It’s late November, which means the Seattle Seahawks are rounding into form for a Super Bowl run.
It’s true! The Seahawks are 13-2 in November the last four seasons. There’s a good reason for that: November has been Russell Wilson’s best month as a pro. In 15 career November games, Wilson has 27 touchdowns against six interceptions. And this year, he’s had the best back-to-back weeks of his career in November: a week after a three-TD performance, Wilson threw for 325 yards and five touchdowns in the Seahawks’ 39-30 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Seahawks improved to 6-5 and are currently slotted as the sixth seed in the NFC.
Wilson hasn’t been bad this year, but fans expecting him to make the leap to an elite quarterback have been a bit disappointed. He threw just 10 touchdowns through his first nine games, and bottomed out with a 14-for-32 performance in a loss to Arizona in Week 10. (Yes, that was his worst November performance ever.) His three TDs against San Francisco’s leaky secondary could be considered a fluke. But his five TD performance against the Steelers makes you wonder if his team are poised to make another run.
The Carolina Panthers are currently the NFC favorite; they’re 11-0 and will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs. But no one would count out Seattle against them if the two met in the playoffs. But the reports earlier this year of the Seahawks’ demise were overstated. This is a team that could go through the playoffs to their third straight Super Bowl, even if they have to play three road games.
Sunday’s win was the first time Wilson beat a team when the opposition scored 25 points or more. Seattle entered the fourth quarter trailing the Steelers by a point, but Wilson led the team on TD drives on three straight possessions. He hit Jermaine Kearse from nine yards out and Doug Baldwin on TDs of 30 and 80 yards, the second of which put the game away.
Wilson was aided by a few bizarre decisions by Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. The game featured several bizarre decisions by Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, including a play where Pittsburgh came out in field goal formation, shifted to a shotgun and ended with Landry Jones attempting to hit Army Ranger-turned offensive lineman Alejandro Villanueva on a pass. (Jeremy Lane intercepted it and returned it 54 yards.) And after successfully going for two for the sixth time this year — tying an NFL record — Tomlin decided to kick a field goal on fourth and goal at the Seattle three-yard line with just three minutes left. A minute later, Baldwin was in the end zone and Pittsburgh’s chances were done.
Wilson’s successes are good news for Seattle, as their defense doesn’t appear to be at the level it was the last few years. As ESPN’s Sheil Kapadia noted during Sunday’s game, the Steelers essentially moved the ball at will throughout the game. And the offense may be under more pressure, too: Tight end Jimmy Graham tore his patellar tendon late in the game, and will be out for the rest of the season. He has been a bit of a disappointment since coming over from New Orleans in the offseason, with just two touchdowns, but that probably means the Seahawks can absorb the loss.
And as the clock turns to the final month of the regular season on Tuesday, other NFL teams may have good reason to be worried: The Seahawks are 12-2 in December the last three years. Watch out.
Stat of the week
73%. Late in the fourth quarter of the Patriots’ 30-24 loss to the Broncos on Sunday, Darian Stewart went low on Rob Gronkowski as the tight end went up for a Tom Brady pass. Gronkowski went to the ground clutching his knee. He was carted off, and the Patriots were down another one of Tom Brady’s weapons. Gronk took up about 20% of the Patriots receptions this year. The Patriots were already missing Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola and Dion Lewis on Sunday night. Coming into the game, those four caught 73% of Tom Brady’s passes this season.
After Gronk’s injury and a Patriots punt, Brock Osweiler drove the Broncos 83 yards in just five plays for the go-ahead touchdown pass to Andre Caldwell. Brady was left with a depleted receiving corps, but no matter. He hit Scott Chandler for passes of 22 and 10 yards, then hit Brandon LaFell for 14 yards. Stephen Gostkowski sent the game into OT.
Denver eventually won the game on a CJ Anderson 48-yard touchdown run. The Broncos ended the Patriots’ perfect season in style, too, rallying from a 21-7 deficit (and getting a little help on a few borderline calls). But while the Patriots were able to tie the game with a quick 51-yard drive with a bunch of backups, they did nothing in OT: New England’s lone drive went backwards seven yards.
At the time of writing on Sunday night there was no word on the injury to Gronk although he was able to walk to the team bus after the game. New England is expected to get Amendola and Edelman back eventually. How many more injuries can they weather? Are Tom Brady and Bill Belichick enough?
For the Broncos, things are looking up. Osweiler led his second straight comeback win, throwing for 270 yards and the score. If Peyton Manning is cleared to play again this season, the Broncos are going to have to decide if it’s worth it to put him back in the lineup. And Osweiler has a notable stat of his own after tonight: 1-0, his career record against Tom Brady.
Quote of the week
I run this defense, I’m going to be here for the next five years, there is no guarantee any of you will be as well. Only a handful of guys are good enough to play with me right now
That was Ndamukong Suh to his Dolphins team-mates, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Suh, who signed a $114m deal this offseason but has disappointed this season, was accused of “going rogue” and ignoring coaches early in the year. Coach Joe Philbin was fired after a 1-3 start, and Suh had been better in Weeks 10 and 11 with 17 total tackles. Rapaport said the team was split on Suh’s speech. “Some saw this as the kind of address a leader would give,” he said. “Others, just something they’ve never heard before.” (Several players told Miami Herald columnist Armando Salguero that Suh didn’t say anything about running the defense.)
Regardless of how Suh’s team-mates took it, it didn’t help on the field this week. The Dolphins gave up four touchdown passes to Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Jets routed Miami, 38-20. The most memorable play of the game was a Chris Ivory run where he broke four or five tackles en route to the end zone. Suh had four total tackles, tied for his fourth-highest tackle output of the year.
Fantasy player of the week
Adrian Peterson: 29 carries, 158 yards, 2 TDs; 2 catches, 29 yards.
In the penultimate week of the regular season in most fantasy leagues, Peterson put up his best fantasy performance of the season. His statistics in Week 12 mean about 30 points in most leagues – the type of performance most fantasy owners were hoping for when they took him back in August.
For the 8-3 Vikings, Peterson’s performance helped them to a 20-10 win over the Falcons. Teddy Bridgewater threw for just 174 yards, but Peterson helped Minnesota to drives of 74, 69 and 67 yards. They only scored 13 points on those four drives – Peterson’s other TD came after the Falcons were stopped on downs – but that was enough. They are now a game up in the NFC North over the Packers.
The Falcons, who started 5-0, are now 6-5 and out of the playoffs after Seattle’s victory over Pittsburgh in the afternoon. Carolina can actually wrap up the NFC South with another win or a Falcons loss.
How the Patriots cheated this week
NESN’s Doug Kyed shared a story this week about the secret behind Logan Ryan’s success this season: he played quarterback at Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees, New Jersey. And, during his redshirt season in college at Rutgers, Ryan led the scout team. “I almost got moved to offense because my redshirt year, I was the scout-team quarterback toward the end of the year and did so well, they eventually just made me the best offensive player we’d play that week,” Ryan said.
Ryan’s arm was too weak to play quarterback past the prep level, but this has to be cheating. Using quarterbacks at cornerback? This is the worst thing Bill Belichick has done since using a wide receiver at cornerback.
Gif of the week
Dabbing is over. Manninging is lit. pic.twitter.com/s2VsDAiW7y
— Mike Tunison (@xmasape) November 29, 2015
For a while, it looked like nobody wanted to win the NFC East. Eli Manning threw two interceptions in his first six passes. Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins threw a sure pick-six that was dropped by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Given the reprieve, Dustin Hopkins had a field goal blocked.
Eventually, though, the comedy of errors ended. Cousins threw a 66-yard TD to DeSean Jackson, who outraced two defenders and backpedaled into the end zone. Cousins later scored on a sneak from a yard out, and it was 17-0 at halftime. Another field goal made it 20-0. The Giants scored twice in the fourth quarter, including one TD on another incredible Odell Beckham catch, but their desperate last chance play ended with Eli Manning lateraling the ball across the field and out of bounds.
“Too little, too late,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin told the media postgame. “We didn’t play well in the first half at all… we give them two quick turnovers and field position. That was the story of the game.” Manning attempted 51 passes in the game; the Giants ran for just 33 yards on 13 carries. Meanwhile, Washington moves into first place in the NFC East despite a 5-6 record. The Eagles, who gave up 90 points in five days last week, are just a game out of first place and play the current division leaders in Week 16 and the Giants (also 5-6) in Week 17. Who knows, maybe 3-8 Dallas can make a run ...
Elsewhere around the league
— A holding penalty on the Titans’ BW Webb kept the Raiders alive after a fourth-down pass fell incomplete with two minutes left. Derek Carr hit Seth Roberts in the end zone two plays later and the Raiders beat Tennessee on the road, 24-21. Roberts, a rookie, caught six passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns on seven targets, all career highs. Derek Carr led his third fourth-quarter comeback drive of his career.
The Raiders snapped a three-game skid with the win, and improved to 5-6 on the season. They are just a game behind 6-5 Kansas City, and play the Chiefs next week at home with a chance to move ahead of them on tiebreakers. It’s crowded, though: Two other teams are 6-5, and Buffalo also 5-6.
— Nick Foles returned to the starting lineup for the St Louis Rams today due to Case Keenum’s concussion last week, and things went about as badly as they did during his first spell as starter. He threw three picks and the Rams lost by 24 to the Cincinnati Bengals. Likely offensive Rookie of the year Todd Gurley (19 yards rushing on nine carries) had fewer yards than Tavon Austin (31 yards on four carries, and a touchdown).
Afterward, some reporters questioned the Rams’ effort. Coach Jeff Fisher didn’t take that lightly: “If anyone implies it’s an effort issue, you can kiss my ass.” He said the team wasn’t executing instead. Of course, against the now 9-2 Bengals it may not have mattered. Andy Dalton threw two touchdowns to AJ Green and one to Tyler Eifert. They’re now 9-2, and the second seed in the AFC as the league enters the December home stretch.
— The last time the Chiefs lost, the Royals were up 2-0 in the American League Championship Series. Kansas City (the NFL team, that is) have won five straight after a 1-5 start, and are now in playoff position in the AFC – this despite losing Jamaal Charles for the season to an ACL tear. On Sunday, they didn’t have backup Charcandrick West either. So third-string RB Spencer Ware – once the Seahawks backup fullback – ran for 114 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. He’s rushed for 210 yards over the last two weeks, averaging seven yards a carry.
— The Texans and Colts won this week; both teams are tied atop the AFC South at 6-5 (the Colts have the head-to-head tiebreaker). In Indianapolis, Matt Hasselbeck threw for 312 yards and two touchdowns in the 25-12 win over the Buccaneers. The Texans held Drew Brees without a touchdown in their 24-6 win over the Saints; it ended Brees’ streak of 45 games with a touchdown pass. It was also the first time in 155 games New Orleans failed to score a TD.
