Hot Takes: NFL Week 12

Week twelves is cooked like Turkey, so get your HOT TAKES! I'm light on takes this year. No leftovers from Thanksgiving. Sorry.

1. Patriots Lose

It wasn’t the Manning vs. Brady showdown that we were hoping for when the schedule was first released, but it turned out to be just as good. The Patriots led 21-7 in the fourth quarter and seemed well on their way to staying unbeaten until a muffed punt, some bad penalties, and major injury led the Broncos comeback.

Just about everything that could go wrong for the Patriots in the fourth did go wrong. The muffed punt set up the Broncos at the New England 36. Four plays later they were in the endzone. The Patriots still had their chances to put Denver away, but the Denver defense held strong and benefitted from a questionable offensive pass interference call that would’ve allowed the Patriots to chew more clock. They also benefitted from Rob Gronkowski’s injury. The big tight end went down with three minutes left in the game and the Patriots up 21-17. The Broncos got the ball back and Brock Osweiler led them down the field, hitting big plays to Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders before throwing a touchdown pass to Andre Caldwell, which was set up by a questionable holding call on the Patriots. Brady led the Patriots down the field for a game-tying field goal even though the refs tried to screw them over with poor rule explanations. The Broncos won on the first drive in OT as C.J. Anderson broke off a 48-yard TD run. 

I never bought into the “Patriots will go undefeated” talk just because it’s a long season, injuries happen, the league hates them. But when you look at everything that went wrong for them, you realize just how much it takes for this team to lose. 

The bigger story here is Denver’s future. Osweiler is 2-0 as a starter and had a hand in giving the best team in the league their first loss. Manning is expected to miss a few more weeks, and if Osweiler continues to play this well, it’s tough to see Manning resuming his role as the starter given how poorly he was playing pre-injury. If I’m Denver, I’m sticking with Osweiler if he continues to play like this. 

2. And Then There Was One

No one had the Panthers as the last unbeaten team. No one. Yet here we are, twelve weeks into the season, and the Carolina Panthers have zero losses. You can say they’ve benefitted from an easy schedule and weak division, but the fact is, they’ve beaten every team put in front of them.

Even though they have a favorable schedule down the stretch, I can’t see them going 16-0. They’ll be playing a lot of desperate teams in the next five weeks and it’s possible that they lock up a first round bye with two-three games remaining. At that point, health has to be a concern. 16-0 would be nice, but this team is thinking big picture. 

I still have my concerns about the offense, but this defense is as good as any team in the league. Josh Norman is arguably the best corner in the game, Luke Kuechly is the best linebacker, and the front four is finally healthy. The weakness used to be the safeties, but Kurt Coleman is second in the league with five interceptions, so he’s making teams pay for trying to pick on him. 

They say that defense wins championships and right now, the Panthers have a championship defense.

3. The NFC East

No one had the Redskins as winning the NFC East. But would you really bet against them right now? Better question, if you’re not betting on the Redskins, who are you betting on? The Cowboys are essentially done without Romo, the Eagles might trade their coach for a draft pick, and I have no clue what’s going on in New York. This division is a mess and the Redskins might be the cleanest of the bunch. They’re not a good team, but being the best of the worst still counts for something in the NFL. Just ask last year’s Panthers.

I’m still picking the Giants to win the division, but I have zero confidence in the pick. They had a chance to pull slightly away from the competition with a win this past Sunday and Eli Manning threw three picks. They have no running game and, as great as Odell Beckham Jr. is, he’s a receiver all by himself out there now that Victor Cruz is done for the year. I still trust Manning and Coughlin more than I trust Gruden and Cousins, but they’re making it tougher and tougher for me to believe in them with each passing week.

Quick Takes

*Really, Green Bay? On Brett Favre night, you come out and lose to the Bears? Look, the Packers are the wild card team I wouldn’t want to face, but it’s clear that this team has issues right now. I didn’t think Aaron Rodgers would miss Jordy Nelson as much as he is, but something is wrong with Rodgers and the Packers offense. I have confidence that they’ll turn it around, but they certainly aren’t the team that we thought they were.

*Would you trade the #1 overall pick for Chip Kelly? If you would, then you’ll quickly realize why you’ve sucked as a NFL franchise for years now.

*Obligatory mentioning of the Chiefs and the Bengals.

*Everyone criticized Cam Newton for dancing against the Titans a few weeks ago. Now, after every single play, the guy who makes the play gets up and dabs. I think it’s a dumb move (is it really a dance?) but you can’t say that Cam hasn’t once again influenced league celebrations. 

*The Steelers should sign Tim Tebow.

*THE TRUTH AUSTIN DAVIS IS BACK!!!!