On Sunday, we saw the Detroit Lions win for the 7th time in 8 games and maintain their 2 game lead in the NFC North. With 3 games remaining, the Lions have the toughest schedule in the NFC. QB Matt Stafford injured his throwing hand and it could hurt the Lions chances going forward. The Vikings kept their playoff hopes alive downing the Jaguars that saw Jacksonville lose their 8th straight game. In a battle for 1st place in the AFC South, Houston went into Indy and beat the Colts. Another blown game by HC Rex Ryan and his staff. Meanwhile the Titans at home, also remained tied for 1st place in the AFC South with the Texans as they downed the Broncos in a defensive battle. In a snow filled and windy day in Buffalo, the Steelers ran the ball roughshod all afternoon long and beat the Bills to take over 1st place in the AFC North. Pittsburgh whose defense is finally coming around is heading towards the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the AFC. Carolina took care of business at home winning easily over the San Diego Chargers. In the game the Chargers saw star RB Melvin Gordon go down with a knee and hip injury and number one pick Joey Bosa go out with a possible concussion. Miami at home beat the Arizona Cardinals all but ending the Cardinals slim playoff chances and keeping the Dolphins chances alive. Dolphin QB Ryan Tannehill went down with a bad knee injury ending his season and as it has looked all year long, Cardinals QB Carson Palmer has struggled badly and seems to be on the downside of his career. It is time for the Cardinals to look for his replacement. In another game played in the snow, the Bengals beat the Browns keeping the Browns losing streak at 13 games. And the Redskins went into Philly and beat the Eagles in a must win game for Washington. The Eagles season is all done after a 3-0 start they have mailed it in.
The Sunday afternoon and night games, the NY Jets eked out an overtime win against the 49'ers, thus continuing San Francisco's 12 game losing streak. The Packers spanked the Seahawks in Green Bay to win their 3rd game in a row and for the 3rd game in a row the Seattle offense was non existent. In LA, the Falcons trounced the hapless Rams in a game that was Rams HC Jeff Fisher's last game as He was fired the next day. It was a curious firing in the least since the Rams gave Fisher a 2 year extension just a few weeks ago. It will be interesting to see who the Rams will go after but already names thrown around are 2 of the top Collegiate Coaches in Jim Harbaugh and Nick Saban. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won their 5th straight game and are in the running for the NFC Playoffs behind a very strong defense in downing the New Orleans Saints. And in the game of the week on a very cold Sunday night, the NY Giants rallied in the 2nd half to beat the Dallas Cowboys ending the Cowboys 11 game winning streak and also being the only team to beat the Cowboys this season so far and they have beat them then twice this season. The game showcased the NY Giants defense playing strong as it has late in the season and having just enough offense thanks to a long TD catch and run by Odell Beckham in the 3rd quarter. Also, amazing for some fans are calling for QB Dak Prescott to be replaced by back up QB Tony Romo after the loss. the Cowboys are 11-2 with Prescott, he is the Man at QB. Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones needs to stop playing Coach and let HC Jason Garrett and the team play behind their choice in QB's which is Prescott all the way.
On Monday night, in the freezing cold weather in Foxborough, the New England Patriots behind future HOF QB Tom Brady held on to beat the Baltimore Ravens. Brady threw for over 400 yards and 3 TD's as the Patriots are now a game ahead of the Chiefs and Raiders for the best record in the AFC.
Also on Monday, some NFL players, most notably Seattle's Richard Sherman criticized the NFL for playing games on Thursday nights for teams who played the previous Sunday are saying it is too hard for Players to be ready for a game on only 3 days of rest. I respect the players and their speaking out on issues but the NFL and its players have been playing Thursday night games for a long time now. The game played during the week brings in extra revenue to both the teams and the players via more salary cap money. If the players are ok with a lower salary cap and lower salaries and the Owners are ok with making less money, the hey I am all for it. Also here is another thought when scheduling teams for Thursday night games, see if it is possible to schedule the teams to play on a Sunday, then play on a Thursday night 11 days later and then play their next game 11 days after that on the following Sunday. Or even, give teams an extra bye week during the season so that all teams have 2 bye weeks during the season instead of just one. Not sure they could do it with the schedules but maybe they could work it out. The NFL also needs to address their domestic violence policy better and work with the NFLPA to take all the loopholes out of it and make the penalty for violating this policy a very strict suspension. Officiating is looking even worse then ever as pick plays, pass interference on the offense and defense continues not to be called and late hits and roughing the passes depends more on who the player is, then was the play an actual penalty or not? Ratings are also low due to the parity in the game and as they do every year they select the teams before the season for the Thursday night and Sunday night games. Cooper went 10-6 in his week 14 picks and is 156-50-2 for the season We will continue to post His record for each weekend and season total. twitter; @cupofjoeinthed email; cupofjoeinthed@gmail.com
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| Cooper after making his Week 15 NFL Power Rankings |
WEEK 15
NFL Team Power Rankings
1. Patriots
2. Chiefs
3. Cowboys
4. Raiders
5. Lions
6. NY Giants
7. Steelers
8. Seahawks
9. Buccaneers
10. Falcons
11. Broncos
12. Redskins
13. Dolphins
14. Packers
15. Titans
16. Vikings
17. Ravens
18. Texans
19. Colts
20. Panthers
21. Saints
22. Bills
23. Bengals
24. Chargers
25. Eagles
26. Cardinals
27. Bears
28. NY Jets
29. LA Rams
30. Jaguars
31. 49'ers
32. Browns
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