10 Things We Learned: Professional Week 12 Edition

By Jonathan Comey
Cold, Hard Football Facts Gentleman and Scholar

Ten things we learned from a football Sunday where the backup QBs, college studs and crappy teams took a back seat to the real pros. Except, of course, for the Amazing Fighting Tebows.

1. Tim Tebow was the only recent college stud smiling at the end of the day Sunday.

They all looked great in their best suits, sitting in front of a New York podium hoping to hear their names called as Heisman winner. On Sunday, not so much.

• Toby Gerhart (2nd in the voting, 2009): Got the start in place of Adrian Peterson and went nowhere against a so-so Atlanta front (17 carries, 44 yards). Loss.
• Colt McCoy (2nd, 2008; 3rd, 2009): Went 16-of-34 for 151 yards as the Browns failed to crack 20 points for the ninth straight week. Loss.
• Sam Bradford (1st, 2008): At home, against a bad Cardinals defense, he had his usual day – 6.55 yards per attempt, one offensive touchdown drive, 3 of 13 on third downs. Loss.
• Ndamukong Suh (4th, 2009): Stomps on arm, gets tossed, makes up weak excuse, about to be suspended. Loss.

And then there was Tebow. He followed the same blueprint he has in all five of his wins this year; don’t turn the ball over, hit a few big passes, stay close until the last few minutes of the fourth quarter. Win.

People seem to think the fascination with Tebow has to do with his religious beliefs, but they don’t make him the lead story every week. It’s the winning, and the weirdness of it all. McCoy, Bradford and Gerhart prove that winning games as a collegiate doesn’t mean much in the pros, but Tebow is making that theory look pretty bad.

2. Norv Turner might not make it to Week 17.

On Sunday, Leslie Frazier and Steve Spagnuolo got a little closer to the unemployment line with losses (Jim Caldwell is already clearing out his things), but no one lost bigger than Turner.

At 4-7 and three games back of the AFC West-leading Raiders, the Chargers aren’t technically dead. They made it back from even longer odds in 2008 – in fact, the longest odds in NFL history – when they won their final four games and watched Denver lose its final four en route to a playoff berth.

It could happen, but not with Philip Rivers inexplicably playing like a dead-armed, late-career Dan Fouts of late – his best passer rating over the last seven weeks is 90.8, shocking stuff for a guy coming off three full seasons at 100+.

This brings us to the 59-year-old Turner, who was already on the hot seat after last year’s see-saw season. GM A.J. Smith hasn’t shown much penchant for sentiment, trading Drew Brees, kicking LaDainian Tomlinson to the curb at the first signs of wear, firing Marty Schottenheimer after a 14-2 season. So, if the Chargers lose next week at Jacksonville on Monday Night (ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!?!?!) and Oakland beats Miami, Smith could make his move.

Defensive coordinator Greg Manusky is a viable head coaching candidate, having interviewed for the Carolina job this offseason, and the Chargers would be wise to give him a shot at the spot and see what he can do.

It certainly can’t hurt – at this point, we’re done learning about Turner, who will go down as a capable football mind that just didn’t have what it took to turn good teams into champions.

3. Andy Reid will survive the hot seat.

The crowd in Philly may have chanted “Fire Andy” during the Eagles’ 38-20 loss Sunday, but don’t expect it to happen.

This Eagle team is fundamentally flawed; weak in the middle of the defense, overreliant on Michael Vick on offense and injured all over the field. Despite this, the Eagles hadn’t been legitimately handled until Sunday, when
New England torched the defense and made Vince Young try to beat them … which he didn’t. If there’s ever been a worse performance by a quarterback who finished with 400+ yards, we’d like to see one. He missed throws all day, and only the mismatches vs. New England’s depleted secondary kept some sluggish deep balls in the arms of Philly wideouts.  

With Reid signed through 2013 and Jeffrey Lurie one of the smartest and best owners in football, don’t expect any panic in the front office. This team just didn’t catch the breaks or make the plays, and when you’ve had the success Reid has a good owner can recognize that for what it is.

But defensive coordinator Juan Castillo can pretty much expect to be doing something other than coordinating this defense in 2012 – his failure is hard to overlook, and will almost certainly lead to a fourth D coordinator in four years for the Eagles.

4. Bill Belichick would like his genius card back, please.

In the last three weeks, Belichick’s Patriots have played three playoff teams from 2010 and put together three wins -- by an average of 23.3 points. Two of them on the road. Two with receiver Julian Edelman playing important snaps in the secondary. All without their No. 1 cornerback, No. 1 safety and starting middle linebacker.

The next time someone tells you how bad the Patriots’ defense is, or how poorly they’ve drafted, or how Belichick’s lost his mojo, note that they’ve allowed 18.0 PPG over the last eight games and are about to win their 11th straight AFC East title (two of them shared). They’ve ranked better in points per game allowed than yards per game allowed in all of Belichick’s 11 seasons as head coach, and will again this year.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have Tom Brady as your quarterback. Brady hasn’t had three straight games with passer ratings under 80 since … the final three weeks of 2002. That’s almost eight full seasons without going through a significant slump, folks.

Brady’s numbers the last three weeks: 65-for-100, 926 yards, eight TDs, no picks, a 121.5 rating, against three teams with legitimate No. 1 cornerbacks (Darrelle Revis, Brandon Flowers and Asante Samuel).

If ranking No. 11 in points allowed (20.3 per game) while ranking No. 32 in yards allowed (409.8) isn’t genius, we don’t know what is – because last time we checked, points are what’s used to decide who wins.  

5. Domino’s Pizza needs to cool it with the self-loathing.

It was kind of cute when Dominos tried to let America know (through a full-scale NFL advertising blitz, among other things) that their pizza had sucked in the past and would no longer suck in the future. The latter wasn’t a big surprise to anyone who had been drunk and hungry in the last decade, the second part we’d have to wait and see.

But they launched this campaign in December of 2009 … shouldn’t they be all out of excuses by now? Their latest ad shows their “executive chef” talking about their failings on the all-important “cheesy bread” front, complete with a head-hanging moment of silence. Ah, don’t worry though, their new cheesy bread is great, jam-packed with enough cheese to kill a charging wildebeest.

What the f---? Are we supposed to have confidence in a pizza outfit that is admitting to complete negligence for years? If they couldn’t figure out cheesy bread 10 years ago, why do we want to eat it now?

Between the overall creepiness that is “Papa John” and the shame spiral going on at Dominos, we are ready as a country for a new voice in the pizza wars. Someone step up! Hot, Soft Football Pies anyone?

6. We have reached the point in the season where the good teams beat the bad teams.

This sounds like a pretty obvious point, but in Week 12 the cream truly rose to the top. The schedule was littered with games between contenders (over .500) and choads (under .500), and the contenders got it done to the tune of 7-0.

In fact, there was only one game that was even mildly surprising – Washington winning on the road at Seattle. But when Rex Grossman beats Tarvaris Jackson, have we really learned anything?

Next week is more of the same, with only three games pitting Quality Team vs. Quality Team (ATL at HOU, GB at NYG and DET at NO).

That leaves a lucky 13 mismatches for your viewing pleasure, at least 11 of which will turn out just how you expect them to – it’s just how things go when the league separates officially into those with hope and those without. You’re welcome.

7. Peyton Manning should have been the Colts’ offensive coordinator this year.

Few things have been more interesting in this 2011 season than watching Indianapolis go from the absolute surest thing in sports to a laughingstock on all levels. From Bill Polian’s preposterous statements (and terrible signing of Kerry Collins), to poor play from the skill players and disaster on defense, it’s all been bad for Indy.

At 0-11, and looking like a 50-50 shot for 0-16, this could be the single most unexpectedly terrible season in the history of sports.

The sight of Peyton Manning sitting next to Curtis Painter at the end of the game, with an empathetic frown on his face, begs the question: why isn’t this guy in a more important role? Like, calling the plays? He’s been the offensive coordinator on the field for years, so why not have him earn a little bit of his huge contract this year by making the decisions from the sidelines?

Clyde Christensen is the man with the job right now, but he was a WR coach with Indy for years before taking the job in 2009 as coordinator. At 55, with a decade as a Colts coach, he would have taken a back seat to Manning and liked it.

Maybe it sounds crazy, but so does the most reliable franchise in sports over the last decade losing all 11 of its games.

8. The playoffs start in 40 days.

The speed of an NFL season is a little disturbing. Seems like yesterday football fans were in a perpetual state of pants pooping that there’d be no season … now all of a sudden the playoffs are around the corner (Jan. 7, 2012)? The fantasy championship games are in like two weeks? The Thanksgiving turkey carcass is getting eaten by raccoons in the backyard? Christmas decorations are up?

Time flies when you’re having fun (sorry, Colts fans, the rest of us are enjoying it).

9. The Defensive Player of the Year vote is going to be pretty interesting.

Aaron Rodgers has MVP all but sewn up, and while Jim Harbaugh will garner some steam for Coach of the Year, an undefeated season would certainly be enough for Mike McCarthy to finally get his due.

But DPOY? It’s anyone’s guess.

Patrick Willis will get support based on the classic formula: great player + great defense = best defensive player in the league. But he might not even be the best defender on his team, with DE Justin Smith setting the tone with his incredible work in the Niners’ 3-4 defense.

The Steelers haven’t been good enough for their usual suspects to get support, and while Broncos rookie Von Miller has probably had as much impact on his team as any defender he just doesn’t  have the obvious numbers the voters crave.

It will probably boil down to two candidates, one who’s already won it and one who should have: Darrelle Revis and DeMarcus Ware.

Ware already has 14 sacks through 11 games, and he’s done it consistently – no big games against weak sisters, just consistent effort against a tough slate of offensive lines. In 2008, he finished behind James Harrison of Pittsburgh despite 20 sacks, 27 tackles for loss and six forced fumbles, but couldn’t overcome Dallas’ 9-7 record and so-so team defense.

As for Revis, he’s pretty clearly the most valuable defensive player in the game – take him off of that Jets defense, and what do you have? A team that can’t pass, can’t run and struggles to cover the middle of the field.

If Revis does win, it’ll be an upset – since the institution of the honor in 1971, only six players have won it more than once (Lawrence Taylor, Joe Greene, Bruce Smith, Reggie White, Mike Singletary and Ray Lewis).

10. Leftovers are always good.

Some things learned that don’t merit a full item … Patrick Peterson, YOU ARE RIDICULOUS! Not only does he have the four punt return TDs, but they basically were responsible for three of the Cardinals’ four wins. M-V-P! M-V-P! … The Bears are in trouble. The schedule is pretty soft, but if the Giants win tonight there will be six 7-4 teams fighting for four playoff spots – quarterbacked by Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Tony Romo, Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford and, um, Caleb Hanie. … Chris Johnson finally broke out with 190 yards Sunday, and you can expect more of the same the next three weeks against the Bills, Saints and Colts (all in the bottom 10 on the Defensive Hog Index). … The Chiefs deserved to lose to the Steelers Monday night just for giving out Tony Gonzalez’s No. 88 jersey to Anthony Becht. Retire that thing! … Matt Ryan has turned it around – he’s had four games with 100+ ratings in his last six, five of them wins.
 
 
 

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Read more: NFL, Week 12