Five Wide: 2024 Week SIxteen

By Thomas Willoughby

Much like the NFL, Five Wide stops for no one. Despite the short turnaround, your boy put the hours in and pulled this together in double time. You’re welcome, dear reader. Merry Christmas to you.

We’re right at the end now, folks. There are a handful of playoff spots left, across both conferences, being played for by about 6 teams. Show time.

We’ve got games basically every day this week, too. Before you dive into that, though, get a mug of hot chocolate on the go, and enjoy a very festive Five Wide.

Penix Envy

Been a while since I forced the Falcons comings and goings on you, so I’m opening this week’s edition with it. Over the past week, the Atlanta Falcons have: beaten the Raiders to snap their 4 game losing streak, benched their $180mil QB in Kirk Cousins for 8th overall rookie pick Michael Penix Jr., and beaten the New York Giants to move to 8-7, keeping their (slim) playoff hopes alive. A wild one, to be sure.

Penix’s stat line is fine. 18/27, 202 yards, and an interception. Though, I will say, those numbers do not represent the performance as a whole. Penix looked pretty good! A good 5 or 6 pass attempts were dropped. And that pick. I am apoplectic. We need to start attributing some interceptions to receivers, man. Come on.

I sat by and watched Matt Ryan, my GOAT, play out a 12 interception season, of which about 4 were actually his fault. I will not let history repeat. Michael Penix Jr. is an innocent man. Strike that interception from his permanent record.

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Southern Showdown

Keeping it local, the race for the NFC South is starting to reach boiling point. With the Commanders defeating the Eagles, it certainly feels like the only way for either the Falcons or the Buccaneers to make the playoffs is to win the division. The Falcons were well ahead, but an abysmal November and December saw their sizable lead squandered. Which the Buccaneers were all too well to jump on.

Tampa Bay went into Sunday at 8-6, off the back of 4 wins in a row, and having knocked off their most difficult opponent, the Chargers, only last week. Cowboys, Panthers, Saints. The road to postseason football was clear. Win out, and they were in. 

Then they lost to the Cowboys.

Dallas’ own season was ended earlier in the day, so all they’ve to play for now is pride, and the future of their head coach. Can I just say, as an aside: Cowboys fans- how on Earth do you do this every week? I follow one of the most frustrating teams in the NFL, and this almost sent me over the edge.

With that defeat, the Falcons saw themselves jump back to top of the South. 2 games each. For the Falcons, a trip to Washington, then hosting Carolina to see the season out. The Buccaneers get 2 games at home; the Panthers and the Saints. ESPN reckons it’s 50/50, though the Falcons travelling to Washington nudges it in Tampa’s favour, for me. Either way, buckle up. The next fortnight is going to be interesting.

Twas the weekend before Christmas

The NFL has decided to make Christmas Day an NFL day, regardless of what day it falls on. This season, Christmas Day is a Wednesday. In order to give players enough time to rest between games, and in order to have 2 games on Christmas Day, we got ourselves a double dose of Saturday football.

Not sure how I feel about it.

Kansas City rolled past the Texans to maintain their ridiculous run on one score game victories. Though, the story of that game can be found in the injury of Tank Dell, whose season is certainly over following a gruesome knee injury. Really fun player, hope he’ll be ok.

The 9.30pm game gave us the latest edition of Ravens/Steelers rivalry. What started as a pretty close affair ended up ultimately being a comprehensive win for the Ravens. 34-17, from the second quarter onwards they were barely threatened. The AFC North is still open, with both Ravens and Steelers on 10-5 records.

Christmas Day gives us Chiefs @ Steelers at 6pm, and Ravens @ Texans at 9.30pm. Both on Netflix (#NotAnAd), and I think Beyonce is doing some sort of halftime show somewhere. And if you think I’m watching either when a brand new Wallace & Gromit is out the same day, you’ve got another thing coming.

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

History Makers

When Aaron Rodgers signed for the New York Jets, you can imagine he did so hoping to re-write the Jets into the history books. It’s been an up and down period for Rodgers with the Jets, but, this weekend, he did it. Aaron Rodgers’ New York Jets have made history.

Didn’t say it was good history. That’s impressive! They were leading at half time, and saw their 9-6 lead whittle away over the course of the second half. I guess they thought their best bet was to keep their foot on the pedal? Either way, outstanding work.

Top Four Tua

Speaking of history, the very talented, oft-injured Tua Tagovailoa got himself a piece of history this weekend, throwing his 100th NFL touchdown pass. He becomes only the fourth quarterback in Dolphins history, joining Dan Marino, Bob Griese, and Ryan Tannehill in that illustrious collection.

The mad thing is he’s done it in only 63 games. Had it not been for his various ails, it’s not unreasonable to believe he’d have reached that milestone a while back. Tua’s such an interesting case because it always feels like he’s underrated. He’s missed lots of football in his career, and the Dolphins are abysmal when he’s not there. Mike McDaniel gets a lot of the blame, of course, for not being able to scheme without him. But the Dolphins are a different beast with him.

Here’s hoping he stays healthy for the foreseeable future. He’s probably not coming close to Marino’s TD record, but he could definitely surpass Tannehill with a full season.

Features Image Credit: AP Photo

Thomas Willoughby

NFL ANALYST

THOMAS IS A WRITER, AND REGULAR GUEST ON THE TOUCHDOWN REVIEW SHOW PODCAST, FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. YOU CAN FIND HIM @WILLO290592 ON TWITTER

Twitter Envelope
5/5