Each week of the NFL season brings plenty of new questions … and answers to some old ones, too. Let’s recap what we learned in Week 12… and what we’ll be interested in in Week 13 and beyond.
QUESTION: Does Bryce Young have some juice after all?
The NFL is a snap judgment league where impressions are easy to make and hard to break. So it’s going to take a lot of good play for Bryce Young to break the initial impression of a “slump” that has developed over the course of his career. Fortunately for Young, he’s been quietly putting together some really, really strong performances. Sure, Carolina keeps losing, but Young is finally starting to look comfortable on the job. For example, this might be his best throw as a pro:
And Sunday’s game — 263 yards, one touchdown — may be his most complete game as a pro, a precise pocket passing game that leans on his skill and size. Granted, that’s pretty damned faint praise, but considering Young’s career ended with a weekly garbage time this season, it’s a pretty strong rebound. And against the two-time defending Super Bowl champion, no less. Carolina isn’t making the playoffs, but the Panthers may have just salvaged their dignity for the season thanks to Young becoming the player Carolina has been praying would return.
ANSWERED: Baker Mayfield is the best QB in the NFL
Analytics has brought the game of the NFL to life, giving us endless ways to assess and predict how any player, team or coach will react in any given situation. They are an essential weapon in building a championship team. But analytics cannot explain something like this:
Or this, a quarterback making a block 40 yards down the field:
Baker Mayfield throws himself into every play like he’s thrown off the back of a jet ski. He’s a big reason why the Buccaneers remain on the fringes of playoff contention despite catastrophic injuries to key receivers. In an era where quarterbacks are becoming downright golfy with their nonchalant, nonchalant demeanor, Mayfield is a loud, brash tailback, the kind of quarterback who would have been smoking a cigarette 50 years ago. We need more than he does and get much less.
QUESTION: Will Saquon Barkley Kill ‘Hard Knocks’ Forever?
In retrospect, there is no more infamous moment in the history of the “Hard Knocks” franchise than last season, when Giants owner John Mara expressed his dismay at the idea of letting Saquon Barkley go to the Eagles.
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This is foreshadowing on the level of Greek tragedy. Barkley has been absolutely spectacular this entire season; dropped 302 yards of total offense and two touchdowns on the Rams on Sunday night on national television. At the same time, the Giants are an exercise in utter front-office-driven futility, brandishing a poorly constructed roster and an indifferent lineup that even players call “soft.”
Barkley’s decision blew up so badly that it’s not unreasonable to think that no NFL front office will ever want cameras in a building again, just to protect themselves from having their pants ripped off in public like this.
ANSWERS: The NFC East is the most entertaining division in the NFL
The NFC West is the most competitive football division, the NFC North is the toughest. But pound for pound, you can’t beat the NFC East for sheer entertainment value. (Note that “fun football” doesn’t necessarily mean “good football.”) Just think of what we’ve seen this year: a rising star making a generational Hail (Washington), a washed-up star reinventing his game and inspiring a team (Eagles ), a total disaster illuminated by streaming sunlight (Dallas) and a train wreck right in the middle of a container fire (New York).
From this division, you have two of the most ridiculous plays of the season: Jayden Daniels’ Hail Mary against Chicago a few weeks ago and Sunday’s KaVontae Turpin absurdity of a missed kick, unnecessary spin and home call:
This division will probably only get one team into the playoffs after all, but what a ridiculous ride it has been so far.
QUESTION: Should we contract with the AFC South?
The Texans are supposedly the best team in the AFC South. The Texans lost to the Titans, one of the worst teams in football, on Sunday despite sacking Tennessee eight times and overall making life hell for Will Levis. How is that possible? Because the Texans, despite their gaudy 7-5 record, have fed a lot of bad teams and aren’t showing quite the same trajectory that was expected of them after last season’s CJ Stroud breakout.
Between the underdog Texans, the embarrassing Titans and Jaguars, and the scattered Colts, this is a division that quite clearly doesn’t know how to play four quarters of consistent football anywhere, anytime during the season. If it were the Premier League, we’d put a lot of them in the Big Ten. But since we don’t do that sort of thing in America, we’ll schedule them for their usual Wild Card Weekend slot on Saturday afternoon.
ANSWERS: Dolphins are still alive
Whenever you discuss the Miami Dolphins, you have to put aside the very real questions about Tua Tagovailoa’s future health, because if you start asking if he should be in the lineup, you have to start asking about literally every player. on the field. Here’s the truth though – the Dolphins are a significantly better team with Tagovailoa under center. Since returning from a four-week concussion layoff, Tagovailoa has averaged better than 30 points per game for the Dolphins. His accuracy and ability to read the field are exceptional and his short-range decision-making is crucial:
Tagovailoa doesn’t have the strongest arm in the league, but he might have the best touch, so Mike McDaniel used that skill set to design a short-ball offense that plays to Tagovailoa’s advantage. Miami’s 34-15 win over New England isn’t exactly a milestone victory given the state of the Patriots these days, but Tagovailoa’s numbers — four touchdowns, 317 yards — are indicative of this team’s potential.
The whole country will look to Tagovailoa on Thanksgiving Day against the Packers, and if Miami can escape this tilt with a win, the 5-6 Dolphins will be back in the middle of the playoff mix in the AFC. McDaniel’s plan for the offense with the Dolphins is working, even if it took a little longer than expected to come to fruition.