NFL RECAP – WEEK SIXTEEN
STATE OF THE GAME
I realize just how little I
know about the NFL. I (my doggies)
predicted five games this week and missed them all. Really, do you think you could miss five
games, important games - not Raiders vs Panthers games, if you tried?
Dallas lost in OT to New
Orleans
Pittsburgh turnovers give
Cincy win
Minnesota dominates the
Texans in Houston
Ravens dismantle Giants
Ditto for Seahawks over
Niners
Of the five I would say the
Viking win in Houston was the most surprising.
The degree of the loss by both the Giants and the Niners was also
surprising. This is both the beauty and
the curse of the NFL: There are no sure
things, there are no super teams that can deliver every week.
5-10 MUSINGS FROM THE GAMES
NFC Scenarios
Four teams are in - Falcons,
Niners, Packers, Seahawks.
Three teams control their own
destiny for the other two spots - Redskins, Cowboys,Vikings
Two teams need some help -
Bears and Giants
The Falcons are the only
playoff team in the NFC that has nothing going on next week. They have clinched the top seed. The Packers can clinch the number two seed by
beating the Vikings in Minnesota - but the Vikings need the win to clinch the
remaining wild card playoff position.
The Niners play the Cards at home next week which means they are a
virtual lock to pin down the NFC West.
The Seahawks then ease into the fifth seed. The winner of Dallas at Washington wins the
NFC East and the loser misses the playoffs.
Chicago is number six if they beat the Lions in Detroit and the Vikings
lose to the Packers. The Giants get in
if they beat the Eagles and the Bears, Vikings, and Cowboys all lose (not that
big of a stretch). Predicted outcome
1) Atlanta
2) San Francisco
3) Green Bay
4) Washington
5) Seattle
6) Minnesota
AFC Scenarios
The AFC playoff teams are
locked down and all that remains to be determined is the seeding among the four
division winners.
Cincy holds the number six
seed and Indy the number five seed. The
Texans must win in Indy next week to secure the number one seed (they could
also secure number one if the Broncos and Patriots both lose at home next week
to the Chiefs and Dolphins, respectively - that won't happen). So, the Texans could range from 1-3.
The Broncos are the number
two seed if they beat KC and Houston wins.
They are number 1 seed with a win and a Houston loss. They fall to number three if they lose and
New England wins.
The Ravens are a number four
seed unless they beat Cincy next week and New England loses to Miami.
The Patriots are a number
three seed that could climb to number one if they win and the Broncos and
Texans both lose, or to number two if they win and one of the Broncos or Texans
lose. They fall to number four with a
loss and a Ravens win.
You have to count on New
England and Denver taking care of business against weak, uninterested teams,
which then renders the Cincy/Baltimore game a week 17 exhibition. That means what happens in Indy will most
likely control the top three seeds. The
Texans need the win to get the number one seed.
The Colts? They are locked at
number five. Assuming Denver and New England both win, they will play the
Ravens in round one whether they win or lose.
Thus, I look for the Texans to get off the dung pile and finally secure
the number one seed and the AFC to look as follows:
1) Houston
2) Denver
3) New England
4) Baltimore
5) Indy
6) Cincy
Just like Old Times
There was a time when the
Cowboys/Redskins was the best rivalry in football. The 2012 incarnations of these teams are not
as dominant as some their predecessors, but that doesn't make next week's
showdown in Washington for the NFC East crown and less exciting. After a full season of high wire acts the
Cowboys still control their own destiny.
Ditto for the Redskins who have won six in a row after their coach
appeared to write off the season after a horrid loss to Carolina. The house will be rocking and I think the
Skins will get it done.
Vikings Rush
The Texans won the battle
against Adrian Peterson but lost the war against the Vikings on Sunday. By winning in Houston the Vikings now control
their own destiny. If they beat the
Packers at home next week they are in the playoffs. The Vikings defense snuffed
out the Houston running game and Matt Schaub was mostly inept. Even of the Texans secure the number one seed
they don't look like the team to beat in the AFC. Meanwhile, I like the Vikings chances even
though Green Bay will be playing for a bye.
Should the Vikings win and
the Packers fall to the number three seed, the two teams will turn around and
play each other again the next week in Green Bay in the first round of the
playoffs. How fun is that?
Manning-Like
The Denver Broncos just keep
taking care of the business. The Broncos
won their tenth straight game on Sunday against Cleveland. The Broncos did not play particularly
well. They had double-digit penalties
and turned the ball over in the end zone.
Yet, they won going away 34-12.
The Broncos defense disrupts and the offense makes enough plays to put
big points on the board every week. One
watches the Broncos and thinks they could easily take their game to another
level.
It looks most likely that the
AFC divisional round will feature the Patriots coming to Denver (assuming New
England survives a likely round one match-up against the Bengals). What would have been the odds at the end of
last year that we would ever see another Manning/Brady playoff contest?
As a Bronco fan I would like
to see New England trip up and lose before then. As a football fan New England vs Denver is a
must-have.
WEEKLY AWARDS
MVP
The Vikings defense got it
done in Houston. The Vikings physically
dominated the line of scrimmage and gave the teams in the AFC a recipe on how
to play the Texans. Take away the running game and hope to put enough pressure
on Schaub to make him just another QB.
EL BUSTO
Ben Rothisberger threw two
critical picks (one a pick six) that led directly to Cincy's victory in
Pittsburgh yesterday. The Steelers have
played through injuries all year, but I still thought they would have enough
juice to take down the Bengals at home.
We are so conditioned to seeing the Steelers play well when it matters
but you don't win on history in the NFL.
The Steelers were once 6-3.
Injuries and inept play now have them at 7-8 and out of the playoffs.
SURPRISE-SURPRISE-SURPRISE
This week's Jim Neighbor's
award goes to the Seattle Seahawks (again).
The game in Seattle reminded me of one of those Oregon games when the
Ducks jump on some helpless team early and often and the game is over in the
fourth quarter. The rest of the NFC
should count its lucky stars that the Seahawks are unlikely to play any home
playoff games. I am not surprised they
won. I am surprised that they made the
Niners look like the Cardinals (or at least the Bucs)
TREASURE OF THE WEEK
The Saints and the Cowboys
played a wildly entertaining and exciting game that in the end meant
nothing. With the Giants losing in
Baltimore, The Cowboys are right where they wanted to be: They control their
own destiny next week against Washington.
The Saints have been swimming against the tide all year. Kudos to the Saints for being professional
and playing hard to the finish.
TRASH OF THE WEEK
It is that time of year where
there will be games that maybe only moms and girlfriends dare to watch. I suspect Raiders vs Panthers was one of
those games
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