Welcome to Part II of my Monday Morning Quarterback Post for Week 15. This post will cover the late slate on Sunday plus the Monday night and Tuesday night matchups. We had a barn burner Sunday evening and a big upset Sunday night. The rest of the games? Well they can't all be winners, but I'll plow through.
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.
Leading The Pack
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Packers 31 Ravens 30
When I found out that Ravens' quarterback Lamar Jackson wasn’t going to play in this game I was disappointed since I didn’t give Baltimore much of a chance to win without him. That was my bad. Tyler Huntley filled in magnificently and we still got a great game. The Ravens nearly pulled out a win, but once again the aggressive playcalling of John Harbaugh came back to haunt them.
Baltimore received the opening kickoff and Huntley directed the offense deep into Green Bay territory right out of the gate with the aid of a long pass completion to tight end Mark Andrews. However the drive stalled at the Packers 3-yard line, where the Ravens faced a 4th and goal. John Harbaugh does not like to play it safe, so he eschewed the field goal attempt and let the offense go for the TD. It backfired when Huntley was sacked and the Packers took possession.
Green Bay couldn’t even get one first down and punted back to Baltimore. With prime starting field position, the Ravens began another drive that this time ended successfully with a TD pass from Huntley to Andrews. The Ravens led 7-0 after the 1st quarter.
The Ravens defense stymied the Packers offense on their first possession, but Green Bay turned things around quickly. The Packers scored two TDs in the 2nd quarter and Baltimore responded with one of their own. The game was tied 14-14 at halftime.
The Packers took control of the game in the 3rd quarter, putting together two long, time consuming TD drives together sandwiched around a Baltimore punt. Early in the 4th quarter the Packer held a 28-17 lead. The Ravens next possession ended in disaster as Harbaugh gambled once again and lost. The Ravens went for it on a 4th and 6 on their own 29-yard line and failed to convert. The Packers could have slammed the door shut on Baltimore, but the Ravens defense finally stepped up and forced a field goal. Green Bay had a two TD lead, 31-17, with nine minutes left in the game.
Baltimore needed to score fast. Well they scored, but it wasn’t really fast. Huntley had to piece together a drive of short to medium plays that ended with a TD yet took over 4 minutes off the clock. The Packers got the ball back with 4 and half minute left on the clock. They could have finished Baltimore off with a scoring drive or at least a few first downs to eat up time. Neither happened as the Packers lost yardage on the possession and they had to punt back to Baltimore.
The Ravens had the ball with a little over two minutes left to play and needing a TD to tie the game. Once again Tyler Huntley stepped up and drove the Ravens down the field. With 40 seconds left on the clock Huntley ran the ball across the goal line to cut the Packers lead to 31-30. Big decision time again for Harbaugh. Would Baltimore kick the extra point, tie the game and hand the ball back to Aaron Rodgers with 40 seconds left, hoping for overtime? Or would the Ravens go for two, take the lead and hope the defense could hang on? Harbaugh went for two and the conversion failed.
Baltimore tried a desperation onside kick, but a penalty gave the ball to Green Bay. With the Ravens out of timeouts a couple of Rodgers kneel downs killed the clock and the Packers escaped Baltimore with a 31-30 victory. Great game.
After their initial punt, the Packers scored on five of their next six possessions. Aaron Rodgers (23/31, 268 yards, 3 TDs) picked apart the Ravens secondary with the help of Marquez Valdes-Scantling (5 receptions, 98 yards, 1 TD). The ground game contributed as well as Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon combined for 80 yards and a TD on 20 carries.
While the offense was humming, Green Bay failed to pull away from the Ravens because the special team were awful and the defense couldn’t cover Mark Andrews. Still it was a major road win for the Packers, who improved to 11-3. The win clinched the NFC North division for Green Bay, who became the first, and so far only, team to secure a playoff spot. The Packers also currently hold the #1 seed in the NFC and can’t lose it if they win out. If they stumble, well a certain team that plays in Dallas, Texas that I love is knocking on the door. Green Bay will host the Browns on Christmas day. Go Cleveland!
The losses are mounting for the Ravens, but with all the injuries this team has had to overcome the fact that they are still a serious playoff contender is admirable. Tyler Huntley (28/40, 215 yards, 2 TDs) played well with no turnovers. His main target was Mark Andrews (10 receptions, 136 yards, 2 TDs), who had a monster game. Like Lamar Jackson, Huntley was a dual threat as he also had a strong game on the ground: 13 rushes, 73 yards, 2 TDs.
The Ravens defense struggled most of the game, but Baltimore still could have won if all of John Harbaugh’s risky decisions didn’t backfire. That is how Harbaugh regularly coaches, sometimes you live by the sword and sometimes you die. I still respect his guts. The Ravens fell to 8-6, tied for first place in the AFC North with the Bengals. Baltimore will travel to Cincinnati next week.
Sunday Night Shutout
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Saints 9 Buccaneers 0
It has been mostly roses for Tom Brady since he joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but there has been one consistent thorn in his side: the New Orleans Saints. A banged up Saints squad marched into Tampa Bay and shutout the defending champions to finish off a second consecutive regular season sweep of the Bucs.
This game was all about defense. It wasn’t surprising the Saints struggled to score since they are still missing guys on offense and playcalling head coach Sean Payton had to sit out with covid. It was surprising the Saints were able to shutout the NFL’s top scoring offense in their own home. New Orleans defense is very good, but that was still a tall task.
The Bucs came into this game healthy on offense, but that changed as the game continued. Top wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin both left the game in the 2nd quarter with injuries. Unfortunately Godwin is done for the season with a torn ACL. Number one running back Leonard Fournette was also injured in the 3rd quarter. It was just an ugly night all over for the Tampa Bay offense.
The Saints kicked a field goal in the 1st quarter and another one early in the 2nd to take a 6-0 lead. Tampa Bay didn’t even make it to the New Orleans side of the field until midway through the 2nd quarter. The drive stalled on the Saints 27-yard line and Ryan Succop missed a 45 yard field goal attempt. The Saints took that 6-0 lead into halftime.
The 3rd quarter started off with a lot of punting by both teams. The Bucs finally made it back into Saints territory halfway through the quarter. They faced a 4th and one at the Saints 36-yard line and decided to go for it. Normally Brady would sneak, but instead he tried passing to Gronkowski and the throw was incomplete. Tampa would make it all the way down to the Saints 22-yard line on their next possession, but Cameron Jordan forced a Brady fumble and New Orleans recovered the turnover.
The Saints added another field goal in the 4th quarter to extend their lead to 9-0. Tampa’s woes on offense continued as their four 4th quarter possessions ended with two punts, an interception and a final drive ending as the clock ran out.
Tampa Bay also has a strong defense and the Saints couldn’t do much, but they at least did something and that was good enough. Taysom Hill (13/27, 154 yards) was uninspiring, but he didn’t turn the ball over. Nearly all of his stats came from throwing the ball to Marquez Callaway (6 receptions, 112 yards).
New Orleans couldn’t get anything going on the ground as Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram combined for only 28 yards on 20 carries. Woof. Obviously the Saints defense were the heroes of the night. They sacked Brady four times and forced two turnovers when the Bucs were threatening to score. Outstanding performance. The Saints improved to 7-7, second place in the NFC South. They are still in the playoff hunt and currently hold the final seed in the NFC. They will host the Dolphins next Monday night.
The Buccaneers should just forget this game even occurred and move on. Tom Brady (26/48, 214 yards, 1 INT, 1 fumble) was completely flustered and had by far his worse game of the season. Crybaby that he is, Brady was seen breaking stuff on the sideline and ran over to curse out Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen after his last turnover. Funny he didn’t get a taunting call. Perks of being the NFL’s golden boy I guess. Brady’s impressive streak of 255 games without being shutout was ended. That is the second best mark in NFL history, Drew Brees (304 games) holds the top spot.
The Buccaneers defense was also great, but their effort was wasted. The Bucs fell to 10-4, first place in the NFC South. They’ll still win the division easily, but their shot at the #1 seed took a huge hit. They need the Packers, Cowboys and Cardinals to drop some games for that to happen. Tampa will head to North Carolina next week.
Around The League
The rest of the games will be covered a little quickly since I'm short on time this week and frankly they weren't very good anyway. Homemade pierogies don't make themselves you know. For the record they turned out great and I'll be gorging myself on them this weekend. Yay Christmas!
Bengals 15 Broncos 10
We got another defensive battle in Denver as neither offense could get a good rhythm going. This game featured 13 punts and one turnover. Well the NFL doesn’t hand out any extra credit for style points so an ugly win was good enough for the Bengals.
The first half featured a lot of kicking. Aside from the all of the punts, the Bengals kicked two field goals and the Broncos kicked one while missing another. Cincinnati’s second field goal was a 58 yarder right before the break. Congrats to Bengals kicker Evan McPherson, that long kick was a new Bengals record. Cincinnati held a slim 6-3 lead at halftime.
The 3rd quarter featured an explosion of offense on both sides. O.K. that’s a lie, but at least both teams finally found the endzone. The Bengals scored first with another field goal to go ahead 9-3. Broncos quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was injured on Denver’s next possession and backup Drew Lock entered the game. He handed the ball off a lot to move Denver deep into Cincinnati’s territory and finished off the drive with a 26 yard TD pass to Tim Patrick. The extra point was good and the Broncos took the lead 10-9.
It didn’t last long. Joe Burrow found Tyler Boyd for a long 56 yard TD pass and the Bengals retook the lead 15-10 in under a minute. The Bengals went for two, but failed. That was the end of scoring for the day even though the 3rd quarter wasn’t over yet.
Drew Lock led the Broncos all the way down to the Bengals 9-yard line with Denver’s next possession, but fumbled while running the ball. The Bengals recovered and Denver’s last scoring threat was squashed. The rest of the game had little offense and lots of punting as the Bengals held on for a major road win.
Like I said, it was ugly but the Bengals still get credit for a win. Joe Burrow (15/22, 157 yards, 1 TD) was handcuffed outside of his TD bomb to Boyd (5 receptions, 96 yards, 1 TD). Joe Mixon (17 rushes, 58 yards) found few running lanes. The Bengal did just enough on offense behind a great day by kicker Evan McPherson and a solid showing by the defense. Cincinnati improved to 8-6, tied for first place in the AFC North with the Ravens. The Bengals host the Ravens next week and a win would put them in the driver’s seat for a division title.
The Broncos are clinging on to their playoff dreams, but while the defense was up to the task the offense faltered. Teddy Bridgewater (15/22, 98 yards) did nothing before he was hurt. Drew Lock (6/12, 88 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble) got them in the endzone, but his turnover killed their last real chance to take the lead. Javonte Williams (15 rushes, 72 yards) and Melvin Gordon (15 rushes, 53 yards) were solid on the ground. The Broncos fell to 7-7, tied for 3rd place in the AFC West with the Raiders. They travel to Las Vegas next week to break that tie.
49ers 31 Falcons 13
The 49ers came up with several huge stops on defense while the Falcons came up with none. That was the story of this contest. If Atlanta could figure out how score from the 1-yard line this game could have turned out very differently.
San Francisco received the opening kickoff and promptly fumbled the ball away. Huge break for the Falcons, who got the ball on the Niners 12-yard line. A few plays later the Falcons found themselves with a first and goal at the one yard line. And three plays after that they faced a fourth and goal at the one as the Falcons couldn’t punch the ball in. Refusing to admit their shortcomings Atlanta tried passing on 4th down, but it was incomplete and the 49ers took possession.
After that the two teams traded field goals and the 1st quarter ended tied at 3-3. In the 2nd quarter the two teams started trading TDs. The Falcons scored one, but the Niners got two and took a 17-10 lead into halftime.
San Francisco stayed hot in the 3rd quarter, scoring two more TDs as the Falcons could only manage a field goal. The 49ers held a commanding 31-13 lead entering the 4th quarter. Atlanta had a few chances to comeback, but instead they turned the ball over twice on downs while inside the 49ers 10-yard line. From there the Niners ran out the clock and the game was over.
The 49ers turned their season around by running the ball and Week 15 was more of the same. Jeffrey Wilson (21 rushes, 110 yards, 1 TD) and Deebo Samuel (6 rushes, 29 yards, 1 TD) punished Atlanta on the ground. Their play let Jimmy Garoppolo (18/23, 235 yards, 1 TD) pick his spots and he was very efficient.
The defense gave up some yards, but held firm in the red zone. They stopped three 4th and one plays inside their own 10-yard line, two of them from the 1-yard line. That is manning up on defense. The 49ers improved to 8-6, third place in the NFC West. A division title isn’t going to happen, but the Niners are in excellent shape to grab a wild card spot. They play the Titans in Tennessee on Thursday.
The Falcons tiny playoff hopes got a kick in the nuts because the offense couldn’t convert red zone opportunities into points and the defense got run over. Matt Ryan (19/32, 236 yards, 1 TD) was OK at best. The ground attack stunk as the running committee could only gain 62 yards on 23 carries. The Falcons fell to 6-8, third place in th NFC South. They will host the red hot Detroit Lions next week. Red hot might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s Christmas and I’m in a rare good mood.
Raiders 16 Browns 14
This game was supposed to be played on Saturday, but it got moved to Monday since half the Browns organization, including head coach Kevin Stefanski, were on the covid list. They were all still on the list on Monday, which makes you wonder why they bothered moving the game.
With Cleveland missing so many players and being forced to start 3rd string quarterback Nick Mullins, you’d think the Raiders would win easily. But lest we forget it is the second half of the season and the Raiders are in the midst of their annual freefall. They needed a last second field goal to sneak out of Ohio with a victory.
The Raider put together a nice TD drive with their first possession and then did diddly squat the rest of the first half. They did manage to sneak in a field goal before the break, which was better than the Browns who did nothing on offense in the first half. Las Vegas led 10-0 at the break.
Both offenses continued to stink in the 3rd quarter, but things got worse for the Raiders when Derek Carr was strip-sacked and the Browns took over at midfield. Nick Chubb, who had been bottled up the entire game, finally started breaking through the Raiders defense and scored a TD to cut Cleveland’s deficit to 10-7.
The Raiders kicked a field goal early in the 4th quarter, but the Browns found the end zone again when Nick Mullens started connecting on his passes. A Mullens TD pass gave Cleveland the lead 14-13 with a little less than 4 minutes left in the game. The Raiders got the ball but gave it back to Cleveland when a deep throw by Carr was intercepted. The Browns could have killed the clock with a couple of first downs, but they couldn’t even get one. The Raiders got one last shot with 2 minutes left on the clock.
Carr didn’t blow this opportunity. He hit on several passes to move Las Vegas to the Cleveland 30-yard line and Daniel Carlson kicked a 48 yard game winner as time expired. Close call for the Raiders.
The Raiders won, but considering Cleveland’s situation they can’t feel too good about how they played. Derek Carr (25/38, 236 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 fumble) redeemed himself after his turnovers nearly blew the game. Las Vegas improved to 7-7, tied with the Broncos for third place in the AFC West. They host the Broncos next week and need to win if they want to keep their faint playoff hopes alive.
Spirited effort for the Browns who were handicapped by a ton of missing players. Nick Mullens (20/30, 147 yards, 1 TD) played fine for a third stringer. Nick Chubb (23 rushes 91 yards, 1 TD) found his groove in the second half and revived the dormant offense. The Browns fell to 7-7, last place in the AFC North. The division is so tightly packed the Browns could still take it. They’ll play at Green Bay on Christmas day.
Vikings 17 Bears 9
Our regularly scheduled Monday night matchup between the Vikings and the Bears was a turd. That’s the nicest thing I can say and remember I’m in a good mood. Although watching this game tried to ruin it for me.
The Vikings punted on their first possession, but scored 10 points with their next two to take the early lead. The Bears were simply a disaster. They had five first half possessions that ended in this order: punt, fumble, fumble, field goal, missed field goal. Minnesota led 10-0 at the half.
The Vikings scored a TD with their first possession of the second half to go ahead 17-3. After that the offense died. The Bears on the other hand continued with their comedy of errors. They started the second half with two punts before turning the ball over on downs for three consecutive possession that went deep into Minnesota territory. Geeze Louise! If they had converted a short field goal attempt each time, big if I guess considering it is Chicago, they would have had the lead. The Bears finally scored a garbage time TD as time expired and the Vikings were busy packing up there stuff to go home.
Kirk Cousins (12/24, 87 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) stunk, as he always does during a prime time game. Why does Cousins struggle so much to play at night? Does he normally go to bed at 9 o’clock? Dalvin Cook (23 rushes, 89 yards) wasn’t much better. Minnesota got lucky all those Bears turnovers gave them short fields as the offense only totaled 193 yards for the game. Yuck.
Minnesota improved to 7-7, second place in the NFC North. The Packers have already won the division so that means nothing. The Vikings will have to battle it out for the final wild card spot. They will host the Rams next week.
I’ve said enough about the Bears. The defense wasn’t bad, but the offense was beyond embarrassing. I assume the only reason Matt Nagy still has a job is the Bears are too nice to fire him right before Christmas. It will be coming soon however. The Bears fell to 4-10, third place in the NFC North. They’ll travel to Seattle next week.
Rams 20 Seahawks 10
We got two Tuesday night games in Week 15 that were moved for covid reasons. Neither were exciting although both games were close until the end.
The Rams and Seahawks had a good defensive battle going until Los Angeles finally pulled away in the 4th quarter. Neither offense could find any footing in the first half and the game was tied 3-3 at the break.
Things changed to start the 3rd quarter. The Seahawks received the opening kickoff and put together their best drive of the game using a good mix of running and passing. DeeJay Dallas capped off the drive with a four yard TD run up the gut and Seattle went ahead 10-3.
The Rams responded fast with big chunk yardage plays by Sony Michel and Cooper Kupp. Kupp then caught a 6 yard TD pass from Matthew Stafford to tie the game 10-10. A few rounds of punting occurred before Stafford found Kupp again in the endzone to give the Rams a 17-10 lead early in the 4th quarter. The defenses took over again for the rest of the game, although the Rams did manage to kick another field goal after a turnover on downs gave them a short field.
The Rams got off to a slow start on offense, but came around in the second half. Matthew Stafford (21/29, 244 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) was at his best when throwing to Cooper Kupp (9 receptions, 136 yards, 2 TDs), who continues to destroy secondaries. Sony Michel (18 rushes, 92 yards) was solid on the ground.
The defense was superb, holding Seattle to 214 yards of total offense while sacking Russell Wilson three times. The Rams improved to 10-4, tied with Arizona for first place in the NFC West. Even if they don’t win the division they will get a wild card spot. The Rams travel to Minnesota next week.
The Seahawks offense has gone into the tank ever since Russell Wilson broke his thumb. Wilson (17/31, 156 yards, 1 INT) is back, but still doesn’t look healthy. Plus he was missing his top target in Tyler Lockett this week. The defense put up a battle, but the offense couldn’t help. Seattle fell to 5-9, last place in the NFC West. Still mathematically alive for a wild card spot, but realistically dead. They host the Bears next week.
Eagles 27 No-Names 17
The Washington No-Names were bitten by the covid bug and had to start a quarterback (Garrett Gilbert) who wasn’t even on their roster a week ago. The Eagles were at full strength. So of course the Eagles committed two 1st quarter turnovers to set up the No-Names with two easy scores as Washington grabbed an early 10-0 lead.
Despite falling into a hole early, the Eagles didn’t panic and stayed the course on offense. That meant running the ball and they ran the ball right down Washington’s throat. Philadelphia scored 10 points of their own in the 2nd quarter and the game was tied 10-10 at halftime.
The Eagles kept on running in the second half and Jalen Hurts did some damage when Philly did throw the ball. The Eagles tacked on another 10 points in the 3rd quarter to go ahead 20-10.
Yet the No-Names had some fight left in them and Gilbert led a TD drive early in the 4th quarter to cut Washington’s deficit to 20-17. The Eagles came right back running the ball down the field and then Hurts hit a couple of big throws, the second one good for a TD to put the Eagles up 27-17. Washington had no more offense left and Philly ran out the clock from there.
Nick Sirianni deserves credit for not abandoning his running offense after falling behind a couple of scores early. The Eagles gained 238 yards on the ground, led by a big game from Miles Sanders (18 rushes, 131 yards). Once the run game was established Jalen Hurts (20/26, 296 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 fumble) was able to put his early turnovers behind him and start picking apart the defense. The Eagles improved to 7-7, second place in the NFC East. Still technically alive in the division (hahaha), the Eagles are in a prime spot to grab a wild card. They will host the Giants next week.
Washington took advantage of the Eagles mistakes to take the early lead, but couldn’t do much from there. What could you expect when they had to start a third stringer at quarterback who has been with the team for a week? Garrett Gilbert (20/31, 194 yards) played well under the circumstances.
Washington was taken down by their defense, who got crushed by the Eagles running game. If it wasn’t for those two 1st quarter turnovers the Eagles would have blown the No-Names out. Washington fell to 6-8 third place in the NFC East. They need a Christmas miracle but it ain’t coming in Dallas, where they play the Cowboys next Sunday night.
I hope you and your loved ones have a great Christmas. And if you don't celebrate Christmas have a great day anyway. It won't kill you. You might get lucky and run into these guys.
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