They Control Their Own Destiny

Every year, there is always one team that just needs to take care of business and the reward will be beneficial come January. For the Baltimore Ravens they are in the driver seat for home field advantage in the AFC. They are one game ahead of the Miami Dolphins and two games ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs. Baltimore’s victory against Jacksonville on Sunday night put them well ahead of the Jaguars atop the AFC. Even if the Ravens do falter down the stretch, that doesn’t mean that Miami or Kansas City will take advantage of it. If Baltimore wants to avoid that scenario, winning two out of their last three games will help with that. That includes defeating the Miami Dolphins in Week 17. The Ravens are playing well at the right time, but they mustn’t falter going forward.

A New Way To Win A Game

It was no secret that the achilles heel of the Dallas Cowboys defense this season is their struggles stopping the run. The Buffalo Bills haven’t been known for running the ball particularly well the last few seasons. That changed quickly with the way they played the Dallas Cowboys. RB James Cook had a career game with 179 yards rushing and 42 more through the air. He could have had three touchdowns had it not been for a dropped pass near the end zone. QB Josh Allen didn’t even throw for over 100 yards, but he really didn’t need to with the way Cook was used throughout the game. This was something that Buffalo needed sooner than later. Have someone other than Josh Allen being their best rusher. It’s coming at the best time possible for them as they fight for playoff positioning in the AFC.

It’s About Damn Time

During his first season as the head coach, Brandon Staley and the Los Angeles Chargers lost their final game of the season against their division rivals the Las Vegas Raiders. They were both vying for the final playoff spot in the AFC and a boneheaded decision to go for it on 4th down deep in their own territory was one of many regrettable decisions during that game. The Chargers clinched a playoff spot last season, but ended up blowing a 27-0 lead in the Wild Card game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Most folks would have fired Staley for losing a game like that. Not the Chargers though. This season wasn’t any better with a team that was expected to be in the playoffs once again. They lost two high scoring affairs against Miami and Detroit. Lost two winnable games against the Dallas Cowboys and the Tennessee Titans. Thoroughly outplayed the Green Bay Packers and Baltimore Ravens in consecutive weeks, but lost late in those contests. Injuries certainly played a role in the Chargers demise this year, but the way this defense has played under the guidance of a defensive minded head coach is laughable. Especially late in games that they should have won easily. They lost QB Justin Herbert during their embarrassing home loss to the Denver Broncos. Yet, it was their blowout loss to the Raiders the following week that was the last straw for management. Staley wasn’t the only one fired as their general manager Tom Telesco was also shown the door. The free agent signing of CB J.C. Jackson before the 2022 season is going to be hanging over this franchise’s head for a while. It’s up there as one of the worst free agent signings in NFL history. The signs were there for quite some time that this wasn’t going to work for the Chargers. It’s best that they went ahead and did it now instead of waiting until the season was over. Now the question is who will they get? QB Justin Herbert will be back to full health for next year, but the team might have some salary cap issues as well. This will be an interesting situation to watch once the season is over.