By Brandon Simmons
Does Josh Allen Need Help?
Thursday, the Buffalo Bills lost to the Houston Texans and a lot of analysts had some interesting takes. Apparently, the narrative turned into Bills QB Josh Allen needed some help after Buffalo’s 23-19 loss. It seems absurd that Allen, a candidate to win his 2nd straight MVP, needs some help, but maybe it’s something to it. The Bills have lost some weird games, meaning they fell to opponents they should’ve beaten. The first example that comes to mind is the Atlanta Falcons and another is the Buffalo Bills. Recently, they took a major loss to the Houston Texans.
There seem to be a common theme amongst these losses at the moment. These games either have multiple sacks, turnovers or are on primetime; really it’s 3 out of their 4 losses that falls under these categories, which is a weird combination to have. These opponents also have worse records than the Bills/ So the only ‘help” this team needs is with consistency. It’s great to be beat the good teams, but those teams with lesser records can be a thorn in the side of a lot of playoff teams. Buffalo doesn’t want their playoff run derailed by a team that was never on track for the postseason.
The Ravens Fly Back to the Top
The Baltimore Ravens had a horrendous start to their season but have now jumped to the top of their division. Baltimore started 1-5 before going on a 5-game win streak to take first place in the AFC North. This feat happened in the wake of the team getting rid of their videogames, but it has been no game with them on the field. They have held teams to under 20 points, but also beat a very good Chicago Bears team by double digits.
A lot of factors have gone into the success of this Ravens run. The first thing that stands out is turnovers, on both sides of the ball. Before the bye week, Baltimore was a minus 7 in the turnover department; after the bye, they flipped it to a plus 7. You can’t overlook the fact that everyone is healthy again. Aside from Lamar Jackson, the Ravens are getting back cornerback Marlon Humphrey, tight end Isiah Likely along with a few others. It also helps their schedule was filled with Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns and New York Jets. It’s also going to help that they have the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers, both twice on their schedule. Mind you, tied with a Steelers team that is dealing with a QB injury and inefficiencies on their offense. The Ravens were dead in the water to start the year and now it looks like their season is being saved with everything happening at the right time.
Reaction to the Shedeur Start
Cleveland Browns rookie QB Shadeur Sanders got his first career start this past Sunday, and s expected, it was was a grand event. Sanders and the Browns beat the Las Vegas Raiders 27-10 on the road, where Sanders went 11/20 for 209 yards, a touchdown and interception. His first touchdown pass came on a pass in the flat on a 3rd down to Bowns running back Dylan Sampson, who caught it and ran it to the end zone for 66 yards.
The biggest takeaway from Shedeur Sanders first start is that he has gone through some effective coaching since the preseason. One of the biggest knocks on him was that he did not get rid of the ball quick enough and took a lot of sacks. In this game, he looked more decisive and even threw the ball away when nothing was open. Aside from that, he demonstrated great arm strength with his 52 yard bomb to Browns rookie wide receiver Isiah Bond to get near the goal line. Sanders put on a soldi performance for his first career start. However, just like most times his name has popped up, controversy slightly followed. A clip of the Browns locker room showing head coach Kevin Stefanski giving a seemingly, half-hearted acknowledgement to Shedeur winning his first game, sparked a lot of reaction online from fans and analysts. But it shouldn’t take away from the fact that Sanders showed what he can do, with just a “week of preparation”. Many people around the Browns facility reported Sanders as constantly watching film and sticking his head in different meetings, taking this opportunity very serious. The real challenge is treating every start like it’s his first start. He did some good things in this game but he also has some things he can work on, especially as the opponents get tougher down the line. With Sanders being named the starter going forward, he will certainly get more pf these opportunities.
Shoutout/Shutouts
Shout out to the Dallas Cowboys for flipping a deficit into a win. Sunday, against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Cowboys were down 21-0 right before halftime. What ensued was the team scoring 24 straight points including, 10 straight in the 4th quarter. It wasn’t an easy feat at all for the Cowboys, who had to survive fumbling the ball away a couple of times.
Shut out to the Eagles blowing a 21 point lead in the 2nd half. Philadelphia obviously had a huge first half but couldn’t create scores in the 2nd half to put away the Dallas Cowboys. As a result, not only did they lose the game, but slipped to the 2nd seed in the playoff race.
Shout out to Shedeur Sanders for his historic first start. As mentioned earlier, the Browns rookie QB win his debut start, the first Cleveland signal caller to do this since Eric Zeier in 1995. From the time Zeier did this up until when Sanders made this accomplishment, Browns rookie QB’s were 0-7 in their debut start.
Shut out to the Colts who blew a lead in the quarter. Sunday, against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Indianapolis Colts held a 20-9 lead in the 4th quarter. That lead evaporated as the Chiefs came back in the 4th to force overtime and win the game. Indianapolis’ collapse was fueled by their four 3 and outs they suffered in the quarter.
Week 13 brings the traditional Thanksgiving games with playoff battles laying throughout. Thursday morning, start off with the Detroit Lions hosting the Green Bay Packers for NFC North positioning, which is currently led by the Chicago Bears. Speaking of the Bears, they will visit the Philadelphia Eagles on Black Friday as both teams fight to remain atop thsor divisions and chase the number one seed. Also, couldn’t mention Thanksgiving without the Dallas Cowboys as they host the Kansas City Chiefs on that Thursday afternoon. This game has the potential to be a shootout and should keep everyone awake after 2 or 3 plates. But until then…I’ll holla.
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