Teams on the Good this week generally fit one of two categories: they either won games they had to win or they won so overwhelmingly they could not be denied. There are two exceptions that played very well against teams in the playoff hunt when they could have just shrugged their shoulders and packed up their stuff.
The Falcons and Panthers are left off largely because they were only playing for position. They both won, but the performances were not overwhelming enough to justify inclusion. It could be argued with some validity that the Vikings performance was no different. The difference is they thought they were in a must-win when they managed to pull it off. The Falcons should have killed the Rams and had the Panthers played at all in the fourth quarter they would have made it.
The lower-tiers are also largely teams that pissed away their playoff chances, with the exceptions of Cleveland and Tennessee, who were both too awful to go unnoticed.
The Good
Baltimore – Needing only a home win against the Jags to secure an AFC wild card, the Ravens rolled to 21 second quarter points and 431 yards while capturing four Jag turnovers. In fact, the Ravens scored on four consecutive sustained drives in the middle two quarters to turn this into a Good win and a playoff berth.
Houston – Playing to avoid a losing season, the Texans killed any chance the Bears had of playing next week by amassing over 450 yards, holding the ball for over 37 minutes and overcoming a ten-point deficit in the middle of the second quarter. The offense scored 31 points against the Bears in the final two and one half quarters of play. A Good win puts them at 8-8.
Indianapolis – Despite the fact that this game meant nothing and the opponent played like it, the magnitude of the domination lands the Colts here. They out gained the Titans over 3:1 en route to a shutout, that’s right, a shutout win.
Miami – Give the Dolphins a slot on the Good for taking care of business. They traded blows evenly with the Jets in the Meadowlands, but took advantage of three interceptions, one returned for a second quarter touchdown, a fumble recovery and controlled the clock for almost 34 minutes. It was not a dominating performance, but an opportune one that yielded a Good result and an AFCE title.
Minnesota – The Vikings made this list primarily because they won a game they thought they had to win to lock up the NFCN and make the playoffs. Sure, the Bears lost later, but the Vikings did their part and won it rather than backing in. They also made a couple of huge plays in the process to produce touchdowns. Combine that with coming back from a nine point deficit with ten minutes remaining and this was Good, but it will take better to beat these same Giants if they meet in the playoffs.
New England – While the Patriots are done for the year, it was not due to their own efforts Sunday. In absurdly windy conditions, the Pats wisely only threw eight passes. With field goals assuming the difficulty of rocket science due to the winds, the Pats allowed the Bills into the red zone only once, and then allowed Buffalo buffoonery to expire the first half clock before they could attempt to launch a rocket. A Good win in some bad conditions, albeit too little, too late.
Oakland – Let’s give the Raiders some credit for playing a good game on the road against a team who was playing for a playoff berth. The Raiders played more like a 10-6 team than one who scrambled to post a 5-11.
Philadelphia – I’ll thoroughly berate the Cowboys part in this later, but it was the Eagles who inflicted a butt whipping of epic proportion. Other than the score, there is little to actually quantify how bad this was. Since the Eagles scored on two Cowboys possessions, the offensive numbers look pretty even. But give Reid credit, the Eagles ran roughly five of every eight plays, one omen to their success. They broke the game open in the final 2:15 of the first half, and outscored the team from Ringling Brothers 41-0 in the middle two quarters. In what amounted to a playoff game for the final NFC spot, this was a performance beyond Good.
Pittsburgh – See the Indianapolis paragraph. The Steelers out gained the Browns almost 3:1 and gave up a whopping 20 yards net passing. It didn’t mean much, but it sure was one-sided.
San Diego – As nonexistent as the Denver defense is, the Bolts still put up 52 points. With their playoff hopes on the line for the fourth consecutive week, San Diego amassed nearly 500 yards and scored early and often to lock up the AFCW. They consistently dominated this game in a Good win.
The Bad
Chicago – Needing a win to have any chance and up by ten in the middle of the second quarter, the Bears were then outscored 31-7 until a late, desperate drive. The defense gave up yards by the ton and the offense did too little to stem the tide. The result was an underwhelming performance in a clutch game.
Tampa Bay – In hindsight, they had the playoffs in their own hands when they took the home field against the Raiders. They seemed to have things going their way, up by 10 3:30 into the fourth quarter, having just converted a Raider turnover into a TD. They might as well have left the field after that, committing a 43-yard pass interference penalty to set up a Raider touchdown, then a 67 yard run and finally a 10-play, 56-yard drive that led to a FG, but more importantly ate nearly six of the remaining seven minutes of what was a four point game. The offense did little to curb that onslaught, failing on a fourth and three and tossing up an interception on the first play of a possession. They weren’t Bad all game long (or they would have been Ugly), but they were Bad and it cost them a playoff berth.
The Ugly
Cleveland -The Browns ended the season in style, not scoring an offensive touchdown or in any other manner. Eight first downs on offense, only 126 yards while watching the Steelers ring up almost 370. The Browns missed a 53-yard FG on their opening drive and did not touch Steeler territory the rest of the game. An Ugly end to an Ugly season.
Dallas – With 2:15 to go in the first half, the Eagles were threatening, already leading 10-3. Yet, the score at halftime was not 10-3, 13-3 or even 17-3, but 27-3. Two late turnovers contributed to the end-of-half meltdown. That was a preview of things to come. The Cowboys had the first three possessions of the second half before Philly ran an offense play. This remarkable feat was accomplished by turning the ball over on the first two possessions and watching them returned for touchdowns. Both turnovers capped drives into scoring position. They turned it over on the third possession, as well, but the Eagle defense was too tired by that point to return that for a TD. By the time the clowns, uh, Cowboys stopped pouring out of the Volkswagen, they had committed five turnovers resulting in 27 Eagle points, 17 of which were posted without the Eagles offense taking the field. To punctuate the circus act, the Cowboys opted for a field goal midway through the fourth quarter down by 44-3, cutting it to a five possession game. This was a horrid performance with their playoff hopes on the line, perhaps the Ugliest single performance of the year by anyone.
Denver – The Broncos were only slightly better than Dallas. As usual, Denver showed a pulse on offense but their defense could not stop the Chargers. It was the usual, tired formula where the Broncs amassed over 400 yards of offense but there “bend and then break” defense gave up almost 500, nearly 290 on the ground. Add a 13:00 time of possession difference and the Broncs could make a case for playing in the Big 12. Not quite as Ugly as the Cowboys, but it should be mentioned in that same discussion.
Tennessee – It’s tempting to cut the Titans some slack since they didn’t need Good, Bad or even Ugly, just no injuries. Still, eight first downs, 125 yards of offense, 390 yards against and almost a 17-minute time of possession difference is pretty Ugly regardless. Let’s put it this way, the performance was similar to that of the Browns.
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