Neil Reynolds reflects on New England Patriots, Oakland Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars
Monday 19 December 2016 15:09, UK
Neil Reynolds takes us through six of the week's talking points with his latest column as Oakland make the post season and the Jags fire Gus Bradley.
The fat lady was warming up her voice a few times on Sunday but NFL Week 15 emphatically proved that games are not over until she starts singing. And the never-say-die attitude of some teams made for a highly entertaining night of American football action.
Playoff-chasing teams like Houston, Tennessee, Green Bay, Pittsburgh and Baltimore played out thrillers and, ultimately, won games they could easily have lost. So let's have a look at six headlines that caught my eye over the weekend.
Titans win thriller
Tennessee's 19-17 win over the Kansas City Chiefs was one of the more impressive results of NFL Week 15. The Titans were in one of the most intimidating atmospheres in the NFL in Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium and were probably feeling miserable in -17 degree weather when trailing 14-0 early on.
But the Titans plugged away and late in the fourth quarter they pulled to within 17-16 on Derrick Henry's second touchdown run of the day. Surely, you kick the extra point, right?
Wrong. Tennessee went for a two-point conversion, failed and appeared to have blown their chance. But they played great defence in the second half, got the ball back with just seconds remaining and, improbably, kicked a game-winning field goal as Ryan Succop split the uprights from 53 yards out as the clock ticked to zero.
Much of the talk will be about the Titans going for two and then winning on a field goal that had been missed by Succup just moments before (he was given another chance because Kansas City had called a time out just before his kick). But we should really be talking about an outstanding defensive performance from the Titans and a big come-from-behind win on the road.
Giants smother the Lions
This contest was not quite as dramatic as the one that played out in Kansas, but it was just as sweet for a New York Giants team that recorded win number 10 on the season.
Eli Manning threw touchdown passes to wide receivers Sterling Shepard and Odell Beckham Jr. (10 touchdowns in his last 10 games) but the real story for the Big Blue continues to be the form of the defence.
Defensive linemen Olivier Vernon and Damon Harrison, along with cornerback Janoris Jenkins, were high-priced free agent signings in 2016 but they are not resting on their piles of dollars. All three are playing the best American football of their careers. Add in All-Pro level play from safety Landon Collins and you can see why the Giants held red-hot Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford without a touchdown pass in a 17-6 win.
Texans make bold move in win
The Houston Texans trailed 13-0 at home to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday in a game they needed to win against a team with eight straight losses. Expensive and disappointing quarterback Brock Osweiler completed just six passes, tossed up two interceptions and was sent to the bench.
This demotion is nothing new for Osweiler, who lost the starting job he had wrestled away from Peyton Manning about this time last year in Denver. The home fans cheered heartily as Tom Savage came in and, while he didn't play brilliantly, he didn't make any mistakes and Houston ran out 21-20 winners.
Now what for Osweiler and the Texans? They are on the hook for a lot of the $72m contract so he is not going anywhere in the long-term. But what about the next two games? The Texans play a safe style of offence and rely on defence to get them across the line - they cannot have a quarterback who plays so fast and loose with the football.
Osweiler throws too many interceptions and may struggle to get back on the field as a result. Stay tuned for this drama to play out in the coming days.
Jags make expected move after loss
It was the same old story for the Jags in Houston on Sunday. They were close to a win but found a way to lose. That's what bad teams tend to do and time finally ran out for head coach Gus Bradley, who was fired after the defeat.
I have a lot of time personally for Gus and he has always been so accommodating when I have visited the Jags over the past four summers.
When I would switch the cameras off at the end of our interview, Gus would stick around and chat about his team, American football in general and UK fan growth, often for more than an additional half an hour. Trust me, that is rare in the NFL with head coaches, who guard their time preciously.
Gus is a good man and a tremendous motivator, but you are what your record says you are and that means he has not been a good head coach. He was given more than enough time and, I thought, plenty of talent to work with on a growing team. But now I'm starting to wonder about some of that talent because these Jags, who have now lost nine in a row, have been a huge disappointment.
I'm not sure if Gus will re-surface as an NFL head coach in the future. I suspect not. It saddens me to say it but he had to go. All I can do now is remember how classy he was to deal with over the past four years and to wish him all the best for the future.
Raiders end playoff drought
The Silver and Black are back in the playoffs and, suddenly, all seems right with the world. The Oakland Raiders did not have it all their own way on Sunday but a 19-16 victory over San Diego moved them back to the top of the AFC West with an 11-3 record.
The Raiders have qualified for the playoffs for the first time since the 2002 season, when they reached the Super Bowl. I don't know if they are quite strong enough to take down New England if they have to travel to Foxboro, but it is great to see this most storied of franchises back in the post-season party.
Business as usual for Patriots
While the rest of the NFL seems to play out dramatic games across the board every weekend, it feels like the New England Patriots are on a slow march to Super Bowl glory. They took another step closer to that seemingly-inevitable success with a 16-3 death-squeeze of the Denver Broncos.
The Patriots went into last night's game rightly nervous about Denver's pass rush. When the Broncos won the AFC Championship Game at Mile High in January, they hit Tom Brady 16 times and advanced to the Super Bowl by negating New England's passing attack.
So this did not become a Brady game. He was 2-7 lifetime in Denver coming into the game so Bill Belichick, for the most part, took this one out of his star player's hands, preferring instead to attack the Broncos weak run defence.
New England ran the ball 39 times and threw it just 32 times, proving once again that they are a chameleon that can morph from one offensive style to another from week to week. And while we kind of expected that lean towards the running game, we expected more LeGarrette Blount (17 carries for 31 yards) than Dion Lewis (18 runs for 95 yards).
It was another example to remind us that Belichick is a coaching genius who we should stop trying to figure out.
You can watch the final game of week 15 on Sky Sports 1 from 1.15am on Tuesday morning and week 16 gets underway on Thursday. Follow the race for the post-season on Sky Sports, your home of the NFL.
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