I hope everyone had their seatbelts on Sunday in the fourth quarter... as another season of rough sailing runs aground. Although there's still a minor chance this team makes the playoffs... and I stress minor. One has to suspend belief-- and lets just say suspensions are the last thing this fan base needs now.
Starting strong before fading fast-- at least the first two drives went well. 133 of the team's eventual 304 yards came on their first two possessions... and over half of their points came from their first two drives. The second half saw fourth straight possessions of three and out or a fumble... setting the stage for the eventual come from ahead defeat.
Turnoverasaurus Rex-- a fumble and an interception were the exclamation points on a 19-for-46 afternoon where he averaged under 12 yards per completion. We've seen the ceiling and although it's higher than Beck's it's rather low. We've seen the floor and that's rather low as well... making one wonder if Grossman is the wily veteran the Burgundy and Gold wants to mentor next April's first round pick.
Roy on a rampage-- Mr. Helu reached the century mark for the second straight week on the ground... his 100 yards on 23 carries came in fits and spurts, with only 37 of those yards coming after halftime. On a day where the air attack was severely handcuffed. Hmm...
Feeling Fredtastic takes a new meaning-- Mr. Davis continues his sky-high season... catching 6 passes for 99 yards and lighting up another secondary in the process. With 59 catches for 796 yards already... #83 looks to be baking up a 1000 yard receiving season- unless he notches four straight 4-20 performances. Yeah, it's been a nice run... from oversleeping as a rookie to being the best of the famed Triumvirate (with apologies to Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly). Finally a breakout year turns into a bake-out year. And now Davis is done for the season as well as franchise cornerstone Trent Williams thanks to a drug suspension. Did we see this coming? Not since the Saved by the Bell episode where actor Johnny Dakota was exposed as a pot-head while trying to shoot an anti-drug PSA at Bayside has there been something like this.
Or maybe I just wanted to get a Bell reference in there.
ILBs get an A+-- London Fletcher notched 17 tackles while Perry Riley added 8 stops. That's what you want to see from your linebackers... getting to the ball and making plays. Sadly, no sacks for either Ryan Kerrigan or Brian Orakpo.
Dissecting the Division-- despite the Cowboys overtime loss to Arizona, Dallas remains in front at 7-5... followed by the sinking stone that is the New York Giants- who almost upset unbeaten Green Bay. Philadelphia's win over Washington means the 4-8 Eagles don't occupy the NFC East Cellar and are 11th in the conference... while the Skins are a lucky 13th.
How can they get this done again? So-- if the Giants go 1-0-1 against Dallas in their two meetings and both teams lose the rest of their games they both finish 7-8-1. If Philadelphia loses to Miami then the Eagles will be 7-8 when they play the Skins January 1st. And if the Burgundy and Gold beat New England, the Giants and Minnesota they'd be 7-8. With a winner take all battle for the NFC East.
Best Division and Conference-- entering week 14... the AFC North has the best composite record (29-19)... one game better than the NFC North (28-20) Major props to the NFC West... 10-6 over the last four weeks after starting 12-20. The weakest link? Sadly Indianapolis' 0-12 helps sink the AFC South at 19-29. On the interconference front-- the AFC holds a 24-22 edge.
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