Vincent Frank
Christmas came early for multiple NFL teams who found a way to clinch playoff spots on Sunday. This list includes the Los Angeles Rams, Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints.
On the other hand, other teams laid complete eggs in an attempt to remain viable in the playoff race. For the Detroit Lions, that included putting up a dud of a performance on the road against the hapless Cincinnati Bengals.
Outside of this, there’s still a lot to be decided. By virtue of of their win on Sunday, the Panthers head into Week 17 with an opportunity to win the NFC South.
These are among the top takeaways from NFL’s Week 16 action.
Cowboys turnover their way to irrelevance
The Dallas Cowboys had a golden opportunity to remain in the playoff hunt heading into their Week 16 game against Seattle. Fresh off seeing both Detroit and Atlanta lose earlier in the day, the Cowboys stood a good chance to play postseason ball if they could take care of business against a struggling Seahawks squad. That didn’t happen.
Even with Ezekiel Elliott on the field for the first time in six games, Dak Prescott struggled something terrible in this one. He threw two interceptions, both leading to Seattle touchdowns. Meanwhile, another Dez Bryant fumble turned into six for the Seahawks. That’s all the road team would need in a 21-12 win, sending Dallas out of playoff contention in the process.
The Cowboys are now left wondering what the offseason will bring. One of Prescott’s picks was returned for a touchdown, bringing that number to a league-high four on the season. Can he now be considered a legit franchise quarterback? Can Elliott remain clean off the field? What happens with Bryant after another down season with Dak tossing him the rock? These are huge questions for America’s Team fresh off being eliminated from playoff contention.
Vikings do their thing
It wasn’t a great performance by any stretch of the imagination. Minnesota’s offense managed just 236 total yards in what was less than stellar conditions at Lambeau against the Packers. In fact, the Vikings’ offense converted on just 4-of-13 third-down opportunities against an injury-plagued Packers defense that was without four starters.
Even then, this game was really never in doubt. As it has done all season, Minnesota’s defense dominated. It held the Packers to less than 240 total yards and just 12 first downs, culminating in Minnesota’s first shutout win for the first time in nearly a quarter century.
The Vikings now have a real chance to wrap up a first-round playoff bye. If they find a way to win in Week 17 against the last-place Bears, that will come to fruition. More than that, there’s still a chance this team could be playing at home leading up to the Super Bowl in Minnesota this upcoming February. It’s pretty amazing considering Minnesota lost its entire starting backfield early in the season.
Falcons just don’t want to make the playoffs
The scenario for the defending NFC champs was pretty clear heading into Sunday’s Week 16 action. Win one of their final two games, and the Falcons will be playing postseason football. Unfortunately for reigning NFL MVP Matt Ryan and Co., they simply couldn’t get out of their on way on the road against the Saints.
Down 6-0 at the end of the second quarter, Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore came away with an interception of the year candidate. Three players later, Drew Brees hit Ted Ginn to give the Saints a 13-0 lead.
Then, in the third quarter and with his team driving after a Brees interception, Falcons running back Devonta Freeman coughed the ball up to keep the Falcons off the scoreboard. This is pretty much the way the entire day went in what ultimately ended up being a 23-13 loss to the Saints.
Now, with Seattle’s win, Atlanta’s playoff-clinching scenario heads into Week 17. Should the team lose to Carolina with Seattle coming out on top over Arizona, Atlanta will miss the playoffs a season after making a trip to the Super Bowl.
Broncos’ season just needs to end
We’re pretty sure that’s how fans in the Mile High City feel about what has been a disastrous 2017 campaign for the team. Denver might have been riding a two-game winning streak heading into Week 16’s outing against an average Redskins squad, but that was more of an exception to the rule. Wins against the New York Jets and Indianapolis Colts aren’t exactly something to write home about.
Taking to the nation’s capital for an otherwise irrelevant Christmas Eve game, the Broncos’ performance on Sunday showed us why the team pretty much needs to blow this whole thing up. Brock Osweiler was once again under center due to injuries to Paxton Lynch and Trevor Siemian. And he went all Brock Osweiler on us all over again.
The veteran completed 22-of-38 passes for 193 yards with an interception en route to leading Denver to a grand total of 11 points against a Redskins defense that had yielded 30-plus points in four of its past six games. This offense is not anywhere near NFL standards, and that’s been the case throughout the entire season. Now at 5-10 heading into a meaningless season finale against Kansas City, the focus in Denver has to be on rebuilding one of the most anemic offenses in the game.
These 49ers are no joke
It’s not going to matter moving forward this season. And the Jacksonville Jaguars had their problems in a big way Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. Even then, what San Francisco did against a Jaguars team that had just clinched the AFC South can’t be ignored.
Riding yet another strong performance from Jimmy Garoppolo under center, the 49ers came away with their fourth consecutive win. This time, by the score of 44-33 win against Jacksonville. San Francisco’s defense also racked up three interceptions of Blake Bortles in the win.
This is huge in that it gives Kyle Shanahan’s team a tremendous amount of confidence that it can hang with the big boys in the NFL. Sure there are still holes on both sides of the ball. But when you find your quarterback, everything else seems to fall into place. Now that Garoppolo is the first 49ers quarterback to win his first four starts for the team, it’s readily apparent the team has that.
One loss from infamy
We knew this was a possibility heading into the season. The Browns were coming off a one-win 2016 campaign. And despite some sense that things might turn around in Hue Jackson’s second season as head coach, Cleveland’s lack of proven talent came out in droves early in the year.
As the weeks passed without the Browns winning a game, the team shook up its front office big time. Rumors of Hue Jackson demise picked up steam. And the performance of rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer proved to be historically bad.
But there was a chance Sunday afternoon in Chicago that these Browns might be able to actually win its first game of the season. Like clockwork, that came to a crashing halt early and often.
Whether it was two more interceptions from Kizer or the countless times he was pressured, Cleveland’s offense did absolutely nothing of substance in a 20-3 loss to Chicago. The team’s defense might have held up its end of the bargain, but it was in no way enough for the Browns to come out on top. Now, heading into Week 17, Jackson and Co. find themselves at 0-15 and have lost 30 of 31 games since the start of last season. Yuck.
Chiefs ride momentum, clinch AFC West
Minus a semi-brief hiccup that saw them lose six of seven during a two-month span, the Kansas City Chiefs have continued to look like the class of the AFC West. That was evident in two consecutive wins over the division-rival Oakland Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers heading into Week 16’s contest with Miami. And it was only magnified further on Christmas Eve, with Kansas City clinching the AFC West.
Alex Smith continued to play stellar football, completing 25-of-39 passes for 304 yards in the 29-13 win. Meanwhile, the dynamic Tyreek Hill added six receptions for 109 yards and rookie running back Kareem Hunt went for 91 yards and a score on the ground.
Pretty much entrenched in as the No. 4 seed in the AFC, Kansas City can now sit back and see who it will play in the wild card round. Whether that means Andy Reid will rest his starters for Week 17 against Denver remains to be seen. But it’s a nice problem to have.
Todd Gurley cements MVP status, wins NFC West
Gurley was on absolute fire Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. Including this 80-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown, the third-year running back tallied 276 total yards and two touchdowns in the division-clinching 27-23 win. He’s now tallied nearly 2,100 total yards with 19 scores on the season. That’s some insane stuff.
On the other hand, Jared Goff continued a dynamic sophomore campaign by completing 22-of-38 passes for 301 yards with four scores and zero picks. By virtue of these two performances and a narrow win in Nashville, the Los Angeles Rams are surprise NFC West champs and seem to be legit Super Bowl contenders. What a difference a year makes.
Lions stink it up, eliminated from contention
There’s no reason why these Lions should have gone into Cincinnati and lost to a Bengals squad that had already quit on soon-to-be former head coach Marvin Lewis. Here’s a squad that had been outscored 52-7 in its past six quarters. Heck, the Bengals were without both of their starting tackles for this one.
Despite that, Detroit found the least opportunistic time to put up a brutal performance. Its defense yielded 116 rushing yards to a running back in Giovani Bernard who had not tallied more than 67 yards in any game this season. Meanwhile, Matthew Stafford threw a pick in Bengals territory late in the second quarter to give the Bengals momentum heading into the half.
It was a downright brutal performance from a team that needed a win in order to remain in playoff contention. It will also lead to major questions about Jim Caldwell’s future in Detroit. A team simply can’t put up this type of performance with its season on the line. That’s not acceptable.
Seahawks remain relevant
If might not have been a great performance from Pete Carroll’s squad, but Seattle still has an outside shot of earning a playoff spot in the NFC. That came by virtue of a 21-12 win over a mistake-riddled Cowboys team in Dallas on Sunday.
Russell Wilson made the most out of his 93 passing yards, throwing for two touchdowns in the process. Meanwhile, Seattle’s defense turned the Cowboys over three times, bringing back memories of the now seemingly defunct Legion of Boom.
At 9-6 on the season, Seattle needs two things to happen in Week 17. First, it needs to take care of a business against the Cardinals. Secondly, the Seahawks must get some help from Carolina against Atlanta. Should that happen, a season that seemed to go down the drain will result in a playoff appearance.
NFC South down to Week 17
New Orleans can still take the division with a win over Tampa Bay in Week 17. But this division was made a little more interesting by Carolina’s late-game win over the very same Buccaneers squad that the Saints will take on next week.
For the Panthers, it was in no way a great all-around outing against Tampa. The team was down 19-15 before taking over with three minutes left in the final stanza. That’s when Newton led Carolina on a 10-play, 59-yard touchdown scoring drive culminating in a two-yard score by Newton on the ground. Now at 11-4 on the season, Carolina has clinched a playoff spot.
As it relates to the Saints, the situation is much different. By virtue of their win over Atlanta on Sunday, this squad clinched a playoff spot. Though, New Orleans can no longer nab a first-round bye after Minnesota won on Saturday night. On the other hand, Carolina still has an opportunity for the No. 2 seed should the things go right in Week 17.
