Our Week 14 Thoughts, Reactions and Recap

13 Dec, 2022

Our Week 14 Thoughts, Reactions and Recap

Brock Purdy has Arrived

How great did Purdy look out there on Sunday? 16/21 for 185 yards and 2 touchdowns with a rushing touchdown in there to boot. I wrote Sunday morning about how the 49ers want him to either be really good or really bad. They can’t handle another average quarterback on this roster. Obviously only one game is not a big enough sample size to gauge how good he will be, but if he keeps this up, a 49ers Super Bowl might be back on the table. 

Purdy did shine, but the story is how awful the Buccaneers looked. They’ll limp into the playoffs given how bad their division is, but can we please be done with this talk of how they’re still a top-10 team? Most of the advanced analytic people and sharp bettors I follow on Twitter consistently rank the Buccaneers in the top 10 if not top 5. @ComputerCowboy, a well-respected analyst and Athletic contributor had them as high as 8th just two weeks ago. I just don’t see it. They have absolutely zero run game and Brady can no longer carry a team by himself. This defense looks like a college squad out there compared to how good they were the last couple years. I’m officially done with the Buccaneers and anyone with a brain should be too. 

Kansas City Survives Late in Denver

The fact that the word “survive” is in the headline here is a little crazy considering the Chiefs were up 27-0 at one point in this game. However Denver came back and made it a ball game, getting it to within 6 in the fourth quarter. Their comeback was aided by 3 Patrick Mahomes interceptions, something he’s only done 3 times in his career. He did have a crazy one-handed, scoop pass for a touchdown so we’ll let this blip slide. Russell Wilson looked like his old self for a second until he had to leave with a concussion. Wilson had 3 touchdowns in only 3 quarters. Those three touchdowns are as many as he had thrown in the last 5 weeks. The Chiefs defense needs to take a good long look in the mirror after allowing 28 points to a team who’d only averaged 14 per game up until that point. 

Tua Looked Awful Again

I have to be careful what I say here. I would like to stay out of Tuanon’s radar. However, even they can’t argue with how bad he has looked in the last 2 games. In this stretch, Tua is only completing 46% of his throws for 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. At one point in Sunday Night’s game, he was 6/21. 6/21! That is not the stat line of a guy who was getting buzz for MVP a short while ago. If he ever wants to be in the competition for top 10 quarterback in the league, these games have to stop. Even the best quarterbacks in the league are bound to get into ruts, but they still keep their teams in games. They might throw a couple more interceptions or miss a few wide open receivers, but they don’t look absolutely lost on the field for two straight weeks. 

Justin Herbert, on the other hand, looked amazing. This Chargers team is getting healthy at just the right time. A healthy Mike Williams and Keenen Allen is one of the best wide receiver duos in the league. Combine those two with Herbert and Ekeler and this offense can be everything everyone thought it would be in the preseason. Their Achilles heel remains to be the offensive line, but this wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen a great quarterback carry a below average line deep into the playoffs. 

The Seahawks Continue their Slide

I know Seattle won last week, but it took every ounce of skill and luck they had to beat a Rams team without Stafford, Kupp and Donald. This week they lost to the Carolina Panthers at home. A Panthers team led by the one and only, Sam Darnold. A Panthers team who’s best offensive weapon, DJ Moore, didn’t even register a catch. Geno Smith is starting to turn back into the quarterback we thought he would be at the beginning of the season. He did throw for 3 touchdowns, but those were almost mitigated by 2 interceptions. Smith is without his two best running backs, so I will cut him some slack but not very much. Seattle needs to figure it out fast or they’ll be in danger of wasting their great start to the season. 

Detroit Keeps Rolling

The Lions have now won five of their last six after starting 1-6. Jared Goff is having a bounce back year, although I don’t believe it will matter as Detroit is likely to move off him this offseason. If they don’t it wont surprise me as this is not a well run team, but I digress. Their defense has also been stepping it up lately. In the first 7 games, they were allowing 32 ppg. Since then they’ve only allowed 20 ppg. 12 less points given to an opponent can do a world of good when the offense if firing on all cylinders. 

I still don’t think Minnesota is a fraud even after watching this game. If not for a weird fumble by Dalvin Cook, this game is probably 14-14 going into halftime. The only great team that has easily handled this Lions team has been the Cowboys. Other than them, Philadelphia and Buffalo only won by 3 and the Dolphins only won by 4. This Lions team is a tough out, especially at home and I can’t fault Minnesota too much. If they don’t rebound strong next week against Indianapolis, then we can start talking fraudulent. 

The Eagles Dismantle the Giants

Philadelphia took the Giants out behind the woodshed and beat the life out of them. I would be embarrassed to call myself a Giants fan for a while after that showing. The Giants’ remind me a lot of the Seahawks right now. They aren’t a very good team, but had won a lot of close games and their true colors are starting to show. They’re 1-4-1 in their last 6 and still have games left against Washington (off a bye), Minnesota and Philadelphia again. Lucky for them, their Philadelphia rematch is in Week 18 and the Eagles will probably already have the one seed locked up. Meaning they’ll probably get to play the second string. 

I am still not on the “Jalen Hurts for MVP” train, but you can’t deny the year he is having. Unless he has a crazy next three games and Mahomes stumbles, his passing stats will be what keep him from winning the award. In Lamar’s MVP year, he had 36 passing touchdowns, compared to 6 interceptions. Combine that with over 1,200 rushing yards and a 13-2 record and you have an easy choice. Hurts just doesn’t have enough time to get his stats up to those levels, which is where they need to be to compete with the 5,000+ yard, 40 TD season Mahomes will likely have. 

Other Notes:

  • Dallas fends off a massive scare from Houston. It would have been the upset of the year. Houston was a 17 point dog at close but had the lead with under a minute to play. 
  • Baltimore won an ugly division game against Pittsburgh. Tyler Huntley was knocked out of this game so Anthony Brown (who?) had to come in in relief. J.K. Dobbins shined in his return from the IR carrying the ball 15 times for 120 yards and a touchdown. 
  • Trevor Lawrence shines again in the Jaguars rout of Tennessee. Jacksonville is inching its way back into the playoff bubble, but it might be too little too late. 
  • Cincinnati handled Cleveland even without Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd. Ja’Marr Chase picked up the slack with 10 catches for 119 yards and a TD. The Bengals continue to rise in everyone’s power rankings, while it’s looking like Cleveland should have stuck with Brissett until the end of the year. 
  • Josh Allen got his revenge against the Jets with the Bills coming away victorious in a bad weather game. Buffalo badly needed this win to stay in 1st place in the AFC. Their remaining schedule is much tougher than Kansas City’s. 

Gambling Recap

1-0. Finally, a winning week. Maybe this is the secret. One bet at time to dig us out of the whole we got ourselves in.