NFL Week 15 Review

A lot of things got clarified this weekend, 5 of the 8 divisional races have been locked up, 2 have been all but locked up, and the playoff seedings have pretty much been determined, with the Eagles and Vikings still fighting for the #2 seed in the NFC. Still, there is much to be determined in the final 2 weeks, including: the Colts' pursuit of perfection, Chris Johnson's pursuit of 2000 rushing yards (needs 270 in 2 games to get there, and I'm NOT betting against him), the NFC East race, the Cowboys, Packers, and Giants fighting for the 2 NFC wild card slots, and the INSANE clusterfuck that is the AFC Wild Card race, with 8 teams battling for two spots. The Broncos and Ravens are each a game ahead, but each have TOUGH matchups this weekend (@PHI, @PIT).

- Mad props to Tony Romo, DeMarcus Ware and the Dallas Cowboys for ending the Saints' run at perfection, and keeping their NFC East hopes alive. They play at Washington next weekend on Sunday night, and the Skins coming off a humiliating loss to the Giants should be ready for what will be their de facto Super Bowl. Should be a War in D.C.

- Jags give the Colts a run, but Peyton Manning's 4TD's are too much. Jacksonville's skid, and Denver's inexplicable and unforgivable loss at home to Oakland and JaMarcus Russell have helped create the AFC Wild Card mess.

- Minnesota looked AWFUL at Carolina, and trouble may be a brewing in the Twin Cities. Who's in charge, Childress or Favre? Three straight dud games for Adrian Peterson is a major problem, and I'm liking the Eagles' chances to win the NFC title more and more by the minute.

- The Green Bay-Pittsburgh game was UNREAL. Such sick performances by both quarterbacks (highly doubt any player in the NFL is more grossly underrated than Aaron Rodgers). Almost 4000 yards on the year, 28 TD's + 4 rushing TD's, and only 7 INT's, all behind one of the worst lines in the NFL. Still Big Ben made the big plays at the end, keeping Pittsburgh's playoff chances alive, although both teams have to be deeply disturbed about their defenses' inabilities to slow down or in any way contain strong offenses.

- Great effort and great comeback from the heart-broken Bengals, but the Chargers were just too much at the end. San Diego continues to roll, clinching the #2 seed, but don't count these Bengals out yet. With their defense, and a very balanced attack, they can go on the road, and upset anybody in the playoffs.

- Absolutely unreal performaces across the board in the Cleveland-KC game. Nice to finally see the offense click, but the defense and special teams put up an epic fail on beyond epic proportions, surrendering TWO 100+ yard kickoff return TD's to Joshua Cribbs, who is THE BEST PLAYER nobody has heard of, and 286 yards + 3TD's to Jerome Harrison. Mad props to both players for their record-breaking days, and just another LOL bad day for the 2009 Chiefs. Still looking at the upside, Jamaal Charles IS this year's DeAngelo Williams, with another 150 yard day, and his 6th straight game in which he has reached paydirt. The playmakers on both sides of the ball are in place, but so much improvement needs to be made in the draft, free agency, and the development of our young players on both the offensive and defensive lines for us to be competitive next year.