Week 14 Recap

(AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

New Orleans Saints @ Philadelphia Eagles (24-21 Eagles)
Mike The Ace @TheAceWriter

With the offense struggling, and the playoffs looking like a long shot, the Eagles handed the offense over to rookie quarterback Jalen Hurts. The Eagles were expected to be much better than they’ve been this season, and it’s hard not to look at this year as a failure for this organization.

Carson Wentz signed a 4-year, $128 million dollar deal extension with the team in the summer of 2019. Despite making such a massive investment into Carson Wentz, Philly still went on to draft Jalen Hurts in the 2nd round of the 2020 draft. That decision was a bad move without a doubt, but oddly enough, it may save the jobs of Head Coach Doug Pederson and General Manager Howie Roseman.

Hurts played well in the second half against the Packers last week, and he impressed even more against the Saints. New Orleans has one of the best defenses in the league, and the rookie QB was able to put pressure on them all game. Jalen Hurts would finish the game going 17/30 for 167 yards, and a touchdown, with no interceptions. He also added another 114 yards rushing on 18 carries.

The passing numbers weren’t outstanding, but it’s good for a rookie QB – in his first start – against one of the league’s best defenses. I was mostly impressed with Hurts’s poise throughout the game, and his command of the offense. His pocket presence was refreshing to see, after watching Wentz struggle with pocket presence for most of the season.

Prior to this matchup, the Saints had not allowed a 100-yard rusher in 55 straight games. Both Miles Sanders and Jalen Hurts ran for 100-yards in this outing, and it was the Saints’ downfall Sunday afternoon. Saints’ Quarterback Taysom Hill ended up going 28/38 for 291 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception. He was stuffed running the football, rushing for only 33 yards. Hill was also sacked 5 times. 

The Eagles’ defense wanted Taysom Hill to have to win this game with his arm, and they dared him to do so. Hill was inconsistent with his accuracy in this game, and it hurt the Saints’ offense in clutch situations. Hill accounted for 300+ yards of offense, but the team had just 14 points with 2:00 left in the game. There was a final rally from Hill after a Jalen Hurts fumble inside of two minutes, but the Saints could not recover the onside kick following the touchdown.

The Eagles will have to finish the season out with Jalen Hurts at QB. In my opinion, there should be a battle at the QB position between Wentz & Hurts. Wentz’s contract makes it difficult to trade him this upcoming offseason, so the smartest decision would be to let this play out into training camp of next year. The Eagles have an aging roster that needs help. Wentz could be moved for draft picks – sooner rather than later – if Hurts continues to ball out.

(Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

Carolina Panthers @ Denver Broncos (32-27 Broncos)
DK @ayeyoo_biggs

At the beginning of the football season I picked Drew Lock to be one of my breakout players of the year. So far, there have been some extreme ups and downs with Lock in his 2nd year. Injury, COVID-19 concerns, and overall play have  caused some hiccups for the QB. When I watched his college film, and film from last year, this outing was the type of game I predicted him having more often. 

Drew Lock went 21-27 with 280 yards and 4 touchdowns. He was under pressure a lot from the Panthers’ gritty defense, but he seems to thrive on rolling out and off scripted plays. The Broncos started off the game right with a punt return touchdown by Diontae Spencer.  Denver was able to get the run game / screen game going to relieve some of the blitzing pressure on Lock. Running backs Phillip Lindsey and Melvin Gordon combined for 92 yards running and 30 yards receiving. Another interesting observation was the fact that most of the passes from Lock were chunk plays. KJ Hamler, the leading receiver, had 2 catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns. Jerry Juedy also added 2 catches for 42 yards and a touchdown. 

Even though the Panthers did lose, the defense played great. They were in the backfield with Drew Lock all game. They were only able to get one sack, but they did get the sack and 5 QB hits along with tons of pressures. The Panthers’ issues seemed to be in the secondary, referring back to Lock having so many chunk plays. The defensive line applied pressure, but if they were not able to get there, Lock was just letting it fly to wide open receivers and tight ends. 

Teddy Bridgewater went 30-40 with 281 yards. Mike Davis was the touchdown getter for the day, going 11 rushes for 51 yards and 2 Touchdowns. The Panthers made a furious comeback, with the Broncos defense letting up a little bit in the second half. They ended up running out of time in the end. 

This is the progress I like to see from Drew Lock. He has continued to learn in the system and has all the weapons he needs to succeed, he just needs to play better more consistently. The Panthers are now out of the playoff picture with the loss. They have had a lot of moving parts on the offense because of injury, but have still made strides under first year head coach Matt Rhuel. The Panthers have pieces, but the rebuild will take time after the regime change.

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Week 11 Recap

Grace Hollars/IndyStar

Green Bay Packers @ Indianapolis Colts (34-31 Colts)
Mike The Ace @TheAceWriter

Public service announcement! The Indianapolis Colts are playing really, really good football right now. It feels like somebody needs to shout that from the top of a mountain, as the Colts have not gotten a lot of national attention at this point in the season.

When taking a deeper look at the Colts’ season so far, it’s not a surprise that they have been overlooked. Indianapolis is a defensive minded football team that doesn’t have the same type of “superstar” names that the other elite teams in the AFC have. Despite not having the biggest household names on the roster, they’ve played as well as almost any other team in the entire league.

Following this overtime win over the Packers, the Colts are currently the second highest ranked defense in Total Yards per game. Indy also sits as the first ranked offense in Total Yards per game! First in offense and second in defense, that’s elite in every sense of the word.

The Packers are also a good football team, and this game was played at a very high level. Both offensive play callers were in a rhythm early, and put together successful drives throughout the first half. Trailing 28-14 at the half, the Colts made some adjustments on offense that ended up helping their defense.

Indy began to run the ball a lot more in the second half. They leaned on rookie running back Jonathan Taylor, who was able to find success in the 3rd quarter. Establishing the run allowed the Colts to control the tempo of the game, and it also tired out the Packers’ defense. Winning the time of possession battle also provided a spark for their defense, and they were able to string together several consecutive stops in the 3rd & 4th quarters. The Colts would go on to score 17 unanswered points, and held a 31-28 lead late in the final quarter. 

With 1:25 left on the clock, Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers was able to work his magic again. The Packers began the drive back at their own 6-yard line, but Rodgers was able to push the ball deep into the red zone for Green Bay. Kicker Mason Crosby was able to connect on a 26-yard field goal attempt to tie the game.

The Packers won the coin toss in overtime, and elected to receive the kick off. On the second offensive play of overtime, wide receiver Marquez Valdez-Scantling caught a quick screen from Rodgers. After making the catch, Valdez-Scantling attempted to make a move up the field and fumbled the football. The Colts’ recovered the ball at the Packers’ 29 yard line. Indianapolis ran the ball three times, and kicked the game winning field goal.

This was one of the best games I have watched all season. This game was a chess match from start to finish. Each coaching staff made adjustments and changes to try and find any advantage over the opposition. This game was a battle of two elite teams, and it did not disappoint.

Chris Graythen, Getty Images

Atlanta Falcons @ New Orleans Saints (24 – 9 Saints)
DK @ayeyoo_biggs

Prior to Taysom Hill’s first start for the injured Drew Brees, we honestly did not know what to expect. Jameis Winston was brought in as a backup for a situation like this, but Hill got the nod and played exceptionally well. The story of this game though, was the Saints defense.

Matt Ryan struggled most of the game, going 19-37, for 232 yards, and 2 interceptions. He was under extreme pressure the whole game. It didn’t help matters that wide reciever Julio Jones was nursing a hamstring injury, while tight end Hayden Hurst had an ankle injury early in the game. Another glaring stat was that the offense was 2-14 on 3rd down efficiency (which doesn’t even sound right as I type this but yes, look it up). The offensive coordinator, Dirk Koetter, needs to go back to the drawing board. What he’s trying to do is not working with the pieces he has available. With the way the Falcons’ defense has been playing this year, you can’t afford to give any offense great field position. Even a Saints’ offense with a backup quarterback. The defense also did him no favors, allowing over 150 rushing yards, and Michael Thomas getting his accustomed 9 catches and 104 yards. 

Taysom Hill had a surprisingly good start. He went 18-23 with 233 yards through the air. He also added 10 carries for 49 yards and 2 TDs. He didn’t have to force anything, and it all seemed to come naturally. One thing that did jump off the page, was his arm strength compared to Drew Brees. He was able to make a few deep throws effortlessly, that Brees may struggle with at this point in his career. Also, there was a throw to Thomas that was so hard, it literally went right through his hands. Something many people haven’t seen before from him. Hill also used his feet very well and didn’t automatically run when things started to break down. He did pick his spots, though. 

At the end of the day, Hill didn’t have to do too much because the defense was so stout. The defense got 8 sacks, as well as forcing the 3-and-outs for good field position. The Saints didn’t really have to do much on offense to win this game. We will see what happens when Hill has to play a better defense. 

All in all, this was another divisional game where the Saints showed they are the real deal in the NFC playoff picture, and one of the top picks as Super Bowl contenders. The stifulling defense kept the Falcons out of the endzone, only allowing 3 field goals all game. The Saints were able to keep the ship afloat for one more week, with Brees still out. Hill did what he needed to do. It was really interesting seeing him back at QB full time. It reminded me of his days at BYU, where he was a Heisman hopeful. With the Broncos up next, Hill will face the 9th best pass defense in the league. We will see how he responds.