The Cardinals can barely keep anyone under center, while the Bills keep star quarterbacks under wrap. Santana Moss was too hype after watching The U Part II and Johnny Manziel wishes the hype were real. We’ve got teams with playoff aspirations and a lot more who wish they did, so let’s take a look at what Week 15 in the NFL birthed.
The Best
Buffalo Bills
The Bills are now a sneaky 8-6 and on the bubble for a playoff birth if a lot of things fall their way. But they kept Aaron Rodgers to no touchdowns and two interceptions, the first of those kind of games in 107 starts. The Bills defense also did a similar number on Payton Manning the week before. In fact, they haven’t allowed a passing TD since week 11, which is making up for their shaky-at-best, trash-fire-at-worst offense. In the game against the Packers, Marcus Thigpen had a 75-yard punt returned for a touchdown and strip-sacked Rodgers in the end zone in the final two minutes for a safety to end it. I’m not saying, I’m just saying, this is starting to look like 2000 Baltimore Ravens kind of football.
Arizona Cardinals
The Poor Cardinals are getting wrecked with injuries this year at the game’s most important position. The week that Carson Palmer signs a big extension, he goes down for the rest of the season. Drew Stanton steps up into the role and looks pretty good until, you guessed it, a leg injury against the St. Louis Rams derailed his season. Ryan Lindley(!) picked up the slack after Stanton went down and helped guide the Cards to a 12-6 victory over a tough Rams team. It wasn’t a pretty game, but the Cardinals are now 11-3 and are on the verge of a division title, but what kind of team will they put on the field? Better yet, WHO will they put on the field? You know it’s bad when Kurt Warner is making calls to see if he can join the team.
Carolina Panthers
After last weeks awesome win, Cam Newton was in a horrible car accident that left him with fractured vertebrae, but given the look at his car, the fact that he walked away at all is something.
Derek Anderson stepped into the starting role and went 25 of 40 for 277 yards and a touchdown. He found Greg Olson 10 times for 110 yards and Kelvin Benjamin eight times for 104 yards. Granted the win was against the Buccaneers, but the win was necessary to keep the Panthers playoff hopes alive. (They’re 5-8-1 btw).
The Worst
Santana Moss
To be fair to Moss, it was a pretty bogus looking call that wiped away the rushing touchdown of Robert Griffin III. But Moss stormed the field and confronted Jeff Triplette and Alex Kemp of the referee squad and was ejected for inappropriate language. Maybe Moss was just turnt up because he watched The U Part II before the game?
Johnny Manziel
Despite having the best record of any Browns QB in the past 15 years, Cleveland fans went all Cleveland on Brian Hoyer and begged for Johnny Football to get the start… which he did… and showed exactly what creek the Browns are up with him at the helm. Johnny Manziel went 10 of 18 for 80 yards, two interceptions, three sacks and a QB rating of 1.0. The Bengals put up 30 points against the Browns and officially kicked them way down into the playoff depths. And the award for best meme of the week goes to…
Jay Cutler
Jay’s season is basically a long, never-ending version of The No Good, Very Bad Day. After an anonymous source from the Bears camp told a reporter that the team was having buyer’s remorse over Cutler’s big extension this offseason, it was discovered that the source was in fact the Bears Offensive Coordinator Aaron Kromer. Kromer apologized to the whole team, but when the Bears had Monday night to prove Kromer and all their other detractors wrong, they crapped out. Cutler went 17 for 31, for two touchdowns, three interceptions and was sacked an astounding seven times for 41 yards. The Bears only had 278 total yards against a Saints team that is one of New Orleans’ worst in recent memory. And their two scores didn’t happen until the 4th quarter when the game was well over.
Playoff Race
With only two weeks left in the season, we’re getting a better idea of who the playoff teams will be. New England, Denver and Indianapolis have all secured their divisions leaving the bubble in the AFC pretty tight. Cincinnati leads Pittsburgh and Baltimore by a hair, Kansas City and San Diego seem to be locked in the 7th and 8th spot as they both have tie breakers over the 9th seed Buffalo Bills. But if Buffalo were to make a clean sweep and get some help by a lot of teams losing, they could end the NFL’s longest playoff drought.
The NFC only has one playoff birth locked down in Arizona. Detroit appears to heading towards the NFC North title as they hold the tie breaker over Green Bat. Short of implosion, Dallas will win the NFC East, but without DeMarco Murray, who fractured his non-holding hand this week, they will be severely limited. Green Bay and Seattle look to secure their Wild Card bids, which would leave the Philadelphia Eagles on the outside looking in.
Week 16
As the College Football season comes to an end, the barrage of the NFL can start. That means we get games on Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Although, to be fair, most of the games before Sunday can be skipped unless you’re have a relative playing in the Tennessee at Jacksonville game.
Keep an eye on Detroit at Chicago and Green Bay at Tampa Bay for who can grab that divisional spot in the NFC North. Kansas City visits Pittsburgh while the Houston Texans host the Baltimore Ravens, two tough matches that will nudge the AFC North in some kind of clarity. The late game on Sunday, Seattle at Arizona, and Monday night’s Denver at Cincinnati should be pretty good if you’re not exhausted from your holiday party.
