Five Wide: 2022 Week Fifteen

By Thomas Willoughby

Another week in the books, and this one might well be the wildest yet. The NFL saw the attention our football has gotten over the past month, and decided to turn the dramometer up to a billion because Week 15 had it all. Saturday games, Sunday games, it’s all going on.

It’s also, lest we forget, the Christmas period. And some teams got well into the spirit of the season. There’s a bit of a through-line with this week’s Five Wide. It’s the time for giving, so let’s talk about how a bunch of teams gifted victories to their opponents this weekend!

Lay Off Matt Ryan

I’m telling you, man, you’ve gotta be nicer to Matt Ryan. That man is in the midst of having the worst year of his professional career, possibly his life, and the last thing he needs or deserves right now is to be the butt of everyone’s jokes for something that’s not even his fault. Again.

Yes, in case you missed it, the Colts, led by Matt Ryan, blew a lead. This wasn’t just any lead, however. It was the mother of all leads. 33-0 up at halftime on the road at Minnesota, the Vikings’ claim on the NFC North title was one half of football away from being seriously questioned. Instead of seeing the job out, however, the Colts imploded. Spectacularly. Who’s to blame? The defense that allowed first down after first down? The run game that, despite the best efforts of their RB2 and RB3 respectively, couldn’t match Jonathan Taylor? Or the receiving corps that is reliant on Michael Pittman exclusively? No, it’s the old man under center. Duh.

Matt Ryan now has the dishonour of quarterbacking the biggest collapse in Super Bowl history, and NFL history full stop. Wanna know the maddest thing? He didn’t throw an interception in either game. In fact, he was largely fine on Saturday. That gets forgotten, though, and for fair reasons. Just, be a bit kinder, yeah?

Cowboys Failing Successfully

The Dallas Cowboys, thick in the hunt for the NFC East title, traveled over to Jacksonville, to face a Jaguars side quietly putting together a bit of a run on the AFC South themselves. For a while, it looked like the Cowboys would waltz to another victory and keep the heat on the Eagles. Then Trevor Lawrence showed up.

By 17 points, the Cowboys led. They were in cruise control. But Lawrence is heating up. You may recall, a few months ago, we jumped the gun a little in proclaiming the Jags a good team. They stumbled a lot in that time, but they’re finding their way. 318 yards and 4 touchdowns against one of the best defenses in the league? That’s serious stuff. This feels like a statement win, and the beginning of “Trevor Lawrence: NFL Quarterback”.

As for the Cowboys, they know they need to beat the Eagles on Sunday and hope Jalen Hurts’ shoulder takes a bit of time to heal up. They may have clinched a playoff berth despite Sunday’s defeat, but they’re firmly on a wildcard seat right now. That’s going to frustrate them.

Tampa Bay Lose Again!

Tampa Bay, what the hell are you doing? Tom Brady and company have had a torrid time of it this season, despite sitting atop of the NFC South, but have been undeniably awful for large stretches of the season. On Sunday, they added another defeat to their growing pile of Ls. Just win a single game already so the rest of us can stop looking at the playoffs hopefully.

They hosted the Bengals, a team with divisional aspirations of their own, and PUMELLED them. That Bucs defense came to play on Sunday, and they went into halftime up 17-3. With results around the NFC South going the way they did, that might well have been likely enough to see them over the line. That offense, though. They did not come to play. The run game was stale, the receivers (Mike Evans aside) were largely non-existent, and, little by little, that lead disappeared.

The Bucs are still in control of the NFC South. They hold a one-game lead over every other team in that godforsaken pit. They play both the Panthers and the Falcons over their final three games, however. One wrong move, and Brady could be experiencing January football from the comfort of his futon, for the first time in a long time.

Oh Patriots. WYD.

So you know the other week I pointed and laughed at a single John Wolford play, without really offering much by the way of commentary? Let’s do that again. You know where this is going…

What just happened?? The @Raiders win on the final play!! #NEvsLV pic.twitter.com/cmKNUuab1k
— NFL (@NFL) December 19, 2022

Lol. Lmao. It’s the Chandler Jones stiff-arm, for me. That’s the funniest moment in all this. Because Mac Jones hasn’t a clue what’s going on. He’s about 5 yards from where Meyers’ pass ends up, and he’s just pushed to the ground. Insult to injury, and all that.

I can’t accept that Bill Belichick signed off on this. I’m choosing to believe that Stevenson and Meyers went completely off-book and no one was aware of it. Hell, pin it all on Matt Patricia. That’d be even funnier. Either way, I’ve nothing more to add to this. Just watch it again. Pure comedy.

AFC South: A Division, And You Cannot Argue Otherwise

The NFC South has been given some stick of late, but its AFC counterpart is bordering on equally incompetent. That said, those teams seem to have an idea of how to win. Not much of one, but one nonetheless.

Bottom of the pile is the Texans. They’ve been in 2023 Draft-mode for about 3 years at this point, but they’ve been trying. That collection of depth and XFL players had the Cowboys nervous last week, and took the Kansas City Chiefs to overtime this past week. They’re 1-12-1, but there’s something to build on, there. I’m interested in how they look in 2 years’ time. We’ve already covered the Colts, I’m not giving poor Matt Ryan any more grief.

Interestingly, we have ourselves a title race. The Jags (again, aforementioned), have pieced together enough wins of late to bring themselves within a game of the Titans. The Titans lost on Sunday, but what I found interesting was how Ryan Tannehill exited the game with an ankle injury, and returned with it heavily strapped. They’ll play Malik Willis when hell freezes over, apparently. 6-8 and 7-7 respectively, the pair face each other on the final day, potentially with the title on the line. It’s the sort of incompetence you kind of want to watch.

Features Image Credit: Juan Figueroa-The Dallas Morning News

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

 5/5