Sunday, January 5, 2020

By The Pigskin Of Our Teeth, Week 16: Make Your Stand

Is Jameis Winston good? Serious question. I feel like he'll never be anything more than this generation's Vinny Testaverde, and not just because of the team he plays for. PICK SIX ON PLAY TWO. This is why I asked that question.




Just think: they're gonna give him $35 million guaranteed this offseason. 7-0 Texans, but you knew that. I'll note during this scuffle on the kickoff that our booth is Rich Eisen, Joe Thomas, and Nate Burleson. Bucs challenge an uncalled pass interference. We learn that Bruce Arians has a former NFL official on his staff to handle just these situations. Call STANDS. ANOTHER pick-six, pending this flag. Penalty is an illegal block on the return, so no touchdown, but Justin Reid's (who Winston never saw) interception still stands. Burleson is shocked and I don't quite get why.




Watson throws one up the sideline that almost gets intercepted, then almost caught. But defensive holding gives the Texans new downs. Have they called a single run on this drive? This pitch that Stills dropped is ruled an incomplete pass. Watson scrambles but can't pick up a first down. Field goal is good.




Eisen wonders if it's him — Winston's thrown seven interceptions in games he's called. Yes, Bucs. Run the ball. And that's a big one by Ronald Jones, which they really needed. Bucs go for it and pitch it to Peyton Barber, who goes left and gets the first down, but the Bucs held. 54-yard field goal try is BLOCKED. These are the Bucs of my youth. As is Shaq Barrett jumping offsides for no reason. This is a fumble, but the officials ruled that Fells' forward progress was stopped, and Arians is NOT happy about it. Texans can't pick up 3rd and 9 and they set up for a field goal. It's a quick kick! Out of bounds at around the 10. O.J. Howard caught a pass! Wow. The Bucs don't have their top two receivers, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Winston overthrows Justin Watson in the end zone. Then he overthrows Breshad Perriman in the end zone. Bucs try one from 50. It's good! Feels like the Texans should be up 20. Watson turns the corner and gets 3rd and 4. Fumble is actually called and the Bucs recover! Then Winston throws an interception right to Jonathan Joseph. Terrible decision. Joseph (who Burleson says has been in the league since 1980) had too good coverage. Have the Texans called a single running play? I'm serious. That's a hell of a punt. Barber FUMBLES! Texans ball. Unbelievable. A RUN! WOW. And another one. Maybe O'Brien's figured out you're allowed to do that. Watson zings one to Fells for an apparent touchdown. Yeah, his knee's down. Hyde punches it in. Bucs get a stop on the Texans' next drive. Their defense has played well. O.J. Howard with another catch. Another Winston throw sails and Reid barely misses another interception (it hit the ground). Eisen acknowledges his struggles with Winstons and Watsons. Nice catch by Perriman on the sideline. O'Brien challenges this, and he should win because replay shows Perriman's right foot was out of bounds. Call REVERSED. That's the first challenge the Texans have won this season, apparently. Big pass play to... Cody McElroy? Buccaneers ball at the Texans' 4. Touchdown Jones. Now Watson throws an interception! It's returned 30 yards to the Texans' 39. Winston overthrows Perriman AND Justin Watson. Jameis hits a big pass to get inside the Texans' 10, then almost throws another interception with a bad pass into coverage. Winston scrambles and finds Justin Watson for a touchdown! This game is tied and on every illegal substance imaginable.




Field goal is good and the Texans regain the lead. Winston scrambles and stretches for a first down. Jones dives on 3rd and short and picks it up. It doesn't work a third time, and the field goal team comes out. It's good and we're tied again. Feels like no one's been able to get open for the Texans — Watson's been dancing around the pocket a lot today. End of 3. This is an all-time bad game from Hopkins.




Fuller's been out since the first quarter with a groin injury. Watson gets it to DeAndre Carter for a first down! Lavonte David, as good as he is, can't and shouldn't be covering wide receivers. Texans miss a flea-flicker. Fairbarn puts the Texans back in front. Winston hits Jones across the middle. Good job by Perriman to hold on to that catch. Ex-Buc Hargreaves flattens Jones on 3rd and 2. Bucs go for it on 4th and 3 from the Texans' 40. Brate DROPS it! Texans take over. Watson gets sacked. No idea why the Texans keep throwing when nobody's been open all game. This Carter catch is close. That's... not a great spot? O'Brien does not challenge, leaving it to fourth and short. Now the Buccaneers call time out, which is especially strange since the clock was stopped because Laremy Tunsil was hurt. Texans PUNT. Perriman's had a good game but he's in the medical tent after a big hit. Two minutes left. Perriman back out. Winston gets sacked. INTERCEPTED BECAUSE OF COURSE IT IS. Again: The Buccaneers are going to guarantee him $35 million this season. Offensive holding on the Texans stops the clock. Bucs now stuck at their own 4. Eisen offers to refuse all future Bucs assignments is Winston throws another pick here. He does not, but still. Texans win the South. (Texans 23, Buccaneers 20)

Bills defer, so this sorry offense will take the field first. Brady finds a hobbled Edelman for a first down. Burkhead fumbles after a catch and the Bills recover! Micah Hyde sets up blockers for a nice return. Bills start at the Pats' 31. Allen misses Knox in the corner of the end zone and Hauschka puts them on the board with three. Patriots running an actual linebacker out as a fullback now. It's working, as they're running the ball well on this drive. Matt LaCosse with a nice stretch upwards to pull that pass out of the air, and then he fights through a tackle to get into the end zone.




Beasley shows good body control in both leaping to catch that pass, and then getting both feet down inbounds. Punt pins the Pats at their 1. Somehow Sanu caught that pass and not the defender. Michel hits the hole quickly and gets nine yards. With the Texans' win, the Pats' three losses have all been to division champions. Brady out here throwing blocks on this reverse to Harry. That's how desperate this is. And a good block! He took out Tre'davious White! Pats at the Bills' 27 and they're going for it on 4th and 1. Michel may have gotten it. That's not a great spot but I don't see how you change it, and regular readers know how I feel about challenging spots. Brady to Edelman for 12 on 3rd and 14. Field goal is good. J.C. Jackson lights up Beasley to force a three and out. No one back to return this punt, for some reason. Santa helping run audio. Doesn't he have more pressing matters? False start turns 3rd and 18 into 3rd and 23 for the Bills. Patriots almost block this punt and get the ball at midfield. Kevin Johnson cuts Harry off to force a punt. Allen with a laser to Knox! Knee's down at the 1. Bills still have a time out. Call is reversed and correctly placed at the 1. Bills use their last time out. Gotta throw this with 10 seconds left. Allen rolls out but the pass is knocked down. Touchdown to DION DAWKINS. (He is an offensive tackle.) Extra point ties it at 10 at halftime.




Sweet play fake by Brady leads to a big Burkhead catch and run. OPI on Edelman takes away a Benjamin Watson touchdown, which would have been the oldest touchdown combination in NFL history. Nick Folk hits from 51. Allen goes deep to John Brown, who beats Devin McCourty for a touchdown! Pats come back with a fake jet sweep to Meyers and then a screen to Burkhead to end the third quarter. White almost makes a play on Meyers. Brady finds Burkhead on the sideline for a first down. Brady rolls right and, look, he's not getting five yards. Ed Oliver stops him cold and Folk kicks the field goal. Edelman's back, and he goes for 30 yards. Back to the run game. This feels like it's been Michel's best game in weeks, and this is what this offense is going to have to be. Brady sneaks and gets it. First and goal from the 2. Bills barely get a time out called before Michel scores, but they do get it called. (They were trying to mass substitute.) Burkhead bounces off a tackle and puts the Pats in front. They also accept an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty here so they can go for two from the 1. Brady to Edelman, and it's 24-17 with 5:06 left. Allen hits Beasley on a slant route. Brown wants an interference flag but doesn't get it. Refs reset the clock, which didn't stop for some reason, to 4:20. (That reason, of course, is that the Patriots are dirty, shameless cheaters.)




Allen to Beasley again. And again, after a blitz. They run on 3rd and 3 and don't make it. Allen sneaks, gets stopped, but he bounces outside and gets the first down. Gutty. It's hard to snap the ball too high for a 6-foot-5 quarterback, but a new center will do that. Beasley gets to the 8! Designed Allen run doesn't work. Let's think ahead at the two-minute warning. If you're the Bills, do you go for two if you score? Too high for Knox. Allen gets sacked on third down. Pats blitz on fourth down and Allen throws up a dying quail that gets knocked away. Not yet, Bills. Not yet. (Patriots 24, Bills 17)

Rams hand the ball to Gurley, who gets stuffed. Pass to Josh Reynolds to get into 49ers territory. HIGBEE. Rams in business at the 49ers' 13. Touchdown Cooks. Richie James has a RETURN developing here. He cuts back inside! He's down at the RAMS' 20! Is this gonna be one of those games? Bad snap here? 49ers settle for three, which feels like a huge loss. Near disaster on this punt for the Rams, as they almost muff it. 49ers force a three-and-out. Garoppolo is intercepted by Ramsey, his first of the year for anyone. (Marcus Peters has been better than him since the trades.) Goff drops one into Woods's hands for a 29-yard gain. Goff slides and gets a shoulder to the head, adding more yards. Gurley rounds the corner and scores to open the second. 14-3 Rams. Two screens to Samuel and Juszczyk get the Niners to the Rams 19. End around to Samuel for... a touchdown! Tough catch by Cooks and he gets suplexed at the end of it. Another bootleg by Goff and the 49ers haven't figured that out yet. Screen to Higbee gets another first down. Goff goes to Higbee again and he reaches the one-yard line. Goff throwaway bounces off the crossbar. Touchdown Gurley! Kittle gets onto the score sheet finally. Then so does Sanders. Touchdown Mostert.




Fred Warner with a one-handed interception! He's not getting caught. Touchdown 49ers! Great play on a bad decision by Goff. 24-21 49ers at halftime. Double tip drill and the Rams pick it off! This pass falls well short. In fact, it's intentional grounding. Field goal is NO GOOD. We learn that Mostert's real first name is Dominique, named for Wilkins. Niners trying a 56-yarder with Gould. Actually, they're not, as they take a delay of game and punt. Defensive fronts taking over here. Woods! Touchdown Kupp. Rams retake the lead. Goff finds Woods over the middle. Screen to Woods gets stifled. Rams have contained Kittle tonight — that's only his fourth catch. Dwelley takes a head shot from Weddle and that'll be first and goal. Garoppolo throws on the run and Kittle makes the catch for the touchdown! Harris drops an interception. Then he makes a big tackle on Woods that forces a field goal try. Legatron hits from 52, which he missed from earlier. We're tied with 2:30 left! Big catch by Bourne. Another sack. That's six for the Rams tonight. Garoppolo has Sanders deep! 46 yards on the second 3rd and 16 on this drive!




Davis is amazed how badly the safety blew that coverage. 49ers run the clock down. Gould sets up. It's GOOD! *crosses off Rams* And I believe we officially have our Week 17 Sunday night game. (49ers 34, Rams 31)

Signal Finder: PIT @ NYJ, NO @ TEN, BAL @ CLE (end), DAL @ PHI

LeVeon's new team gets the ball first against his old team. He gets the ball on the first play on a swing pass. Among Adam Gase's many coaching crimes is his criminal lack of use of that guy. It's almost as if they're trying to make up for that today for SOME reason. Jets rush to get a play off quickly on fourth and short, and a flag comes out. Their plan to catch the Steelers offside, at least, worked. Scuffle breaks out. Touchdown Robby Anderson! Is Juju gonna play again this season? Nice run by Conner. Interception! I think you have to wonder if Hodges continues to struggle with turnovers, does Tomlin go back to Rudolph? The Jets almost give it right back on a deep ball, but Haden can't hold on to it. Ficken just makes one from 54 yards out. Washington gets taken down with a horse-collar tackle. Another interception! This one's by Marcus Maye in the end zone. We come back from commercial to see Rudolph with his helmet on. The Steelers still need to win games — they're tied with the Titans at 8-6. Rudolph in. Jets blitz immediately but he finds Washington for 13. Drive ends with a punt, which is technically an improvement. Jaylen Samuels takes a short pass 27 yards, and Rudolph takes a shot after getting rid of it. He takes a bad sack to create 3rd and 19. They get eight, setting up a makeable field goal attempt. Boswell good from 48. T.J. Watt with a strip sack! Rudolph overthrows Washington, but the Jets get flagged for illegal contact (which is a break for them, as it could have been DPI). Touchdown Johnson!




The Jets haven't had a decent cornerback since Revis left the first time. We're tied at 10 at halftime. Conner won't be back for the second half. Darnold runs away from Watt. Smart. Pouncey being helped up for the Steelers. Samuels drops a third-down pass, and this is out of Boswell's range. They'll punt on 4th and 7. Rudolph seems to have a neck issue? Or something? Hodges has his helmet back on. Meanwhile, Darnold throws his fifth straight incompletion. Jets punt and Hodges is back in. Washington breaks a tackle and gets five extra yards. Bad snap and Hodges goes down for the second straight play.
Ficken extends the Jets' lead. Steelers have a disastrous series and have to punt on 4th and 14 with 1:59 left. They force a three-and-out, which they needed, and will get the ball back with about 1:30 left. Deon Cain gets the first down and out of bounds. Hodges goes deep but it's broken up. That's great work by Maye. Hodges drops the snap, picks it up, and heaves one down the field. Wait, Juju's in the game? Incomplete! Jets assistant Hines ward got the Gatorade shower he wanted. (Jets 16, Steelers 10)







(Giants 41, Redskins 35, OT)




Seriously, Dolphins? You were up by 23! Jebus. And now neither team's even trying to score.




The Dolphins took three knees before this field goal attempt for the sole purpose of running out the clock. That's some big-time paranoia. It's GOOD! I believe the Cincinnati Bengals are now on the clock. (Dolphins 38, Bengals 35, OT)

Titans score first here on a pass from Tannehill to Jonnu Smith. Brees gets sacked. Titans call a reverse to A.J. Brown, who isn't touched until he reaches the end zone. Touchdown! Eli Apple being helped off after tripping over a falling Lattimore. Kevin Byard dives for an interception but it goes through his hands. On the next drive, two Saints end up in the back of the end zone and the pass to one of them is knocked away. The Saints' offensive line is struggling to protect Brees so far. Field goal is good.




Saints give Brees time, and he finds Thomas for a first down. That's 137 catches, six short of the single-season record. This offense isn't clicking today otherwise. By the way, no Derrick Henry for the Titans today, so Dion Lewis is carrying the load — and, on that last run, carrying a couple of Saints as well. Damario Davis with a sack. Jared Cook, wide open down the sideline, gets a block from Kamara and goes 61 yards for a touchdown. Not sure what this scuffle's about, as Dawkins handed the ball to the ref three yards away. Oh, I see — Chauncey Gardner-Johnson got hit with a Thesz press. Halftime. Kamara goes 40 yards for a touchdown (his first one in what seems like a long time) and the Saints lead. Lewis bounces outside for his best run of the day. Offensive holding kills this drive. Is this a fumble? No, Thomas didn't catch that. This challenge should fail.




He caught this one, though, and the Saints are across midfield. Kamara to the goal line. Review puts him short of the touchdown, but he runs it in on the next play. Tannehill finds Corey Davis on the sideline. Touchdown pass to Tajae Sharpe! That's why Harris is a Pro Bowler, right there. Brees to Cook and the lead is back to 10. Safety? Refs say no.




Tannehill finds Raymond inside the 20, then he guns one to Sharpe for a touchdown! Flag's against the Saints. Thomas ties the reception record on a pass from Taysom. Raymond gets LEVELED after this catch. That's a fumble. Gardner-Johnson picks it up and returns it to the Titans' 25. Raymond's still down. The Steelers' loss means this result no longer matters to the Titans — they have to win next week in Houston. Thomas has the record — and a touchdown? Nope, knee's down. He scores anyway on the next play. (Saints 38, Titans 28)

No reason for Lamar to still be in. Ravens lock up home field and their only incentive next week... is to ruin the Steelers' season. ALL HANDS ON DECK. (Ravens 31, Browns 15)

NFL Primetime ran a split screen of both of Nayeim Hines's punt returns, in case you were wondering how this went. (Colts 38, Panthers 6)

Cowboys win the toss and defer "clearly". Of course they're gonna show the coin toss. Sick catch by JJAW, and great placement by Wentz. That ball gets intercepted if it's anywhere else. Yet another Jason Peters false start. Ward gets a first down. Wentz throws on the run to JJAW for another first down. That one's too high for Ertz. Nothing happening on the ground so far for the Eagles. Ward is short of the first down. Elliott out to kick the field goal. Aikman suspects that Pederson would be going for it on 4th and, say, 3. Kick is good. Jenkins knocks away a pass intended for Cooper. Eagles troll Pereira by changing their minds twice on how to enforce these penalties on this punt. They get a better result. Robert Davis with a catch! Two positive runs for Sanders. Good throw by Wentz and Sanders takes it to the Cowboys' 10. Touchdown Goedert! I'm not gonna say it, but this feels a little familiar.




Another three-and-out for the Cowboys.




Sanders loses three on 3rd and 1, so. Bradham's been all over Elliott so far, and he's the guy who usually owns the Eagles. Gallup makes a great catch, having to turn around. That's good for 41 yards. Two plays later Prescott throws behind him. Prescott gets away from Barnett, runs left, and crashes into Maddox, who stops him short of the first down. Field goal by Forbath is good. Darby headed to the locker room. Goedert gets six on 3rd and 5 as Ertz jogs off. Someone hits Wentz's arm on third and 1. Why are they in the shotgun? Hate this play call, especially with Ertz not on the field. Incomplete. Prescott his Gallup down the sideline. Defense stands up and forces another punt. Eagles start at their own 11. They get Heath for a late hit on Sanders. Third down pass sails out of bounds. Elliott runs for 10. Cooper drops a ball that may not have gotten them a first down anyway. Not a great punt for the Cowboys. Ertz, who has a rib injury, is back in the huddle. Buck not sure if Ertz or Goedert caught that pass. (It was Goedert.) He catches the next one, too. The third one's a tight end screen, but an illegal block will bring it back. Goedert's caught every pass on this drive. They go to him again but the throw isn't great. Maybe a miscommunication? Elliott misses right from 53.




Prescott to Gallup for a first down. And again, but they haven't gotten out of bounds at all and have used their time outs with 11 seconds left. Witten gets out of bounds with six seconds left. Field goal is good. 10-6 Eagles at the half, and the Cowboys haven't won this season when trailing at halftime. Mills down for the Eagles. Elliott with a first-down catch. Then Gallup. Now Cox is down. Mills being carted off, but Cox returns. Cowboys toss it to Pollard, but he can't get there. Eagles saying there was a fumble. Pederson, after much prompting, challenges. Call REVERSED! Eagles ball and that's a massive break. Wentz hit as he throws on third down and the Eagles have to punt. Scott getting a lot of run on this drive. Big play to Ward! Touchdown Sanders! 17-6.




They did! Cowboys are gagging here. Sanders takes a short pass 24 yards. Ertz can only get 10 on 3rd and 15. Elliott misses from 55. Mills back in. Cowboys go for it on 4th and 9... and Dak finds Cobb for 17. Crushing. Maddox with the pass breakup! That'll force a field goal, which Forbath hits. 17-9. Now Goedert's hurt? Wentz fumbles but falls on it. Eagles have to punt. Prescott to Cobb twice. Gallup drops what would have been a big play. That's six drops for the Cowboys, who actually lead the league.




Cobb gets another first down. This Cowboys' offense looks like the Eagles'. This game got to the two-minute warning fast.




Curry with a sack! Third down pass falls short of everything. Dak goes to the end zone on fourth down, but Jones breaks it up!




The Cowboys should be winning those battles but they haven't won as many as they should. Booth is reviewing for DPI, but Pereira says he doesn't see it here. If anything, Gallup's got Jones's arm hooked. Call stands. (No Zeke AND no Cooper on the field there.)




Wentz floats it to Goedert, who makes a leaping catch for a first down, but gets knocked out of bounds. Sanders breaks through for a game-ending first down! Then he slides at the Cowboys' 30. It's a Festivus MIRACLE! Remember 44-6? This wasn't that. But as far as the Cowboys looking unprepared and uninspired when the stakes are the highest? It was a lot like that. (Eagles 17, Cowboys 9)

What the hell, Seahawks? And now Carson AND Duane Brown are gone for the season. That SUCKED. (Cardinals 27, Seahawks 13)

And now, a game that NBC, frankly, is stuck with.




Mathieu begging to be credited with an interception here, but he was out of bounds. Trubisky decides to run right into Sorenson.




Terrell Suggs sighting. Chiefs got their backup tight end out here catching passes. Mahomes goes down. Hill gets 20 on 3rd and 18. Bad challenge, Bears. Remember: Mahomes can run too. We now have the full flexed schedule for next week: SNF is 49ers-Seahawks, as expected. The NFC East and AFC No. 2 Wildcard-adjacent games have all been moved to the late window. (Somehow the Raiders are still mathematically alive here.) Mahomes gets roughed. Butker hits from 56! 10-0 Chiefs. Miller back to return this kickoff instead of Patterson, who went off briefly earlier to change his socks. Imagine if Allen Robinson had good quarterbacks. (As evidenced by this graphic comparing Mahomes' first 30 games with the entirety of Bears quarterbacking.) MEANWHILE:




Mahomes eludes the rush and throws complete to Hill, who was coming back to the ball. Some flags on this Spencer Ware run will bring it back. 2ND AND 28. Watch them get it. Damian Williams gets 12 after a Mahomes checkdown. They get 12 more. THE BEARS RAN INTO THE PUNTER. That's five yards and a first down. Does that count? It's already the two-minute warning. Touchdown Kelce. 17-0 Chiefs at  halftime. Montgomery with a nice counter run after Collinsworth discusses how he hasn't been what they've hoped as a rookie. The running game has also suffered. Graphic shows Cohen's averages are half of what they were last year. Patterson with a strong run. Trubisky wants a face mask call but doesn't get it. Incomplete on fourth and goal. Your occasional reminder that Reid's coaching tree kicks Belichick's tree's ass. This is the best the Chiefs' defense has played all season. Bears kick a field goal to end the third quarter, and they barely got it off. Chiefs getting the bounces. Bears have been terrible on third downs tonight. Mahomes to Williams for a touchdown. Butker double-doinks! Same end zone, too. Collinsworth: "I want to see a triple doink." Bears check down on 4th and 23. Sure. Playoff scenario talk. The top three spots in the NFC are still up for grabs. This has been a fast game. (Chiefs 26, Bears 3)

What's interesting about the scheduling for next week is that if the Vikings win tonight, the NFC North will be decided in the early window on Sunday. Hunter forces a fumble on the third play of the game and Eric Kendricks recovers! He returns it to the... 5? Wow. Vikings down to Mike Boone at running back, who only scored two touchdowns last week. Cousins overthrows his fullback and the Packers are gonna get out of this only down three. Rodgers is only .500 (43-43) on the road. Why is the water in this animation purple? Rodgers guns one to Adams across midfield. Harrison Smith with a great open-field tackle on Jones for a loss. That's a good punt. Thielen falls down on his back, then drops the ball on the way down. He wants a flag, but he won't get one, nor should he. Packers back at midfield. Both teams overthrowing fullbacks now. Field goal is good and we're tied. Harris picks off Rodgers to start the second quarter. Cousins with a perfect throw to Diggs in the corner of the end zone.




Adams catches a wide receiver screen on 3rd and 1. Uncharacteristic bad decision from Rodgers to throw into a LOT of coverage in the end zone. He's lucky that wasn't picked off. Field goal is good. They're calling this a fumble by Adams. It is. Vikings ball. Double reverse — WIDE RECEIVER PASS! Too far for Cousins. That dive was hilarious.







And they're gong for it on 4th and 4. Cousins badly overthrows Thielen. Looks like Kendricks hurt himself recovering that second fumble. Zadarius Smith appears to be protesting his Pro Bowl snub. (Both he and Preston have cases.) Tramon Williams jumps in front of Treadwell and almost gets the interception. He actually had it but Treadwell knocked it out of his hands. Jimmy Graham lives. Booger thinks he was still inbounds when he fumbled. He might be right. This is just a field position check, really, as the Packers got it back. Packers call time out. Screen to Jamal Williams gets 11. Adams got more out of that than he should've before getting out of bounds. Adams drops the ball in the end zone. Field goal is good. 10-9 Vikings at halftime. This game hasn't been good. They're running MNF highlights coming back from commercials, and they just ran the black cat during Cowboys-Giants with Tessitore saying (paraphrasing) "If things go bad for the Cowboys, maybe you can trace it back to this." First Allen Lazard sighting tonight. This game hasn't been good. Cousins finds Diggs open over the middle, and he takes a shot afterwards. Deep ball gets... intercepted! King with a great one-handed pick that I was sure he was going to drop.




Is Jones hurt? It's been all Williams since halfway through the second. There he is! Touchdown Packers. Two-point try is good. Vikings bail out early on the hard count on 4th and 1 and decide to punt. They've made some terrible decisions on offense tonight. Cousins sacked by Kenny Clark. Rodgers completes one to Adams, who was well covered by Rhodes. Jones breaks a tackle and skips down the sideline for a 56-yard game-sealer. Extra point drifts slightly right. Cousins gets sacked again. On the next play, Cousins finds Johnson for a 59-yard touchdown, but it's called back because of an offensive holding penalty. Vikings punt. Tessitore corrects himself and says that because of tiebreakers, if this holds, the Packers will actually be the 2-seed. Vikings seem to have waved the white flag.




Let's not act like the ESPN wild-card game is gonna be at any time other than 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Vikings with... something. Illegal block renders it moot. Cousins now 0-9 on Monday night. (Packers 23, Vikings 10)

RANKINGS:
TOP 4:
1. Baltimore (13-2) — Decisions to make
2. San Francisco (12-3) — Track meet turns into slugfest
3. New Orleans (12-3) — If Kamara's scoring touchdowns again...
4. Seattle (11-4) — That's not a game you want to lose

BOTTOM 4:
29. N.Y. Giants (4-11) — I'm gonna miss that big lug
30. Washington (3-12) — Narrator: No, they were not heating up
31. Detroit (3-11-1) — Seriously, what happened?
32. Cincinnati (1-14) — So close, and yet...
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