There are seven weeks left in the NFL regular season. Division races will soon tighten up, and every game will mean more and more as fall turns to winter.
It’s one thing to put a four game winning streak together in the first month of the NFL season. Things get real when you have one month to hold on to a playoff spot or claw your way into the playoffs with must win games.
Then the real season begins. The playoffs start and the clutch players are easy to spot. The chokers are even more identifiable.
With the pressure on and a few teams almost a lock to make the playoffs, which quarterbacks can’t be trusted in the 2015 postseason? These are the guys leading teams that have good shots at the postseason, but could fall apart at any time as the spotlight gets brighter.
Let’s see just who is most likely to choke away a good season when the games matter most.
5. I hate to do it. I just can’t trust Matt Ryan. His stats are good this year, and everything was going fine for the first six weeks. Then when things fell apart with losses to the lowly Saints, 49ers, and Bucs, I could only blame Ryan. He was the one throwing picks in the endzone, not Julio Jones or Devonta Freeman. Those guys were still doing their jobs.
Hell, the defense has even been consistent. They are holding teams to low enough point totals to win games with a top tier QB. Ryan will have to get his team to the Super Bowl before I get back on his bandwagon.
If he does, I reserve to the right to disavow this list.
4. It may be crazy to put the best quarterback in the NFL on this list of untrustworthy QBs for a playoff run. OK, it is crazy, but Aaron Rodgers makes my list like it or not. I trust him in normal circumstances. This year is anything but normal though as Rodgers is trying to run a high powered offense with him being the only super star left to make plays.
Eddie Lacy belongs on a fat farm. The Pack’s best wideout Jordy Nelson went down before the season got started good. Randall Cobb had one big game against the Chiefs but has otherwise been underwhelming. Davante Adams has been hurt most of the year and has underperformed when he has played.
I’m afraid Rodgers is going to make a lot of mistakes come the playoffs when he inevitably tries to do too much. He won’t be choking. He will just be hurting his team by forcing the ball into places that used to be occupied by great receivers. That will result in turnovers, and that’s how playoff runs end.
3. Peyton Manning. It’s going to be hard for Gary Kubiak to keep Peyton on the bench if and when he’s healthy enough to play. The guy is one of the best regular season quarterbacks ever, and his coach will have to give him the benefit of the doubt.
From what we’ve seen of #18 this year, he’s a liability and Brock Osweiler is a better option even as an untested starter.
I would not bet on a Manning led Broncos team in the playoffs. Not even a first round game.
2. Andy Dalton almost had folks believing in him near the end of 2015. The ugly loss to Houston in week ten wasn’t all his fault, but he sure didn’t bring his team back at the end.
Dalton is 0-4 in the playoffs and has thrown just one TD pass. He’s much better as throwing it to defenders, which he’s managed to do six times. Can’t trust him.
1. Some quarterback from the AFC South is going to make the playoffs. The division title has to be awarded to one of those awful teams. If it’s Tennessee or Jacksonville, you can’t trust either Mariota or Bortles to win a big game against a quality opponent in the postseason. They’re simply too young.
If Indy wins and gets in then do you really want Matt Hasselbeck leading a march toward the Super Bowl? He is still the same QB who predicted a score in overtime at the coin flip versus Green Bay only to throw a pick six to assure his team a loss. He’s just way older now.
If Andrew Luck made it back, so what? He has been a turnover drone most games already.
Brian Hoyer of the Texans is better than Ryan Mallett. That’s the only positive spin I can put on the guy. No way he leads the NFL Texans past anyone should they win the division….OK, maybe he can get over on the Bengals. AGAIN!