Five burning NFL questions entering Week 15
COMMENTARY
With three weeks remaining in the NFL’s regular season, playoff races are tightening in some divisions, while one team in each conference is in position to run away from the rest of the pack.
It’s time to examine five burning questions around the league entering Week 15.
1. Does Rob Gronkowski’s return cement the Patriots’ place atop the AFC?
Put a mostly healthy Rob Gronkowski alongside Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, and, yes, you’d be hard-pressed to find an AFC team capable of knocking off the East-winning Patriots, removing that whole ‘any given Sunday’ argument.
Gronkowski’s impact was instantly felt in Houston in his return from what surprisingly wound up being just a one-game absence after being carted off the field in Denver with a debilitating-looking knee injury. The hulking tight end played 61 percent of the snaps, moved well, got some jaw-dropping open looks, and led all pass-catchers with a fitting 87 yards on four catches, plus a Gronkowski spike. Once again, he’s reached the 1,000-yard and 10-TD plateaus.
Add in the fact that receiver Julian Edelman and linebacker Dont’a Hightower should be back before the end of the regular season, and the likelihood that safety Devin McCourty will be ready in time for the postseason, and this team will be mostly as healthy as its been all year, despite the recent losses of LaGarrette Blount and Dominique Easley.
Life changes for Brady and the Pats’ offense with Gronkowski on third down, in the red zone, and in the backfield, and it certainly becomes miserable for opposing defenses. Especially once the weather gets cold.
2. Are the Broncos and Bengals in serious trouble?
The Pats have already vaulted back into the AFC’s top seed, and it’s hard to imagine them relinquishing it with what’s happening in Denver and Cincinnati.
As good as the Broncos defense is – and it’s elite – their offense has largely settled for efficient in Brock Osweiler’s four starts in place of Peyton Manning. It definitely hasn’t blown anyone’s doors off with an average of 17.5 points a game and three contests in the mid-teens. In the last two outings, a defense-led win at San Diego and a disappointing collapse at home to Oakland, the quarterback has guided Denver to just one touchdown drive in 24 possessions. As a result, Gary Kubiak has yet to name a starter for this weekend’s test in Pittsburgh, and Manning is close to returning to practice.
The Bengals received good news concerning Andy Dalton, leaving the door open for his return now that his broken thumb doesn’t need surgery. But, AJ McCarron? Most people don’t have faith in a Dalton-Marvin Lewis tandem to finally win a playoff game, and now we’re supposed to have faith in an untested McCarron-Lewis? No chance. And don’t forget stud tight end Tyler Eifert is dealing with a concussion. We could be looking at a Cardinals-like collapse from last year if Dalton doesn’t return…or just the usual Bungals letdown if he does.
Still, one of these teams will land the second seed in the AFC (they basically have to). The first seed? Nope, not with the Pats positioned to run the table against the Titans, Jets, and Dolphins, and the Broncos visiting the Steelers before a head-to-head clash with the Bengals. One of these 10-3 teams is guaranteed to reach four losses.
3. How dangerous are the Steelers?
Very. It’s insane to think the Steelers are 8-5, playing as well as any team in the NFL, and they aren’t even a playoff team right now because they’re behind the white-hot Chiefs and the Jets for the Wild Cards.
That will change. Pittsburgh just put up 33 points against one of the league’s top defensive clubs in Cincinnati to give the Steelers their fourth win in five games. Two-time Super Bowl champ Ben Roethlisberger is finally healthy, his receivers Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant have caught fire, and DeAngelo Williams has filled in admirably for Le’Veon Bell. They’re also regularly converting in the red area (52%) and on third down (46%) during their recent run.
Along with the Broncos’ match-up, the Steelers – winners of nine straight in December dating back to 2013 – will visit the Ravens and Browns. So long as they get in, they’re a force to be reckoned with.
4. Someone has to win the AFC South and NFC East, right?
Talk about a mess of 6-7 “division leaders’’. It’s especially ugly in the AFC, where the Colts and Texans are a game ahead of the Jaguars for first. Ironically, the Jags have the best QB of the bunch in Blake Bortles, since the Colts and Texans are respectively down to Charlie Whitehurst and T.J. Yates at this moment. Even better, the latter two are set to square off this weekend in Indianapolis, where one of those clubs has to snap a two-game skid. The Colts have given up 96 points the last two weeks, including 51 in Jacksonville. Then again, the Eagles had allowed 90 over two games prior to upsetting the Patriots.
Speaking of the Eagles, they’re in a three-way tie with the Redskins and Giants for the East lead in the NFC. Philadelphia has won two straight with Sam Bradford back under center, and New York helped New England lock up a seventh consecutive division crown by ending a three-game drought against Miami. The Skins and Eagles must still play once, the Birds will also play the Giants (and West-leading Cardinals), and Big Blue’s next game is against the undefeated Panthers. Washington looks to be the favorite to survive.
5. Can anyone stop the Panthers?
Not in the regular season, anyhow. They still have the Giants, Falcons, and Bucs – the first two on the road – but this team is only getting stronger as the season moves along, especially defensively, other than that shootout in New Orleans.
Carolina’s put up 30-plus points each of its last four games, a minimum of 27 in 11 consecutive games, and Cam Newton has solidified his position as league MVP. Consider what he’s doing offensively with mostly spare parts, and all of it without Kelvin Benjamin. It’s astounding. If I need to say more, you really haven’t been paying attention.
Where the Patriots called home before Gillette Stadium
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