NFL: Five Week 12 Thoughts

 Every time I think I am gonna start Raptors reaction posts the Raptors lose in an annoying or embarrassing way, last night being no different. Luckily I have my usual cadence to fall back on and I get to talk about some of the awesome football that took place this week! Here's some thoughts I have: 

Crazy Commanders Cowboys Sequence 

I turned on Redzone at about 3:30 on Sunday only to be met with some absolute lunacy at the end of the 1pm games. The first of which being the Commanders vs Cowboys, a must win game if you wanted to right the ship as a Commanders fan. After getting down 20-9 in the 4th quarter, the Commanders stormed back with a TD and 2 point conversion to make it a manageable 3 point game with only 3 min to go. On the ensuing kickoff, Cowboys return man KaVontae Turpin muffed the ball at the 1 yard line, recovered it, ran into a crowd, did a spin move with nobody within 3 feet of him, somehow managed to break free to run 99 yards to the house for a TD to get the Cowboys up 10. An unfathomable special teams breakdown by the Commanders. The game wasn't over yet though, Jayden Daniels does a great job of quickly getting his team into field goal range and Austin Seibert nails one to make it a 1 possession game again. The Cowboys go 3 and out on the next drive giving the Commanders the ball back with 30 seconds left. No way Jayden Daniels has more hail mary magic in him does he? He does, he gets the ball to Terry McLaurin who manages to break free from all defenders and take it all the way for a game saving 86 yard TD, insane stuff! Seibert comes out to attempt the extra point and he MISSES! Commanders still down 1 despite the heroics and it's another insane special teams blunder. The Commanders lineup for an onside kick out of desperation and the Cowboys catch it on the bounce and take it all the way in for another kick return TD, but there's still 14 seconds for Jayden Daniels to work with. Unfortunately this time Daniels' hail mary attempt was picked off and the game ends with Dallas taking the victory. 

As a neutral fan, this game was exactly what you want! You couldn't predict an ending like that in a million years, it had me shouting at my TV and I don't care about either of these teams. As a Commanders fan though, you have to be devastated. After an amazing start to the year that saw me call them contenders, the Commanders have now dropped 3 straight and have given the Eagles a big lead on the division. The Cowboys are banged up and now are playing for next season, this is a game that the Commanders should have taken and dominated. Despite the craziness at the end, it should never have been so close to begin with. I've now learned as a blog poster, don't crown a team too early you might get burned.  

Onside Kick

If the Commanders and Cowboys didn't exist, the Bears vs Vikings would have been the most bonkers game of the week. After the Vikings got up 24-10 at the end of the 3rd Quarter the Bears scored a TD and failed a 2 point conversion to make it 24-16. Sidenote, I hate these useless 2 point conversions, if you're down 8 why not make it 7 instead of taking a risk to make it 6, a marginally better 1 possession game? I would understand if the math would be making it 3 points vs 4 but this just makes no sense. Anyway, the Vikings managed another FG to make it an 11 point game with under 2 minutes to go, should be game over right? The Bears march down the field on the ensuing drive, using all their timeouts and score a TD with 22 seconds remaining. This time they are successful in their 2 point conversion attempt to make it a 3 point game with an obvious onside kick on the way. The Bears miraculously recovered the onside kick! Are you seeing a special teams theme in this week's edition? With about 20 seconds left, Caleb Williams completes a pass up the middle of the field to get into field goal range, they quickly get to the line and spike the ball to send the game to OT with a FG. Then in classic Bears fashion, the game is back and fourth defensively in OT until the Vikings break through and kick the game winning FG, ending the crazy comeback and breaking Bears fans hearts. 

With the Lions absolutely ripping through the league, the Vikings needed this one to keep pace. What was nearly a heartbreaking, massive loss for the team from Minnesota turned into a thrilling victory. Still crazy that despite sitting at 9-2 the Vikings still look up from second place in the division. They are proving however that they can regroup and get a big win no matter the circumstances. This is a team that I crowned a contender early that I don't think I'll need to walk back just yet. 

Bryce Young Is Actually Decent?

And the third of 3 pretty crazy finishes in the 1pm slot, although this one is the least crazy and surprising of the trio. After being down 27-19 for the majority of the 4th quarter, Bryce Young led the Panthers down the field to score a TD against the reigning champion Chiefs with 2 minutes remaining. Bryce had to make some big throws as well as getting it done with his legs to get the Panthers back within striking distance of Kansas City, something few thought he could do just weeks ago. The Panthers converted the 2 point conversion to tie the game at 27, but you know you can't give Patrick Mahomes 2 minutes to get into field goal range. Of course Mahomes and the Chiefs easily march into FG range and backup kicker Spencer Shrader nails a 31 yard FG to give KC the victory. 

Kansas City is completing the least impressive 10-1 championship defense season I've ever seen. Barely skating by against a 3 win team should not inspire confidence in anybody in KC. In fact, despite being 10-1, the Chiefs have a point differential this season of just 52, lower than both the 7-5 Broncos and 7-5 Commanders. Still though, this reminds me of LeBron's second stint with the Cavaliers. The Cavs would sleep walk through regular seasons then come playoff time would flip a switch and take it to another level. It's yet to be seen if KC can reach that other level this season, but until I see it happen I don't care how many close games they're in against bad teams, I will not be picking against Patrick Mahomes. 

I am an Idiot for Liking the Texans

Someone told me the other day that Will Levis is the white Jameis Winston, I thought that was hilarious. Anyway, the Texans are mid, they've been mid my entire life and I don't know why I thought this season they would be less mid. The story of this one is mistakes and missed opportunities for Houston. The defense was actually great, they had 8 sacks, they had a pick 6 and overall they were making enough plays to give their supposedly star studded offense a chance. The Texans could not capitalize on the opportunities though. CJ Stroud had 2 interceptions of his own and the offense managed just 40 rushing yards the entire game. Even so, Houston managed to take a 27-23 lead in the 4th quarter and things were looking up for all of 2 minutes. Immediately on the next play the Titans scored a massive 70 yard passing TD to take a 3 point lead. With tons of time remaining, the Texans marched down the field and with about 2 minutes left were in position to attempt a 28 yard field goal. Their kicker missed the FG, slammed his helmet to the ground and the wacky day of NFL special teams continued. Despite the miss, the Texans were able to force a quick 3 and out and get the ball back. On the ensuing possession, CJ Stroud was sacked in the end zone to force a safety and effectively end the game. 

Look, a theme this week is that division games are complete tossups no matter what. I went easy on my Steelers for losing to a lesser team in the Browns for the same reason. That being said, the Texans aren't exactly playing like the world beaters they should be after winning the offseason. Yes divisional matchups are weird and usually come right down to it, but also the Texans are beginning to run out of excuses. So far my pick to come out of the AFC is not looking too hot, but maybe they can show me something in the next few weeks. 

Saquon Barkley 

After Saquon Barkley recorded 302 yards from scrimmage on Sunday night, I had people in my group chats asking if he could win MVP. Being the argumentative know-it-all that I am, right away I said no chance! It's going to be Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson, a QB always wins the award! Then I decided to try and back up my argument statistically by going back to the last non-QB MVP, 2012 Adrian Peterson. What I discovered was shocking, Barkley is having an even better season than AP by almost all metrics. In 2012 Adrian Peterson had 2,097 rushing yards or 131 yards per game, a huge number. This season Barkley has 1,392 rushing yards already for 126.5 yards per game. With 17 games instead of 16, Barkley is on pace for 2,151 yards, not only beating Adrian Peterson's total but it would also surpass Eric Dickerson's all time single season rushing mark of 2,105 yards. In 2012 Adrian Peterson had 40 receptions for 217 yards. Barkley already has 27 receptions for 257 yards with 6 more games to go this season. Add all this up and Barkley is on pace for 2,548 yards from scrimmage this year. The most single season yards from scrimmage of all time was Chris Johnson with 2,509. 

Obviously Saquon is coming off a huge game here which really juices his numbers, but still what he is doing this season on a 9-2 Eagles team can't be understated. After diving into his stats, I actually came out convinced that Saquon shouldn't just be in the MVP conversation, he should be the MVP. When else do you get to celebrate ridiculous RB seasons? 

Felt like one of the more fun weeks in football this season! Things are really starting to shake out for a fun playoff race down the stretch. I can't wait to watch and react to it all here, go Steelers!