bengals time by calling multiple timeouts on defense on the previous drive. Would have been more beneficial to let that tick down if they were just going to choke anyway. Remember, the tie is cool for Denver and season ending for Cincinnati.

But then to not see the opportunity with 2:43 left that a first down or two ends the game and gets you in the playoffs? Awful. The Broncos ran three bad plays, punted, and only used up 23 seconds.

Burrow found Higgins for 31 yards on their best connection of the day down the sideline, then instead of relying on a backup kicker, they just threw a touchdown from 3 yards out to win it 30-24 and keep hope alive.

But I can’t help but point out how bad the game management was for both teams. If you’re the Bengals, you want to win that 20-17 in regulation and avoid this mess. That’s what the Chiefs would do in that spot, and yet people would have the nerve to bash them for winning a low-scoring 20-17 game. Meanwhile, that’s just smart football. 30-24 with all these extra possessions is just dumb.

However, that’s why these teams are fighting with Miami to be the last ones in the tournament and go to Buffalo. They’re not good teams this year. But they did make for an entertaining game and finish on Saturday.

Packers at Vikings: Sam Darnold Takeover

Remember in 2019 when Dan Orlovsky would make that ridiculous point about Carson Wentz “taking over” games for the Eagles? I’m not sure what made me think of that from this game, but I saw the way Sam Darnold was just completely outplaying Jordan Love, who struggled to get to 100 passing yards, and it made me think of the way Darnold just took this game over with 377 passing yards on 43 attempts despite the Vikings never trailing after it was 3-0 early.

Darnold had a fantastic game again. Sure, he threw the one pick when they were up big and it led to a little comeback attempt from the Packers that made this one scary at 27-25 with 2:18 left after the Packers wisely went for two. Someone explain to Tom Brady why they did that, please. Greg Olsen knows.

But with Aaron Jones injured, the Vikings needed to salt this one away with the passing game, and Darnold delivered on his last few attempts in the four-minute offense to make sure the Packers never touched the ball again.

You like a safer ending than that, but you’ll gladly take the big win for the Vikings, who swept the Packers with a pair of 2-point wins where Green Bay never had the ball in the fourth quarter while trailing by one score. That’s hard to pull off against an 11-win team, but they did it twice this year, and now they are going to be in Detroit next Sunday night for the No. 1 seed. Incredible stuff.

As for the Packers, my preseason Super Bowl pick, it’s very alarming the way they’ve lost to the Lions twice, the Vikings twice, and also in Brazil against the Eagles in Week 1. They made it look close enough at the end of these games, but you have to beat these teams in the playoffs to get to the Super Bowl, and that’s not looking strong right now.

But maybe they have a revenge tour in mind. We’ll just have to see as this division has been fantastic, and it’s getting the proper send-off with one of the best regular-season games in NFL history as it could be a pair of 14-2 teams if Detroit wins Monday night.

Jets at Bills: The New Three Stooges

And to think this game looked like it might decide the AFC East back in May when the schedule came out. But at least the Jets didn’t have to worry about blowing a fourth-quarter lead this time. They were down 40-0 before getting some points with Tyrod Taylor replacing Aaron Rodgers in the fourth quarter. That’s the first time in Rodgers’ career he trailed by 40 points in a game.

Anyone touting this as an MVP performance for Josh Allen just had their mind made up before the game even started. This shouldn’t move the needle as he finished with 199 total yards and 3 touchdowns, including a 1-yard sneak on 1st-and-goal to start the game. But the Bills only had 10 points on offense in the first half. The short fields they kept getting from the defense blew this one open after the Bills scored touchdowns of 38, 37, and 15 yards.

Rodgers had a rough day with 4 sacks, 2 picks, and he even picked up a 15-yard flag for a little shove out of bounds on a defender after his pick.

This is Buffalo’s division and could be for a long time like it was for New England.

Colts at Giants: No Banners, Just Misery

The 2024 Colts had issues with their quarterback position, including a disastrous benching of Anthony Richardson for Joe Flacco, and of course the way Richardson has struggled with accuracy and staying healthy. But let’s not blame their downfall at the end on Richardson’s latest injury that put Flacco back in action in a must-win game in New York.

It was the defense who ultimately delivered the final embarrassing blow for this team after allowing Drew Lock, who had one of the worst games by any quarterback this season against Atlanta last week, to lead the lowest-scoring team in the NFL to 45 points.

Lock damn near had a perfect passer rating (155.3) with 309 yards and 4 touchdowns, but I don’t want to give him too much credit. The inability to tackle Malik Nabers (171 yards and 2 TD) had a lot to do with those numbers. This is right up there with the Tavon Austin (2013), Jonas Gray (2014), Brock Osweiler (2016), and 2021 Jacksonville games for the Colts. If you know the Colts, you know what I mean.

The offense was far from perfect, but they put up 33 points and Flacco had a couple of late turnovers after the game looked out of reach. It was just a disastrous day for the defense as they couldn’t even tackle Lock on an obvious scramble for another touchdown with 2:57 left that made it 42-33.

Embarrassing stuff, and I think heads have to roll in Indy after this. The defensive coordinator at the very least must go. At least with the team in past seasons after Andrew Luck retired, they had some moments I joked about with banners, mocking their “2014 AFC Finalist” banner. But this team under Steichen? No such achievements. Just enough teasing that they’re a bad wild-card caliber team that will get bounced in the 7-2 matchup, then they can’t even get into the tournament anyway.

The Colts have become irrelevant, and that’s sad to see.

Panthers at Buccaneers: More Domination

The Panthers and Buccaneers were in overtime in Week 13 with Baker Mayfield having a sloppy game. That wasn’t the case Sunday as he had as many incomplete passes (5) as he had touchdown passes. The Bucs were absolutely dominant in a 48-14 win to get back on track after that upset loss in Dallas.

Thanks to the Commanders taking care of Atlanta, the Bucs are back in position to win the NFC South again. They’ll just have to beat the Saints at home or hope the Falcons lose to the Panthers.

Cardinals at Rams: Another Low-Scoring Win

Ever since the Rams beat Buffalo 44-42, they are 3-0 in games that ended 44-24 cumulatively. It’s been a wild run for a team with Matthew Stafford at quarterback, who again didn’t get much going in the passing game outside of throwing to Puka Nacua.

The Rams are the first team since the 2006 Broncos to win at least three straight games where they didn’t score 20 points and didn’t allow 10 points. Those Broncos did it in five straight games. But the Rams are 10-6 after a 1-4 start, 9-2 since the bye, and they needed their defense to deliver with a goal line stand against the Cardinals.

Kyler Murray finally threw a touchdown to Trey McBride on a screen pass, but when he later went for him with the game on the line, he hit him right in the head with the ball and it was caught on the deflection for an incredible interception to secure the 13-9 win.

With Washington’s win, the Rams clinched the NFC West. They could play the Commanders or Packers in the playoffs, and it likely will be tough on them. But another great turnaround job by McVay after a poor start.

Cowboys at Eagles: Kenny Pickett Doing Kenny Pickett Things

A year ago, I wouldn’t have believed Kenny Pickett would be starting a game for the Eagles to clinch the division title, but here we are. One thing that doesn’t surprise me is it was Pickett vs. Cooper Rush as Dak Prescott and Jalen Hurts have met just three times since Hurts was drafted in 2020. They’re the Ravens-Steelers of the NFC as far as their quarterbacks missing the rivalry games go.

But before leaving yet another game with an injury, Pickett had some hilarious highlights like this play here:

He also should have had two touchdown passes in a half for the first time in his career, but penalties and a receiver going down at the 1 before he snuck it in on the Tush Push prevented that. But you have to laugh that the third quarterback, Tanner McKee, came in for Pickett and threw 2 touchdowns on 4 pass attempts in his NFL debut.

With CeeDee Lamb out, the Cowboys had little to show for on offense, turned it over four times, and made this a fairly easy 41-7 win for Philly. Saquon Barkley rushed for 167 yards, becoming the 9th player to hit 2,000 yards in a season. I’m glad he did it in 16 games. I’m not sure him breaking Dickerson’s record – he needs 101 yards – in a 17th game where he probably doesn’t even need to play a snap with the Eagles the No. 2 seed – would be a legitimate way to break the record. Just let it be and get ready for the playoffs.

Chargers at Patriots: What Exactly Does New England Do Well?

I’m used to the Chargers choking against the Patriots, and even in winning there last year, they still had two field goals in a 6-0 dud. But between Drake Maye checking out early with a possible concussion (he later returned) and the way the score got out of hand so quickly, I found myself changing the cats’ litter boxes by the third quarter after Ladd McConkey (my guy) punked them for a second touchdown.

Nice to see the Chargers get a comfortable win and punch their postseason ticket with a 10-6 record. I’m just not sure what the Patriots do well at this point as the defense has gotten worse with Jerod Mayo, and they still don’t have any weapons for Drake Maye.

But hey, they might have the No. 1 pick now and we know they won’t need to draft a quarterback. Travis Hunter time?

Raiders at Saints: I Actually Missed Derek Carr Sunday

This was supposed to be Derek Carr’s chance to make history by losing starts to all 32 NFL teams. But he was out with an injury, so we got treated to another Spencer Rattler start. At least they scored some points this week after getting shutout in Green Bay, but it was still a decisive 25-10 win for the Raiders, who are suddenly on a winning streak.

Given the way the offense moved the ball with a rare appearance by the running game (156 yards), I think the Raiders would have defeated Carr in New Orleans in this one. A pity we didn’t get the chance to see it.

Dolphins at Browns: Good Job, Miami

I rarely have anything good to say about Miami, because I don’t think any franchise does more to have irrelevant 7-to-9 win seasons that don’t produce a postseason win. But I have to say it was a good job by Mike McDaniel’s team to win on the road in Cleveland with Tyler Huntley at quarterback after a surprise inactive for Tua Tagovailoa in a must-win game.

Huntley was very good at managing the game while the Browns saw “DTR” complete 24-of-47 passes for 170 yards in a 20-3 final. For the people who don’t believe quarterbacks change everything, just think how differently this game looks if it was Tua vs. Jameis.

But the Dolphins (8-8) stay alive and just need the Broncos to lose to the Chiefs to make the playoffs next week if they beat the Jets to finish 9-8. But a 9-8 finish that doesn’t even result in a postseason berth would be 100% on brand for Miami.

Titans at Jaguars: It’s Raining, It’s Boring

Well, the Titans (3-13) are abysmal after a couple of low-scoring losses at the hands of the Jaguars this month. They had a late shot to win this one with a touchdown and 2-point conversion, but Mason Rudolph’s rally came up 26 yards short.

We’ll see if the Jaguars make a coaching change for 2025, but you have to say the Jaguars are closer to competing than the Titans as the way things stand. At least Trevor Lawrence can come back and throw to a young stud in Brian Thomas Jr. next season.

Next week: The end is nigh. On Saturday, it looks like they’re giving Lamar Jackson one last MVP showcase with the biggest spread (18.5) of the season against the Browns. Then it’s Bengals-Steelers, which feels like an attempt to get Cincy in since the Steelers might want to rest players if the Ravens have the division locked up. Sunday, we’ll see if the Broncos can beat Kansas City’s backups (Carson Wentz beat the 49ers’ backups last year with the Rams) or if Sean Payton will join the 2004 Bills as chokers in that situation. But the big one is the last one with Vikings at Lions, possibly a matchup of 14-2 teams for the No. 1 seed. Brilliant.

2024 NFL Stat Oddity: Week 9

~ Scott ~ Leave a comment

When I tweeted that the NFL’s Week 9 Sunday action was the weakest this season, I was ignoring a few individual highlight plays I’ll link below in the recaps. But a great play does not make for a great game. I think in the end, it was the weakest for these reasons:

  • As I expected between Jordan Love’s groin and the rain, Lions-Packers did not live up to the Game of the Week hype it deserved under normal circumstances.
  • Favorites are 13-1 SU this week (10-4 ATS) with the 9.5-point favored Chiefs still to host Tampa Bay on Monday night.
  • Only the Saints (-7.5) lost to the Panthers, and is it ever really a big upset if Derek Carr is on the losing end? He also was getting roasted by Michael Thomas on Twitter during the game, so he was losing either way today.
  • Not only was Saints-Panthers the only upset, it was the only game Sunday with a fourth-quarter lead change, so that game stood out from the pack and it wasn’t anything special.
  • Sure, 7-of-14 games had a comeback opportunity and there were a pair of overtime games, but neither actually had a lead change, and the teams who came back late to tie it with a great touchdown drive still ended up losing in overtime.
  • The only other fourth-quarter comeback in Week 9 was the Jets on Thursday night against Houston, a game script that the Vikings largely followed in their 21-13 (same score) win over the Colts on Sunday night.

Not a very original week even if there were some cool plays.

This season in NFL Stat Oddity:

Dolphins at Bills: Unexpected Game of the Week

I am so used to Miami bombing in these road games against contenders that I didn’t think much of this 5.5-point spread in Buffalo. But the Dolphins did play them tough there in both games in the 2022 season, and they had Tua Tagovailoa back at quarterback. He actually had one of the best games of his career in a loss as he completed 25-of-28 passes for 231 yards.

But the long drives by both teams magnified every mistake. So when Miami only gets 7 real possessions in the game, Raheem Mostert giving one away with a fumble at midfield is a bigger deal.

The Bills also felt that sting when Keon Coleman turned a catch into an interception by Jalen Ramsey in the second quarter. Maybe the turnover luck is starting to go south for Buffalo, but it still prevailed in this one after getting some key penalties on third down in the fourth quarter. The last one was just an incredibly stupid gift by Jordan Poyer, who hit a defenseless receiver on a pass that was going to be incomplete. That’s a season-ending type of stupid play given the AFC East records.

But when the Bills were stalled at the Miami 43, I was a little surprised to see Tyler Bass come out for a 61-yard field goal. He’s been struggling this season, he missed an extra point in this game, but they trusted him for the win. He absolutely drilled the kick too to give the Bills a 30-27 lead, which stood up after Jaylen Waddle had one of the worst lateral attempts you’ll ever see, which also cost Tua his passing over prop.

https://twitter.com/PropGeekZeke/status/1853189433006125547

Lions at Packers: Old School Football Wins

Again, I wasn’t expecting much from this game because of the wet field and Jordan Love’s groin injury. But I don’t want to act like the Lions beat up on an immobile starter who should have sat out this week. Love didn’t take any sacks in this game, he threw for 273 yards, but it was this killer pick-six before halftime that changed everything and made a 10-3 game a 17-3 game:

https://twitter.com/wingoz/status/1853206283093934350

I’ve watched that several times and I’m still not sure what the plan was for 2nd-and-1. Were they trying to set up a slow-developing screen for the RB? Should he just hit the tight end leaking out into the flat for the first down with under 40 seconds left? Every other receiver went flying down the field and out of reach, but this just looked bad and Love never should have thrown that one.

Then the Lions came out of the break with their last touchdown drive, and just like that they doubled scored on them to make it 24-3. Goodnight. Did Tom Brady sign a contract clause that every FOX game he calls has to be a boring rout?

The best Green Bay could do was make it 24-14 with 3:49 left. But Goff and the offense was able to run out the clock for another win, their third season in a row winning at Lambeau. Hopefully the Packers can return the favor in the rematch, but the Lions looked better prepared to handle the elements. They didn’t turn it over once against the No. 1 defense for takeaways. Meanwhile, Love had 3 fumbles (none lost) to go along with that pick-six as the slick ball was problematic for the Packers.

Broncos at Ravens: Denver’s Not Ready for This

Sunday was a litmus test for the Broncos, and it sure did not go well in a 41-10 rout. It’s one thing to beat teams like the Panthers, Raiders, and Saints, but the Broncos needed to show something here, and it ended up being a miserable day on both sides of the ball. They gave up a perfect passer rating to Lamar Jackson, who only had to throw 19 passes since his receivers were so open and ready for big plays, and Derrick Henry carved them up for another multi-touchdown day and 133 total yards.

But I wouldn’t say rookie Bo Nix was a disaster against this defense. He moved the ball, he even caught his first touchdown on a trick play, but the Broncos were 1-for-5 on fourth down, and that hurt. The first failure came early when Javonte Williams for some reason didn’t stretch the ball out on a fourth-down run, so he was ruled short on a challenge. That set up the Ravens on a short field and the rout was on.

Denver had 6 drives inside Baltimore territory (4 in the red zone) and only came away with 10 points. That’s just not good enough. Some defenses have done a decent job of slowing down the Ravens this year, but the Broncos were one of the worst against them. Guess it’s just not the same as playing Bryce Young, Spencer Rattler, the 2-headed monster in Vegas, or getting Aaron Rodgers in the rain.

The Broncos (5-4) may exceed expectations this year, but this team is still far from ready to seriously compete in the AFC playoffs. That’s what Sunday showed.

Chargers at Browns: They Really Did Give Justin Herbert a Defense

What does it take to get a game with the Chargers to 40 points this season? Even the 27-10 final in this one is misleading as the Browns scored a touchdown in garbage time. But if you thought Jameis Winston was going to get into a shootout with Justin Herbert like I did, we were dead wrong. Winston threw three picks as the Chargers repeatedly turned him away.

Meanwhile, what a game for Herbert. He threw for 250 yards and took 6 sacks in the first half alone, hitting on several big plays to his unheralded receivers. He barely had to do anything in the second half, but that’s the nice thing about having a defense and a running game you can rely on to close games.

The Chargers (5-3) are showing they can throw the ball when they have to, and the defense still hasn’t let anyone score more than 20 points this season. It’s an intriguing team for January.

Rams at Seahawks: NFC West Is a Mess

This game had me slipping in and out of a nap as I’d he awakened by the next killer Geno Smith interception, including a 103-yard return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter that gave the Rams a 20-13 lead.

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1853226818276626684

Are you kidding me, Geno? He also took 7 sacks. But the Rams could not put this one away in a game where they had 13 possessions. I’d be curious about Sean McVay’s success rate in the 4-minute offense because it sure feels like he always plays it so conservatively and puts the game on his defense. Well, it almost cost them here as the Rams gave up the game-tying touchdown with 51 seconds left as Smith temporarily redeemed himself.

I thought the Seahawks might go for 2, but I guess they thought there was too much time left. So, they played overtime. I don’t disagree with the decision by the Seahawks to go for a 4th-and-1 at the Rams 16 in overtime with 7:19 left. They didn’t get it, but we saw the problem in that spot when the defense gave up another touchdown to Demarcus Robinson, so they would have lost the game anyway if they were up 23-20.

But that 103-yard pick-six was a killer and let’s not forget the Seahawks blew a 13-3 lead before that too. Just a missed opportunity to get to 5-4 in this mess of a division that is already filled with weird comeback wins like this game.

Colts at Vikings: What’s the Plan, Indy?

The Colts have not been a serious organization for several years now. I don’t get how you make a big stink about benching Anthony Richardson for Joe Flacco, then come out and look this uninterested in getting Flacco comfortable in the game. He had 10 pass attempts at halftime and 3-of-10 were to running back Jonathan Taylor, who never established the run with 48 yards on 13 carries for the night.

Flacco is a rhythm passer. He needs to get going early and he needs volume. They didn’t do that, so it’s no wonder they only scored two field goals. Their only touchdown was a bogus one on defense on a play that should have been flagged for hitting Sam Darnold in the face, but apparently he doesn’t get those whistles this year (see missed facemask vs. Rams last week).

Richardson could have scored 6 points and taken the loss too. But while I know the Colts use a lot of play-action with both quarterbacks, is that really a good idea for the older, slower Flacco to turn his back to this deceptive Minnesota defense he’s trying to figure out? I would have spread them out early with Flacco in the gun and take my chances with his receivers. But they just never got around to that until they had to, and the pass rush teed off on him.

On the other side, I think you see why the ceiling for this team with Darnold is probably a close divisional round loss. That’s still a hell of a lot better than the expectations for the 2024 Vikings, but he had 3 turnovers and 4 sacks in this game even if the fumble return was bullshit. That’s too many negative plays, and that’s going to cost you in January against a functional opponent (i.e. not the Colts).

Flacco infamously made it through his 2012 Super Bowl run without those big mistakes (thanks for that, Rahim Moore). I’m not sure Darnold can do it, but maybe getting Jordan Addison a nice touchdown and getting tight end T.J. Hockenson back in the mix will elevate this offense going forward.

Jaguars at Eagles: I Was Hoping This Would Be the Only Pennsylvania Choke This Week…

I’m not going to get on board with “fire Nick Sirianni” yet as I see that going around social media today. But I get it, in a way. The Eagles were up 22-0 and almost blew this game with a weird fumble touchdown on a play involving Saquon Barkley where he might have been down by contact but not really. The only blemish to this incredible day for Barkley with this unforgettable highlight:

https://x.com/CoachDanCasey/status/1853191583174107478

Then Jake Elliott couldn’t hit a 57-yard field goal late for the cover and insurance score, so Trevor Lawrence really had a chance in this one even though he led the offense to 1 first down and 16 net passing yards at halftime.

Fortunately, the defense put an end to this mess with an interception in the end zone as the Jags dropped another close game, 28-23. But this one really should not have been this close, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens going forward when the Eagles start playing those division teams like Dallas and Washington.

But hey, a win is a win, which is what I’ll say this week when Orange Caligula goes down too in Pennsylvania and many other places.

Raiders at Bengals: Clueless Team Cleans House

Leave it up to the Raiders to give up 5 touchdown passes (none were to Ja’Marr Chase) and make firing the offensive coaching staff, including coordinator Luke Getsy, the headline after a 41-24 loss.

Any blame for Antonio Pierce’s clueless defense that couldn’t contain Mike Gesicki? But the offense wasn’t good either as the 24 points were a mirage that included a pick-six and a garbage-time score to Brock Bowers.

But how does your offense ever build something when Pierce tries to bench Gardner Minshew every week? They’re onto Desmond Ridder now. Good luck with that. This is what happens when you start a season with the most embarrassing quarterback room in the league.

Bears at Cardinals: The Bears Are Who We Thought They Were

Tale as old as time: The Chicago Bears are struggling in the passing game with rookie Caleb Williams, who took 6 sacks and couldn’t move the chains on third downs.

But a new twist is allowing a 50-plus yards touchdown at the end of a half. The Hail Mary was one thing last week, but this time to end the first half, the Bears somehow gave up a 53-yard run right down the middle of the field to Arizona’s backup runner. How does that happen with 4 seconds left in the half? Does this team not have safeties to drop back as the last line of defense?

It could have been a 14-9 game at halftime with Chicago regrouping, but that just blew it open at 21-9, and the Bears never found the end zone. Oh, they gave up a safety in their own end with a penalty in the end zone later.

But I’m not sure what to make of Arizona yet. The Cardinals are 5-4, the only winning record in the NFC West. But it’s a volatile team in a volatile division this year.

Cowboys at Falcons: Deceivingly Close

I think “Deceivingly Close” would be a good title for a book about the 1996-2024 Dallas Cowboys and their attempt to get back to an NFC Championship Game. It sure doesn’t look like it’s happening this season as the playoffs are in doubt at 3-5.

Dak Prescott left the 27-21 loss with a hamstring injury that could linger, but the game didn’t even feel that close. The Falcons lost Drake London early in the game but not before he caught a touchdown. The Falcons held CeeDee Lamb to 47 yards on 8 catches.

Dallas only scored its last touchdown with 1:28 left to make it a one-score game, but it was over after the Cowboys didn’t recover the onside kick, something Atlanta needed to do against this team in that 2020 fiasco.

But the Falcons continue to look like the best team in the NFC South while the Cowboys are third best in the NFC East at best these days.

Commanders at Giants: Touchdowns at MetLife (But Not Enough)

If your quarterback hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass at home in 672 days, he probably shouldn’t have been your quarterback that long. That’s the case of Daniel Jones, who finally ended his streak on Sunday, but it still wasn’t enough in a 27-22 loss to the Commanders, who are now 7-2 behind the runaway leader for Offensive Rookie of the Year, Jayden Daniels.

It was another very efficient day for Daniels. While they actually made him punt this time, the Giants couldn’t stop Daniels on some key third downs, and that’s how the Commanders stayed a step ahead for the win even though the Giants were finally scoring for a change.

Saints at Panthers: Carr’s Masterpiece Afternoon

What a legacy-defining afternoon for Derek Carr:

  • Threw a couple of hospital balls that knocked Chris Olave and Juwan Johnson out of the game.
  • Got ripped to shreds by former teammate Michael Thomas on Twitter after the Olave play.
  • Wasted a 155-rushing yards day by Alvin Kamara as the offense struggled in the red zone and on third down (5-of-15).
  • Took a fourth-quarter lead, but flubbed the crucial 2-point conversion, which is why the game wasn’t tied late.
  • Only needing a field goal with 2:18 left, Carr couldn’t get past his own 46, turning it over on downs to one of the worst teams in the NFL.
  • The Saints are the first team to ever start 2-0 with 40-point games and go on a 7-game losing streak.
  • Carr is the first quarterback in NFL history to lose a start to 31 different teams.
  • The Saints are the only team without a fourth-quarter comeback win since the 2023 season started (0-4 in those one-score opportunities this year).
  • Chris Olave’s brother backed Thomas’ sentiment that Carr needs his ass whooped, and he said it’s not worth his brother’s health playing in New Orleans.

I wouldn’t be surprised if I woke up to see that Carr got coach Dennis Allen fired for a second time in his NFL career. What a mess in New Orleans.

Patriots at Titans: Drake Maye Has Some Josh Allen in Him

Thanks to Josh Allen, if a quarterback sucks in his first two seasons, we’re going to hear how he could be the next Allen and have a breakout season in Year 3. I’m generally going to be opposed to this, because Allen is an outlier, and his athletic profile makes him an even bigger outlier. People are also going to mischaracterize where he was in Year 2 as we’ve already seen with the 2024 Anthony Richardson comparisons.

But a player I might be willing to give a Year 3 grace period to is Drake Maye, especially when you consider how bare Bill Belichick the GM left the cupboards in New England. If you give this guy a competent team and a good coach, you never know what you might get as he gives off some Allen vibes with his athleticism.

In Tennessee, he played in his first full start that was close at the end, and while he didn’t pass the ball effectively, he ran 8 times for 95 yards, showing that dual-threat ability. But it was with the game on the line on the final play of regulation that Maye pulled off this stunner and clinic on how to extend the play and make it work for a clutch touchdown:

https://twitter.com/Patriots/status/1853180878353990084

Not bad for holding the ball for about 12 seconds. Unfortunately, the Titans held the ball a long time in overtime, kicked a field goal, and when Maye tried to answer that, he forced a deep ball on first down that he probably didn’t need to and that was easily picked off to end the game at 20-17.

So, he’ll never be the LOAT, he may never reach Josh Allen’s highs, but I see some potential here at least.

Next week: The regular season is already halfway over. Week 10 looks better and starts with an important game in Bengals-Ravens. Giants-Panthers in Germany is maybe the least serious pushing of the NFL product in decades. Broncos in Kansas City loses some luster after that performance Sunday, but never discount a division game’s chances for fvckery. Steelers-Commanders is absolutely a better game this year than Eagles-Cowboys will be. SNF is Lions-Texans, a game that could have been good with Nico Collins and Stefon Diggs, but I don’t think Houston stands much of a chance without those guys. Dolphins-Rams on MNF will hopefully come with some touchdowns.

2024 NFL Stat Oddity: Week 3

~ Scott ~ Leave a comment

I don’t think I’m going to like this season very much. You know there are some shenanigans going on when the first 3-0 teams were the Steelers, Vikings, and Seahawks. None of those teams were favored to even make the playoffs this year.

The Chiefs got there too on Sunday night, but after winning their eighth one-score game during this 9-game winning streak, it doesn’t look like this will be anywhere close to the strongest Kansas City team yet. Might even be the complete opposite.

There are six teams who were in the playoffs last year, including both No. 1 seeds, that are sitting at 1-2: Dolphins, Ravens, Browns, Cowboys, Rams, and 49ers.

Big favorites continue to go down at alarming rates. On Sunday, the four teams who were favored by 6.5 points were 0-4 SU (Buccaneers, Browns, 49ers, and Raiders). There were 18 such losses all of last season and 14 in 2022. We’re already up to seven this season.

Things are just crazy right now, injuries are piling up for many teams, and it’s not like blown leads/comebacks are largely responsible for these results. There were only six games with a comeback opportunity in Week 3, and only two games had a fourth-quarter lead change.

This season in NFL Stat Oddity:

49ers at Rams: Game of the Week

I thought the Eagles had the worst blown lead in the fourth quarter by a team this season after what they did in each phase against the Falcons on Monday night. But the 49ers may have found a way to outdo it here.

First, Brock Purdy was fantastic in this game. He finished 22-of-30 for 292 yards and 3 touchdowns (all to Jauan Jennings), but that doesn’t account for 6 drops. Ronnie Bell should take a permanent seat on the bench with his Limas Sweed ass hands. Purdy even ran 10 times and looked as mobile as ever as he tried to get the job done for his offense in a game without Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, and Deebo Samuel. His only real mistake was a strip-sack before halftime, but that was right after Trent Williams momentarily left the game with an injury, and it didn’t lead to any points for the Rams.

The short-yardage running game hurt them in the fourth quarter when Jordan Mason couldn’t convert a 3rd-and-short, causing the 49ers to settle for a field goal and 24-14 lead. Later, a holding penalty ruined a drive, but Jake Moody could have made a 55-yard field goal with 2:43 to effectively ice it as a 10-point game, but he missed it. I thought he gained some confidence last year with some big kicks in the playoffs, but this was a big miss in a season where everyone seems to be crushing it from deep.

Then the defense had its letdowns with Matthew Stafford, who didn’t have Cooper Kupp or Puka Nacua, using Tutu Atwell for deep balls to quickly get in scoring range. A 50-yard pass to Atwell set up a Kyren Williams touchdown and it was 24-24 with 1:51 left.

Purdy again did his job on the next drive, but Bell had a horrible drop down the field that set up 3rd-and-10. The Rams forced a punt, and the special teams further contributed to the downfall with a 38-yard punt return by the Rams with 42 seconds left.

The 49ers somehow had three defensive penalties on one snap with the pass interference moving the ball halfway to the 25. You can basically run the clock down there, which the Rams did, and they kicked a 37-yard field goal with 0:02 seconds left to take a 27-24 lead. A shocking comeback and total failure by the 49ers in so many ways, and yet somehow still appropriate for what we’ve come to expect from a Kyle Shanahan team.

I must say the 49ers looked like they had something cooking on their lateral play to end things. Definitely one of the better attempts you’ll see at trying to go 70 yards in one play.

A loss would have buried the season for the Rams (1-2). This loss doesn’t bury the 49ers (1-2), but it could haunt them for seeding. Seattle getting off to a 3-0 start isn’t ideal either, but the teams will meet in Seattle on a Thursday night in Week 6 after the 49ers have some winnable home games with the Patriots and Cardinals.

But the 49ers absolutely wasted one of the best games Purdy will give them this year. The loss will cause others to ignore how well he did with all the injuries they had too. Just a rough day all around if you’re a 49ers fan.

Chiefs at Falcons: Old Hat

I think from 2018-22, the Kansas City Chiefs were the main attraction in the NFL. They played the most entertaining style of offense, and they were involved in the biggest and best games of this era. They were a spectacle to watch.

But the 2023-24 Chiefs? I can see why so many people have turned to hating them, and it’s not just sour grapes over losing big games to them. They’ve become annoying to watch in a Spygate-era Patriots way in that it seems like every game is close, they leave a lot of doubt on the field, and they seem like they still find a way to win these games.

It happened again Sunday night in Atlanta, and while the Chiefs (-3) still covered with the 22-17 win, it was the kind of game that will only fuel the doubters who want to see someone else win the Super Bowl this year.

For the third week in a row, Patrick Mahomes threw a braindead interception. This time it was in the end zone on a 17-play opening drive, so the over bettors were already pissed. The only explanation is Justin Simmons just has that Mahomes voodoo that Ty Law once had for Peyton Manning, because he did it to Mahomes again despite changing teams from Denver to Atlanta.

Fortunately, that was the only turnover the Chiefs had in this game as they couldn’t afford another. They even avoided the obligatory fumble for a change, and Mahomes did not take any sacks. I’m not sure what the snap counts were yet, but the Chiefs did start Wanya Morris at left tackle over rookie Kingsley Suamataia, who was benched in the fourth quarter last week.

However, Travis Kelce really is starting to look washed up as he had just 30 yards on 4 catches, and he hurt the team with a third-down drop in the fourth quarter when they tried to add to the small lead. Kelce is seeing more action in his commercials and new FX series than he does on the field these days.

You combine Kelce possibly falling off a cliff with the injuries to Hollywood Brown and running back Isiah Pacheco, and the Chiefs aren’t offering a whole lot on offense outside of Rashee Rice, who continues to look fantastic as the new No. 1 option. He had 12 catches for 110 yards and a touchdown, accounting for half of Mahomes’ 217 yards and the only gain longer than 17 yards for the offense on the night.

But the Chiefs keep trying to spread the wealth, get other people involved, and their short-yardage offense hasn’t been too impressive. For all the hype about their interior line, you’d think they would do a better job of just pounding it in there.

But the back-to-back three-and-out drives in the fourth quarter do look like an offense that just isn’t what it used to be. Kelce would have held onto that ball in the past. On a late 3rd-and-2, Mahomes looked like he had multiple options on crossing routes, but he chose Xavier Worthy, and the rookie just stopped running on the play to cause an ugly incompletion with 2:26 left. I don’t think JuJu would have done that two years ago, and I know Sammy Watkins wouldn’t have back in the day.

The offense kept giving Atlanta chances to answer with a touchdown the way Kirk Cousins delivered Monday night in Philadelphia. But despite getting three chances in the fourth quarter, Cousins couldn’t get the job done as the Falcons dealt with more pressure from Steve Spagnuolo’s defense, and some injured offensive linemen made it tougher as does Cousins’ lack of mobility. There was a 3rd-and-2 “scramble” in the game where any young, mobile quarterback would have picked it up, but that’s just not happening for Cousins at this stage of his career. But that play was a good example of why the stationary pocket passer is such a dying breed in the NFL.

The referees didn’t help Atlanta much either. Yep, the officials were back in the spotlight at the end of a Kansas City game, and it was more appropriate this time compared to last week against the Bengals. Down 22-17 with just over 4:00 left, Cousins tried to find tight end Kyle Pitts in the end zone, and the Chiefs got away with some obvious pass interference. No flag.

He arrived early, he hugged Pitts, and he didn’t try to play the ball. That should have been an easy call to make. Then on fourth down, I don’t think that one was interference, but some of course will say that because it’s the Chiefs and this is the weekly thing we do now. But again, that comes back to never blowing teams out and leaving this type of doubt.

Then when the Falcons got the ball back with 2:26 left, you saw the make-up calls in full effect from the refs. The Falcons got a phantom DPI flag on Trent McDuffie for 11 yards. Then there was a horse collar tackle penalty, which looked legitimate enough, and that was another 15 yards. So, the calls most certainly don’t always go to Kansas City’s benefit.

But that horse collar was the last time the Falcons moved the chains. I think they got caught up playing the clock with Mahomes on the other side, they wanted to score late as possible, and they forgot to call good plays that make use of Cousins’ abilities. They brought in Tyler Allgeier for a big 3rd-and-1 run, and the Chiefs stopped him for no gain. Neither team wanting to run the QB sneak is a problem in this situation.

The Falcons then tried another 4th-and-1 run with Bijan Robinson, but he was stuffed for a 3-yard loss with 51 seconds left. Ballgame. That’s four plays in a row where the Falcons didn’t bother to let Cousins throw anything more than a horizontal pass.

Mahomes then did a smart move on the first down by waiting several seconds before he finally took a knee. The other knees were much quicker, and he nearly injured himself on one, but he timed it just right to where the Chiefs didn’t have to punt the ball back.

The Chiefs have now won 9 straight games by a combined 54 points, an average margin of victory of 6.0 points per game. That’s the tiniest margin of victory among the 119 teams in NFL history who had a winning streak of at least 9 games.

It’s not like this is uncharted territory for the Chiefs. In 2020, they tied the NFL record with 7 straight wins by 1-to-8 points. They also won 10 games in a row that year by an average of just 8.9 points per game. Only the 1999 Colts with Peyton Manning (8.7) had a lower margin of victory for a double-digit game winning streak.

The Chiefs can take that record next if they beat the Chargers next week by a slim margin. That’s usually what they do to that team.

It’s usually what they do to everyone these days. But that run in 2020 with the close wins was answered with some playoff blowouts, including their 31-9 loss in Super Bowl 55. It also led to a 3-4 start in 2021 during some of the worst losses of the Mahomes era like 38-20 to Buffalo and 27-3 in Tennessee.

So, you do wonder if this team will hit some regression to the mean and start losing these close games or losing by bigger margins during this three-peat attempt. We have always talked about the Chiefs in the context of an elite offense, or in last year’s case, it was an elite defense. Through three games this year, they don’t particularly look elite on either side of the ball. In fact, they look a bit ordinary.

Still 3-0, but not the same spectacle as 2018-22. No longer must-see TV unless you’re into watching reruns of mediocre episodes of your favorite shows. Alas, with the way the rest of the league is playing to start this season, it still might be enough to make history in the end.

Ravens at Cowboys: Almost a Collapse

Is this what every big game in Jerry World is going to look like for Dallas now? The opponent piles up big plays and touchdowns, forcing Dak Prescott to just keep throwing for a ton of volume with no real shot at winning the game. It’s the third time in a row at home with the Packers in the playoffs, the Saints last week, and now the Ravens in this 28-25 final that was somehow a bigger blowout than that suggests, and still really close of a collapse for the Ravens.

Oh yes, I don’t think a win here absolves Baltimore that much for an 0-2 start. This game still reinforced some issues they have with holding leads as they lead the NFL in blown leads of multiple possessions since 2021. The Cowboys cut a 28-6 deficit into 28-25 and were just unfortunate that the defense couldn’t get them the ball back one more time.

The Ravens were explosive with big plays on the ground with Derrick Henry and through the air with Lamar Jackson completing 12 passes for 182 yards. But salting the game away was poorly done, Justin Tucker missed another easy field goal on a day where his new GOAT competition Brandon Aubrey nailed a 65-yard field goal, and you still question if the Ravens would ever dare use this strategy in January with 15 passes to 45 runs.

They absolutely should as I argued this offseason. But they have this obsession with turning Jackson into the passer he’s not and throwing the ball much more in those games when he’s clearly at his most comfortable in a game like this where he threw 15 passes and ran 14 times.

Jackson is now 21-1 against NFC opponents, because they just don’t know him the way his AFC foes (Chiefs, Steelers, Bills, etc.) do. It’s a unique challenge, and I’m not surprised the Cowboys failed it.

But it did get a little too close for comfort at the end there, and I’m not sure how Baltimore keeps letting this happen under John Harbaugh.

Chargers at Steelers: Felt More Like Ravens vs. Steelers

In 2011, Mike Tomlin’s Steelers faced Jim Harbaugh’s 49ers with Ben Roethlisberger struggling through a high-ankle sprain. Pittsburgh was a 3-point underdog, and Ben struggled with 3 interceptions in a 20-3 loss.

Fast forward to 2024, the second career meeting between Tomlin and Harbaugh, and the tables were turned. This time it was Justin Herbert coming in as a 3-point underdog on a high-ankle sprain against an elite defense. He ended up losing 20-10 and didn’t even finish the game.

It’s not a good formula for success, but incredibly, these quarterbacks started a combined 19-for-19 in this game, the best in any game since 1991. It was a ton of short stuff with Fields being safe and Herbert keeping that leg safe for as long as he could. Neither running game was getting it done against these tough defenses.

But in a 10-10 game in the third quarter, the floodgates opened up on the Chargers. Herbert tried to capitalize on Fields’ first turnover of the year after Bud Dupree came down with an interception that was tipped around several players. But Herbert was sacked, and he hurt himself on that one and couldn’t return to the game.

Keep in mind the Chargers already lost edge rusher Joey Bosa in this game. They’d later lose both offensive tackles (Rashawn Slater and rookie Joe Alt) as well. T.J. Watt was getting shut out by Alt, but once those floodgates opened in the third, the Chargers couldn’t stop it. Taylor Heinicke tried to finish the game for Herbert, but he took 3 sacks on 5 dropbacks (!) as the Steelers allowed minus-5 yards of offense in the entire second half.

Fields technically gets credit for a game-winning drive in this one to break the 10-10 tie early with Chris Boswell’s 38-yard field goal, but the Chargers sure did help that along with three penalties for 34 yards on third downs alone to extend the drive.

My hopes of seeing how Fields would perform in a game where a quarterback like Herbert could force him to score in the fourth quarter to win it were dashed when Herbert couldn’t go anymore. Frankly, they probably made a huge mistake in playing him at all this week since this was always a high possibility, and they have the Chiefs up next, a much more important divisional game with the Chiefs looking vulnerable too.

But Fields also put the game away with a 55-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Calvin Ausitn, who showed off his speed. It was the best game Fields played this year by far, and one of the best wins of his career with ease.

I’m still on board with thinking Russell Wilson should get a chance to start in this offense too, but the Steelers are seeing more of Fields each week and he is getting better. The points still aren’t really there, but it hasn’t mattered when you’re giving up 28 points in 3 games.

Eagles at Saints: Let Them Off the Hook

The dumbest team to win this week was definitely Philadelphia. It was evident early on that this was not going to be a high-scoring week for the Saints like the last few have been. Even after starting the game with a field goal, the Saints didn’t have a drive that gained more than 13 yards until the fourth quarter.

Incredibly, this game was still a 3-0 Saints lead going into the fourth quarter despite a total near 50. This is also because the Eagles kept passing up makeable field goals and failing on fourth down. Jalen Hurts had a frustrating game as he completed most of his passes for 311 yards, but he also had multiple turnovers, 4th-down failures, and took 4 sacks.

But it was a game without A.J. Brown that soon became a game without DeVonta Smith too after a dirty-looking hit, and Lane Johnson was also knocked out at right tackle.

But the Eagles did have Saquon Barkley, who rushed for 147 yards and two touchdowns. They also had tight end Dallas Goedert, who had a monster game with 10 catches for 170 yards. Goedert made the critical play on a 3rd-and-16 on the game-winning drive when he got free for 61 yards.

You had three Saints defenders run into each other on the play. A natural pick by the Eagles neutralized the first one, but then veteran corner Marshon Lattimore (No. 23) ran right into his teammate and that’s why Goedert was so wide open. It was like watching the early and mid-2010s Saints on defense.

The Saints are the only NFL team not to win a game after trailing in the fourth quarter since 2023. That was supposed to be a strength of bringing Derek Carr to New Orleans. He had a go-ahead touchdown pass to Chris Olave in this one with 2:03 left, but the Saints missed the crucial 2-point conversion that would have made it 15-7. Instead, the Eagles got the 8 points with Barkley scoring both with 1:01 left.

Carr still had time and a timeout to force overtime with a field goal, but similar to Hurts against Atlanta last week, he took a risk quickly and was intercepted to end the game at 15-12. After leading 15 straight scoring drives to begin 2024, Carr couldn’t even get the team to 15 points in this one.

It was Week 3 last year in Green Bay when the Saints blew a 17-0 lead and missed a clutch field goal that really destroyed their playoff hopes in the end. Let’s hope this game doesn’t set them on a similar path as this was a huge outcome in the NFC to get the Eagles to 2-1 while those teams like Dallas and San Francisco keep losing.

Texans at Vikings: Wiped the Flores with My MVP’s Offense

I guess all that’s left is for the Vikings to start 4-0 by beating up my Super Bowl pick (Packers) next week too. They already won three games in a row against teams I thought would beat them, especially the 49ers and Texans, and they’re only getting stronger after taking down Houston 34-7.

C.J. Stroud is usually very hard to intercept, but he had a pair in this game, he only led one touchdown drive, and he also lost 42 yards on 4 sacks. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores had them flustered, and I don’t think it would have made any difference if running back Joe Mixon was active.

Sam Darnold didn’t have all the big plays this week, but he was smart with the ball, effective, and he threw 4 touchdowns out of it. He’s holding the ball and still making good decisions. We’ll just have to see if he continues it into October or if he starts seeing ghosts again.

But between the schedule looking legit and the team controlling these games on their way to 3-0, I’m dumbfounded by this start. Just never seemed logical that a team that lost Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter would get better on both sides of the ball. Not to mention WR2 Jordan Addison has been out with an injury, and tight end T.J. Hockenson has yet to even play in 2024.

They could theoretically get better. But I’m still not ready to crown the Vikings as the new flash in the pan in the NFC. Probably should get on that Kevin O’Connell for Coach of the Year campaign though.

Broncos at Buccaneers: Not “Bo Picks” This Week

This felt like a trap game to me, so the only bet I had on it was for Bo Nix to throw a pick. He’s had multiple picks in both games, and you had to figure the Bucs would send some heat and get him to mess up in a game where he should have needed to score a fair amount to win.

But man, that was way off. The 0-2 Broncos went across country to pants the 2-0 Buccaneers in their building in a 26-7 final. Nix was in control early, he avoided the turnovers and sacks, and he may have led the Broncos in rushing once again if not for a backup (Badie) breaking a 43-yard run.

That’s an encouraging start. As for the Buccaneers, so much for the Baker Mayfield hype. After Aidan Hutchinson had 4.5 sacks of Mayfield for Detroit last week, Mayfield went down 7 times in this one as the Bucs are struggling up front. Mayfield completed 25 passes but for only 163 yards, which ties Joe Montana for the fewest yards ever in a game with exactly 25 completions. A little weird it came in a game against Denver as we just saw Denver set that record for the fewest yards in games with 26 completions (Nix in Week 1) and 27 completions (Russell Wilson in Week 1, 2023).

Maybe it’s just a Denver thing and it goes both ways. But definitely an upset I wasn’t ready for as the Bucs were just never a threat the whole game.

Bears at Colts: Comically Inept

I know Caleb Williams (2) and Anthony Richardson (6) came into this game with 8 starts between them as the youngest quarterbacks in the NFL. But I still found myself during the third quarter thinking of how this would have been Jay Cutler vs. Andrew Luck a decade ago, and that was just more interesting to me. Maybe these two are the future, but right now, they are raw as hell and I question how much help they’re getting from their play callers.

Both had multiple completions of 40-plus yards for the highlight tapes, but both missed easy throws and had multiple interceptions too. It’s a good thing for Richardson that Jonathan Taylor rushed for 110 yards and two scores to really put the game away. Williams ended up throwing the ball 52 times and gained 363 yards, but some of those yards were hollow like his Hail Mary completion to D.J. Moore before halftime that gained 44 yards but was stopped at the 1-yard line.

But the Bears again barely averaged 2.0 yards per carry, proving that the offensive line is dog shit. The Colts couldn’t stop the run at all in Weeks 1-2, but they had few problems in this one. Chicago’s play-calling in the red zone was also horrible, including a ridiculous sequence in the first half where they came away with no points.

Good on Williams to survive a game with this many throws and keep the sacks down to 4, but he’ll still have to do better than that. Still, I’m not sure Richardson is even capable of a game like this in the NFL. He’s throwing for 40 yards or giving you nothing with his arm right now.

Good on the Colts to see Laiatu Latu come up with a strip-sack in a big moment in the fourth quarter when Williams had the ball in a 14-9 game.

That’s why you draft someone like Latu the way Indy did in this offensive-driven class.

Lions at Cardinals: The Shootout That Wasn’t

I was really hoping for a shootout in this one, and it looked promising when both offenses marched right down the field for touchdowns. But there was very little after that as Kyler Murray struggled to throw for 100 yards until late in the second half when the Cardinals were still desperately down 20-10.

It could have been closer as the refs had a costly mistake at the 2-minute warning in the first half when it sure looked like the Cardinals produced a defensive return touchdown. But they tried to say the 2:00 warning hit, but it appeared the ball was snapped at 2:01. Huge turnaround there as the Lions turned that drive into a touchdown on a nifty designed lateral play from Amon-Ra St. Brown to Jahmyr Gibbs.

The Lions never scored the rest of the way, and it was just a matter of holding on as the Cardinals couldn’t run with James Conner, Trey McBride suffered a concussion, and Murray was floating a lot of bad passes to Marvin Harrison Jr. Just not an efficient offensive performance at all after the first two weeks were so good.

The Detroit defense looks improved this year, but it was still up to the offense to run out the clock in a 20-13 game. Goff found St. Brown on a third-and-12, then he iced the game with an 8-yard scramble.

But not many offensive fireworks to see here – keeping up the 2024 brand for the league.

Packers at Titans: Malik Willis Is Better Than Will Levis?

The revenge game is usually a tired narrative, but this time it really worked out. Not that Malik Willis should feel like the Titans did him dirty. He really struggled when he was with them, but in playing for Green Bay these last two weeks, he has done an incredible job of managing the game.

This week was even better than last as Willis passed for a career-high 202 yards on just 19 throws, and he ran for 73 yards and a touchdown. A true dual-threat performance. He also did it this week with much less help from his running backs on the ground unlike last week against the Colts.

To make things sweeter for Willis, he thrived while Will Levis continues to show that his version of “Big Dick Energy” is to play like there’s zero consequences for your actions just because you’re packing a hammer. Levis took 8 sacks and had 3 more turnovers as the Packers are getting splash plays galore to start this season under their new defensive coordinator.

With the hope that Jordan Love is close to returning, my Super Bowl pick of Green Bay is still looking decent. They know they have a viable backup option in a pinch with Willis, and we’ll see a return to more passing when Love gets back. The defense in the meantime just needs to keep this up as they’ve been very impressive in creating negative plays.

Giants at Browns: Please, Call More Plays Where Deshaun Watson Gets Sacked

Okay, the spread never should have been Browns -6.5, because this team is just not that good with the albatross that is Deshaun Watson at quarterback. He’s actually worse than Daniel Jones right now, and he was certainly worse in this game as he took a whopping 8 sacks.

The Giants fumbled the opening kickoff and gave up a short field touchdown to the Browns, but that Cleveland offense did almost nothing the entire rest of the game. Those fumbles were also the only thing keeping this from being a New York blowout as Danny Dimes did actually deliver on his end. He threw two touchdowns to rookie Malik Nabers, who looks very much like the real deal, and he cut down on sacks and turnovers in a big way this week.

I actually feel bad for Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski as he knows he is likely stuck for Watson for a couple more years. That’s assuming it doesn’t cost him his job. I wouldn’t blame him if he purposely called plays with minimal protection and exposed Watson to more hits in the hopes that he gets injured, and they can keep him off the field that way. The guy was literally just accused of rape once again in a new lawsuit. He doesn’t get any benefit of the doubt, and I don’t know how this team will get through a season if they have to keep playing him when Jameis Winston would obviously outperform him.

Dolphins at Seahawks: Not the Most Unlikely 3-0 Start

Sure, most people probably didn’t see the Seahawks starting 3-0 this year. But with the schedule of quarterbacks, it was very reasonable. They’ve drawn Bo Nix in his rookie debut, a New England passing game that doesn’t want to exist with Jacoby Brissett, and then a break this week with Skylar Thompson starting for an injured Tua Tagovailoa (concussion).

We know Geno Smith and his weapons are good enough to go 9-8. Mike Macdonald just had to improve the defense, and who knows. But we won’t really start to see the defense tested until Week 4 against Detroit.

But this game, it was a 24-3 laugher as the Dolphins were literally showing their ass on the field.

Boy, that stunk. Miami was 1-of-12 on third down, and Thompson took 5 sacks before leaving the game with an injury. It could be Tim Boyle time in Miami next week, or maybe Tyler Huntley who just signed. At what point do we ask if Mike McDaniel and his staff are doing something wrong with their quarterbacks if they’re this brittle that you have to start three in three games? I thought that was a historic outlier when they did it in 2022, but it might happen again here.

All the speed in the world doesn’t mean a damn thing with the wrong player at quarterback.

Panthers at Raiders: Bryce Young Was the Problem After All

Guess I should have bet the house on Andy Dalton after all. He was my No. 1 prop pick this week, I picked the Panthers (+6.5) to win outright, but even then I never expected this 36-22 outcome that completely disproves the idea that Bryce Young had no protection or weapons in Carolina.

The problem was the shortcomings of the quarterback. Similar to last year when Dalton started a game in place of Young for the Panthers, he threw for over 300 yards. But this time he did it much more efficiently, and before you say it was just the Raiders, check again how Maxx Crosby and company fared against Justin Herbert and Lamar Jackson to start this season.

Dalton is now the only quarterback this season to throw for over 300 yards and 3 touchdowns in a game. Crazy, right? He got a career game out of Diontae Johnson with 122 yards and a touchdown. Even the running game showed up as Chuba Hubbard rushed for 114 yards.

The Panthers finally ended their 20-game streak of never taking a snap with a fourth-quarter lead. I don’t think Dalton can go too far with this team, but for one game against the Raiders, he was electric. About time we watch a veteran with more than a decade of experience just sling it on these defenses.

There’s almost none of that in the NFL right now, so I fully support Dalton starting more games while Young “sits and learns” from it all. But this game probably did nuke his trade value even more.

Next week: Cowboys-Giants on TNF? Oh, it’s really over for Dallas if they’re going to lose to Danny Dimes next. Saints-Falcons has some importance in the NFC South, Andy Dalton can stack wins against the Bengals, the Steelers can harass Anthony Richardson to start 4-0, the Vikings-Packers game could somehow be the Game of the Week if Jordan Love returns, and let’s just hope Justin Herbert can return for the Kansas City game. Bills-Ravens a big one on Sunday night I get to preview later this week. Another Monday night doubleheader (not a fan) too, and Seahawks-Lions definitely more interesting than Titans-Dolphins (no one cares).

NFL Stat Oddity: Week 18

~ Scott ~ 4 Comments

Just like that, we have made it through all 272 regular-season games in the 2023 NFL season. In Game No. 272, the Buffalo Bills pulled off a stunning turnaround from 6-6 to 11-6 and the No. 2 seed, coming back to win the AFC East for the fourth year in a row on a day the Patriots officially hit rock bottom as we likely saw the last of Bill Belichick on the sideline there.

The Steelers and Packers are back in the playoffs. We have a division with only winning teams for the first time since 1935. The winner of the NFC South is (barely) above .500 this season.

And not one goddamn tie all season, a huge win in my book.

As for the Week 18 drama, there were only 9 games with a comeback opportunity, but they were focused in the right games with playoff implications like Steelers-Ravens, Texans-Colts, Jaguars-Titans, Bears-Packers, and Bills-Dolphins.

But before we recap the final 16 games of the regular season, this is my favorite time to review how my preseason predictions for final team records fared. I put in a ton of work on these over the summer as I ended up doing 3 articles per team, so there was a lot of research to come up with fresh angles even if I was ultimately arriving at the same conclusion for each team.

Despite some concerns, I am happy to say I was off by an average of 2.06 wins, my 2nd-most accurate predictions since 2013. I nailed 6 teams to their exact record, including both No. 1 seeds, and I was within 2 games for 21-of-32 teams. I could have had 8 teams with an exact record, which would have been my personal best, but that damn Drew Lock touchdown drive against the Eagles in Seattle did me in. Likewise, I never imagined Patrick Mahomes would give the Raiders 14 points in 7 seconds on turnovers at home on Christmas.

There were 4 teams that I was off by 5-to-6 games for, and you can probably guess one as I made them a huge part of my season story, only to see that go up in smoke after 4 snaps in Week 1:

Yep, I had Aaron Rodgers leading the Jets to a 12-5 record and the No. 5 seed, essentially swapping places with the Dolphins, who I had getting swept by the Jets and finishing 9-8 and out of the playoffs. So much for that when his Achilles tore in Week 1. I’m not sure the Jets would have been an elite team this year with that line and struggles to run the ball, but I think the playoffs were certainly doable with Rodgers.

The first-year success of the Colts and Texans definitely took me by surprise in the AFC South. Missed badly on both of those teams, but I don’t think I’m alone in that. C.J. Stroud was kind of the bland rookie quarterback in this class. Anthony Richardson had the “wow factor” with the ability to run (but apparently his durability slider was turned off). Bryce Young was supposed to be this Improv Short King, but he only got his coach fired after 11 games and Carolina had one of the worst seasons ever. Stroud just hit early and was so impressive in that Bobby Slowik, a Kyle Shanahan disciple, offense with receivers that took a huge leap forward like Nico Collins and rookie Tank Dell.

As for the Rams, my initial thought on them was they’d be a sneaky wild card team this year with Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, and Aaron Donald coming back healthy. But once I started digging into the roster, I had no clue who most of these other 50 guys were. Puka Nacua? Never heard of him. Kyren Williams? Who cares? But it was Puka stepping up early, Kyren coming around later, and this offense looks strong, and the defense has been respectable despite the massive turnover. Great job by Sean McVay and company to get to this point.

Those were my biggest misses, but for a season that I billed as the year of uncertainty, I’m proud of these results overall. Roughly a quarter of the league had a season-ending injury to their primary quarterback. Only 9 teams started the same quarterback in every game (lowest since 1999). A couple of playoff teams (Steelers, Bills) fired their offensive coordinator more than halfway through the season. It was a challenging season filled with blowouts in big matchups and so many low-scoring games on Sunday and Monday nights.

But I am ready for the playoffs, and my playoff picks in the AFC are what I’m most proud of as I can’t imagine many people nailed the top 3 seeds going the way they did, especially with the Bengals favored in the AFC North and the Chiefs favored to repeat, and I also had the Steelers getting the No. 7 seed with a 10-7 record.

  • 1, Baltimore (13-4)
  • 2. Buffalo (12-5)
  • 3. Kansas City (12-5)
  • 4. Jacksonville (10-7)
  • 5. NY Jets (12-5)
  • 6. Cincinnati (11-5)
  • 7. Pittsburgh (10-7)

My NFC picks were far less stellar, only getting 4-of-7 teams right (all fairly obvious ones), and none in the right seed.

  • 1. Philadelphia (12-5)
  • 2. San Francisco (12-5)
  • 3. New Orleans (12-5)
  • 4. Detroit (9-8)
  • 5. Dallas (12-5)
  • 6. Atlanta (9-8)
  • 7. Minnesota (8-9)

The Saints and Falcons were the teams I was high on because of the schedule, but they blew that golden opportunity. Hats off to Tampa Bay for overcoming the fact that they had to play the Eagles, Bills, and 49ers (went 0-3 in those games too) and the other NFC South teams didn’t, and Tampa still won the division. I liked Baker Mayfield to have a better individual season than Tom Brady did in 2022, but I figured he wouldn’t catch the breaks in close games to have a better record. But Baker surprisingly kept the turnovers low and they got to 9-8.

Finally, I think the Vikings are a playoff team if Kirk Cousins doesn’t tear his Achilles, so chalk that up to an Achilles injury in each conference screwing me up here. Cousins was playing some of his best ball when that happened, so we had to experience some fever dreams with Joshua Dobbs and Nick Mullens. Too bad. At least the close-game regression was real as the Vikings played a league-high 14 close games but only finished 6-8 in them a year after they were 11-0.

But we’ll have other opportunities to review the season and where things stand. Let’s get through these 16 games before I get into playoff mode.

This season in NFL Stat Oddity:

AFC EAST

We had one game for the division title and the other for a 15-game winning streak to come crashing down as Bill Belichick just had to fvck me out of a $$$ parlay win one last time.

Bills at Dolphins: The Paper Tiger Disintegrates

From 6-6 and the No. 11 seed at the bye week to 11-6 and the No. 2 seed going into the playoffs, no one circled the wagons like the Buffalo Bills this season. The numbers were always there when they were 6-6 with a scoring differential of over 100 points. Just stop turning the ball over so much and stop blowing these fourth-quarter leads in egregious fashion like the Denver game where they had 12 men on the field for a field goal that was missed, or when they let Mac Jones lead the single clutch touchdown drive of his career.

But the Bills pulled off this AFC East title with some help from the Dolphins, who choked away a Week 14 game to the Titans that I would call the worst blown lead of 2023. Then the Dolphins were blown out 56-19 in Baltimore a week ago, continuing their pattern of underperforming on both sides of the ball in big games, especially on offense and on the road. They have also been injured with some key players (Jaylen Waddle, Raheem Mostert, Bradley Chubb, Xavien Howard, etc.) missing this game.

But the Bills have their own injuries to deal with, and even in this game, the Bills tried desperately to throw this game away with 3 more turnovers from Josh Allen, who also botched the end of the first half with a completion short of the goal line with the Bills out of timeouts. No points there to go along with the turnovers all happening deep in Miami territory.

The Buffalo defense had Allen’s back in this one. After Allen’s lost fumble killed another scoring chance in a 14-7 game to end the third quarter, the defense forced a quick punt from the Dolphins. Deonte Harty returned that punt 96 yards for a game-tying touchdown with 13:42 left.

Allen led a go-ahead touchdown drive with 7:16 left while the Dolphins had another quick 3-and-out drive. Allen looked like he could put the game away on his own terms instead of putting it in the defense’s shaky hands again. He had an incredible 15-yard scramble on a 3rd-and-13, then the Bills faced a critical 4th-and-1 at the Miami 37 at the 2:00 warning.

I’m not kicking a 55-yard field goal unless maybe I have Justin Tucker as my kicker. Tyler Bass hasn’t earned that kind of reputation for me. I also hate to trust a defense that has already blown 4 leads in the fourth quarter, and you know Miami is more likely to go for a game-winning 2-point conversion than your average team would. No, I’m going to trust my insane quarterback to run up the gut for that first down on the sneak.

Except the Bills tried that and Allen was stopped short by the slimmest of margins. Oh well, I liked the decision anyway. Now it was on the defense, and after a couple of shaky snaps, they almost came away with a pick. On the very next play, they got the pick as Tua threw an awful pass that was picked off by Taylor Rapp with 1:13 left to seal the division title.

The Bills were definitely looking shaky for the playoffs, let alone the AFC East when they were 6-6. But this 5-0 streak has been built on mostly close wins outside of the Dallas rout. This was the fourth time since Week 14 that Buffalo won a game by no more than 7 points. They had 2 such wins in their previous 13 games.

Now the Bills get to host the Steelers, a favorable draw for the wild card round. Then perhaps they will host Kansas City for a change in the divisional round. This isn’t the best Buffalo team since 2020, but maybe it’s the year things fall in place for them. They are winning the close games, Allen is playing great when he’s not turning it over (he was 30-for-36 for 359 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 67 rushing yards outside of the turnover plays), and they are one of the best defensive teams.

The field also contains the weakest Kansas City team in the Patrick Mahomes era and a Baltimore team that has blown it in January before. Maybe this run propels the Bills all the way, or maybe they lose to Mason Rudolph next week.

Either way, it will be must-see TV. The Bills always belonged in this tournament and now we get to see if they can make it pay off.

Jets at Patriots: Hoods Up

Christ, you know it’s over when Belichick is losing a 17-3 snow game at home to the Jets. There goes the 15-game winning streak against the Jets. It was bound to end this year, but we thought that’d be at the hands of Aaron Rodgers, not a 70-yard passing performance from Trevor Siemian.

The conditions looked brutal, and I can’t imagine many players were enjoying themselves on that field. But it meant a little more to the Jets knowing about the 15-game losing streak and how this was expected to be Belichick’s last game as coach of the Patriots.

Bailey Zappe had 31 net passing yards on 37 pass plays thanks to the 7 sacks the Jets ripped through the line for. Just when you thought Belichick had one last fluke of a win in him after a Zappe interception was fumbled back to the Patriots with 2:44 left in a 9-3 game, Zappe made sure his next throw was intercepted too. Breece Hall hit the 50-yard “FU TD” and that was a wrap at 17-3. With a 4-13 record, Belichick finishes the worst season of his coaching career.

We’ve seen the Patriots without a quarterback. Now we’ll see how long they go without a quarterback and without a coach. That stay in the AFC East basement may be longer than this one season.

AFC SOUTH

We didn’t know for sure Saturday night, but that was the de facto division title game thanks to the Jaguars blowing it on Sunday in Tennessee. C.J. Stroud runs this division now until the Colts can keep Anthony Richardson healthy.

Jaguars at Titans: Full Collapse Revenge

Last year, it was the Titans collapsing with a 7-game losing streak to blow the AFC South after a Week 18 loss to the Jaguars. This year, the Jaguars were 8-3 before collapsing with a 1-5 finish, only beating the Panthers last week. That means Trevor Lawrence lost his final 5 starts of the year.

This game wasn’t all on him as the Titans put on a spirited home effort with Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry perhaps playing their final games for the Titans. Henry rushed for 153 yards and a touchdown.

The Jaguars trailed 28-13 going into the fourth quarter and needed a miracle. After a touchdown pass to Evan Engram, the Jags intercepted Tannehill and set up Lawrence 28 yards away from a tie. But all the inefficiencies in this Jacksonville offense from Lawrence’s inaccurate throws to bad runs to penalties led to a terrible drive that consumed 5 minutes off the clock and ultimately came up empty on fourth down at the 1-yard line. Lawrence tried one of the worst quarterback sneaks you’ll ever see as his initial lunge (a la Drew Brees) was well short, then his stretch didn’t get the job done either.

Lawrence got the ball back with 2:18 and 75 yards to go, and he couldn’t even get a first down. He missed a deep shot to an open Calvin Ridley, then threw wildly inaccurate again on a 4th-and-2 to Engram with 1:47 left. Season over. Jags (9-8) were finished.

Even at 8-3, I had a hard time trusting this Jacksonville team as a serious contender. Maybe they finish the job in the AFC South if Lawrence never gets hurt against the Bengals in Week 13, and he did have multiple injuries since to deal with. But even before that, his play wasn’t vastly improved from last year, and the Ridley connection wasn’t the greatest. Losing Christian Kirk hurt this offense more than gaining Ridley helped it.

Now with the way Houston has finished this season with C.J. Stroud, the Jaguars are going to enter 2024 as second-class citizens in the division they never really owned. They took advantage of Tennessee’s 2022 implosion, and the Titans made sure they got them back on Sunday by taking them out for 2023.

But if a certain quarterback in Indy stays healthy and pans out, both of these teams could be looking up to those other teams for years to come. I think 2024 is the year Lawrence will finally start getting held to a higher standard, and with the day soon coming when we start talking about a second contract, I think it’s in Jacksonville’s best interest to wait that one out.

Texans at Colts: Can’t Be Worse Off at Quarterback and Defense 

This was a game I immediately flipped on my spread and total picks for last Monday night. I’m talking straight up deleting what I was writing and going the opposite way before sending them in.

Changing to the under was a good move, but taking the team (Colts) that was worse at quarterback and defense in a big game during this time of year? What was I thinking? Week 2 when the Colts won 31-20 was eons ago. Hell, Anthony Richardson started that game. What did it matter now?

But this game was there for the taking for Indy on Saturday night. They just fell short, and they did it in a way that has me nervous about Shane Steichen in the big moments next time. But the game also reinforced the idea that he won’t be ready to compete for real in this division until he has a healthy Richardson who can go toe to toe with C.J. Stroud in a game like this. Gardner Minshew was not up for it.

Stroud came out throwing a haymaker with a 75-yard touchdown pass to Nico Collins on Houston’s first offensive snap. But despite that brilliant throw, the Houston offense was being contained, and the Colts got back into it by riding their best player, Jonathan Taylor. He finished with 188 rushing yards and a 49-yard touchdown run that helped tie the game at 14 in the third quarter.

But for all of Taylor’s dominance, it only did further damage to getting Minshew in any sort of rhythm where they could rely on him down the stretch. Note that right after Taylor’s long touchdown run, the Colts dialed up 5 straight runs, then asked Minshew to convert a 3rd-and-9. He couldn’t get a completion, and the Colts missed a 57-yard field goal off the upright. That short field for Houston led to the Texans taking a 17-14 lead on a 51-yard field goal.

After the Colts tied the game, Stroud went to work on a surgical drive in the final quarter. He threw for 82 yards on the drive, which was capped off by a 3-yard run from Devin Singletary. The Texans missed the extra point, leaving the door open for the Colts at 23-17 with 6:20 left.

But make note of the difference in strategy for these teams. While the Texans relied on Stroud, who only got any production out of Collins and tight end Dalton Shultz, the Colts could not rely on Minshew to drive them down the field. It was going to be the run game, which took a hit in efficiency with an injury along the offensive line to Braden Smith. Taylor also temporarily left the game injured and did not look as great down the stretch.

In the last 1.5 quarters, the Colts ran the ball 16 times for 27 yards with a 25% rushing success rate. Eleven of those 16 carries failed to gain more than 2 yards, and the longest run in that stretch was 6 yards.

Minshew was able to hit Josh Downs for a 28-yard gain to get the drive going, but the Colts continued to rely on the run, even choosing to run on 3rd-and-6 and 3rd-and-5 situations that almost every team calls passes for. One such run worked thanks to a penalty on Houston (automatic first down) and the other did convert at the 2-minute warning with the Colts looking to score the touchdown as late as they could.

But everything went to shit after the 2-minute warning hit. The Colts called 2 more Taylor runs, and he went out of bounds both times, burning a total of 12 seconds, saving timeouts for Houston, and setting up a 3rd-and-2. That is counter to the clock strategy if you’re so concerned about not leaving Stroud time to answer in an expected 24-23 game after the touchdown and extra point.

Taylor got the call again on 3rd-and-2 and came up a yard short, setting up a huge 4th-and-1 at the Houston 15. Instead of having a play to run quickly like another Taylor run or a quarterback sneak, the Colts let the clock go down to 1:06 and called a timeout.

What the hell? There’s burning the clock and then there’s taking so damn long that you just blew your shot of getting another possession in case you don’t get this. If you get stopped around 1:20 with 3 timeouts left, at least you can quickly create another possession. But by blowing that timeout, Steichen put the game on this 4th-and-1, and he was still 15 yards away from the end zone on what was not a good night for his offense.

Worse, Taylor came off the field for the pivotal play, and after calling 7 straight runs, now they decided to let Minshew throw to a backup running back in Tyler Goodson, a player with 6 career catches who had no touches on the night.

While the play was there, the throw wasn’t, and Minshew and Goodson failed to connect. The Texans ended up running it three times, taking an intentional safety, and the Colts tried to lateral around the free kick before the game ended. Season over for Indy and Texans in the playoffs.

I really don’t care if he thinks the running back was open and it was a good play. You can’t put your quarterback and cold running back in that spot after calling 7 straight runs. That’s the kind of throw a Drew Brees could make with a blindfold because he is so used to passing throughout the whole game. He’s in rhythm. He’s also much more accurate than Minshew, but the whole process there after the 2-minute warning was mind-blowingly bad.

You can try playing the clock game, but don’t play yourself. The Colts botched this badly and now another season is over short of the postseason. They better hope Richardson stays healthy and can do plays like the Tush Push a la Jalen Hurts, because that’s a sure conversion if Steichen had his Philadelphia guys on that one.

NFC NORTH

The Lions suffered a big injury (Sam LaPorta) on their way to another win over Minnesota that still left them with a No. 3 seed. The Packers closed this time at home in Week 18 to make the playoffs behind a stellar game from Jordan Love and the 3rd-down defense.

Bears at Packers: Matt LaFleur Moves to 10-0 vs. Chicago

I spent more time in the summer researching the Bears than any other team. I landed on a prediction of 7-10 and behind the Packers, who I had finishing 8-9 in Jordan Love’s first season as the starter.

Well, the Packers got to 9-8 thanks to sweeping the Bears in Weeks 1 and 18. It was good enough for the playoffs too just as it would have been last year when the team lost at home to Detroit in the final game of the Aaron Rodgers era.

But Matt LaFleur simply owns the Bears. He is now 10-0 against them and every win has been by at least 7 points. Jordan Love was fantastic in this game, completing 27-of-32 passes for 316 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no picks. He did lose a fumble on a scramble that left the game in some doubt, but the Bears remain one of the worst comeback teams in NFL history under Matt Eberflus and Justin Fields, and they were not able to erase the 8-point deficit in the final quarter.

That doesn’t mean the Packers made it easy in this quick-moving game (2 hours and 35 minutes). There were only 13 possessions in the entire game, and the Packers  wasted a pair in the first half when they missed a short field goal and failed to get one off to end the half, a mental error by the offense.

Fortunately, the Bears never got the ball in the end zone as the Green Bay defense stepped up with 3 sacks on third downs. Their fifth sack of Fields came on a 2nd-and-16 after the Bears reached Green Bay territory, stifling that drive as well. The Packers got the ball back with 6:08 left, and between good runs and smart throws by Love, they ran out the clock on Chicago to secure their playoff berth.

I don’t know if the Packers are a real threat to Dallas right now. But it makes sense that they were a team that improved in the second half of the season given not only Love’s inexperience but just how little experience the rest of the offense (minus running backs) had going into the season. We probably didn’t hammer that point home enough, and it’s not like this is about developing Christian Watson (disappointing year) and Romeo Doubs. It’s been Jayden Reed, a 2nd-round rookie, and Dontayvion Wicks who have been very productive this year. Reed had 112 yards in this game and Wicks caught both of Love’s touchdowns.

Even Bo Melton, a 7th-round pick from 2022 I never even heard of until a week ago, has come on just in time for Green Bay. He had 105 yards and a touchdown against the Vikings last week and another 5 catches for 62 yards in this game.

The Packers are making it work with Love, who finished second in the league with 32 touchdown passes this year. Tale as old as time, the Packers look better off than Chicago at the quarterback position, and that no doubt played a big difference in the latest Green Bay sweep. This could have been the Bears in the 9-8 wild card position if they had stepped up more against the Packers this year.

Now with the No. 1 pick (thanks, Carolina) and the No. 9 pick, we’ll see what the Bears do at the most important roles on the team.

Vikings at Lions: Offense Shines in Pyrrhic Victory

I can understand why the Lions went full pedal this week. They had a very outside shot of getting the No. 2 seed if the Cowboys and Eagles choked (one did). Still, you get nervous playing your studs in a game like this, and sure enough, the Lions lost tight end Sam LaPorta to a hyperextended knee. He’ll likely miss this playoff run unless it reaches the Super Bowl, and even then, we’ll see.

But it is cool to see Detroit win 12 games, something it only did in 1991, the last season the Lions won a playoff game. This game was a lot like the Week 16 win over Minnesota with Nick Mullens approaching another 400-yard day, but he also threw a couple of big picks again. Jared Goff and the offense shined with all the studs scoring touchdowns (LaPorta, Jahmyr Gibbs, David Montgomery, and Amon-Ra St. Brown).

But LaPorta is a dimension they’ll miss at tight end when they take on the Rams this Sunday night.

NFC EAST

The streak continues. There has not been a repeat winner in the NFC East since the Eagles in 2001-04. Their collapse this year was something to behold, but not necessarily that much of a shock if you paid attention to how they got to 10-1 and how the Cowboys were good at blowing bad teams out.

Cowboys at Commanders: About What You Expected

With a 38-10 win, the Cowboys won the NFC East, secured the No. 2 seed, and notched their 9th win of 20-plus points this year, tying the 1999 Rams for the second most in a season in NFL history. Only the 2007 Patriots (10) had more 20-point wins, and it might be worth noting that neither those Patriots nor Rams won any playoff games by more than 12 points. But they did at least get to the Super Bowl those years with the Rams winning it all.

Dak Prescott has owned Washington his whole career, Sam Howell was lousy down the stretch of 2023, and it’s no surprise the touchdown pass leader threw 4 more scores against the worst defense this year. Ron Rivera should be gone on Monday.

About the only thing that didn’t go well for Dallas was kicker Brandon Aubrey. After making his first 35 field goals this season, he had one blocked from 32 yards and another miss off the upright from 36 yards. Let’s hope that isn’t a sign of the things to come in the playoffs for him after an almost-perfect season.

The Cowboys have high expectations for this postseason now that the Eagles have faded to the wild card, and the only team that’s ahead of Dallas in the standings is San Francisco. We’ve already seen the Cowboys beat the Lions, controversial ending or not.

Time to turn all these fancy numbers into some playoff wins, Dallas.

Eagles at Giants: Viking-Ass Team

On the day the Eagles improved to 10-1 with an overtime win over Buffalo, I said they look more like the 2022 Vikings than they do the 2022 Eagles. The 2022 Vikings are the only team in NFL history to win more than 11 games with a negative scoring differential.

Several people (read: Eagles fans) didn’t like the tweet at the time, but I can only call them when I see them. The 2023 Eagles are my greatest case of fraud detection since the 2019 Patriots started 8-0. The Eagles limped to a 1-5 finish, getting blown out by the 49ers and Cowboys in big games, embarrassing themselves against Drew Lock (Seahawks) and the Cardinals, and now a 27-10 rout at the hands of the lowly Giants.

The Eagles just barely finished with a positive scoring differential (+5), but it is still the 5th lowest for a team with at least 11 wins in NFL history:

The latest loss is the result when your defense continues to get shredded as Tyrod Taylor threw for 297 yards, and the offense suffers too many injuries. DeVonta Smith and D’Andre Swift were already out to start the game. A.J. Brown soon joined them with an injury. Jalen Hurts injured his finger and eventually left the game early after the score grew to 24-0 and the Cowboys were up big on Washington, making the No. 5 seed a near certainty for the Eagles.

Plenty of days to cover the Eagles-Bucs game, so no need to start writing the same narratives I’ll be leaning on this week here. But let’s just say things are trending terribly for this team and it would be a real shock if this led to another deep playoff run from Philly.

NFC SOUTH

The Saints took too long to heat up on offense this year, and their playoff bid came up a game short as Tampa Bay was able to take care of business in Carolina, which completed one of the worst seasons in NFL history.

Buccaneers at Panthers: Back-to-Back Shutouts for Carolina

It was ugly but the Buccaneers leaned on their defense and the fact they were playing one of the worst teams in the Super Bowl era to pull out a 9-0 win and the NFC South title for the third year in a row.

Baker Mayfield was hurting throughout the game but at least he still threw for over 100 yards, unlike Bryce Young who finished with 94 yards, and nearly half of that came on a 42-yard pass to D.J. Chark that was fumbled through the end zone, a game-saving and possibly season-saving play for the Bucs in this one.

Carolina’s kicker situation wasn’t great this year, and after missing a 52-yard field goal to end the third quarter, the Buccaneers turned that good field position into a 39-yard field goal and a 9-0 lead with 10:18 left.

If you’ve been following the Panthers this year or really the last 5 years, you know that’s basically an insurmountable lead for this team. The Bucs forced a strip sack and the offense ran out the final 6:19 to clinch the division with a 9-8 record, which is better than 8-9 the last I checked. At least one Florida team wasn’t going to blow the division title this Sunday.

The Panthers finish the season with 2 wins and 0 snaps with a fourth-quarter lead. Both wins came on walk-off field goals.

  • Even the 1976 Buccaneers (0-14) blew 1 4th-quarter lead.
  • Even the 2008 Lions (0-16) blew 4 4th-quarter leads.
  • Even the 2017 Browns (0-16) blew 1 4th-quarter lead.

The Panthers are the first team since the 2008 Browns to get shutout in consecutive games. Carolina, you were truly awful this year.

Falcons at Saints: Hit the Road, Art

This game was my favorite over (42.5) of the week as both teams moved the ball very well when they met earlier this season. I just didn’t think the Saints (48 points) would cover the over themselves after a little “fvck you touchdown” to end it that set off Arthur Smith at midfield:

https://twitter.com/NFLonCBS/status/1744103230500422103

After another 7-10 season with baffling usage of his offensive players and failing to take advantage of a weak schedule, this is the end of the road for Smith in Atlanta. The team barely waited until midnight to announce his firing.

What a way to go out, a 31-point loss to your main rival and that little tantrum. Do I think he had a point about the Saints rubbing it in with barely a minute left in a 41-17 game? Yeah, I think that was weak. But he could have expressed it better than this.

Derek Carr threw 4 touchdowns and finished the season strong, but it was just too late after a slow start for the offense. The 9-8 record wasn’t good enough for the playoffs, and you can look a that 1-point loss in Green Bay as the decisive one since that’s what got the Packers ahead of New Orleans. The Saints missed a late field goal in that one as Blake Grupe showed some serious choker DNA. Basically, if they kept Wil Lutz as their kicker this year, they’d probably be in the playoffs.

But both teams should be ashamed of not taking advantage of their schedules. They lived up to the expectations of not having many Super Bowl contenders. Hell, even the Jaguars didn’t get to 10 wins and that was supposed to be one of their hardest games alongside Detroit.

AFC NORTH

The Steelers started Week 18 needing a win in rainy Baltimore, and no one really cared about anything in Browns-Bengals except for the outfit worn by Jake Browning’s girlfriend. That backup is winning in life.

Steelers at Ravens: Sweep the Top Seed but Lose to the Pats and Cardinals (Obviously)

When the Steelers nearly turned the ball over 3 times on the opening drive, you could tell the rain was going to be a significant factor. In the end, each team lost 2 fumbles, but the Steelers had an extra 4 fumbles that they did not lose.

Mason Rudolph still managed to complete 18-of-20 passes in the rain, but 71 of his 152 yards came on a short throw to Diontae Johnson that was mostly YAC for the game-winning touchdown to break a 7-7 tie to start the fourth quarter. Is that the kind of play that happens if the Ravens had Marlon Humphrey and Kyle Hamilton playing in the secondary? Hard to say, but it gives Rudolph 3 touchdown passes of 60-plus yards this year, which is behind only Tua Tagovailoa (4) for the 2023 lead. That’s an absurd but true stat. I’m not convinced that means Rudolph is the long-term answer at quarterback, but some of it does speak to his willingness to give these receivers chances that I think Kenny Pickett lacks in his game right now. That’s why I’d start Rudolph in the playoffs.

And yes, there will be playoffs after the Jaguars blew it in Tennessee and punched Pittsburgh’s ticket early on Sunday. Unfortunately, the Steelers are unlikely to have T.J. Watt after friendly fire took him down with an MCL injury in this game. It’s considered a multiple week injury, but you know he’ll at least lobby to play. Just can’t see that being a smart move or ultimately allowed by the team.

It deserves an asterisk for the rested starters (not to mention the dropped passes in Week 5) but the Steelers did sweep the top-seeded Ravens and were the only team to beat them by more than 3 points this year. If Pittsburgh somehow did pull out a win next week and went to Baltimore for the divisional round, that could be amusing as Lamar Jackson has been I the league since 2018 and has literally never had a good game against the Steelers. He rarely plays them too, but Pittsburgh has been getting the upper hand in this rivalry. But good luck getting past the wild card round.

Browns at Bengals: Still the Coach of the Year

Why exactly did the Browns start Jeff Driskel at quarterback? Felt like Kevin Stefanski, who should still win Coach of the Year, wanted to show off and win a game with a 5th different quarterback this year. But Driskel was dreadful, the Bengals led 31-0, and only in garbage time did Driskel deliver a couple of touchdown throws. But hey, Browns over 13.5 points still hit.

The game did make some history though as the 2023 AFC North is the first division since the 1935 West to have nothing but teams with a winning record. The Bengals finished 9-8 and the other teams all won at least 10 games and made the playoffs.

NFC WEST

Not as many stakes here as the 49ers and Rams rested key starters, but both games had a fourth-quarter comeback with the winning team converting a 2-point conversion in a 21-20 final.

Rams at 49ers: The Rare Carson Wentz Comeback

It’s kind of fitting that a Carson Wentz-led comeback of 13 points in the second half against a No. 1 seed would only happen in a game where both teams were not all that interested in winning. If the Rams truly cared about making sure they won and got the No. 6 seed, they would have started Matthew Stafford, Kyren Williams, Aaron Donald, and maybe Cooper Kupp.

They did play Puka Nacua, who stayed in long enough to set the rookie records for yards and catches in a season. He also caught a helpful touchdown from Wentz, who ended up running 17 times for 56 yards and a touchdown. I guess Sean McVay didn’t really care since this could be one of the last auditions that Wentz gets as a starter in the NFL.

But the 49ers didn’t score on their 4 second-half possessions, the Rams took the lead on a touchdown drive that got jumpstarted with a 48-yard flag for defensive pass interference, and Sam Darnold was unable to set up a field goal for the 49ers, who will be content with the bye week.

But it is a bit concerning that the 49ers are 1-4 in close games and 0-4 at 4QC/GWD opportunities. This will come up during the month in playoff previews, but you’re just not likely to get through a whole Super Bowl run, even if it’s 3 games long, without beating someone good in a close game. This team will have to show it can do that and it’s not like we don’t have years of evidence in San Francisco of Shanahan-coached teams not stepping up in these moments. This loss didn’t matter, but the next time the season will be on the line.

But good for the Rams getting to 10 wins as I really wanted to pick them as a dark horse for the wild card this summer, then I got scared away after not recognizing their roster outside of Stafford, Kupp, and Donald. Really good effort from McVay and company here. And we get to see the perfect wild card matchup in Detroit next Sunday night.

Seahawks at Cardinals: Matt Prater’s Lousy Day

Congrats to James Conner for clinching his first 1,000-yard rushing season in the NFL. He was my favorite prop pick in Week 18, and he delivered in a big way with 150 yards on the ground and 54 more through the air.

It’s just too bad the Cardinals let it go to waste as well as a sweet trick play on a field goal for a touchdown pass from Kyler Murray to Trey McBride to take a 20-13 lead in the fourth quarter.

Matt Prater could have basically iced the game with 3:00 left on a 43-yard field goal that would have made it 23-13 after the Seahawks used their final timeout, but the normally reliable kicker missed. The Cardinals folded like a cheap suit on defense, and in just 4 plays, the Seahawks were in the end zone on a 34-yard touchdown from Geno Smith to Tyler Lockett, who also caught the 2-point conversion to go up 21-20 with 1:54 left.

At this point, it was already clear from Green Bay that the Packers were winning the game and going to the playoffs, keeping Seattle out. That probably influenced the 2-point call too.

The Cardinals still had plenty of time to answer, but after a Conner run to the 30, they botched the end game. Not quite as bad as Steichen and the Colts on Saturday night, but still pretty bad with Murray running out of bounds on a play that took time and went down as a 2-yard sack. Then a Conner run lost a yard.

Prater can blast kicks from 50-plus yards, but he was already shaky on the previous kick and again failed to deliver on the 51-yard game-winning field goal as time expired. The Cardinals finish 4-13 and will have some decisions to make. The Seahawks, who will finish with a league-high 6 game-winning drives, are 9-8 again, but this time they didn’t get the help from Green Bay losing at home to get in a tournament they were unlikely going to advance in past next week.

AFC WEST

Stakes? No, nothing to see here.

Broncos at Raiders: Nope, We Don’t Care

The Raiders won 27-14 as both teams finished 8-9. Next.

Chiefs at Chargers: Easton Stuck in Goal to Go

The Chiefs set milestones aside and rested Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce (among others) with the No. 3 seed a lock. Easton Stick somehow dropped back 63 times, including 13 runs for 77 yards, in a weird game for the Chargers, but they blew it inside the 5-yard line early and late. A Stick fumble was scooped up for a 97-yard touchdown return, then the Chargers couldn’t get it in late and settled for a field goal to take a 12-10 lead. Backup starter Blaine Gabbert had enough legs for a couple of scrambles to set up a game-winning field goal (13-12), and the Chargers of course had no answer in the final minute.

The 2023 Chargers finish 1-10 at 4QC/GWD opportunities and lead the league with 5 blown leads in the fourth quarter. The Chargering brand is still strong.

Next week: It’s the playoffs. I’ll have links to in-depth previews and betting picks (props, upset pick, computer picks, etc.) for every game. The real fun might not start until the divisional round, but there are still plenty of stories from these games. With the way this season has gone, who knows, the Super Bowl teams may be in action on wild card weekend.