NFL Review: Week 16
A belated Merry Christmas from all of us at The Touchdown. I hope you enjoyed your celebrations and – if you’re a Browns or Cardinals fan – your day wasn’t ruined too much by the unfortunate outcome to your game.
Anyway, Week 16 Sunday was a day where a few star names really put their marker down on this chase for the postseason. Only two more weeks to go until the playoffs, with just the Dolphins & Saints left to face off this week on Monday Night Football. We’ll get to that massive game later, but for now let’s look at how the Bills, Bengals & Cowboys dominated Sunday afternoon’s headlines.
Revenge For Buffalo
A few weeks ago, Patriots fans were celebrating turning the tide of the division back towards Gillette Stadium. The “3 pass game” was punctuated by the Patriots defense celebrating wildly that they’d shut down Buffalo’s explosive offense and run the ball down their throat. On Sunday, that script was flipped, as the Buffalo Bills arrived and wrestled control of the AFC East back to Western New York State.
Josh Allen was superb, guiding Buffalo to a massive division road win and helping steady what has been a wobbling Bills’ ship. Allen’s poise in the pocket and touch on his passes was a joy to see. We all know about his athleticism, the ability to run, the rocket arm he possesses… but the finesse he showed in dissecting a very good Patriots defense shows he is truly taking that next step into being an elite QB.
Stefon Diggs did a mini “Aaron Rodgers talking to Chicago” impression by having a conversation with the front row of Patriot fans after his touchdown grab late in the first half. The Bills put it all together and put their foot down – this Buffalo team is not ready to give up the AFC East Crown just yet. Sean McDermott now knows he needs to coach his team to wins over the Falcons and the Jets and they’ll secure a home playoff game.
On the other sideline, this was an unideal day for Mac Jones to have one of his worst performances of the season. Damien Harris ran well from the backfield, to the tune of over 100 yards and 3 TDs, but the Patriots couldn’t find the big play down the field when they needed it, and the Bills defense flew around making up for their lacklustre performance in Buffalo a few weeks ago.
This is not to say that Mac Jones hasn’t had an impressive rookie year – he absolutely has – but clearly the crowning of him as “the next Tom Brady,” or “Offensive Rookie of the Year” was a little premature in my eyes. New England have clearly had a bounceback year, and barring a very strange set of results in the next two weeks will definitely join Buffalo in the AFC Playoffs. Let me tell you… I wouldn’t mind seeing the Trilogy completed between these two…
I’d also like to thank the lady who asked Bill Belichick if he had any New Year’s Resolutions he’d like to share in the post game media conference. Absolutely top tier comedy timing from her.
Burrow Goes Ballistic For Bengals
Five hundred and twenty five yards. 525. Wow. Joe Burrow put his ever-growing stamp of influence on the AFC North race with a destruction of the Baltimore Ravens for the 2nd time this season. Okay, sure, this was the Ravens without Lamar Jackson, and some key defensive pieces, but this is STILL a Harbaugh x Martindale Baltimore defense.
A truly unbelievable performance, becoming just the 26th 500 yard passer in NFL history. In doing that, Burrow had an 80.6% completion rate, which is the second highest ever on a 500 yard passing performance. Sidenote – the man with the highest completion rate? Big Ben, who also leads the NFL historically with 4 such 500 yard performances… how the mighty have fallen. Burrow has help from one of the best set of offensive weapons in the league.
Sure, Joe Mixon in the backfield is a true 3-down talent, but Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins (who was incredible on Sunday), and Tyler Boyd are becoming a true three-headed monster, where defenses have to try and cover all of them, or risk being torched. Strangely, despite all this… The Bengals are still far from a shoo-in for the Playoffs. They face the Chiefs next week, and the Browns the week after in what could be a winner-take-all AFC North Showdown (assuming the Browns can beat the Steelers next Monday to set that up). On the flip side, if the Joey B and the boys wanna prove they’re for real, go beat KC next week, and seal the Division crown. That would be a statement.
For the Ravens, this season is unfortunately at the point of unravelling… Josh Johnson gave it a good go, but without Lamar Jackson AND back-up Tyler Huntley the Ravens never really had much of an offensive push beyond their opening drive. Mark Andrews continued his personal hot streak, but Baltimore may end up looking back on 2021 as “the season that got away,” where after numerous big comeback wins, including finally beating the Chiefs, the season kinda got away from them, with the injuries, the covid, and the two unsuccessful 2pt conversions looming large.
Baltimore are 8-7, but could so easily be 10-5, or even better. Sadly, assuming Lamar won’t get back next week, they face the Rams, who will probably send the Ravens to 8-8 before the final week of the season. I think Baltimore finish 9-8… and unfortunately I don’t think that will be enough to get them back into the AFC Playoffs this year.
Cowboys Annihilate The Football Team
They started quickly, and just never let up. The Dallas Cowboys vaulted themselves into the #2 seed in the NFC with a dismantling of the hapless Washington Football Team. I mean… Malik Turner had a 61 yard reception in the 3rd that set up his own TD to give the Cowboys the Season-high for points in a game.
This was a clowning, and destruction, a humiliation all rolled into one. Dak Prescott had over 300 yards passing in the 1st half… for those that way inclined, I’m facing Dak in a Fantasy Semi-Final. He scored 38 in the first half. Unreal. Obviously, the Cowboys slowed down in the second half, as the game was already well put to bed. And yet, the Cowboys continued to score. Blocking kicks, sacking the QB, Trevon Diggs again pushing his case for Defensive Player of the Year. And that’s without mentioning Micah Parsons. Will Dallas win both DPOY and Defensive Rookie of the Year? It feels likely…
Dallas now has a massive Week 17 game against Arizona, who themselves have to win that game or else they face the prospect of somehow tumbling out of the playoffs all together… Could Dallas find a way to jump Green Bay for the Number 1 seed? It feels unlikely. But give credit where it’s due… this was a big statement made by Mike McCarthy, Dak, and this Cowboys team as a whole. This might be the year for Cowboys fans. Just maybe.
As a Franchise, Washington have had many embarrassing moments – this season alone – but seeing two former college teammates, now professional teammates, winding each other up to the point that a punch is thrown in the middle of being blown out by a divisional rival? That’s tough… This loss isn’t on Ron Rivera, or even really on Taylor Heinicke, but what it shows is just how far off this Washington team is from competing at the highest level vs the Cowboys and the other elite NFC teams.
Washington lucked into the playoffs last year, and have regressed to the mean this year. There are a number of great pieces to this team (Young, Gibson, McLaurin etc.), but reinforcements and upgrades are badly needed too. You do sit here and wonder what would have happened had Fitzmagic not gotten hurt… but what if’s don’t count in the NFL. Rest up, reload, and go again next year Washington. And try to fix those stadium leaks while you’re at it…
Quick Hits
- Christmas Recap Part I: Catastrophe for the Cardinals, who are rapidly trying to embarrass me and all my pro-Kingsbury takes… Indianapolis seem to be the hottest dark horse in the league. Jonathan Taylor is not somebody you want to tackle in January.
- Christmas Recap Part II: Tough one for the Browns. I don’t think Baker had a “4 INT performance” in terms of how he played, but the stats are the stats. The Browns have been decimated by injuries, Covid, and OBJ’s tantrums this season, but they still have some playoff hope if they can win out vs the Steelers and the Bengals. The Packers?! Look like they have the NFC’s Top Seed all sewn up. A far cry from the 38-3 Week 1 loss to the Saints.
- And following on from the Cardinals loss… The Rams took control of the NFC West. OBJ has become the go-to Red Zone threat for Stafford, and very quickly established himself as a key part of the game plan for the Rams. Kirk Cousins’ Vikings aren’t quite out of the Playoff race, but they’ll need to upset the Packers next weekend to have a chance. Also, even though he failed to score this weekend, Cooper Kupp became the first player in NFL history to have 90+ receiving yards in 14 or more games. A truly incredible performance throughout this season.
- The Carolina Panthers have two former Top 2 picks at the Quarterback position… and are in desperate need of a QB if they’re going to take a step forward as a team and be the title contender that owner David Tepper clearly intends them to be. Sam Darnold hasn’t worked out, and – aside from his “return” against the Cardinals – neither has Cam Newton. Is Carolina Deshaun’s destination?
- No Evans & Godwin? No Fournette? No problem for TB12 and the TBB. Antonio Brown stepped up in his return from… vaccination status fraud (?!) and put on a show. The Buccaneers secured the NFC South crown and a home playoff game. They’re not gonna go back to back… right!? Ugh.
- Stop the presses: Matt Nagy made the correct coaching decision!! The Bears tried a “Ravens” and went for two to win the game in Seattle AND IT WORKED. Unbelievable. Chicago get a win to “technically” stay alive in the hunt for the playoffs.
- This really does now feel like a changing of the guard is coming in Seattle. The Carroll x Wilson era feels like a forgone conclusion. Who leaves? Feels more likely to me that Russ gets a trade than Pete gets a retirement package…
- Mahomes and the Chiefs continue to do their thing. Remember when the Chiefs were broken and in danger of missing the playoffs? They were 3-4 following a lopsided defeat to the Titans in late October… Fast forward two months, it’s 8 straight wins and the AFC West division crown secured for the 6th straight season.
- On the other side… The Steelers are dead. Najee Harris is a stud though. Big Ben’s last hurrah is two division matchups… starting with the Browns next Monday night. Surely he won’t go out with 3 straight losses? The Steelers have to win both and hope for some help if they’re going to find a way to sneak into the playoffs.
- A BRUTAL loss for Brandon Staley’s Los Angeles Chargers. The Houston Texans had absolutely nothing to play for – or so it seemed. Rex Burkhead had his best game in over 5 years, and the Texans got their fourth (huh!!??!!) win of the Deshaun Watson-less season. For LAC… this is an absolute killer. No Ekeler or Mike Williams sure, but Justin Jackson more than stepped up… but Justin Herbert had a down day, and his game-clinching Pick 6 summed things up for the Chargers. LA are now going to have to beat the Broncos and the Raiders and hope 10-7 is enough to get in… and it might just be, but things would be far simpler if they’d won this one as they were supposed to.
- Jalen Hurts and the Eagles are no longer a dark horse for the NFC Wildcard spots… they’re right there in the mix. This was a game dominated by the Eagles defense, who have stepped up in big moments throughout the year so far. Philly may need to beat Dallas in Week 18 to secure a spot, but Dallas may have little left to play for at that point.
MNF Prediction: (Season Record: 9-12)
This game – a fairly strange choice for a primetime game – has somehow ended up being potentially pivotal in both AFC & NFC Wildcard chases. The Dolphins are riding a six game winning streak, following a 1-7 start to the year, and the Saints have won two in a row, after snapping a 5 game losing streak that threatened to end their playoff hopes, and just shut out Tom Brady and the Buccaneers last weekend.
Neither team would have much hope of reaching the postseason if they lose tonight, but both would be right in the thick of things should they win. Miami would actually jump IN to the 7 seed if they come out victorious, but with what New Orleans did last weekend as a guide… that’s going to be a tall order.
Tua has started to show flashes of why the Dolphins took him in the Top 5 a couple of years ago, and the Dolphins have flourished as a result. Their defense has refound some of the big play ability that made it such a force a year ago, and Jaylen Waddle has been the breakout star on the offense. For New Orleans, the headline is that with both Trevor Siemian & Taysom Hill on the Covid list, rookie Ian Book – a Notre Dame product – will start his first NFL game, with a lot on the line. The Saints signed Blake Bortles earlier this week to serve as his backup, but it certainly seems as though it will be Book’s time to shine.
You have to assume this game will see a HEAVY dose of Alvin Kamara, but whether or not the Dolphins are able to contain him is another matter. Certainly, with this Saints defense in the form of it’s life, Miami won’t want to be playing from behind and chasing a comeback.
If you’ve read my articles before, you’ll probably know I have to pick my team in this one. Certainly, this is in more hope than expectation, and I’ve been getting everything else wrong over the last 6 weeks, so feel free to fade me, but I’m sticking with the Fins. Please, Tua?!
Official Prediction: Miami Dolphins.
Week 17 Preview
16 down, 2 to go! The big games keep coming in Week 17, as divisional foes clash and playoff seeding, and wildcard spots, are really up for grabs. We’ve already mentioned the AFC North teams, with the Browns facing the Steelers on Monday night, the Ravens hosting the Rams, and the Bengals hosting the Chiefs. All of those have massive implications on the whole league’s playoff picture.
Furthermore, the Cardinals x Cowboys game in Dallas is huge at the top of the NFC, and the Dolphins vs Titans matchup could be big depending on what happens on Monday Night tonight. Lastly, the Packers and Vikings Sunday Night Football matchup will be make or break for Minnesota, and Green Bay looking to secure home field throughout the playoffs.
A lot on the line, and we haven’t even spoken about the “race” for the Number 1 overall pick. Feels like it might be Jacksonville again… or maybe Detroit? As always, stay safe, stay healthy, and have a very happy New Year. I’m @CallumJDSquires on Twitter and Instagram if you wanna say hi. I’m going to be covering Alabama vs Cincinnati in the CFP over the next week also, so keep an eye out for that on the site in the coming days. Cheers.
Callum Squires
NFL ANALYST
CALLUM IS FROM LONDON, BUT PLAYED COLLEGE SOCCER AT TRINITY UNIVERSITY IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, WHERE HE LEARNED NEVER TO CHEER FOR THE COWBOYS. CALLUM IS A LONG-SUFFERING DOLPHINS FAN WHO BELIEVES THE TUA HYPE