NFL Week 12: What Have We Learned?!!

[Rob's al Ghul]

Feel like I’ve been saying this every year lately: this is one of the strangest, wildest NFL seasons I can remember. Forgot to do my Coli pick ‘em this week, but it wouldn’t have mattered ‘cause I’d have barely hit on a quarter of them.

Cowboys still playing for McCarthy, which makes me even more confident he’ll be back. That Thursday game will be somewhat interesting since DAL can’t win at home and the NYG can’t win anywhere.

Speaking of the NYG – they must be feeling a lot like how the Angels felt this past season.

KC had the NFL version of a prime-era Warriors game in January vs. [insert terrible EC team here]. Messed around and almost found out.

Still not writing off the 49ers, but their margin for error is all but gone now. Probably have to win the division to get in (which is definitely doable).

Ravens better win tonight, especially with the Steelers losing. 3 of their next 4 after this are PHI, PIT, and HOU (who IMO’s a lot better than what they showed yesterday). If they’re gonna make a run, it’s got to start now. But it won't be easy since this is a revenge game for basically half of the Chargers.

 

[manyfaces]

The lions might be the hottest team but they haven’t really beaten many good teams.

3 point win vs Texans
2 point win vs Vikings
Cumfy win vs Packers

Are like their “big team” wins, though, all three were away wins.


But what I wonder is if they’ll be shocked when they play one of the best teams cause they are so used to just flying past mediocre teams.

I don't quite understand this. There are only a handful of good teams in the whole league. The Lions have played just as many of them as any other team, and they actually won, and on the road at that. And those wins were all after losing Hutchinson. There isn't any good team that just has a list of good teams they've run through. And the Lions still have home games against the Vikings, Packers, and Bills. Why would the Lions be any less prepared to face one of the best teams than any other "best" playoff team?

 

[Harry B]

I don't quite understand this. There are only a handful of good teams in the whole league. The Lions have played just as many of them as any other team, and they actually won, and on the road at that. And those wins were all after losing Hutchinson. There isn't any good team that just has a list of good teams they've run through. And the Lions still have home games against the Vikings, Packers, and Bills. Why would the Lions be any less prepared to face one of the best teams than any other "best" playoff team?

The thing is that those teams don't have a particularly high ceiling, they just get by.

I wanna see them vs Bills, Chiefs, Ravens and the Eagles, teams with a high ceiling. And who odds-wise are together with the Lions on a completely different level than the 2nd tier in Houston, Vikings, Steelers etc.

It has happened before that people with easy wins have big problems when they aren't prepared for adversity. When they haven't played against a team with a crazy running game all season, when they haven't played against a defense that easily keeps most teams under 20 etc.

I'm not saying that this is the case, but it my only worry regarding their title chances. It's not science.

 

[Born2BKing]

Jayden Daniel’s hit the rookie wall
Chiefs don’t look scary for 11-1
Seahawks defense lookin like the LOB
49ers are officially done
Geno makes a legendary bone headed play every game

Wait til the playoffs. Remember the Chiefs looked worse in the regular season last year and we see what happened.

 

[Bboystyle]

The NFL almost completely whiffed on the Thanksgiving slate of games. There's no real playoff implications in any of them.

Packers vs Miami. Miami one game out of the wild card race

 

[Rekkapryde]

Choose Daniel Jones over Saquon brehs

 

[Bboystyle]

The thing is that those teams don't have a particularly high ceiling, they just get by.

I wanna see them vs Bills, Chiefs, Ravens and the Eagles, teams with a high ceiling. And who odds-wise are together with the Lions on a completely different level than the 2nd tier in Houston, Vikings, Steelers etc.

It has happened before that people with easy wins have big problems when they aren't prepared for adversity. When they haven't played against a team with a crazy running game all season, when they haven't played against a defense that easily keeps most teams under 20 etc.

I'm not saying that this is the case, but it my only worry regarding their title chances. It's not science.

Packers the youngest team in the league. Thier ceiling higher than anyones.

 

[Harry B]

Packers the youngest team in the league. Thier ceiling higher than anyones.

Ceiling as in how well can they play next week, or next month, not the coming 5 years.

 

[Born2BKing]

Packers the youngest team in the league. Thier ceiling higher than anyones.

Packers and the Vikings show what good coaching can do for a team.

 

[BucciMane]

Not much surprises me nowadays, but I'm quite surprised how many Patriots fans have been calling for Mayo to be fired for more than a month now. Yes, the team has committed far too many penalties, specifically offensive penalties, and he has made some comments that you should probably keep to yourself, but what did people expect? The team is young and void of elite talent in most places. Obviously it was BeliGOAT in New England for about twenty years, but I don't remember a coach that people were calling to be fired THIS quickly into their tenure with the type of roster the Patriots have.

 

[Leasy]

Barring any injuries Eagles clearly representing NFC in the Super Bowl. They just have too many weapons and the defense is legit top in the league.

There is a rookie DB shutting down elite WRs and there is no discussions about it.

Cowboys showed some heart that’s what up

Commanders are who we thought they were. The media put too much pressure on these rookies and young teams

NFC North is scary as fukk if you are an NFC north team. The division can easily be won by 3 separate teams.

Lions are beating on bad teams. I don’t think they are fareal especially with that QB.

It will be harder for the refs and league to cheat for Chiefs this year in the playoffs.

Bears would have more wins if Fields was QB

 

[manyfaces]

The thing is that those teams don't have a particularly high ceiling, they just get by.

I wanna see them vs Bills, Chiefs, Ravens and the Eagles, teams with a high ceiling. And who odds-wise are together with the Lions on a completely different level than the 2nd tier in Houston, Vikings, Steelers etc.

It has happened before that people with easy wins have big problems when they aren't prepared for adversity. When they haven't played against a team with a crazy running game all season, when they haven't played against a defense that easily keeps most teams under 20 etc.

I'm not saying that this is the case, but it my only worry regarding their title chances. It's not science.

Ok. I guess in your eyes their first test will be the Bills in a few weeks. For me I've already seen enough from this team to know their championship caliber whether they beat the Bills or not. They're battle tested, built to win in several different ways, and well coached and disciplined. I just wanna see them get healthier down the stretch. Their depth had really been tested yet they keep showing up. But at some point they may reach their limit with the injuries and still being productive.

 

[Bboystyle]

Ceiling as in how well can they play next week, or next month, not the coming 5 years.

Packers have yet to play a complete game. So im not talking next 5 years. All their losses have been within 10 points or less. They can beat anyone when they are on point

 

[Born2BKing]

Not much surprises me nowadays, but I'm quite surprised how many Patriots fans have been calling for Mayo to be fired for more than a month now. Yes, the team has committed far too many penalties, specifically offensive penalties, and he has made some comments that you should probably keep to yourself, but what did people expect? The team is young and void of elite talent in most places. Obviously it was BeliGOAT in New England for about twenty years, but I don't remember a coach that people were calling to be fired THIS quickly into their tenure with the type of roster the Patriots have.

He should be fired for being swagless if nothing else.

 

[Remote]

With Tua, the Miami Dolphins are 1st in the league in EPA (expected points added)

It's a surprise because they don't LOOK quite as explosive as they did in the past 2 years.
That said, they're getting solid offensive production from all over the place. I'm sure few people expected Jonnu Smith to be impactful.

Would they be a top team if Tua wasn't out with that concussion? I'd say they'd be better. I'm not comfortable making a stronger prediction.
That said, at 5-6 they're in the hunt for a playoff spot.

Their remaining games are:

@ Green Bay
vs New York Jets
@ Houston
vs San Francisco
@ Cleveland
@ New York Jets

Green Bay at home is a challenge. But Houston and San Francisco look less impressive with all the injuries they've suffered.
At some point if you're for real, you have to win some statement games. This is Mike McDaniel's opportunity to do that.