Post by spiderfan on Dec 13, 2021 20:10:15 GMT -8
Hola SCtoC! Week 14 of the NFL season is in the books (as Dave Dameshek used to say) so it is time now for this week's edition of Web of Football. I'm Spiderfan your official NFL analyst and without further ado, let us begin!
Blow Outs and Almost Comebacks
Most weeks there are a couple blowouts and occasionally there is an almost comeback, but usually most games are competitive. That was not the case this week. The Chiefs blew out the Raiders, the Seahawks blew out the Texans, the Broncos blew out the Lions, the Titans blew out the Jaguars, the Saints blew out the Jets, and the Chargers blew out the Tinys (although the Tinys made the final score a 16 point gap, it wasn't competitive and they were never close to coming back). All of these are examples of superior teams beating up on lower competition. This is an actually an uncommon occurrence in NFL as usually bad record teams at least give good record team problems, if not a loss. It made for some boring football.
What wasn't boring and ended up being unsatisfying was the numerous almost comebacks that happened in Week 14. You had the Steelers nearly comeback from a 29 point deficit against the Vikings, only for said comeback to squashed because Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth dropped the touchdown catch that would have set up the tying 2 point conversion. The Artists Formerly known as Redskins made a 24-0 halftime deficit into a 27-20 final score. The Browns at one point led by 18 points, but because of Lamar Jackson's injury it wasn't surprising to me that the Ravens didn't complete the comeback. The once mighty Panthers defense couldn't help their offense comeback from a 26-14 deficit even though the Panthers ended up only down 8 with all 3 timeouts with 3 minutes left. The Bengals were down 14 points in the 4th quarter and scored 17 unanswered to take an OT lead, but the 49ers would not go quietly and won with a TD.
I would be remiss not to mention the most notable almost comeback of the day, the Bills against the Buccaneers. The Bills were down 21 points at halftime and trailed by 17 in the 4th quarter and would go on to force OT because Buccaneers OC Byron Leftwich decided it would be a good idea to not run the ball with Leonard Fournette even though Fournette's running ability is what got the Buccaneers their massive lead AND because Tom Brady decided that after setting the all time completion record to just start throwing incompletions for some inexplicable reason. Ultimately it didn't matter because after a Bills three and out, the Bucs scored a TD in OT and won the game.
None of these games were "good games". Let's hope the down stretch there are less lame early and late window games and more games that are entertaining and compelling throughout.
Turning Points Can Come Early
Earlier in the season, the Arizona Cardinals absolutely wiped the floor with the Los Angeles Rams. I expected similar results (especially since Jalen Ramsey was out) and those similar results did not come. The turning point of the game to prevent a similar result came early. The Cardinals were up 3-0 got into the red zone and were looking like they were going to take a 10-0 lead. Instead, there was a miscommunication and Kyler Murray threw an interception. The air came out of the balloon, the Rams took advantage of that interception and took a 7-3 lead and the Cardinals were playing catch up from there and even though it was tied at halftime, the Cardinals never would take retake the lead.
The Cardinals missed yet another opportunity in primetime to showcase their elite potential and I'm skeptical at this point about any postseason success.
Other thoughts:
-RIP Demaryius Thomas
-Urban Meyer needs to rebuild his offensive coaching staff as much as the Jaguars roster if the reports about the Jaguars floating around have any validity.
-The hour period where it looked the Bears would upset the Packers sure was fun.
-Speaking of the Bears, I LOVE the idea of them bringing on Ohio State HC Ryan Day to replace Matt Nagy. www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/trace-armstrong-discussed-top-management-position-with-bears-ohio-states-ryan-day-part-of-possible-package/ I think when possible college HCs/OCs should be reunited with star college QBs when they enter the NFL. Those were the guys who helped get those QBs into the NFL after all.
-The playoff picture is close right now, but I'm gonna wait a week or two before doing a whole breakdown as I think that things will either get crazier or settle down.
Onto Week 15! As always I hope ya enjoyed and I hope to see ya again next week! This is spiderfan out.