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You’ve awaken from your two-day turkey-induced coma to find a new Hot 16! Welcome back! Here’s a few thoughts on the NFL on this holiday weekend…

1) Drew Brees As MVP Favorite- Brees is clearly in the driver’s seat for MVP, an award that has alluded him in his illustrious 18-year career. While he’s absolutely earned pole position through his play, there’s definitely a “lifetime achievement” sentiment working in his favor. In a year when Brees has broken the record for career passing yards, and with national media fawning over Brees marking up the record book, the overwhelming narrative at hand centers around his teflon approval rating and the fact that he’s never won it (and we all know writers love narratives, ask Russell Westbrook). It’s his award to lose now.

2) Saints As Super Bowl Favorites- New Orleans looks unbeatable, but beware: teams that look unbeatable mid-season often come up short in January and February. Look no further than the ’98 Vikings, ’05 Colts, ’07 Pats, ’09 Colts, ’10 Pats, ’11 Packers, ’15 Panthers etc. None of those teams lost more than two games in the regular season; none won the Super Bowl (cut to Rams fans).

3) Wentz > Goff? Really??- Prior to the 2016 NFL Draft, I went on record saying Jared Goff was the QB that should go #1 overall. Through a season and a half, it seemed like a slam dunk victory for Wentz, but since then, it’s been all Goff. Wentz was injured during a stellar second year, which potential cost him the MVP, as Goff was finding his stride. This year, Goff is the MVP candidate while Wentz has been good, but not the Canton-bound QB he once appeared to be. So are we sure Wentz is better?

4) We Gotta Judge QBs Differently- Why do we do this? Goff is ballin, but his coach gets all the credit for being an innovative play-caller that saved Goff from a one-way ticket to bustville. Meanwhile, Wentz’s coach wins the Super Bowl with the backup quarterback, yet nobody views him as the product of a great system. It makes no sense, but coaching definitely matters.

5) Mitch Making Money- Yet another example of what good coaching can do. Since we wrote our piece defending Mitchell Tribusky from national slander, the Bears are 6-2 with Tribusky, who has 18 TDs and seven picks in that stretch.

6) Bear Witness- Remember what we said about the Saints? Well the Bears are actually the most complete team in football (when their kicker isn’t clanging balls off the goalpost). Chicago is sixth in points per game, third in fewest points allowed, third in sacks, first in takeaways and first in turnover differential, and their style of play translates to all weather conditions. Don’t sleep.

8) Chief Problems- They’ve only lost twice, but giving up 43 and 54 points to the Patriots and Rams doesn’t bode well for Kansas City’s ability to get a big stop when they need it in the playoffs.

9) Yep, The Patriots Are Still Good- Wins against KC, Houston, Indianapolis and at Chicago prove that.

10) Browns Draft Recap- The Cleveland Browns have turned whiffing on high picks into an art form, but GM John Dorsey appears to have gotten his first draft on Lake Erie right. While we have argued vigorously that Baker Mayfield’s performance has been overrated by many, he has shown promise and appears to be a QB that can lead Cleveland to playoff contention (not necessarily Super Bowl contention). Denzel Ward and Nick Chubb have also been tremendous finds in their first season. It could still be argued the team would be better off with some combination of Sam Darnold, Saquon Barkley and Bradley Chubb (I’m still putting Josh Rosen in there, too), but this a promising group nonetheless.

11) The Chubb Vs. Barkley Debate- A certain segment of Browns fans were sucked in by this tweet and couldn’t wait to retweet with glee…

True, Chubb Rock is the real deal. But know this: Saquon Barkley is still special.

Currently, Barkley is on pace for 1,165 rushing yards, 864 receiving yards on 102 catches, and 16 touchdowns. For perspective, Barkley’s rush yards would place him fifth in football in 2017, while he would lead all running backs in receiving yards and would be tied for fourth amongst all players in receptions. His touchdown and yards from scrimmage totals would each rank second only to Todd Gurley last year, who was runner-up for MVP. He has zero fumbles, and he’s doing all this as a rookie behind the 30th ranked offensive (according to Football Outsiders), Eli Manning at quarterback and with Pat Shurmur (13-30 career record) at head coach.

So let’s cut the bullshit. Saquon deserves every bit of hype he’s received. You can always check the tape for yourself.

Part of the best 9-yard run in NFL history.

Part of the best 9-yard run in NFL history.

12) Brown Rice- As ridiculous as the Browns can be, the Condoleezza Rice story was never to be taken seriously. It never had legs and it’s been suggested the Browns did that in order to identify a rat within the organization. What can you say? That end justify the laughable means.

13) Buyer’s Remorse– Of the 10 highest paid quarterbacks, only one of them is a lock to make the playoffs (Rodgers, Ryan, Cousins, Garoppolo, Stafford, Brees, Carr, Luck, Smith & Flacco). Maybe our Anthony Hueston was on to something.

14) Eight Is Enough?- With seven straight W’s, the Houston Texans are the hottest team in the AFC. Why is nobody is talking about it? Some people still believe Bill O’Brien is on the hot seat. If Jason Garrett is off the hot seat, then Bill O’Brien has been off of it.

15) Philly Philthy- We had the Eagles as an NFC playoff team at the start of the season merely out of respect. And while it’s not impossible for Philly to rally, the Eagles haven’t looked right all year, which wasn’t hard to predict. They kicked it so hard after winning their first title—the idea that Wentz missing the playoffs would be enough motivation for the entire team not to get complacent was flawed from jump.

16) Aaron Rodgers Should Probably Win More- It would be nice. He’s sub .500 in his career on the road. We’re coming up on eight years since his lone Super Bowl appearance. He tends to get a lot of passes for his L’s, many of which are justified, but his greatness should transcend the shortcomings around him and translate into more victories. The game at Seattle was a microcosm of Rodgers—Aaron making all of the “wow” plays, but not necessarily doing the little things needed to win, like occasionally checking down to his running back in crunch time instead of trying to win the game on a single play.

Still, watching him try to win the game on a single play is pretty damn entertaining.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend from HHSR!