by Peter King
Carolina 27, Arizona 16.
There’s no crying in football. Coaches are fond of saying that nobody ever feels sorry for you, no matter how bad things get. But it’s hard to not feel some sympathy for the Cardinals, who once were 9-1, then played toothlessly once their starting quarterback and starting running back went down for the season. Arizona’s 78-yard day was as bad an offensive performance as I’ve seen in the playoffs. So what to make now of Carolina, on a five-game winning streak? The Panthers have allowed just 59 points during the streak, and they’re running as well as they have all season, and Cam Newton continues to get more comfortable with his receivers. His odd miscommunication with wideout Jerricho Cotchery Saturday, resulting in an ugly interception, was uncharacteristic based on how Newton has played recently. This stretch for Carolina is a great example of how the most important thing this time of year is not your overall record, but how you’re playing in December and January, which should mean that we’re going to see a surprisingly good and competitive game Saturday night in Seattle.
THE FINE FIFTEEN
1. Seattle (12-4). Two wins for the Seahawks in the bye week: They don’t have to face Detroit in the divisional game Saturday; Carolina is playing pretty well, but the Lions would have been a tougher first foe. And the Jets won’t be hiring ace Seattle director of pro personnel Trent Kirchner as GM. Bad news for Kirchner, good news for Seattle, keeping a winning personnel team intact.
2. New England (12-4). Dangerous game coming Saturday at 4:30 in Foxboro. The one matchup not in New England’s favor, against historically tough Baltimore, is happening. The Pats will need to disrupt Joe Flacco’s timing and be good in the intermediate areas—I’m assuming they’ll be on point downfield, with a vastly improved corner situation from the past couple of years—which is where a new New England star will be important, in my opinion. The Patriots have gotten very good at picking versatile linebackers, and this quote, by Bill Belichick on Jamie Collins (round two, 2013) would constitute high praise, after Collins’ 110-tackle season as a do-it-all linebacker: “He’s a very smart player. He’s handled all the communication things that we’ve asked him to do. He’s got a lot of different assignments. He can go from anywhere, rushing the passer to playing in the deep part of the field.” Two autumns ago, Collins played for 0-12 Southern Miss. The Pats saw through the muck and the position changes to see star potential in Collins.
3. Green Bay (12-4). This stat cannot get too much play this week: Dallas (8-0 on road, only unbeaten road team in the NFL) at Green Bay (8-0 at home, only unbeaten home team in the NFC). Is it possible that the best game in the entire postseason will be this divisional game at high noon Central time on Sunday?
4. Dallas (13-4). The Cowboys got lucky with the officials Sunday. A bitter pill for the Lions. An “about time” moment for Dallas.
5. Denver (12-4). Peyton Manning missing two bye-week practices. Not a big deal, but not nothing either.
6. Detroit (11-6). Lost in the mayhem of a controversial defeat: the fate of Ndamukong Suh. Has he played his last game for the Lions? “Please leave [questions] to just this game,” a visibly shaken Suh said after the loss in Dallas. He is a great player, and some team will pay him hugely (the bidding will likely start in J.J. Watt territory, at $20 million per season) to anchor its defense starting in 2015. It’s worth noting that if the Lions choose to franchise Suh, it’ll cost them around $26 million in 2015. And I believe they will seriously consider devoting that much cap space to him, because he is an irreplaceable piece of their defense.
7. Baltimore (11-6). No clue where the Vegas line settles for Saturday night’s Baltimore-at-New England divisional game (it’s currently around New England -7.5). The Pats and Ravens have played three times in the playoffs since John Harbaugh became coach in 2008. Baltimore has won twice. New England’s win came by three points when the Ravens missed the chippiest of chip-shot field goals (from 32 yards) and Lee Evans had the winning touchdown catch slapped out of his hands in the final minute.
8. Indianapolis (11-6). All of a sudden, with the Colts’ rebirth on defense, the divisional game at Denver got a lot more interesting. And more competitive.
9. Pittsburgh (11-6). I chortled at Twitter in the wee hours Sunday morning, with the calls for Mike Tomlin’s head. “Hasn’t won a playoff game in four years!” was the general theme. People, hasn’t it become pretty clear how the Pittsburgh Football Steelers operate? I call your attention to this interesting point made by Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:“The Steelers have not fired a head coach since 1968 … Of the Steelers’ two previous coaches [Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher], neither was fired; they left on their own and Pittsburgh was their one and only head coaching stop.” Tomlin is more likely to go gray before the Steelers show him the door.
10. Cincinnati (10-6-1). It’s absolutely not fair to blame the fourth wild-card loss in four seasons on Andy Dalton. He didn’t hand the game to Indianapolis, and he was missing so many key components. But—and this is an important but—Dalton did himself no favors by making zero plays on downfield throws. His receivers got little separation, to be sure. But Dalton did nothing to help his team either.
11. Carolina (8-8-1). I want to give the Panthers defense a modicum of credit for what happened Saturday, and I shall. But I have been covering the NFL since 1984, and the performance by Arizona was the worst offensive performance in a playoff game I’ve seen in those 31 seasons.
12. Houston (9-7). Some fun watches in 2015: J.J. Watt gets to chase Tom Brady and Drew Brees (in Houston) and Cam Newton (in Charlotte) next fall. Incredible as it may seem, this may be Watt’s only career visit to Carolina.
13. Arizona (11-6). Cards went 3-5 post-Carson Palmer injury, with some of the worst quarterbacking seen by mankind. Incredible, but Bruce Arians and GM Steve Keim are going to have to employ a third quarterback in 2015 who they figure can actually play winning football. That’s going to be tough duty, particularly because a third quarterback never gets to practice with the first unit and thus has his development stunted, but with the relative brittleness of Carson Palmer, the Cardinals have no choice.
14. Kansas City (9-7). Regarding the KC passing game, from Andy Reid’s first year to the second: 158 fewer yards, six fewer touchdowns, gave up eight more sacks and had a lower passer rating. And 7.0 yards per attempt is not good enough.
15. Buffalo (9-7). Look on the bright side after a bad week, Buffalo: The rivalry with the Jets—assuming that’s where Doug Marrone winds up—just got a lot more intense.
