PMT DB
PMT DB
NFL Week 14 Recap: Blowouts, Urban Meyer's Bunker, and Live Bears Sadness
Week 14 was supposed to be a standard Sunday of football, but Big Cat and PFT Commenter found themselves recording right as the Bears vs. Packers second half was spiraling out of control. It was a beautiful disaster as Big Cat tried to hold onto the high of an electric first half while live-witnessing the inevitable Aaron Rodgers takeover. Meanwhile, Hank was leaning fully into his heel turn, lurking in the corner with a smug grin and a parlay that required maximum suffering for Big Cat. The Bears' special teams disaster and Justin Fields' strip-sacks served as the perfect, depressing backdrop for a Monday show.
The AFC North is a Mess
The Cleveland Browns managed to hold off the Ravens in a game that felt like a pyrrhic victory for everyone involved. Lamar Jackson's ankle injury was the focal point, officially cementing Baltimore's status as the most snake-bitten team in professional sports. Big Cat is ready to hand out the hardware for that one right now.
Big CatThe Ravens are the most injured team of 2021
With Marlon Humphrey getting hurt last week and Lamar Jackson getting hurt this week... You officially are the champions of most injured team of 2021. Like I said, you probably already had that crown, but this was like, this was the final piece of having Lamar Jackson getting hurt.
While the Ravens deal with the infirmary, the rest of the division isn't exactly inspiring confidence. Between the Browns' offense disappearing in the second half and the Steelers' general inconsistency, the entire division feels like it's stuck in mud. PFT isn't impressed by the top-to-bottom quality of the group.
PFT CommenterEvery team in the AFC North is actually just very average
I think all the teams in the [AFC North] when they play their best games are very good, but they usually don't play their best. They're just very average teams. I think, man, this really makes me wish that the Steelers weren't on Thursday night.
Big Cat, however, thinks the schedule-makers are going to get exactly what they want out of this chaos. He's predicting a primetime showdown to end the season that will decide who actually gets into the dance.
Big CatThe AFC North title will be decided by a flexed Sunday Night Football game in Week 18
It feels like the AFC north will probably have that game [Sunday night football week 18] for the division, which will be fun. Like that will be fun. I think the, I think the Browns play the Bengals. Maybe it'd be that.
Dallas Dominance and the Washington Bench War
The Cowboys went into Washington and decided to bring their own seating, a move that PFT actually respected given the plumbing issues at FedEx Field. Jerry Jones flying in custom benches is the level of pettiness we should all aspire to. While Dak Prescott didn't have his best day, the Dallas defense looked like a championship-caliber unit that could carry the team deep into January.
Big CatThe Cowboys are back to being legitimate contenders because of their defense
The Cowboys like that, I walked away from that game, thinking the Cowboys are back to being for real, for real, because that defense won that game. Not the offense with all the weapons that we all talk about.
PFT isn't ready to bury his Washington football team just yet, though. Despite the loss and Taylor Heinicke's struggle to find open receivers without pointing to the heavens first, the roadmap to the postseason is still visible if they can take care of business against their NFC East rivals.
PFT CommenterWashington will make the playoffs if they win their games against the Eagles and Giants
I'm still I'm bullish on the offs for the, for the Washington football team. We're still in the office right now... if we win our games against the Eagles, and then when it gets to the game... and then win against the giants and still lose the Cowboys, I think chances are still pretty good that we're going to be that [seventh] site.
Urban Meyer’s Bunker
Things in Jacksonville have reached a level of toxicity that feels unsustainable. Between reports of Urban Meyer calling his assistant coaches losers and the team getting shut out by the Titans, the end feels near. Big Cat and PFT are fascinated by the visual of Urban on the sidelines looking like he's already dead inside. It's only a matter of time before the inevitable exit strategy is deployed.
Big CatUrban Meyer will leave the Jaguars due to a medically dubious reason
I think he'll probably, well, this is like fake, maybe a health issue... He's going to get [COVID] hanging out in those college bars. [PFT]: I don't think that he [quits]. He doesn't quit jobs. He just, he has medically dubious reasons for leaving them.
Trevor Lawrence is struggling, James Robinson is being benched for Carlos Hyde, and the entire organization feels like a social experiment gone wrong. Big Cat pointed out that Derek Carr gets a lot of heat in Vegas, but when you look at the defensive support he's had compared to what Trevor Lawrence is dealing with, it’s a miracle Carr is still standing.
Big CatDerek Carr is not at fault for the Raiders' struggles given their historically bad defense
Since Derek Carr became the starter of the Raiders, they have given up 26.6 points per game. That's first in the NFL. They've also had 319 defensive penalties resulting in first downs. That's also first in the NFL. So essentially free Derek Carr free Derek, Derek Carr. He is not that bad. He just has played with a historically terrible defense.
The Bills' Identity Crisis and Onside Kick Shenanigans
The Buffalo Bills almost pulled off an all-time comeback against Tom Brady and the Bucs, but they eventually fell in overtime. The most bizarre stat of the day was Buffalo's refusal to hand the ball to a running back in the first half. PFT has a theory that this team is built for a very specific type of game, and it isn't one played in a blizzard.
PFT CommenterThe Bills are built solely to win a Super Bowl in a warm environment like Los Angeles
I feel like this Bill's team, they're not built for the city of Buffalo in a weird way, because they can't run the ball... they built this team just to win the super bowl in Los Angeles this year. They're like, if we can just, as long as we get to the super bowl, we can win that game with our [offense]. I actually, I actually think in a weird way there, right? Yeah. I think, I guess if the bills make it to the super bowl, I think they win the super bowl.
The Bears also provided a moment of pure confusion late in their game with a recovered onside kick that was called back due to a lack of advancement. It was a rule that Big Cat found personally offensive and fundamentally anti-fun.
Big CatThe NFL needs to change the rule that prevents teams from advancing a recovered onside kick
You should be allowed to advance an onside kick. I know that's happened to me against me in college football... That's a bad rule. The only purpose for that rule is it makes the game less fun. Yeah. What the fuck are we doing here? You gotta be able to advance that.
As it turns out, the onside kick was a curse for everyone who tried it this week. Billy Football noted a bizarre trend where every team that successfully recovered one still found a way to lose the game.
Billy FootballEvery NFL team that successfully recovered an onside kick in Week 14 ended up losing their game
Every team that kicked an onside kick and recovered it lost this weekend. Bears, Ravens, and someone else did it [Lions].
In the end, it was a Sunday of blowouts and reality checks. The Chiefs look like the juggernaut they were two years ago, the Cowboys' defense is terrifying, and the Bears are still very much the Bears.
At least Hank's parlay hit, so one of us is happy while the rest of us eat our cold Chili's in silence.
