It was hat and t-shirt week in the NFL
The good, bad and ugly from NFL Week 16
Dec 24, 2018, 3:39 pm
David Silverman, Patriots team website
Week 16 of the NFL season was hat and t-shirt week as several teams clinched division titles and playoff spots. Here a few things I observed:
The Good
-The Patriots captured their 10th consecutive AFC East division title with their 24-12 win over the Bills. The only other pro sports team to have a run like this was the Atlanta Braves in MLB. Whether you love, hate or are indifferent about them, you have to respect what they've done. Like the old saying goes "If you ain't cheatin, you ain't tryin!" Or is it: "It's only cheatin if you get caught!"
-The Cowboys wrapped up their third NFC East title in the last five years following a 27-20 win over the Bucs. Although they haven't made it past the divisional round since 1995 (the last time they won a Super Bowl), this team seems poised to possibly make that a thing of the past.
-The Browns beat the hapless Bengals 26-18 behind another big performance by rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield. He went 27 of 37 for 284 yards and three touchdowns. Even receiver Jarvis Landry threw a 63-yard bomb to Breshad Perriman. The Browns are an exciting young team. Let's hope they find the right coach to steer this ship.
The Bad
-Apparently there was a "situation" between Bills coach Sean McDermott and his star running back LeSean McCoy this week that led to McDermott benching McCoy. McCoy admitted as much but didn't elaborate. One must speculate as to whether there will be a parting of the ways this offseason, or this was a one off.
-Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota went down with a stinger in their 25-16 win over the Skins. The thing that makes this fall under "The Bad" you ask? We may be subjected to a Blaine Gabbert versus Andrew Luck "Loser Leaves Town Match" when the Titans play the Colts next week for a playoff spot.
-I wrote this article before Monday Night Football because nobody gives a damn about a Broncos (6-8) versus Raiders (3-11) game. Well, their family members might care. The NFL needs to do something about the MNF schedule. I know people buy tickets and plan around these games, but I have an idea about how to fix it. Be looking for that article soon.
The Ugly
-As ballsy as the Chargers played last week to beat the Chiefs, was as bad as the Ravens made them look. They were held to just 10 points, less than 200 yards total offense, and Phillip Rivers went 23 of 37 for 181 yards with two picks and was sacked four times. In other words, they pissed away their chance at the top seed in AFC.
-The Jags beat the Dolphins 17-7. It was so ugly, the teams combined for 427 total yards of offense, 4.06 yards per play average, and 20 penalties for 192 yards. This was the type of game in which the family members left early.
-Skins decided to cut safety D.J. Swearinger following disparaging remarks he made about defensive coordinator Greg Manusky. Swearinger was named a Pro Bowl alternate this year and had one year remaining on his contract. I guess saving $4.5 million dollars on next year's cap and a headache in the locker room was more important.
We will have to wait and see how the folks at 345 Park Avenue in New York decide how the schedule will play out for week 17. The league tries to make sure the last couple weeks of the season mean as much as possible to keep people interested. Playoff spots and seeding will be on the line and I'm looking forward to it.
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Adding a player of Kevin Durant’s caliber was too valuable an opportunity for the Houston Rockets to pass up, even though it meant moving on from Jalen Green just four seasons after they drafted him second overall.
Durant was officially acquired from Phoenix on Sunday in a complicated seven-team transaction that sent Green and Dillon Brooks to the Suns and brought Clint Capela back to Houston from the Hawks.
General manager Rafael Stone is thrilled to add the future Hall of Famer, who will turn 37 in September, to a team which made a huge leap last season to earn the second seed in the Western Conference.
Asked Monday why he wanted to add Durant to the team, Stone smiled broadly before answering.
“He’s Kevin Durant,” Stone said. “He’s just — he’s really good. He’s super-efficient. He had a great year last year. He’s obviously not 30 anymore, but he hasn’t really fallen off and we just think he has a chance to really be impactful for us.”
But trading Green to get him was not an easy decision for Stone, Houston’s general manager since 2020.
“Jalen’s awesome, he did everything we asked,” Stone said. “He’s a wonderful combination of talent and work ethic along with being just a great human being. And any time that you have the privilege to work with someone who is talented and works really hard and is really nice, you should value it. And organizationally we’ve valued him tremendously, so yeah very hard.”
Green was criticized for his up-and-down play during the postseason when the Rockets were eliminated by the Warriors in seven games in the first round. But Green had improved in each of his four seasons in Houston, leading the team in scoring last season and playing all 82 games in both of the past two seasons.
Pressed for details about why Green's time was up in Houston, Stone wouldn't get into specifics.
“It’s the NBA and you can only do trades if a certain amount of money goes out and a certain amount comes in and there’s some positional overlap or at least overlap in terms of on ball presence,” he said. “And so that’s what the deal required.”
In Durant, the Rockets get a veteran of almost two decades who averaged 26.6 points and six rebounds a game last season and has a career average of 27.2 points and seven rebounds.
Houston loves the veteran experience and presence that Durant brings. Stone noted that the team had arranged for some of its players to work out with him in each of the past two offseasons.
“His work ethic is just awesome,” Stone said. “The speed at which he goes, not in a game … but the speed at which he practices and the intensity at which he practices is something that has made him great over the years and it started when he was very young. So of all the things that I hope rubs off, that’s the main one I think is that practice makes perfect. And I think one of the reasons he’s had such an excellent career is because of the intensity with which he works day in day out.”
Durant is a 15-time All-Star and four-time scoring champion, who was the Finals MVP twice. The former Texas Longhorn is one of eight players in NBA history to score at least 30,000 points and he won NBA titles in 2017 and 2018 with the Warriors.
Now he’ll join a team chasing its first NBA title since winning back-to-back championships in 1994-95.
“Everything has to play out, but we do — we like the fit,” Stone said. “We think it works well. We think he will add to us and we think we will help him.”