Post by spiderfan on Jan 5, 2021 11:48:46 GMT -8
Happy New Year SCtoC! Week 17 is in the books, and it is time for me Spiderfan the official NFL Analyst of this great website to read those books. Yeah that statement wasn't as slick as I thought it would be. Regardless, let us begin!
Like sands through an hourglass, so do NFL coaches get fired
We know about the firings of Bill O'Brien, Dan Quinn, and Matt Patricia and I have already talked about their firings earlier this season. But I will briefly go over who I think will take those jobs before we get into the coaches who were fired on Black Monday.
There were reports earlier in the season that Texans QB Deshaun Watson has a high view of Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy although as of writing this, they haven't scheduled an interview with him yet. Marvin Lewis already interviewed and he was someone that the Texans were high on a couple years ago in the event that former GM Rick Smith won his power struggle against Bill O'Brien and being that that didn't happen, maybe now that O'Brien is gone the Texans hire Marvin Lewis. The Texans is an attractive job, so they should have their pick of the litter, but at least right now I think they bring Marvin Lewis back into the NFL.
The Falcons and Lions both need total rebuilds although I think the latter is more likely to rebuild than the former. With that being said, I think both are going to look at offensive coaches and being that neither job is all that attractive, I think guys like Titans OC Arthur Smith and Bills OC Brian Daboll are fits.
Jets fire Adam Gase
My prediction of the Adam Gase, Sam Darnold, Le'Veon Bell Jets being a Hall of Fame of Disaster squad was accurate and now that the franchise is looking to move on from that failed experiment, I think a solid strategy for the Jets would be to hire Ravens OC and draft Ohio State's Justin Fields and become a NY version of the Ravens. But because the Jets are the Jets, they are probably going to bring Jim Harbaugh back to the NFL after his failed tenure at Michigan or hire Iowa State's Matt Campbell who just recently won the Fiesta Bowl.
Jaguars fire Doug Marrone
Marrone's surprisingly long tenure in Jacksonville is over and the guy most likely to replace him is former University of Florida and Ohio State HC Urban Meyer. I will save my thoughts on that hire for if/when it happens, as I don't want to spin my wheels and write a lengthy segment on something that didn't happen. If Urban doesn't get hired, Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy and Bills OC Brian Daboll are the guys I think the Jags would look at.
Chargers fire Anthony Lynn
Anthony Lynn did a solid job transitioning the Chargers from their soccer stadium to the shiny new stadium and going from Phil Rivers to Justin Herbert. Now that the transition is over, it is time for a more long term HC and I will be shocked if Bills OC Brian Daboll doesn't get the job, because it has been reported that Daboll and Chargers GM Tom Telesco have been buddies since high school. If for some reason Daboll doesn't go to LA, 49ers DC Robert Saleh is someone that I think would do a good job with the Chargers.
Hail to the Football Team!
I said the Washington Football Team would win the NFC Least and by golly they did! Now, admittedly my prediction was assisted by Eagles HC Doug Pederson who decided that evaluating whether or not Nate Sudfeld should be on the roster next season was more important than winning the game, but regardless, I will take my correct prediction.
I do feel bad for the Tinys though because they actually managed to not shrink against the Cowboys (although that might have had more to do with Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy having no idea on how to manage a NFL game despite being a NFL HC for over a decade) and had the Eagles actually cared about winning the Tinys would have hosted the Buccaneers in the playoffs. However, the Tinys can't have nice things and instead the Football Team will host the the team from Tommy Bay and y'know what? I won't count them out of that game. Teams that have won divisions with not great records have won playoff games on numerous occasions, the most recent being when the 2014 Panthers coached by Ron Rivera beat the Arizona Cardinals. Granted this Tommy Bay Buccaneers team is far better than that Cardinals team was, but this Football Team was better than that Panthers team was so it is a bit of a wash.
Rams and Cardinals and Bears, Oh My!
Instead of getting a Week 17 classic between Jared Goff and Kyler Murray commentated by Jim Nantz and Tony Romo we got a horrendous game between John Wolford and Chris Streveler commentated by Jim Nantz and Boomer Esiason. Realizing this Rams HC Sean McVay put an excellent gameplan together: play defense and control time of possession. The Rams won easily and it is a shame that both Jared Goff and Kyler Murray got hurt (Kyler did comeback in the 4th quarter but it was too late for him to make a serious impact and he wasn't 100 percent) and Tony Romo was in COVID-19 protocol, because as stated previously, this should have been a great game that was remembered for great play on the field not that Boomer is ignorant to the ways of Canadian Football.
The good news for the Chicago Bears though is that even after being blown out by the Packers, due to the Cardinals loss, the Bears make it in to the postseason anyway. Good luck against the Saints. And as for the Rams opponent? That will be the Seahawks. If Goff can play, I'm actually concerned for the Seahawks as the Rams always play them tough.
And the loser of AFC Musical Chairs is...
The Miami Dolphins? Yeah, turns out Bills HC Sean McDermott was playing his starters and that combined with the fact that Ryan Fitzpatrick tested positive for COVID-19 meaning that when Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa had his worst game as a NFL player there was no Fitzmagic to save the day, resulted in a 30 point Dolphins loss which was made to look better due to garbage time points by the Dolphins. It is easy to be hot takey and say the Dolphins picked the wrong guy between Tua and Justin Herbert. I'm not going to say that because 1.) Tua has plenty of time to redeem himself from this embarrassment and 2.) Tua was the better player coming out of college. What I will say is this: If he decides to keep playing, keep Fitzpatrick around because you are most likely gonna need him.
And while we are on the subject of the loser of the game of AFC musical chairs, I will admit that I was wrong to pick the Browns as the team that was going to miss out. I give the Browns credit for surviving a late Steelers rally and I congratulate everyone in Cleveland for the Browns ending the longest active NFL playoff drought.
And the winner of the #1 seed in the NFC is...
The Green Bay Packers. There was definite scoreboard watching going on between the Packers, Saints, and Seahawks especially early on in all 3 games and there was a period where it looked like the Saints would get the #1 seed because of their blowout win against the Panthers (Thanks to Teddy Bridgewater having his worst game as a NFL QB), but the Packers pulled away from the Bears and ultimately blew them out (Thanks to Aaron Rodgers being the NFL MVP). The Seahawks actually played a competitive game against the 49ers which featured Seahawks WR Tyler Lockett breaking the franchise record for single season receptions (previously held by Doug Baldwin) and Seahawks WR DK Metcalf breaking the franchise record for receiving yards in a single season (previously held by HoFer Steve Largent), but those were the only notable things about the game because the Seahawks were never that close to getting the #1 seed due to the aforementioned blow outs.
With all of that said, the Packers go into the postseason with their QB Aaron Rodgers playing some of the best football of his career (which considering we are talking about Aaron Rodgers that is saying something), having lost only 1 home game this year (the Vikings upset win), and the other 2 losses coming from road games against playoff teams (the Buccaneers and Colts respectively). They have a solid defense too. My concern with the Packers is can they break through? Rodgers has had MVP years with teams that had playoff byes but they didn't get to the Super Bowl. Whether it was because of the Giants, the Emerald City Miracle, or even last year where after surviving against the Seahawks they were demolished by the 49ers, the Packers have shown that even with Rodgers and the team playing at a high level and being at Lambeau to play in a playoff game or games, that doesn't result in a SB appearance. Remember how I mentioned that this year the Packers lost to the Bucs? Yeah that game was a blowout in favor of the Buccaneers, and if Brady and company go into Lambeau, I doubt the result would be different.
That being said, their other potential opponents could be the Bears, Rams, or even Football Team in the Divisonal Round and I think the Packers would fare well against all 3 of them. Once they play the Saints or Seahawks though? I'm less confident.
Other thoughts:
-The Buccaneers and Ravens are both hot going into the playoffs and both have serious potential to make a SB run IMO.
-Kind of a shame that the Raiders-Broncos and Vikings-Lions games were meaningless because they actually were the best games of the day.
-It is going to be interesting to see if the Patriots rebound from this season, or if the Post-Tom Brady Patriots become a moribund franchise.
All 256 regular season games have been played and now it is time for the playoffs! Hope to see ya there and for schedule info on the playoffs check out the official 2020 NFL playoffs thread. This is spiderfan out.