The fourteenth week of the regular season eliminated teams from playoff contention and solidified division leaders. The postseason is a month away and most teams are getting ready for a higher playoff seed or the offseason. Time to break down who’s closer to wild-card weekend and who’s ready for a top five position in the draft.
Winners: David Njoku
The main story out of Cleveland after a crucial home win against Jacksonville will be the re-emergence of 38 year old quarterback Joe Flacco. A story more people should follow is tight end David Njoku being Flacco’s go-to receiver and a reason the Browns had an early double-digit lead. They never trailed Sunday afternoon.
The former first round pick had all six catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns in one half. Commentator Charles Davis said during a ten play Cleveland drive in the fourth quarter that, “the Browns offense looks different without Njoku being involved in this half” after Jacksonville narrowed down the lead.
The 38 year old Flacco has been named the starting quarterback the remainder of the season. Expect David Njoku to be the top receiving threat every game regardless of opponent.
Chicago Bears offense
Chicago’s offense has been one of the league’s better stories since the Thursday night win in Washington D.C. Quarterback Justin Fields proves every week why he should remain the face of the franchise. Even when the NFC North-leading Lions led at halftime, the Bears looked the better and more confident team.
Fields completed 19 of 33 passes for 223 yards and one touchdown for an 88.3 quarterback rating. His 12 rushes for 58 yards and another score kept Detroit’s defense off balance. The sophomore quarterback continues building chemistry with the receiving trio of D.J. Moore, Cole Kmet and Darnell Mooney, even if it’s taken longer than many expected. Now there’s solid running depth contributing rather than Justin Fields doing everything.
Credit goes to offensive coordinator Luke Getsy for having the right plan in place for gradual, regular season improvements even after wins. Getsy gets blasted in the media for strange play-calling and decisions, but Chicago is still a top three rushing team in the league and a better passing team the last two months. The Bears also end 2023 with an easier schedule. Optimism will grow heading into next season.
Zach Wilson
The former 2021 number two overall pick was re-named the starting Jets quarterback after horrid performances from Tim Boyle and Trevor Siemian. He could either make the most of the opportunity or play with no confidence. He did the former and had a career day against a Texans team 90% of the country thought would win.
Wilson left no doubt who the better quarterback and former second overall pick was in a lopsided home win against Houston. His touchdown throw to Randall Cobb gave the Jets their first lead of the game. His second to Breece Hall cemented a double-digit win.
The win builds confidence heading into the last month of the regular season. Wilson led New York to 30 points against the 12th best scoring defense led by coach of the year candidate DeMeco Ryans. If Wilson can have a few more consistent performances, there’s a chance he stays on the roster and continues learning from Aaron Rodgers when the former MVP returns.
Dallas Cowboys
Many analysts criticized Dallas for not playing their best against teams with winning records. After a thrilling Thursday night win against Seattle almost two weeks ago, the Cowboys put a beatdown on Philadelphia Sunday night.
Dallas wasted no time grabbing the early lead on their first offensive possession. Quarterback Dak Prescott was 14 of 23 for 157 yards with two passing touchdowns in the first half. The Cowboys won by 20 and held the Jalen Hurts-led offense to six points.
It’s been a polar trajectory since the Eagles beat Dallas in week nine. While Philadelphia is having issues with turnovers, health and replicating last year’s success, the Cowboys are peaking. Their undefeated record the last five games, points per game (40) and third down percentage (53%) are at least tied for first in the NFL while they’re second in yards per game with 437. Dallas now has a better record than Detroit, and Philadelphia may not win their last four games to keep the division lead. Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn has one of the best units in stopping opponents, forcing turnovers and pressuring quarterbacks. Unless injuries pile up, the Cowboys are the NFC’s most dangerous team outside Santa Clara.
Losers: Arthur Smith
Atlanta’s head coach Arthur Smith was hired to re-build an offense that needed new direction and fresh faces after franchise icon Matt Ryan was traded. While the Falcons are just one game under .500, Smith’s 24th ranked offense includes super-stars at runningback, tight-end and wide receiver.
The former offensive coordinator is stubbornly out-thinking himself in how to use the bastion of talent acquired in previous off-seasons. The versatile Cordarelle Patterson is averaging lows at receiving and rushing that was last seen in 2015 during his mismanagement in Minnesota. Former 2021 fifth overall pick Kyle Pitts has five touchdowns in not even three seasons. Smith believes a top receiving threat such as Pitts should be blocking for sophomore fifth round pick Tyler Allgeier. Normally, Allgeier would be a great addition for any team, but because Atlanta drafted runningback Bijan Robinson with the eighth pick in this year’s draft, that decision is slowing down an offense that scored at least 24 points the first two games of the season. Robinson averages five yards a carry and was a reason the Falcons were undefeated after week two. These talented players Smith doesn’t use often have given Atlanta enough scoring opportunities to stay in the NFC South race for months.
The Falcons’ schedule has been one of the easiest on paper. Yet coach Arthur Smith makes game-planning difficult. Since the amount of first round talent and play-makers aren’t seeing the field as much as they should, Atlanta’s upper management should make a coaching change after the regular season.
Doug Pederson
Speaking of bad coaching, Doug Pederson turned some heads when he decided the injured face of the franchise Trevor Lawrence should start in Cleveland against the NFL’s best defense. That went as many expected.
While the Browns defense didn’t injure Lawrence any worse, the Jaguars weren’t going to win with him. Lawrence threw a few touchdowns to Evan Engram, narrowing Cleveland’s lead late. It didn’t matter as the Browns sealed the win midway through the fourth quarter.
Pederson has to be careful with the health of star franchise players. It mirrors similar, poor decisions made in Philadelphia that led to his exit. Many will know next Sunday night in Jacksonville’s showdown against Baltimore if he makes similar choices.
Kansas City Chiefs
While there are fiery news headlines from the Buffalo-Kansas City game, the Chiefs offense was anything but dominant. What many expected to be a one-sided Kansas City win was filled with penalties, offensive blunders and the Chiefs sideline holding back their offensive captain from starting a fight with referees.
Many will blame the officials for calling one offsides penalty on Kansas City’s Kadarius Toney, negating a lead-changing touchdown but missing another two plays later on Buffalo’s Von Miller. That’s an easy excuse when in reality, everyone who’s watched the Chiefs offense has heard a broadcasting crew almost every week openly diss them with the view that whoever scores 20 points first will win. The latest duo to talk about this was CBS’ top pair Jim Nantz and Tony Romo when Kansas City tried taking the lead their last offensive possession.
The play-calling from offensive coordinator Matt Nagy gets worse every week (where have we heard this before?). The number of offsides, holding and false start penalties negates any offensive rhythm. According to ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, yesterday’s offensive offsides penalty from Kadarius Toney was the first called against an Andy Reid-led team since he became a head coach. Reid has called over 25,100 plays over two decades. The two time Super Bowl winning coach has also cost the team by giving serious playing time to poor receivers such as Toney and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. It’s no wonder quarterback Patrick Mahomes II lost his cool and went after the officials even after the game ended.
D.K. Metcalf
Metcalf is one of the most talented receivers in the league. His desire to win and dominate opposing secondaries is a desired quality any team covets. Unfortunately these traits are doing more harm than good during Seattle’s four game losing streak.
It was no surprise D.K. Metcalf again got in serious trouble with the officials late in Sunday’s loss in Santa Clara. Fred Warner’s interception of Seahawks quarterback Drew Lock resulted in him having to shove Metcalf to gain more yardage. The receiver felt victimized and after both talked trash to each other, 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir decided to join in. Metcalf yanked Lenoir by the facemask and shoved him back. The receiver found another way to lose his cool after being a non-factor in a mostly competitive game.
Cornerback Charvarius Ward, who shut down D.K. Metcalf in the first meeting in Seattle, left in the first half Sunday with a groin injury. Yet Metcalf had just two catches for 52 yards and a touchdown before he was ejected.
Many cornerbacks, and now coaches have realized Seattle’s most talented offensive player will lash out and commit stupid penalties, turn physically aggressive, assault nearby defenders, or argue with teammates and coaches when he’s not the focal point of offensive gameplans or one possession games. There had been a balance on how to ease Metcalf back into a better gameplan after those losses. Now there’s a disruption on how to appease the most emotional offensive player even after a win. The coaches and organization have to figure out how to stop this from happening at least twice a month.
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