By Brandon Simmons
Tua vs. Herbert
Sunday, the Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Chargers faced each other in addition to showcasing their franchise quarterbacks. The Dolphins Tua Tagovaloa and the Chargers Justin Herbert have been the subject of an online debate over who was better, with Fox Sports Emmanuel Acho leading the charge for Tua. However, in Sunday’s game, Herbert took the win in decisive fashion with a 23-17 final. So that should mean this peculiar debate should come to an end, right?
This newfound duel had a very anti-climactic ending that seem to come early. In the first half, Herbert was already nearing 200 yards while Tua only had 25 yards. The deciding factor in this matchup was Herbert made more big throws than Tua. In the 2 minute drive in the first half, the Chargers signal caller rolled out towards the sideline and delivered a strike to wide receiver Josh Palmer. Later in the game – on the drive for the go ahead field goal – Herbert threw a pinpoint pass to wide receiver Keenan Allen. The importance of these throws derives from the narrative that Herbert is a “social media quarterback”, which implies he’s making flashy plays that don’t turn into many wins. Well in this case, that was quite the opposite.
This was a good debate while it lasted but it should have run its course by now. People are pairing them because of where they were picked in the draft. To be fair, Tua is certainly good but he has some catching up to do in terms of experience. He’s been hurt quite a bit these past couple of seasons, while Herbert has been healthy. Tua is a solid QB with a lot of weapons around him, so his trajectory could be pretty high and he could move up it pretty fast. But right now, Herbert just showed in this game why he has the upper hand in this debate, which could fade out on its own merit.
Are the Dallas Cowboys to be Trusted in the Playoffs?
The Dallas Cowboys are in a playoff run but have had some interesting over the past few weeks. Sundays win over the Houston Texans was a big concern of whether or not Dallas can be expected to do much in the postseason. It took a broken play by the Texans and a 98 yard touchdown drive for Dallas to get a 27-23 victory over the lowly Texans. It shook fans and sports analysts that the Cowboys, who were extremely favored in this game, would play flat against Houston, which sort of brought up concern for their future playoff performance.
The Cowboys have their eyes on beating the Philadelphia Eagles, to gain some ground on the division race, but they’re playing a dangerous game not seeing the opponents in front of them. Aside from the Texans game, look at what happened when they played the Indianapolis Colts. Dallas was only up by 2 points going into the 4th quarter then exploded for 33 straight points. The Colts might have been expected to put up a little more of a fight than the Texans, that simply did not look like the case Sunday. Dallas has Jacksonville coming up before they face the Eagles and the Jaguars are a team that can really give them a fight, especially after beating down the Tennessee Titans. Cowboys can’t take any team lightly, because those habits will fester and they will find themselves on the edge of the the playoffs or out of them.
Injuries in the NFC West
Injuries have really put a damper on the NFC West this season, including its division leader, the San Francisco 49ers. The Niners lost both of their QB’s – Trey Lance and Jimmy Garropolo – to season-ending injuries. This past Sunday, San Fran also saw wide receiver Deebo Samuel suffer a high ankle sprain and QB Brock Purdy suffer an oblique injury. The Los Angeles Rams saw wide receiver Cooper Kupp also suffer a high ankle sprain but QB Matthew Stafford sustained a neck injury. Monday, Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray suffered a non-contact leg injury. Ironically, this was after he missed a few games due to another injury.
All these injuries have really stifled a competitive season for the NFC West. Granted, the Rams and Cardinals were kind of on a slide, but who’s to say they wouldn’t get things back on track to make an exciting finish to the season. What makes things even tough is that the Seattle Seahawks have been a surprise team and they could’ve made things very interesting amongst the other squads. Right now, things could still go their way, depending on the Niners’ latest injury involving Purdy. This could open the door for the Seahawks to swoop in on the division.
Shoutouts/Shutouts
Shout out to Shannon Sharpe for showing restraint during a heated argument live TV. Monday, on Fox Sports Undisputed, the Hall-of-Fame tight end was debating with co-host Skip Bayless regarding Tom Brady. In the 1 minute clip circulating Twitter, Bayless is seen downplaying Sharpe’s career and achievements to make a point about Brady. At one point, Sharpe got so furious he took his glasses off but used some restraint to calm down. Skip has a history of sitting across from athletes and getting them heated, that’s not surprising. The surprising this is that none of these athletes have ever “skipped” his head across the room.
Shut out to Fox Sports analyst Emmanuel Acho who should’ve shut down his rap about Justin Herbert. Sunday, the former NFL linebacker expressed discontent with eh Los Angeles Chargers not providing him a media pass for Sunday night’s game, so he dropped a freestyle over Chief Keef’s “I Don’t Like” going at the Chargers and their QB. For what it’s worth, Acho is better at breaking down plays as opposed to breaking down flows.
Shout out to Baker Mayfield for his 98 yard drive to get his first win as a Los Angeles Ram. Thursday, Mayfield was cut by the Carolina Panthers but signed with the Rams 2 days before their Thursday night game against the Las Vegas Raiders. He checked in the game in the 2nd quarter, making his debut as the Rams QB but made a big impression in the 4th quarter. Down by 6, Mayfield marched the team down the field capping it off with a 23 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Van Jefferson. What makes this even more special, is that the Rams were down 16-3 in the 4th, and this drive completed the 2 touchdown comeback.
Shut out to the Las Vegas Raiders for giving up that long drive. While Baker Mayfield deserves some credit for that drive, it was 2 costly penalties by the Raiders which helped propelled that drive when it didn’t have to be. We have arrived at Week 15 where Saturday football is amongst us. Saturday will feature the AFC East battle between the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills. Bills will be hosting this rematch and it’s already expected to be around 1 degrees at kickoff, which cold affect the passing game, depending on the wind. The game of the week could be the Washington Commanders visiting the New York Giants, two teams that tied with each other a couple of weeks ago. This is going to be a battle for each team’s playoff lives, so don’t expect a tie within this one. Somebody is going to have to suffer a loss but until then…I’ll holla.