Player of the Week: Melvin
Ingram, DE, LA Chargers
The Chargers are a very good team. It may be hidden by their slow
end to the season after beating the Chiefs, and them being a Wild Card team,
but they have a defense that can overcome poor offensive performances. Part of
it is having Joey Bosa back. Part of it is having Melvin Ingram still there. He
was a monster in contain, pushing Jackson and the running backs back when going
wide. He got serious pressure all the time. Ingram has been a great, consistent
performer since his 2012 draft. It’s great to see him finally get some national
recognition. And if the Chargers have a chance to beat the Patriots, they’ll
need that type of performance again.
Runner-Up: Andrew Luck, QB, Indianapolis
For the entire last year, he watched from
home, or from the Netherlands getting treatment. For the second time in six
years, a great Colts quarterback missed a season and returned even better –
luckily this time it was for the Colts as well. Luck was spectacular in the 2nd
half, just with mesmerizing touch on some throws. They need to be consistent
for 60 minutes to have a chance against the Chiefs, but for one great night,
all was right in Indianapolis.
Goat of the Week: Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore
Look, I hate to pile on a rookie for a bad playoff performance.
Rookies almost never play well in the playoffs, even when they win (notable
exception, somehow: Mark Sanchez). But man was Lamar awful. No pocket
awareness. Fumbled three times (which has been a problem all year for him).
Various overthrows. I don’t think replacing him with Flacco would have been any
better, but man was that an ugly performance. Of course, go back and look at
Flacco’s playoff numbers from 2008 when he as a rookie went to the Title Game.
I think Lamar has a bright future, but their gimmick offense wasn’t going to
work forever.
Runner-Up: Brian Schottenheimer, OC,
Seahawks
How many times did they go run-run-pass?
How many just terrible runs right into a crowded box? What the hell was that
screen to a TE with no blockers on 3rd and 17 from midfield? What
the hell was any of that? The Seahawks run heavy offense worked all year, but
when it doesn’t they have to realize more quickly than that? Just plain stubbornness
from Schotty.
Surprise of the Week: The Colts Running Game
The Colts running game has been good for a while now, especially
since getting Ryan Kelly back to complete their OL. The Texans had the #1 rush
defense by DVOA, so while I was expecting a Colts win, I thought it would be
more air-driven. Instead, the Colts ran for 200 yards. Mack ran for 150. They
pounded the Texans DL. The best may have been their drive to close it out,
getting three first downs on the ground to ice the game. That was a commanding
performance. The Chiefs big weakness is the run defense, so they’ll need more
of that.
Runner-Up: The non-Amari Cooper Cowboys Receivers
The black hole that has been any
non-Cooper weapon on offense has been stark for the Cowboys. However, in this
game the other guys stepped up. Beasley was more effective than normal. Gallup
had some nice catches, including the over-the-shoulder catch for the TD. The
random rookie TE kept beating the Seahawk linebacker and safeties. Just a nice
performance.
Disappointment of the Week: The Bears Defense
I feel bad saying they were a disappointment since the Eagles
scored just 16 points, and turned it over twice. Still, the Bears were the best
defense in the NFL. It wasn’t close. Their DVOA was sizably better than any
other team. They were playing a backup QB that hadn’t done much, and all they
needed to do was not allow a TD. Foles faced little pressure; he hit open
receivers. I get the loss of Eddie Jackson was huge, but if you told every
Bears fan they would be up 15-10 with the Eagles at their own 40 in the 4th
quarter, every one would take it.
Runner-Up: The Ravens OL
The Ravens averaged about 230 yards
rushing during Lamar Jackson’s 7-starts. A lot of that was Jackson, but a lot
was an OL that was just nasty. In this game, they were atrocious. Spoke a bit
about Ingram, and Bosa added are challenges, but man they gave up immediate
pressure, they didn’t create any holes. That was really sad for a team that had
become so interesting when they played with Jackson.
Team Performance of the Week: The Chargers Defense
I love the idea of going with seven DBs to match the Ravens run
game with speed instead of bulk. That was genius. Bosa was great. The added
safeties were omnipresent (Derwin James continues to be a steal for the
Chargers). They limited a run game that was setting records to 99 yards. They gave
up less than 50 net passing yards through three quarters. Late scores will make
it seem just a decent performance, but that was one of the most dominant
performances by a road team I’ve seen.
Runner-Up:
Team Laydown of the Week: The Texans offense
The Colts are a good defense. That is just factual at this point.
The Colts were great at getting pressure from random front four players. That
did not happen in this game. They only generated pressure with blitzing DBs,
something they did over and over again, and the Texans just couldn’t adjust.
Hopkins was quiet. Watson was inaccurate. Bill O’Brien’s playcalling was so
uninventive. I don’t know how that team nearly stole a #2 seed, but now I’m
kind of glad the Patriots are getting a real challenge instead of going to play
this milquetoast team in Houston in Round 2.
Runner-Up: Nothing Really.
Honestly most units played pretty well
Storyline of the Week to Come: Can Offense Continue to Dominate?
The story of the first twelve weeks of the season, right up until
the 54-51 madness MNF, was the offensive revolution. Every stat was way up.
Teams were scoring 30-40 all the time. Everything was madness. It was all
college concepts (always overrated as the three playcallers of the main shiny
teams were NFL lifers). Then defences quietly took over, first in the last five
weeks, and then very much so in the Wild Card round, where the average team
scored 18 points – and that is with the Seahawks and Ravens getting garbage
time points all over the place. Now, the Saints, Rams and Chiefs are back. This
was the second time we had three 500+ point teams – 2011 was the other one. I’m
interested to see, especially with the Rams and Saints, if they can recapture
the incredible magic of those first twelve games.
Passed Over Storyline of the Week to Come: Does Foles Magic
finally end?
I’m so sick of the Foles story. Yes, it is fun to watch him play
well and the Eagles go on this magical ride. But let’s not forget Foles was
iffy in Weeks 1-2, and every Eagles fan was itching for Wentz’s return. Let’s
not forget the Eagles were clearly the best team in the NFL, and Wentz the
likely MVP, last year when Foles came in. The 2017 Eagles with Wentz in the
playoffs probably win the Superbowl – probably easily over New England. The
Eagles would be crazy to let him go. Foles may play well this game in New
Orleans, but likely, the Eagles secondary will get torched as they should, and
the team will lose, and we can go back to saneness.
