Cam haters thought Carolina was finally going to get dropped, but Newton was just teasing the Big Easy and his haters. The other MVP candidate, Tom Brady, wasn’t so lucky as his crew lost their second game straight, this time to lowly Philadelphia.
Seattle is rolling like never before, but let’s not get carried away over back to back weeks of superb offensive play from the Hawks. OK, let’s get carried away. They killin it!
Onto the winners and losers. Just four games left in the regular season. Get yo popcorn ready…along with the beer, Rolaids, 3-D glasses, and a cheat sheet to help you determine where your team will land come playoff time.
Atlanta fans can skip the last item.
Check out Chris Maurice’s Hottest Sports Memorabilia List for that sports fan in your life.
NFL Grown Man of the Week: Russell Wilson. The kid has been on fire the past two weeks. He accounted for four more touchdowns yesterday, making it nine in the past two weeks.
The Seattle QB has his team primed for another playoff run while the rest of the NFL takes notice. The other playoff contending coaches in the League best get plenty of sleep the next couple weeks. They won’t get much should they see Seattle in the postseason.
NFL Child of the Week: The ref who gave Green Bay an extra shot at a Hail Mary against Detroit on TNF. Touching a face mask is not grabbing it. The flag could have been waved off. The Lions got a sack on the biggest play of the game only to have Rodgers kill them with a gift from the zebras.
Winner: Ben Roethlisberger and his receiving corps destroyed the Colts on SNF. Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant looked like they were in a track meet. Big Ben and his offense made it appear they were playing a junior college defense as they racked up over 500 yards on the Indy defense or lack thereof.
Loser: Adrian Peterson had just 18 yards in the debacle against Seattle, leading him to call out his coaches for getting taken to the woodshed by Pete Carroll and company. Seattle is not Atlanta AP. Can’t just run through the Hawks like water my man.
Winner: Cam Newton and company let New Orleans feel good about themselves at home for a while, then ripped their heart out with just one minute left in the game. Newton and the Panthers are undefeated still, with only four games left on their regular season schedule.
Loser: Matt Ryan. Atlanta dropped their fifth game in a row after the offense was less than stellar again, relying on the kicker to supply most of the points. Ryan had the ball with around a minute to play at the end and not shockingly threw it to the opposite team.
Winner: Marcus Mariota was a stud against the Jaguars, throwing for 268 then running for 112. He put his Titans ahead with an 87, yes 87, yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Loser: The Browns. Blasted by Cincinnati 37-3, Cleveland may be the winner of the #1 draft pick next year. They might even take a QB, who’s interested in football more than Instagram party pics.
Winner: Philly beat New England somehow after looking like the dogs of the NFL the past two weeks.
Loser: The special teams coaches and players who will have to deal with Bill Belichick this week after they cost New England an embarrassing loss at home to the Eagles.
Winner: Julio Jones spoke out about his lack of shots in the red zone. “We practice throughout the week throwing jump balls, throwing fades, throwing all these little things. But when the game comes, you never know what’s going to come up.”
Jones has failed to score in the past four games. Mix in one TD for him in each of those games and the Falcons would still have a good record instead of being a .500 team at 6-6.
Loser: Dan Quinn. Atlanta’s coach better learn quickly how to make adjustments in game. Being great at analyzing games on Mondaymorning is useless, the game is over. It appears Quinn can’t even make the adjustments week to week. If he were capable, he would have fixed the issues that have led to his Falcons losing six of the past seven games.
Winner: Brandon Marshall dragged his Jets to the victory over the Giants. The wrong receiver in New York is getting all the attention as the media just adores Odell Beckham, but Marshal has been more consistent, and his team is actually winning games.
Loser: Tom Coughlin, who may lose his job as Giants head coach. Late game collapses won’t be the best bullet points for a resume going forward.
Winner: Fans of the AFC. The NFC is a boat race with Carolina rolling up the conference. With two straight losses by injury depleted New England, the Pats are tied with Denver and Cincinnati at 10-2, setting up very important games as the season winds down.
Loser: Matt Hasselbeck had to come back down to earth eventually. It happened against the Steelers in prime time as he threw two early picks and never got on track. Just when I had him on each of my DraftKings rosters.
Winner: Jameis Winston may not have ran for an 87 yard TD like his counterpart rookie Mariota, but his third down conversion on third and 19 was just as big a play for his team.
Loser: Kickers everywhere this year who are missing extra points right and left. The rule change on the PAT has been great for the game, doing away with the automatic kick of the past. It’s even getting in the heads of kickers on field goals. The usually reliable Robbie Gould missed a FG at the end of regulation that could have given his Bears the win over San Francisco.
Winner: Thomas Rawls got over 100 yards again. The kid is fantastic and just makes Seattle more dangerous as the playoffs loom. If Lynch does come back, Rawls still needs to be used somehow.
Loser: Jeff Fisher who admitted to the St. Louis media that he’s out of answers when it comes to his offense. His QB, Nick Foles is worse than the awful offensive line that’s supposed to be protecting him. And Todd Gurley has no chance to produce with the defenses only worry being the rookie sensation.