Welcome to Part I of my Monday Morning Quarterback Post for Week 14. I'd like to say it will be fondly remembered in the future as one of the greatest weeks in NFL history. I'd like to say that, but I can't. A lot of beatdowns this week. On the bright side several games that were laughers heading into the 4th quarter became exciting as the trailing teams made furious comebacks. Yet all those comebacks came up a bit short.
On the even brighter side my Cowboys got a huge divisional win, but like last week they didn't exactly play like a top notch team. This season started so great yet the Cowboys are making me think they are going to crush my spirits come playoff time. Again. Did you know that in the first 30 years of the Super Bowl the Cowboys made 16 NFC Championship game appearances? You know how many they have made in the last 25 years? Zero! Dammit Dallas I'm out of patience!
Deep breath Chops, reel yourself in before you go over the deep end. It's Christmas time, a time for joy. And more importantly Christmas cookies and homemade pierogies. Ok I'm better now.
This post will cover half the slate on Sunday while Part II will go over the rest of the games on Sunday and the Monday night game. The Colts, Dolphins, Patriots and Eagles all had a bye this week. I didn't miss any of them.
Just remember I am a Dallas Cowboys fan and I'm extremely biased. Feel free to agree or disagree about anything mentioned here. All comments are welcome.
Capital Punishment
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Cowboys 27 No-Names 20
I went through a roller coaster of emotions watching this game. After the 1st quarter I was flying high with enthusiasm. Near the end of the 4th quarter I had to continually punch myself in the chest to make sure my heart was still beating. Yet in the end, as they had all afternoon, the Dallas defense made the big play that let the Cowboys leave Washington with a big divisional victory.
The media kicked up a dust storm before the game by claiming Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy “guaranteed” a win for Dallas. What McCarthy really said was he felt confident the Cowboys were going to win. That is far from a guarantee, it is what every coach should feel like before a game if they are doing their job. No-Names head coach Ron Rivera jumped on the media reaction by claiming McCarthy was selfish by making the focus on himself and also trying to convince his squad that such a statement was true. Nice try Rivera. I know why Rivera made such a big deal about a non-issue taken out of context: he knew deep down his team wasn’t going to win. Notice he didn’t make any “guarantee” in response.
The Cowboys received the opening the kickoff and easily moved the ball down the field. Until they hit the red zone. Dallas has had red zone issues all season and Week 14 was no different. The Dallas drive ended at the Washington 17-yard line and they settled for a field goal.
The No-Names did little with their first possession and punted back to Dallas. Dak Prescott was not at his best this week and promptly threw an interception, setting up the No-Names on the Cowboys 37-yard line. Uh oh. I was still cursing about the play when Taylor Heinicke had a pass tipped and intercepted by Randy Gregory. Yay! The turnover set up Dallas in Washington territory and Prescott took advantage of the short field when he hit Amari Cooper with a TD pass. Dallas converted a two-point play and went ahead 11-0.
Washington needed to respond and drove the ball to midfield where they faced a 4th and 2. Riverboat Ron decided to gamble and went for the 1st down. Micah Parsons, quickly becoming my favorite Cowboy, made him pay when he strip sacked Heinicke and Dorance Armstrong scooped up the ball. Armstrong ran the ball 37 yards into the endzone for a TD and an 18-0 Cowboys lead.
Dallas kept moving the ball on offense in the 2nd quarter, but drives still died before they hit pay dirt. The Cowboys kicked two field goals to increase their lead to 24-0 at halftime. The No-Names offense did nothing in the first half.
The Dallas offense was inconsistent in the first half, but they at least put up some points. Not so in the second half as the Cowboys offense fell apart. Washington’s offense on the other hand finally found some life in the 3rd quarter as they put together their first TD drive and converted the two point play to cut their deficit to 24-8.
The No-Names killed that momentum on their next possession as Antonio Gibson fumbled and Dallas recovered the ball on the Washington 25-yard line. A TD would have been a kill shot, but the Dallas offense was rank and they settled for a field goal. Dallas entered the 4th quarter with a 27-8 lead.
The 4th quarter started off with a few punts before the No-Names broke through with their second TD of the game. The two point conversion failed and the score was 27-14 with 5 minutes left in the game. Dallas got the ball back with a chance to run down the clock with a few first downs. Instead Prescott threw a pick six and suddenly the No-Names were back in the game at 27-20.
Now I’m pacing around the living room and wondering why I even watch football. Dallas had another chance to bleed the clock, but couldn’t even get one first down and punted. Washington received the ball and had a chance to tie the game. In theory at least. The Cowboys defense, as they had most of the day, stepped up again by strip sacking Kyle Allen. Dallas took the ball and finally wound down the clock for the win. Now I remember why I watch, I love football!
Not a great day for the Cowboys offense. They were OK in the first half, even though they settled for too many field goals. They were awful in the second half, not only failing to increase the lead but also letting the No-Names back into the game with a turnover. Dak Prescott (22/39, 211 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs) hasn’t looked right in several weeks and I’m wondering if an injury is holding him back. I know Zeke Elliott (12 rushes, 45 yards) is playing through an injury and his numbers reflect it.
The defense were the real heroes for the Cowboys. They sacked Washington quarterbacks 5 times and forced 4 turnovers, converting one of those turnovers into a TD themselves. Micah Parsons isn’t only the clear front runner for defensive rookie of the year, he is becoming a contender for defensive player of the year. The Cowboys improved to 9-4, first place in the NFC East with a full three game lead. They head to New Jersey next week to face the Giants.
Washington came into this game riding a four game winning streak, but they played like the awful team that stunk up the early part of the season. Taylor Heinicke (11/25, 122 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 fumble) was benched and his backup Kyle Allen (4/9, 53 yards, 1 fumble) wasn’t any better.
The No-Names defense made a big play in the 4th quarter to give them a shot at tying the game, but of course the offense blew it with a turnover. Washington dropped to 6-7, tied for second place in the NFC East with the Eagles. They will face the Birds in Philadelphia next week.
Dog Day Afternoon
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Browns 24 Ravens 22
Two weeks ago the Browns lost to the Ravens in one of the most horrific football games I’d ever had the displeasure of viewing. Man it was ugly. Last week the Browns had a bye and this week they returned to face, who else, but the Ravens again. How did the schedule makers mess that up? Since when does a team face the same opponent in two consecutive regular season games? It’s a wacky league sometimes. Fortunately for Cleveland this game was played at the dog pound and the results were much better.
Baltimore has been getting off to some terrible starts lately and this game was no different. After forcing Cleveland to punt on their first possession, the Browns scored 17 points on their next three. The only thing that happened with the Ravens in that time span was Lamar Jackson sprained an ankle and left the game.
Enter backup quarterback Tyrone Huntley. Huntley finally got Baltimore on the board with a field goal, but after the Ravens defense made a stop and forced a punt Huntley fumbled the ball deep in his own territory. Myles Garrett recovered the fumble and ran the ball 15 yards for a TD. Baltimore squeezed in another field goal before halftime, but trailed the Brown 24-6 at the break.
I guess the Browns figured Baltimore had no shot at coming back without Lamar Jackson because they basically stood around in the second half and waited for the clock to hit zero. The Cleveland offense gained less than a hundred yards after halftime and scored zero points. Meanwhile Huntley started to find a rhythm and Baltimore started to chip away at the deficit.
The Ravens kicked a field goal in the 3rd quarter and scored a TD early in the 4th quarter. The Ravens went for two after the TD but failed. The Browns lead was cut to 24-15. You’d think that would have lit a fire under Cleveland, but their next two offensive possession netted 9 yards combined. With time winding down, Baltimore put together a 90 yard drive topped off with an 8 yard TD pass from Huntley to Mark Andrews. One extra point later and Ravens only trailed by two points.
However there was only a little more than a minute left in the game. The Ravens had to attempt an onside kick. Unbelievably it worked when a member of the Browns hands team was too busy looking for someone to block and never noticed the ball coming straight for him. The football doinked off of his facemask and the Ravens recovered. Needing only a field goal to win and having the best field goal kicker in the NFL, Justin Tucker, on their side, the Ravens had the ball near midfield. It looked like the Browns were going to blow the game, but Jadeveon Clowney came up with a huge sack and Baltimore couldn’t get a first down. Cleveland held on for the win, barely.
Cleveland’s offense scored on three of their first four possessions and then did Jack Squat the rest of the game. The TD scored by the defense ended up being the game winner. Baker Mayfield (22/32, 190 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) looked healthier after a bye week, yet he still didn’t light up the scoreboard. Nick Chubb (17 rushes, 59 yards) at least gained some yardage, the Ravens held him to 16 yards two weeks ago.
The Browns defense was excellent in the first half, but let the Ravens slowly creep back into this game in the second. However they did come up with the big stop after the special teams screwed the pooch. The Browns improved to 7-6, tied for second place in the AFC North with the Bengals. They will host the Raiders next week. Cleveland’s last four games aren’t easy, but if they can win 3 out of 4 they could still win this division.
Injuries are finally catching up to the Ravens. Somehow early in the season they were able to overcome all the players lost, but the magic ran out. It got even worse in Week 14 when Lamar Jackson (4/4, 17 yards) joined the walking wounded. His backup Tyler Huntley (27/38, 270 yards, 1 TD, 2 fumbles) threw the ball well, but his turnovers were backbreakers. One was returned for a TD and the other killed a drive that was in the red zone.
Tight end Mark Andrews (11 receptions, 115 yards, 1 TD) and wide receiver Rashod Bateman (7 receptions, 103 yards) were Huntley’s top targets. The defense got burned early in the game, but recovered to shutout the Cleveland offense in the second half. The Ravens fell to 8-5, still good for first place in the AFC North but everyone is breathing down their necks. The Ravens have some tough matchups ahead of them and if Jackson misses time they will be in trouble. Baltimore will host the Packers next week.
The Bowl Of Shame?
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Vikings 36 Steelers 28
Week 14 kicked off with a Thursday night game between the two teams that failed to beat the Lions. Shame, great shame. Both teams needed a win to keep faltering playoff hopes alive. The Vikings played with a little more humility and held on for a victory.
I didn’t realize this before the game, but the Steelers had the worst ranked run defense in the entire league coming into this contest. The Vikings sure noticed. Buoyed by the return of running back Dalvin Cook, Minnesota steamrolled right over the Steelers to take a whopping 23-0 lead at halftime. The Vikings offensive line were opening holes so big you could have driven a car through them.
The Vikings added two field goals in the 3rd quarter to take a 29-0 lead. Just what we needed, another Thursday night stinker. However like last week the Steelers offense just needed a long time to warm up. They fought back with a vengeance.
Ben Roethlisberger got hot and led the Steelers on a long drive for their first TD. Minnesota got the ball back and Kirk Cousins threw an interception to give the Steelers the ball on the Vikings 42-yard line as the 3rd quarter ended. Pittsburgh took advantage of the short field to score another TD and cut their deficit to 29-14 early in the 4th quarter.
The Vikings managed to hold onto the ball with their next possession, but couldn’t get a first down. They punted back to Pittsburgh, who stayed hot on offense by scoring a TD on their third consecutive drive. All of a sudden we had a one score game, 29-21.
Kirk Cousins responded with one of the few good plays he made as he found K.J. Osbourn for a 62 yard TD bomb. Minnesota now led 36-21. It looked safe as the Steelers had to punt, but Cousins breathed life back into Pittsburgh with another interception. The Steelers only had to gain 21 yards to score their third TD of the quarter and once again trail by only one score.
The Vikings took possession with 4 minutes left in the game. A few first downs would have bled out the clock, but it didn’t happen. The Steelers got the ball back on their own 4-yard line with two minutes left, needing a TD and a two point conversion to tie the game.
Roethlisberger started slinging the rock and Pittsburgh was on the move. Out of timeouts, they faced a 4th and one on the Minnesota 43-yard line. It was either convert or go home a loser. The Steelers converted when Chase Claypool caught a nine yard pass for a 1st down. That was good. However the clock was running and the Steelers needed to spike the ball fast. Instead Claypool was screwing around pointing down field to let everyone know he caught the ball. That was bad.
One of Claypool’s teammates tried to take the ball out of his hands to give the ball to the ref, but in the process the ball hit the ground and the Vikings “accidently” kicked it. By time the refs placed the ball and Pittsburgh spiked it 15 seconds ran off the clock. The Steelers got the ball down to the 12 yard line, but with only 3 seconds left on the clock they had one shot to tie the game. Roethlisberger threw a beautiful pass to Pat Freiermuth, who initially caught the ball but had it knocked out of his hands by the Vikings Harrison Smith. Game over.
Kirk Cousins (14/31, 216 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs) had another lousy primetime performance. His turnovers nearly cost the Vikings the game. Fortunately for Minnesota the ground attack was awesome. Dalvin Cook (27 rushes, 205 yards, 2 TDs) could not be stopped. All told the Vikings gained 242 yards on the ground.
The Vikings defense was good for three quarters, sacking Big Ben five times, but fell apart in the 4th quarter. If the Steelers had time for one more play the game could have ended differently. Minnesota improved to 6-7, second place in the NFC North. They play in Chicago next Monday night.
Last week the Steelers offense did nothing for three quarters, but came alive in the 4th to steal a win. Very much the same story this week except the comeback came up a hair short. Roethlisberger (28/40, 308 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT) had a great second half. Najee Harris (20 rushes, 94 yards, 1 TD) gave him plenty of support on the ground.
Everybody jumped on Chase Claypool after the game and for good reason. Claypool (8 receptions, 93 yards) played well, but his hot dogging after his last catch cost the Steelers at the very least time for one more crack at the endzone at the end. Awful recognition of the game’s circumstances. Why the hell was he celebrating when his team was losing in the first place?
The Steelers fell to 6-6-1, last place in the NFC North. Pittsburgh is still in the playoff hunt, but they need to win at least 3 out of their final 4 games. They host the Titans next week.
Around The League
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Chiefs 48 Raiders 9
Last month the Chiefs went to Las Vegas and kicked the Raiders ass. So before the game in Kansas City this week the entire Raiders team and coaches gathered on top of the Chiefs logo right before kickoff to show they weren’t intimidated. The Chiefs responded by kicking theirs asses even harder this time.
Didn’t anyone ever tell the Raiders that you should let sleeping dogs lie? The Chiefs have been winning, but they aren’t playing well. In fact the only good game they have had in the last two months had come at the expense of the Raiders. Never the less Las Vegas felt the need to make a statement before the game. In hilarious fashion it blew up in their faces.
The Raiders received the opening kickoff and running back Josh Jacobs fumbled the ball on their very first play. The Chiefs ran it back for a TD and had a 7-0 lead after ten seconds. Things only got worse from there for Las Vegas. The Raiders kept turning the ball over and the Chiefs kept scoring. Before you knew it the Chiefs were up 35-0. The Raiders managed to sneak in a field goal right before halftime to make the score 35-3.
The second half was more of the same, although Kansas City did pump the brakes a bit. The final score could have been much worse, think about that Raiders fans.
The Chiefs didn’t put huge stats to score 48 points because the Raiders gave them a lot of short fields with all their turnovers. Patrick Mahomes (20/24, 258 yards, 2 TDs) was nearly perfect, easily one of his best games lately. With a big lead KC ran the ball more than usual, gaining 132 yards and 3 TDs on 40 carries.
Defensively the Chiefs had a field day, sacking Derek Carr 4 times and forcing 5 turnovers. They only surrendered one TD. Impressive win for the Chiefs who improved to 9-4, first place in the AFC West. Are the Chiefs really back? I don’t know, they creamed the Raiders again but haven’t looked good against a real team in a while. At least on offense. They have a quick turnaround with a game in Los Angeles against the Chargers on Thursday.
Not much to say about Las Vegas. They tried to intimidate Kansas City and were made to look like complete fools. They didn’t score any points until they were trailing 35-0, so it was a few garbage time scores only. You aren’t going to win any games when you turn the ball over 5 times.
The Raiders fell to 6-7, last place in the AFC West. They travel to Cleveland next week. Las Vegas isn’t mathematically eliminated yet, but the playoffs are a long shot at best. Another strong start wasted by a bad finish for the Raiders.
Titans 20 Jaguars 0
You don’t have to do much to beat the Jaguars these days. Just basically show up. That is what the Titans did and they won easily without breaking a seat.
Tennessee scored a TD in the 1st quarter, noticed the Jaguars weren’t going to come close to scoring all day and just farted around to burn up the clock the rest of the game. Why not, it’s good to save your energy for actual competition.
Ryan Tannehill (20/31, 191 yards, 1 rushing TD) didn’t have to do much aside from not turning the ball over. So he didn’t. The rest of the offense was the same. The defense harassed Trevor Lawrence into 4 interceptions while sacking him three times. A rare shutout for the Titans defense, only their second one in the last 20 years. Man Jacksonville sucks.
Tennessee improved to 9-4, first place in the AFC South. They head to Pittsburgh next week. With a two game lead in the division plus the tiebreaker with four games left, it would take an epic collapse for the Titans not to win the AFC South.
The Jaguars are just trash. They only dialed up seven running plays, letting Trevor Lawrence (24/40, 221 yards, 4 INTs) play chuck and duck all afternoon. That kid deserves better. He has talent, but he is getting no help in Jacksonville.
News has been leaking that the players are fed up with Urban Meyers and who could blame them. He has done a terrible job, reportedly blaming the coaches and the players for everything gone wrong. Now he has stated he will immediately fire anyone who is leaking information. You dumbass, that shit doesn’t work in the NFL. If the players and coaches were smart they would have stormed into his office and confessed to being a leaker to get the hell out of there.
Meyers is just the latest in a long list of college coaches who thought they were good at coaching football, but have found out they were only good at recruiting. The NFL is an entirely different animal. The Jaguars will be the joke of the league if Meyers isn’t fired at the end of the year. The Jags fell to 2-11, last place in the AFC South. They host another shit show in the Texans next week.
Saints 30 Jets 9
The Saints found a simple cure for their five game losing streak: a game against the Jets. Getting Alvin Kamara back didn’t hurt either. New Orleans finally had a real running attack and they ran all over the Jets.
The Jets defense made an effort. They were only down 13-6 after three quarters. But all that pounding by the Saints took a toll, especially since the Jets offense couldn’t stay on the field. By the 4th quarter New York’s defense was out of gas and New Orleans trampled them to put up 17 points in the final quarter.
Since Jameis Winston went down the Saints quarterback situation has been a mess. Getting Alvin Kamara back took pressure of the passing game and Taysom Hill (15/21, 175 yards) picked his spots in playing mistake free football. Kamara (27 rushes, 120 yards, 1 TD) was a workhorse. Hill (11 rushes, 73 yards, 2 TDs) was also able to use his legs to put up nice numbers.
The Saints defense didn’t give up any TDs and part of the reason was their dominance on change of possession downs. They only let the Jets convert 3/14 3rd down plays and only 1/3 4th down plays. New Orleans improved to 6-7, tied for second place in the NFC South. The playoffs are still a possibility, but it will be an uphill climb. It starts next week in Tampa Bay.
While the Jets defense showed spirit, the offense was trash. Zach Wilson (19/42, 202 yards) is not giving anyone hope for the future. Wilson (4 rushes, 33 yards) was also the Jets top ground gainer, which says a lot about how awful the Jets running attack plays. This team is just plain bad.
The Jets fell to 3-10, last place in the AFC East. They aren’t any better now than they were in Week 1, which isn’t saying much about the job head coach Bob Saleh has done this season. They will head to Miami next week. At least the weather should be nice.
Falcons 29 Panthers 21
Remember when the Panthers started this season 3-0? That seems like a lifetime ago. Not only did the Panthers lose to the Falcons this week, they fell behind them in the NFC South. Ouch.
The offense has been the main problem for Carolina. The running game has suffered with Christian McCaffrey injured most of the year, but the quarterback play has been even worse. Sam Darnold was stinking up the league before he got hurt. Carolina desperately turned to Cam Newton to save them, but that decision has become a disaster.
The Panthers drew first blood with a TD, but the Falcons quickly responded with a TD of their own to tie the game at 7-7. In the 2nd quarter Carolina drove into Atlanta territory when Cam Newton fired off an interception that was returned 66 yards for a pick six. The Falcons had their first lead of the game and never looked back.
In the second half another Newton turnover, this time a fumble, set up the Falcons for a short field TD. Atlanta added a few field goals to take a 29-14 lead. The Panthers scored a garbage time TD late to make the final score look a little better, but the results were the same.
The Falcons won the turnover battle 3-1 and that was the difference in the game. Atlanta’s turnover came in garbage time and didn’t really hurt them. Matt Ryan (19/28, 190 yards, 1 TD) was fine if not overly impressive. He got enough ground support as the running back committee combined for 128 yards and a TD on 36 rushes.
The Atlanta defense is bad, but they had a good showing. They forced three turnovers, 2 of which led to scores, and stopped the Panthers twice on 4th down when they were desperately trying to stay in the game. Overall a good day for the Falcons, which is something I rarely say. Atlanta improved to 6-7, tied for second place in the NFC South with the Saints. They head to San Francisco next week.
Oh boy the Panthers season has fallen into the tank. Cam Newton (15/23, 178 yards, 1 INT, 1 fumble) has not been the answer at quarterback. Head coach Matt Rhule tried to change his luck by sending in P.J. Walker (6/12, 75 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) for a few series but it didn’t help.
Newton (10 rushes, 47 yards, 1 TD) was the Panthers top yardage man on the ground, which wasn’t a good thing. Chuba Hubbard (10 rushes, 33 yards, 1 TD) has a great name, but that is all he had going for him this week.
The Panthers fell to 5-8, last place in the NFC South. Their playoff hopes are dead. They will travel to Buffalo next week.
That's a wrap for Part I. I'll have part II out in a day or two. Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment below.
I have a feeling Urban doesn't feel the same way today.
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