NFL Playoff Picture
Playoff Primer
Ugh, Could Sunday Have been Any More "Football?"
It's That Point Of The Season. Reality And Disappointment. The Dynamic Duo Are Impending On The Season set.
"It's heartbreaking."
That's The Aura Settling In Over The Dawn Of Winter.
The Gaze Of Reality Comes in Shifting And Prowling The Playoff Landscape; Peering for the Horizon. Now Their Predatory Limbs Have uncoiled, And They Are Forcing Down On The Bears And Raiders. Fans Can only watch As The "Inevitable" Has Its Way. This Realit Should Come As No Surprise Those In Midwest. Justin Fields Finished Another Promising Outing, coming off On Injury No Less. His First NFL Start, 11-17, 211 Yards Against The Lions. One Of A Few Bright Spots In What Would Turn Out To Be A Grim Season. He Slumped In weeks That followed His Rookie Season Nearly Ended Due To Rib Injury; that took Fields Out Of His Latest Diary Of Dour; 4-11, 79 yards Against Baltimore.
His Matchup With Arch-Rival Green Bay. It's suddenly Reputable Defense 224 Yards. The Packers defense Had Been generating A lot Of Pressure And Acclaim These Past few Weeks. But The Vikings exposed Them Only A few Weeks Earlier, And The Bears Hung Around Longer Than Most expected. When The Hype Fades; "Reality Is Often Disappointing."
For Jets And Giants Fans Its Simply Just Another Seasonal dosage; A booster Shot, Should I Say. Fans Of The AFC South That Still Have Nails Left, Or Just Nubs Have Found Solace. It Saves Them From Pulling Their Hair Out In Dread Of What Uncertainty Could Lie Behind week Number 15. Except For Texans Fans, David Miles Had A Respectable Game. Then It's Back To Reality. The Titans Are Imploding, But The Colts Have Drugged To Deep A Hole And with A Tough Stretch To Come, they Could Falter Out of The Playoffs Entirely. The Colts Picked Up The Pace A bit after Surrounding A Few Big Leads late, And So with That, The Pass May Not Be Their Reality. Had You Thought The AFC North And Buck The Trend, Then Look Now The Browns Are Back In The Mix. But Covid, Least Likeliest Of Foes Could Now Derail All Of That.
If the NFL Were An Action Movie, This Would Be The Point When The De Facto Leader Of The Ensemble Huddles The Bands the To Remind everyone What's At Stake. There Will be More Battles to This war, But Every Battle "in the end they all count the same," Brady said after The Bucs Gutted A Late Over Time Win Out Over The Bills, To Move Closer To A Top Seed.
"It's Been A Long Fight, And I Just Had To Have A Warriors Spirit." Save Your Tears For The Confetti fest. The Crew Embarks. These final Four Weeks could Be the Swan Song Mission. Many Won't Return To This Place In Their Career Again, Giving It There All, Paramount.
"We did a three-and-out in overtime, and when you give No. 12 on the other side that opportunity, you know, he has a chance to win the game at any time," Bills center Mitch Morse said.
Few second Chances Are Giving This Deep Into The Season.
Here We Are, the Pre-Post Season. First Down Celebrations Are Controversial. Leaving In Walking Boats Are Mandatory. No Matter, "The NFL Is Easy."
We When The Field Grows Cold. The Play Gets Muddied. The Play Calling Shift From Predictable To Banal. So Many Weeks Of Highlights That fade, With Phantom Like Whim. The Games This Weekend Had That Impact. The Down Marker Counted More And More For Quarter One to Quarter Four. For Some Divisions More Than The Others Any More Pertinent?
I Watched An couldn't Help but Move With The Momentum Of each throw. But The Inspiration To Write Never Materialized, There, Only, The Awe for The Game. As I Moved on To The Highlights That Tickle, That Sensation, That Spidey-sense. A Writer Gets Wells Up.
"You Know You Want to." The Voice Cajoles.
A lot Of The Parity, Across The W-L Loss Columns This Deep Into the Season. It's Four Weeks To The End, No AFC For Week 14 Of The NFL, The Difference Has Begun To Show.
Tom Brady And The Bucs Proved In The Margins And In The Extended Play Against the Bills Another Of The NFL's Elite Passing Offenses, Gnawing At Their Hem, That even The Elite Are Just Another Passing Offense. Brady Recorded His 700th Career touchdown Pass. That Josh Allen started Slow A bills Found Themselves Down three Score. But He And The Bills Found A working Scheme And Rounded Into Form Spectacularly. Allen Finished The Over Time Lost With 308 Yards Passing And 105 Yards Rushing; the fourth player in league history to throw for over 300 yards and rush for 100-plus in the same game.
A Tom Brady Lead Team Surrender A Three Score Lead In The Second Half. Cause For Concern. If The Bills Had gone On To Win, The Lost Would Have More Than Shot The Bucs Backwards. It Would Have Been A Blow Through Time. Three Scores Would Have Been The Most Significant Time A Tom Brady Lead Team Relinquished A Lead That Wide Since Perhaps "Manning's Revenge."
A Breshad Perriman's 58-yard catch For The Final Possession in OT--the 700th TD pass of Brady's career, including playoffs—Insured That Never Happened. Perriman's Stepping Into The Fifth Receiving Option In The Stead, Inspired Some Relief. Gronk And Evans, Who Also Had Another Incredible Touchdown Catch, Are Sure Garner Most Of The Defenses Attention. Several Tampa's Lesser options Are Going To Have Opportunities Handed To Them. Perriman, A former First-round Pick, Could See His Targets Escalate In The Coming Weeks As the Team Further Evaluated his Ability With Antonio Brown's Status In Question. The Team Offense Would Still Be Better with Brown, But Until He Returns, The Perriman's And Others Have The opportunity To define Their Seasons. Game winning Plays Against The League’s Number 1 Defense After Momentum Had Gone Stagnant. That Bucs Were Held To Just 3 Points In The Second Half. This Bill’s team Forces The AFC's Top Team, Patriot, To Defer From Passing from Passing Only A Way Ago.
Justin Herbert Dazzled Against The Giants Sunday. The Oregon Product Continues To Make Strides For One Of The league's Most Dynamic Offenses. Praised For His Rapport With Veteran Wideout Keenan Allen, Who Own's 105 Of Herbert's 504 Passing Attempts. Of Those, Allen Has 89 Catches and 989 Yards on The Season. Allen Osmium Heavy Gravity Over The Middle Has Been A Cradle For Herbert Orbital Rockets And The Reason The Charger's Offense Has A Galactic Scope On Take Off.
The Passing Offense Climbed To Top Ten In Recent Weeks.
With Allen Out This Sunday Against the Giants. Herbert Proved That He could Look Elsewhere. Rookie, wide Recover Joshua Palmer Out Of Tennessee, Made His Presence Known In Amongst A Group Of Peerless Skill Position Players In The League The Chargers Have Collected. On A Play Action roll Out In The Second Quarter Palmer Beating Deep Safety Coverage Down Field to Become The recipient Of A Marvel of Throw And Completion For 37 yards. Palmer Emergence Introduces Another Multifaceted Element for A Chargers Offense That Could Push Any AFC team In The Playoff. But The Pinnacle Of A Near Around Exceptional Performances By A Chargers Team Still Targeting The AFC west Leading Chiefs came Right Before the end Of The Half. Enigmatic As They Are, Chargers, The Chargers Throw Deep With Few Exceptions In The League That Are better Or Comparable. "' There Are NFL throws, And There Are Throws Like The One Herbert Made.". A 59 Yard Blast To Wide Receiver Jaylen Guyton. Herbert Darted Out Of The The Pocket On A Designed Roll Out To The Right. Reestablish His Platform Before The Pressure Barreling Down On The Chargers Rifle Man, could Settle Down. Thread Two Safeties For What Should Be The Catch, Throw, Play Of The Year. If Herbert's Career Does Not End In Canton, His Arm And Those Throws Just might.
With The 37-21 win Over The Giants, Herbert Has Found Himself Back In The MVP Discussion. Herbert's "Split" Down the Field, Closed in The Gap Between The Chargers And The AFC Upper Echelon.
“Herbo Rockets” Herbert’s Poise And Flair.
Though Enigmatic At Times, The 23-Year-Old Has Honed In His Young Career His Aggressiveness and Accuracy.
The Talk Of Herbert, Given Some Time And More Play calling Advantages Play Calling , Could Eventually "Put It All Together.", Could Be Overstated. I Disagree Some With that Assessment.
There are times When Herbert Looks Bewildered. Such As That Crucial Week Six Lost To The Ravens. But When He's More Aggressive, the Results For Herbert Have Been Far Greater And Exemplify The More Promising Version of The Quarterback. The Games When His Yard Per Attempt Hovers Below 6.0: Against the Vikings And The Ravens as mentioned above. But Herbert Seems To Me The Style Of Quarterback Would Always Live On The Border Of The spectacular for More Than The consistent, And That May Not Be The worse Thing.
The Pre-Playoff Picture.
A Few Leagues Over, Major League Baseball Has Entered into A Lockout Period. The NFL Circumvented This Decade's Stoppage By Securing An Extension With The Players Union A few years Back. When League's Locks out, Money Is The Primary Issue, The Other Vexation For The League Ad. Its Representatives Happens To Be "parity." The Evening Of Competitive balance. This is why The Money The League Makes Is divided Evenly Between Owners And Players. That way, No One Filthy Rich Owner Could Exercise His Deeper Pockets Over Another Lesser Filthy Rich Owner. Here It Is Decade In Design the 2022 Playoff Picture. Added To It The Thrown Monkey Wrench of 17 game Season. The Form Of The Playoffs.
The "Muddied Middle." The Glut Of Mediocre Teams That Are stuffed And Nesting Between 7-6 And 5-7. They were vying For One Or Two Playoff Spots.
Through 14, No Team On Either Ends Of The Conference Spectrum Has Clinched A Playoff Spot. At Least Not Outright. Three NFC Have a greater Than 99% Chance To Get In, And The Top 5 Spots Are Locked In A a Point. The fifth Spot Will Belong To which Ever Team Finishes Second In The NFC West. How These final Four Weeks Play Out Will Be Crucial.
As Its Stands;
1) GB (10-3),
2)TB (10-3),
3) ARZ (10-3),
4) DAL (9-4),
5) LAR(9-4),
6) SF(7-6),
7) WAS(6-7).
With The Vikings, Eagles, Falcons, Saints, And Seahawks Still Alive.
Green Bay Would Get The Coveted Bye Week, Though The Bucs Still Have A Greater Mathematical Chance winning The Bye Over Aaron Rodgers And Co. 42% for The Buc To Green Bays 39% According To Pro football Focus. The Bucs will Rematch The Washington Football Team, Again. By January, Another Could be In That Spot. It is Still Wide Open Down Below. The Cards Get NFC West Rival 49ers. The NFC East Winner, Dallas Cowboys, Would Earned Host The Right To Host Rams. Who Beat the Cards Monday But The Tie Breaker Still favor The Cards Whom They Split the Season Series.
Of All The NFC Hopefuls, The Cards Need the Bye Now More than ever With Star Wideout Deandre Hopkin's Status Quoted as "Hopeful" for the Playoff. The Added Week To Round Nuk Back Into the Lineup. He's Slated TO Miss 6 Weeks, Possibly. Firepower could Be The Difference between an Early Round Let Down And A Deep Run. Kyler Murray And The Air raid Handled The Niners Twice This Season. One Of those Games featured Rookie Quarterback Trey Lance As The Starter, who finished With A rating of 58.4. Now These Niners Have Hit Their Stride Offensively. They Have to Settle In with Jimmy G As The Star; The Now 4th ranked Offense, Has won 3 Of 4 Since That week, Nine Lost to Cards. The Cardinals Haven't been The Same Either. Injuries Have all But Suck The Life Out Of The Momentum In Arizona. The Cards, who Had One Of the Ranked Offenses In The NFL Now Rank Is Straddled At 13th And ,With Wideout One unavailable Could Be Headed In The Wrong Direction Come January. The Rams vs. Cowboys Matchup Could Be The One Above all Else To watch. Two Even Matched Team Hitting Stride at The Right Point In The Season. Were Speaking Of Two Ten Teams, the only Matchup of The Like In The NFC Picture(Depending On Whose Ranking You Follow) And Two Top Flight offenses. Finally, The Bucs And Washington. If There is A Spot Open In The NFC It's, the 7th Spot. The Washington Football Team Play The Eagles This Weekend With, Both Team Tied 6-7, Are Also In Striking Distance. Should Washington Bail Out. Taylor Heinicke's Projection Haven't Surfaced And Even With Him Washington Had Slim Chances. Why Bother? A Team Such As the Vikings Have More To Earn With That Lower Seeded Playoff Spot. Mike Zimmer's Exist As A Superposition, Between a "Tear Down" And "Run It Back" Situation. I'm Not Championing The Vikings Because Of My Tenuous Love Affair With The Team. Not As Though I Was Not High On The Washington Football To Start The Seas
n. I believe The Vikes Or Eagles Have More To Offer Competitively. ,Yes The WFT Beat The Bucs Already. Which Would Be A Knock On The Bucs Off The Pedestal Had The Bucs Not won four straight on the heels on a two-game skid. Washington Push The Cowboys To The Brink Of A Major Collapse. On Down Day For Dak, A One Score difference, The A Product Of A Stellar Defense That Always Thrusted The Load OF The Team’s Expectations. The Offense Produced A Paltry 134 yards, 100 Of Which, On The Ground, Between 5 Players. Ten of the Vikings Eleven Games Have Come To One Score. The Eagles Have Curb Their Enthusiasm. They’ve turned Their season around after a 2-5. Jalen Hurts Status Going Forward Is Uncertain Due To Injury, But if The Eagles Enter The Playoffs, He'll Be The Quarter.
"He's played excellent football when he's in, so when healthy and he's back, he'll be our starter," Sirianni said
In Any case, The Bucs Maybe Best Suited To Remain Pat At 2 Seed. Sure It means They'll Have To Travel To Lambeau If The Seeding Plays Out As Structured For The NFC Title. But Beating Rodgers And green Bay Up North On Their Way To A Superbowl Happens To Be A Brady thing To do. I Say This, of course, Because the Bucs Would Have The Easier Course At Two. A Matchup Against The Seventh Seed Could Be Nothing More Than A formality. If The Cards Or Cowboys Or Just The Cards Win Out. The Bucs Would Avoid The Rams, Who Haven't Been A Favorable Matchup For Them In The Past. They'll Take On A Cardinals Defense That's Prone To Giving up Big Plays Down Field. The Packers Would Get either The Rams Or the Cowboys, both of Whom could Give Green Bay trouble.
Suppose The NFC Playoff Picture Looks Cramped on Both ends. The Board Game Scrapple best Defines The AFC Playoff Picture. The Forth Seeded Ravens Coming Off A Lost To Division foe Browns Can Finish As High As The One Seed Or Out Of The Playoffs Entirely in The Coming Weeks. At The Top, It Starts with New England, Then The Resurgent Chiefs. No Team In The AFC Has Yet To Win 10 Games On The Year. Last Year The 10-6 Dolphins were Left Out Of The Mix. At 5-7, One Of The Hottest Teams, Not Named New England, Miami, Can Still Happen Upon A Playoff Spot.
1)NE (9-4). 2) KC (9-4). 3) TEN (9-4). 4)BAL (8-5). 5) LAC (8-5). 6) IND (7-6). 7) BUF (7-6).
The AFC Hunters Are Deeper Than A Blue Hole. For The Sake Of time And Reality, Its Comes Down To The Browns, Bengals, And Broncos Battling The Colts And Bills For The Latter Two Spots.
The Patriots Shifted from Losers of three of their first four games — and four of their first six To Superbowl Favorites, In The Midnight Hour; The Quietest Of Season Moments. Even Grander, This Rookie "Lead" Team Could Be Another Extension of The Dynasty Most Assume Had vanished After Last Season. The Patriots Have Won 7 Straight. Treading Mostly On AFC Playoff Picture In The Process; The Bills Recently And The Titans The Week Before.
In The AFC A Bye Week Or Matchups Don't Matter Much. Of A Season Only Defined As An “Aberration”. The AFC Best Exemplify The Mediocrity That’s Plagued the League. Across the Board Exist Enough Parity Through All Segments Of The AFC Picture That Who Plays Who And When And Where Aren't Consequential. The Chiefs Are Winning, And The Defense Has Been Vastly the Greatest Reagent Of That, But They're Not A Dominant, And Notches Above The Competition As In Years Past. The Prospect Of A Hot Colts Team Winning Over Kansas City Would BE Unrealistic At Beast. Another Element Of The AFC Picture; Whose Surging And whose Slumping. The Chiefs, Colts, And The Patriots Were All Off To Inauspicious Starts To The Season. A Combine 7-11 Through Six Weeks. The Patriots defied Expectations. Being This Good So Soon. For All Intent Ad Purposes This May Be The Greatest Season undertaken By Coach Belichick But The Chief Uncharacteristic Slide Was Nothing Short of Alarming. Especially When Juxtapose To The Rest Of The AFC West. After Week Six, The Colts Have Lost Twice In 7 Games. The Chiefs Have Lost Once(They Are On A Six Game Winning Streak) And The Pats 7 Game as mentioned above Streak. Mean While The Bills, Broncos, Raiders, And even The Once First In AFC North, Bengals, were The Cream of The Crop In The AFC. Now All Fighting For The Playoff Lives. That's Not To Say These Are Bad Teams. The Bills Still Have One Of The League Best Defense And A Capable Offense. The Bengals Are Equally As Explosive. So To One Time Were The Raiders, Who Are mathematically Alive, But Too Many Injuries And Obstacles To Overcome.
Of The Five Teams Battling For The Two Spots, The Colts Have A 61% Chance Of Making The Playoffs. Those Are The Second Best Odds. Indy's Division And Conference Record Put Carson Wentz And Jonathan Taylor And Those A Notched Above The Competition. Indy's Upcoming Schedule Could Undo Most Of That. Pats And Cardinals, Back To Back. The Results Of Those Two Matchups Will Weight Heavy Of The Playoff Picture. The Broncos Have The Least Favorable Odds(22%) And The 4th most challenging Schedule. The Bengals Have Better Odds(35%) But A Even Tougher Schedule 3rd. The Bills Are Holding On To The Seventh Seed Right Now. Josh Allen And The Bills Have Possession of The Best Odds(65%) As well as The Second Weakest Schedule In The League. A rematch With The Pats Is On The Horizon But Other Wise The Bill will face Foes Outside Playoff Picture. In All Tha,t The Browns Have A 35% chance. They Defeated the Ravens On Sunday. The fifth Ranked Defense Could Prove Hellish For Any Contender To Prepare To face. But A Covid Outbreak, Along with A demanding Schedule That Includes; The Packers, Bengals, Raiders, And Steelers (All Games The Browns Could Lose), Could Be Their Undoing. Cleveland Cant Be A Team To Depend On.
Unlike The NFC, Layer Across In Distinctive Strata The AFC Has Much Work To Do In Forming A More Conclusive(If There Could Be such) Playoff Picture. Though the Parity Could Make For Some Intriguing Matchups' come January.
