Week Thirteen in Review

Whipping around Sunday:

Week Thirteen’s Best:
1)    Nick Foles

• Anyone who thinks Nick Foles is not the Eagles’ quarterback of the future is not paying attention. A few people excused the second year quarterback’s stellar play by saying he had not faced a great defense yet. No longer can that excuse be made after the Eagles win over the Arizona Cardinals. Foles was once again the main man for the Eagles, tossing three touchdown passes and playing largely mistake free. The Cardinals have one of the best defenses in the league, but Nick Foles was not rattled against them. He was wise to continuously go after their sole weak spot, covering the tight ends, and showed great maturity in the win. Foles has near elite ball placement skills, and runs this offense way better than Michael Vick did during his time as the starter. It is past time we give Foles his due, and the Eagles give him the keys to their future. 

2)    Mike Tolbert

• I have always been a huge fan of Tolbert’s but after attending the Panthers game today, I was blown away with how he played. Tolbert is much faster than given credit for, and turned the corner several times on the Bucs. He had been given a bigger role in the wake of the DeAngelo Williams injury, and excelled in it. It is crazy to say this about an offense with Steve Smith, Cam Newton, and two other running backs with bloated salaries, but this offense might be a sunken ship if it were not for Tolbert. His contributions as a runner and blocker are what might get him in the Pro Bowl, but his work as a check down option are what makes him a savior for Cam Newton. 

3)    Alshon Jeffery

• Just checking, but is this guy still too fat and lazy to play in the league? His 249 receiving yards and two scores against the Vikings say he is not. The Vikings secondary came in to the game with a horrid reputation, and Jeffery helped validate that. The second year wide receiver made terrific catches all afternoon, and one that should not be humanly possible on his second touchdown. Alshon Jeffery has raised his level of play after a solid rookie season to a near elite level. He will be giving Brandon Marshall a run for his money to be the best wide receiver on the Bears in the next few years, if he has not taken that title already. 

4)    The 49ers receivers

• Even with just two catches and clearly not fully healthy, Michael Crabtree’s mere presence made a hug difference. He made a great double move to put up a sixty-yard catch, and clearly drew the defense's attention. Both Vernon Davis and Anquan Boldin benefitted from the extra space, while Colin Kaepernick had a second consecutive nice day as a passer. That has not happened this season without Crabtree. This offense suddenly looks plenty loaded, and of championship caliber just in time. 

5)    Eric Decker

• Often the forgotten man in a loaded Broncos receiving core, no one overlooked Eric Decker today. Decker came up with four touchdown catches and helped the Broncos dig out of an early deficit. The Chiefs group of corners are not a bunch of slouches, and Decker took them to task. A free agent after the season, Decker could be building his case to be some other team’s top receiving weapon next year. 
  

Week Thirteen’s Worst
1)    The Bears

• The Bears defense stood no chance to stop the run as expected, and they most likely lost a shot at the playoffs today. The Bears put up ridiculous video game numbers on offense, but in the end, that group could not march down the field to seal the win at the end of the game or in overtime. There have been a ton of injuries on this team, and it is just best for them to hit the reset button and take what they can from the first year in the Marc Trestman era. 

2)    Cam Newton

• Again from the game I was at. Cam Newton was not very good against the Bucs. He had several of his all too familiar high passes, and one even led to a drive killing interception. This game was never in doubt, but Newton made a few costly mistakes. It is tough to reconcile Newton’s role on this team when he has games like this. On the one hand, think how much better they could be if he did not make those big mistakes. Then again, he constantly bails this offense out with his freakish ability to elude defenders in the backfield. It is an upset if a defender actually brings him down. Cam needs to play with more consistency as this team begins a playoff push. 

3)    The Jets

• Embarrassing, dysfunctional, losing. All adjectives that we believed would describe the Jets coming into the season have come to fruition. Geno Smith was finally sent to the bench in the football move of a mercy kill, but that did nothing to help the Jets' chances. The offense may have been even worse under Matt Simms, and clearly there are problems beyond the quarterback position. Geno Smith needs an infusion of confidence, but it is hard to see how the Jets are going to do that at this point. Once regarded as the favorite for a wild card spot, the Jets are now amongst the worst teams in the league.

4)    Mike Glennon

• He was on the other side of this list last week, but the rookie quarterback fell back to earth on Sunday against a fiery defense. The Panthers defensive line, minus Charles Johnson, kept Mike Glennon off his spot all afternoon, and he struggled to read some pretty confusing coverage from the defenses. Glennon launched some really questionable throws right to the Panthers secondary. He has still strung together a nice season, but this was a setback. 

5)    The Chargers

• More inconsistency from the Chargers. After a huge win against the Chiefs, the Chargers fell to the Bengals and they fell hard. The Bengals did not do anything particularly well on Sunday, the Chargers just could not string anything together. Phillip Rivers played arguably his worst game of the season, and the rest of this team is not equipped to make up for that. The Chargers could absolutely be the sixth seed in the AFC, but they cannot play enough consistent games to grab it. 
  

Reviewing the Top “Matchups to Watch”
1)    Adrian Peterson vs. the Bears run defense

• Sometimes a mismatch does not go the way it should, and sometimes Adrian Peterson goes for 200 yards against a pitiful run defense. The return of Lance Briggs did nothing to help the Bears, as their problems lie more on the line of the defense. Adrian Peterson continues to run his team out of contention for a top quarterback which he so desperately needs. 

Sunday Night Game:

New York Giants- 24 at Washington Redskins- 17
Reviewing the Game:

• Well it certainly looked like it was 2012 all over again for the Redskins. They were living the dream with RG3 and the read option, but the alarm clock went off and we were right back in 2013. For most of the game, it looked like neither team wanted to win this contest, but Andre Brown eventually willed the Giants to win. It is crazy given his career path, but he really has been the missing piece for this team. The Giants snuck the win out, and the Redskins had some solid moments. However, this was a rather dreadful game between two irrelevant and non-contending teams. 

The Redskins Perspective:

• The Redskins has a productive first half revisiting some of their old tricks from last year, but in a microcosm of their season, the Giants figured it all out in the second half. The Redskins offense was an unproductive mess in the last third minutes. The option stopping working, and the Giants just pinned their ears back and rushed the passer. The Redskins offense needs a new direction fast.
• Brian Orakpo was a full-grown man tonight. He was dominant off the edge, and was easily the best Redskins defensive player. Orakpo is setting himself up to make a pile of money this offseason. 

The Giants Perspective:

• Even thought they won, there is not too much nice to say about the Giants. However, outdoing Brian Orakpo was Justin Tuck, who collected four sacks. Tuck looked about three years younger during this win and was a constant nuisance to RG3. When this team can rush the passer, it can play like a playoff caliber defense.
  
• The Eli Manning interception train rolled right along. He made a couple of throws that looked like he flat out did not care who was going to catch it. Unbelievable how many head scratching throws he makes. 
  
• This team still is not going anywhere, so this win does not matter. However, it still shows they do have some nice front line talent, albeit it surrounded by terrible depth and middling second level starters.

Monday Night Game:

New Orleans Saints- 7 at Seattle Seahawks- 34
Reviewing the Game:

• Yet another game that was billed as “The Game of the Year” fell epically short. In what has low key been a disappointing NFL season, this game had to take the cake as the biggest miss. The Saints were completely outmatched by the Seahawks on the road. The noise was deafening and the Saints pass protection failed left and right. The Saints all but squandered any small hope they had at fighting for home field advantage in the playoffs, and now have to seriously worry about the Panthers stealing the division. Of course, the Saints could certainly win Sunday night, but their flaws all look like things Carolina is ripe to exploit. The Seahawks were phenomenal in every way, and look as near unbeatable as ever. 

The Saints Perspective:

• For all the talk of them being a dynamic offense, the Saints receivers are a pretty overrated group. Marcus Colston can be easily taken away at this point in his career, and Kenny Stills and Robert Meachem are just inconsistent deep threats at this point. Jimmy Graham was able to be held in check by a pretty athletic group of Seahawk linebackers, something we had not seen coming into this game. Drew Brees could not find open guys down the field fast enough.
  
• Yes, Brees was pressured relentlessly, but he struggled in this game. He did not feel pressure in the pocket at the elite level he normally does, and missed a number of throws. As mentioned, this offense is not what it used to be. If they do not get an A+ effort from their quarterback, there are not enough guys to step up around him. 

The Seahawks Perspective:

• Russell Wilson is incredible, like you did not already know that. Here is what you may not know, outside of his height; Wilson may have the best skill set of any quarterback in the league. His running ability is off the charts, his elusiveness is killer, and his arm talent is outrageous. Wilson made a number of throws with pressure in his face, and still managed to flick the ball down the field effortlessly. He is incrediblely accurate and throws with great touch. Wilson is the best young quarterback in the league, and it is not relatively close. 
  
• The Seahawks defense is back in business. Even without two of their top three corners, they did a number on the Saints. Their defensive line was dominant and sent waves of pressure at Brees. Their linebackers and safeties were great in coverage, and the corners were just fine without Browner and Thurmond. 
  
• He gets lost amongst a number of other star defenders, but Bruce Irvin is playing great. He made a hit on Jimmy Graham to knock the ball out of his hands and negate a first down. He rushes the passer well and looks at home as an outside linebacker. He is a poor man’s Von Miller.

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