We’ve passed the point of no return. Each NFL team has played at least nine games, meaning the season (wipes away tear) is more than 50% complete. What have we learned? As usual, The Hot 16 will tell enlighten you.
1) The Bengals Will Win a Playoff Game, But Not For The Reason You Think– Even after the pterodactyl-sized egg Cincy laid on Monday Night Football against Houston, record wise the Bengals are among the class of the NFL. But perhaps more importantly, the competition just isn’t there. If the top half of the current AFC playoff standings hold (a large “if”, yes), Cincinnati would end up with a first round bye. As a result, they’d host a Divisional Round game.
Worst case scenario, that game would be against a handicapped Denver Broncos team quarterbacked by 2016 Peyton Manning outdoors, in Cincinnati, in January. Best case scenario, the Bengals host… the Jets? The Bills? The Raiders? The Steelers (sans Le’Veon Bell and with a one-legged Big Ben)? The Raiders? As dreadful as Marvin Lewis and Andy Dalton have been in playoff games — and they have been Miley Cyrus-level dreadful — they should be equipped to knock off any of those teams at home. There aren’t even sub .500 AFC teams you’d fear in a playoff situation like there are in the NFC (e.g. Giants, Seahawks); nobody benefits from this more than the Bengals.
2) Jet Life, Jet Lies– Speaking of the Jets, Gang Green has enjoyed a surprising 2015 season to this point. Entering Week 9 at 5-3, Todd Bowles’ team appeared to be real deal on the surface. However a cursory glance at the Jets résumé reveals their five wins came against the Browns, Colts, Dolphins, Redskins and Jaguars. To put it another way, you won’t find too many colleges offering scholarships to seniors who just aced their Algebra I final.
And then the Jets lost to the Bills at home on Thursday night.
3) Rex Lying– And speaking of those Buffalo Bills, their now 5-4 record is just as questionable as Rex Ryan’s old squad. Their five wins: Colts, Titans, Jets and the Dolphins twice. Basically, if not for the AFC South and the Miami Dolphins, these two teams would be battling for the top pick in the draft instead of a Wild Card spot. It’s good to beat the teams you’re supposed to beat, but understand teams like these have no real shot in the playoffs.
4) Stainless Jameis– While Marcus Mariota got all of the attention dumped on him at the start of the season, Jameis Winston has quietly put together a solid rookie campaign. He had not thrown a pick since October 4th (or had any turnover for that matter), a span that includes 113 pass attempts. He did that in spite of an inconsistent run game, no Vincent Jackson and a very present Lovie Smith. Although he was picked twice on Sunday, Winston still pulled out a late victory over the hapless Cowboys.
5) Greg Hardy Is A Dirtbag; The Photos Change Nothing– Greg Hardy must be reading straight from the ’91 Sgt. Slaughter PR playbook. All that’s left for him to do is spit on a burning American flag and he’s in there!
The pictures of a battered Nicole Holder surfaced 12 days ago and the debate over whether or not Hardy faced a stiff enough punishment resurfaced along with them. But it shouldn’t have.
If we learned nothing from the Ray Rice episode, the visual representation of domestic violence shouldn’t further impact one’s perceptions of those who commit the violent act after the fact. So if you didn’t think Greg Hardy was a monster after reading the transcript of the encounter, hearing the 911 call, or recognizing that he was convicted of the crime, but was only freed after he gave Holder a ton of money for her troubles, then you shouldn’t think he’s a monster after seeing those photos. And if you thought he was an animal before, you shouldn’t think he’s any more of an animal after viewing the pictures.
6) The Following Teams Are Better Than You Probably Think– Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, St. Louis Rams, Oakland Raiders, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs.
7) The Following Teams Are Worse Than You Probably Think– Atlanta Falcons, Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks, any team that plays in New York or New Jersey, Indianapolis Colts, Carolina Panthers and any team that’s played a game in London this year (except Kansas City).
8) What Do You See?– There’s a whole lot of NFC in #6, and a whole lot of AFC in #7.
9) No More London Games– Please! It’s amazing that America’s chief export to Europe is shitty football teams. It’s equally amazing this hasn’t irreparably damaged foreign relations between the United States and England.
10) Panthers Fans, Please Calm Down– How can a 9-0 team be in the “worse” ledger? Well, when half of your wins are against the Saints, Jags, Bucs, Texans and Titans; when you just played your fourth road game and it’s mid-November; and when your wins against the Eagles, Colts and Packers all came in consecutive home games, that’s how.
Carolina is very good and has earned the right to be considered among the NFL’s elite. But it’s hard to envision them winning the Super Bowl as of now. Luckily, they play a brand of football that translates seamlessly into the playoffs. And they have Cam Newton.
11) Cam Newton Is Doing Everything Right– Cameron has come long way from kid who had his integrity questioned after a stolen laptop incident as a student-athlete. He worked extremely hard to defend his name at Auburn and since coming into the NFL, has worked extremely hard at his craft.
Newton has not only guided the Panthers to victories in nine straight games, and 13 of their last 14 overall dating back to last year, he’s left his fingerprints all over the organization, the fan base and the city of Charlotte. Maybe it was the car wreck he shockingly walked away from that changed his perspective, but Cam has been a regular Ned Flanders of late. His face is present when real issues are going down. He gives away footballs to kids. He tears down signs in an effort to preserve his team’s home field advantage. And recently, a friend of a friend of a friend shared an elevator with Cam after a game at Bank of America Stadium and Cam entered the elevator carrying puppies. Seriously. Puppies. For no reason at all!
The man who was on National Championship teams at three different colleges on two different levels is finally starting to win big in the pros. And everything seems to be falling into place. It’s hard to dislike Cam Newton right now…
(unless you’re a lady with too much time on her hands and really hates dabbing).
9) ROMOrse– The biggest mistake the Cowboys made this season was putting Tony Romo on the short-term IR. Healthy enough to play since late October, Romo could’ve returned weeks ago had he not been slotted to return (by rule) until this week. Had Romo been back sooner, Dallas probably wouldn’t have gone on a still active seven-game slide.
On the flip side, the Romo injury afforded us the opportunity for Jerry Jones to hilariously remark about Brandon Weeden, “You won’t see a more gifted passer.”
Note: Brandon Weeden was released by the Dallas Cowboys this week.
The Cowboys were so screwed.
11) These Refs Man…– How is it that they seem to get worse every year Sunday? Nobody knows what a catch is anymore, one of the most fundamental parts of the game. Can you imagine NBA refs constantly redefining what a dribble was?
12) The Best Running Back In The League Is…– Todd Gurley. I made my case for Le’Veon Bell being overrated, and I’ve sung the praises of Adrian Peterson for years on this site. But there’s no tailback I’d rather have than Gurley right now.
Though just seven games into his career (six if you throw out the Steelers game where he didn’t start and had only six carries), Gurley is fourth in the league in rushing and is two and a half first downs from being second in the league. His yards per carry average also trumps the league leader’s (Peterson) 5.5 to 4.9.
Sidebar: Gurley leads all rushers in that category with a minimum of 100 carries.
Peterson has also fumbled five times through nine games, while Gurley also proven to be a more effective pass catcher.
Still love AD, but a new era is upon us.
13) Johnny Manziel Can Be A Successful Starting NFL Quarterback– The accuracy is there. The arm strength is there. The deep ball, the mobility, the ability to throw on the run is all there. It’s the leadership and intangibles that is holding Johnny back more than anything. Well that, and a below average receiving corp, running game, defense, coaching staff and front office. Why do the Cleveland Browns hate their fans so much?
At least Johnny has the job for good now. It’s up to him to make the most of this opportunity.
14)
The Legion of Boom is dead. 💯
— HipHopSportsReport (@HHSReport) October 18, 2015
That was written back on October 18th, but this secondary’s “homegoing” was on Sunday night. Even after suffering two strip sacks, one returned for a score, Carson Palmer still diced up the once vaunted defense for 363 yards and three TDs in Seattle. And any way you slice it up, this defense just ain’t what is used to be.
Despite a decent ranking on fewest yards and points allowed, Seattle’s four interceptions are tied for last in the NFL. Moreover, they’ve allowed and average of 30.8 points in their five losses, while their wins came against Jimmy Clausen, the 2-7 Matt Stafford, the freshly benched Colin Kaepernick and Matt Cassel. So yeah.
I wrote about the falloff of the Seattle Seahawks being right around the corner before the season, but in no way did I expect it to be this hard, this fast.
You wanna know how bad things have gotten? When’s the last time you heard Richard Sherman run his mouth!? Exactly.
15) Are The Packers In Trouble Or Not?– The Answer: Not really. Losing consecutive road games to two teams with a combined two losses after 10 weeks is nothing to be ashamed of. So let’s remove those from the equation. Then the Packers took a bad L to Detroit (who did absolutely everything in their power to give the game away). Are we really going to sound the alarm for one bad loss? That’s how everybody messed up last year when they threw dirt on my boy.
The Packers have issues, no question. Their leaky defense has gotten them into problems on more than one occasion, the receivers aren’t winning on the outside, Eddie Lacy is being outplayed by James Starks, Eddie Lacy looks like he ate James Starks, and people are suggesting Mike McCarthy should take back the play-calling duties.
Aaron Rodgers is also not himself. Holding onto the ball too long, not being as accurate as we’re accustomed to seeing and not being close to the same QB on the road that he is at Lambeau. Fortunately, two games left against the somewhat surprising first place Minnesota Vikings gives Green Bay ample opportunity to right the ship.
16) The Patriots are the best team in the league– And goofy GQ photo shoots aside, Tom Brady is the runaway MVP.
More to come.