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Week 16 thoughts

Many things were finalized in Week 16 NFL action, including the New York Giants going into Buffalo and beating the Bills to clinch a playoff spot. I am in absolute disbelief that Eli Manning, Tom Coughlin and the Giants actually managed to win this one. Manning stunk again, but the Giants managed to run for almost 300 yards after falling behind 14-0 in the first quarter. If the season ended today, the Giants would travel to Tampa Bay on Wild Card Weekend. Is it possible that we could see Eli win a playoff game? Yea...probably not.

The Cleveland Browns played absolutely terrible and lost to the Bengals in a game that they needed to win in order to control their own playoff destiny. The Titans now clinch the last AFC Wild Card with a win next week. Derek Anderson looked horrible and threw four interceptions in the loss. It was actually amazing how bad the Browns played in this game. Make no mistake about it, Cincy did not win this game. Cleveland lost it.

The Patriots are now one win away from a perfect 16-0 regular season after easily beating the Dolphins 28-7. I am amazed at how the Patriots continue to throw down the field in the fourth quarter of games that they lead by a significant margin. I'm just waiting for Brady to get hurt on a late hit because he's throwing up 40 yard bombs in meaningless situations. Whatever happened to karma?

The Falcons decided to show up this week. It seems like they play hard when you would least expect it. Rookie cornerback Chris Houston is the real deal for Atlanta.

The Bucs won't go far if Jeff Garcia can't get healthy for the playoffs. They could be a dark horse for the Super Bowl if he does though.

Minnesota isn't going anywhere, nor will they ever with Tarvaris Jackson at quarterback. Stick a fork in the Vikings.

Who would be a worse playoff team, Washington or Tennessee? That's a really tough question. You can't answer it can you?

Bob Sanders has my vote for Defensive MVP. Whatever happened to the soft Colts D? I believe that Indy can play with New England, and if they do beat the Patriots in the AFC Championship game, it will be because they have the better defence.

In case you haven't noticed Chad Johnson is overrated. He's not even close to being one of the top receivers in the NFL at this point in his career. He's not even the best option on his team (T.J. is). Johnson routinely screws Carson Palmer by running poor routes and dropping the ball. He's also unwilling to put his body on the line in order to make a big catch most of the time. Ocho Crapo is not worth the headache and the Bengals should ship him and Marvin Lewis straight out of town after this year.

WHAT?
Why are the Dolphins 1-14? Let's start with the fact that their quarterback, coach or both have no brain. After completing a pass to give them a 1st and goal with 1:11 left in the first half, Dolphins quarterback Cleo Lemon elected to spike the ball and waste first down, instead of just running a play or taking a timeout. The Dolphins ended up coming away with nothing on the drive. How do you waste first down in that situation? No matter how good or bad your team is, you can't make a mistake like that against the Patriots and expect to be in the game. Whoever made the decision to spike the ball in that situation should be held accountable and would not be a part of my football team anymore.

It seems like teams/coaches/quarterbacks are getting worse at managing the clock. Why are they so bad at this?

Why did Kurt Warner spike the ball near the end of the first half in the Cards-Falcons game? He could have just run a play. Don't waste the down unless it's absolutely necessary, especially when you're just going to end up leaving your timeout on the shelf! It's hard enough to get the ball into the endzone on three plays so don't throw first down in the garbage!

Memo to Derek Anderson and the Browns: When you're running out of time and need a touchdown to win the game on your final drive, HURRY UP! Don't throw five yard passes! You're better off throwing the ball away if you can't find anyone down the field. The Browns playoff hopes depended on that game and Derek Anderson couldn't even manage to put some air under the ball on a last play hail mary attempt. What the hell?! The ugly line drive of a pass landed in the middle of nowhere in the endzone before Anderson's receivers even had a chance to get within five yards of the pass. This was by no means the reason Cleveland lost this game, but just another thing that pissed me off about this game.

Monday Night Prediction:

Denver at San Diego:

These two teams are extremely unpredictable and who know if anyone will be trying hard in this game. Denver's defence stinks, but I think that the Broncos will put up their fare share of points against the Chargers. Take the over 47.