I don't have time for my weekly write-up, but my favorite moment of the week was Decker's 74-yard TD...
Adam Thielen burning the Bears was pretty awesome, too...
Check out the statistical season had by JJ Watt, planet earth’s best football player. These type of numbers will never, ever be replicated…
78 tackles, 20.5 sacks, 29 tackles for loss, 50 quarterback hits, 4 forced fumbles, 5 fumble recoveries, 10 passes defensed, 1 interception, 1 INT returned for a TD, 1 fumble returned for a TD, 1 safety, 3 offensive receiving touchdowns, and 32 overall points scored.
Also, on this sack, he became the only player to ever had multiple 20+ sack campaigns...
The ideal scenario for the NFC playoffs appears to be the following…
#4 Panthers defeat #5 Cardinals.
#3 Cowboys defeat #6 Lions.
#4 Panthers defeat #1 Seahawks.
#2 Packers defeat #3 Cowboys.
Packers defeat Panthers in NFC Championship.
Naturally, the success of Cam Newton in the playoffs would be highly undesirable, but if he leads his relatively white-friendly Panthers team to a fluke victory at home against the very-black Cardinals and then Seattle in the Divisional Round, I’m all for it. With a 3/5 white OL, TE Greg Olsen, WR Brenton Bersin, LB Luke Kuechly, FS Colin Jones, and LB AJ Klein, this squad isn’t so bad…and they were particularly-palatable with Derek Anderson at the helm (fingers crossed). Unfortunately, due to seeding, there is no way for the Packers to play the Cowboys in the NFC Title game.
The ideal scenario for the AFC playoffs appears to be the following…
#3 Steelers defeat the #6 Ravens
#4 Colts defeat the #5 Bengals.
#1 Patriots defeat #4 Colts.
#3 Steelers defeat #2 Broncos.
Patriots defeat Steelers in AFC Championship.
I’m torn on this one. The “best case scenario” for our cause is whatever the easiest path for New England to secure the two victories required to reach the Superbowl. The Pats throttled the Broncos, Bengals, and Colts earlier this season, but didn’t play the Steelers or Ravens. Depending on what happens in the Wildcard Round this weekend, New England could be playing the Ravens, Colts, or Bengals in the Divisional Round. The Patriots have traditionally struggled with the Ravens and Bengals, but seem to obliterate the Andrew Luck-led Colts with the greatest of ease. Either way, they'll need to shake off their poor playoff performances (even in their Superbowl years of 2007 and 2011) and take care of business.
As always, there isn’t much to root for in these playoffs. The preferable Superbowl outcome is Packers-Patriots, then Cowboys-Patriots, then Packers-Colts, then Patriots-Panthers. If by some miracle, New England and Green Bay do manage to square off, I’d be pretty torn as to which team I’d like to see win it all…but I’d probably go with the Pats due to the now 10 year drought since their last title (whereas GB won in 2010-2011) and two agonizing Superbowl loses to the always-repulsive Giants.