NFL insider notes AFC playoff race gets

NFL insider notes AFC playoff race gets

A few weeks ago in Houston the were driving down the field with little resistance, set up shop around the ' goal line and managed to fumble a snap, costing them any shot of a comeback and the game. Sunday afternoon it was happening again, slicing and dicing the Colts, down a touchdown in the Pittsburgh Steelers Hoodies Sweatshirts final seconds.This time he found on a critical fourth-down conversion, and as the receiver leaned closer to the end zone, the ball was popped loose, the Colts recovered it in the end zone, and the ripple effects were immediately felt around the rest of the AFC. The AFC South remained up for grabs between the and Colts. The , taking care of busine s against the despite all kinds of injuries, would enter Week 16 without much margin for error, and the , stuck in the eighth seed, would head to Christmas knowing that merely winning their final two games to get to 11-5 still might not be enough.These teams showed plenty of guts and moxie, the Titans and Ravens offenses again exploding, the Colts continuing to do enough to win games and staying true to a balanced formula, and the Dolphins showing pure guts and heart, overcoming an end zone interception to cap a 15-play, 95 yard drive and riding a stout defense and the guile of rookie quarterback to remain in the seven spot. One of these teams is going to mi s the playoffs despite winning every remaining game -- unle s the slip up against the , or (in Week 17, which might be e sentially a bye for Pittsburgh). It's a shame, actually, because all are worthy of a postseason spot, particularly at a time when the NFC field is looking le s than stout with the expanded playoffs. But that's how it goes, and the team left on the outside will rue a game or two it gave away earlier in the year. And the upstart group I can't help but be most impre sed with is the plucky Dolphins.There were plenty of times this young team could have wilted or felt sorry for itself, but it just keeps plugging along. The Dolphins had a potential fumble recovery for a TD overturned (correctly) and had a critical fake punt ruling go against them as well Alan Faneca Jersey . But they kept running the ball hard and well despite being limited on the offensive line and at running back, and Tua kept slinging it around on the run even without his top two targets -- and Mike Gesicke -- available.They wore down New England in the second half. Miami's defense was excellent again and they ended Bill Belichick's playoff hopes in the proce s. Huge win for young coach Brian Flores against his mentor, and I don't see this Dolphins team letting up. They will out-muscle the this weekend and in Week 17 the AFC East-winning might not have anything to play for. Anyone waiting for the Dolphins to pull the plug on their own season may be in trouble. They have a winning mentality and play winning football. Tenne see continues to unleash a downfield pa sing game and dominant ground attack week after week, and it's more than good enough to cover up the deficiencies on defense most weeks. The Titans have a tough game with Green Bay, but an NFC lo s would hardly be damning if they don't win, and finish with the Texans in Week 17 (Houston has been out of it all season, but with their wacky games with the Colts, they've Pittsburgh Steelers Pet Gear already had a tremendous impact on the division race).The Colts are dead set on running the ball, and rolled up nearly 130 yards on the ground on the Titans. T.Y. Hilton set up a critical touchdown going over the middle on second-and-20, and Indy's defense and offensive line once again led the way. They pummeled Watson in the first half, forcing him to run all over and sacking him four times in the first half. Their formula plays.And the Ravens are finally back looking like their 2019 selves, destroying teams on the ground and then gashing them with splash plays in the pa Stephon Tuitt Jersey sing game. They have rolled up 87 points in two weeks, looks like an MVP again and dormant receivers like Hollywood Brown have awakened. They will very likely beat the Giants and to get to 11-5, and would be a team no AFC foe would want to meet ... but unle s the Colts or Browns or Dolphins slip up, it would be a moot point. A bad snap near the goal line. A fumble into the end zone in the dying seconds. The roll of the ball. The margins are so slim in the NFL, and entering play Sunday night nothing had altered the landscape of the top seven seeds in AFC playoffs thus far.Hats off to Tampa Bay for finding a way to win, but that is still a hard team to figure. They were absolutely whipped by the in the first half, trailing 17-0. Tampa had six runs for seven yards at the half, and had 10 completions for 70 yards. Somehow, the Bucs were averaging 2.9 yards per pa s attempt, and their best drive of the first half went for five plays and 26 yards.It's one thing to be streaky and it's quite another to court disaster. Inconsistency has creeped into the defensive side of things -- it has always been pretty feast or famine in the first year of this transition to Brady -- and I have my reservations about how this looks in January. But Brady threw for over 300 yards in the second half and got cooking with and , and a win is a win, I suppose. But not much seems to come easy for these guys. The have some pieces on offense, but red zone fumbles will end up killing you and it caught up Troy Polamalu Hoodies Sweatshirts to them quickly Sunday. Matt Stafford may be in his final days there; if I was the Colts I'd be all about trading for him next year if po sible ...The should have a critical rethink of their entire organization, but with a nebulous ownership situation I doubt it happens. is not growing or developing, the franchise has been floundering for four or five years now and it seems to me the are not going to be checking out of the AFC West anytime soon. John Elway's unique stature in the town is a very real thing, but the hole in Denver seems to be getting bigger each year ...There are persistent rumblings all over the NFL about Doug Marrone po sibly staying on as coach of the . It would be difficult to come up with a football-based argument why not to completely start over in Jacksonville, but then again, these things aren't always about football. Jacksonville's defense needs an overhaul, and if ever there was a time for obvious change this would be it. They have not won a game in three months and the competitive portion of their game with Baltimore lasted about a quarter. But you never know ...So about those few weeks where the NFC Least wasn't so much the NFL Least. Yeah, um, notsofast. Division winner at under .500 anyone? ...Safeties always seem to come in bunches. Whenever I see one there tends to be one in another game in the same window of games, and sure enough it happened in Baltimore and Nashville within a few minutes ...Food for thought on . Yes, he had a rough time of it in Devner, but if you compare his other three starts to the way opened the season for the , it's pretty much a wash. In his other three starts, Hill combined to complete 75 percent Chase Claypool T Shirts of h

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