By Brandon Simmons
Eagles Must Avoid Risking Hurts Getting Hurt
After losing to the Dallas Cowboys and losing their starting quarterback, for the moment, to injury, the Philadelphia Eagles must stay the course and roll with Gardner Minshew. Jalen Hurts – the Eagles regular starter at QB – suffered a sprained shoulder six days before Philly was set to play Dallas. Given the shorter than usual turnaround time, the Eagles scratched Hurts and put Minshew in, who almost came away with the win on Saturday. In the wake of this, there has been talk of Hurts speeding up his recovery to get back and help his team win one of the 2 games left on their schedule, to clinch the division and the number one seed.
The best chance for the Eagles to win any of these games is Jalen Hurts, but if they want him to be their best chance in postseason success, they need to dig in and find a way to win these last 2 games. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has done well in his 2 seasons with the team, but he can ruin all of that if the franchise quarterback re-aggravates an injury, which would prolong him to be out longer than he originally needed to be. If anything, this should be his time to shine as a coach. Philly only has to win one game to clinch the division – either against the New Orleans Saints or the New York Giants. The Saints defense is sneaky good, but if Minshew plays like he did against the Cowboys – without the turnovers – then they should wrap everything up this weekend. Yes, Gardner Minshew can play starters’ minutes; but can he play starters’ playoff minutes? Minshew threw for 355 on a very good Dallas defense, but he also generated 2 crucial turnovers in the 2nd half, both of which led to points. Jalen Hurts could not have gotten injured at a worse possible time, but things will get worse for the Eagles if Hurts comes back before he is fully healed.
Nathaniel Hackett is Fired
The Denver Broncos fired head coach Nathaniel Hackett Monday after a disappointing 4-11 season. This move came in the wake of the Broncos getting embarrassed on the road 51-14 by the Los Angeles Chargers on Christmas. It was so many factors that seemed to have went into this decision so it’s likely no shocker, whether it happened now or anticipated once the season concluded. It began with Broncos QB Russell Wilson starting the season struggling and continuing throughout the year. However, while Wilson struggled on the field, the team struggle to keep players on the field. Denver put a league-high 20 players on injured reserve this season. By the time it got to Sunday’s humiliating defeat, the writing may have already been written on the wall. When the backup QB is fighting the offensive linemen, you know things have reached a certain boiling point.
Based on how things have went this year, Hackett’s firing was inevitable but fans and analysts will query on how much blame does he actually generate for this year. As mentioned earlier, Broncos QB Russell Wilson struggled this season, but that’s actually being nice. Wilson has had one of his worst professional seasons this year, posting career lows in completion percentage, quarterback rating and touchdowns. It’s a “live by the QB, die by the QB” league and Denver has been 6 feet deep plenty of times this year. It’s bad enough this team lost RB Javonte Williams to injury then proceeded to cut RB Melvin Gordon, but Wilson was expected to overcome that by the fans, coaches and the ownership who gave him over $245 million and acquired him through a couple of first round draft picks.
On the flip side of that, Nathaniel Hackett was hired for a reason. As a former offensive coordinator, he was supposed to guide this an offensive unit lead by a future-hall-famer. He’s been tasked with this exact mission before as the OC for the Green Bay Packers, where his unit has finished 18th, 5th and 10th respectively during his tenure. Also, for what it’s worth, he’s had more success with less talent such as when he was the coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars, making them a 6th ranked offense, which included leading the league in rushing behind then-running back Leonard Fournette. Now, before Sunday’s beatdown, the Broncos only had one loss that was a double-digit deficit. While that can show a positive direction, it can also work against him, as it shows he’s not able to push this team into the winner’s column. Besides, getting rid of Hackett won’t affect the salary cap, where Wilson’s contract resides and it gives the new ownership group a chance to start new with a coach of their approval.
The Miami Dolphins go from Darling to Stepchild
The Miami Dolphins – who were once considered Super Bowl contenders – are currently on a 4 game losing streak and find themselves on the verge of missing the postseason. The most damaging of the games came in this past Sunday’s loss to the Green Bay Packers, in which they blew a 20-10 lead and lost 30-23. Dolphins QB Tua Tagavoiloa did not have his best game – a theme amongst this stretch – as he threw for 3 interceptions. In addition to that, he was placed back into concussion protocol and could be in danger of not only missing Week 17 against the New England Patriots, but could be done for the regular season. Miami looked like a strong squad in the beginning of the year as Tua was performing was at a high level leading this high-octane offense that also features wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Even without Tua, they could probably still knock off the Patriots and Jets to clinch a playoff spot but their postseason experience would be short and somewhat sweet similar to their 8-3 record.
Shoutouts/Shutouts
Shout out to the Pittsburgh Steelers for honoring Francos Harris with a win. The legendary Pittsburgh running back passed away last week at the age of 72, which was also the same week of the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception. The Immaculate Reception refers to the play in which Harris caught a pass knocked away from a Steelers receiver and took it in for the game winning touchdown. Saturday, the Steelers hosted the Las Vegas Raiders – the franchise on the wrong end of the famed catch – and pulled off a comeback win as Steelers rookie QB Kenny Pickett threw a touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver George Pickens to go up 13-10 with 46 seconds left. The Steelers defense also generated 3 interceptions. It was a fitting moment for an emotional atmosphere in Pittsburgh, which also saw the late RB’s number 32 get retired.
Shut out to Zach Wilson’s season with the New York Jets. The 2nd year QB has been benched for the season following his Thursday night performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He threw 9/18 for 92 yards and an interception in that game. He was benched earlier in the season for his performance but was brought back in the lineup after his replacement, Mike White, was dealing with a rib injury. White has now been medically cleared and Joe Flacco will serve as the backup QB, as Wilson heads to inacvtive status. While there have been reports of the Jets parting ways with Wilson, head coach Robert Saleh says that there are still plans to develop the former number 2 overall pick in the near future.
Shout out to J.J. Watt, who announced he is retiring at the end of this season. Tuesday, the Arizona Cardinals defensive end tweeted that it was his son’s first NFL game but his last NFL home game ever. Watt was originally drafted 11th overall by the Houston Texans, where he played 10 seasons and won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year 3 times. He joined the Cardinals in 2021 to finish out his career.
Shut out to the new injuries late in the year that popped up. Last week, Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray suffered an ACL injury. His surgery is being reported to occur on January 3rd, 2023 and the recovery timeline was rumored to run into October of next season. Also, as mentioned earlier, Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovoiloa has re-entered concussion protocol after telling doctors he was experiencing symptoms.
The Christmas weekend games were crazy so there should be some New Year’s madness to follow up. The one game that everyone will have their eyes on is the Buffalo Bills visiting the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bills are sitting at the 1 seed at 12-3 while the Bengals are the 3 seed but a game behind them and the Kansas City Chiefs. The interesting part of all this is if Kansas City just so happens to lose, and Cincy wins, the Bengals would jump to the number one spot and be in line to take homefield advantage in the playoffs. This game is going to hold some heavy playoff positioning weight but until then…I’ll holla.