Welcome back loyal readers! Hope everyone's holiday season was full of happiness, warmth and winning football. We enjoyed our time away from the keyboards but it's time to get back to things, starting first with a look back at a very interesting week 17 of NFL action. This'll look a little different then our usual reviews; a few less numbers and a little more emotion. Should be fun, let's jump into things.
Cowboys 27- Titans 13
Ceedee Lamb has emerged into an elite receiver. This was his third game of the year with double digit catches and over one hundred receiving yards en route to a 102/1307/8 line. Ezekiel Elliott has become an "Anytime Touchdown" ATM for prop bet purposes, cashing in a score in nine straight games. And that's even with Tony Pollard's explosive season.
Dak Prescott's mistakes are going to end up haunting this team. He gave the Titans a few too many chances on Thursday that better teams will make them pay for. Dallas looks very complete when he's playing well however.
Is Malik Willis' starting window already closed? Josh Dobbs played extremely well, and would've had an even bigger day if not for some drops by his receivers. Treylon Burks was guilty of that, though he also flashed his abilities to get open downfield. Hassan Haskins was pretty unspectacular in his first starting spot. Tennessee has now lost six straight and look primed to miss the postseason for the first time since 2018.
Falcons 20- Cardinals 19
Terrible game on paper that ended up being semi-fun...or at least competitive. David Blough hadn't thrown a regular season pass in just over two years but effectively ran the offense Sunday, finding Trey McBride and Hollywood a combined thirteen times while facilitating a nice day on the ground from James Conner. JJ Watt got his 112.5th career sack too as he tries to wrap up his career on a high note.
Desmond Ridder still hasn't thrown a touchdown in his three starts, but he hasn't thrown an interception either. It doesn't seem like he's a long-term solution, but he's showing he can at least be a competent backup in this league. Drake London's been more productive than he was with Marcus Mariota under center and Cordarrelle Patterson's starting to get more involved in the passing game too. Rookie Tyler Allgeier has staked his claim as a solid starter in the backfield too.
Lions 41- Bears 10
Jared Goff's ceiling is an elite game manager, and he's been living up to the status of late. By their next game, it'll be over two months since his last interception, with fifteen touchdowns in between. Credit to the Lions' front office for surrounding him with a talented roster and his coaching staff for putting him in positions to thrive. Super Bowl aside, Detroit has undeniably won the Matthew Stafford trade.
Jamaal Williams established himself the the RB1 in this offense sometime in October and hasn't looked back. Even with D'Andre Swift back in the mix, Williams out touched his hyped backfield buddy 23-17. They're a versatile one-two punch that doesn't allow opposing front sevens any rest.
What do we make of Justin Fields? The Bears were leading 10-7 in the first quarter, with their QB already clearing the century mark rushing while finding Cole Kmet for a score. Fast forward to halftime and the Lions were ahead 24-10, with Fields going just 3-11 passing for 33 yards and two turnovers. I'm aware he has virtually no weapons, but the stretches of complete ineptitude are very concerning.
Chiefs 27- Broncos 24
Another week, another lackluster victory by Kansas City. They're a puzzling club: certainly as skilled as their 13-3 record reflects, but with a terrible habit of letting opponents hang. Seven of their wins have been by one score or less; is this a team that grits out close games or an average roster being elevated by Patrick Mahomes? We'll find out in the coming weeks here.
Shoutout Jerick McKinnon for scoring a receiving touchdown in his fifth straight game, a feat that hadn't been accomplished in the Super Bowl era. Skyy Moore was a little more involved and Kadarius Toney had a nice day. Per the eye test, he's definitely this team's best receiver.
Two more turnovers for Russell Wilson as he continues to ride through this abysmal season, letting down a defense that held the Chiefs' potent offense to just 13 points through three. The ground game didn't fail him either, with Chase Edmonds and Latavius Murray combining for 4.7 YPC. Very curious how their head coaching search goes this offseason. Whoever signs on for the gig will need to search long and hard for reasons to be optimistic about Wilson as their QB, as they'll be stuck with him for at least the next three seasons.
Giants 38- Colts 10
Statement win by the G-Men at home. Saquon Barkley wasn't the centerpiece we expected him to be, ceding way to a dominant performance by Daniel Jones. The Duke alum went 19/24 for 177 and two touchdowns, adding 91 yards and two more scores on the ground. No receivers? No problem. Richie James was his main target, posting a sharp 7/76/1 line.
Nick Foles sucks ass, tossing a pick six before getting injured him on a sack. If this is the last time we see him on the field, Kayvon Thibodeaux doing snow angels next to his injured body is quite a way to end a career. Michael Pittman caught a touchdown to reward desperate fantasy owners. Jeff Saturday's proven he's not the man for this job next year.
Saints 20- Eagles 10
Upset of the week here. The New Orleans Saints absolutely owned Gardner Minshew and the Eagles for their seventh win. Outside of his interception in the second quarter, Andy Dalton was excellent, finding Rashid Shaheed, Chris Olave and Juwan Johnson at will for 15 of his 18 completions. It was a tremendous let down by a previously elite defensive unit.
But as bad as Philly's defense was, the offense was undoubtedly worse. They had the ball for just over two minutes in the entire first quarter and trailed 13-0 at the half. After cutting the lead down to three by the fourth quarter, Minshew threw a backbreaking pick six to Marshon Lattimore which was the final nail in the coffin. I think it's safe to say that all the people who were saying Jalen Hurts was a system quarterback can shut the fuck up now.
Buccaneers 30- Panthers 24
Season on the line, must win game. Who you gonna trust more than Tom Brady?
The Bucs fell behind 21-10 early in the fourth quarter, and outside of Mike Evans, were being visibly outplayed by the Panthers. They railed off twenty unanswered points from there, going up 30-21 before surrendering a late field goal. The aforementioned Evans was phenomenal, popping for three touchdowns and 207 yards on my fantasy bench. A sad state of affairs... The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are your NFC South champions.
Carolina didn't go down without a fight though. Sam Darnold had two turnovers but may have done enough to earn a legit crack at starting next season. He connected well with his WR1 DJ Moore, who posted a strong 6/107/1 line in his own right. And that was without the running game producing, as D'Onta Foreman and Chuba Hubbard combined for a paltry 47 yards at 2.9 yards a clip.
Tough end to the season for the Panthers, but no shame in the way they turned things around. Steve Wilks should absolutely receive consideration for the head coaching job in 2023.
Browns 24- Commanders 10
Ron Rivera...Carson Wentz...what the fuck was that? Fireable offenses for both parties.
Wentz was atrocious, killing any momentum out the gate by throwing interceptions on two of their first three possessions. He threw a third later in the game for good measure. I'm not sure how Rivera didn't bench him, but this offense was not worse with Taylor Heinicke under center. What a disgrace in Washington, and shame on anybody (myself included) for expecting otherwise.
The Browns still suck, I don't care that they finally got a win with Deshaun Watson. Amari Cooper started slow but shined by the end, taking his three catches for 105 yards and finding pay dirt twice. Nick Chubb is still great too, clearing the century mark on the ground for the seventh time in 2022.
Jaguars 31- Texans 3
Jacksonville finally broke the curse Houston had over them, throttling the Texans 31-3-- the game wasn't that close. Travis Etienne was fantastic in the run game, Trevor Lawrence didn't need to do much in the passing game and the defense scored on a fumble-six. Not much else of note here.
The Texans are a sorry, sorry team right now. Their secondary is pretty good at least, to say something nice about them.
49ers 37- Raiders 34
What an unexpected battle this was! Jarrett Stidham was ballin', in and out of the pocket, going 23/34 for 365 yards and three touchdowns. He did a fantastic job of extending plays, keeping his eyes down the field, and finding Davante Adams and Darren Waller for chunk yardage. The offense absolutely looked more alive under him than they had Derek Carr.
Unfortunately, Stidham did throw two interceptions, one of which coming early in overtime to set up Robbie Gould's game winning field goal. Not the prettiest win for San Francisco but a gritty, hard fought one that shows they can overcome adversity as they prepare for a postseason run.
Christian McCaffery was awesome on the ground again, rumbling for 121 and a score on nineteen carries. He also added six catches to complement Brandon Aiyuk's big receiving day (9/101/1). Better days ahead for their usually stout defense. Brock Purdy's ride out of irrelevancy marches on!
Seahawks 23- Jets 6
Well, that was fun Mike White. In essentially a live job interview, with the playoffs on the line, the occasionally electric quarterback laid an egg, completing just 50% of his passes and throwing two picks. It was likely a better showing than Zach Wilson would've given us, but horrific nonetheless. Next week will probably be the last time we see White starting. Garrett Wilson was a victim of his shitty performance, only snagging 3/11 targets for 18 sad yards.
The Seahawks had been reeling lately but secured a huge home win to keep their postseason hopes alive. Geno Smith was efficient, taking what the defense gave him and hitting his tight ends/backs rather than challenging the Jets' elite corners on the outside. DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett only combined for three catches and 18 yards as a result, but the team outcome was what they were looking for. They need to beat the Rams and have the Packers fall to Detroit if they want their season to continue after next week.
Packers 41- Vikings 17
Speaking of the Packers...just a month ago they were 4-8. Jordan Love was prepping to supplant Aaron Rodgers. Rumors of offseason trades for the latter were beginning to circulate. Some (me) were questioning Matt LaFleur's coaching abilities.
Here we are January 3rd and Green Bay is in a "win and get in" scenario. They fell down 3-0 early before running off 41 unanswered. Kirk Cousins was atrocious, throwing three interceptions before getting pulled in garbage time, reminding all of us who he really is.
Justin Jefferson was absolutely locked down by Jaire Alexander, only catching one pass for fifteen yards before deleting his Instagram page. Don't dish shit if you can't take it. The Vikings are 12-4 with a -19 point differential. Incredible...they just don't seem to be a truly good team.
Chargers 31- Rams 10
This win was exactly what the Chargers needed it to be-- a clean, dominant showing from both sides of the ball. The defense continued it's hot streak, shutting the Rams out in the second half and only allowing ten points and 277 yards overall. Austin Ekeler juiced up the running game some and Justin Herbert completed 75% of his passes. Stop me if you've heard this before...but you cannot sleep on these Chargers.
Baker Mayfield seems to be coming back to Earth a bit. He didn't have a bad game, but certainly not as explosive as he'd been in recent weeks. We'll take that with a grain of salt given the talent limitations on their offense right now. Cam Akers had another nice day though, tallying 123 on 19 totes. He's seemingly all the way out of the dog house.
Steelers 16- Ravens 13
The only redeeming thing about this loss is that I predicted it. Baltimore blew a ten point lead for the fifth time this season, allowing thirteen unanswered points in the final nineteen minutes to rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett.
The offense was non-existent in the second half, only moving for 86 yards as their lead slowly melted away. Tyler Huntley isn't good, the receivers are bad-bad and the play calling doesn't ever mesh with the game flow on the field, at least not for long. Greg Roman...you gotta go. Won't be a long playoff run for the Ravens is Lamar's still on ice.
Credit to the Steelers for this win. Like I said on the podcast, Mike Tomlin doesn't lose games like this to quarterbacks like Huntley. He made the appropriate adjustments at halftime to completely shut down the backup QB. Najee Harris ran really well, averaging five yards a carry and catching the game winning touchdown. He was a true difference maker.
They'll need to win and have Miami and New England to lose next weekend to extend their season.
Bengals 7- Bills 3 (PPD)
Prayers up for Damar Hamlin. The Bills safety went into cardiac arrest after a tackle on Tee Higgins and needed to be resuscitated on the field before being taken off in an ambulance. As of me typing this, he's in the University of Cincinnati hospital in stable but critical condition. Hoping a full recovery is imminent.
Bigger than football.
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@Choppinglines
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