With the playoffs less than 3 weeks away, there's a very interesting trend emerging in the league this season. The last couple seasons, the Ravens have been the poster child for a team who performs much better at home than they do on the road. In 2010, they went 7-1 at home and 5-3 on the road. In 2011, they were 8-0 at home during the regular season, and a very average 4-4 on the road. Last season, they were 6-2 at home and 4-4 on the road. This season, things are no different because they are 6-1 at home so far and a pathetic 2-5 on the road, even after beating the Lions last night.
The thing is, there's a major disparity among other playoff contending teams between their home and road records this season. The Saints are 7-0 at home and a meager 3-4 on the road so far, after dropping yet another senseless game to the Rams in St. Louis on Sunday. They average nearly 33 points per game at home and only just over 18 points per game on the road. The Patriots - yes, the Patriots - are 7-0 at home as well and also 3-4 on the road. The Eagles are perhaps the biggest mishmash of a contending team because they're 3-4 at home and 5-2 outside Philly. If they make the playoffs they actually regret winning their division since they're much more likely to play well away from home than they would in front of their own fans.
I have no idea what to make of this trend, but there are other teams who are just as Jekyll and Hyde as these four teams are. The Bengals, Bears, and Cowboys all have large disparities between home and road records so far this season; in fact, the Cowboys are one of three teams in the league who are currently undefeated in their divisional games so far this season. The Cowboys are probably the biggest enigma in the entire league at the moment, but it's amazing to think they are 4-0 in their divisional games so far this season and yet only 7-7 on the year.
Speaking of the playoff contenders....
1. The weekend as a whole only jumbled up the playoff seeding and hunt instead of solidifying anything. Which truthfully, makes for great drama. Everything started off Thursday night when the Broncos inexplicably lost a home game to the Chargers, which put the Patriots in the driver's seat for the #1 seed in the playoffs. The Patriots then lost a heart breaker to the Dolphins on Sunday, which not only put the Broncos back into the top seed, but also opened the door for the Bengals to leap into the #2 spot. The Bengals then got drubbed in Pittsburgh Sunday night, which put the Patriots right back into the #2 spot.
Meanwhile in the NFC, the Eagles were beaten up by an Adrian Peterson-less Vikings squad, and the Cowboys blew a 26-3 lead at halftime (much more on that game later). The Saints lost in St. Louis, which put them neck and neck with the Panthers. The NFC North is the only division in football where three teams are racing for the division title. Now that the schedule relies largely on divisional match ups in Week 17 (including Ravens/Bengals, Bears/Packers, and Eagles/Cowboys), there will be plenty that won't be fully sorted out until the final weekend of the season.
2. The Redskins and Texans have packed it in for the rest of the season. The soap opera going on in Washington has drained whatever energy or motivation the players would have had otherwise to finish the season. The worst part is there isn't any one person who is chiefly to blame for the war going on between RGIII, owner Daniel Snyder, and head coach Mike Shanahan. All three have blame to share to some degree, and the staring contest has left the rest of the team just wanting the season over and move into the offseason.
The Texans are just as ready to take a vacation from this terrible fall from grace. They were a preseason pick by many to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl; instead, they lost their 12th consecutive game on Sunday. Gary Kubiak was already fired over 10 days ago, and there are plenty of questions surrounding what will become of Matt Schaub in 2014. The Texans are "leading" the race for the #1 overall pick, which will help them rebuild for next season, but the Redskins don't have that luxury since their top pick goes to the Rams as - ironically - part of the RGIII deal.
3. Who says the Seahawks struggle away from home? The Seahawks are one of only a couple teams who buck the trend of playoff contenders who don't win on the road. Granted, they were playing against a beleaguered Giants team who have all but packed it in for the season. Picking off Eli Manning 5 times during the game doesn't hurt anything either, but the point is in the unlikely event that the Seahawks don't lock up the #1 seed in the playoffs, they can still bring the heat on the road. They are going to be an extremely tough out in January.
4. The Goat of the Week Award goes to both Tony Romo and Eli Manning in a tie. Eli is having the single worst season of his career thus far by a wide margin, and Sunday was probably his single worst performance of the season. He is, however, still a better quarterback than Tony Romo; his two Super Bowl championships and two Super Bowl MVPs speak for themselves. Romo and the Cowboys managed to steal defeat from the jaws of victory on Sunday, capped by Romo's two interceptions. One of his picks was originally supposed to be a running play, but he changed the play at the line of scrimmage to a pass. The picks certainly were a big part of why the Cowboys dropped that game, but there's even more to the picture.....
5. Dez Bryant is dangerously close to being more trouble than he's worth. With 1:21 left in the 4th quarter, Bryant headed for the locker room after the second of Tony Romo's 4th quarter interceptions. The Packers were going to take kneel downs to end the game, so the chances the Cowboys offense would take the field again were virtually zero. However, the point is Bryant still left the field of play before the clock had officially hit 0:00. Earlier this season in a game against Detroit, Bryant had two outbursts on the sidelines with his teammates - one with Romo, and the other with tight end Jason Witten. When the Cowboys had first drafted Bryant, he came with a temperament and emotional baggage, and he's since established himself clearly as a "me first" player. He's a game changer of a receiver which is why he still has a job, but his attitude is a big contributor to why the Cowboys can't get over the hump.
6. The Vikings have embraced the role of the spoiler. In the last few weeks, the Vikings have tied the Packers, beaten the Bears, and nearly beat the Ravens in a snowstorm. On Sunday, they beat the Eagles with an ugly stick, and if not for the Cowboys forgetting how to run the ball or play defense in the second half of their game on Sunday, the Eagles' road to winning the NFC East would have gotten a whole lot more difficult. The Vikings' final two games are at Cincinnati and finish at home against Detroit, so they can make things very complicated before the end of the season, and possibly knock at least one of those teams out of the playoff race.
7. Jamaal Charles has to get some MVP consideration. The award is still Peyton Manning's to lose, and it would take a monumental collapse on his part in the Broncos' final two games for him to lose it. But, Jamaal Charles has amassed over 1800 all-purpose yards and 18 total touchdowns so far this season. He'll almost certainly clear 2000 all-purpose yards and 20 total touchdowns before season's end; with a season like that he has to deserve some votes for MVP. He's the focal point of the Chiefs' offense, and a key reason why they've won 10 games so far, and still have a chance at winning their division. A 2013 resume like that has to get a running back at the very least some notice for Offensive Player of the Year, if not MVP.
8. The Ravens are playing their best football when it really starts to matter. Until 3 1/2 weeks ago, the Ravens had been extremely up and down for most of the season. Then, they played three straight home games against the Jets, Steelers, and Vikings, and finally hit the road last night. The Jets game gave them the momentum they needed to put together a winning streak, which they certainly needed considering their next three games have all been down to the wire. They aren't built to put 35 points on the board every week, but their defense has kept them in every game. They couldn't find the end zone even though they got within the 20-yard line more than once, but Justin Tucker showed once again why he is an incredibly clutch kicker. If they win their final two games, they win the AFC North and put themselves in prime position for another title run. That's what champions do.
9. Conversely, the Lions couldn't be playing worse than they are now. The Lions just know how to beat themselves. The stars could not have aligned themselves any better for them to win the NFC North and reach the playoffs; Jay Cutler and Aaron Rodgers were both hurt and had to miss several games, and Minnesota has struggled most of the season. Somehow, the Lions found a way to be staring at 7-7 in the face, and now need both the Bears and Packers to lose next week in order to work their way back into the divisional race. They had the Ravens beat in terms of raw talent on the field last night, but Matthew Stafford threw 3 interceptions at very costly moments, Calvin Johnson seemed to forget how to catch a football at precisely the wrong game, and defensive penalties also added up very quickly to give the Ravens favorable field position throughout the game. Those kinds of mental mistakes are fixed by good coaching, and Jim Schwartz now faces potentially being fired because he couldn't lead the team to take advantage of other teams' struggles in their division.
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