NFL Week 17 Takeaways.
Texans Vs. Titans
CJ Stroud will return to a Texans' lineup ridden with injuries to make off with a divisional win against the Titans 26-3. The Win Helps The Texans Stay Locked With The Jags And Colts, Who Both Won On Sunday, Lock All Three Teams In A. The division has a tie, and virtually one wild card spot is open for all three. Stroud Return. to An Efficient Game, 24/32 For 213 And One Touchdown. The Texans Defense Force Four 3 and Outs Of The Titans 10 Offensive Drive and Three Points Total. The Titans Had Nothing To Play For In This Game As The Team Heads Towards A Rebuild This Off-season. Tennessee will Get Another Look At Will Levis Before Deciding If Investing in a Top Ten Pick-in Passer This Offseason Serves As The Way Forward.
Colts Vs Raiders
The Colts Beat The Raiders To End Las Vegas's "Zombie" Like Playoff Hopes. The Raider Stayed Alive Longer Anyone, but We All Knew The Odds Were Dead In Their Favor. The Colts stand at 9-7 at The Seventh Seed but need to beat the Texans next week to lock their place in. The Colts would have To worry About Securing Their Playoff Position If They do lose To The Patriots and Panthers In Back Weeks—It's 2024, Not 2016–But The Colts overcome those Brutal Losses and Now Have A Chance To Let Gardner Minchew Lead Them To The Playoffs.
Bills Vs. Patriots The Bills Didn't Lose To The Patriots(Again) Josh Allen Internal The Offense Struggle But Hold To Secure At least A Wild Card Spot After Dropping The Patriots 27-21. Josh Allen Threw Another "Dud" Game In So Many Weeks, 15/30 For 169, And James Cooks Doesn't Pick Up The Slack. Instead, The Defense Steps Up, Rasul Douglas Picks Off Bailey Zappe And Returns For 40 Yards. The Pats Struck First In This Game, As Jalen Reagor returned the Kick Off 99 Yards For A Touchdown. The Patriots' actual offense had four turnovers, including three first-half intercepts. The Bills Take On The Dolphins Winner Takes All In The Division and The Second Seed. Who Would Have Thought The Bills Could Land The Second Seed? The Patriots Lose And Remain Slated For a five-pick. The Patriots and Bill Belichick Haven't Drafted Top Ten since 2008; Linebackers Coach Jerod Mayo Could Potentially Replace Coach Belichick.
Chiefs Vs. Bengals
On Sunday, The Chiefs Prove They Have The Pass Catchers Everybody Says They Lack. Rachee Rice Picks Up Five Catches For 127, Including Massive 67-Yarder Over The Top Of The Bengals' Defense To Help The Chiefs Secure The AFC West and A Playoff Spot. Isiah Pacheco Had The Game Of His Career With 18 Carries For 130, 7.5 Yard Per Rush—Pacheco Caught This Game's First Touchdown on A Short Wheel Route. Mahomes Drop Back And Hit Number 10 Just Like in the old days, Except for The Name On The Jersey; Tyreek Hill No Longer Plays For The Chiefs, and The Jersey read Pacheco.
The real Offense For the Chiefs Came from the Boot Of Harrison Butker, Who Finished The Game 6/6 On Field Goals. The Chiefs March Into The Playoffs As Vulnerable As Ever But Also As Dangerous
The Bengals, Playing For Their Playoff Lives, stayed Neck And Neck, Even Leading Through The Third. But the Chiefs' Defense held the Bengals scoreless in the second half. Jake Brownings's Run In The Shows Of Joe Burrow Has to Meet An Injunction. Even With Jamar Chase and Browning Couldn't Keep The Chiefs's Defense Threatened.
Joe Mixon Failed to Pick Up A First Down On A 4th and One In Third, AND Bengals's Offense Suffocates Internal The Second Half. The Loss Dropped Cincy Out Of The Playoff Picture. Jake Browning is 19/33 For 197, has One Touchdown, A Passer Rating Of 85, and a QBR Of 79. Browning Found Some Success In The First Half, But After The First 30 Minutes, The Chiefs's Made Hole A Tough Throw, Browning Felt The Force Of The Chief's Pass Rush And He Completed A Few, Other Times His Receivers Couldn't Make A Play On The Ball. Chiefs Safety Justin Reid Notch Two Sacks, George Karlaftis Reach 1.5 Sacks, and Chris Jones joined In On the Action. I Need to know What The Bengals do to Sign Quality Offensive Linemen in The Season And Still Can't Produce Capable Protection. The Chiefs Enter The Playoffs As The Hunter, But They Can Play Spoiler To Any Of The Teams Above Them In The AFC Standings.
49ers Vs. Commanders
"The Quarterback With The Best Stats" Less Than A Week Ago The Name Brock Purdy Inspired Admiration. Purdy Captained The Best Team In Football Just A Week Ago, His Pre Game "Fit" Drew the Interest Of spectators For its "Boring" Look, And The MVP Conversation started With the Last Pick In The Draft Just A Year Ago—He's Only In His Second Season. Nothing changed for Purdy, just the number of Intercepts (7 to 11) and a few marks down in the passer rating. Nevertheless, Like Trump, The Ravens took away with Purdy's Candidacy. He's No Longer the "MVP" Favorite, The Quarterback With The Best Stats. The Quarterback Brock Purdy, former MVP favorite, bounced back from his four Intercept games to lead the 49ers to crush the Commanders 27-10. No Surprises with This Game As The Niners Took The Bout Start To Finish. The Commanders Returned To Sam Howell—The Other Second Year Quarterback Who Also Had The Best Counting Stars Through Week 9–With Jacoby Brissett Out With An Injury. Purdy Cruised by The commander's defense, Racking Another Brilliant Stateline 22/28 For, 230 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, Sacks, A passer Rating Of 124.7, and A QBR of 88.2. The Fallen MVP candidate showed no Effects from last week's loss as he chastised the commander's secondary to secure the top seed in the conference, home-home-field advantage, and the first-round bye. Brandon Aiyuk Notched His Seventh 100 Yard Game this Season With A 7 Catch, 114 Yard Game, And One Touchdown, Raising His Career Season receiving yards. He's Due A Massive Pay Increase As He Enters The Final Year of His Rookie Deal. The Loss Craters The Commanders To 4-13.
Purdy will finish in the top three in MVP voting butler, with Lamar due to take the honors almost unanimously. Purdy might see a few votes.
The Commanders started This season, Trapped Between A Team Looking To Play Spoiler In The Division But also Trying To Find Out What They Had In All Their Young Talent. Even With Some Of The Young Talent Traded Away, The Commanders Have A lot Of Nice Pieces On Offense. Now, the New Brain Trust, the ownership assembly, will have to decide on the new direction of the coaching staff. The New Staff Will Have to Make Roster Decisions, Including The Decision Looming At Quarterback.
Sam Howell Fell Flat To Close This Season. He finished 17/28 For 169 One Touchdown, Two Picks Against The Niners. Despite Some Heroics This Season, Which Include Five 300 Yard Game(Three In a Row At One Point), He's A Limited Talent Overall. Howell Threw A Touchdown To Terry McClaurin Along The Boundary Of The End Zone To Tie This GAme 10-10 Before The Niners Run Away With The Win. The Commanders Have The Offensive Talent
The Number Sacks Opposing Teams Put On Howell Wore Him Down as The Season dragged On And His Production. The Commanders Have To Address The Offensive Line At Some Point This Season, But it is Better for Howell to Take The Hits Rather Than, Say, The Number Two Overall Pick And A DC Native Potentially entering The Draft. The Commanders Have The Seat At The Number Two Pick for The Second Time In Four Years. The Commanders Could Avoid Ending The Season With a Losing Streak Next Week Against The Cowboys As Dallas Looks To Wrap Up The Division.
Packers Vs Vikings
Kevin O'Connell Started His Week Like He's Started Most Of The Weeks Since Kirk Cousins Went Down With an Injury, Fielding Questions About Which Of His Three Backup Quarterbacks Would Take The Reins On The Offense. Despite A Heroic Performance By Nick Mullens Last Week, O'Connell Settle On Rookie Jaren Hall, Deciding He Admired Hall's Equableness—"He Doesn't Get TooHigh Or Too Low—And That Decision Turned Out Wrong. By The Time O'Connell Turned On his Decision, At Half Time, The Packers Already Put The Game Out Of Reach and took The Divisional Win 33-10. The Packers Lead The Game 23-3 At Half.
Jordan Love started the scoring with a 33-yard pass to Jayden Reed, splitting two Vikings Defenders who could only watch as Reed ran through the end zone. The Second Touchdown Of the Game Featured A Complete Drive Of 10 Plays For 75 Yards And a yard-rushing touchdown. By The Time Nick Mullens Got Into The Game, The Vikings Had Only Their Dignity To Defend. Mullens led the Vikings To The Edge Of The Red Zone only to Fall Short Of The Touchdown And Surrender The Possession On A Turnover On Downs. The Packers Reclaim Their Spot In The Playoffs With The Seahawks Loss To The Steelers. Love finished 24/33, 256 Passing Yards, Three Touchdowns, 125.3 Passer Rating, 82.7 QBR. Aaron Jones picked up a big game on the ground, 20 carries for 120 yards, 6 yards a carry.
Mullens Leads The Vikings To A Late Touchdown. A muffed Punt By The Packers Gifts The. Vikings Favorable Field Position For A Six-Yard Pass To Tight End Johnny Mundt. The Win Vaults The Packers, Who Slipped A Bit Back Into Playoff Position With One Game To Go Against A Bears Team Hunting Wins Despite Not Having Any Playoff Position. A Smooth Sea Never Made A Skill Sailor, And Jordan Love has Rode The Ebbs And Flows Of The Season To Lead The Packers Into Playoff Position. The Packers Threat Level Internal, The Playoffs, Still Appears Mild, But A Hot Jordan Love Who Accounted For Four Touchdowns This Game Could Make His Mark This Year. Jayden Reed caught Two Touchdowns, The Deep 33 and A Second 25 25-yard short Pass, Which Reed ran through The Vikings For Another Touchdown, And Love Hits Bo Melton inside the Back Of The End Zone. Love Still Has Some Worse Throwing Mechanics I've Ever Seen Throwing Off Of His Back Foot, But The Throwing Motion Worked On Sunday.
The Vikings Fall To 7-9. At This Point, Who Kevin O'Connell Starts Doesn't Matter, Throw Josh Dobbs Out There For Another Go. Justin Jefferson's Quest For 1000 Didn't Get The A Great Jump, Just Five Catches For 59 Yards; Heights Needs 118 To Hit 1000 Yards. Feasible For The Man Who Lead The League In Receiving Yards Last Season. The Vikings Have Nothing To Hang Their Heads On; They Pulled Off One Of The Better Runs Of The Season. Unfortunately, They Won't Join The Browns As One Of The Teams To Start Four quarterbacks And Make The Playoffs.
Broncos Vs Chargers
So Much For All The "Russ Wilson Has Played Well This Year" Hoopla. Sean Payton Benched Russell This Week After A Poor Performance Against The Patriots That cratered The Broncos' Record To 7-8 and Virtually ended their Playoff hopes. The Broncos Have Delivered The Best Comeback Season Regardless Of How They End the Year, Especially Considering Everything The Team Has Suffered Through But Two Years, but Losing To The Patriots with The difference Of 28% Playoff Odds On The Line is inexcusable; this isn't 2016, Russ. With Games Left Against The Chargers and Raiders, Denver Squandered Their Only Chance.
In Steps Jarett Stidham, Into Denver's Lineup, Former Patriots Experiment Turned Shotgun Maestro For A Short Time.
Stidham Took Over For An Unceremoniously Benched Derek Carr For The Last Two Games Of The 2022 Raiders Season And Did Some "Good" Things For Las Vegas, Threw For Over 300 And Three Touchdowns In an Over Time Lost To Sands Fransisco. The Russ Saga In Denver Continues, The Broncos Wanted Aaron Rodgers, and $242.6 Million May Have Assuaged Some Egos After The Feeling Like Someone's Fall Back. You Can Only Judge A Decision Based On The Information We Understand From That Time. The Broncos Wanted a Turnaround From Drew Lock, Wilson Rank top 10 in touchdown(26) passes and passer rating(98) In The League. Jarrett Stidham Gets The Broncos To 8-8 Thanks To A Gutsy Performance Against The Chargers. Neither Backup Stidham Nor Easton stick Looks Rouse The Eyes Tune In To Awe, but Stidham's Touchdown Connection To Lil'Jordan Humphrey Added Some Needed Relief To The Early Punt Fest. Humphrey evaded Three Chargers Defenders like Neo in The Matrix On His Way To Converting A Touchdown Catch. Next Gen Stats Said he Had a 0.3 Chance Of Breaking The End Zone. Stidham Had his Moments Avoiding Pressure, But Neither Team Could Keep Drives Alive.
Even When The Chargers In The Second Half Would Start To Move The Ball, The End Result Turned Out As A Fumble Or A Missed Field Goal. Humphrey's 54 54-yard score Marked The Only Touchdown in the Game. Jerry Jeudy Caught A 41 41-yard pass To Set up A Missed Broncos Field goal, But Otherwise, The Two ballistic On One-Two Yard Gains. Stidham finished with a completed air yards of just two (2) on his way to a 224-yard game and a 93.4 passenger rating. Easton Stick, The Charged To Guide The Chargers Safely Into A Top Five Pick With Justin Herbert Down, Finished With 24/38 220 Passing 78.8 Passer Rating. The Broncos Stay Alive For The Playoffs With One Game to Go Against The Eliminated Raiders. The Broncos And Hope For All Manners of Variables To Fall Into Their Favor. Losing One Game Shy Of The 10 On A Season Still Has To Sting. The Russell Wilson Saga Will Rage Into The Off-season. For Now, He's Committed To The Team, But Sean Payton's Ego Got Bitten Hard By That Patriots Loss. Stidham Didn't Look Tremendously Convincing In This Matchup. The Chargers Had Nothing To Play For Outside Of Maybe Incentives In Their Contracts But A Top Five, Maybe A Pass Rusher. Kahlil Mack recorded His Sixteenth Sack Of The Season And His 100th Sack Of His Career. Mack Probably Doesn't Extend His Tenure As A Charger Beyond This Season. The Chargers lose four straight and close out the season against the Chiefs.
Cardinals Vs. eagles
The Cardinals Have A quarterback Decision Looming; That Decision's already Concluded Now That A Top Three Pick Has Landed In Their Crosses, Or Has The Conversation Entered Another Phase After Sunday's Outcome? Kyler Murray Had His First Special Performance In This Cardinals's Offense. With The Eagles Looking To Close Out, The Division Conversation after The Cowboys Win On Saturday And a Response To A Two Game Losing Streak, Jalen Hurts Leads Philly Out To A 21-6 First Lead Over The Cardinals. The Eagles Started The Game With A Win Probability Of 77%, And The Odds peaked in Philly's Favor At 92.3 As Kyler Drove The Struggling Cardinals' Offense Forward. The Eagles Strike With An Interception For A Touchdown Off Of Kyler Murray, and The Cardinals Look Like The Overmatched Team, we thought, when they Entered the Game When The Eagles Got A 14-3 Lead. The Steal A Touchdown Right Out Of Arizona's Mouth As Safety Sydney Brown Takes A Pass From Kyler Out Of The Air and Returns The Ball 99 Yards For A Score.
The Cardinals Could Only Field Off Of Long Drives That's How Arizona Gets On The Board First, After A Stop Against Philly Out Of The Gate With a Field Goal On The Second Drive Of The Game. The Drive Required 14 Plays To Cover 68, Got Out The Gate With A 26 Yarder To Trey McBride Because The Cardinals Need A Big Target, But Things Get Complicated In The End Zone. Murray Fumbles On First and Goal, James Conners Gains Two Yards, Can't Connect With Emeri Demarcado And The Cardinals Settle For A Field Goal. The Eagles Respond With a Fury. Jalen Hurts Hits His Tight End Dallas Goedert For 23 Yards on 3rd And Three To Dig Into The Cardinals's Territory. The Eagles scored a touchdown pass from hurts to Julio Jones. Jones had two Cats and two touchdowns in the game, giving him three on the season and the Eagles the lead. Julio Moves More Like An Old Tight End Rather Than A Receiver, But Those Hands Still Hit. Jalen's hurts had someone struggling to pass the ball, just 18/23 for 167 passing yards, three touchdowns, but just one after the first half.
Hurts Hit Dallas Goedert Along The Sideline Of The End Zone. The Eagles' offense turned to running back Kenneth Gainwell attacking through the air to hit Devonta Smith for 17 yards. Smith Would, However, Drop A big Pass From Hurts Along The Sidelines, and The Eagles Punt After Conceding A Touchdown To the Cardinals In The Second. This Game, However, Belong To James Connor On The Ground and Through The Air. Conner, The driving force Behind The Cardinals' Offense From The Start Of The Season, Finished with 26 Carries For 128 For 4.9 And One Touchdown On The Ground As The Cardinals Racked Up 221 Yards On The Ground On 5.5 A Carry. With the Cardinals driving to tie the game in the third quarter, Conner stretched out one hand to pull in a touchdown pass from Kyler Murray. Conner's Rushes In The Fourth A Final Touchdown Of The Cardinals In The Second Half. The Cardinals Score On All Four Possessions Of The Second Half. Kyler Hits New Addition Micheal Carter For Six Yards To Start The Third Quarter.
After The Defense Force An Eagles Punt, Murray, and Conner Work The Ball Down Field Murray Hits Conner And late Micheal Wilson For A Two-Point Conversion. Wilson Would Pop Up Again. With The Eagles Internal, the driver's seat is 28-21. Micheal Wilson popped up again after hurting Dallas Goedert on the Scramble Touchdown mentioned earlier. He's The Next Biggest Threat and Brings Down a Two-Point Conversion. The Eagles Could Not Stop The Cardinals On The Ground, And in The Short Game, Which A lot Of Teams Wouldn't Allow The Cardinals To Access, The Eagles Had No Answer. The Cards Dominated Time Of Possession, 39:39 To 20:21, Ran 72 Plays Compared To The Eagles 47.
The Cardinals averaged 6.9 per play and 5.5 yards per run. The Eagles, With Both Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter In The Line and a very Pass Rush, sacked Murray Just Once In The Game.
On the other, The Eagles' Inability to run The Ball Hurt Their Ability To Nurse A Early Lead Against A team They Should've run away From Late. D'Andre Swift had 13 Carries For 61. Hurts Added 8 Carries For 25 Yards. The Too Inviting Cardinals Defense Closed The Door On The Eagles' Wide Receivers This Game. AJ Brown 4 Carries For 53 Yards. The Eagles racked up three 75+ yard drives but won the field position battle or punted/intercepted the rest of the game. The Eagles' Offense Remains A Concern; The Cardinals' Defense Shouldn't Look So Strong. When The Eagles Can't Talent Another Team With a Better receiver, The Quarterback and a Better Rush Scheme Makes Them Average, And In The Playoffs, That Point Of Philly Could Prove costly. The Cardinals stopped a two-game losing streak but fell into a three-way tie for the number two pick, with the commanders holding the difference at the two spots. The Cardinals have a game against the Seahawks, and then the decisions loom.
Philly, meanwhile, falls into The Fifth Seed and awaits the Winner Of The NFC South. The Eagles Still Have An Opening In The Division, But I Don't See The Cowboys Falling Back Down.
Jets Vs. Browns
After a Brief Moment Of Thursday Night Football Relevancy With last week's Rams Vs Saints Game, We Return To The Land of "Obscurity" With The Jets traveling to Cleveland To Face The Browns. Obscurity As The Browns Can Welcome A Playoff Berth With A Win.
This game had the potential for something more, something league shifting, when initially scheduled: Before the injuries came and took both the Jets and Browns' quarterbacks away. Flacco started three games for the Jets, with Zach Wilson recovering from them. One. Those Three Games Flacco Started Includes The Most Improbable Comeback In League History In Week 2 Of Last Season Against The Cleveland Browns. Flacco Kind Of Shepherded The Jets' Young Quarterbacks Last Season. "Joe is the old man in the group," Mike White told The Athletic Last Season. Neither Flacco, White Nor Wilson suit up For The Jets. Instead, Trevor Seimian Willow takes his Shot At The Number Defense League In The Browns With The Worst Passing Attack In The League. The Jets roll out their third-ranked defense against the fourth-worst passing attack.
Flacco has played better than anyone. The Jets have to offer as good as anyone could expect from a 38-year-old off the couch. Flacco's Still Played Better Than Any Other Browns Quarterback This Season; According to Next Gen stats, Flacco Has Produced +12.8 EPA per Back, More Than Any Other Browns Quarterback This Season. Flacco Went At The Jets Without His Top Weapon, and Amari Cooper Missed Thursday's Game With A Heel Injury. Remember, These Two Browns Made Magic Together Sunday Against The Texans. Coming, Flacco Had Thrown A lot Of Interceptions, 7–The Only Similarity Between him and The Rest Of The browns Quarterbacks—and A lot Of Almost Picks If The Jets Took A Few Possessions Away From him and The Browns On Thursday. Tight End David Njoku Has Serve As Flacco's Next Best Option In The Receiving Game, 75 Catches On The Year, 36 Targets Over Flacco's Four Starts, 1/3 Of Njoku's Total Targets On The Season. Flacco To Njoku Waste No Time Working The Jets Intermediate Defense. If the Jets have one weakness on defense, the spots Between the defensive line and corners along the secondary work like a vulnerability on the immovable force of the Jets' defense. On An Opening Drive Of 75 Yards Through Seven Plays, Flacco Connected With Njoku Twice, Once For 28(Catch And Run) and Another For 36 Yards. The Duo set up a seven-yard touchdown throw to Jerome Ford to put the Browns on the 7-0 First Drive board. The Jets tend to keep their cornerbacks stationery on the outside, so the Athletic Njoku presents too great of a matchup nightmare, and Flacco would Reveal Njoku a lot more in this game.
Jerome Ford Wouldn't Stand As The Only Running Back To Score His Teams First Points. Trevor Semian Stood In Front Of Cleveland's Defense And Delivered. First, Siemian Hit Garrett Wilson over The Top For 22 Yards. Breece Hall hits The Browns For 22 Yards Into Browns Territory. He was facing A Third and Five Siemian Hits Breece Hall On A Crossing Route For 21 Yards Into The Endzone.
What Looked Like A defensive struggle Started To Morph Into a Shoot Out.
Kareem Hunt Would Get The Running Backs On The Board In The Ground On The Browns Second Drive. The Second Consisted Of Another 7 Plays and another Two Catches For Njoku. This Time, it Featured a big 43-yard run that Set Up Kareem's Hunt For Seven Yards. The Jets Fumble On The Next drive.
An Overaggressive Brown's Offense Having Sucess Leave The Red Zone With No Points Thanks to Failed Forth Down Conversion. The Browns, However, Get Their Touchdown. A Pass Over the Middle By Trevor Seimian lands In The Hands Of Browns's Defensive Back Ronnie Hickman, Who Returns The Ball For 30 To Put The Browns Up 20-7: Flacco and Brown's Passing. Offense Kept Coming. A Njoku Fumble at 13:29 slowed the Browns down briefly, but the Browns' other tight ends and receivers got in on the work. On Brown's Third Offensive Drive Of The Game, Flacco Guns A Pass To Wide Receiver Elijah Moore For 24 Yards. The Pass Almost Gets Picked. Instead, Moore Stretches Out And Takes The Ball Down Field. The Flacco Magic Continues—Coming From a Guy Who Never Liked Flacco Most of His Career But Inspires Me Now. The Jets' defense entered the game, allowing a total offense of 297 yards; Flacco notched 296 at the half. Flacco Uses A Nifty Play Action Fake And Hits Tight Jordan Akins For 28 Yards The. He turns His Blaster To Elijah Moore In The Corner Of the End Zone.
They take A 34-17 Lead At The Half, And At One Point, Flacco Looked Like He Could For Over 400 Yards. Instead, He and The Jets Turn Off The Blasters And Settle For 309 Passing Yards, 19/29, 10.7, Three Touchdowns, and 121.2 Passer Rating. Flacco Sat In The Pocket for 3.07, and The Jets' Defensive Line was Barely offering him All Game. Jets Edge Rusher Jermaine Johnson How Did he Pick Off On A Short And Return The Ball To The End Zone To Cut The Score 27-14 In The Second Quarter? The Florida State Product Johnson Also Recovered a second Half Fumble By Pierre Strong Forced By Quinnen Williams.
Whoever Gets The Browns In The First Round Looks Like One of The AFC South Teams—Jags, Texans, Or Colts—And If They Faced The Brown Who Crushed The Jets Today, That Home Game won't Matter. Reasonably, Any Team In The AFC Should Feel "Put On Notice" By The Browns In Recent Weeks. The Browns Look Like The Second Team In The AFC Behind Baltimore. The Browns Finished This Matchup With A Decent Game Rushing, 4.5 Yards Perry As A Team. Jerome Ford Broke Off A Couple of "Good" Runs On The Night.
Lions Vs. Cowboys
Dallas Versus Detroit In A Matchup That Could Decide Which City Takes Ownership Of The Nickname "The D" (Seriously) Oh And Other Playoff Implications That Involved The Two Seed. The Discussion With These Teams Starts With Which Offense You Trust More. Both Teams Enter This Crucial Week 17 Game With top-five scoring Offenses; the Cowboys Two Teams Averaging Better Than 30 Points Game But Enter This Contest Limping Back Losses With an Average Of 15 Points. The Performance Against The Dolphins looks far Better Than The offense Against Buffalo. Detroits won Two Straight 72 Points Combined In Their Last two Matchups. Maybe The Fighting Of Detroit, Who Under Ben Johnson Attacks Teams With A Flurry Motions, Vertical, Over Route Detroits Got Everything. Mike McCarthy And The Cowboys don't Always Pull All The Toys, But they Have Ceedee Lamb; Heights Can And Has Done Everything The Cowboys Need Of Him This Season. The Lions Don't Defend The Pass Well, 16th In DVOA, The Cowboys Rank Eight in DVOA, And Dallas Has Held Prolific Passing Offense In Check.
The Run Game For These Two Teams Might Decide The Game. Tony Pollard Cost Dallas A Touchdown Last Week when He Didn't Get Into The End Zone Early In The First Quarter. The Cowboys' Defense Got run over By James Cooks And The Bills Two Weeks Ago; not so Much For The Dolphins, But This Lions' Run Game Can Wreck a Matchup. Detroit Can Also Assault Teams In A Variety Of Ways On The Ground With The Combination Of Jahmyr Gibbs And David Montgomery. This Game Has critical Playoff Value. The Lions Hold The Two Seed at The Start Of The Game, But A loss Vaults The Cowboys Or Eagles ahead by the Conference Record. The Niners At The Top Don't appear Susceptible To Getting Toppled, But If The Niners lose their Next Game Or In The Playoffs, Detroit Would Vault Into Home Field position With The Win. Number Seeds Have Lost Before; the Tennessee Titans did Two Years Ago, and The Chiefs Took The Position Number Two Years Ago.
The Dallas Defense Started Their Night Strong On Saturday Night's Rendition Of Monday Night Football; The Cowboys Force An Early Third And Long Predicament; The Lions, However, Work Their Way Out Of The Jam With the Accurate Arm Of Jared Goff. Goff Hit Two Big Plays, 11 Yards To Khalif Raymond and Later 23 To Amon-Ra St. Brown, And Drove the Lions Into The Red Zone. Nevertheless, the Cowboys' defense held the Lions' offense off again, and Detroit had to settle for a field goal. The Lions Run Game found room with power back David Montgomery, who ran for 18 yards on four Cars.
Detroit's Secondary Would Take Center Stage against This Cowboys Passing Attack, And Early They Started Making Plays: Not Before The Cowboys Start Cooking: the Highlighted Matchup, Melifonwu Against Ceedee Lamb. Lamb takes The First strike on the third And fourth for The Cowboys. Dak Hits Ceedee Lamb Short and Ceedee Spins Off Of a Defender And bursts up the Field For 31 Yards. Three Plays Later, With The Cowboys Facing Third And Dak Again Peeks Ceedee's Way—Top Receivers Always Have an opening—Instead, Ifeatu Melifonwu Snags The Under Thrown Ball Out Of The Air And shifts The Momentum In Favor Of Detroit. The Lions Cross Mi Field On The Stolen Possession, But A Sack By Dante Fowler On Jared Goff On 3rd And 8 Pushes The Lions Out Of Field Goal Range. At The 5:15 Minute Mark At The 40, Jared Goff Has To Know Heights Can't Take A sack In That Situation, and The Cowboys Return The Favor.
The Sack Helped The Lions Win The Field Position Game. The Cowbopys Found Themselves Trapped Against Their End Zone With a blitz Beaming Down On Dak in The End Zone; Prescott Escapes The Sack And Launches A Floater To Ceedee On One; the Defender Falls Down At Ceedee and Strikes For 92 Yards The Longest Play Scrimmage This Season, And Lambs's Historic Night Would Get. Lamb Eclipses 100 Yards In Two Catches In The First Quarter. The Cowboys Take A 7-3 With 3 To Go. The Battle For Which Offense Could Find The Right Combination Of Hits Begins. The Cowboys Defense Force The First Three And Out. Dante Fowler Again With The Play, First The Sack, Then A Tackle For Loss On David Montgomery. Lions Tight End Sam Laporta Missed A Tackle Sonya Bad Fowler Look Unblock By The Design Of The Playoffs. The Cowboy's Defense Would Continue Making Plays. The Offense And Dak Needed Time To Figure Themselves Out; Jordan Lewis Snatched A Ball On A Screen Pass And Secured The Catch Going To The Ground To Give Both Quarterbacks One Interception in the Game. The Lions Faced A Few Struggles But Had A few Tricks.
Detroits's Defense Can't Secure A Sack, But They Can Get A Pass BreakupForce A Cowboys Punt. On Detroits's Second Drive Of The Second Quarter, The Lions Score A Three And Out And Have To Punt; However, The Most Aggressive Team On Fourth Down In Football Pulls Out The Fake Punt. The Fake Punt Notches The Lions 31 Yards But No Points. The Lions Get Over Aggressive In The End zone, And Again, The Dallas Pressure, This Time, Parsons Leaks Into The Pocket And Forces An Errant Throw, And The Lions Fail Another Possession. The Lions Blocking Scheme Could Not Handle The Cowboys. At one point, the Cowboys made six straight 3rd Down stops, multiple due to TFLs or Sacks. Both Offenses Struggled To Stay On The Field. After The Cowboys recorded The Games First Touchdown, The Game's Possessions Went As Follows: Punt, Punt, Interception, Fumble, Downs, Punt, Punt, And End Of Half (In The First Half). A Game That Forecasted As an Offensive Slugfest Turned Into a Defensive Chin Lock, Which Favored The Cowboys. The Lions Run Blocking Played Atrocious All Game, But David Montgomery Breaks The Scoring Silence At 4:34 In The Third, Capping Off 13 Plays and 74 Yards With A 3 Yard Run. Both Teams Would Knock In Field Goals, And The Lions Would Hold A 13-10 Into The Fourth. The Cowboys Would Earn Their Own Game Ending Touchdown When Dak Prescott Hits Brandin Cooks In The Corner Of The End Zone For 8 Yards To Cap Off A 9 Play 75 Yard Drive. Unlike the last game, this cook's touchdown would put the game against Detroit out. The Cowboys Pressure Force A 3 And Out. The Cowboys Score 43 Yard A Field Goal and Go Up 20-13. Detroit Gets 11-Yard Touchdown By Amon-Ra St. Brown, But With An Opportunity To Tie The Game, Dan Campbell Opts To Go For The Win. The Lions Suffer A Miscommunication With The Refs. Offensive Tackle Taylor Decker Tries To Report Illegible To Receive; instead, The refs Fail To Acknowledge The Request. The Lions Ultimately Fail The Two-Point Conversion. You have to Love The aggressiveness Of Detroit, Each Attempt Makes The Game Interesting But Analyst Call Attempting Fourth Down Plays "OverAggressive" For A Reason, Plays like The Late Two Point Conversion And The First Half Fourth Down attempt That Failed Cost The lions The Game.
Jared Goff Entered The 62.8 Passer Rating Under Pressure, and Cowboys Exploited That Avenues Off Goff's Game. He's Still A Good Quarterback, And The Lions Can Contend With Him, But He Doesn't Bring Anything added To The Game. Goff Doesn't Scramble; He's Not The Strongest Arm; He's The Standard Level Quarterback. Goff Finished This Matchup 19/34 For 271, One Touchdown, and picks. Certainly Not His worst game, But it is Not The Performance You Want In What Boils Down To A Playoff Game. The Lions Remain Looked In At Three Seed, Barring some Shenanigans, And Will Either Face The Rams Or Seahawks; either Matchup Projects As A Blockbuster Showdown; Philly Or Dallas Most likely Grab The Two Seed. Dak Prescott, Something Light, 26/38 For 345, Two Touchdowns, One Pick 103. 5 The Lions Dis Sack Prescott Three Times But Missed A Crucial Hit In The First Half.
So How I Still Don't Trust Dak In Big Moments. He's Got All The Talent For The Role; He's An MVP In Other Season That Doesn't Feature Lamar Jackson Leading The Ravens To A Number Seed In The Conference—Prescott Fourth Quarter Number Project Wells But something unconvincing About His Game.
The Cowboys Jumped Into The Driver's Seat In The Division After The Eagles' Loss On Sunday.
Dolphins Vs. Ravens
Remember The Last Time The Dolphins And Ravens Played, Week Three Of Mike McDaniel's First Year As Coach, Tua with The FIRST year With the Unstoppable Force Of Tyreek. Fans And Players Witness The First True Experience Of The Mind Of McDaniels And the Talents Of Supervisor Star Players. Last year in September in South Florida, The Dolphins Blast The Ravens, Raging Back From 21 Points at The Half, Thanks To 28 Points In The Fourth Quarter To Take Home An unforgettable Historical Victory Over Baltimore, 42-38. Tua Threw For A Career High 469 Passing and six Touchdowns Total. The Ravens And The Dolphins Splattered Highlights All Over The Place. Lamar Jackson's 79 Yard, which Put The Ravens 35-14. Former Dolphins Tight End And Current Patriots Mike Gisecki Skying Over Ravens Defenders Like Plane Over A Sky Scraper To Bring Down A 14-yard touchdown grab. The Game Wowed Everyone In Football And The Dolphins Put The Football World on Notice Before A Season Decline. Neither Of These Two Offense Has gone anywhere Near That Explosive—Although A Two Different Points In The Season From When That Matchup Happened— The Ravens Ran away From The Niners, Averaging 6.5 Yards Per Play. The Dolphins Kicked Four Field Goals Cowboys Against, Two Of Which Sanders KnockED in From 50 Plus To Take Down Dallas. The Dolphins Got Tyreek Back Last Week And Lost 1 of Jaylin Waddle's In The Process. Waddle caught the game-winning touchdown last time these two teams met. No matter who's playing, either team is hitting 30 points, much less 40, and looks far and away. Unlikely, the Dolphins have to reclaim some semblance of a run game.
Since Starting The Season, Accumulating 518 total yards and seven total touchdowns On a three-game Stretch, rookie Devon Achane has Struggled. Heights Notch 73 against Washington Butler has Passed 50 Yards on The Ground In The past three Games.
Raheem Mostert Still Ranks Fifth In the Rushing Success Rate, But The Dolphins Have Fallen To An Average Of 3.9 yards per carry Since Week 8.
The Ravens Offense Still operates a Mediocre Offense, 13th In Dropback EPA, but is Guided By The Likely MVP Lamar Jackson, like Star Fox Piloting a Craft From The Forties. Sorry I Couldn't Find A Better Metaphor, I'm Not An Aeronautical Enthusiast. The Ravens flew High Toady, Not Astronomically High, But Lamar Jackson And The Ravens demolished the Dolphins And Tua 56-19. The Dolphins Held A Small Lead in This One. Tua Lead The Dolphins To the First 8 Plays 75 And A Touchdown Pass To Cedric Wilson, And the Dolphins Collected a handful Of Big Plays On That Drive. The Dolphins And Tua Looked Like They Had A Beat in the Ravens' Zone With a Lead of 7-0 And Later 10-7 After The Ravens Responded With Their Touchdown Drive: A Drive That Featured Three Explosive Plays By Lamar Jackson, Two Of Which Went To Running Back Justice Hill, For 18 Yards, The Touchdown For 20 Yards And a 25 Yarder To zay Flowers. Lamar Hit Hill For 26, But The Play Got Call Back For Offensive Pass Interference on Tight End Isiah Likely. The Dolphins Would Kick A Field Goal, Force A Ravens Punt, and Despite A big 22-yard catch By Durham Smythe, The Dolphins Would pull up And punch the Ball. At 12:46, The Ravens began to Drive With Gus Edwards rushing For Four Yards, Beginning A Sequence Of Drives and scoring Touchdowns that Only Interrupted Another Dolphins' Field Goal; by The End Of The Run, Baltimore fumbled. In The Third Quarter, The Ravens Would Hold A 35-13 Lead. The Ravens Get The Run Start With a Ten Play 89 Yard Drive. Lamar Jackson Hits Odell Backham Jr. for 33, Who grabs the Ball Over A Defender Into The Boundary To Set The Ravens At The Foot Of The End Zone, Where Gus Edwards Punches One In To Put The Ravens Up 14-10. On the Next Drive For The Ravens, Lamar Needed Just One Play, an Air Out Pass To Zay Flowers, Who Gets Behind The Dolphins Secondary And Beats One Defender To The End Zone. The Dolphins Had A Lot Of Trouble On The Backend All Game. Justice Hill Slipped By Earlier.
The Ravens Went Up Points 21-13 Late In The Second Quarter, But The Play Felt Like A Knock and blow, And Ultimately, The Game Played Out That Way. Flowers Finished With A Big Game, 3 Catches For 106 And A Touchdown. After A Tua Interception, The Ravens Would Grab Another Quick touchdown; this Time, Four plays Across 38 Yards, And Lamar Hits Tight End Isiah Likely For 35 Yards Downfield. One Handed Snag And The Ravens Go Up 28-13, And That One Hit The Dolphins With The NyQuil. He likely Got His Second Touchdown Of The Game On The Next Drive Out Of The Half, 3 Plays, 18 Yards, and seven 7-yard touchdowns. The Ravens 35-13. The score Looked identical to the Last Game, But there was No Major Comeback This Time. After The Dolphins Offense Score Their Next Touchdown, In The Second Half, The Ravens Run Off Another Three Scores.
To conclude, the dominant showing is 56-19. Lamar Racked Up 5 Touchdowns Total and Left The Remnants Of The Dolphins' Top Ten Defense For Backup Tyler Huntley To Score Against. Jackson Finished with A total Of 356 Yards Of Scrimmage Offense, Completing 85% Of His Passes, A Passer Rating Of 158.3 And +28.3 EPA.
The Ravens Rush Attack, led by Gus Edward, racked up 160 yards on the ground, with 16 carries for 68 yards. In Back To Back Weeks, The Ravens Beat Two Top Ten Teams In Each Handedly. Lamar Locks Up The MVP, And The Ravens Lock Up The Top Seed In The Conference. With a week to go, Expect heavy work from Tyler Huntley next week. The Ravens Finished 5-5 In The Red Zone, Bolstering The Best Red Zone Offense In The League. THE Ravens Also Slaughtered The Dolphins' Secondary, with 14.4 Yards of completion and 9.3 Completed Air Yards.
The losses Kept Coming For The Dolphins In This One. Tua Struggled After A Promising Start. Tua Started 4/5 But Wrapped Up 22/38 For 237, Two Touchdowns, and Two Picks. He And Tyreek Failed To Connect In The End Zone As Hill Dropped A touchdown. Edge Rusher Bradley Chubb suffered a Serious Knee Injury; reports Suspect A Torn ACL. The Dolphins Will Lose Their Second Star Pass Rusher after Losing Jalen Phillips in Chubb earlier this season. The Dolphins' Offense Continues To Lose Points After Poor Performance After Poor Performance—Devon Achane Resurrected From the Doom, 14 Rushes, 107 Yard Performance, 7.6 Yards Per Carry. They Still Remain Locked At The Two Seed But Look Far And Away From The Contender They Presented Earlier In The Season.
