Views from the Nosebleeds: 2016 NFL Regular Season, Week 15

Jeff Fisher can credit himself with starting a trend: when you're an average or putrid head coach, teams aren't waiting until the end of the season to relieve you of your duties.  If any of my fellow football fanatics think or feel anything like I do--especially if your name is Eric Dickerson--then you were thrilled at the news early last week of the Rams cutting ties with Mr. "7-9 Bullsh*t".  In five long and painful years, Fisher amassed a grand total of 31 wins, 45 losses and one tie and not one of those seasons was above .500.  In fact, with a lifetime record of 173-165-1 (.512) and without a winning season since 2008, he had the opportunity to break the all-time record for losses held by Dan Reeves (190-165-2, .535) had he stayed one more week in the position because the Rams lost that game, too.  (Surprise, surprise.)  Despite helping to build a reputable defense with Aaron Donald, Michael Brockers, Alec Ogletree and Robert Quinn, the Rams have trotted out one of the most putrid offensive units over the past five years--being no better than 23rd, residing in the bottom five for four years straight, being the worst offense since last year and averaging 18.3 PPG during his tenure.  Perhaps NewsOne Now's Roland Martin kept it the most candid:  "If y'all wanna understand White privilege, how does Jeff Fisher still have a job?  He's had six winning seasons in like 22 years...they gave him a two-year extension, and how does he reward them?  They go out there and get blown out 42-0!"  Speaking of blown...

THE PLUS/MINUS TAKE OF THE WEEK: HAPPY TRAILS, GUS BRADLEY (-4).  So much promise followed Gus Bradley as he left a cushy job as defensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks--who he guided from a 24th-ranked defense in 2009 to fourth best in 2012--to attempt to resuscitate a woeful Jaguars franchise, who hadn't had a winning season or been to the playoffs since 2007.  Unfortunately, his defensive pedigree didn't transfer over to Jacksonville as they were 24th, 26th and 24th in 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively.  Although the defense is surprisingly ranked seventh this year, the offense has consistently been abysmal, ranked 31st in his first two seasons, improving to 18th last year, but falling to 28th this year.  Moreover, the Jags are the league's second worst team in take-away/give-away differential (-17), which can be attributed to the regression of Blake Bortles after an impressive 2015 campaign.  Throw in blowing the opportunity to end an eight-game losing streak and spoil the Texans' chances of both winning the AFC South and making the playoffs in Houston and Jacksonville execs were stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Now let me tell it, they should've at least given him the last two games.  However, when you've only won 22.6 percent of your games as a head coach (which qualifies as the worst winning percentage in the Super Bowl era), maybe you don't deserve to finish your season with dignity.  Another rebuild begins in Northeast Florida...

THE HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE TAKE OF THE WEEK: WHEN YOU NO LONGER CONTROL YOUR OWN DESTINY.  Most won't care to admit it, but Skins fans around the nation were secretly hoping for the Cowboys to win against the Buccaneers on Sunday Night Football, which they did.  Unfortunately, Washington treated Dallas' gift-wrapped package as if it contained Anthrax instead of the No. 6 seed.  While Kirk Cousins wasn't as bad as he was last year against the defending NFC Champion Panthers defense, an errant interception and a bump sack fumble leading to a goal line Mike Tolbert TD catch made his 315 passing yards seem extremely empty--especially when he didn't throw a single TD.  Even with the struggles of the passing game--which included a hobbled Jordan Reed, who only managed one catch for six yards and was ejected for throwing a punch at an opponent--nothing was worse than the running game as Rob Kelley amassed a grand total of eight yards on nine carries, although he scored the Skins' only TD; in fact, Cousins was the leading rusher with two carries for eleven yards.  Now that's Cleveland Browns pitiful.

A struggling offense never assists an already meh defense.  Without rookie Su'a Cravens and signal caller Will Compton in the fold, Cam Newton--who came into last night's matchup already undefeated against the Skins--played through pain and posted one of his best games of an otherwise disappointing season (21 of 37, 300 yards, two TDs).  Having issues at safety all year long, Ted Ginn, Jr., burned Donte Whitner (and perhaps former teammate Josh Norman as well) on a blown Cover 4 for a 30-yard TD catch and the game's most exciting play.  Their porousness against the run since last season continued as they had absolutely no answer for Jonathan Stewart, who rushed for 132 tough yards on 25 carries.  Perhaps one of the only positives was they were better in preventing third down conversions as the Panthers could only muster 26.7 percent against the league's worst defense on third down, but when you drop a few INTs and can't turn a team over to steal back some momentum, then that combined with all of the other faux pas negates what will probably be an aberration.  Dropping behind Tampa Bay in the hunt for the final playoff spot in the NFC, the Skins have a good chance of missing the playoffs since the Packers have now taken their place.  Maybe they don't deserve it anyway because if they can't beat Carolina in a down year, then they'd probably get manhandled in the Wild Card against a team like the Falcons, who are beating the brakes off of folks as of late...

SCRIBBLER'S GAME OF THE WEEK: TENNESSEE TITANS 19, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS 17.  It was a toss-up between this and the Saints-Cardinals shootout for my "Game of the Week", but both the Titans and Chiefs had more to play for in terms of playoff seeding and divisional positioning than two teams who have both been eliminated from playoff contention.  In the first quarter, it appeared the Chiefs were trying to run away with the game early--and I mean literally on the strength of Tyreek Hill's electric 68-yard TD run and Alex Smith's ten-yard TD run.  However, the Chiefs' offense is not consistently the strength of the team as they only scored three points for the remainder of the game.  Although Marcus Mariota (19 of 33, 241 yards, one INT) didn't do leaps and bounds better than through the air than Alex Smith (15 of 28, 163 yards, one INT), two things bailed him out: 1) the Titans' defense kept Kansas City scoreless in the second half and 2) the one-two punch of DeMarco Murray (18 carries, 89 yards) and rookie Derrick Henry (nine carries, 58 yards, two TDs) kept Tennessee alive.

With about a minute left in the game and without any timeouts, Mariota surgically moved down the field to get in range for Ryan Succop, who started his career with the Chiefs in 2009.  When he missed his first kick, the Chiefs would've won the game if not for Andy Reid doing what always grinds my gears and calling a timeout to ice the kicker.  Unfortunately, "it backfired" as Reid plainly admitted in the post-game press conference as Succop took another whack at the piñata and nailed the walk-off game winner from 53 yards away.  "I felt like I hit the first one, and when it came up short, there was a second in my mind where I wasn't sure if I could reach from there," said Succop, who didn't even attempt a kick longer than 49 yards in pregame warmups.  "So on the second one, I kind of had to just throw technique out the window a little bit and really go after it and hit it as hard as I could."  While the Titans pulled into a tie with the Texans for the AFC South lead with this win and kept their playoff hopes alive, the Chiefs not only failed to clinch a playoff berth, but lost their lead in the AFC West to the Raiders.  (Granted, I don't strongly dislike the Chiefs as if they're the Cowboys, but I won't hide my excitement about that L...)

SCRIBBLER'S CHECKDOWNS:

• SEA 24, LA 3 (TNF): it didn't matter who was coaching the Rams.  Despite having Seattle's number over the past couple of years, I don't think anyone gave them a snowball's chance in hell to keep the 'Hawks from 1) winning the division and 2) taking advantage of a team in limbo.  I mean, how does your offense only gain 183 total yards?!?!  Wholesale changes on the horizon in the City of Angels;
• MIA 34, NYJ 13 (Saturday): this is how pitiful the Jets are right now.  They had more total yards than the Dolphins (360 to 303) and controlled the clock about five minutes longer, but when you're -3 in the turnover battle, you don't win many NFL games against teams looking to get into the playoffs.  What's even worse: they allowed Matt Moore, who hadn't started a game in five years, to burn them for four TD passes.  Look for Todd Bowles to be in the same line with Jeff Fisher and Gus Bradley;
• BAL 27, PHI 26: only the Eagles could only be two yards shy of the Ravens in total offensive yards (328 to 330), possess the ball for over 13 minutes longer, win the turnover ratio battle (+1) and be better at third-down conversion (44.4 percent to 36.3 percent) and still lose the game.  Despite Ryan Mathews having one of his best days as an Eagle (20 carries, 128 yards, one TD), the offense is going to struggle when Zach Ertz is the leading receiver (six catches, 80 yards) by 53 yards.  As for the Ravens, they're going to need to keep eating their Wheaties if they want to steal the AFC North back from the Steelers;
• BUF 33, CLE 13: in a game where neither QB blew you away with passing stats, this was predominantly about the ground game.  While the Browns' only TD came via RG3's legs (eight carries, 48 yards and the team's leading rusher), three of the Bills' four TDs were from LeSean McCoy (19 carries, 153 yards, two TDs) and Mike Gillislee (nine carries, 37 yards, one TD) while Tyrod Taylor chipped in another seven carries for 49 yards.  With questions swirling around about Rex Ryan's job security and Tyrod Taylor's viability as the team's field general in the next year or so, the Bills shouldn't hang their hat too much on this win against the now 0-14 Browns, who might get Hue Jackson fired in one year as if he wants to relive Oakland in 2011;
• GB 30, CHI 27: despite their receivers dropping TDs in eight-degree weather and Aaron Rodgers throwing not one TD largely because of the drops, the Packers have managed to find a running game with converted running back Ty Montgomery (16 carries, 162 yards, two TDs) and the recently-acquired Christine Michael (four carries, 45 yards, one TD).  Although Matt Barkley made this game interesting with 362 passing yards and two TDs along with Jordan Howard's 17 carries for 90 yards and a TD, Barkley's three INTs ruined the opportunity for the Bears to get their third win of the season and play spoiler to their NFC North rivals.  Don't look now, but that slow start for the Pack might be in the rear view if the Lions don't take care of business;
• IND 34, MIN 6: forget the struggling Vikings offense, who gave up three turnovers and were only good for 282 total yards including 34 on the ground with Adrian Peterson back in the lineup (six carries, 22 yards).  Forget Luck completing 75 percent of his passes for 250 yards and two TDs without T.Y. Hilton scoring one of them.  The Vikings' defense not only gave up 411 total yards of offense, but Frank Gore was responsible for 101 of those yards.  Don't get me wrong, Gore can still be a factor, but the Colts came in as a bottom-half rushing team and gained 161 yards on the ground. Minnesota simply didn't do anything to win this game while Indianapolis is keeping their slim hopes of winning the AFC South and making the playoffs alive;
• NYG 17, DET 6: despite not blowing Detroit away with their offensive attack with only 300 total yards, the Giants scored when and where they needed to do so while their defense forced two turnovers--including a late-game pick of Matthew Stafford to seal the deal.  Perhaps the most impressive play of the game was Odell Beckham, Jr.'s one-handed TD catch to help seal the deal.  Although I don't see the Cowboys losing both of their final two games (if they lose at all), the Giants are making their case as one of the NFC's most dangerous squads entering the playoffs while the Lions need consistent offense to keep up with the better teams in the conference come playoff time--that is, if they don't lose the division lead to the ascending Packers;
• PIT 24, CIN 20: this was not a statistical barn burner by any means.  Ben Roethlisberger nearly broke 300 yards (286), but he only tossed one TD.  Le'Veon Bell almost got 100 yards rushing (93), but didn't get into the end zone.  Most of Pittsburgh's points came because of Chris Boswell's money ball leg, booting six FGs including a 49-yarder.  It wasn't a pretty win, but when your defense holds the opposing offense to 232 total yards and wins the turnover ratio battle (+1), you don't care much for stats when a "W" in a two-horse race for the AFC North crown is the most important stat of all;
• NO 48, ARI 41: anybody wanna play some defense?  No...okay, that's cool.  Now it's one thing for the now-traditionally horrendous Saints defense to give up 425 yards of total offense--including two TDs and 108 all-purpose yards to David Johnson, who set an NFL record for the most consecutive games with at least 100 scrimmage yards (14).  However, it's worst when you're supposed to be the league's No. 1 total defense, but you give up 488 total yards--including 389 passing yards, four TDs and zero INTs to Drew Brees and seven catches, 186 yards and two TDs to the lightning-quick Brandin Cooks.  Still no takers for defense?  Y'all sure?  Okay, next game;
• ATL 41, SF 13: do I really have to give a take on this game?  Fine, here it goes: the 49ers defense is trash truck juice.  They gave up 550 yards of total offense, including 20 carries, 139 yards and three TDs to Devonta Freeman.  Meanwhile, poor Colin Kaepernick...he actually plays as mistake-free of a game as he can (20 of 33, 183 yards, two TDs), but the receiving game has a bunch of No. 3 receivers at best.  If they were better, then maybe Carlos Hyde would be more of a factor because they wouldn't always have to throw the ball and play from behind.  Rising to the No. 3 seed in the NFC and leveraging themselves in the NFC South after the Bucs' defeat in Arlington, the Falcons' offense is going to be a handful come playoff time;
• NE 16, DEN 3: unlike the Saints-Cardinals game, this was more of a defensive battle.  Both teams had a little more than 300 yards of total offense, including Tom Brady putting up an underwhelming 16-of-32, 188-yard performance.  However, it was the tenacity of the Patriots' special teams and defense which made the difference in the game, going +3 in turnover ratio, keeping Denver at only 16.7 percent on third down and limiting them to 58 total rushing yards.  Setting an NFL record for the most consecutive division wins (8), the Patriots are the team to beat in the AFC and I don't even think it's close.  Meanwhile, playing the Chiefs in Arrowhead and the Raiders at home to close out the season, the Broncos could more than likely miss the playoffs; 
• OAK 19, SD 16: coming off of a paltry offensive showing against the Chiefs, this wasn't one of Oakland's most impressive games this season either as Latavius Murray put one on the ground and Derek Carr threw an uncharacteristic INT early.  However, led by Bruce Irvin's five tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble, the front seven along with Sebastian Janikowski's good foot were the Raiders' saving grace as they broke their 14-year drought and earned a playoff berth.  As for the Chargers, I wouldn't be surprised if Mike McCoy joins Jeff Fisher, Gus Bradley, Todd Bowles and Rex Ryan at the end of the year; and
• DAL 26, TB 20: if Jameis Winston didn't throw three INTs and lose a fumble, then the Buccaneers could've beaten the Cowboys.  However, I don't think it would've mattered much because when you have Ezekiel Elliott gashing what was the league's best defense over the past five games for 23 carries, 159 yards and a TD as he inches closer to beating Eric Dickerson's rookie rushing record from 1983 (1,808), it's hard to stop a team with that much of an offensive arsenal.  Good bounce back game for the 'Boys while the Bucs are in danger of missing the playoffs for a ninth straight season.

SCRIBBLER'S CHOP LICKERS FOR WEEK 16:

• IND @ OAK, 4:05 p.m. (Christmas Eve): teams claim they don't scoreboard watch, but depending on what the Titans do against the Jaguars (which will probably be a win for Tennessee), the Colts will have more pressure on them to win than the playoff-bound Raiders because the only way they can make the playoffs at this point is if they win the AFC South.  However, Oakland still has plenty for which to play because the AFC West, a first-round bye and the possibility of home field advantage are all on the line.  With two defenses in the bottom five, this has potential shootout written all over it;
• BAL @ PIT, 4:30 p.m. (Christmas Day): within the last decade, there are few rivalries in the NFL which can compare to Ravens vs. Steelers--especially when it means playoffs or bust.  Context: the Joe Flacco-led Ravens are one of the few teams who have nearly split with the Steelers at Heinz Field--Baltimore is 4-4 in the regular season while Pittsburgh is 2-1 in the postseason since Flacco's arrival in 2008.  However, despite being imperfect at home in 2016 (4-2), the Steelers are on a five-game winning streak and the AFC North is on the line.  I usually don't pick a team and I feel like the Steelers have the hotter offense, but don't sleep on the Ravens on the road against their most hated rival;
• DEN @ KC, 8:30 p.m. (SNF): as only the second game played on Christmas, somebody will end up with a piece of coal in their stocking at the end of this AFC West showdown between two teams desperately needing a win.  The Broncos have the toughest path to the playoffs as they have to win out for a shot and can at least boast a stout defense, but their struggling offense has to keep pace with a team who can score a multitude of ways when necessary.  The winner of this game may not even need 20 points to get the W as this could be a slow crawl to the finish line; and
• DET @ DAL, 8:30 p.m. (MNF): the Lions did themselves a huge disservice by losing on the road to the Giants because the first of their two toughest games of the season is awaiting them at AT&T Stadium.  Granted, Detroit could be looking for a bit of revenge after arguably being cheated out of a playoff win two seasons ago, but these Cowboys are disputably better than the 2014 squad.  Although I don't see the Lions pulling this one out, they need this win to avoid the immense pressure of the New Year's Day showdown with the Packers for the NFC North title and nobody in Motown wants to face Aaron Rodgers for their playoff livelihood--not even at Ford Field.