Week 15

[RiverDog]

It started off with a really good game on TNF, with the Chiefs laying down their marker on the AFC West and now have the inside track to HFA and the only first round bye in the conference. Due to their commitment to analytics, the Chargers potentially left 9 points on the field by going for it on 4th and short and turning the ball over.

Last night was a big surprise, at least to me. The Colts throttled the Pats in a game that was closer than the score would indicate. The Colts had shut down the upstart Pats and put an unceremonious end to the league's longest winning streak. Jonathan Taylor had another big game, 170 rushing yards on 29 carries and a TD. Taylor now has 1518 yards for the season, nearly 500 more than his closest competitor. We could be looking at the league MVP.

The schedule changes has mixed things up. Instead of a Saturday double header, we have double headers on both Monday and Tuesday, although Tuesdays games will be played simultaneously with both starting at 4pm PT.

If you're one of those still holding out hope that the Hawks might sneak in and secure a wild card berth, here's the games of interest for you this week:

Carolina vs. Buffalo
Atlanta at San Francisco
New Orleans at Tampa Bay (SNF)
Minnesota at Chicago (MNF 5:15pm)
WFT at Philadelphia (Tuesday 4pm)

[Hawktawk]

Couldn’t believe the charger head coach chasing points from the first quarter and not getting them . Inexcusable . Rams were dealt a huge favor by the league getting an extra 2 days rest after MNF . We can talk about all these other games and the teams that need to lose might but I’m more concerned about Seattle Tuesday .

[RiverDog]

Couldn’t believe the charger head coach chasing points from the first quarter and not getting them . Inexcusable . Rams were dealt a huge favor by the league getting an extra 2 days rest after MNF . We can talk about all these other games and the teams that need to lose might but I’m more concerned about Seattle Tuesday .

The biggest surprise so far is that the Lions are up 17-0 at the half over the Cards, another potential upset. Have the Cards peaked too early?

[Hawktawk]

Cards played a Donnybrook on MNF vs the Rams . Playing Seattle used to have that type of effect on teams . Plus maybe Detroit is improving . I wanted to touch on the Indy game yesterday and Vrabel today as an argument to move on from Pete. Reich has done an excellent job in Indy rejuvenating Wendz and turning this team completely around climbing out of a huge hole .hard to believe we beat them now. Vrabel is working on going 10-4 vs the Steelers today and is the only current head coach to have a winning record in each of his first 4 seasons . Both are super smart former players , a generation younger too..I can’t make the argument either is significantly better personell wise other than the back from Indy . It’s x and Os

[RiverDog]

Cards played a Donnybrook on MNF vs the Rams . Playing Seattle used to have that type of effect on teams . Plus maybe Detroit is improving . I wanted to touch on the Indy game yesterday and Vrabel today as an argument to move on from Pete. Reich has done an excellent job in Indy rejuvenating Wendz and turning this team completely around climbing out of a huge hole .hard to believe we beat them now. Vrabel is working on going 10-4 vs the Steelers today and is the only current head coach to have a winning record in each of his first 4 seasons . Both are super smart former players , a generation younger too..I can’t make the argument either is significantly better personell wise other than the back from Indy . It’s x and Os

Steelers just went up on the Titans by 6 with 4 1/2 minutes left in the game. Cards looked finished, down by two TD's with less than 5 minutes. Good weekend for having the Red Zone.

The big difference with Indy is their OL and running game. If they win their division, Taylor becomes one of the few RB's in this century to win the MVP.

Looks like Bevell will start his HC career 0-1.

[Hawktawk]

Yeah I am watching Titans . They stalled second half but driving . They know it’s 4 down territory

[RiverDog]

Yeah I am watching Titans . They stalled second half but driving . They know it’s 4 down territory

Yeah, Steelers-Titans is the best game of the morning session. Cards just pulled Murray. Looks like Panthers are going down so Hawks chances get a tiny boost.

[RiverDog]

Wow, the refs nearly gave the Titans a gift! Horrible spot, glad they stopped it. Receiver was a full yard short.

Niners fumbled the opening kickoff, Dirty Birds turn it into 7 points. Ooop! Call was reversed, Falcons tried out their version of analytics and turned the ball over on downs on the 1 yard line.

[RiverDog]

Watching the Vikings-Bears game where a rookie OL gets a personal foul penalty for sticking up for his QB, and our own former Seahawk and penalty machine Germain Ifedi gets pissed at him for drawing a flag. What an irony!

[trents]

Watching the Vikings-Bears game where a rookie OL gets a personal foul penalty for sticking up for his QB, and our own former Seahawk and penalty machine Germain Ifedi gets pissed at him for drawing a flag. What an irony!

Yeah, I got a chuckle out of that one too.

Honestly, I have never seen an NFL QB, not even a rookie, make as many bone head decisions as Justin Fields does. It's a mystery to me that he had as much success as he did at Ohio State. I mean I realize that pro defenses present bigger challenges to QB's than college defenses do but still, it's like Fields doesn't have a clue about what to do as a pro much of the time.

[RiverDog]

Watching the Vikings-Bears game where a rookie OL gets a personal foul penalty for sticking up for his QB, and our own former Seahawk and penalty machine Germain Ifedi gets pissed at him for drawing a flag. What an irony!

Yeah, I got a chuckle out of that one too.

Honestly, I have never seen an NFL QB, not even a rookie, make as many bone head decisions as Justin Fields does. It's a mystery to me that he had as much success as he did at Ohio State. I mean I realize that pro defenses present bigger challenges to QB's than college defenses do but still, it's like Fields doesn't have a clue about what to do as a pro much of the time.

Well, he did out score Brady this week...

[Hawktawk]

Yeah he makes Tebow look good . Fields has truly been hit too much . The problem with these runners with big arms at top colleges they have superior athletes running wide open, superior linemen protecting and opening holes , filthy defenses to provide great field position . Suddenly it’s like playing Michigan on steroids every week .

I remember Jimmy Graham saying preseason Fields was a lot like Wilson Jones is the only one of the guys this year that could remotely compare results .

[NorthHawk]

I keep saying that players and QBs in particular succeed when put in the best situations. It's a matter of luck and opportunity more than just talent.
Just look at how well Mac Jones is doing. He's the perfect QB for NE. Had SF drafted him then where would NE be? I'm not sure Newton would still be
there, and if they selected one of the other top QB's there would be a lot more work to do.
Fields on the other hand has been put on a bad team that seems to be in turmoil. He will probably have to learn a whole new system when Nagy is gone
so if he's lucky it will fit him better or the new HC will get an OC who can identify what Fields does well and build an Offense around those skills. We did
that with Russell and took advantage of his accuracy and field generalship until he became quite proficient. Unfortunately we haven't allowed him to
progress further as our system isn't very creative.

[trents]

Good analysis of Field's issues, NorthHawk. Like a lot of athletic quarterbacks, Fields get's caught in the middle ground of decision making, "should I pull it down and run for it or should I get rid of the ball" when the pocket begins to collapse. He hasn't fully grasped the fact that his wheels aren't going to save him as often as they did in college because the pro defensive players are faster than they are in college.

[NorthHawk]

Good analysis of Field's issues, NorthHawk. Like a lot of athletic quarterbacks, Fields get's caught in the middle ground of decision making, "should I pull it down and run for it or should I get rid of the ball" when the pocket begins to collapse. He hasn't fully grasped the fact that his wheels aren't going to save him as often as they did in college because the pro defensive players are faster than they are in college.

Good points and it's probably why we see him trying to evade tacklers instead of throwing it away. It's just something he has to learn - not to make a bad situation worse by running backward (and then being tackled for a big loss).
I think he has a lot of talent but I hope he doesn't get ruined like Alex Smith with something like 6 different OC's in 7 years.

[Hawktawk]

I read yesterday that the bears have severely restricted the playbook to almost never throw in running situations which is actually hurting Fields . After a first down run almost every time they wind up in a predictable passing situation on second down . Opposing defense are blitzing Chicago almost 40% of the time on second down . That’s far and away the most against any team on second down . Russ got some of that treatment early in his career but he had a back that made something happen and between that and his own intelligence and wheels it won a super bowl . Fields isn’t remotely Wilson and that team certainly isn’t the 2012 Hawks .

[NorthHawk]

I think we forget that early in Russ’s career the Seahawks Defense won games for us as the Offense
put up few points and the Defense got turnovers on a regular basis. Fields doesn’t have that luxury.