It’s a Bird, it’s a Plane, NO, it’s a Jacksonville picture topping the FMQB headlines? I’ll talk about that later. It’s the final 4 weeks of the season, and it seems to be going way too fast this year. Remember when I was complaining about the lack of exciting games earlier this year? Well that’s all changing with these last games. We have tight playoff races and major seeding questions yet to be answered. Take a look of what’s coming down the line. Week 14, we have Bengals vs. Colts, Eagles vs. Lions, 49ers vs. Seahawks, and Panthers vs. Saints. Week 15 is Patriots vs. Dolphins (ok, we have one bummer week). Week 16 has Panthers vs. Saints again, Colts vs. Chiefs, Cardinals vs. Seahawks. Then Week 17 will have a win and you win the division game between the Eagles and Cowboys, and most likely a final wild card spot between the 49ers and Cardinals.
Stat of the Week #1:
Peyton Manning tackled more Chiefs players (1 tackle) in 2 games, than Chiefs players tackled Peyton Manning (0 tackles/sacks)
Stolen Stat of the Week #2:
Geno Smith has not had a TD pass in 43 days
Stolen Stat of the Week #3:
Kansas City became the first team in NFL history to start the season 9-0, and then go on an 0-3 stretch
Stat of the Week #4:
Nick Foles is leading the league in Passer Rating
Stat of the Week #5:
Jacksonville is 3-1 in their division while Kansas City (a playoff team) is 1-3 in theirs.
Quote of the Week:
“There will be an RG4” RGIII on eliminating any concern after getting kicked in the nuts during a game
Quote of the Week #2:
“I can’t remember why I didn’t want to play for the Chargers” Eli Manning, in a funny yet very political answer
Best Celebration this Season:
The good ol’ days of wacky celebrations have gone the way of the dodo. No more signing balls, calling your mom from the endzone, or putting on a hall of fame jacket on the sidelines. The “No Fun League” has prevailed the last few years. Needless to say, the Vikings’ Patterson had one of the more simple yet hilarious celebrations in awhile that even had a ref cracking up. Check it out here!
Playoffs Around the Corner:
Love this machine that ESPN puts out each year, where you can pick the winners of the final weeks to see how it affects the playoff standings. I did the final 4 weeks, and here is FMQB’s version of the playoff race. According to my calculations, it will be Denver, New England, Cincinnati, Indy, KC, and Pit for the AFC. Then NFC will be Seattle, New Orleans, Detroit, Dallas, Carolina, SF. Pittsburgh is a bit of a surprise to me, we’ll see if it actually happens!
Bad Memories:
Remember when Tampa Bay and Jacksonville were the laughing stock of the league? Both teams started 0-8, essentially flopping the first half of the season. Boy have the tables turned in the last few weeks! There has been a big resurgence of these teams, so much so that there are 3 teams that are worse than TB and Jax. Jacksonville, a team that once played an entire game without making it past the 50 yard line, won last night without ever being behind or tied. During their 1-9 stretch, the Jags played KC, Seattle, Indianapolis, Denver, San Francisco, and Arizona. You can hardly fault them for those losses. Tampa Bay followed their 0-8 streak with a 3-0 streak. Look at their foes as well, Saints, Patriots, Cardinals, Eagles, Panthers, Seahawks, Lions, and Panthers again. Tough schedules may be the culprit here over anything else. Both teams have looked pretty sharp recently.
Browns can’t get rid of Weeden
The Browns this year have finally decided that drafting a 29 year old rookie last year was a mistake, and after Weeden’s first injury he was done as QB. Well there must be some sort of Voodoo in the Locker Room, because the Browns may have had the roughest QB outings of any team. Take a look at this story. Weeden starts season, gets hurt, Brian Hoyer comes in (flourishes), gets hurt for season, Weeden back in (struggles), Jason Campbell starts, gets hurt Weeden back in. Campbell healthy, gets hurt AGAIN, then Weeden comes in. Now both Campbell and Weeden have concussions, holy crap! The Browns had to sign the trick shot QB from Youtube to come in and play. Campbell might be back, but this sounds like one crazy season for the Browns. All they want to do is move on from Weeden, and he has had to come back 3 times due to other injuries.
Manning Back on Pace:
After a couple rough games, Manning tossed 5 TD’s again on Sunday to get back to his record pace. He has 41 TD’s and 4 games left. He needs only 10 to beat Brady’s record, which seems easily doable given the Broncos easy schedule from here on out. The only real question is does he beat it by 1, or demolish it by 5 or more?
Records Falling:
Still not crowning him, but the correlation between Nick Foles and Peyton Manning is pretty remarkable this year. The first game of the season, Manning threw for 7 touchdowns (tying an NFL record). Nick Foles matched that in Week 9 of this year…Next, Peyton Manning started the season throwing 20 TD’s before throwing his first INT, which was also an NFL record. Who is in 2nd place in this category? I’m glad you asked! It’s Nick Foles, who has started his season throwing 19 TD’s, and has yet to throw an interception. He has a chance to tie or break Manning’s record, but it’s very impressive for a 2nd year player who was on the bench at the beginning of the year.
Washington SNAFU:
You may be expecting a paragraph about the officials here, but I actually want to talk about the Redskins receivers dropping the ball. Yes, what happened with the chain gang/down situation is completely inexcusable, and the refs should have stopped and got things right. Overall, I don’t think it would have mattered. The Redskins receivers were dropping the ball like crazy the 2nd half, and especially on that final drive. If Fred Davis catches the ball on 3rd and 1 (or 1st and 10, however you want to see it), it’s a non-issue. And sure Garcon caught the 4th down (or 2nd down) pass, but he got it ripped out of his hands. For some reason, I can’t get behind the RGIII bandwagon, but I felt bad for the guy. He had a great 1st half, and his receivers let him down.
Breaking News!
The Texans fired coach Gary Kubiak today. Understandable after their 11 game losing streak, but being a strong playoff contender the past 2 years, it should not have come to that. He’s one of the longer tenured coaches in the league, and the first one fired this season.
I’m OK!!