NFL Takeaways: Week 14
Photo from the Los Angeles Times
December football!
Woo!
Lions defeat Packers 34-31
The Lions made careless errors. They had some weird coaching decisions. They are riddled with injuries.
They still beat the Packers.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.
These aren’t the Lions I’m used to.
Also, the Vikings, Lions and Packers have not lost to a team other than themselves since October.
That’s insane.
Steelers defeat Browns 27-13
The Steelers are built on defense, the run game, and Russell Wilson having explosive plays, which the Steelers lead the league in since he took over.
I’m not picking them to go to the Super Bowl, but that is exactly the formula that made the Seahawks Super Bowl contenders when Russell Wilson was there.
They’re legit.
Saints defeat Giants 14-11
This game sucked.
Vikings defeat Falcons 42-21
Sam Darnold’s been an incredible story this year, don’t get me wrong, but two of his TD’s came off of two of the most absurd blown coverages by the Falcons defense, and Kirk Cousins could not be playing worse football.
The Falcons are in really, really bad shape right now.
Buccaneers defeat Raiders 28-13
And the reason they’re in really bad shape is because the Buccaneers, with Mike Evans back in the fold, are playing some really good football.
Granted, they have not played a murderers row of opponents, but they’re handling them easily.
And that’s really all you can ask for.
Eagles defeat Panthers 22-16
I thought nothing of this game.
The Eagles won. Bryce Young looks better.
Life goes on.
That is, until the Eagles somehow let the beef between A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts be revealed to the public, with injured defensive end Brandon Graham saying the two are no longer friends on their radio show.
What are you doing, Philly?!
This is such an avoidable distraction, especially for a team that has won 9 games in a row.
I don’t know if it will tank their season. I’m not predicting it to.
But I wouldn’t be surprised if it did!
Jaguars defeat Titans 10-6
This game sucked.
Dolphins defeat Jets 32-26
The Jets just love to find ways to lose.
They were in prime field goal range, and had a great opportunity to drain a ton of clock and win the game on a field goal.
Instead, Rodgers took a big loss on a sack, and then the 41 year old Aaron Rodgers threw it to his veteran wide receiver Davante Adams on the sidelines, and then Adams went out of bounds while the Dolphins had zero timeouts.
So instead of kicking with 20 seconds left, they kicked with 60 seconds left.
Enough time for the Dolphins to get down the field, tie the game, and then win it in overtime.
Only the Jets…
Seahawks defeat Cardinals 30-18
I’ve been saying the Seahawks defense since getting Ernest Jones has been excellent.
It showed it again, and the offensive line was extremely good as well.
The Seahawks control their fate for the division title, but the last four games are very, very difficult.
It won’t be easy.
Rams defeat Bills 44-42
Teams that scored 6 touchdowns and never turned the ball over were undefeated.
That is, before the Bills lost to the Rams on Sunday.
When Matt Stafford, Cooper Kupp and Puka Nakua are cooking, they’re impossible to stop.
49ers defeat Bears 38-13
Whatever the opposite of a “new coach bump” is is what happened to the Bears on Sunday.
The Niners had over 300 yards of offense in the first half.
The Bears had 4.
4 yards.
That’s it.
This was a beat down.
Chiefs defeat Chargers 19-17
The Jim Harbaugh led Chargers are definitely better than the Brandon Staley Chargers, but man they are just so much more boring.
“Run the ball. Play smart defense. Make no mistakes.”
Booo. We want Chargering. We want new and creative ways to lose.
The Chiefs even did your job for you by banking in the game winning field goal.
The Staley led Chargers would have blocked it first but had it still go in.
Bring them back.
Bengals defeat Cowboys 27-20
The Cowboys blocked the punt with 2 minutes left in a game tied at 20.
They would have great field position, and would have a chance to not only win and keep their hot streak going, but stick a dagger in the Bengals season.
I say would have, because the Cowboys became the first time that I can remember to muff a blocked punt and give the ball back to the Bengals.
The coaches were screaming to let it go.
They decided not to.
The Bengals immediately scored, and the Cowboys found a new and creative way to lose.
See what I mean, Chargers???
