Final NFL Week 13 Observations ... With Miami Dolphins Angles
The Miami Dolphins find themselves facing the toughest remaining schedule of any NFL team, and it's in part due to what happened in Week 13 with their final four opponents.
Of the four, the Kansas City Chiefs had the least eventful game, though their 22-16 victory against the Denver Broncos on Sunday night was a lot closer call than many had expected.
If anything, that game illustrated — although it should have been obvious already — that taking the conservative route in the fourth quarter is a dicey proposition at best.
We're referring, of course, to Denver's decision to punt on fourth-and-3 from its 49 with 6:13 left trailing 19-16. By the time the Broncos got the ball back, it was 22-16 and there was 1:04 left and they were out of timeouts.
You know the saying: No guts, no glory.
The Patriots, meanwhile, just won't go away — like we probably should have figured they wouldn't.
What's troublesome about New England is that its defense appears to be back on track after a lull, and that's going to make them a tough matchup for the Dolphins a week from Sunday.
What New England did to the Chargers on Sunday was similar to what the Dolphins did to them Nov. 15, namely take advantage of a special teams unit that can only be described as putrid.
Before they face the Dolphins, the Patriots have to face the Rams on Thursday night after spending the week in Southern California. At 6-6, they're at a point where they can ill afford any losses down the stretch if they hope to make the playoffs for the 637th consecutive year.
The Raiders, of course, won on that deep touchdown pass in the final seconds after defensive coordinator Gregg Williams left his cornerback in man coverage and he bit on a simple inside move.
From a Jets perspective, it's awfully tempting to raise an eyebrow and suggest that was a strategic move because that "hearbreaking loss" kept them on track to land Trevor Lawrence. It also should raise concerns at the end of the regular season if the Raiders make the playoffs because of that win.
Just saying.
The Raiders, though, don't look much like a playoff team after getting blown out by Atlanta and barely defeating a really bad Jets team.
Finally, there's the Buffalo Bills, who looked as good Monday night against San Francisco (at Arizona) as they have all season.
This is not a flawless team, by any means, but when good Josh Allen shows up, they're really good offensively. And this actually was great Josh Allen who showed up against the 49ers.
On to other Week 13 observations:
-- Going back to the Raiders quickly, you may have noticed we haven't heard much from linebacker Raekwon McMillan this season. Well, there's a pretty good reason for that. Let's just say he hasn't made much of an impact in his first year with Las Vegas. He played 21 snaps against the Jets — all of them on special teams. Over the past nine games, he has played exactly 13 defensive snaps, nine of them in one game. Remember that the Dolphins got a fourth-round pick from the Raiders in the trade that sent him out of Miami.
-- That Larry Csonka and the 1972 Dolphins would get to raise a glass to another season without a team matching their perfect feat seemed inevitable for a few weeks. The Pittsburgh Steelers' loss against Washington was surprising because of the opponent, though the Redskins are very good up front on defense, but not in the big picture because the Steelers are simply not overly impressive offensively. Their defense is good enough to keep them in any game, but the Steelers running game (especially with James Conner out) is pedestrian and the receivers are inconsistent. As head coach Mike Tomlin said before that first loss, "The only perfect about us is our record."
-- How bad are the Dallas Cowboys? Yeesh! They're bad enough that the NFL actually moved them off the Sunday night slot in Week 15. Do you know how bad Dallas has to be for "America's Team" to get yanked from prime time? Very bad, that's how bad.
-- The Dolphins caught a break in that Houston-Indy game because it sure looked like Deshaun Watson was able to pull out a last-minute victory for the Texans before he dropped a low shotgun snap and the Colts recovered the loose ball. But this is what happens to bad teams: They find a way to lose. The problem from a Dolphins standpoint is that Houston, while still bad, isn't nearly as bad as it was earlier this season, so that first-round pick may be headed to the second half of the top 10.
-- Finally, we close with some props to the New York Giants, who went out West and stunned the Seattle Seahawks, 17-12, to stay atop the NFC East with their third consecutive victory. And one guy getting a lot of credit for the Giants' improvement is defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, the same Patrick Graham who was DC for the Dolphins last season. Graham, in fact, has started getting mention as a potential head-coaching candidate.
