Best:
Oakland Raiders
Raiders fans rejoice! It's been quite a while since the Oakland Raiders made the playoffs. Oakland ended the drought this week, thanks to a 19-16 win over San Diego, the Raiders clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2002! This week, Derek Carr lead the Raiders to a big fourth quarter comeback win in San Diego, leading a big drive to come away with the win. Its the first playoff appearance for the Raiders since 2002, a year in which the Raiders also won the division. Thanks to a Kansas City surprising loss to Tennessee, the Raiders took over first place in the West. They play Indy and Denver over the final two games, so its not out of the relm of possibility that Oakland can win the division.
Worst:
New York Jets
This team is just plain bad. They aren't Cleveland Browns level bad, but they are bad. The Jets get blasted by Miami, to the tune of a 34-13 Dolphins win. Jarvis Landry had three catches for 108 yards and a touchdown, which shows how truly bad the Jets secondary has been this year. New York threw three picks, they lost two fumbles, the quarterbacks were sacked three times. It was a truly horrible game to watch.
Best:
Carson Palmer, Quarterback Arizona Cardinals
Arizona at this point in the season, almost seems like they might be out of playoff contention. But don't tell Carson Palmer that, who showed flashes of his 2015 self this week. He was a force to be reckoned with on Sunday's 48-41 loss to the Saints. Sure it was all on the defense, who let up 48 points to the Saints, but Palmer did everything he could in this ball game to help try and get his team a win. Palmer was excellent, completing 70 percent of his passes, going 28 of 40 for 318 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Hell if anything, he was short-changed by those numbers because three drops from his receivers cost him at least 67 yards (plus ample run-after-catch opportunity). Palmer really was in a great groove on Sunday, I just almost feel bad for him because he wasn't able to get the win on Sunday because of that defense.
Worst:
Carson Wentz, Quarterback Philadelphia Eagles
Well, goopd things can't always last forever can they? What you saw from Wentz at the start of the year may have been a blip on the screen, because he hasn't been really seen steadily since. Wentz performance in the Eagles 27-26 loss to Baltimore may have been the worst game of his season so far. Wentz completed just 52.4 percent of his passes, and while for the season, his passer rating when pressured drops into the 30s from one in the 90s when kept clean, in this game it plummeted to just 8.3 when the heat was applied, and he completed passes for just 24 yards on those plays. He finished the day going 22 of 42 for 170 yards and a pick. Games like this make the highs of his season seem a long way away.
Best:
Ty Montgomery, Running Back Green Bay Packers
Talk about a guy really coming into his own. That's what happened to Ty Montgomery this week, in Green Bay's 30-27 win over the Bears/ Up until that point, he hadn't really gotten much of a worklaod, but due to injuries, he did get his shot and he went wild with it. Montgomery rushed for 162 yards on 16 carries, which was good enough for the best rushing numbers of any running back in the league this week. Now out of those 162 rushing yards, 160 of them came after first contact, and he broke seven tackles to get that far. Montgomery looked like a legitimate running back in the win for the Packers. Green Bay has been known for having a solid running game in their history, but Eddy Lacy hasn't shown that the last couple of years, due to injuries. Now they may have something with Montgomery in the backfield. If that's the case, the Detroit Lions better watch out, because Green Bay is coming for them and the division title.
Worst:
Kenneth Farrow, Running Back San Diego Chargers
Sometimes filling in for a star player, or even a really good player, can be a hard thing to do. Having to replace an injured Melvin Gordon is going to be a tough ask, and Kenneth Farrow drew that task this week in the Chargers 19-16 loss to the Raiders. Sure, Farrow did have a couple of nice flashes, he finished with 15 carries for 39 yards, he committed the cardinal sin for a running back. Farrow put the ball on the ground, not once but twice. As both a receiver and a running back, Farrow coughed up a fumble, and ended the game with just 53 yards from scrimmage on 17 touches. By contrast, Ronnie Hillman, a perennial cast-off at running back by this point, gained 34 rushing yards on just seven carries.
Best:
Brandin Cooks, Wide Receiver New Orleans Saints
One thing that the New Orleans Saints have had to deal with all year is the fact that they haven't had a true number one wide receiver all year. Going into Sunday's 48-41 win over the Cardinals, it made things interesting for Cards Patrick Petterson, as he had no one guy to cover. Since there was a mixed bag of defenders going against any one receiver, Bradin Cooks had the most success. He finished the day with seven catches for 186 yards and two touchdowns. Oh yeah, he managed to do this while being targeted eight times in this game.. He beat five different players for catches, including Peterson, although just 10 of the yards and one catch came against Arizona’s best coverage defender. You sir, had yourself one hell of a day.
Worst:
Denver Broncos Running Game
Part of the reason the Broncos were able to win the Super Bowl last year is because they had a top tier goalie to make up for not having a solid running game come playoff time. This year, they don't have that top tier quarterback, which is now starting to hurt them since they don't have much of a running game. It showed in the Broncos 16-3 loss to the Patriots. Trevor Siemian had to threw the ball 40 times. That's because the Broncos as a team rushed the ball just 17 times, gaining 58 yards. This isn’t a one-time thing, either. Last weekend, the Broncos had nine rushing attempts for just 18 yards against Tennessee. Both the Patriots and Titans feature top run defenses, something that is commonplace among most playoff contenders. Denver has now lost three of its last four and four of its last six games.
Best:
Devonta Freeman, Running Back Atlanta Falcons
He was in quite a groove on Sunday in the Falcons 41-13 win over the 49ers. Freeman was in one fantastic groove against San Fran. He finished the day with 20 carries for 139 yards and three touchdowns. Sure, he did fumble the ball once, it was the first time he fumbled the ball all season, and it came in the red zone no less, which is a little bit of a scary thought. But at the same time, when you look at the numbers that Freeman put up last week, he had six yards on six carries for the Falcons, and then you look at the numbers he put up this week, it's a nice bounce back week for one of the better running backs in the league. Welcome back Devonta!
Worst:
Tyrell Williams, Wide Receiver San Diego Chargers
Williams had a rough go of it this week when they fell 19-16 to the Raiders. Williams was targeted eight times by Philip Rivers and caught just four of them for 20 yards. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he dropped three, for significantly more yards than the four passes he managed to bring in. San Diego has had some big games from Williams this season, but this represents one of the worst performances of his season, and the second time this season he has been held to 20 yards or lower.
No comments:
Post a Comment