Week 14 might be the most crucial week of the entire NFL season. The reason I say such a thing is that this week often decides how the top 3-4 seeds of each conference’s playoff bracket for the year is going to turn out. Of course, Weeks 16 and 17 are almost always fun, as we get to find out who sneaks in as the Wild Card teams and who misses their chance to leapfrog into the postseason. Anyway, here’s what went down in one of the most anticipated weeks of the season so far.
Cowboys Can’t Get It Done Against Bears
Leave it to the Dallas Cowboys to make Mitchell Trubisky look like the next young superstar at the quarterback position.
The Cowboys looked really bad and were, for the most part, outplayed for the first three quarters and part of the fourth before they scored some garbage-time touchdowns to make the final score look more respectable. But, getting mauled by a Bears team (get it?) that was reeling and had a quarterback that made Jameis Winston look like a starting-caliber field general? That’s embarrassing for a team with this much talent! Jerry Jones has a right to be angry, and every Cowboys fan should be too. If they don’t win the NFC Least and make the playoffs this year, I will relentlessly blame Jason Garrett for the mishap.
49ers Beat Saints in An Absolute Shootout
In the Chiefs-Rams game of the 2019 season, the 49ers and Saints, arguably the two best teams in the NFC, went head-to-head in a highly anticipated game that, for the most part, decided who would be the #1 seed in the conference for the playoffs. San Francisco walked out of the Superdome in New Orleans with a high-scoring 48-46 win in what many people dubbed the game of the season. And their actions are completely justified, obviously, because this game was awesome. Not necessarily the ending for me, because I’m a Saints fan, but other than that part? This game was every bit as good as the Monday Night showdown between Kansas City and Los Angeles last year.
The Chiefs Took It to The Pats…On the Road!
Going into this game, I was expecting the Chiefs’ lackluster defense to be their Achilles heel, and I expected the Patriots to take full advantage of this and carve up their horrendously bad defensive unit.
Is the world straight-up ending for New England?
The Chiefs’ D must’ve heard this, because they came in and constantly put the Pats’ backs against the wall, and they did it without necessarily being bailed out by Patrick Mahomes and the dynamic offense because remember, it was 23-16 with less than four minutes left in the game! The offense was good, but not necessarily spectacular, but for the defense? Against a top-5 team in the league? I have to say, I was more than impressed with this unit and their ability to execute and slow down New England, especially in goal-line-stand situations.
Rams Vault Themselves Back Into NFC Playoff Picture
I originally thought that for this Sunday Night Football matchup, the LA Rams would be no match for the incoming Seahawks, and Seattle would rather easily escape with a win. I also did not think that Todd Gurley would stray from his disappointing ways and turn in another mediocre performance.
Well, apparently Sean McVay and the Rams thought otherwise.
While the Rams’ running back didn’t crack the 100-yard mark in rushing, he did score a critical TD that helped put Seattle away for good and stop any hopes of a comeback attempt. Los Angeles now stands at 8-5 and is nipping at the #6-seed Vikings’ heels in order to get into the postseason. I can only wonder how that’ll end up playing out.
Eagles’ Playoff Hopes Are Still Alive
They’re still alive and kicking.
With the 23-17 overtime win against the Giants on Monday Night Football, the Eagles are now tied with the Cowboys for first place in the NFC East. Granted, they do stand at a rather ugly 6-7 (along with the Cowboys) and they do play in the worst division in football by far, but I really think this team will be able to win their division and sneak into the postseason. They should be able to take care of business against the Redskins this upcoming week, and assuming they do that, all eyes will be on the Week 16 home clash with Dallas that will more than likely decide the winner of the worst division in football. Just, the team who wins doesn’t really get bragging rights.
That’s all I’ve got for Week 14, but stay tuned to The Roundup for my takeaways from a highly anticipated Week 15!
