Winners and Losers week 14
Welcome back everyone to another week. Instead of the usual lengthy winners and loser’s column this week, we’re pivoting a little. The reason behind this is that I simply had too few winners of interest for week 14. Although the loser’s column always carries some interest, given how close we are to the playoffs, it makes far more sense to focus upon the teams looking towards the December playoff push. For posterities sake, I’ll list what winners and losers I did have for the week though expect an additional column focusing upon potential playoff teams.
Winners: 49ers, Panthers, Chargers
When looking at those winners, I hope it becomes pretty clear as to why it’s not the focus of my column this week. The 49ers had a dominant win over a hapless Bucs team who hasn’t had a convincing victory since the fist week of the season. Purdy once again impressed as the 49ers don’t ask him to anything beyond what he’s capable of and the Mcaffery deal ages better with every passing week. Likewise, the defence played dominant yet again but given the Bucs rank in the bottom quarter of points scored, this is hardly a brag worthy accomplishment.
Likewise, the Panthers notched a huge win over a reeling Seattle team and are now hilariously enough, in the playoff hunt despite the offence really just being stitched together by spare parts. To their credit, the defence is solid, led by the incredible Brian Burns and Jaycee Horn. But every time the offence scores, it stretches the imagination as to how it’s possible. Nonetheless, Carolina have win two straight and three of their past five. That’s about as good as it gets in the NFC West.
Lastly, the Chargers who replicated the 49ers path to success despite missing 7 defensive starters. By playing press coverage, the shorthanded Chargers defence frustrated Tua on route to his second poor performance in as many weeks. Meanwhile on offence, Herbert once again continues to be the media darling QB as the return of Mike Williams proved just how capable this offence can be when at full strength. Despite the close score, the Chargers never felt like they were in danger of losing the game. Which is remarkable given the chargers history and likely the most damming thing you can say about Tua’s performance.
Losers: Dolphins, Seahawks, Titans, Jets, Bucs
This is what I meant when I said week 14 was filled with far more losers than winners. Miami have now not had an answer to playing against press coverage for two straight weeks. Their next game looks to be snow storm in Buffalo which doesn’t bode well for a team incapable of running the ball most weeks. Should they lose that game, they’ll be threatened with the prospect of missing the playoffs as NE, the Jets and the Chargers are all just a single game back. Just 3 weeks ago, it seemed like a certainty Miami would make the playoffs, now it appears that 3 of their last four games offer a daunting challenge.
The demise of Seattle has actually been a rather sad one. Geno Smith’s resurgence was one of the feel good stories of this season and the trade between them and Denver has provided an endless source of laughter and memes. With their defence having fallen off a cliff though, the good times appear to be over. At the time of this writing, they’ve now lost four of their past five games and must still face the Chiefs in week 16. Although it’s still possible for them to make the playoffs, it’s now somewhat less likely as the red hot lions are chasing their tails.
Remember when the Titans were good (sorry I had to), well neither do I. They’ve lost three straight games whilst the Jags have caught fire and are now facing the unlikely prospect of not winning the division. Something that seemed unfathomable before the start of December. Tanehill has been far from spectacular but it’s really been the inability to run the ball that’s buried this team. Henry has hit 100+ yards just once out his past five games. Although that was against the Jags this past week, almost all of those yards were in the first half. Likewise, their secondary has gotten torched for the second straight week. Maybe this is just a blip and they right the ship. But given the remaining schedule, this should be treated with a healthy dose of scepticism.
It seems incredibly harsh to place the Jets in the losers column given they lost a game everyone expected them to lose. But given how the previous matchup between these two went, it’s hard not to. Especially once you consider the playoff implications of this loss. They’ve now lost 3 of their past 5 games, are last in the AFC East and face a surprisingly difficult schedule from here on out. Although the Mike White era has been a fun one, the same issues that cropped up during his last stint as starter have appeared again. He’s a semi competent starter who’s vastly improved the offence but calling him the answer at QB is disingenuous at best and flat out wrong at worst. As a stop gap QB for a team vying to make a playoff push, he’s adequate. The Jets being on the outside looking in on the playoff picture though should not be a surprise to anyone.
Lastly, we reach the Bucs who suffered the second worst loss of Brady’s career. The game featured everything that’s gone wrong for the Bucs throughout this entire season. A wounded defence that’s been uncharacteristically poor against the run and an Oline incapable of blocking anything more than a light breeze. Brady was under fire all game, the connection with Evans this year has been abysmal and once again, the run game was incapable of going anywhere. The refusal to change offensive tendancies has been crushing for this team. It’s hard to believe Brady is pleased at running the ball for 1.5 YPC every first down. Even if they make the playoffs, this is the sort of game that seems like the beginning of the end of Brady’s time in Tampa. They make the playoffs by sheer virtue of the division being terrible but they still seemed destined for a first round exit.