Following their 36-30 overtime loss to the Bears on Monday night, the question that immediately popped into everyone’s minds was: What’s wrong with the Vikings?
If you want to pinpoint when Minnesota’s troubles began, you’ll have to go back three weeks ago in Arizona. At the time, many wrote off the Vikings’ 30-17 loss to the Cardinals as just an “off” night. They had to travel cross country to play a motivated Arizona team and they lost – no big deal right?
But what the Cardinals did that night was expose the Vikings’ weaknesses. Arizona utilized the three-step drop to neutralize Jared Allen and Minnesota’s pass rush in order to move up the field in short, quick bursts. The Vikings couldn’t get to Kurt Warner and he picked them apart.
Another factor that has doomed the Vikings in recent weeks is the loss of middle linebacker E.J. Henderson, who suffered a season-ending injury in that same defeat to the Cardinals. Rookie Jasper Brinkley has filled the void left by Henderson in the middle and what was evident last night is that teams can throw on him at will. Toss in the fact that cornerback Antoine Winfield is playing hurt (he was abused by Jay Cutler a couple times last night) and that the safeties (Madieau Williams has been a ghost) are non-existent and it’s no wonder why Minnesota’s defense has allowed over 100 points in their last four games.
A month ago, Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora was demoted from a starter to a pass-rush specialist following New York’s loss to the Broncos on Thanksgiving night. Yesterday, he played in only a handful of snaps in the Giants’ embarrassing 41-9 loss to the Panthers in East Rutherford.
All of this has left Umenyiora pondering his future in New York, and his comments following the loss to Carolina indicates that he won’t be a Giant past this season.
From the Newark Star Ledger:
“What did I play, five snaps today?” said Umenyiora. “I don’t know, I don’t know what happened. I thought I was the problem.
“It’s an unbelievable situation, man. Last game at Giants Stadium, probably as a Giant, just the way everything has unfolded has been unbelievable.”
Unless Umenyiora knows something about the team’s plans to deactivate him next week, Sunday was not his final game as a Giant.
But perhaps he meant it would be his final home game, which means he’s anticipating a trade, his release or a holdout on his part until he gets one of the first two. Umenyiora is signed through the 2012 season, so the Giants probably don’t plan on cutting him loose without any compensation.
Unless he forces their hand.
“I couldn’t really explain what I’m feeling right now. Disappointment is an understatement, in everything,” the two-time Pro Bowl selection said. “The way everything has played out this year has been absolute nonsense; very disappointed, disheartened, discouraged, whatever you want to call it. I feel all those emotions.”
If Umenyiora wants to stay with the Giants, then he, along with many fans, would love to see the team show defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan the door. Sheridan has been a disaster since taking over for former coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who is now the head coach of the Rams. His schemes don’t allow for Umenyiora and the rest of the Giants’ talented defensive ends to rush the passer as much as they did under Spagnuolo. Sheridan will often drop his ends into coverage, which doesn’t (and hasn’t) take advantage of their pass-rush capabilities.
Tom Brady & Randy Moss
This duo came through in a big way in Week 16. Brady threw for 267 yards and four TD while Moss had 4-45 and three TD. Moss also came up pretty big in Week 15 (5-70-1), but anyone that had Brady going that week probably wasn’t playing in the title game in Week 16. (He only threw for 115 yards and a TD against the Bills.)
Matt Ryan & Roddy White
I own a few leagues with a buddy of mine and we were in a quandary at QB. We had Jay Cutler and Matt Cassel on our roster, but neither guy was very appealing this week. Cutler seems to have given up on the season and Cassel had a bad matchup against a good Bengals defense. Matt Ryan and Josh Freeman were on the waiver wire and we ended up going with Freeman because he had been quite solid since taking over as the starter in Tampa. We figured that a matchup with the Saints would offer plenty of opportunity to throw. Besides, Ryan was facing the Bills who had been great against opposing QBs in recent weeks. Well, we should have gone with Matty Ice. He threw for 250 yards and three TD, and we would have won had we plugged him in. His favorite target, Roddy White, also rewarded owners that stuck with him after he had averaged 3-37 over the last two weeks. He posted 8-139-2 against the Bills, and will be the difference in more than a few championship games this week.
Todd Heap
All Heap did the last two weeks was catch seven balls for 93 yards and four TD. That’s right — four TD. Funny story: In my auction league, when Owen Daniels went down midseason and I unwisely gambled all of my bidding bucks on Chris Cooley’s failed comeback attempt, I ended up trading away Laurence Maroney for Todd Heap, and I didn’t start him in Week 15 or Week 16. What can I say? The guy averaged 2.5-28-0.0 the previous four weeks. Who knew he’d catch four TD in the next two games? Anyone forced to start him got a nice surprise in the fantasy playoffs.
Jonathan Stewart
It must have been a tough week to have DeAngelo Williams and not have Stewart as a backup. He had 28 carries for 206 yards and a TD against a Giants team that desperately needed a win. That’s impressive. In Week 15, he had 109 yards and a score against the Vikings, who have one of the best rush defenses in the league. Let this be a lesson to those owners who draft Williams next season — you better get Stewart as insurance.
Donovan McNabb & Brent Celek
The Eagles almost lost the game, but McNabb posted a great line that probably won a few fantasy championships this week. He had 322 yards, three TD and also ran for 29 yards. As a result, Celek was a difference-maker at TE this week. He went for 4-121-1, catching a 47-yard pass from McNabb in the second quarter.
Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark & Joseph Addai
We were all ready to bench our Indy studs in Week 16, figuring that they’d play maybe a half of football before leaving the game. But then Manning tells Rachel Nichols this morning that he thinks he would play a full game if it stayed competitive. Suddenly, fantasy owners were scrambling to get these Colts back in the lineup. Sure enough, midway through the third with the game still very competitive, Indy pulled its starters. Manning finished with 192 yards and zero TD, Addai with 40 yards and a TD, Clark with 4-57 and Wayne with 3-33. Fantasy owners with Addai or Clark in their starting lineups probably got by with their limited output, but those that had Manning or Wayne found themselves behind the eight ball.
For most of the 2009 season, fans and pundits alike have gushed about the Saints and the Vikings being the best teams in the NFC, which they have been.
But are the Eagles the team to be feared the most in the NFC now? Think about it: With their 30-27 win over the Broncos on Sunday, Philly has rattled off six in a row and for the most part, have spanked every team they’ve played. In comparison, the Saints have lost two in a row and the Vikings have dropped two of their last three.
No team wants to go into Philadelphia and play the Eagles in the playoffs; it’s a hostile environment and the team feed off their fans. And personally, I think Philly is one of those teams that can walk into Minnesota and New Orleans and not fear the Vikings or Saints.
That said, it’s been the same ol’ song and dance for the Eagles for years. Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb have tortured fans by peaking at the right time, heading into the playoffs with momentum and then choking in the NFC Championship Game. So the Eagles might be the hottest team at the moment, but it doesn’t mean anything if they can’t sustain it and make it to the Super Bowl; their fans won’t settle for anything less.
Their win over the Broncos on Sunday was hard fought, although they did turn the ball over three times, which kept Denver in the game. Still, McNabb completed 20 of 35 passes for 322 yards and three touchdowns. Philly also held the Broncos to only 241 total yards, including just 70 rushing yards.
We’ll see if the Eagles can take a win like this and build momentum, or if they’ll flounder again in the postseason.
For a month and a half, the Patriots have looked average to below average every week. They were smacked by the Saints in late November, lost a tightly contested battle in Miami the following week, and then won back-to-back games against the Panthers and Bills in lackluster fashion.
But their 35-7 rout of the Jaguars (a playoff contender, mind you) on Sunday begs the question of whether or not the Patriots are still feared. With all due respect to the Steelers, New England has been the team of the decade and is always dangerous in the postseason. They’re also somewhat flying under the radar because they haven’t looked particularly great, but have won three in a row and might be building some confidence again.
That said, it’s no surprise that the Patriots beat the snot out of the Jaguars today. They’ve beaten Jacksonville the last four times the two teams have played and have outscored the Jags 110-57 in those four games. They just match up well with Jacksonville and they proved it again today.
My eyes tell me that this isn’t the same Patriots team that has trampled the competition in the past, even with their impressive win today. But with Tom Brady under center and Bill Belichick patrolling the sideline, my gut wonders if this isn’t a team (which has had a ton of success in the postseason) peaking at the right time and that could sneak up on the opposition in the playoffs two weeks from now.
The Indianapolis Colts just answered the question of whether or not an undefeated season is more important than resting their starters: It’s not.
By benching Peyton Manning early in the second half on Sunday, the Colts surrendered their chance at a perfect season and subsequently lost to the Jets, 29-15. It was Indy’s first loss since October 27 of 2008.
After the game, head coach Jim Caldwell noted that a perfect season was never the Colts’ ultimate goal – a Super Bowl is. Some may argue that the Colts have an obligation to the fans (and to the Ravens, Broncos, Steelers, etc.) to leave Manning and the starters in, but what would have happened if Manning snapped his ACL in a meaningless (meaningless for Indy) game late in the season? What’s the point of going 16-0 or 15-1 and watching Curtis Painter lose in the Divisional Round of the playoffs?
I felt bad watching Manning on the sidelines, I really did. He’s a warrior and a competitor and the guy wants to be in every game. That’s why he wins and that’s why the Colts have had so much success over the past couple years.
That said, he can be mad on the sidelines all he wants because at least he’ll be healthy in three weeks when Indianapolis is playing for a chance at a Super Bowl. An undefeated season would have been great, but in one week nobody (not even Colts fans) are going to give a crap. This might be a story for the media, but it’s not to the Colts franchise. Again, in a week, nobody will care about this so hopefully the mainstream media doesn’t make an issue of it over the next week.
Thanks to Cedric Benson’s 133 rushing yards, the Bengals beat the Chiefs 17-10 on Sunday to clinch the AFC North. It was Benson’s sixth 100-yard rushing performance of the season, which is a new franchise record for Cincinnati.
The Bengals defense was sound today, much like it has been all season. They surrendered only 10 points and 172 passing yards, although they did allow Jamaal Charles to rush for 102 yards on 24 carries.
But for as good as Benson and the defense looked, this wasn’t an overly impressive performance by Cincinnati. They battled San Diego last week, but outside of that game, the Bengals haven’t looked impressive since back-to-back wins over the Ravens and Steelers in mid November. They continue to struggle trying to make plays in the passing game and they seem to play down to their competition.
This has been a great year so far for the Bengals and I realize they’re kind of playing with house money because they weren’t supposed to be this good. But that said, this isn’t a team streaking into the playoffs with a full head of steam. Much like other teams, they have plenty of wrinkles to iron out and little time to do it. It’ll be interesting to see if they can figure things out in time for their first playoff game or if they’ll be one and done.
It took 13 weeks for people to think the Saints were an unbeatable juggernaut, but only two to give everyone reason to doubt them.
Connor Barth’s field goal in overtime gave the Buccaneers a surprising 20-17 win over the Saints in New Orleans on Sunday. The Saints blew a 17-0 first half lead, allowed 439 total yards on defense and 176 rushing yards. It was the second time in two weeks that the Saints lost at home after they fell to the Cowboys in Week 15.
Every team wants to peak heading into the playoffs, but New Orleans is fading. Their offense hasn’t been as explosive the past two weeks as it had been earlier in the season and their defense hasn’t played well in over a month. They’ve also been handcuffed by some injuries on the defensive side of the ball, but every team is banged up at this point in the year.
But while the Saints’ play has been troubling, don’t forget that the Cardinals faded down the stretch last year and wound up in the Super Bowl. New Orleans can use the bye week to get healthy and for Sean Payton to fix what has gone wrong over the past month. They might not be the hottest team heading into the playoffs, but the Saints are arguably still the most dangerous.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if Garrett Hartley doesn’t miss a 37-yard field goal at the end of the fourth quarter, then the Saints would have escaped today with just a scare. They’d still be a team with issues, but the what’s-wrong-with-the-Saints questions would be kept to a minimum.
The New York Giants owe their fans an apology after the horrendous effort they gave today in their 41-9 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
Despite having their playoff hopes on the line and the fact that they were playing their final game at Giants Stadium, New York couldn’t have cared less. Their effort was pathetic on both sides of the ball and it was clear from the start that their players wanted nothing to do with football today.
This is a loss where somebody losses their job. It won’t be Tom Coughlin, but I can’t see any scenario in which defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan is retained for next season. The Panthers were without DeAngelo Williams, yet the Giants allowed Jonathan Stewart to rush for 206 yards and a touchdown, and for Matt Moore to throw for three scores. I realize Stewart is a fine back and Moore is gaining confidence week to week, but there’s no excuse for a team with playoff aspirations to allow 416 total yards and 41 points at home. None.
Sheridan has to go; New York has to hire someone that understands that the team’s best attribute defensively is its defensive line. That said, his players should be embarrassed with the way they played today. They didn’t tackle, they didn’t play disciplined and they played with zero emotion.
The Giants didn’t deserve to go to the playoffs this year and maybe this was a fitting end to their season.
