Patriots Feast On NFL Turkeys

What is the real threat to the future of the NFL? It isn't injury, it's a two-parter - Part One is the lack of intellectual growth among coaches. The New England Patriots are feasting on turkeys galore entering Thanksgiving weekend and there isn't a coach in the league who can compete with Bill Belichick. Week Eleven showcased how vast the qualitative gap exists between Belichick and everyone else - and it's not just in coaching, it's in roster construction as well..

New England's Speedy Gonzales show showed anew how bad other coaches are compared to the Patriots.   


Of course the bigger issue is Part Two - the lack of development of quarterbacks.     That some media are again lobbying for a team to sign the worthless Colin Kaepernick - he of fewer wins the last three seasons than Jacoby Brissett or Blaine Gabbert - is driven by disgust at the poor quality of quarterbacking.     The problem, though, is they're not being developed between the college game's refusal to play pro-style offenses - instead imposing the dumbed-down zone read offense - and the lack of a true developmental apparatus , i.e. a minor league.   The NFL's myopia about having a minor league and/or working with other football leagues to better develop players by now is clearly hurting the game - just what would not be beneficial from an alliance of the NFL with the CFL, arena football leagues, etc.?


So we hope quality of play improves somewhat this Thanksgiving weekend - 

2016 Thanksgiving


Lions over Vikings - The Lions have dominated this rivalry lately, winning the last three meetings, and have regained some momentum after winning three straight.   The NFC North has become strictly a two-team race between these two as the Vikings look to snap their slump, coming off a clutch win over a powerful Rams phalanx.


Chargers over Cowboys - Suddenly San Diego doesn't look like pantywaists anymore, though obliterating a collapsing Bills squadron is not exactly a clutch win.    The Chargers nonetheless have something they need - momentum - entering Jerry Jones World with the Cowboys now officially in freefall after their inability to function without Zeke Elliott showed in their ugliest loss in years.

Redskins over NY Giants - The Redskins blew it again at New Orleans while the NY Giants pulled off a stunner of a win over the Chiefs as Roger Lewis became this Giants generation's David Tyree.    The failure of the Giants' season won't be assuaged by one win, and being a divisional game the bad blood will boil, especially for a Redskins team that's not a playoff team but is better than 4-6, albeit only slightly.

The highest-scoring game in the Bengals-Browns rivalry's history came in 2004.............

.............until it was surpassed three years later


Bengals over Browns - The Broncos are collapsing, yet beating them in Denver counts for something for the struggling Bengals, and they get the winless Browns who look even worse than last year and are stuck with a quarterback who looks to have no future.

Titans over Colts -   Getting humiliated by the Steelers should motivate the Titans to redouble effort to clean up gaffes committed at Heinz Field.    They're looking for only the second season sweep of the Colts in their history and this Colts team continues to struggle.   Don't expect a runaway, though; that never seems to work when one expects it. 


Panthers over NY Jets -   Carolina more and more looks back in 2015 form as the Panthers travel to a Jets team that's lost four of its last five games.   The caveat to throw in is turnover differential - the Jets are plus-One to Carolina's minus-Seven - a yikes stat.

Chiefs over Bills -  Andy Reid's NFC East magic is gone and they get what looks to be a needed respite after losing three of the last four games.   The Bills no longer look like a playoff team - entering this week the Ravens have supplanted the Bills as the AFC's six seed - and are getting ripped for starting rookie Nathan Peterman and seeing five INTs in the first half at San Diego.  


Falcons over Buccaneers -  The Falcons despite struggling quite a bit are still in the playoff race despite only being the eighth seed in the NFC, and they get a slumping Bucs squad, one of the big underachievers of the season.


Eagles over Bears -  The Eagles just keep pillaging opponents and they get a bad Bears team this week.    Mitchell Trubisky is a rookie and his struggles will continue.

2016's Michael Floyd game


Patriots over Dolphins -  Forget it - the machine of the league vs. an inept division foe stuck with a quarterback who doesn't care and doesn't try.


Saints over Rams -  The Rams got exposed by the Vikings and the Saints look more and more like a Superbowl team.    Remember when they were 0-2?  They don't, either. 


Seahawks over 49ers - The Niners got their first win of the season and the Seahawks are losing starters more and more, but the Seahawks have too much firepower for the Niners.


Raiders over Broncos -  Which team is worse?   We think the Broncos, and so does John Elway after he ripped them for softness before they proved him right in their loss to the Bengals.  Neither team is going anywhere.


Jaguars over Cardinals -   Blaine Gabbert is an upgrade for Arizona's quarterbacking issue of late, but they get a Jaguars team racing headlong into the playoffs.  


Steelers over Packers - The collapse of the Packers is hilarious given how overrated they always are; they'd be better with Aaron Rodgers but it's impossible to think they'd be all that much better. Pittsburgh continues to surge.


Texans over Ravens -  The Texans suddenly have some momentum after finally breaking through with Tom Savage and they travel to Baltimore after the Ravens looked like 2000 all over again.


Happy Thanksgiving

NFL Classics - Stafford's Fake Spike & Calvin's 329-Yard Game

The Detroit Lions led by Matthew Stafford exploded to 631 yards of offense - 488 yards from Stafford, yet the Lions still busted out 143 yards on 29 carries - to overcome four turnovers and stun the Dallas Cowboys in one of the decade's signature games.

NFL Christmas Weekend Goes Down Hard

Back in the day, on old-school SportsCenter, Keith Olbermann's schtick included his spoof of Al Davis' northeastern drawl reciting the phrase, "The other team's quarterback must go down and he must go down hard."  It would come out as "Th'uthuh teamz' quaddaback must go down and he must go down HOD."  

Problem is on Christmas weekend in the NFL numerous teams and two key quarterbacks all went down hard.  

The Oakland Raiders' season reached the most wins since 2000 but Derek Carr was knocked out of the game and it threw Oakland's pending playoff run into uncertainty, while the Indianapolis Colts' season effectively ended.

The Titans likewise went down hard in an ugly 38-17 loss at the Jacksonville Jaguars, extending a streak of eight seasons where the two teams split their semi-annual meetings.   Marcus Mariota suffered a serious injury himself, ending Tennessee's playoff bid.   People say the league is better when the Raiders are contenders; it's also better when the Titans - one of the two flagship teams (the Chiefs are the other when they were the Dallas Texans) of the American Football League when they were the Houston Oilers - are contenders.  

The win was a huge morale-booster for the beleaguered  Jaguars, the kind of game a lot of people expected of Jacksonville at the start of the year, and a good start for new coach Doug Marrone.

NY Jets coach Todd Bowles was briefly hospitalized with a health scare the night before the game at the Patriots; he went home with a football ulcer as the NY Jets were....well, the NY Jets again, as Bryce Petty's only "completion" before HE went down was an interception.    An inexplicably timed timeout by the Jets further allowed the Patriots to score at the end of the first half.   

This has been a year of memorable anniversaries - for the Jets 2016 marked the 20th anniversary of the disastrous 1996 squad where the Jets spent a then-record $70 million on free agent and rookie talent and won ONE game.

Two stunners saw identical 34-31 scores and had significant playoff implications.   First the Bills rallied to take a 31-28 lead, but the Dolphins tied it and after the Bills missed a FGA in OT the Dolphins won it and while perhaps hastening Rex Ryan's potential firing they improved their possession of the AFC's 6th seed......

.......while the Cardinals knocked the NFC West champs out of the playoff byes with an amazing 34-31 win.

Meanwhile the Ravens and Broncos fell out of the playoff hunt.   While the Ravens fought hard in a back-and-forth affair at Pittsburgh - the Steelers, now AFC North champs, won for only the fourth time in the last thirteen meetings - the Broncos were never in it at Kansas City and suffered the ultimate embarrassment when Dontari Poe threw a touchdown.    The confluence of events secured the playoffs for the Dolphins with their season finale against the Patriots next week.

By beating the Seahawks, the Cardinals put the Falcons in the #2 seed in the NFC after the Falcons crushed the Panthers, leaving their season in ruins with one game left.   The regression of the Panthers has been mystifying and also comes amid a bizarre rumor that the Rams want to sign Panthers coach Ron Rivera.

The weirdest moment came when line judge Sarah Thomas - part of Jeff Triplette's crew - got run over on the sideline.  

The most disgusting loss of the weekend was yet another failure by the Detroit Lions against a quality opponent, the kind of opponent Matthew Stafford needs to beat yet every year fails to do - at one point he was 3-40 against quality opponents  and one offhand hesitates to think the ratio has in any way improved - and the result this time was a 42-21 implosion against the 13-2 Dallas Cowboys and the prospect of having to beat the Green Bay Packers - something Stafford has done a miserable three times in his eight seasons in the NFL - just to make the playoffs.

While the Redskins suddenly have their playoff fate in front of them after a rout of the Bears.   They can make the playoffs by beating the Giants next week



In all a LOT of people - and a number of teams - all went down hard on Christmas weekend.   And the end result is the playoffs are around the corner.

Week 13 NFL Down To Nitty Gritty

The nitty gritty has now begun for the NFL's 2016 season and what has been a much more competitive season than I think a lot of people thought looks to be even more so.

Week 12's touchdown montage


Cowboys over Vikings - The Cowboys have only failed once this year - in Week One, with a rematch pending and a far different Cowboys team coming in. The Vikings meanwhile have faltered badly with Sam Bradford and it won't get any better this week.


Lions over Saints - The three best things to happen to Matthew Stafford have been - the hiring of Jim Caldwell as head coach, the firing of Joe Lombardi and replacement with Jim Bob Cooter - yeah yeah, the name sounds like something out of 19 Kids And Counting, big deal - as offensive coordinator, and the retirement of Calvin Johnson.   Caldwell clearly fits with Stafford and Cooter clearly fits far better than Lombardi, but perhaps the biggest deal is Calvin Johnson had become Stafford's binky and now without a binky Stafford has had to throw to more people - and it's made him a better quarterback to where he's now beating quality opponents where for the longest time he couldn't.

One of Stafford's signature games was the amazing 2013 shootout win over the Cowboys - it was also one of just a few wins over a quality opponent Stafford pulled off until the last year or two.

The Lions get a Saints team that's certainly played well but is only 5-6 and has gone just 3-3 the last six games (the Lions in contrast are 5-1) and New Orleans' defensive woes are too well known to require any elaboration.   The trendings have been for the Lions and against the Saints.

Last year the Niners pulled off one of the wildest finishes of the 2015 season

Bears over 49ers - Matt Barkley we think will start this game and after a very slow start against the Titans led a spirited comeback attempt decided on a goalline stand.   Barkley may be the quarterback John Fox needs with the incompetent volume stats whore Jay Cutler clearly done.   The Niners are stuck with Colin Kaepernick, who nonetheless has been playing better the last few games.


Packers over Texans - Just 2-3 in their last five games, the Texans are clearly falling out of the playoffs with the Tennessee Titans on their bye week, and they go to Lambeau Field to face a Packers team that got a morale-boosting win at Philly.   Not only is Osweiler playing more and more poorly, Bill O'Brien is showing more and more he is not the quarterback guru people thought he was.\


Broncos over Jaguars - The loss to the Chiefs was a major blow to a Broncos team now out of the playoffs on tiebreakers but they get a Jaguars team that's 2-9 and a quarterback in Blake Bortles who has now shown little reason to feel a renaissance can happen.


Eagles over Bengals - The Eagles are no longer a playoff contender, but they get a reeling Bengals squad this week.


Patriots over Rams -  The Rams looked encouraging earlier this season but have faltered and now are starting Jared Goff, whose completion percentage is slightly lower than Case Keenum's.   The Patriots are banged up and trying to rest some of their starters as much as they can, but with a race for the top seed developing with the Raiders the good news is Brady is now throwing to more people in Chris Hogan and Malcolm Mitchell, not to mention the returning Dion Lewis.  


Dolphins over Ravens - It's clear Adam Gase is getting more out of Ryan Tannehill than anyone thought he had and the Dolphins have everything to play for now plus they've beaten some respectable competition in their winning streak.   They get an inconsistent Ravens squad that's won three of its last four but they've all been against their division foes and the only quality opponents they've beaten are the Bills and the Steelers.  


Chiefs over Falcons - Beating the Broncos was huge for the Chiefs and the division is a real possibility now as they face a Falcons team that's gone 3-3 their last six games; one also has to remain dubious about Matt Ryan down the stretch.


Raiders over Bills - The Bills have been good; the Raiders, though, are playing lights-out and Derek Carr is the real deal.   The wildcard angle is the mediocrity of the Raiders defense; the Bills, though, haven't reached 29 points scored since lighting up the Niners.


NY Giants over Steelers - Speaking of rejuvination the NY Giants are that with six straight wins despite no more than 28 points scored in any game all season.  They get a woefully inconsistent Steelers offense that hit 28 or more points four times yet failed to reach 20 in three of the four games in their recent losing streak.  


Redskins over Cardinals -  The Redskins are still a playoff team and the Cardinals are effectively out of the playoffs.   The Cardinals defense is still 11th in points allowed yet has been lit up for 30 or more in their last three losses.


Buccaneers over Chargers -  The Bucs surprisingly have been a better road team (4-1) than a home team (2-4) while the Chargers have been uneven (2-2) at home and have not shown as much improvement as needed in the wild wild AFC West.    The Bucs have a lot more to play for than the Chargers.


Seahawks over Panthers - There seems no bloom left for the 2015 NFC champs as they limp into Seattle off another bitter loss, but upon further review the Panthers have won three of their last five.  The inconsistency of the Seahawks may also factor in favor of the Panthers - 3-2-1 in the Seahawks' last six games and with a semi-epic meltdown at Tampa Bay to go with a 1-2 record against the NFC South.   So this may be a tougher game than one might think a #2 seed in the NFC would get.


NY Jets over Colts - What one needs to know about this matchup - Scott Tolzien cannot play (winless as a starter) and Andrew Luck is atrocious against AFC East teams - 2-9 lifetime and hasn't beaten an AFC East team since beating the Dolphins in 2012.   The Jets limp into this game looking to salvage something and look to get it, though their longer-term issue of trying to sell tickets instead of build a credible program remains.



So it's down to the nitty gritty - we apologize for the cliches.

So What Do We Make After Week Nine?

The Lions pulled off the finish of the week in stunning the Minnesota Vikings, who suddenly are no longer the conference locks they appeared to be a few weeks ago.

The NFC North has turned upside down with Detroit's win and losses by both the Vikings and the Packers - who yet again didn't get it done when Aaron Rodgers had to stage a comeback.

While the Colts won, the Titans endured yet another bitter loss despite four touchdowns by Marcus Mariota - whose three turnovers were killers.   The Chargers, despite a somewhat-skimpy looking crowd at Qualcomm, are hoping the win will encourage a tax vote Tuesday to allow building of a new stadium.

The most competitive game may have been the Jets-Dolphins affair.  Jay Ajayi didn't reach 100 yards but led by his rushing the Dolphins have suddenly made themselves relevant to the 2016 season, while the NY Jets - well, they've become the NY Jets again.   Notable, though, is that Bryce Petty finally saw some action for the Jets.

The NFC East race meanwhile is strictly a Dallas Cowboys affair now with the Eagles faltering to the NY Giants.

The Raiders now have an undisputed statement win indicating they are back in the playoff hunt while the Broncos defense continues to be exposed as overrated, especially without Aqib Talib.


----------------------


So what to make of the season going forward?  


** - The NFC South belongs to the Atlanta Falcons, with everyone else battling for hopefully a wildcard spot.

** - Of the thirteen teams that were 1-3, Indanapolis and Tennessee are still in their division hunt while Detroit is now 5-4; the Cardinals are still considered in the playoff hunt; Jacksonville has faltered and now appears out of any playoff hunt; also appearing out of the hunt are the Bucs, while the Niners absolutely are out of any contention.  

** - The Packers are frauds - of course in a sense they have been throughout the Aaron Rodgers era but his propensity for just bootlegging instead of actually reading a defense is getting worse and as a result they are getting worse.

** - The weakest division in the league is the AFC North. 

** - The Lions are quietly not going away and it's clear Jim Caldwell is a better coach than people want to give him credit for.



So it is right now with the season halfway done.

NFL Week Three Heightens Expectations

All of Week 2's touchdowns as we count down to Week 3

The NFL enters Week Three amid some genuine shockers but also amid a surprising - and surprisingly sharp - drop in TV ratings; explanations for why have varied between boycotting of Colin Kaepernick, boycotting of Roger Goodell, the absence of Tom Brady, the retirement of Peyton Manning.   Certainly there is likely some element of all involved.   A correction was probably overdue so right now one should not be excessively worried. 

Certainly it's not for lack of competitive games; the first two weeks have been strikingly well-played and competitive, and expectations have thus been heightened for Week Three.   Picks for the week -





Patriots over Texans -  Jacoby Brissett has to start with the out-of-left-field shoulder injury to Jimmy Garappolo and his unplanned foray into the NFL against the Dolphins showed his rawness but also showed there is legitimate ability there.   He will certainly have better preparation knowing he's going onto the field so leading more than two scoring drives should be a given, though one should keep an eye on Stephen Gostkowski after his stunning gag of a makeable late FGA.   They face a Houston team that's clearly on its way to a strong season with Brock Osweiler, a guy clearly not intimidated by facing the Patriots, but with a defensive front led by JJ Watt that isn't any better than the Cardinals and Dolphins fronts the Patriots O-line has manhandled already, plus Watt has been decidedly quiet against the Patriots in the past, notably last season in his own house.  


Cardinals over Bills - The Cardinals showed they mean business by laying 40 on the Bucs and they go to New Era Stadium for a Bills opponent that fired their offensive coordinator but that put up 31 points last time out. The Ryan brothers are buffoons, though, so they will find a way to lose.


Panthers over Vikings - The Vikings are onto something this year after stunning the Packers, but they go to a Panthers team that was stewing over the lost opportunity at Denver and responded by breaking out of a competitive game against the Niners and turning it into a massacre. A key matchup to keep an eye on is Sam Bradford to Stefon Diggs, who exploded against the Packers.     


Broncos over Bengals - This one I think will be tighter than some may expect. Clearly there is no collapse for the Broncos as Trevor Siemian has already proven doubters wrong with poised play, but this is his first road trip and he goes to a Bengals team hitting its home opener. The Bengals got embarrassed last week at Pittsburgh and have the talent to fight back given the opponent, the defending champs, and one recalls the last time the Broncos visited Cincinnati. The matchup to watch is AJ Green vs Aqib Talib.


Lions over Packers - This is an upset pick for me; both teams are 1-1 and both are coming off losses. The Lions, though, face a Packers team that has now lost four of its last five division meetings and hasn't won a home game against the division since 2014. The Packers also have signs of locker room dissension with one of Aaron Rodgers' O-linemen calling him out publically after the loss at Minnesota. Rodgers' inability to lead a comeback when he has to erase a gap of at least two scores showed up again at Minnesota.   


Ravens over Jaguars - Suddenly the Baltimore Ravens are stringing together wins again after a head-shaking 2015, while the Jaguars still have not taken that next step, and looked awful at San Diego last week.  


Dolphins over Browns - Only the Browns.   They go to a shellshocked Dolphins team hitting its home opener with a revamped Joe Robbie Stadium - now sporting sponsorship from Hard Rock - and with a quarterback in Ryan Tannehill playing his way out of the NFL.   But the Browns have bigger problems - they fell apart against the hated Ravens and such collapses usually bode ill for the season. 


NY Giants over Redskins - They didn't do it against the Cowboys and now the Redskins face a 2-0 Giants squad that's eking out grinders of wins.  

Andre Johnson's game-winner at Detroit

Titans over Raiders - This could be the highest-scoring game on this week's slate as Marcos Mariota and Derek Carr lit it up in their preseason matchup and their teams are 1-1; Carr has exploded the Raiders to 63 points scored while Mariota staged a memorable comeback from down two scores to beat the Lions; his touchdown to Andre Johnson was an absolute thing of beauty.   Anyone for a Titans-Raiders playoff meet?


Seahawks over Forty-Niners -  The Seahawks are struggling out of the gate having lost on the road again to the Rams, and they face a Niners squad that Blaine Gabbert has made into a team that's not the joke their backup quarterback has become.   The Seahawks did win their home opener and the Niners come back from the East Coast and Russell Wilson is the kind of quarterback who can start turning things around fast.


Buccaneers over Rams - Tampa Bay's obliteration by the Cardinals was the punch in the face that should motivate them to lash it out against a Rams team traveling from the West Coast to the East and which has shown zero offense.  


Chargers over Colts - There is an ominous sign for the Colts. The opinion has been expressed that the Colts made a fatal mistake signing Chuck Pagano instead of Bruce Arians, but the real warning sign is Andrew Luck may have plateaued in 2012-13 and simply can never be the transcendent quarterback his talent promised he'd be. He lit up the scoreboard at home against the Lions and still lost, then struggled against a Broncos team he'd dominated. San Diego has won six of the last seven meetings with the Colts, and Philip Rivers is 1-0 against Andrew Luck so far.


Chiefs over NY Jets - The Chiefs are smarting after losing to the Houston Texans, and they face a high-scoring NY Jets team that's looking like a team going for the playoffs.   I doubt Andy Reid will let the loss in Houston carry over to this meeting with the Jets, a team Reid has yet to lose to. 


Eagles over Steelers - The Steelers have a potent offense and a proven championship quarterback, but in the Eagles they face a team that's well ahead of expectations and has a quarterback in Carson Wentz who's looking like the real deal.


Cowboys over Bears - Why John Fox keeps Jay Cutler remains baffling as he is a failure, as Dak Prescott steadily proves himself to be one to watch down the road. 


Saints over Falcons - Neither team has proven they're up to a playoff bid, and one should start to be concerned that Drew Brees is no longer the elite competitor.   Matt Ryan certainly is not an elite anything even with a strong win at Oakland.  


So we await Week Three.

NFL Takes Week One

So Week One of the 2016 has exploded forth into the most exciting opening week since 1999. Takes on all thirty-two teams -


Broncos escape again, Panthers still can't hold a lead - The Broncos defense gets more credit than it deserves and it showed again as they once again didn't stop a game-winning drive - they escaped when the Panthers missed a FGA at the end.   The Panthers continued a trend where they struggled all 2015 to hold a lead and here they didn't hold on again.   The Panthers also got beaten up with some dirty hits but Cam Newton played tough in the best football tradition.

Against the Indianapolis Colts the Detroit Lions did something doubly astonishing - Matthew Stafford pulled off a spectacular win against a quality opponent (something he simply hasn't been able to do outside of four times in thirty-four attempts) but the Lions wound up exposing the Colts as even dumber than we thought in the Puntfumble game as they gagged up a safety on the final play.

The Chargers suffered a loss they may not recover from as they continue to become irrelevant.   One struggles to recall when a team rebounded from blowing a three-touchdown lead at a time when they haven't win anything all decade and are coming off a miserable 4-12 season - Week Two suddenly becomes Must Win for San Diego is staring at failure already.   The Chiefs for their part made a statement about their own toughness as they've won twelve of their last thirteen games

The Raiders made a statement - this time they're running for the playoffs.   The Saints also made a statement - they're still not that good.

The Patriots are better prepared than people were assuming after Rob Gronkowski  and 3/5ths of the starting O-line were ruled out for the game at Arizona. The Cardinals for their part actually overcame stupid mistakes, especially late, for a FGA that astonishingly missed. 

The NY Jets got away with Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2015 before he finally cost them - they won't get as far in 2016.  The Bengals continue to be regular-season muscle.


Other takes -


The Falcons need to start planning for the era after Matt Ryan as he proved again he will never be the answer.   The Bucs meanwhile got off to an encouraging start to Jameis Winston's second season.

The Ravens won, but they played poorly in doing so.   The Bills meanwhile played worse in perhaps the weakest game on the Week One slate.

The Titans looked like a nowhere team with a nowhere future after gagging against a Vikings team that looked weak after their reaction to Teddy Bridgewater's injury.   Week Two usually isn't a must-win in the NFL - like with the Chargers it suddenly is for the Titans, this with a second-year quarterback in Marcus Mariota who has what it takes to make them winners.

The Texans have become the AFC South team - while the Bears proved again that they are worthless.

The Dolphins are irrelevant - but the Seahawks didn't acquit themselves all that well.

The Jaguars played well but need to step it up more, as the Packers got away again.

The Eagles got off to a solid start, and the Browns now see how worthless Robert Griffin III is.

One of the bigger surprises was the NY Giants upsetting a Cowboys team that has a better quarterback in Dak Prescott than what they ever had with Tony Romo.

The Steelers made a mockery of the Washington Redskins 38-16 while the San Francisco 49ers started Blaine Gabbert and Gabbert was almost flawless in shutting out the punchless Rams 28-0; Gabbert's career rebirth in particular serves as a rebuke to Colin Kaepernick.


And so it went in Week One with Week Two beckoning

NFL's Week 15 Locks

So the NFL has hit Week 15 and the wildness of last week's 100-plus touchdown eruption may not have been matched but there were a number of jaw-dropping finishes heading into crunch time.   What stood out from Week 15 -


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The Packers may have to rethink Aaron Rodgers - Matt Flynn led the biggest comeback since the Patriots wiped out Denver's 24-0 lead; down 26-3 Flynn exploded the Packers to five touchdowns marred by a missed two-point try.   Flynn has thus done what Aaron Rodgers has never been able to do - lead a comeback win for the Packers.   Given the Packers' uneven play this year Flynn is more than justifying usurping Rodgers as Packers starter.


The Dolphins are becoming the AFC East rival the Patriots have generally lacked - A rumor began circulating that the Patriots, banged up all around, may bring back Donte Stallworth for their stretch run, a good idea given how Stallworth fits the offense and has given it a deep threat it hasn't really had since he was lost for the balance of 2012.   They can doubly use Stallworth to help a receiving corps that isn't weak but nonetheless can use such help after seeing the Dolphins pull off the win, a win that puts Miami on a path for a winning season and perhaps the playoffs - though one can wonder if the Dolphins are ready for a playoff run right now.


Where is the run doing much good for the Patriots? - Over and over I hear the criticism that the Patriots abandon the run too early and that criticism was made after this game - this even though the Patriots outrushed the Dolphins 96 yards to 81.   Nowhere in any of these games can I find any area where the Patriots would do better running the ball, especially with Stevan Ridley having proven untrustworthy between fumbles and reported insubordination with the coaches - curiously a common thread in the Belichick era among such players as Ty Law, Asante Samuel, Brandon Meriweather, and Richard Seymour.  


The Saints may be in trouble - New Orleans' road woes of recent were on display in St. Louis again and they have to go to Carolina next week with the Panthers wanting revenge after last week's rout.  


The Seahawks remain the favorites - Not even in 2005 have the Seahawks ever looked this powerful.  


The Favrelous Favreness Of Fitzpatrick - A pick-six by Ryan Fitzpatrick put the Cardinals up 34-17, yet the Tennessee Titans nearly topped everyone else.  Fitzpatrick made a hell of a run to redemption as the Titans scored 17 points in the final five minutes to force overtime - and then Fitzpatrick suddenly became Brett Favre; he threw another interception in overtime, setting up the Cardinals' winning field goal.   Steve McNair was the heart of the Titans because he had the heart of a lion; the 2013 Titans have shown more fight than many championship teams, heart McNair would be proud of.   And why they're 5-9 instead of 10-4 is simple - Fitzpatrick has legitimate talent, has numbers, makes plays, yet never seals the deal.   Would the Titans be 10-4 or close to that if Jake Locker was still playing?  I cannot fathom that they wouldn't.  


Kirk Cousins needs to be the future of the Redskins - With RGIII proving a one-shot wonder, Kirk Cousins showed exactly why Griffin ought have no future with the Skins.   Cousins came into the game basically cold and damn near pulled off the win over the Falcons.    The death of the read-option should dissuade anyone who thinks Griffin III should remain starter.


The Rams will become a contender - Reaching 8-8 may not be achievable; nonetheless the Rams have actually shown signs of getting better in Jeff Fisher's second season there.  


The Vikings showed something - Matt Cassel pulled one of the shockers of the weekend by crushing the Eagles by three scores; coming with Adrian Peterson out, it shows the Vikings aren't the one-trick pony most assume they are.


For the Chiefs, now comes the hard part - The Chiefs are in the playoffs in Andy Reid's first year; now comes the hard part - they need to win a playoff game for the first time since Joe Montana's final playoff win in 1993.   The last time the Chiefs were even competitive in a playoff game was 2003 against Peyton Manning's Colts.  


The Jaguars are a legitimate threat for 2014 - It took a horrific first half of the season for the Jaguars to learn the lessons needed to learn; it's now showing even though they're only 4-10.   Clearly players are buying into the program and it's beginning to work.


Houston may win the Suck For Johnny race - It seems foregone that the Houston Texans - twenty years after the earthquake that turned out to be the end of the Houston Oilers - will have the #1 draft pick, and quarterback is the glaring need for a squad with genuine talent.   One wonders how likely it becomes that Johnny Manziel becomes Houston's next starter.


The not-ready-for-primetime-Bengals - Facing a game that would put them to the next level, the Bengals faltered again.   The Bengals remain a talented team with real promise, but they haven't gone another level.


The Lions are not getting better - We may now see the upper management of the Lions blown up after a hideous loss to a pathetic Ravens team that needed six field goals, one of them a 61-yarder, to outlast a Lions offense that didn't show up at all.   Matthew Stafford's three picks were atrocious and kept the Ravens alive in the AFC North while costing his team in a suddenly-crowded NFC North race.



It was an ugly ending to what was an amazing NFL weekend.