The top of the order
Thanksgiving football is always entertaining and so is watching the Dallas Cowboys lose every Thanksgiving. With that being said let’s kick off into which teams are looking to cruise their way into the playoffs, which teams are way out of the playoffs, and who some of the favorites for NFL awards are.
Playoff Favorites
The Detroit Lions are riding extremely high at the moment with the NFC’s best record at 10-1. The offense on this team so far is supercharged having scored 40 or more points 4 times so far this season, the defense is not looking as strong losing superstar Aiden Hutchinson to a major injury for the rest of the season. Coming off a heartbreaking loss to the 49ers last season in the NFC championship game the Lions are still looking to make a Super Bowl for the very first time in their storied history.
Up in frigid Buffalo the Bills have been cooking the past few weeks culminating in an electric win over the previously undefeated Kansas City chiefs last week that could go down as the game of the year. After trading Stefon Diggs and bringing in almost nothing on offense over the offseason Josh Allen has put the team on his back to get them this far. The Bills are facing a tough next few weeks culminating in a absolutely massive game against the Lions on December 15. After making the playoffs the past 4 years can the Bills finally breakthrough to the Super Bowl this year?
Staying in the AFC the Kansas City Chiefs may no longer be undefeated but they still hold a commanding lead to the AFC’s No.1 seed and a Bye week in the playoffs at 10-1. On their trek to be the first to win 3 straight super bowls it would seem the Chiefs are in a good spot. All is not what it seems however, Patrick Mahomes is having the worst statistical season of his career throwing 15 touchdowns to 11 interceptions and having the worst explosive play rate in the NFL. Their past two weeks have been very rocky, with a bad loss to the Bills and then barely squeaking out a win against the lowly Panthers off of some Mahomes Magic. This is explained by a myriad of factors including Taylor Swifts boyfriend looking all of his 35 years, missing their two top receivers Rashee Rice and Hollywood brown, and on top of all that not having their 2 starting running backs either. That being said, the Chiefs are still 10-1 and have one of the best quarterbacks of all time playing for them, they will still be looking to win it all this season.
Lions is the NFC east leading Philadelphia Eagles. Sitting with only two losses on the year this Eagles team looks a lot more like the one who made the super bowl in 2021 rather than the 2023 version that almost got head coach Nick Siriani fired. Much credit goes to the Vic Fangio led defense pulverizing teams, but the most noticeable difference is the addition of Saquan Barkley. Saquan is having the best season of his career so far posting over 1,000 rushing yards before week 11. He really has energized a offense that looked dead in the water last year, it also doesn’t hurt that all of the Eagles high paid stars are playing like stars. Time will only tell if the Eagles can fly to the super bowl once again.
That covers the top teams in both conference’s but what about others that could sneak into the top? The Ravens have two MVP’s playing at Quarterback and Running back and look dangerous. But, they have lost some headscratchers to the terrible Raiders and lifeless Browns and sit at 7-4 overall behind Pittsburg for the AFC North lead. The Packers have one of the most explosive and deep rosters in the league with playmakers all over the place, and a defense that prioritizes takeaways. However thanks to losing to the Lions at home and playing in the same division as the Lions they have almost no shot to grab the one seed from them. I’m barely bringing up the Texans in the same breath as these other teams but they have one of the leagues best defenses and with receiver Nico Collins back the offense should finally come back to life after some of the worst ball of C.J Stroud’s young career.
The Have’s
Sports ball always gives us some surprises and this year is no exception. The general concessions of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Minnesota Vikings, and Los Angeles Chargers was that they were going to be very mediocre. Instead, the opposite is true with all three teams comfortably in playoff position. Two of them the Vikings with Sam Darnold, and the Steelers with Russel Wilson AND Justin Fields brought in new quarterbacks. Meanwhile the Chargers already had a stud in Justin Herbert, instead they brought Jim Harbough back to the NFL fresh after winning a national championship at the University of Michigan.
The Steelers have ridden a dominating defense to their current 8-3 record. In something rarely seen in todays NFL they have won 3 games while not scoring a single touchdown, that’s crazy. The kicker Chris Boswell already has 2 (2!) games with 6 field goals made. Not many teams can do that but Mike Tomlins steady hand can. Credit also has to be given to both Justin Fields who started the first half of the season by keeping the ball out of harms way, and to Mr. Unlimited Russel Wilson who has been flinging his moonballs to insano receiver George Pickens.
The Vikings signed journeyman quarterback Sam Darnold whose still somehow only 26, to help develop 1st round quarterback JJ McCarthy. During the preseason McCarthy destroyed his knee and the Vikings were forced to turn to Darnold with dread. While Darnold has not been near perfect he has done enough throwing 19 touchdowns and 10 Int’s while compiling a even 100 quarterback rating. Admittedly the Vikings have played some of the worst teams in the league and Darnold has cooled off since his hot start but they still sit at a very comfortable 9-2.
The Chargers started the year playing some of the most boring Harbaugh football the world has ever seen. Just because it was boring doesn’t mean it didn’t work. While the teams started off middling, they have now embarked on a total culture change away from the so called “Chargering” of the past. While much of this is thanks to Harbaugh, Justin Herbert is playing the best, most creative football of his career. Herbert has only thrown a single interception this season and hasn’t thrown one since September. This all would not be possible without a defense that is letting up the least amount of points in the NFL.
The Have Nots
The New York Jets came into the season with the most hype the world has seen in years. They came out of the gate looking sluggish starting 2-2, out of absolutely nowhere they fired head coach Robert Saleh as owner Woody Johnson said “the most talented team in sports and this gives us the best chance of winning”. Winning the Jets did not, they proceeded to lose 6 out of their next seven games even with the return of holdout Hassan Reddick and the midseason trade for Davantae Adams. To give you a mindset of where the Jets are at, here’s a Rodgers quote “I’ve been in the darkness. You’ve got to go in there, make peace with it” What that could possibly mean, the world wonders. With the recent firing of General Manager Joe Douglas and soon to be 41 year old Aaron Rodgers playing the worst football of his career getting demolished behind a terrible offensive line where do the Jets go next?
The Cowboys have been headlining most disappointing teams for awhile based off of their prodigious regular season success and minimal postseason success in this century. Dem Boys came into this season with obviously high expectations after winning 12 games each of the past three seasons. During the offseason the cracks were starting to show with the Cowboys signing very few free agents, and the ones they did were highlighted by old man Eric Kendricks. Hope was high however, the season started off rough and got worse culminating in Dak Prescott’s hamstring being torn off of his body.
We shall round this off with a snapshot of MVP candidates (most likely at the top descending to least likely)
Lamar Jackson: 2,876 passing yards, 25 TDs, 3 INTs, 75.2 QBR (584 rushing yards, 2 TDs)
Josh Allen: 2,543 passing yards, 18 TDS, 5 INTs, 72.5 QBR (316 rushing yards, 5 TDs)
Jared Goff: 2,492 passing yards, 20 TDs, 9 INTs, 59.2 QBR (39 rushing yards)
Mahomes: 2,404 passing yards, 15 TDs, 11 INTs, 67 QBR (167 rushing yards, 1 TD)
Saquan Barkley: 1,137 rushing yards, 8 TDs; 210 receiving yards, 2 TDs
