Dogs Will Dog In Week Fifteen

The NFL hits Week 15 and hits have become a concern the last few weeks.

With multiple bad hits in the Bengals-Steelers brawl the week before, the Seahawks' reputation as a dirty team was amplified with another brawl started by them in the wake of a hard-fought loss.   Michael Bennett - he of the character assassination campaign in Las Vegas earlier this year - started the whole thing and his teammate got into it with a fan.   While one doesn't endorse fans throwing  objects at players, the Seahawks deserved it.

What may be Game Of The Year erupted in LA as the Eagles - despite losing Carson Wentz to an ACL - stormed to a 43-35 stunner after last week's ugly loss to the Seahawks.   The NFC playoff byes race is now strictly between the Vikings and the Eagles

Another candidate for Game Of The Year was Pittsburgh's eye-popping shootout over the Ravens marred by Baltimore's idiotic lack of clock awareness at the end

A subplot of the season right now is the Tennessee Titans, dismissed as a fraud team from what I've been hearing within media.    Fan reaction from the 12-7 loss at the Cardinals typifies the overreaction football breeds, with demands Mariota be benched, coach Mike Mularkey be fired, and even savaging of the Titans ownership group as somehow uncommitted to winning.    Some sobriety is always in order - the Titans certainly acquitted themselves dismally on offense as the defense erupted to eight sacks and zero touchdown allowed; as for Mariota going forward as a quarterback, his ability should not be doubted, as he led comebacks in both Colts games - Tennessee's first sweep of the Colts since 2002 -  and also triumphed in back-and-forth affairs against the Browns (a troublesome matchup for the Titans dating from 2001's 41-38 Browns win) and Ravens - both times where the game lead tied or changed at least four times - led the comeback drive against the Bengals, and has beaten eight playoff-contending teams (Detroit, Green Bay, Miami, Kansas City, Denver, Jacksonville, Seattle, and Baltimore) in the last two seasons (the 2016 win over division champ Houston was Matt Cassel's game); in all the Titans have won 17 of their last 28 games. 

While the Titans may not reach the Superbowl the growth they've shown the last two seasons in undeniable - and legitimate.   Mariota's volume stats this year aren't anything to shout about - but then situational execution is what wins, and for the most part Mariota has done just that.

Seven underdogs won in Week 14, so we can expect dogs to dog in Week 15 -


Colts over Broncos -   Two teams with lost seasons finish out the season simply looking for some kind of positivity.   Embarrassing the NY Jets gave the Broncos just that, but they are 0-6 in road games this year vs. Indy's 2-4 home record.


Lions over Bears -  The Bears likewise got a boost by embarrassing the Bengals, but here they face a Lions team still with a playoff shot and which beats up on teams with losing records; it's quality opponents the Lions don't beat.


Chiefs over Chargers - San Diego has surged and Kansas City's beating of the Raiders doesn't fix all their problems, but the Chiefs have owned the Chargers the last five games, winning by an average score of 27-14; it gets worse considering San Diego hasn't beaten the Chiefs since 2013.


Saints over NY Jets  - The old joke that Jets means Just End The Season is on again.   The Saints look like NFC South locks though a playoff bye now looks out of reach.

Panthers over Packers -  Carolina got a quality win over the Vikings and are just about clinched for the playoffs, while the Packers can only finish 10-6 and that is unlikely to be enough.   Even if Aaron Rodgers returns for this game the Panthers have too much to grab to let this one go, especially as they are seventh in passing yards allowed per game.


Jaguars over Texans -  Speaking of all but clinching the playoffs, the Jaguars are likewise close enough that they won't let this one slip away to a Houston team that is looking to 2018 and DeShaun Watson's return.   Until then the Texans have only the string to play out.   Noteworthy is that Blake Bortles has broken 80 in passer rating eight times this season.


Vikings over Bengals -  So when does AJ McCarron finally start for the Bengals?   By now it's clear Andy Dalton can't get it done.


Eagles over NY Giants -  Eli Manning - forget it.   The question is how well Nick Foles plays.


Cardinals over Redskins -  Oddly enough the Cardinals are salvaging a respectable season despite losing Carson Palmer.   Blaine Gabbert is validating Bruce Arians' praise that he can play; meanwhile the Redskins have lost six of their last nine games and have been downright awful in their last two.

Bills over Dolphins -  Salvaging a winning season is a reachable goal for the Bills, salvaging anything for the Dolphins this season disappeared when Ryan Tannehill went down even with Jay Cutler actually winning a game against the Patriots. 


Ravens over Browns -   Blowing a 21-7 lead to a vulnerable Packers squad is the kind of loss bad teams don't recover from.   The sad part for the Browns is DeShone Kizer finally showed actual winning ability.   The Ravens for their part have to be bashing their heads at blowing clock management at Pittsburgh last week.


Rams over Seahawks -   The Rams and Seahawks both lost last week and the Rams hold only a one-game lead having lost earlier this year at the Coliseum.   Seattle, however, does not have the same muscle they had before and while they can put up points they've struggled on their vaunted defense and homefield advantage isn't as effective anymore after losses to the Redskins and Falcons. 


Patriots over Steelers -   Pittsburgh has long struggled against the Patriots, losing twelve of the last seventeen meetings, but the injury to Ryan Shazier not only is a traumatic development on a personal level, it has hurt the Steelers defense as shown by the Ravens.   New England's tight ends have long had success against Pittsburgh's defense and now the secondary has gelled to where we can expect Stephon Gilmore to hold his own against Antonio Brown.   The caveat is Tom Brady's poor play at Miami, with some reportage his Achilles is hurting him; we doubt he will let it ruin this game, and the other wildcard is newly-signed ex-Titan Kenny Britt, the tallest pass-catcher other than Gronk on the New England squad.


Titans over 49ers -  As of this writing Marcus Mariota's status is questionable, but given how he gutted it out despite a bum knee at Arizona we think he will play.   He certainly didn't dodge blame for his poor performance at Arizona.   The Niners meanwhile have finally begun playing better now that they have Jimmy Garoppolo, and he has shown unquestionable ability.   The Titans need this game a lot more than the Niners and we think this will tip the balance.


Raiders over Cowboys - This is our Upset Pick of this week.   The Cowboys are 7-6 and have won five of their last eight while the Raiders are 6-7 and 4-3 in their last seven.   The Cowboys have struggled against Western-division teams in both conferences (a combined 2-3 in such games with wins over the Niners and Chiefs and losses to the Broncos, Rams, and Chargers) and their playoff hopes are realistically gone; the same is true of the Raiders.  Both teams have been schizophrenic, we think being in Oakland on prime time will tilt to the Raiders.


Falcons over Buccaneers -   The Falcons hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Seahawks so every win from here on is vital; they get a break against a Bucs team that has nothing to play for now and with a quarterback in Jameis Winston who is just 2-8 this year, a stunning regression after a promising 2016. 



So we await which dogs get the upsets.