The NFL is rolling into Christmas with the playoffs just a few weeks away, yet which teams will actually be competing for a Super Bowl are as unpredictable as any point in the season. The Detroit Lions are in the thick of the NFC wild card race, as all four NFC East teams are currently in the playoffs with three weeks to play.
The New England Patriots had a massive blunder that cost them their playoff spot, as the Los Angeles Chargers ran right through the door to take control of the seventh and final postseason seed in the conference. The New York Jets are still in the hunt, too, even if they lost three in a row.
What’s setting up to be a wild final three weeks of the regular season started with what we learned from each team in Week 15.
J.J. Watt still got it: Lost in the shuffle of the Cardinals’ anemic offense and poor run defense was Watt turning back the clock in Sunday’s loss to the Broncos. Watt finished with three sacks, three quarterback hits, a pass defensed and five pressures for the Cardinals — leading a pass rush that generated 13 pressures and seven sacks.
Watt has 48 pressures and 9.5 sacks this season, playing 13 games at the age of 33. He can still get after the quarterback at a high rate, despite injuries slowing him down over the past several seasons.
Desmond Ridder didn’t make the passing game better: Ridder looked like a rookie making his first career start, missing his first throw on a deep ball to Cordarrelle Patterson — which ended up being a microcosm of his day.
Ridder missed on a number of throws as the Falcons’ passing offense was essentially nonexistent, finishing with 89 yards as Ridder averaged a paltry 3.0 yards per attempt. Ridder finished 13 of 26 for 97 yards, along with six carries for 38 yards. He didn’t turn the ball over, so there’s one positive on the day.
The Falcons just need to let Ridder develop in the final three games. Easy to improve from this week’s performance.
Greg Roman is likely in his final games as offensive coordinator: The Ravens offense was anemic Saturday, putting up just three points and 324 yards of offense in the loss to the Browns. There’s no passing game in Baltimore with Lamar Jackson out, as Tyler Huntley went 17 of 30 for 138 yards with no touchdowns and an interception, throwing to the likes of Demarcus Robinson, Devin Duvernay, and DeSean Jackson.
Even Mark Andrews is ineffective in…
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