NFL Payoff: Week 15 Eliminations

Dude…

As we get closer and closer to playoff season, some teams have fallen out of contention. Some teams are completely eliminated from the playoffs. Some teams made massive strides towards securing a playoff spot. From now on, The Dudes are only covering those teams still in playoff contention, until we only have one team left.

Chargers vs. Raiders (PC)Chargers Takeaway: Brandon Staley is finally gone- This took way longer than it was supposed to. It took for your team to give up 63 points to come to the conclusion that Staley was the problem. If you would’ve listened to everybody who watches the sport saying that he was the problem, maybe you wouldn’t be in this situation. Now, you’ve lost your QB for the rest of the Year. Keenan Allen is probably going to shut it down. Ekeler continues to be a non-factor. The defense is getting destroyed. Their cap room situation is a travesty. Get ready for a lot of years of disappointment.

Raiders Takeaways: Antonio Pierce should get the starting job- The players have bought in. It’s official. Pierce is only the interim head coach but he should be the full time head coach next season. The offense ran wild with a back up quarterback. I mean wild. Scoring 63 points is absurd. Scoring 49 of those 63 in the first half is a beatdown. It was just a touchdown for the Raiders. Touchdown Raiders. Aiden O’Connell was like Oprah dealing out touchdowns.  The defense has 2 pick sixes of their own. This was an absolute demolishment of not only a team, but a franchise for a long time. They’re coming to KC next and if KC doesn’t come prepared, they might get steamrolled as well.

Vikings vs. Bengals

Vikings Takeaway: You shouldn’t have cut him- Jake Browning just out gunned this defense. It was an EXTREMELY disappointing night for this defense again. You have backup in who is not playing horrifically. Shades of old Justin Jefferson are coming back after his injury. Jordan Addison continues to look like a serious contention for Offensive Rookie of the Year. Ty Chandler balled out for nearly 130 yards. All you had to do was make sure the other team didn’t score on you. You guys suck. Truly a great game by the offense and the defense just let’s down Skol Nation one more time in this rather disappointing season.

Bengals Takeaway: Is Joey Brr a system QB?- I’m only kidding, but Browning is playing like that could be a rumor that starts. First off, hats off to Browning he played terrific. 324 yards and 2 touchdowns. Yes, we did have that interception, but you were able to stand up when it mattered. Evan McPherson hit the white boi walkoff to win the game in OT. Browning is now 3-0 in his first three starts and he continues to look great. Is this the same dynamic offense without Joe Burrow? I don’t think so. However, if Browning continues to play this well and leads these Bengals to a deep playoff run, these rumors will turn into facts about Joe Burrow.

Colts vs. Steelers (How6rd)

Colts: When there’s a way, Shane Steichen will find it- This team has suffered multiple injuries on both sides of the ball from what already looked like a lackluster roster on paper before the season started, but Shane Steichen has shown he can make lemonade out of rotten fruit. Multiple coaches have completely flipped the script this season with how their teams performed the week prior, but Steichen has dealt with losing his starting rookie QB, star player in Jonathan Taylor, starting right tackle in Braden Smith, and star receiver Michael Pittman Jr leaving the game after Minshew threw a hospital ball. On a day when Zack Moss was limited with a shoulder injury the Colts had to rely on their true backup running backs to do most of the work in moving downfield as Gardner Minshew got off to a slow start, and they answered the call with Trey Sermon and Tyler Goodson combining for 157 rush yards making Minshew’s life a lot easier in the red zone. On the defensive side, they let up some early scores with bad special teams mistakes giving the Steelers short field and, eventually, found themselves after an interception following the touchdown one drive before was all Indianapolis needed to gain the momentum right back at home. The Colts now are sitting pretty in the AFC South playoff race, let alone the playoff picture in general, and are tied with both the Texans and Jaguars at the top with what should be an easier next two weeks on paper before having to go into what could be a crucial matchup against the Texans in week 18.

Steelers: An offensive mess, once again- Aside from their second drive of the game this really didn’t feel to be a team that looked like it was playoff-bound on offense as Mitch Trubisky had a very rough game aside from the first quarter and a portion of the second quarter. From the moment the Steelers had thrown the first interception of the game and forward it just seemed as if the game was already lost as the offense only moved the ball more than 30 yards and no more than 38 yards in two of their last nine offensive drives. The defense got gassed by the Colts constantly running the ball outside of the red zone and by the time the Colts were close to the endzone the defense was just completely worn down making it easy pickings for Gardner Minshew. After being amongst the top teams in the division and AFC in general, the Steelers have taken a massive fall downhill and next week’s game against the Bengals may be their last shot to have any chance at another Mike Tomlin playoff appearance.

Lions vs. Broncos

Lions takeaways: LaPorta Potty: This game was an offensive slaughter. Porta decided to become prime Travis Kelce and the offense decided to go full throttle on the Broncos. They have a lot to show in the Playoffs. But if they continue to stay this hot it will be a good thing for Detroit, when talking about crime rate.

Broncos takeaways: The Horse broke its leg: Yeah it was a stretch for the Broncos to be this good for so long. I had a little hope in them but at the end of the day I didn’t. Russ isn’t cooking and the team is not really that elite. Sorry Horsies.

Chiefs vs. Patriots (PC)

Chiefs Takeaway: Back on track- The Chiefs had found themselves in trouble of losing the AFC West for the first time in a long time. Kansas City needed a win and thank God the Patriots came to town. That didn’t affect Toney from his normal hiccup that cost the Chiefs an interception. However, the Chiefs were able to score thanks to Rashee Rice and a surprise effort from Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who demonstrated his athletic ability with a huge hurdle to set the Chiefs up. In the 2nd, the Chiefs defense took control of the game and settled it for an easy home win. The Chiefs welcome Las Vegas into town next week, who is coming off scoring 63 points on the Chargers. 

Patriots are eliminated from playoff contention

Bears vs. Browns (How6rd)

Bears: This game is textbook 101 of what bad coaching in football looks like- After what seemed like a huge boost of morale in the first three quarters taking care of business against the Bears everything went south in the final quarter of the game. Fields had another game where he balled on the field putting aside box score numbers and two picks he threw on hail marys, and if Robert Tonyan didn’t drop a jump pass on the run that would’ve gone for 40+ yards he arguably could’ve had a pass of the year candidate. The game was a battle of the defenses mostly as the Bears’ missed opportunities asked a lot from the Bears defensive unit and Chicago really held their own until the fourth quarter had started. From the fourth quarter the Browns started  sending out the blitz multiple times and offensive play caller Luke Getsky didn’t make any attempt at changing the play caller and once again put his QB in a terrible spot. The main issue with this team is 100% their head coach as it seemed as if Matt Eberflus found some sort of collection of this team in the past few weeks, but for the third time this season after the offense wasn’t changing he seemed to have no clue what other approach to take and blew yet another multiple possession fourth-quarter lead of the season and made a team that realistically could’ve won a couple more games since the Montez Sweat addition now basically out of the playoffs. They had a shot at winning in the end coming down to a hail mary that was as good as it could get bouncing in the hands of Darnell Mooney until he dropped the ball going down and put it in the hands of a Browns defender.

This will probably be the last time the Bears will be covered in this season so all I’ll say is a coaching overhaul is a must otherwise potentially replacing Fields with Caleb Williams/Drake Maye will amount to absolutely nothing.

Browns: Defense kept them alive, offense stepped up when needed- It’s as simple as the headline says as what was a slow start from the offense didn’t matter in the end. After an easier task last week facing a struggling Jaguars defense the Chicago Bears defensive unit was much more solid and made Joe Flacco’s life a living hell along with giving the run game nothing. Fortunately, the Browns have a unit themselves where even when Justin Fields and the rest of the team was having to fight to make any sort of strong drive outside of the interceptions that Flacco threw. In the third quarter it seemed as if the Bears offense found a way to create some separation from the Browns defense with Fields creating time for the receivers to make some room for themselves, but unlike the Bears the Browns adjusted to that on the next drive by blitzing the questionable offensive line constantly completely taking away from Fields and the run game to be able to do anything with the play calls they had. After that the offense rose to the call in the fourth quarter as opportunity knocked and Flacco, David Njoku, and Amari Cooper all popped off in the end and found little errors in the Bears defense that was enough to come back and complete a huge comeback win. They had a scare after the Bears threw a bomb all the way to the end zone which was nearly caught by Darnell Mooney before it wasn’t, but a win is a win and it was a good showing from a struggling unit prior to the finish. Although the AFC North title is nearly out of reach for them, Cleveland now sits a game ahead of all other teams not leading the division for the top Wild Card spot in the playoffs and has yet another huge game ahead against the Texans who currently are in a very tight race for both a playoff spot and the AFC South.

Bucs vs. Packers

Bucs takeaways: Baker time: Baker Mayfield has a goal this season. And that is to get this team to the playoffs. No one really had them being a contender for the NFC South except their fans and they are proving to everyone that they have a squad to go out and win the South. Baker posted a 153 rating this past Sunday (best through the week) and his defense held the Bucs for the majority of the game. They may not make a lot of noise if they get to the playoffs but it will be one heck of a Journey no one has talked about. 

Packers takeaways: Chiefs Hangover: After having one of the best wins of their season against the Chiefs it looks to me that the play on the field is hitting another level of mediocreness. The youth of this team is showing and the experience is causing fatigue. They’re in a must-win situation at this point.

Texans vs. Titans (PC)

Texans Takeaway: Survival without Stroud-The Texans have been in the hunt for a playoff spot for the first time since Watson left the team. CJ Stroud was out with a concussion, so it was up to Case Keenum to bring the Texans home. The Texans had to rely on the profound kicker in Ka’imi Fairbairn to hit a 54 yarder to win the game in overtime. The Texans now sit at 8-6 with a very good shot at making the playoffs. They definitely need CJ Stroud and Nico Collins back, but they’ve set themselves up to make the playoffs with only 3 games remaining.

Titans are eliminated from playoff contention

Jets vs. Dolphins(PC)

Dolphins Takeaway: Nice win, but it was against another under .500 team- It’s hard to give praise to a team that continues to beat bad teams. I mean yes, a win is a win. It also moves you up into the 3rd spot in the playoffs and still in contention for the #1 seed. However, every time McDaniels and company play any team that is good, they choke. They play KC. Choke. They play Philadelphia. Choke. The Buffalo Bills. Choke. Any team that is worth a shit beats them. What is going to happen in the playoffs? Are you going to continue to look like the best team until you play teams that are decent? Can you compete? We will see with the next three opponents to end the season the Cowboys, Ravens, and then Bills.

Jets are eliminated from playoff contention

Giants vs. Saints

Giants takeaways: Mafia depletion: Although a great performance from Joe Pesci last week was pretty special from the stay at home kid. The Giants are still the Giants. The Saints were the more physical and experienced team here and the Giants had no true plan of how to stop it. The direction they need to take will be a tough one but it will be interesting to say the least. 

Saints takeaways: Neck-n-neck with the Bucs: At this point, it really doesn’t matter a whole lot who wins the NFC South but it would be interesting to see who ends up actually making it in. Carr will have to play like this for the rest of the regular season for that to come true, and the Bucs will have to lose. Do I care, maybe. But a team like this will have to face the Eagles or Cowboys. So it won’t look good. 

Falcons vs. Panthers(PC)

Falcons Takeaway: You lost to the Panthers- This team might as well join the Panthers in the eliminated from playoff contention category because they’re awful. They never use Bijan anymore. They never throw the ball to Drake London or Kyle Pitts. It seems like the squad has given up on the year even though they can find themselves hosting a playoff game. Yes, Desmond Ridder is not the answer. Not even close. However, if you don’t use your best players, then who is going to buy into the system you are trying to build?

Panthers are eliminated from playoff contention

Commanders vs. Rams(PC)

Rams Takeaway: Wow beat the Commanders- The Rams give me NFC South vibes. A lot of talent with no direction. Matthew Stafford has been an average QB this year. Kyren Williams has been a top tier running back. Cooper Kupp is still that white boy and Puka Nacua has really blossomed before our eyes. The defense is ok. So the real question is, why aren’t they better? They have all the pieces to be great, but fold under the limelight. The Rams are still fighting for a playoff spot as they find themselves holding the last spot at 7-7. They have two winnable games the next 2 weeks in New Orleans and the New York Football Giants. However, their final game is against San Francisco. If the Rams want to make the playoffs, they need to make sure to win two out of those 3.

Commanders are eliminated from playoff contention

49ers vs. Cardinals (PC)

49ers Takeaway: Super Bowl favorites-Them boys from San Francisco continue to pile up on all these shitty teams they are playing. Christian McCaffery should be the MVP favorite. Brock Purdy has been awesome, but he’s a system QB. Do you remember how good Jimmy G was in that system? What about Trey Lance before his injury? Both QB’s had major success stories through Shanahan’s offensive schemes. Christian McCaffery has been ballin out against every single opponent he’s faced. Deebo Samuel and Brandon Ayiuk continue to give Purdy open slants and routes for him to deliver a stripe to them. Both players make plays in the open field and absolutely dominated the Cardinals defense. Without that 3 game slide the 49ers suffered, they wouldn’t have a fault in their schedule. They are everyone’s favorite to win the Super Bowl and who can blame them?

Cardinals are eliminated from playoff contention

Cowboys vs. Bills (How6rd)

Cowboys: Everything went right last week, everything went wrong this one- After a week where the offense flexed on their division rivals and played a solid game on the defensive side as well, it looked as if the records were flipped between the Bills and Cowboys this week. It’s tough to beat the Bills in Buffalo no matter who you are, but in this one it seemed that it was just simply Dallas’ game plan and physicality was nowhere near what the Bills brought to the table. The defense is the biggest worry for me going forward about this team as Buffalo tested the Cowboys run defense almost all game and they simply were not prepared for a push and shove contest which the home team ran with near perfection and the ‘Boys defensive line couldn’t outmatch the Buffalo offensive line in the end. Dak also had an abysmal performance along with the rest of the offense that was bad enough to take him out of any MVP conversation at least for the moment. A huge response is needed after getting punched in the mouth if they want to be proven contenders, and they have a shot against a team that faces many questions themselves in the Dolphins.

Bills: It’s all about the trenches- After what we have seen in the past few years in differences between great and poor offensive/defensive lines the Bills showed on Sunday exactly why the battle in what is known as the “trenches'' up front is the most important match up almost every single NFL game. The run game was what was fully focused on in this one for the Buffalo offense and short passes which was a test of strengths in big men between the two teams with blocking and shedding tackles, which Buffalo’s offensive line won in the end. The defense overall was suffocating as they were taking an aggressive approach all game shutting down Dallas on the run game and Dak either had no time in the pocket or nowhere to throw. Josh Allen himself didn’t have the greatest game on paper, but truth is he didn’t need to for what the Bills had in mind and James Cook did exactly what the offense asked of him to do. These last two weeks this team has taken a completely different approach to the game, looking more physical than ever and taking care of business. The next two weeks they have a really good chance to steal this division from Miami, also big shout out to Joe Brady who has done an excellent job taking over as offensive play caller.

Ravens vs. Jags (How6rd)

Ravens: The “Purple Pain” era has returned- After multiple years of blown leads and defense folding under bright lights since Lamar Jackson has been a Raven, this team has by far the best we’ve seen in Baltimore since Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs, and Ed Reed were all a part of it. Kyle Hamilton had yet another strong performance while hurt leading the team with seven tackles (which included one for loss and a blown up screen pass), Justin Madubuike had the lone sack of the game that ended in a strip-sack that was basically the turn-point of this game, and the cornerback play in this one from multiple players was impressive as well completely locking up Calvin Ridley who had a game high 12 targets with only five catches. Along with strong performances if we’re going to let the tape do the talking and give any QB the MVP trophy it 100% should go to Lamar as it stands right now, as the box score doesn’t look great yet he escaped MULTIPLE situations where he could’ve been sacked and made some insanely tight-window throws on the run when it seemed as if nothing was there along with having the most rushing yards individually with 97 yards on 12 carries. Aside from the insane pass Jackson had placing a ball perfectly between two defenders to Isiah Likely in the third quarter, this game was completely taken over after the run game started clicking in the second half as before the second half started they had less than 50 rushing yards and they ended the game with a total of 251 rushing yards. A completely dominant performance on both sides of the ball and a case that when this defense is at it’s best there is little to nobody that can outscore Lamar and company when the 2.0 version of the “Purple Pain” is most physical.

Jaguars: Outplayed and outcoached- It’s really as simple as that…they had multiple chances to get into the game and take over if they had solid drives and at least capitalized on field goal kicks but none of that came to reality. Lawrence truthfully didn’t have an awful performance for how little space his receivers created on the night in terms of his passing, unfortunately, it was the mental mistake at the end of the first half to throw short of the end zone letting time run out with no points inside the red zone and his two fumbles that completely put this game out of reach. We’ve known Doug Pederson to be a very “high-risk high-reward” type of coach since he won a Super Bowl with the Eagles, but sometimes his bold decision-making hurts the team especially when it just isn’t clicking as it should and that’s exactly what happened in this one with the long field goal attempts on a windy night and having Lawrence make some risky decisions that he couldn’t make against a stout Baltimore defense. The mistakes in the first half gave time for the Ravens to really wake up toward the end of the game and just take over the fourth quarter. Jacksonville now has given up the solid division lead in the AFC South which has now become a three-way race for the crown, and although Jacksonville owns tiebreakers over Colts and Texans it’s still an evenly matched race going to the finish of the season.

Eagles vs. Seahawks

Eagles takeaways: Mistake after mistake: That's how these past 3 games have gone for the Eagles. They’re not focused, not ready to play, and lazy. And they let a kid with a lot of want to beat them. This one is on them. They beat themselves. I don’t see a lot of hope for this team unless they flip a switch by next week. 

Seahawks takeaways: Drew Lock: A kid who was shut out by media and fans, decided to come into this game with one goal. Win. And that is exactly what he did. He didn’t play the best. But he didn’t need to until the last drive. A masterful performance by the Seahawks now lands them in a 4-way tie for the last two Wildcard spots. Luck is what they need and hopefully, they can get it.