Week Twelve has now come and gone in the NFL, and we getting a little bit clearer of a picture heading for the playoffs. We got a couple of teams in the AFC East in the Bills and Dolphins that are stabilizing their positions, while Kansas City and Pittsburgh continue to lock down the top spots in the conference. Meanwhile, over in the NFC, Tampa Bay started to lose a little ground on the Saints in the race for the top of the South, while, somehow, the New York Giants are now on top of the NFC East. That's a sentence I never thought I'd write at the start of the year. There was plenty of great individual performances this week as well, so lets not waste any more time. Here's the best and worst of week twelve in the NFL
Best: Tyreek Hill, Wide Receiver, Kansas City Chiefs
There's big games, then there's what Tyreek Hill did in Sunday's 27-24 Chiefs win over the Bucs. Hill had 13 catches for 269 yards and three scores. Hell in the first quarter alone, Hill had 203 receiving yards and a couple of touchdown catches./ The guy was in a zone like never before. It was the most by any player in a quarter since Lee Evans had 205 in the first quarter of a 2006 game against the Texans. As a matter of fact, the 203 yards Hill had in the first quarter were more than any other receiver in a game this year. Hill; is playing at another level and is a big reason why Kansas City is heading towards another title.
Worst: NFL Decision Makers
This is getting a little nuts. I give the league credit where its due, for how they handled the Ravens and Steelers game, pushing it back from Thanksgiving night to yesterday, based on the number of COVID positives. But how did that not happen with the Broncos and the Saints. Denver had gone through four quarterbacks. FOUR. All of whom had come down with COVID. They had to sign a wide receiver off the practice squad to play quarterback. Kendall Hinton was a backup QB at Wake Forrest before switching positions. And the Broncos even asked the league to postpone the game, with their request being denied. Denver should have been smarter with this, but so should the league. They trying to keep everybody healthy and at the same time put a good product on the field given the current situation. Maybe the league should consider doing what the NHL does and have emergency players available.
Best: Raheem Morris, Head Coach Atlanta Falcons
Sure, he maybe only an interim coach, but he's doing one hell of a good job in his time down in Atlanta. This was a team that started the year off 0-5, but once they made the coaching change, Atlanta found its stride. May be too little too late but after a 43-6 blowout win of the Raiders on Sunday, Atlanta is now 4-2 under Morris and at least trying to pull themselves back to a respectable level. Now I'm starting to wonder if it should be more than just an interim tag at this point. They have five games left in the season, and tough ones at that. If they can keep tough in those games, it might look good for Morris to either keep his job in Atlanta or help propel himself to another full time head coaching job somewhere else in the league
Worst: Colts Defense
Heading into the weekend, this was a Colts defense that hadn't allowed an opposing team to gain more than four hundred yards in a game this season. They got run over by the Titans on Sunday, falling 45-26 to the division rival. In the process, the Titans racked up 449 yards of total offense. This was on the strength of a big day from Derrek Henry, who finished with 178 yards and a huge chunk of them came on the outside. And this was a huge game for the Colts defense to faulter. Both teams went into the week 7-3 and now that the Colts have fallen with five weeks left, it looks like its a better shot at the wild card rather then a south title.
Best: Jeremy Chinn, Linebacker Carolina Panthers
Talk about having yourself a day. Yes I know the Panthers lost 28-27 to the Vikings. But Chinn, the Panthers rookie linebacker, had done something that never really happens in the NFL anymore. He had fumble recovery for touchdowns. One scoop and score is impressive enough. Having two is downright amazing. Oh and its even more impressive that it was done on back to back plays. His first score stopped a Vikings drive and gave the Panthers a 14-10 lead. Then, on the very next Vikings Play, Chinn had another fumble recovery for a TD to extend the lead to 21-10. It sucks that the Panthers weren't able to hold said lead, but still the fact that a rookie linebacker had two fumble recoveries for touchdowns on back to back plays is really impressive. Good on ya kid,
Worst: Chicago Bears
Following a 41-25 loss to the Packers over the weekend, it has finally hit the fan in the Windy City. Think about this. Chicago was hotter than a wild fire at the start of the year, racing out to a 5-1 start. Then, including this loss to the Packers, it's starting to come apart. Now up to a five game losing streak for Chicago has them sitting in 3rd place in the NFC North. This is the wheels falling off at the wrong time in Chicago. Nothing seems to be clicking right at the moment for the Bears and they need to get it figured out and quickly
Best: DK Metcalf, Wide Receiver, Seattle Seahawks
Seattle has found their stride again. They sit atop the NFC West with an 8-3 record, following a 23-17 win over Philadelphia. Metcalf was on his game again this week, finishing with 10 catches for 177 yards. He may not have found the endzone, but boy did he help open things up for the rest of the Seattle offense. After this week, Metcalf has 1,039 yards, 18 more then the next best in Tyreek Hill. They're the only two wide outs with over a thousand yards to this point in the season. Both guys are off the charts and its been showing this year. Big reason why they're leading there West divisions.
Worst: Las Vegas Raiders
Yes the Raiders are still a game over .500, but after getting beat by a field goal against Kansas City the week before, there was some hope that the Raiders could hang in there with the top tier teams in the AFC. But then you come out this week and lay an egg. Vegas got blown out 43-6 by of all teams the Atlanta Falcons. Dereck Carr was just awful, losing three fumbles and throwing a pick six. Josh Jacobs also lost a fumble as well, giving the Raiders five turnovers for the day. They couldn't score a single touchdown on the day too. Just a bad day for the Raiders all around, and if they want to be able to get back into the race and even sniff a playoff spot, they have to win out and get a little help to have a chance
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