We’re down to the final two weeks of the NFL season! What have we learned? The Hot 16 has your back. Peep the knowledge below:
1) It Was All Good Just A Week Ago- Remember HHSR’s article on the Washington Redskins’ handling of Robert Griffin? That was written back when Griffin looked like the new face of the league for the next decade. The fall of RGIII is unlike anything in recent memory. This dude could run like the wind, throw it 60 yards on a dime and was supposed to change the way we thought about sub sandwiches. And now it’s all up in smoke.
2) Who’s To Blame?- Griffin’s time in Washington is pretty much done. And amazingly, he may take out Jay Gruden on his way out the door. Taking out a former Super Bowl winning coach AND a brand new coach in consecutive years may be his most outstanding achievement during his tenure in Washington.
Gruden recently came out and blamed the media for his perceived fractured relationship with RGIII. This is of course ridiculous because he’s repeatedly shaded his QB in front of the press by saying things like, “Robert had some fundamental flaws,” and that “His footwork was below average”.
That’s more shade than 45! Knock it off, Gruden.
3) Detroit Vs. Everybody- After all these years, I’m still not convinced Matthew Stafford is a particularly good quarterback. Take away Calvin Johnson, he seems slightly above average at best. Couple that with a shaky injury history and questionable decision making and what do we have? How deep do you see him taking a team in January?
We’ll know if Detroit is real deal Holyfield if they can knock off the Packers in Lambeau, with possibly the NFC North title and a playoff birth hanging in the balance in Week 17.
Then again, if Joe Flacco and Eli Manning have three Super Bowls wins combined…
4) Moral Victory- The Arizona Cardinals just keep winning. They’re down to about their seventh quarterback and it seems like they have more starters on the inactive list than they do in uniform. What they’ve doing is admirable, but they’re clearly living on borrowed time.
5) New Look Broncos- Somehow, the Denver Broncos have transformed their pass-happy aerial assault to a run-focused attack led by preseason third-string running back CJ Anderson. Anderson has garnered much of the praise for this, and rightfully so, especially after single-handedly swinging fantasy leagues. But this new found ground & pound offense started before Anderson surfaced as the new starter in Denver. While CJ has topped the 160 yard mark twice, Ronnie Hillman put together two 100-yard games prior to injuring his foot, thus indicating Denver’s overall willingness to flip the script as the temperature dipped.
6) Praising Peyton’s Patience- So yes, the running backs for Denver deserve some credit. But John Fox, offensive coordinator Adam Gase and Peyton Manning deserve a tremendous amount of credit for sticking to this plan, particularly Manning, who is demonstrating a significant amount of selflessness. The question is, will they stick to the program come playoff time? Don’t be shocked if Denver falls back into some old habits.
7) Running Back- The Broncos, Chiefs, Cowboys, Seahawks, Patriots (at times), Bengals, Eagles and Ravens are just a few of the contenders that have made running the football a priority. The “Space Football” employed by Green Bay and the like is fun, but running the rock is not as archaic as you might think.
8) Achilles Heel- The Kansas City Chiefs are 8-6 and in the thick of the AFC playoff chase…it sure would be nice if they had an NFL caliber wide receiver on the roster help them when they have a need to score points, something good NFL teams are wont to do.
Is this guy really going to decide the AFC playoffs? That’s CJ Anderson, by the way.
9) Boom or Bust- It seemed like the Seattle Seahawks defense psychologically was never the same after Peyton Manning went 80 yards on them in less than 60 seconds to tie their game in the fourth quarter of their Week 3 game in Seattle. Maybe it was that, or maybe it was the injury to Bobby Wagner, but the “Legion of Boom” was jacked up for about eight weeks. But guess what, they’re back like cooked crack. The champs have won seven of eight games and are allowing less than seven points per game in the last month.
The Seahawks are clearly peaking at the right time.
10) Man…Really?– Entering Week 16’s action, there’s still a possibility that three AFC North teams will make the playoffs. As a Cleveland Browns fan, I find this sickening because none of those three teams are the Cleveland Browns.
Entering Week 16’s action, there’s still a possibility that a nine loss NFC South team will not only make the playoffs, but host a playoff game, while an 11-win Packers team could fail to qualify altogether.
A chill just went up my spine.
Sidebar: This Playoff Machine thing is pretty cool this time of year.
11) MVP- Coming off the worst game of his professional career, Aaron Rodgers has now slid into the #2 slot on this writer’s hypothetical MVP ballot behind Tom Brady. Rodgers can easily finish strong enough to wrestle his second MVP from Brady (who would have three). But all things being equal the final two weeks, Brady’s comparable stats and slightly better record versus a significantly harder schedule supersedes the head-to-head W for AR.
12) So Much For “Must See TV”- Mercifully, the Thursday Night Football schedule ended with the Titans/Jaguars— a game in which the NFL should’ve paid fans to watch. Nine Thursday games were decided by two TDs or more in 2014. Dope theme music aside, I just can’t take it anymore.
13) St. Louis Blues- Turns out the St. Louis Rams are a pretty good football team, just like many of us assumed they would be in the preseason. All they need to take the next step is a quarterback. In case you’re wondering, the 2015 free agent quarterback class looks like this: Jake Locker, Brian Hoyer, Mark Sanchez, Michael Vick and Christian Ponder.
UGH! (In my absolute best Pusha T voice).
14) Johnny’s Quest- We said the move was necessary, but the people who are proclaiming Johnny Manziel to be a failure of an NFL quarterback after one start are all clinically insane. That said, his game versus Cincinnati last week was about as bad one could imagine. Unfortunately for Johnny, the entire Browns team was flat lined simultaneously that day. We won’t be able to get a true read on Manziel until the rest of the team around him looks remotely like a professional football team.
15) Bear Down- Which brings us to the Jay Cutler saga in Chicago. For anyone who believes intangibles don’t matter in sports, please introduce them to Jay Cutler— a man with all the “arm talent” (this seems to be a new phrase of the moment) in the world, but none of the sound decision making on the field or necessary leadership qualities off the field to lead his teams through its darkest hours. He’s the anti-Tim Tebow. Hate on Tebow if you must, but it was never proven that he couldn’t win in the NFL.
Cutler took the Bears to an NFL Championship Game just a few years ago, but the team has never been able to recover from Aaron Rodgers vanquishing them in that game, then in seemingly every subsequent contest (including that 55-14 Sunday night demolition earlier this season). Marc Trestman has now taken the ball out of Cutler’s hands for the final two games in a feeble attempt to get through to him. Whether it’s successful or not is insignificant, as sweeping changes are likely to happen in Chi-City regardless. The media finds him repulsive, his teammates don’t seem like him and Bears fans universally despise him. Hard to believe Jay Cutler is the second-greatest quarterback in Bears history.
16) Wise Words From Calogero- Between Cutty, RGIII (won Rookie of the Year in 2013) and Colin Kaepernick (took his team to a Super Bowl and an NFC Championship Game in 2013 & 2014) the QB position has never been so fragile. Earlier this season, Rodgers had to tell people to “R-E-L-A-X” and many had the audacity to throw dirt on Brady! The era of news coverage of which we live makes succeeding at this position harder than ever— the expeditious fall of these three signal-callers is indicative of that, despite the immense talent they each possess.
I suddenly have an urge to watch A Bronx Tale.