GEORGE: 10 NFL Thoughts From Week 15

Some thoughts coming off of Week 15 in the NFL:

1) Okay, it happened. Lower your expectations, everyone.

Everyone from Presque Isle, Maine, to Greenwich, Connecticut, from Burlington, Vermont, to Orleans, Massachusetts, from Alice’s Restaurant to Nick’s No-Name, they all expected to be wearing new t-shirts and caps after hitting a Bob’s Sporting Goods store on Monday. New England Patriots. 2025 AFC East Champs. Up 21-0 in the first half. Up 24-7 at the intermission.

And then…

Tom E. Curran said it best: “The Patriots simply got Josh Allen’d.”

And so, the gear will have to wait.

The Bills showed the Patriots what December football is like. Actually, they showed the Patriots what January football is like.

The Patriots are still a good team. They just might not be a great team. If Bill Belichick were still here, he’d say something like “I’ve won six Super Bowls. Believe me, you guys haven’t done nothin’.” And he’s right. Their regular season status might be 9.2 (if 10 is the highest score). Their postseason status is 0.0. Mr. Blutarsky understands that.

2) Geek of the week: In reality, you, the Patriots fan, are glad that Miami lost on Monday night at Pittsburgh to eliminate them from the playoffs. But to see head coach Mike McDaniel fritter away the clock when it looked like they were making a late fourth-quarter run at the Steelers was dumbfounding. Troy Aikman was going out of his mind in the ESPN booth. “I can’t believe this. None of this makes sense. This is awful football.” This is paraphrasing Aikman during the waning minutes and seconds of the game. They just simply conceded the game and the season to the Steelers. In three weeks, let’s hope they play the Patriots this way. Especially if, say, fans are throwing snow in the air like several years ago.

3) So, here’s what’s what.

Denver has not clinched the one seed yet. What they have clinched is winning any tiebreaker with the Patriots. If the AFC Championship and Super Bowl berth go through Denver, there really isn’t anyone, especially the Patriots, who might be either favored or likely to win. Allen might give Buffalo a puncher’s chance, but Allen’s postseason history isn’t like Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes. Put Denver at home in the altitude, and the other team is always sucking wind in the second half.

4) Denver clinches the AFC West with a win versus Jacksonville and a Chargers loss at Dallas. The Broncos clinch the one seed if all of the following happen: they win, and the Chargers, Patriots, and Bills all lose. Buffalo is at Cleveland, so that won’t be likely to happen.

5) The Patriots clinch a playoff berth if they beat Baltimore, or if either Houston or Indianapolis loses on Sunday. With the Ravens suddenly back in the AFC North picture, the Patriots had better be ready, but they were ready this past Sunday, and look what happened. Now they get to deal with Lamar Jackson. Contain him and make him pass the ball, and the Patriots probably win. Except there’s also Derrick Henry. When is Milton Williams coming back?

Here’s the bad part: the Patriots had better win. With Buffalo at Cleveland, and a Bills win likely, the AFC East is really up for grabs if New England loses. I am sure Mike Vrabel knows all this, and so do his players.

Buffalo, Jacksonville, and the Chargers have the exact same scenario as the Patriots to clinch a playoff berth. Denver clinches the AFC West with a win and a Charger loss.

Make it easy, Patriots. Win out.

6) Back to school: Sherrone Moore, meet Ime Udoka. Except Udoka wasn’t in the hoosegow the night he was fired by Michigan as their head football coach. Not having been to Ann Arbor since 1983, I have been hearing all sorts of whispers and sidebars to this Michigan football catastrophe, such as Moore dating this subordinate has been an “open secret”. And it all makes me feel astounded that it went on this long. Now the Wolverines are crossing their fingers that they can talk Alabama head coach Kaylen deBoer to move to Ann Arbor.

Which leads me to this: Damn you, Patriots and Michigan, for getting into trouble that you don’t need to be getting into. The Patriots have SpyGate, DeflateGate, and MayoGate (if you believe that there was skullduggery going on in the replacing of Belichick). Michigan has the sign-stealing, a worker who got fired, and both Moore and Jim Harbaugh have suffered through multi-game suspensions. If Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator, Jesse Minter (formerly with the Ravens), were to go back to Ann Arbor, even he faces a show-cause suspension if he returns.

Neither one of these programs needed to do these stupid transgressions to further their brand. I have gone through over a decade being called a “cheater” because I root for the Patriots. Now I get the same thing since Michigan won it all in 2023. And can’t employees at least check with HR to see what qualifies as “inappropriate relations”? Now we have to hope whoever takes over as head coach of the Wolverines has Joe Mazzulla on his speed dial.

7) Ugh. Sunday was not a good day for the NFL brand.

On the same day, both Patrick Mahomes and Micah Parsons tore their ACLs. They are both gone for the year.

The Packers are at least in play for the postseason. Not the Chiefs. Their loss to the Chargers at home eliminated them from the playoffs. First time since 2014 that the playoffs won’t include the Chiefs. Chief fans have to be totally distressed.

Reminds me of back in June, when I was in Kansas City with my Dodger fan daughter. We went into this store called Rally House, looking for souvenirs (honk if you have heard of this store or have been in one). I talked to this nice girl at the checkout counter, who was a Chiefs fan, and I told her I was a Patriots fan. I asked her, “How does it feel to be hated by sports fans everywhere?” And, “How does Patrick Mahomes feel being the most disliked player in the NFL?” I finished with this: “Enjoy all of this while you can! This will not last forever! Look at my Patriots! You are now what we used to be! Do not ever take any of this for granted!” She smiled, nodded her head, and we talked some more. She understood everything I said. Wonder how she feels now.

8) Remember him: For four years, Jamal Lewis held the record for most rushing yards in an NFL game. Against Cleveland on September 14, 2003, Lewis burst for 295 rushing yards, which broke the old record of 278 yards held by former Patriot Corey Dillon. Lewis’ record stood up until Adrian Peterson of the Vikings broke it by one yard in 2007 against the Chargers. From 2000 to 2008, Lewis was arguably the best running back in the NFL.

In seven of those nine years he rushed for over 1,000 yards (one of those years, 2001, was missed completely due to injury). In 2003, the year he broke the single-game record, he rushed for 2,066 yards, becoming the fifth running back in league history to top 2,000 yards in a season. He retired after the 2009 season, having spent his last three seasons with Cleveland. He has 10,607 career rushing yards, and one has to wonder why Canton hasn’t opened its doors to this guy.

9) Why did Pittsburgh bring George Pickens to the Steel City?

This guy takes more plays off than James Harden when he’s on defense. With Dallas, there were games where Pickens would miss blocks on purpose, run lazy, incorrect routes, and look totally disinterested out there.

Joe Buck and Aikman mentioned something in their broadcast. Aaron Rodgers was talking about a recent game where the Steelers had to come from behind. Rodgers looked at Pickens during the game and said, to paraphrase, “I just didn’t feel that he could do it, just by looking at him. He just wasn’t up to it, he just wasn’t into it.”

You want that guy in your foxhole? How he is still in the league is amazing.

Or, even worse, his talent potential outweighs what you actually see on the field.

10) Here’s what’s what: Patriots need to beat Baltimore. Find a way.

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About Bob George

Covering Boston Sports since 1997. Native of Worcester, Mass. Attended UMass and Univ of Michigan. Lives in California. Just recently retired after 40 years of public school teaching. Podcasts on YouTube at @thepic4139

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