Ricky Dimon
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The theme of Week 14 seems to be games putting people to sleep through three quarters and then suddenly waking everyone up late. It started with Minnesota’s 36-28 win over Pittsburgh on Thursday Night Football and continued on Sunday with the likes of Dallas vs Washington, Cleveland vs Baltimore, and Bucs vs Bills. The 49ers vs Bengals contest was entertaining from start to finish.
Here is a quick breakdown of what went down on Sunday afternoon and what it could mean moving forward.
It’s just going to be Bucs vs Chiefs again, isn’t it?
Super Bowl odds – and specifically Super Bowl matchup odds – have fluctuated wildly throughout this unusual 2021 NFL campaign. It makes sense that that’s the case, of course, as no single team has been anything close to dominant. Only Arizona has fewer than three losses and nobody in the entire AFC has fewer than four.
The Lombardi Trophy is still wildly up for grabs, but with each week a Bucs-Chiefs rematch is looking more and more like a realistic scenario. Once 3-4, Kansas City is 9-4 after extending its winning streak to six games by humiliating Las Vegas 48-9. Tampa Bay should have defeated Buffalo in much easier fashion than 33-27 in overtime, but any win over a Bills team that is much better than last week’s Monday Night Football debauchery would suggest is a good win. Sure TB vs NE would also be fun, but I don’t think anyone would be surprised by Bucs vs Chiefs déjà vu.
BUCCANEERS 🏴☠️
That also cashes our best bet of Buccaneers -3 ✅
(Via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/EliJHRime0
— Pickswise (@Pickswise) December 13, 2021
Parsons is great, but the Cowboys aren’t
The Cowboys lucked into Micah Parsons falling to them at No. 12 in the 2021 NFL Draft, but not even Parsons – who got his 11th and 12th sacks in addition to forcing a fumble on Sunday – has me on their bandwagon. Dallas led Washington 24-0 midway through the third quarter and then came somewhat close to squandering the entire lead. Dak Prescott threw two more interceptions and has been picked off eight times in the last eight games. Ezekiel Elliott’s 45-yard effort marked his seventh consecutive performance with no more than 51 rushing yards.
Although the ‘Boys have defeated a ton of mediocre opponents (and also New England, but that was back in Week 6 – and in overtime), I can’t see them keeping up with high-powered offenses like Arizona, Green Bay, and Tampa Bay in the playoffs.
And, for that matter, I also wasn’t too impressed with Cleveland’s win over Baltimore. Coming incredibly close to blowing a 24-3 lead against an opponent that had Tyler Huntley playing quarterback instead of Lamar Jackson? Not great. I’m sticking with the Ravens (unless Jackson is out for an extended period) in the AFC North.
Niners vs Bengals was probably for the playoffs
As boring as the 1pm ET window was on the greatest channel in television history (Red Zone), the 4pm ET slot made up for it in a major way. We had dueling overtime games, as 49ers vs Bengals joined Bucs vs Bills.
With San Francisco at 6-6 and Cincinnati at 7-5, this one had massive postseason implications for each team in its respective conference. The 49ers’ dramatic 26-23 victory currently gives them the No. 6 seed in the NFC, while the Bengals are now outside of playoff spot in the AFC based on tiebreakers.
By the way, George Kittle and Joe Burrow are flat-out winners. Those guys just make plays when games are on the line. Although the Bengals are on thin ice now, I’m not entirely counting them out with Burrow under center.
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