Happy holidays to all. Here are 10 NFL thoughts I had regarding Week 16.
One pet peeve I have is teams throwing five-yard pass patterns on third down when they need eight yards for a first down. The Texans are masters at this and it nearly cost them a key victory Saturday night against the Bengals. Bill O’Brien plays not to lose rather than win. He’s never going to be a good NFL coach because of this.
Very sad sights to see Marcus Mariota and Derek Carr both suffering broken legs. I don’t expect the Titans to have any spirit left for their regular season finale at home against the Texans. Would you if your quarterback was now Matt Cassel? The league should have a statue of limitations on veteran journeymen who are stiffs such as Cassel. The Raiders still have all the offensive pieces, but they need Matt McGloin to make plays. Jack Del Rio would be making a mistake to scale down his offense to adjust to the hew quarterback.
Todd Bowles has more guts than any of his Jets players. Despite being very sick he still flew to be with his team. He could be more ill now after watching the Jets lay an egg against the Patriots something they hadn’t done in their last seven meetings versus New England. You know your team is very, very bad when even Bill Belichick calls off the hunt resting Tom Brady in the fourth quarter. The Patriots had the game – and 17-point spread – safely secured by halftime.
The city of St. Louis should be grateful to Los Angeles for taking the Rams off their hands. Jared Goff is 0-6 as an NFL starter. Todd Gurley has rushed for 100 yards once in his last 23 games. John Fassel’s coaching makes you think about the good old days under Jeff Fisher. If Cuba ever wants to dump more undesirables on the U.S. again they should contact Stan Kroenke.
The Seahawks aren’t nearly as good as they’ve been the past three seasons.
David Johnson should be the league MVP. He’s put up 100 yards from scrimmage in every game and has scored a league-best 20 touchdowns through Sunday. Johnson has accomplished this despite a mediocre offensive line and a declining Carson Palmer.
Hooray to the Browns. The spot set up great for them hosting the Chargers, but they still played hard and finally got some lucky breaks. Robert Griffin III, though, is not the quarterback answer. Nor is Cody Kessler.
If Eli Manning gets nominated for the Hall of Fame, I will personally fly to Canton, Ohio to lobby against him. At best, he’s a slightly above average quarterback. As far as winning a pair of Super Bowls – aided by a strong defense and luck – I say Trent Dilfer, Mark Rypien and Brad Johnson.
It’s hard to take the Dolphins as a serious playoff team when they allow the Bills to pile up 589 yards. Beating the Jets and Bills in consecutive road games does not all of a sudden make Miami a mentally and physically tough team. Despite a 10-5 record, the Dolphins have outscored their opponents by a whooping four points.
Jordy Nelson is full throttle again. Clay Matthews had his best game of the season this past Saturday. No team pass blocks better. Look out for the Packers. It’s just too bad that Ted “sit on my hands” Thompson couldn’t have picked up a veteran linebacker such as Sio Moore to help out his defense.
