I would make for a terrible journalist.
When I write my weekly recaps, I normally start on Monday and write most of the post, leaving a spot open for the Monday night game. Then on Tuesday morning I add in whatever I have to say about Monday night football, and make any last minute changes before I hit "publish." Once or twice I wrote the entire post on a Tuesday morning, but I always made a point to finish it.
Until two weeks ago, that is.
I don't even have a good story as to why. I recall on Monday thinking that I had plenty of time to start working on it, so I did what I did so many times in college: I procrastinated. Next thing I knew, it was Wednesday morning, and it hit me that I never did my usual write up. By then I thought it was virtually pointless since Week 15 was starting the following night, and it was too late.
Last week work got in the way of my normal write up. It's a marginally better excuse than simply forgetting, but it could still have been completed.
Now that I'm done pitying myself, I can finally get to my thoughts on Week 16...
1. Thursday night divisional games are in theory a great idea, but who decided the final Thursday game of the season should have been Titans/Jaguars? The Thursday slate of games started out pretty awful, most of them being blowouts. About halfway into the season, there were a couple good games, including Colts/Texans, Jets/Patriots, and Chiefs/Raiders. But when the league office was building the schedule back in April, did anyone stop to think that ending the Thursday games with Titans/Jaguars could have been replaced with something a whole lot better? The league obviously wanted to give every team at least one prime time game during the course of the season, but why end its first season with a Thursday night game every week with one that featured two teams likely to be picking in the top five spots in the draft next year? They could have saved something like Chargers/Broncos or Eagles/Cowboys for that slot instead.
2. The Redskins, Vikings, Texans, and Raiders must all be feeling happy today. The Vikings and Raiders must be feeling especially happy because they had eliminated the Dolphins and Bills, respectively, from competing for postseason spots. The Redskins made the road extra hard for the Eagles to make the playoffs at all, and coupled with Dallas blowing out the Colts, the Eagles' chances at playing in January are slim at best. The Texans kept their equally slim playoff chances alive by dismantling the Ravens (more on the Ravens in a moment). Since three of these four teams had no shot of the postseason, their respective victories felt a little sweeter knowing they had essentially ended their opponents' seasons as well.
3. The Goat of the Week Award goes to Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco had one of his worst performances of his career on Sunday, throwing three interceptions (two of which were arguably not his fault) and completing under 33% of his pass attempts on the day. J.J. Watt was once again showing why no other football player in the league can impact a game like he can, making Flacco uncomfortable in the pocket all day. The Ravens entered the weekend with the opportunity to win their final two games, seize a playoff spot, and possibly even win their division. After laying that egg in Houston, they can no longer win their division, and their chances at the postseason rely on scoreboard watching while trying to take care of business against Cleveland in the final game of the regular season.
4. Reports of the Seahawks' demise was greatly exaggerated. Eight weeks ago, the Seahawks had traded away one of their primary offensive pieces in Percy Harvin to the Jets, Russell Wilson was being accused of not being "black enough" (which I still don't know what that means), and Marshawn Lynch's locker room antics were tearing the team apart. Does anyone remember those days? I sure don't. The team is primed for another postseason run, and they can clinch the top seed in the NFC again by beating the Rams next week. Pete Carroll has done an incredible job keeping that team together in light of how awful things looked two months ago. They could well be the first team since the 2004 Patriots to be a defending Super Bowl champion to at least win a playoff game the following season.
5. Dominic Raiola has quickly become a liability for the Lions. Four weeks ago, Raiola took a cheap shot against Patriots defensive tackle Zach Moore when the game was winding down to a Patriots win. The NFL did not suspend him for that action, but Raiola once again took a cheap shot on Sunday by stepping on Bears defensive tackle Ego Ferguson's leg. The league has suspended Raiola for one game for that latest incident, which means he won't play against the Packers for the NFC North title game. These kinds of stupid moves show how much of a dirty player Raiola is, and the Lions may, at the very least, have to find another way to deal with Raiola in order to prevent injury to other players on the field.
6. Speaking of cheap shots, Alec Ogletree gave one to Odell Beckham, Jr. And guess who the Rams defensive coordinator is? That would be one Gregg Williams, the same Gregg Williams who was at the center of the Saints bounty scandal from their 2009 season. In fairness, there are a couple important notes worth mentioning here. First, I'm not making any kind of allegation that Williams is up to his old bounty ways. Second, the Giants and Rams had been roughing each other up all day prior to Ogletree laying a hand on Beckham after he had knocked Beckham out of bounds. Third, while the Rams have been playing decent defense for the last few weeks, there haven't been any kinds of signs that Williams was returning to his old tricks. Still, this game nearly got out of control very quickly, and Beckham once again showed why he will be an incredible playmaker for years to come. In the end, he got the last word because of the kinds of plays he can make.
7. The NFL made the right call in not scheduling the NFC South title game for Sunday night. The league normally prefers flexing in a "win or go home" game for its Week 17 Sunday night game. The last three Sunday night season finales were all NFC East title games, featuring the Cowboys and a round robin of divisional opponents. The NFC South has come down to a "win or go home" game between the Falcons and Panthers, but the league office had enough self-respect to not schedule that for the Week 17 Sunday night game. The South has been a joke of a division for the entire season, and there's no need to revisit how ridiculous it is that the eventual winner will get to host a playoff game. Opting for two good teams vying for another division title was a much better choice.
8. Peyton Manning is running out of gas. It's pretty shocking to think that Peyton has now thrown more interceptions this season than his brother Eli. In his last 8 games, Peyton has thrown 12 picks, which those alone are already more than the 10 picks he threw in 2013. Admittedly, he played in some ugly conditions last night in Cincinnati, but he is clearly showing signs of slowing down versus his last two seasons in Denver where he put up video game numbers. Maybe he pulled a bit of a Houdini act on us in making us think he was immortal. Reality had to set in sooner or later that time would catch up even with the great Peyton Manning, and last night was a signal that he is, in fact, approaching the twilight of his career. The second championship that Peyton wanted for so long may not ever come.
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