NFC NORTH STARS

 

        The Green Bay Packers accomplished something last Monday night that no other team has been able to pull off this year.  For the first time this season, a team was shut out.  It isn’t particularly surprising, the Packers have a good defense plus the New Orleans were missing their QB, running back, both of their starting receivers, their swiss army knife (Taysom Hill) plus a handful of other starters.  It was the first time the Saints had been shut out in over two decades.  Minnesota was also victorious last week in a game with a hungry Seattle Seahawks group.  The Vikings were in charge for most of that game, but Seattle did make it interesting late in the fourth quarter when their offense started to come to life.  Geno marched his guys down the field on an 11-play drive, taking up over six minutes of the clock in the process.  Sixty-eight yards later Smith threw a touchdown that would put them up by four points, leaving only four minutes and twenty-one seconds remaining.  On the ensuing drive, Sam Darnold showed us once again how potent this Vikings offense can be as it only took thirty seconds on four plays to go 70 yards for another score. (Vikings B. Murphy was penalized on a face mask hold for 15 yards).  Seattle got the ball once more, and tried a 60-yard field goal, but ultimately missed.

 

        Jordan Love has propelled the Pack to 11 wins already this season.  They could potentially end the season as one of only a few teams to ever win 13 games yet not win their division.  If you think that sounds weird how about the fact that they could also wind up as the third-best team in the North?  Yeah, crazy. That’s just how darn good this NFC North group of teams have been this year.  History shows that there have never been three 13-win teams within the same division.  When the Packers met the Vikings earlier this season the Vikings got the best of the Packers, winning 31-29.  The turnovers are what played the biggest role in the end the first time around, Green Bay had four, while Minnesota had three.  Matt LaFleur could only watch as his offense went scoreless in two of the first three-quarters of the game.  Then Love almost brought them all the way back for a win as the cheese heads cheered their Packers on as they scored 22 points in the fourth quarter, but to no avail still losing by two points. 

 

PACKERS OFFENSE:

POINTS PER GAME- 27.5 (7^TH)

TOTAL YARDS P/G- 377.3 (4^TH)

RUSH YARDS P/G- 147.3 (4^TH)

PASS YARDS P/G- 230.1 (12^TH)

SACKS ALLOWED- 16 (2^ND)

 

PACKERS DEFENSE:

POINTS PER GAME- 19.1 (6^TH)

TOTAL YARDS P/G- 312.1 (6^TH)

RUSH YARDS P/G- 102.5 (8^TH)

PASS YARDS P/G- 209.7 (9^TH)

TOTAL SACKS-  43 (6^TH)

 

        Minnesota hasn’t just been one of the best teams in the entire league this year but is also silently attempting to do something that no one could’ve foreseen coming.  Kevin O’Connell has had his team in a great position all season long to contend for the NFC North Championship.  With a win this week, they can do just that heading into a week 18 game against one of the league's best offenses in their number one rivals, the Detroit Lions.  Many thought that Sam Darnold couldn’t become a true franchise quarterback after his tenure with the New York Jets.  Though in hindsight if we knew then what we know now in terms of the Jets franchise and how it has been run for years we would have been a little less critical of Sam. 

        The Vikings beat the Packers in their prior meeting during their 5-game win streak.  They have only lost two games so far this season and both losses came after that win streak.  The first was against the Lions, 31-29 and the other loss was to the Rams in Los Angeles 30-20.  Since the second loss in week 8 Minnesota hasn’t lost another game, winning 8 straight games.  It is almost unthinkable with how great the Lions and Eagles have been this year that the Vikings still have a very good chance of locking up the number one seed in the NFC.  They hold their destiny in their hands.  Two more wins and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs plus the additional bye week before playing a postseason game.

 

VIKINGS OFFENSE:

POINTS PER GAME- 26.4 (9^TH)

TOTAL YARDS P/G- 346.3 (12^TH)

RUSH YARDS P/G- 111.1 (16^TH)

PASS YARDS P/G- 235.3 (8^TH)

SACKS ALLOWED- 46 (24^TH)

 

VIKINGS DEFENSE:

POINTS PER GAME- 18.4 (3^RD)

TOTAL YARDS P/G- 335.8 (16^TH)

RUSH YARDS P/G- 87.1 (2^ND)

PASS YARDS P/G- 248.7 (30^TH)

TOTAL SACKS – 44 (5^TH)

 

        This will be a very tough game to try and predict.  They are evenly matched on the offensive side of the ball.  Even the defenses are comparable, the one big difference I can see is against the opposing team's passing.  Green Bay allows 209 yards in passing yards (9^th) while Minnesota is conceding an average of 248 yards (30^th) a contest.  It makes sense that the Vikings are giving up the 30^th most pass yards a game when you think about how Brian Flores's (MIN DC) defense leads the league in QB pressures on both 1^st and 3^rd downs.  One of the key matchups I will be looking for is Josh Jacobs vs. the Vikings 16^th 16th-ranked rush defense.  The other one is rather obvious, Vikings' one-two receiving threat in Jefferson & Addison going up against Green Bay defensive backs.  Especially now that the Packers will be without their top cornerback Jaire Alexander after being ruled out with a knee injury.  I am leaning toward the -1.5-point favorites, the 13-2 Minnesota Vikings at home.   

NFC WEST GRUDGE MATCH - CARDINALS VS. RAMS

 

        Los Angeles heads into a home game in week 17 with a ten-point win after a road trip to the East Coast.  Last week the Rams beat Aaron Rodgers and his New York Jets in a game that saw very little offense.  There was a total of 563 yards between both teams.  Now the Rams have two regular season games remaining, both divisional games.  This is the healthiest the Rams have been all season, and it comes at the best possible time.  The Cardinals are coming into town this week, they last played one another in week two.  Next week however will be the most important week for L.A. regardless of whether they win or lose on Saturday Night.

 

        I guess I’ll go ahead and address the elephant in the room before I go any further.  Everyone who’s read my articles knows I have been backing one NFC West team since the beginning of the season.  This team had a rollercoaster of a season, and it seemed they had turned the corner this time.  I really thought this would be their year though we’ll have to wait until next year to see if the Arizona Cardinals can achieve what I had hoped to see this season.  However, the Cardinals still showed a lot of perseverance, resilience, and strength as a team through their ups and downs.  I believe their play this year will only coarsen the entire unit on both sides of the ball for the following year.  Kyler’s back to his rookie form, this being his first full season since his injury two years ago.  James Conner is still running hard, plus this was the best O-line play I’ve seen out of a Cardinals team in a while.  Arizona’s second-year head coach Jonathan Gannon is the right fit for this franchise, and I fully expect him to be there for the next several seasons. 

       

         They say good things will come to those who wait.  Patience is a virtue; this is certainly the case for the fanbase of these Arizona Cardinals who haven’t seen a single playoff win in the past nine years.  Gannon’s team may not be eligible to make the postseason, but they can play spoiler to one of the other two teams in their division.  If the Cardinals beat the Rams on Saturday night it will be a season sweep for the Cards, although it would also help the Seahawks in a winner-take-all scenario between them and the Rams in their week 18 matchup.  The other side of this would be if the Cards came up short in a loss, causing the Seattle Seahawks ultimately, to become all but eliminated from playoff contention. 

        Next year should end with better results for Kyler Murray's statistics and the Cardinals' overall record.  Further expectations for this club lie in the Murray to Harrison Jr. connection, which I firmly believe to become quite a perilous one.  A building block in tight end Tre McBride has been put in place and they must continue to build around him. They may draft a younger running back to help keep Conner fresh thus slightly lessening his workload.  For those that may not remember, in their first meeting in week two the Cardinals steamrolled the Rams in Arizona 41-10.  Though, in all fairness, Mike LaFleur’s (Los Angeles OC) offense was struggling to start the year with several key injuries to the O-line, Puka Nacua, and Cooper Kupp (Kupp was injured in that week two game).  Arizona had a leaky defense for a lot of this season, it looked as though they were starting to turn it around but that is the side of the ball that is keeping them from making the playoffs.

          

CARDINALS OFFENSE:

POINTS PER GAME- 22.9 (12^TH)

TOTAL YARDS P/G- 353.4 (11^TH)

RUSH YARDS P/G- 145.8 (5^TH)

PASS YARDS P/G- 207.6 (20^TH)

SACKS ALLOWED- 26 (5^TH)

 

CARDINALS DEFENSE:

POINTS PER GAME- 22.8 (15^TH)

TOTAL YARDS P/G- 342.0 (20^TH)

RUSH YARDS P/G- 129.5 (22^ND)

PASS YARDS P/G- 212.5 (15^TH)

TOTAL SACKS – 39 (11^TH)

 

 

        Just when you think the Los Angeles Rams are down and out, they come back in a major way, bouncing back after overcoming a season in which they were plagued by injuries.  How do you fight when your top two wideouts are lost for a lengthy amount of the season?  How about when three starters on your O-line go down?  Maybe add in the fact that the Rams' all-time best defensive player in the history of their team retires leaving your defense with a bunch of young players with little to no experience, while you also lose your defensive coordinator of the previous three seasons.  It’s seemingly all a part of the Sean McVay system.  They were continuously able to weather the storm no matter how powerful it became.  Sports Illustrated says that only 11.5% of NFL teams that have started the season with a 0-2 record from 1990-2023 have been able to make the postseason.  While that is an impressive statistic, I think you’ll like this one better; of that 11.5% of teams (32 teams) that were able to make the playoffs, just 17 of those 32 were able to win their divisions (6.1%).  If you want to know if any of them have won a Super Bowl, the answer is yes.  Three of those such teams (1.1%) were able to come away with a Lombardi Trophy.  However, the Rams started this season 1-4.  The Statistics for teams that have started 1-4, yet still made the playoffs are far fewer, with just 6 teams being able to overcome such a tragic start to their seasons.  Four of those six teams were even able to win a playoff game.  The bad news for the Rams is, upon finding such a comparable team to them in the Tennessee Titans, they did make it out of the first round of the playoffs, but they did not make it past the Conference Championship round.

        Los Angeles did not make it back to fall short though and I expect them to win the NFC West whether they win or lose tomorrow night.  I don’t want to start any rumors here, but I do remember a few weeks ago when a member of the media had asked head coach Sean McVay about a possible Aaron Donald return if the Rams were able to make a playoff run.  McVay responded in the best possible way, saying that he respects that man entirely too much to even speculate on such a matter and that he would never reach out to the retiree, but that if Donald ever were to reach out to him, he would then and only then take him back for one last run.  It was very puzzling to witness some of the Rams home games this season and see that there appeared to be almost as many if not more visiting fans, than Rams fans in Sofi.  Maybe they don’t have as many fans as I once thought, maybe more of the L.A. fanbase belongs to the Chargers, or is it because they seemed like a doomed and gloomy team early on?  Whatever the case maybe I need all Los Angeles Rams fans to start showing admiration for this compelling story of a team!

RAMS OFFENSE:

POINTS PER GAME- 21.9 (15^TH)

TOTAL YARDS P/G- 331.5 (15^TH)

RUSH YARDS P/G- 107.5 (19^TH)

PASS YARDS P/G- 224.0 (13^TH)

SACKS ALLOWED- 28 (7^TH)

 

RAMS DEFENSE:

POINTS PER GAME- 23.1 (18^TH)

TOTAL YARDS P/G- 351.1 (24^TH)

RUSH YARDS P/G- 131.4 (25^TH)

PASS YARDS P/G- 219.7 (18^TH)

TOTAL SACKS – 25 (32^ND)

        It may pain me to say this because I have been rooting for Arizona since last August, but I believe that with the Rams' offense fully healthy they will torch the Cardinals.  Stafford is still one of the best football QBs.  Arizona may have the edge when it comes to the tight end position and maybe even a slight edge with their offensive line, but the Rams have one of the very best wideout tandems in the league.  They also possess a younger, more versatile runner in Kyren Williams.  The Cardinals' defense has also averaged slightly better numbers than the Rams.  However, L.A. has been on the upswing as of late, while Arizona has faltered the past few weeks.  I previously pointed out this game will take place on Saturday Night at Sofi Stadium and the rallying Rams are being favored by -6.5.

CHRISTMAS DAY SPECIAL PART II- RAVENS VS. TEXANS

            In the second time slot for the Christmas Day special that has been brought to Netflix by the NFL, we will see another matchup with two more AFC playoff teams.  The Houston Texans are still a fun team to watch, though they are not the same explosive Texans that were blowing up the league last season.  Last year we witnessed this exact game played in the postseason.  The Baltimore Ravens bulldozed this team in the Divisional Round, winning 34-10 at home.  Baltimore has beaten Houston in five straight meetings, currently leading the all-time series 12-2-0.  The last time the Texans captured a win over John Harbaugh was in 2014 at Houston (25-13).

 

         What can I say about the Purple and Black?  Well, it’s no secret that all their successes this season have been surrounded by what Lamar and Henry have been able to do this year.  Lamar is coming off an MVP season and is making a stalwart case to hoist that award in back-to-back years.  Action Jackson is one of the most amazingly gifted talents the NFL has ever seen and what he can do as both a passer and runner never ceases to amaze.  Baltimore’s QB is ranked 5^th in passing yards (3,787), 1^st in average yards per pass (8.9), and 5^th in yards per game (252.5).  The only quarterback with more touchdown passes this season is Joe Burrow with 39, Lamar has thrown 37.  There is also only one QB better than Jackson in interceptions thrown (4 INTs).  When it comes to QBR (75.5) he’s second to Josh Allen while pacing all quarterbacks in passer rating (120.6).  This offense with Todd Monken has often appeared to be a match made in heaven.  Their play-caller has looked like a genius for much of the season, though we also know how good the talent on the field is.

        Derrick Henry has also been on a statistical tear all season.  They call him “King” Henry for a reason!  Henry has given way to Saquon Barkley for the leading rusher this season and it appears as though he may very well take the title by the end of the next two weeks.  Anyhow, Henry has already amassed 1,600 rushing yards this year and is less than 400 yards from a 2,000-yard season.  He is tied with Barkley for the most yards per carry and ties Barkley with the second-most rushing TDs (13).  Henry’s 78 rushing first downs place second, while his 87-yard run is the longest run from scrimmage this season.  While the Texans have had a decent defense this year, their weakness has been their run defense.  There is no doubt that Moken will dial up a bunch of runs for Henry to remind everyone yet again why he is notoriously known as the King of rushing.

 

RAVENS OFFENSE:

POINTS PER GAME- 30.1 (3^RD)

TOTAL YARDS P/G- 423.7 (1^ST)

RUSH YARDS P/G- 181.2 (2^ND)

PASS YARDS P/G- 242.5 (5^TH)

SACKS ALLOWED- 23 (4^TH)

 

RAVENS DEFENSE:

POINTS PER GAME- 23.3 (19^TH)

TOTAL YARDS P/G- 338.0 (16^TH)

RUSH YARDS P/G- 83.1 (1^ST)

PASS YARDS P/G- 254.9 (31^ST)

TOTAL SACKS- 47 (2^ND)

 

         Houston has been a good team this season, though not the same formidable bunch that they showed us a year ago.  The offense has regressed, while also banged up for vastly most of the year.  The O-line play has been very bad this time around, especially in pass protection.  Houston’s big men have allowed the sixth most sacks this season, C.J. has been sacked the second most (47 times) of any quarterback this year.  Between the line not being able to hold up for Stroud in addition to him having to play without each of his three best targets at different times this season, it has been frustrating for both C.J. and the Texans to say the least.  They have continued to fight throughout everything they’ve had to deal with.  Let’s not forget, even though they didn’t come away with the victory they played the Detroit Lions better than most teams in the league had this year.  They are now coming off a game in which they lost to the Chiefs on Saturday in a tough battle.  The hardest part of that game was when Tank Dell caught a touchdown early in the third quarter for what should’ve been the tying score (missed PAT) but as Dell caught said score his teammate went to the ground and fell into his knee causing engrossed concern for the wideout.  Tank ended up with a torn ACL and dislocated kneecap.  It was a lamentable situation for the young receiver who came back earlier this season from another injury and is now lost for the second straight year to a season-ending injury. 

 

TEXANS OFFENSE:

TOTAL POINTS P/G- 23.1 (13^TH)

TOTAL YARDS P/G- 323.3 (20^TH)

RUSH YARDS P/G- 109.6 (18^TH)

PASS YARDS P/G- 213.7 (18^TH)

SACK ALLOWED- 48 (27^TH)

 

TEXANS DEFENSE:

TOTAL POINTS P/G- 21.8 (9^TH)

TOTAL YARDS P/G-307.3 (4^TH)

RUSH YARDS P/G- 106.8 (11^TH)

PASS YARDS P/G- 200.5 (6^TH)

TOTAL SACKS- 46 (T-3^RD)

 

         The Texans may have played KC tight last week though I don’t know if they will be able to do the same here against Baltimore.  If you want to take down the Lamar-led Ravens, they will need to figure out a way to score way more than 19 points.  This will be an even harder task without Dell when they’ve already been without Diggs.  If they are going to do it, they will have to keep a clean pocket for Stroud.  This will also prove to be quite difficult as the Ravens are second in the NFL with 47 sacks.  Texans OC Bobby Slowik will need to find ways to have C.J. get the ball out quickly to tight end Dalton Schultz, running back Joe Mixon, or his top target on the outside, Nico Collins.  The biggest weakness of the Ravens' defense has been their ability to engage in pass defense.  They are allowing the second most passing yards per contest and if they can somehow pass protect that will be their best chance to rain on Baltimore’s Christmas Day parade.  The game plan for Baltimore should provide a simpler plan to be crowned with another win and possibly the AFC North title barring a win from the Steelers.  As I briefly mentioned above, Todd Monken will need a run-heavy approach which will be no problem for this team.  Houston’s offense hasn’t been great, though their defense is ranked inside the top ten in every statistical classification other than against the run.  They cede 106.8 yards per game (11^th) and the Ravens should be able to widen that amount to about 160-190 yards if I should be so bold.  Baltimore is going into this game as the -4 point favorite and I like them to win outright on a short week.   

CHRISTMAS DAY SPECIAL- KANSAS CITY @ PITTSBURGH

 

        After an awesome week 16, the NFL will be back with only two days in between.  That’s right, week 17 is already geared up with two Christmas Day specials.  After the Chiefs, Texans, Steelers, & Ravens played this past Saturday, all four teams will be back to play their week 17 matchups with swapped opponents for an added jolly bonus to our day of gifts and cheer.  The Ravens will suit up to take on the Houston Texans on the road at 4:30 PM, while the first game will feature a contest between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers at 1 PM.  To go from playing on a Saturday to playing again on Wednesday does seem a bit odd at first, but when you think about it the same thing happens when a team plays on Sunday followed by a Thursday Night game the next week. 

 

        Kansas City is coming off yet another win which isn’t all that surprising, though the Houston Texans had played them very close.  Next up for the Champs is their toughest test of the season.  The Chiefs have played some good teams this season, eight of which are playoff-bound.  That said, they’ve only played two teams with defenses of the same level of difficulty (Chargers & Broncos).  Pittsburgh has one of the best defensive units in the league and ranks within the top ten in multiple categories.  The Steelers own the Chiefs in their all-time series 23-14-0, though since Mahomes has been in the league Kansas City is a perfect 3-0 against them.  A lot has been left to be desired by this squad, yet Andy Reid has his team atop the entire NFL and a two-game lead in the AFC with a 14-1 record this year.  That one blemish came from Buffalo, but it seems like it will almost be impossible for the Bills to take the AFC’s top spot away from last year's defending Champs.  I know it is like having a song on repeat to hear this same old message, though the reality of this team has been the strength of their defense.  

Steve Spagnuolo’s coaching of this defensive unit is the main reason the Chiefs have been coming away with a bunch of wins they had no business walking out with.  They have been victorious in ten one-score games, five have been by three points or less, while four games were won by two or fewer points.  After researching KC’s wins with such point differentials, Statmuse.com shows they are currently ranked as 7^th all-time in games won by less than three points (four teams tied with 6, two teams tied with 7) and presently placing second in victories of two or fewer points (Packers had 5 such wins in 1989).  Here’s where I'm going to blow your mind, the total amount of games they’ve won by a touchdown or less this season may not seem like a huge deal, right?  Well, it is because the Chiefs are ranked first all-time in NFL history with this statistic.  How this team is consistently able to do this is just plain and simply crazy.  I still don’t think that they will be able to win a third consecutive Super Bowl, however, they did just welcome back two of the biggest pieces of their offense back into the lineup.  Mahomes must be thrilled to have his starting running back Isiah Pacheco (first game back was in week 13) alongside offseason addition receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. 

 

CHIEFS OFFENSE:

POINTS PER GAME- 23.7 (11^th)

TOTAL YARDS P/G- 338.9 (13^th)
RUSH YARDS P/G- 112.9 (15^th)

PASS YARDS P/G- 225.9 (12^th)

SACKS ALLOWED- 36 (17^th)

 

CHIEFS DEFENSE:

POINTS PER GAME- 18.5 (3^rd)

TOTAL YARDS P/G- 307.2 (3^rd)

RUSH YARDS P/G- 91.4 (3^rd)

PASS YARDS P/G- 215.8 (17^th)

TOTAL SACKS- 34 (22^nd)

 

        Mike Tomlin is walking into a home game on Christmas Day with a whole lot on his mind.  The Steelers just lost their second straight game this time to their storied rivals, the Baltimore Ravens.  It is very hard to see this Pittsburgh team dropping three straight even if their next opponent is the Chiefs.  They are still in first place in the AFC North and by the end of Christmas Day, with a loss to KC they could very well give the North title away to Baltimore if the Ravens can gain a victory over Houston.  Russell Wilson has played very strong for Pittsburgh this season leaving a lot of his previous doubters in his dust.  The Steelers are seemingly always top defense, with great play out of Watt, Heyward, and Fitzpatrick they certainly pose a serious threat to the Kansas City Chiefs that they haven’t seen this year.  If they can get a healthy George Pickens back into the lineup he can cause some mismatches for Kansas City’s pass defense.  The Chiefs' pass defense is currently the 17th-ranked unit in the league and is honestly the only weakness that they have had so far this season. 

The Steelers have been struggling on offense without Pickens and may not be much of a threat to the Chiefs if he is unable to go on Wednesday.  He has been their best offensive weapon to stretch the field this year.  In their last three games, the top-receiving production came through wideout Calvin Austin III catching 4 passes for 65 yards, and 5 receptions for 65 yards in week 15.  In week 14 tight end Pat Freiermuth led them in receiving with 3 catches for 48 yards.  I can’t stress enough what he has meant to this offense and their team in general.  Pickens is starting to look like he will become the type of player he was advertised to be.  He still hasn’t reached his ceiling in his third year as a pro out of Georgia and is only 8 receptions along with 290 receiving yards away from surpassing his career highs.   

        Defensively as I already mentioned Watt has been widely in the talks for DPOTY for weeks now.  Their DC Teryl Austin has them playing elite-style football, only allowing 299 points total this year to opposing offenses (T-7^th).  Steelers have also only yielded 4,851 total yards through 16 weeks of the season which ranks 11^th among the rest of the league.  They are ready to show the rest of the NFL that they can surprise some teams.  They have a huge opportunity to make a strong case for that if they can get a win on Christmas Day against Patrick Mahomes, and Andy Reid alongside the rest of the Chiefs. 

 

STEELERS OFFENSE:

POINTS PER GAME- 23.5 (12^TH)

TOT YARDS P/G- 324.9 (19^TH)

RUSH YARDS P/G- 126.0 (11^TH)

PASS YARDS P/G- 198.9 (25^TH)

SACKS ALLOWED- 40 (21^ST)

 

STEELERS DEFENSE:

POINTS PER GAME- 19.9 (6^TH)

TOT YARDS P/G- 323.4 (11^TH)

RUSH YARDS P/G- 102.7 (7^TH)

PASS YARDS P/G- 220.7 (20^TH)

TOTAL SACKS- 36 (16^TH)

 

        This game should not disappoint as the NFL has given us a game with two top-ten teams, both of which possess top defensive units.  This has all the makings for some great holiday football with two of the smartest NFL head coaches of all time.  On one side of the field will be the two-time Super Bowl Champion Andy Reid while coaching adjacent to him will be another Super Bowl-winning coach, Mike Tomlin.  By no surprise, the Chiefs are the early favorites for this game -2.5 on the road.  In Tomlin’s 18-year career as the Steelers head coach, he has only had a three-game plus losing streaks ten times within nine seasons (Steelers had 2 such losing streaks in 2019).  Call me crazy but I am leaning towards the Steelers in an upset on Christmas Day.

NFC EAST WEEK16 REVIEW

 

       DALLAS COWBOYS- 7-8

The Cowboys have already been eliminated from playoff contention however, they have continued to fight even without key players that are pivotal to the structure of their team.  They’ve been decimated all year long on defense with half their starters missing time.  They lost their starting quarterback, Dak Prescott, and were down the tight end Jason Ferguson to injuries.  DaRon Bland was hurt through the first 11 games of the season.  Tonight, he reminded everyone just how special a player he is.  Bland showed up in a massive way taking his opponents to the turf for 8 tackles, 7 solo, 1 pass defended, plus the game-winning play, stripping the ball away from Buccaneers running back Rachaad White.  There was only 1:40 left on the clock when the fumble took place.  Tampa Bay was attempting to complete their fourth-quarter comeback but unluckily it came while being down only two points and without enough timeouts to help them get the ball back.  With the 26-24 loss Tampa no longer holds their own fate for the postseason.  Dallas has now won four of their last five games, are now 7-8, and appear a little more like the team we thought they would be this season, at least from a defense perspective.  They would undoubtedly be better on offense too had Dak and Zack Martin played.

 

        NEW YORK GIANTS- 2-13

It has been a rough season for the G-men to say the least.  Nothing had seemed to go right from the offseason losses, most notable being Saquon Barkley and Xavier McKinney.  They finally gave up on their quarterback Daniel Jones, and not to pile onto all the criticism about Jones but I’ve been saying ever since the Giants replaced Eli Manning in favor of D.J. that he didn’t seem like he would be a great starting QB in this league.  Maybe he was just in the wrong environment, and maybe he’ll eventually get another chance to lead another team.  Either way, the Giants have moved on and have something to look forward to next season.  One thing that New York fans should be excited about is this rookie wideout Malik Nabers.  He is the real deal and will only get better as he matures and develops chemistry with whoever their new starting quarterback will be next year.

The Giants lost their tenth straight game likely locking up the number one pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.  They need a passer and luckily for them, they will be able to grab a pretty good one with a few of them at the top of any QB-needy team’s draft boards.  It looks as though the two favorites for New York to draft with the first pick will be either Cam Ward out of Miami or Shedeur Sanders from Colorado.

 

        PHILADELPHIA EAGLES- 12-3

The Philadelphia Eagles came into their week 16 matchup red-hot.  They had been rolling on all cylinders, winners of their last ten straight.  The Birds came out with grit and determination to beat down this Commanders group in all facets.  They started the game off with an 8-play drive that led to a rushing TD by Barkley.   Upon Washington’s first possession, more specifically on their first offensive play, they fumbled the ball right back to Philly.  Then the Eagles jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, though on their third possession, they did have a turnover of their own.  Kenny Pickett threw an interception into the chest of linebacker Frankie Luvu.  Yep, that’s right Kenny Pickett threw an INT, he was brought into the game after quarterback Jalen Hurts had to leave the game.  At first, it seemed as though it would just be a quick visit to the medical tent, then it proved to be more serious upon the side reporter making it known that Hurts had been brought back to the looker room and after a further evaluation he had been downgraded to out with a concussion.  It did feel slightly peculiar how it went down, Jalen got up on the initial play and gave the sideline a thumbs up and he didn’t seem to show any signs that would make you think anything was wrong.  Though once the offense left the field Hurts never came back.  It was a tough loss for the Eagles this past week, losing to the Washington Commanders in the final moments of the game.  However, the bigger loss was Jalen Hurts, hopefully, he will be able to play next week when the Birds host the Dallas Cowboys who just shocked the Tampa Bay Bucs on Sunday Night.

 

        WASHINGTON COMMANDERS- 10-5

The expected winner of the Rookie of The Year award, quarterback Jayden Daniels displayed the biggest showing of his inaugural NFL season on Sunday afternoon.  Jayden completed a monstrous game passing for 258 yards on 24/39 passes, threw 5 TDs, and sprinkled in 9 carries on the ground adding up to another 81 yards.  This was the most impressive game from his rookie campaign to date.   With 339 all-purpose yards while scoring five times; yea I think we just crowned our ROTY.  Though it wasn’t pretty at times, losing the turnover game; 5-2 (Washington lost 3 fumbles, Daniels threw 2 interceptions) while also ceding 13 more minutes of offense to Philly in the time of possession battle will usually end in a loss.  Daniels led the Commanders on the final drive of the game with 1:58 seconds left, burning up too much time for Philly to even have another chance to do anything.  The rookie took his team 57 yards on nine plays and ended the drive on a 2^nd & goal from Philly’s 9-yard line when he found veteran receiver Jamison Crowder between multiple defenders and made a beautiful throw for the touchdown with only six seconds remaining in the game.  That score put Quinn’s boys up by one point, so they decided to go for the two-point conversion.  It was a massive win for the Commanders and with another win next Sunday Night at home when they take on the Atlanta Falcons, they can clinch themselves a playoff berth.