There is only a single week separating us from Thanksgiving Day which means that the football being played now is rather serious (unless you are the Dallas Cowboys).
NFL playoff pictures are starting to crystalize and we are beginning to determine which teams have legitimate chances at hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. On the other side of the coin teams continue to fire people left and right… today’s NFL is full of teams all across the spectrum.
This is where we come in as it is our job, Michael Peterson and RJ Ochoa, to break things down for you in terms of what you most need to know.
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Skinny Post where we will be doing exactly that.
It’s time to take the Broncos seriously and I truly did not expect to be able to say that this season
Michael:
Through the first few weeks of this season, I was relishing in the reality (at the time) that the Broncos were really bad on offense, mainly due to Bo Nix’s inability to complete passes more than 10 yards down the field. If they were winning any games early, it was due to their defense which most certainly deserves a ton of respect.
After narrowly losing to the Chiefs and then dominating the Falcons this past Sunday, I think it’s time to give them the attention they deserve, even at 6-5, because I sure would have picked them to have a much worse record at this point in the season based off early returns in September.
Nix is throwing for touchdowns (down the field) and as long as the defense keeps it up, I think this squad locks down the final wild card spot in the AFC.
RJ:,
As our resident Dallas Cowboys person, my life is filled with constant pain, but that also means that I spent a lot of time sort of preparing for Sean Payton to coach them.
What’s done is done and I am not here to rehash any of that, but needless to say I was hardly impressed with Payton’s first year in Denver. To be fair, who was?
I’m not 100% ready to come out and say that I believe he is a coach worth all of the pomp and circumstance that he received while he was out of the game, but it is clear that what he is doing with the Broncos is working.
Getting more specific it is very clear that Bo Nix is legitimately developing under him which is the most impressive thing that Payton is overseeing. The Broncos have been wandering in the wilderness for about a decade now, but it seems like they are finally almost out to the other side.
Good for them!
Was the Bills win over the Chiefs something to truly look into or is it a nothingburger until the playoffs?
RJ:
If I am being honest, then I buy that Josh Allen and the Bills, for the most part at least, did not put a ton of stock into their game (and obviously win) over Kansas City. This is the way it should be.
Was it big? Will it potentially matter in playoff seeding? Are these things true? Totally.
Has that been true before to the same point and then ultimatly wound up not mattering? Yes.
It is refreshing to see the Bills understand that they are the little brother here and that they did not show up this season to win a Week 11 game against the Chiefs, even if they were the team to knock them off of their undefeated perch.
Buffalo has one goal and one mission this year and they appear focused on it. Respect.
Michael:
As much as I want this win to mean more, I’m pretty sure it simply runs parallel to many past seasons where the Bills beat the Chiefs in the regular season only to lose in the postseason. So you can check the first box here in anticipation of their seemingly inevitable meeting in the playoffs.
Still, I felt like this win meant a little more than the other regular season wins because A.) This Bills team was almost expected to take a step back after dealing Stefon Diggs and letting Gabe Davis walk and B.) The Chiefs were still a 9-0 team that, up to that point, had always found a way to win their close games.
Massive kudos to the Bills for simply getting past that sticking point that nine other teams couldn’t this season.
Saints TE/QB Taysom Hill had an incredible day against the Browns and I don’t think people are talking about it enough
Michael:
Hill hasn’t really been much of a quarterback in recent years so when you put his performance in the context of “a TIGHT END ran for 138 yards and three touchdowns on just seven touches” I think this becomes an out-of-this-world stat line. He also caught eight passes for 50 more yards. That’s 88 yards of offense and three touchdowns on 15 touches from a 34-YEAR-OLD TIGHT END.
It’s absurd. It’s unbelievable. I don’t know if anything like this has happened before in NFL history and I wouldn’t be surprised it it hasn’t.
Am I weird for thinking this is a bigger deal than the media is making it out to be? Am I just weird? Who knows.
RJ:
Maybe we are just all worn out from the Taysom Hill thing at this point? I think that’s what I think?
Don’t get me wrong, I find the feat to be impressive as well, but we have sort of seen this song and dance a million times now. Taysom Hill is good and unique and all of that jazz… but does it matter? Has it ever mattered?
I’m not calling Taysom a gimmick by any means, but this just feels like when the Fast & Furious franchise went to outer space.
Neat. Nice. Cool. Whatever.
Is there any one thing that you would want from the Cowboys on your team?
RJ:
Michael was kind enough to do the heavy lifting on this week’s TSP for me as I traveled to attend Monday night’s Dallas Cowboys game. I went with my Dad and we had a blast and it was so much fun, but obviously this team is all kinds of terrible.
Something my Dad and I were discussing that I am curious for external input on is… if you were another team… any other team… is there something that you would trade from yours with the Cowboys? Is there anything you would swap out?
Maybe your answer is CeeDee Lamb or Micah Parsons and that obviously makes sense, but I mean more broadly. Nobody would swap passing games, running games, offensive lines, you get the picture. The Cowboys are among the worst teams in the NFL and they are boring and all of it stinks.
Make it stop.
Michael:
Honestly if there was any one thing I would take from the Cowboys, it’s their number one fan RJ Ochoa. I want him wearing powder blue with me so we can hang out more outside of doing The Skinny Post together!
Okay okay, just joshin’ ya.
If I had to take anything, I’d say give me the last few years of Zach Martin on the Chargers so we can nip this interior offensive linemen problem in the bud already. He’d get to play against the newest elite Notre Dame NFL lineman in Joe Alt and they’d get to be best buddies until he retires (just like RJ and I if he came over to this side).
No? Okay…
