NFL Week 16 TAkeawys

Dec 26

Raiders Vs Chiefs

The last time The Raiders and The Chiefs met Las Vegas, they held a two-score lead over the Chiefs only to surrender the game in the second half. This Time, The Raiders Finished The Job. Justin Simmons Of The Broncos Is The Only AFC West Defensive Back Who Consistently Picks Off Patrick Mahomes, But On Monday, Jack Jones Took A Pass From Mahomes For 33 Yards To The House. The Chiefs Held A 7-3 Lead Into The 2nd Quarter But Two Consecutive Turnovers Turn Touchdown. Balik Nichols Picks Up A Fumble From Isiah Pacheco and Take Off To The End To Give The Raiders A 10-7 Lead—the First Pass Of The Next Drive.

Las Vegas's Vegas's offense only needed a little to handle business this time. Aidan O'Connell O'Donnell 9/21, 62 Yards. Running Back Zamir White Drove The Raiders To This Win 22 Rushes for 145 6.6 A Carry. Chiefs' Quarterback Patrick Mahomes looks frustrated With The Play Calling From The Chiefs'sChiefs Sideline Offensive Line—Mahomes Took Four Sacks On The Game—And Las Vegas'sVegas's Defense Held Mahomes To Just 4.6 Throws. The Chiefs Out Gained The Raiders By More Than 100 Yards In Offensive Production, 308-205, Including An Obnoxious 48-223 In The Passing Game. However, Mahomes looks frustrated all season.

He And The Chiefs Will Put The AFC West Away At Some Time This Season, But Mahomes Will Face Road Playoff Games For The First Time in his Career. Mahomes Finished 27/44 Attempts, 235 One Touchdown, and An Interception. The Win Helps The Raiders Stay Alive In The Playoff Hunt, Watching In Case Someone In The AFC Should Fail To Seal The Deal: Maybe Someone In The AFC South. The Raiders have a 14 percent chance to make the Playoffs.

Ravens Vs. 49ers

The Ravens Take Down The 49ers 33-19. Three MVPs Walked Into the Game, Lamar, Purdy, Christian MCaffey, And Only One Walked Out. Like Mike Florio, I Didn't Believe The Ravens stole a Chance In This Game. The Niners Looked Like A New England Patriots Team Of the Last Decade When Brady Had his Golden Boy Mystique And Notch Competition, And They deserve To Enter The Game As Favorites. Not Only Did Lamar And Baltimore put out the Niners 'Flame and shackle the Recent Tom Brady Facsimile In Brock Purdy, But They ran Away With The Show, And Lamar Ran Over A Referee. Jackson Produced 297 Yards Of Scrimmage Between pass And Run—the Ravens' Defense picked Up Purdy Four times and the Niner's Passer Five Times Total. Purdy Gets Dinged Along The Way And Finished 18/32 255 no Touchdowns. Sam Darnold fared better 8/14, 81 yards, one touchdown, and one Intercept. Two Of Purdy's Four Interceptions Came On Tipped Passes.

The Two Niners Quarterbacks Split Four Ravens Sacks. The concerns about the Niners 'Offensive line, which ranks 20th in pass block win rate, proved pivotal. The Niners Put Pressure On Jackson, Even Nabbed Him Twice, But He's Lamar Jackson.

Lamar Spoke to The Media After The Gane Denouncing NBC's Mike Florio For What Jackson Considered" " Disrespect" By Florio. Florio, Like Myself, thought the Niners Would Run Away With The game but instead Made sports with The Previous Super Bowl Favorites. I Agree With Lamar. The Disrespect Needs To Stop The Ravens from Looking Legit.

The Ravens could Seal The Conference Next week Against The Dolphins. The Niners Get A Gimme Game Against The Commanders Next Week Or Maybe Not. The Niners Take That One.

Dolphins Vs Cowboys

This week, in preparation to defend Tua and the Miami offense, the Dallas Cowboys' defensive coaching came up with the strategy of using backups Cooper Rush and Trey Lance to simulate two separate attributes of Tua. According to Fox'sFox's Jay Glazer Lance, The Younger More Athletic Backup Would Serve As The Focus of Tua'sTua's Ability To Scramble; Cooper Rush, The Veteran Processor, Would Focus as Tua's Ability To Get The Ball Out Fast, Tua Leads The League In Time To Throw, and Though He'sHe's Not The Most Graceful Runner He'sHe's Capable Of Digging Those Cider-blocks, He Calls Feet and Getting Those Hips Moving He Can Keep Plays Alive. Call The Cowboys Creative, Inventive, Or Just Dull For The Purpose, The Effort Landed. Unfortunately, On Sunday, Like The Real Madara In Naruto, No Can Mimic The Real Thing. The Dolphins Secure Their First Win Over A Team With A Winning Record This Season, Taking Down The Cowboys Late 22-20. The Cowboys have also struggled to earn wins against teams with winning records and have now lost two straight games after topping the Eagles and taking hold of the division.

Tua'sTua's Not The Deftest Quarterback To Accurately Pin Down. He's Too quick In This Offense With Anticipating And Feeling Where they open The Holes. In A Game Touted For The Top Two Offenses In The League, The Defenses Made The Difference. Dallas Hit A Lot of The Bells You'd Want In A Big Game. Ceedee Lamb started the First Drive 3/3 For 31 Yards, and That's How The Cowboys' Number Receiver Started The Game.

The Cowboys Drive Down To The End Zone Not Before Dak Takes A Sack From Bradley Chubb, who Chases Down Prescott. Dak Keeps The Drive Alive On A Short Pass To Jake Ferguson For 11 Yards. At The Foot Of The End Zone, Miami's DeShon Elliott Forces Tony Pollard Back And Holds The Cowboy's Running Back. The Next Possession, Prescott Fumbles The Hand, And The Dolphins Take Over Near Their End Zone. The Dolphins Go On The Attack. Tyreek Hill, Back From Injury, Gets A Step On A Cowboys Defender, But Pressure And An Alert Corner Break Up The Deep. What Does Tua Do In Exchange? Heights Turns To Jaylin Waddle For 50 On The Next Turn Of The Ball. The Dolphins Settle For A Field Goal. Waddle Would Leave The Game With An Ankle Injury In The Third Quarter On A Rush Attempt. The Injury Could Reportedly Keep Waddle Out for Extended Time. Waddle Left with one catch for 50 yards. The Dolphins' offense led by Hill would step up. The Dolphins Lose a Chance to Get The First Touchdown. Instead, Jason Sanders Would Break the game with A 57-yard field Goal. His Astronomical Leg Would Prove The Difference Late In The Game.

Instead, Prescott and Ceedee Lamb Would Take The Honors. When The Dolphins' Pressure does get Dak, The COVERAGE can't Hold Up Against Dallas's Passing Game.

Ceedee Lamb catches Two Passes On A three-drive, one For 22, Another A 49 Yard Catch, And Run For 49 Yards. A Cowboys Offense That Struggled Against Buffalo Produced 148 Yards Of Offense In The First Quarter.

The Dolphins' response would stall out after 12 plays, 70, and both teams leave points in the end zone on the field. Both Defenses Would Bend But Not Break For Most Of The First Half. The Dolphins Would Get Another Field Goal On The Ensuing Drive. The Dolphins Force The Cowboys To Three And Out, Something The Boys Did twice, Both Times Resulting In Points for The Dolphins. Conversely, Tua hits Raheem Mostert for 4 yards to conclude an eight-play at 71 Yards Drive. A Questionable Roughing The Passer Call Kept The Drive Alive and Allowed Tua To Hit Mostert.

The Dolphins Run Game, Featuring Mostert and Devon Achane Once Top The Game, didn't Achieve Much. Mostert Rushed 11 Times For 45 Yards. Devon Achane, Entering The GAme, Averaging Over 9 YARDS a Carry, just 7 For 24 For 3.4 Yards A Carry.

Instead, peripheral receivers like Durham Smythe stepped up with five cats for 56. The Dolphins could Only Muster Field Goals In The Second Half, But that's All They Need To Go Up 19-10 Over The Cowboys Late In The Third Quarter.

The Cowboys get a quick field goal that cuts the Dolphins' lead to 19-13 with just over 12 minutes left. After a Dallas punt, Prescott got to work on what looked like a game-winning drive and an opportunity for the Dolphins to close the game. Still, In The 11th Minute, Prescott And Dallas's Passing Attack ate up Over Seven Minutes On a 17-play, Which Miami Extended With Pass Interference In The End Zone. If You Want To Understand Prescott's Position As An MVP, watch His Work On This Drive. In the ShotGun, Prescott Delivered Blow After Blow Of Underneath Attack On The Drive. Prescott 7/12 On Passes Attempts For 56 Yards and One Touchdown, A Dime To A Leaping Brandin Cooks Over A Defender In The End Zone. Cooks Go Up Over Two Defenders, Including Jalen Ramsey, And Survive The Ground. Prescott finished the game 20/32 for 253 7.9, two touchdowns, and 107.9. Passer Rating in a Losing Effort: Ceedee Lamb, 6 Catches For 118 Receiving Yards.

Even Though The Cowboys Killed Nearly Eight Minute In Time, The Dolphins Still Found 3 Minutes Plus To Work With In The Game. Tua Prove Heights could work the ball downfield just like Prescott. Tua Went 4/5 On The Final For 31 With Two Completions To Tyreek, and The Dolphins Drove to The Red With Little Resistance. There are no Sacks, No Pass Break, Just Tua and Jeff Wilson Moving The Cowboys Pile. Jason Sanders Add The Finishing Touches. The Dolphins Finish 1-4 in the red zone, but Sanders hits 5/5 on field goals. We May Have Overrated The Cowboys After That Impressive Eagles. The Cowboys Have Lost Two Straight. The Cowboys did Force The Dolphins To Settle For four Field Goals. The Cowboy's Offense Struggled to Run the Ball; Tony Pollard Has Proven He's Not A Number One Back In an Offense That Demands a Heavy Load On Their Backs. They averaged 3.9 Per Rush, And Mike McCarthy didn't Turn To The Part Of His Script For His Rushing much in the Second Half.

The Dolphins Needed This Win More Than The Cowboys. Miami should Throw A parade For Their First Win Over A team with a Winning. The Dolphins Also Stay In the Shooting Range for the Ravens At the Number One Seed In the AFC.

Browns Vs. Texans

The Browns Have Faced A Gauntlet Of Competitive Teams In Recent Weeks. Cleveland just finished a stretch of six straight games versus teams with playoff aspirations, Came 4-2, and needed a 38-year-old Joe Flacco before the offense could function respectfully.

The Elite Cleveland Defense continues To Bear The Flame AS The team's Difference Force In Cleveland's Playoff Ambitions. Anchor, Of course, By The Galatus Level Force Of Myles Garrett, Three Game Changing Corners(Most Teams Have One, Maybe Two, but The Browns Have W A Fleet), Denzel Ward, Martin Emerson, And Greg Newsome. The Cleveland Trio helps the Browns Hold Quarterback to Just a 72.9 Passer Rating, The Lowest In The League, and the Lowest EPA per Drop Back. No matter the level of coverage, the Browns won't rumble in the playoffs without good quarterbacking. No Team Should Expect Their Coverage Team To Carry The Load For The Team. The NFL Football Offenses Have Too Much In The Bag In Ways To Attack Defenders, And Injuries Could Pluck One Of Cleveland Crucial Out Of The Sky. The Browns Have to Survive Despite Their Quarterback Play, And Joe Flacco Might Prove He's The Best Of The Bunch Of The Four Quarterbacks Cleveland Has Started This Season. Cleveland Has Pulled The Team through four Quarterbacks. Joe Flacco Has Five Interceptions Over Four, A -0.30 EPA rate Over His Last, More than five turnover-worthy plays, and a 3.4% TWP rate, Yet He's like The best Quarterback Cleveland Has To Offer. A Narrative Where Flacco, The Oldest Quarterback In Football, FACED off Against CJ Stroud, The Youngest active Quarterback In Football (Anthony Richardson, Who Landed On IR and holds The Position As The Youngest Quarterback In Football Overall), Would Have Had A Nice Rhythm. Stroud Has Played Like He's A 30-Year-Old Veteran This Season, but He'll Miss His Second Game In A Row Dealing With Symptoms Related To A Concussion. Instead, we get another matchup of backs; Case Keenum will face this Browns's Browns's defense with a wild card and playoff hopes on the line.

Joe Flacco Couldn't Curb His Turnover Habit, and the Ageless One Threw Another Two Interceptions. Still, When Amari Cooper Has A Monster 258 258-yard game, The Mistakes Look like the materials in The Shadow Of An Extraordinary Performance. This Texan's secondary ranks amongst the best in the league, 8th according to PFF, so Amari didn't run over just anybody. The Browns Came Out Of The Gates Making A System by Attacking Cooper Down, Field Splitting Two Defenders For 53 Yards. I Don't Think anyone Often The Browns Coming Out And Attacking the field's First Play, But Joe Flacco Ranks Second Amongst Quarterbacks, And He Flexed His Arm On The First Pass for 53 Yards To Cooper, Which Set Up The Browns' First Score Three Plays Later On A Four Yard Jerome Ford Run. Much The Game Would Follow This Tune. The Browns' Offense Would Hit A lull Or Slow Point, Like Three Punts, Then Flacco would Hit Amari For a Big Play, Like 75—yards From The Browns' Own 25-yard Line At The 12:04 12:04-minute mark In The Second Quarter. Cooper Climbs Over A Texans And Ran The Rest Of The Way For A Touchdown. Amari Caught Three Passes, All Of Which Covered 20 Air Yards Or Better By The Start Of The Second Quarter.

Davis Mills and Case Keenum, the Houston Backups, oscillated between each other at the command of the Texans's Command. Mills has started 15 games for the Texans, throwing over 3000 in his career. While The Brown Hit Gold Down Field, The Texans Settled For Short Passes. Case Keenum Started The Game 4/5 For 17 Yards. The Texans Get Their First Points On A 98 Yard Kick Return By Running Back Damian Pierce. The Texans' First 7 Offensive Drives Produce The Kirk Return, One Interception, Five Punts, And 70 Yards Of Total Offense. David Njoku Got In On The Action with a 21-yard Touchdown Pass Before The End Of The Half. Rookie Dorian Thompson Robinson Put Two Points On The Board To Put Cleveland Up 22-7 and Essentially End This Game. Flacco Ends The Half with Two Interceptions Before the Half. One Houston Carson. He Plucks Out Of The Air as Flacco Went Deep Into Elijah Moore. The Texans Had Seen Enough, But Flacco wouldn't End On That Note.

Flacco would Get Back To Work In The second half, But Not before another Interception To End Half To Derek Stingley Jr. to End the Half.

Into The Second Half, The Texans Would Force The Browns Into Their Longest Drive Of The Half, 18 Plays and 94 Yards. The Brown Methodically Climbs The Ladder Into The End Zone, Where Joe Flacco Again Hit Cooper For 7 Yards and A Touchdown. Cooper Would Finish The Game with 11 Catches For 265 And Two Touchdowns. Amari Caught A Toe Tap 13 toe-yard pass On The Sideline That Looked Out, But Heights Kept Those Toes Down.

Joe Flacco, Who Threw For 300 Yards Two Times With The Jets Last Season, Put Up His Third Straight 300 Yard Game With The Browns, 27/42 368 Passing Yards, Three Touchdowns and Two Picks and A QBr Of 87.2. Davis Mills led the Texans To Two Offensive Touchdowns. By Then, The Game Had Already Got "Out Of Hand". The Browns Get Their 10th Win Of The Season 36-22.

The Browns Needed A 38-Year-Old Quarterback To Turn The Passing Offense Around. The Aerial Acrobatics Amari Performed Looked Impossible Just A Few Ago. Case Keenum Finished 11/17 And Threw For 67 Yards And Two Interceptions. Davis Mills guided the Texans to 15/32 for 149 and two touchdowns. The Texans fall to 8-7, and that inspiring start under CJ Stroud has now Fallen shame with him out of the lineup. The Texans' offense found a spark late in the game, and with two games, the Texans will need to win the division or get some outside help. Houston's Houston's Top 12 Defense Look Helpless Against The Browns Passing Attack.

Saints Vs. Rams

Wow, The NFL entered a Nexus. We even have a Thursday night game of consequence with the Rams versus the Saints. The Derek Carr Era Of Saints' Football hasn't Taken Off Anyway. The Saints Have Struggled With Injuries To Key Position On Offense, But Almost Every NFL Team Suffers Injuries. Derek Carr Remains Simply A Wonder Of Inconsistency. Carr produced His Best Game Passer Rating Last Week (134.8 passer rating), But His Expected Point Added Per Drop back Remains 0.00 On The Season. Carr splits enough Development and a lot of modest performance with a handful next level, and he settles at average. Carr Hit A Passer rating of 133 Before This season Against Indianapolis; However, Carr Has never done so While Completing 80% Or Better Of His Passes For Three Touchdowns. Carr Has Never Set The Stage In consistency; He's Good enough Never To Earn A Badge As A Bad Quarterback With Enough Bad Developments To Keep His Play Interesting—Carr's Counterpart For Tonight'sTonight's NFC Matchup Matthew Stafford. Stafford'sStafford's On A Tear, According to Star Muse Matthew Stafford In The Last Four Games, The Rams 3-1 In That Stretch, Stafford has a passer rating of 112.6 with 1,060 yards, 12 touchdowns and one interception. He's Completed 70% Or Better Of His Passes In two Games and has zero Interceptions In His Last Three Games. Stafford has suffered through an up-and-down year but 21 touchdowns to 9 picks. Matthew Stafford possesses an Arm Talent Like a Wizard, Like every quarterback In His Era. His Control Over Angles And Dimension Looks Almost Dr.Strange, Like How His Passes Can Pop Up Anywhere From Any Base Or Any Scope Of Vision. Last Sunday, Stafford threw a 15-yard out route with his body facing vertically. Heights Hit A Target Off Of His Right Side While Aiming Forward. Stafford's Absence and Inconsistency earlier cost The Rams who, if they lose against The Saints, will have their playoff odds all but flatten. It's a Thursday Night Game.

On The Power Of A Sterling Performance From Paku Nacua, Who Finished with 168 Yards Receiving, Fending Off Double Teams, and Catching The Most Improbable Pull Downs.

A Matthew Stafford And The Rams Move Past The Saints 30-22 In A Thrilling Victory That Didn'tDidn't Always Look Thrilling. The Rams Held A 30-7 Lead Over the Saints early In The Fourth Quarter Before Derek Carr Put Together Two Late Touchdown Drives To Pull The Saints Into tying Range But Fell Short. Derek Carr's final stats look polished: 27/40, 319 passing yards, three (3) touchdowns, and one Intercept. The Saints Didn't Get The Dial Turning And Kept The Dial Turning Until The Rams Had Let The Foot Of The Peddle A Bit At The End.

The Saint Offense Started Slow And Struggled To Sustain Any Drives. Chris Olave Returned From One Game Absence, and the Lead Receiver Has Seen His Numbers Dip With The Addition Of Carr. He caught two passes for 26 yards on the Saints' first drive. Still, after eight plays, Derek Carr Sacks, and The Offense's Punts, The Saints Ranked Amongst The Worse Teams in Quarter Scoring And didn't Get On The Board Until Late 2nd Quarter, Before Hamd The Saints Could Only Muster Two Punts, a turnover On Downs, And One Touchdown In Five Possessions In The First Half. Missed plays defined the half for the Saints, who would move the ball but find themselves In a 3rd and long situation and failed to convert. Facing A Needed On Fourth and Five Late In The First, Derek Carr Takes A Sack By Rams Rusher Kobie Turner. Carr Took Five Sacks On The Game. That Derek Carr'sCarr's Game In A Nutshell; His Plays Gives And Takeaway. Carr didn't flush His Entire First Half; Carr Put The Saints On The Board With A 45 Yard Pass To Rashid Shadeed: the First Of Two Major Downfield Strikes By Carr.

Carr Found A Lot Of Sucess On Passes 10 Yards Or Better. Heights Finished With A Completed Air Yards Of 8.8 10/15. For 215 Yards, He Missed A lot Of "Gimme" Throws and short Touch Passes Over The Middle. The Intermediate Passes betray Carr With A Second Half Interception, And This Match Looked By Way Through The Third. But if The Rams Can Pick Apart Man Defense, So Can Carr; Heights Hits A.T. Perry For 35 35-yard touchdown. With the Last Gasp, The Saints Attempt an onside Kick, but The Rams Recover And Run Out The Clock. Dennis Allen Said The Thinking Behind The Early Onside Kick Derived From The Saints' Struggles On Defense. The Rams Ran Roughshod Over The Saints, And Allen Felt The Moment As The Only Chance To Get The Ball Back—the Saints Slow Start Put Their Back Against The Wall, And Their Response Fell Short.

The Ram's offense, Mean, Had No Trouble Opening Up The Play Book And Operating On The Saint's Defense Like A Doctor. The Rams draw first blood on a driving tour of 14 plays, 95 yards (Back up against their endzone), requiring a 4th down conversion and a touchdown, and a two-yard from Stafford to Nacua. The Saints Played A lot Of Man Coverage. The Saints Forced A Field Goal The Next Time Down, As Matthew Stafford Fails To Connect With Cooper Kupp In The Endzone. Stafford Worked The Combination Of Nacua Over The Top, Kupp In The Underneath, And Demarcus Robinson In Between To Deliver A Spanish Inquisition Of Passing Offense On The Saint's Defense. Stafford hit Robinson in the back of the end zone for the Rams' second touchdown.

The Rams Missed A Field Goal The Time After, The Saints Found Themselves Down 10 Into The Second Quarter. The Rams Offense Out Gained The Saints 458-339, Primarily Because The Rams'sRams's Run Game Outgainimg The Saints 133 To 35. Of His 22 Carries, Rams Running back Kyren Williams Suffered No Tackle For Loss While Generating Three Runs Of Ten, Including A Second Half Touchdown. The Saints are running only an average of 2.2 yards per carry as a team.

The Rams Averaged Over 9 Yards In The Passing Game.

With CJ Stroud Missing Game In A Row On The Season And Nacua Standing Just Over 150 Away From Breaking The Rookie Receiving Record After A 9 Catch 149 Yards Outing, Nacua Wins Rookie Of The Year. I Thought AFTER Jamar And Justin, I Wouldn't See another Rookie Take The League By Storm, But Puka's On His Way To Eclipsing The good Production Of Those Two Former Record Setters. The Saints Can Still Win Out To Save Their Season. As Saints Defensive End Cam Jordan Worded His Feelings, "At the end of the day, there are no excuses." Derek Carr Has To Face The Spotlight, The Time To Jell With Receivers Has Passed, The Saints Sought After Him, And Heights Needs To Prove Their Interest Correct And Deliver Down The Stretch Of This Season.

Bengals vs. Steelers

Few Team Can Afford To Gift Their Backups The Level Of Skill Position Talent The Bengals Have Laid Out. The Bengals Have A Gamut Of 1000 Yard Receivers Who Possess Some Serious Deft At The Position. Tee Higgins Has Slumped Through A Down Year, but Heights Came Alive For Two Touchdowns Last Week, And's looking To Finish the Contract year Strong. Jake Browning Will Have To Manage His First Game Without Star Wide Out Jamar Chase. Chase Found Himself On The Injured List With A Shoulder Strain. The Bengals Will Feel Lost Of Chase; Heights Averaged 80 yards A Game Since Browning Took Over. Both Chase's Chase Brown And Jamar Chase Have Accounted For A lot Of Jake's 1248-yard production Thus Far. Brown and Chase Have Garnered 155.8 And 112 Passing ratings when Targeted. However, on Saturday, In A Division Game, The Steelers' Embattled Receiving Group led by George Pickens Showed And Controlled The Game. Steelers Wide Receiver George Pickens Caught Some Heat This Week Over His Comment He Made About Not Blocking For His Running Backs. Most Steelers and football fans love Pickens. He's a Top-notch Talent on the field, even if his production wanes.

He's Playing With Perhaps The worst core Of Quarterbacks Ever Assembled, And They Just Replaced Backup Mitch Trubisky With The Next BackUp, Mason Rudolph. Wide Receivers In Steel City don't have Much To Look Forward To On Sundays, But you're At Least Expected To Compete. Instead, Pickens Declared He's Not Risking An Injury Blocking and Caught Flack. Ryan Clark Of ESPN Called The Steelers Wide Receiver Room "Cancerous". Nothing Cancerous About How The Steelers Started This Crucial Matchup Against. The Steelers Jump Out To 24-0 Lead Over The Bengals Almost All On The Power Of Their Wide Receiver. If Diontae Johnson, George Pickens, and Calvin Austin Didn't Score, They Set The Play In Motion. Starting With Pickens Who Caught 3 Passes For 129, Including An 86Yard Touchdown To Start The Game. On 2nd And 4, Mason Rudolph Hits Pickens On A Quick Slant; Pickens Escapes Nearly Three Bengals On His Way To The End Zone Nearly Untouched. The Bengals played a lot of press coverage, challenging the Steelers to win One-on-one, and the Steelers came to fight.

George Pickens always has these solar flare games when his talent temporarily blinds fans to his inconsistency, especially in division games. Pickens Hit Baltimore For 130 In Week 5 And Cleveland For 127 In Week Two. Today, Pickens Wrecked The Bengals In Response To the Criticism.

The Steelers Have A "Blocking Wide Receiver," Miles Boykins; Pickens Plays The Big Play, Role, And After The Touchdown, Pickens Kept The Bigs Play Coming. Before The Half, 44 Yard Against The Boundary, With Two Toes Down To Set Up A Field Goal Before The Half. When Pickens Couldn't Get In On The Action, Rudolph(An Interesting Name) led the Way To Wide Receiver Allen Robinson For Two Completions Of 14 And 12 Yards To Set Up A Najee Harris Touchdown To Push The Steelers Lead To 14-0. On the Defense, The Steelers Dominated The Bengals, Forcing Two Interceptions And A Turnover On Downs In The First Half Alone. Patrick Peterson grabbed the first intercept as the Bengals drove into the Steelers' end zone. Alex Highsmith and TJ Watt outmuscle the Bengals's Bengals' Offensive Line. High Smith gets a sack and an Intercept; Watt added a sack.

The Steelers Score Their Third Touchdown On Block—Not Exactly A Block—running Back Jalen Warren, The Man In Question On The Run, George Pickens, didn't Block On Sprang. His wide receiver, Calvin Austin, Freed a big block in the end zone as Austin skated in for a touchdown.

The Bengals' Offense got on The Board In The Second; Jake Browning, Who Outside Threw Three Interceptions, Got The Bengals On The Board connected with Tee Higgins, Who Also Blast Past The Steelers' Secondary And Played 80 Yards To Bring The Score 24-8. Higgins Caught 5 Passes For 140, More Than Half Of Which Came On One Play. Jake Browning Eclipse 300 Yards By The Third Quarter But Only 8 Points Due To Turnovers. Browning Would Finish The Game 28/42 For 335, 8 Yards Per Attempt, One Touchdown, Three Interceptions, And Took Three sacks. The Bengals Earned 13 Of Their 17 First Down Through The Air But Struggled To Score Points Thanks To Turnovers. "I Made Some Dumb Decisions With The Ball" " Jake Said After The Game.

The Pressure Hampered Browning as He Just tried To Make Too Much Happen Of His Own ability, And In This Game, He Paid The Price. Browning Cut The Steelers Up Other Wise.

The Steelers Would Offer A Response and End Any Hop Of the Bengals Clawing Their Away Back Into The Matchup. Three Plays Into The Steelers' Second Drive Rudolph Hits George Pickens For 66 Yards, This Time Deep Down Field. Pickens only averaged 1.9 yards worth of separation on his Cats, but that's all the length frame Pickens needs to make plays over one-on-one coverage. Mason Rudolph Finished 17/27 For 290 10.7 Yards Per Attempt, Two Touchdowns. The Steelers Rushed For 114 Yards Total On The Ground, led by Najee Harris, 19 CARRIES for 78 For 4.1 And One Touchdown. Oddly, The Win does Help The Steelers Odds Tremendously. The Steelers Need TO win Out And Grasp Some Help From The Bills And Texans In Order—by Having One Or The Other Lose— Then The Steelers Leap Into The Picture.

Bears Vs. Cardinals

The Bears Beat The Cardinals 24-18 On The Strength Of An Overwhelming Rushing Performance. The Bears' Offense Rushed For over 250, Something Of A Commonality Last Year—The Bears Rushing For 177 Plus A Game, 5.4 A Carry—Reduced to A Magic Trick Or A Complement To The Bears' Worrisome Drop back Offense. The Bears' Rushing Effectiveness Has Dipped Greatly, But with The Aerial Assault Lacking, Fields Hitting Cole Kmet For 53 Yards—the Bears'sBears's Rushing Attack Dipped In Production, 4.5 Yards Per Attempt, 143 A Game. Justin Fields The Primary Cog To Bears'sBears's Rushing Attack Missed Extended Time, And The Bears'sBears' Offense Has Reluctantly Rolled Fields Out in The Run Game—The Entire Basis Of Fields'sFields's "Robotic" Quote. Fields And The Bears had Their way today, with 6.4 Yards Per Run. Kahlil Herbert Charged Out Of The Gates With A 13 Yard Run To Start The Game. Both Offenses got Out Of The Gate.

Kyler Murray is Still Trying To Find The Thread On This New Offense, And early, He didn't Have Much going on. The Cardinals Punted on All But Two Of His First Six Drives, some of Which Used Less Than A Minute In Clock Time. Justin Fields put The First Points On The Board With A 3 Yard Scramble Rush. The Bears Would Go On A Run Of Three Scores, Fields Accounting For Two Touchdowns, one On The Ground and The Other Through The Air—Kahlil Herbert Punches In The Second Score Of The Game. The Bears take A 21-7 Lead at The Half. In The Passing Game For The Bears, Fields Never Got Settle In The Pocket. His Dropbacks Looked More Like Poses For Media Rather Than Scanning Down Field Looking For Targets. More Times Than Not, The Defense Knows He's Not Passing Fields. Most of the Fields' passing attempts came on rollouts. Field Finished 15/27 For 170 Yards, One Touchdown, and One Pick Through The Air 71.5 But Dealt A lot Of Damage on The Ground, 9 Carries For 97 Yards Rushing. Most of the field passing Yards Came On Two Big Plays To Cole Kmet, who Caught 4 Passes For 107 and two For 80 downfield. From Some of Fields's Fields's Throw, I can't tell if he'll ever have an elite touch from the pocket.

The Cardinals Have the Inverse Problem: They Need to Run Kyler More. Kyler Not Built Like Fields, He'sHe's You Know Diminutive But The Cardinals Offense Offers Very Little In Terms Of Wrinkles Outside The Under Center And The Drop Back Attack. Another thing about the Cardinals: Why do they build the receiving on short receivers? Are They Protecting Kyler'sKyler's Ego? Kyler Throws A Good Deep Ball. He Has Good Placement And Hang, And The Trajectory Changes At The Right Time, But his Receivers don't Make Plays. Running Back James Connor Lead The Team In Five Catches For 67 Yards. Kyler can excel at throwing on the rollout, but the Card's offense appears more interested in using him than that way. Murray Finished 24/38 For 230 And Two Touchdowns and A QBr Of Just 19.9. Since Murray Murray's return, the Cardinals ranked 30th in dropback EPA compared to 26th the weeks prior. The Offense Has Regressed With Him At The Helm.

The Bears Offered The Cardinals several Opportunities To surge Back Into The Game, but The Cardinals Never Took Them. The Cardinals' Last Hopes Fell To The Ground When Kyler Murray Failed with Greg Dortch. Dortch Caught A Touchdown PAss From Murray Earlier In The Game. Dortch Weaveed Threw Bears' Defenders On His Way To The End Zone.

The Cardinals lose Drop To 2-4 since Kyler's Return To Action. The Cardinals Stay Afoot With The Panthers For The Rave To The Bottom. The Bears, Who Finished At The Bottom Get The Win, And They Don't Just Give Wins Away In The National Football League, And Double Their Win Total From a Year Ago.

Bills Vs. Chargers

The Bills beat the Chargers, but the game was much more competitive than anticipated. The Bills Still Super Bowl Contender Status Now That Their Wild Card And Division Hopes Have Strengthened In Recent Weeks And Struggling Against 5-10 Chargers Shouldnt As A Surprise, The Chargers Played Without Justin Herbert Out For The Season and Keenan Allen Missing His Second Straight Game, With A Heel Injury. The Bills Coming In Off Of A Harrowing Victory Over The Omega-Level, A Run Away Thats Complexion Of The Bills. Josh Allen And His Top Five Passing Offense Should Run Over The Chargers In A Must Win. To The Surprise, Everyone Watching The Bills Got Out Of The Gate Sluggish. I Believe The High Octane Matchup Against The Cowboys Left The Bills Drained. A lot of Emotion And Concern Went Into That Win. Even If Josh Said He earned a Participatory "A," The Whole Expended A lot Of Effort To Run Over The Cowboys; a Down Against The Chargers In A Game In Which The Bills Needed A Minute Field Goal To Ice The Win Seemed Appropriate. The Chargers Who Already Know Their Post-Season Fate Have No Post-Season. However, If the Chargers Wanted To Spoil The Bills' Christmas and Send Buffalo Into A Spiral, The Chargers Had To Force Turnovers, And Los Angeles Did That, Pulling Away Three Possessions From The Bills. Truthfully, I'm Surprised The Bills Survived To The End. The Chargers Would Also Need Sustained Drives That Would Keep The Buffalo Offense Sidelined For Extended Periods Of The Game, Checked The Chargers Hit That Button. Eastown Stick Showed On The First Drive Of The Game Stick Had No Trouble Dotting The Bills Defense Down Field. On The Chargers'sChargers's First Drive Of 14 Plays, 90 Stick Completed Passes Of 21 Yards To Quentin Johnston, 19 To Jordan Palmer, And 23 Yards To Tight End Stone Smart, For Stick Putting On His Best Justin Herbert Impression. Austin Ekeler Put Some Strong Runs, But The Offense Stalls Out On The Buffalo 2 Yard Line and Settle For A field Goal. The Chargers'sChargers's Defense Meanwhile Kept The Bills Off The Score Board For The First Three Drives Of The Game. Josh Allen Missed A Few Throws Here And There. The Bills Force A Punt and Then Fumble On The Ensuing Kick, Gifting The Chargers Excellent Field Position, A Touchdown, And A Ten Point Lead On An Ethan Stick 7 Yard Run. The Bills Started To Look Like They Might Let The Game Slip. The Offense Tried Getting The Run Game, Going To No Avail. Josh Allen tries attacking downfield. Nothing is going on, and the defense kept the Bills in the game for a while. In One Play, Allen Put The Game Plan Together. With 9 Minutes To Go In The Second Quarter, With The Buffalo Bills Offense Starting At The Buffalo 43, Allen Rolls To His Right Target His Big Play

, Sometimes Mercurial, Receiver Gabe Davis Down Field For 57 Yards.

Like A god(Lowercase G), Josh Allen Used One Sweep To Wash Away The Dismay From The Face Of bills and bills. Davis Catches This Pass On The Tips Of His Fingers, Fends Off A Defender, And Rumbles Into The End zone. Davis Has Failed To Morph Into a complete Receiver But Continues His Run As A force downfield. The Chargers Shrink Under The Pressure To Issue A Response and The Bills Takeover. This Time, The Bills Put Together A Complete Drive. More Allen To Davis, a lot of Runs Up The Gut, And Josh Allen Finishes off the eight-play drive With A Two two-yard run. On The Drive, The Bills Faced No Third Downs Just Motion. After Trailing By 10 points Into The Second Quarter, the Bills Use 9 Plays To Eat Up 120 Yards To Take The Lead. The Bills Start The Second Half Very Inauspiciously. After a Chargers' Punt on The First Bills Drive, James cooks Fumbles, but The Bills Recover. Allen Again Chooses To Roll Out To His Right, This Time Looking For Stefon Diggs, Who managed to Get A Step On The Defender, But Allen Has To Throw Across His Body, does power Under The Throw, and Safety Alohi Gilman Takes The Ball Away. The Chargers, In Turn, Get Their First Of Four Field Goal Of The Half. The Charger Finished The Game One Of Three In The Red Zone And Averaged Less Than Five Yard Per Play. The Chargers Struggled To Get Vertical after The First Drive Of The Game. At 9:41, the Chargers Get A Nice Run From Quentin Johnston's Butler.

Play Get Nullified By A Penalty. The Allen To Diggs Combo hasn't Worked In Weeks. Diggs Caught Five Passes For 29 Yards. Diggs must still Pass 50 Yards In Three and 100 Yards In Nine Games. Allen Instead Rang Gabe Davis's Bell One More Time, This Time For 36 Yards In The Third Quarter. Three Plays Later, Allen Hits His Tight Tyler Bass For A Third Touchdown Of The Day, All Accounted To Josh Allen: the Run And Two Passes. The Bills Look like They Put the Game Away 21-13. The Chargers Grab Another Field, And The Bills Struggle To Sustain A Drive. The Chargers Get Another Field Goal To Pull The Game 21-19, And Not For The Bills Not Trying. Ed Oliver and The Bills Pass Rush Hit Easton Five Times, Twice By Oliver. The stick had Trouble finding a consistent target all night. Stick Finished 23/33 with 215 Passing Yards.

But Another James Cook Fumble, One The Bills Fail To Recover, Gifts The Chargers A Short Field Gift The Chargers Short Field Stick AGAIN for one Last Field Goal—the Bills With More Than Five Minutes To Work. Josh Allen Orchestrated A 13 Play Drive, Highlighted By A 15 Yard Catch To Khalil Shakir That Look Like A 28 Yard Touchdown Before The Refs Reverse The Call. Instead, The Bills Kick The Game's Final Field Goal To Take Home The Win 24-22. Allen Finished The Game 15/21 For 237 Passing Yards. He Made Sure He Participated In The Win. The Bills Needed Time To Find The Formula For Inching Out This Win. The Offensive Turnover Hurt, But A Solid defensive Performance helped The Team Rebound And Take Home This Win.

Bears Vs. Cardinals

Kyler Murray is Still Trying To Find The Thread On This New Offense, And early, He didn't Have Much going on. The Cardinals Punted on All But Two Of His First Six Drives, some of Which Used Less Than A Minute In Clock Time. Justin Fields put The First Points On The Board With A 3 Yard Scramble Rush. The Bears Would Go On A Run Of Three Scores, Fields Accounting For Two Touchdowns, one On The Ground and The Other Through The Air—Kahlil Herbert Punches In The Second Score Of The Game. The Bears take A 21-7 Lead at The Half. In The Passing Game For The Bears, Fields Never Got Settle In The Pocket. His Dropbacks Looked More Like Poses For Media Rather Than Scanning Down Field Looking For Targets. More Times Than Not, The Defense Knows He's Not Passing Fields. Most of the Fields' passing attempts came on rollouts. Field Finished 15/27 For 170 Yards, One Touchdown, and One Pick Through The Air 71.5 But Dealt A lot Of Damage on The Ground, 9 Carries For 97 Yards Rushing. Most Fields Passing Yards Came On Two Big Plays To Cole Kmet, Who Kmet, Caught 4 Passes For 107, Two For 80 Down Field. From Some of Fields's Fields's Throw, I can't tell if he'll ever have an elite touch from the pocket.

The Bears Offered The Cardinals several Opportunities To surge Back Into The Game, but The Cardinals Never Took Them. Kyler Murray missed Greg Dortch's field late in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals' last hopes fell to the ground. The Cardinals lose Drop To 2-4 Since Kyler's Kyler's Return To Action. The Cardinals Stay Afoot With The Panthers For The Rave To The Bottom. The Bears, Who Finished At The Bottom Get The Win, And They Don't Just Give Wins Away In The National Football League, And Double Their Win Total From a Year Ago.

Lions Vs Vikings

The NFL should've Flexed This Division Matchup Into The Sunday Night Spot Because The First Two Lions Versus Vikings matchups in Three Weeks did disappoint Jared Goff. The Lions secured their First Division Title In 30 Years, and Spoil Nick hvdMullins'shvdMullins's Career Game, A Spectacular Catch From Justin Jefferson, and A Once Promising Vikings Season All In One Game. On Christmas, The Lioufns Had All The Prizes they've had since Last Season, lying on One Game. Detroit Could End A Playoff Drought, Capture The Division, and Topple The Vikings In Minnesota, But First, they'd Have To Overcome Jared Goff's Cold Weather Struggles. According To the Pride Of Lions Blog/Website, "From what we've seen[From Goff], it hasn't been elite, but it hasn't been horrible either…" In Cold Weather.

Goff didn't Show Too Much Ill Effect Playing Against A Vikings Team he's Struggled Against In The Past. Goff started the 5/6 for 62 yards, delivering well-placed, well-timed balls to his outside receiving. The Lions Have One Of The Most Balanced Offensive Attacks In The League, and Ben Johnson Finishes Off The 14 Play 75 Drive With Three Nose Diving Runs. Jared Goff Got A lot Of Work In This Game To The Tune Of 40 Attempts Working The Offense Down field And Letting His Running Backs Cash In The Points. David Montgomery Punch In The First Detroit Score.

The Vikings Rolled With Those Exact INTENTIONS.

Nick Mullen did his best and outshined Goff statistically. Nick Had A Career Game Spoiled Only by several Errant Throws. The Vikings Came Out Flushed Into The Passing In The Passing Game, Turning Short Passes From Nick Mullins and Turning upfield to Deliver Damaging yards against Detroit's Secondary. Josh Oliver got The Vikings rolling for 33 yards, catching and running his only play of the game. Mullins Delivers Another Big Strike to Kj Osborn, and the Vikings arrive in Detroit territory in three plays after an eight-yard pickup By Jefferson. Jefferson Would See A lot Of Double Coverage, But Two On A Star Wide Usually Works More as An Aesthetic Than Purposeful As We Would Find Out. Things Get Sketchy for The Vikes. Mullins Attempts A Few Judgement Throws That Nearly Land For The Opposite Team. Thanks to a defensive penalty that extends the drive, the Vikings get a Ty Chandler two-yard touchdown to nod the game seven-all. Mullins Would Have More Opportunity To Turn The Ball Over. Instead, The Vikes Would Notch the First Takeaway Of The Game.

For All The Good The Lions Running Backs Produce, The Opportunity For Fault Always Arises. The Lions Shift Gear To The Run Game Under Less Favorable Weather and Who Remembers When The Lions Drafted Jahmyr Gibbs 12th. The Un-Niche Pick By Brad Holmes Inspired Censure From Every Boarder Of Football Criticism; Sports Illustrated Gave The Pick A D+. Logan Lamorander Called The Pick a "Fun" Idea But A Poor Use Of Draft Capital. PFF called Gibbs A "Big Reach." I Don't Particularly Like Running Backs In The First Round, Either.

Now That Poor Piece Of Draft Capital Has Help The Lions Into The Division Title. Gibbs rushed For 80, But Heights Fumbled, And The Vikings Recovered butler. The Long Day for Nick Mullins, They Just Started. On 2nd Short, Mullins takes a sack from safety Ifeatu Melifonwu and somehow holds on to the ball despite handily waving the pigs' skin recklessly. Melifonwu Grabbed Two Sacks And a Pick. Mullens Would Deliver A 13 Yard Strike To TJ Hockenson To Set Up A 4th and, 2, But when Mullins Tries To Hit Justin Jefferson's field, Instead, He's Not Able To Get The Throw He Wants. Instead, He Falls Short. Jefferson and Mullins would connect on a few big plays in this game, but the pressure weighed on him early on. The Blitzes Kept Coming With Every Other Drop Back. The Lions Employed Nearly All Their Weapons; 8 Lions Caught At Least One Pass From Jared Goff, Forty Attempts On His Way To 30/40 For 257 Passing Yards, 6.4 A Pass. Both Escape The First Half. After A Lions Nick Mullens'sMullens Throws Another Pick, This Time For Jordan Addison, Deep From The Lions'sLions's End Zone, And Again, Mullens Doesn't Get Enough Strength Under His Throw. Despite the 4 Picks, Mullens Had Sucess Down Field, 5/10 For 158, Three Inceptions and One Touchdown On Passes 20 Yards Or Greater AND Another 7/14 136 On Passes Between 10-20 One Touchdown. Mullens Finished With An Impressive 13.6 Completed Air Yards, 23/36 for 411, With 3.28 Time to throw.

The Lions Turn That Interception Into Points On a Nifty 12 Yard Run By Gibbs, Who Escapes A Few Tackles Before Exploding To The End Zone, And The Lions Start To Put This One Away. Nick Mullens And Justin Jefferson Start Raging. On A Play Drive, Mullens Hit Jefferson Three Times, All For 22 Yards Or Better, Including A 26 Yard Touchdown Into The Boundary With A Defender draped on Him. Mullens Threw The Ball On The Run. Mullens Comes Out Of The First half, aggressively hitting TJ Hockenson For 24, Then KJ Osborn For 47 To Step A Vikings Touchdown, And The Second Half leads 21-14. The Lions Take The Lead Back, Goff Hits An Amon-Ra St. Brown In The Back Of The End Zone, And The Lions take a 23-21 Lead. The Vikings Get One More, But Not Before Gibbs Gets His Second Touchdown Of The Game. Everyone, The Vikings' Defense Would Wrestle A Possession Away From Goff, And The Offense, The Hand of Nick Mullens, Would Give And Takeaway—two More Interceptions In The Second Half Sealed The Vikings' Fate. Not even a massive 28-yard conversion on Third and 27 to Justin Jefferson could redeem some of that glory, but it is not enough. Jefferson Recovered A Fumble By Mullens, Who Again passed the Ball When SACKED But, In Return, Created The Highlight Of The Year. Jefferson Finished with 6 Catches For 141 Yards and One Touchdown, 23.5 Per Catch. KJ Osborn Five Catches For 95 Yards: The Vikings found success against the Lions' defense, and every team found success against the Lions' defense. The Vikings' Defense Only Delivered One Sack. Linebacker Patrick Jones Brought Jared Goff In The First Half.

The Vikings Magical Season Looks Over. Two Games Left On The Year The Vikings Have Now Lost 4 of Their Last 5 Games And Now Sit Outside The Playoff Picture. Credit Kevin O'Connell for keeping the ship together. O'Connell O'Donnell looked ready for Coach Of The Year honors if Minnesota kept things together. The Vikings Still Have A Shot, But A Long One.

The Lions Clinch The Division And, With a Cowboys Loss, Move Into Second Place In The Conference.

Jason Strachan

NFL Week 16 TAkeawys

NFL Week 17 Takeaways.

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