Because the common season attracts to an in depth, we’ll have a look every Friday at a recreation more likely to have an effect on the playoff race, together with the groups whose fortunes are rising and falling. And, so we don’t neglect the also-rans, we’ll see which groups are within the hunt for subsequent 12 months’s No 1 choose.
Sport of the week
Miami Dolphins (11-4) v Baltimore Ravens (12-3)
Story of the season: The unstoppable drive meets the immovable object. Miami enter with essentially the most explosive assault within the NFL guided by head coach Mike McDaniel. The 40-year-old offensive schemer has wrung each final drop of expertise from his roster to file a league-best 411 yards per recreation that options the devastating pace of Tyreek Hill at vast receiver. His brilliance is not possible to overstate; 70 extra yards will push him over 1,700 on the season and a profession excessive at 29 years previous. On the opposite aspect of the sphere stands John Harbuagh, 21 years McDaniel’s senior, wielding the league’s best protection recent from shredding the Tremendous Bowl favourite San Francisco 49ers. Baltimore brutalized Brock Purdy as they’ve achieved to opposing quarterbacks all season whereas giving up the league’s fewest factors per recreation at 16. So that ought to make the Ravens the favorites come February. That’s then, although. Now, the prize for the one two groups within the AFC to have clinched a postseason spot up to now: the all-important No 1 seed and a juicy first-round playoff bye.
What the Dolphins must do to win: Miami have a mammoth job in sustaining their offensive machine with out Jaylen Waddle as a consequence of a excessive ankle sprain. The Dolphins will miss his superior pace and ability as a No 2 imply defenses are saved from marking a No 1 – Hill – out of the sport. A have a look at final season’s spectacular 42-38 win at Baltimore factors to the quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s skill to rise within the face of maximum strain. Miami’s QB threw six touchdowns on the day as his staff roared again with 28 factors within the last quarter. Hill’s unrivalled quickness nonetheless palms Miami a bonus over Baltimore’s secondary with out Waddle although. No person is faster so McDaniel can hold the Ravens operating uphill by getting the ball into Hill’s palms and forcing the identical errors in protection that allowed such an epic comeback final season.
What the Ravens must do to win: “It’s all about attempting to make issues look completely different and to deceive the quarterback as a lot as doable,” the Ravens secondary coach Chris Hewitt mentioned in November. Baltimore’s disguised coverages cooked up by Hewitt and defensive coordinator, Mike Macdonald, put Purdy in an epic tailspin on Christmas Day and have been deadly all 12 months resulting in league greatest figures in sacks (53), takeaways (26) and a miserly common of 4.5 yards per play. Macdonald has to think about his unit’s skill to befuddle Miami into coughing up the ball by utilizing their signature simulated strain – making it appear to be the blitz is coming when it’s not – then arrowing Jadeveon Clowney in to ransack the offensive line. The move rush could solely blitz 21% of the time however win 46% of these efforts, the third-best price within the NFL. Keep affected person, pull the set off on the proper second and Tagovailoa might fall, like most others have, underneath such head-swimming shadow play.
Playoff race risers and fallers
Rising: Detroit Lions
Head coach, Dan Campbell, has turned Detroit round fully since taking up. A as soon as doomed franchise are 11-4 and may now boast successful their division for the primary time in 30 years. The Lions’ spectacular file additionally confirms a house playoff recreation for under the third time since 1957. The NFC’s No 1 seed is even nonetheless on the desk however the No 2 spot is extra life like with the 49ers forward in the event that they win their last two video games. To earn the second ticket they’ve to start out by touchdown one other milestone of their unimaginable season: beating the 10-5 Dallas Cowboys. Campbell ought to be assured because the Lions’ harmful offensive line coupled with David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs, the very best one-two punch operating again duo within the NFL (each on tempo for 1,000 yards), are peaking whereas the Cowboys’ offense has misfired in opposition to Tremendous Bowl contenders this 12 months. One other win on Saturday evening could have Detroit feeling greater than mere contenders.
Falling: Kansas Metropolis Chiefs
The NFL’s perennial darlings. The Tremendous Bowl champions. Patrick Mahomes … dropping to the Las Vegas Raiders. On paper, that is nothing to fret an excessive amount of about. The Raiders have protection that interim head coach, Antonio Pierce, has improved and the 12 months of parity dictates any staff has a shot even in opposition to a juggernaut. Kansas Metropolis will nonetheless cruise into the playoffs, too. However, the style of Mahomes’ struggles with Las Vegas spotlight a malaise on offense he’s now contributing to reasonably than battling to beat. Throwing a pick-six on the play after your operating again fumbles for a Raiders landing is sloppiness that has been an unlikely hallmark of a comparatively poor season. After seven years of KC holding the crown, counting on a win over the Bengals or Chargers to clinch one other AFC West title is unfamiliar floor for head coach, Andy Reid.
Race for No 1 choose
The Chicago Bears stay within the field seat for the highest choose of the 2024 draft as house owners of Carolina’s first spherical choice subsequent 12 months. The Panthers sit at 2-13 and really near clinching the competition for Chicago whereas the 3-12 Arizona Cardinals are actually the one life like likelihood of snatching the primary choose. The chance of the Panthers successful out: skinny. However what’s intriguing is how their offense continues to enhance underneath interim head coach, Chris Tabor. The quarterback Bryce Younger’s 312 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 33-30 defeat to Inexperienced Bay had been his greatest figures so far and will instil confidence for an announcement victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. The Jags should win to remain high of the AFC South. 4 losses in succession, the newest of which permitting Tampa Bay to drop 30 factors on them with out reply, recommend they could wrestle and subsequently hold Arizona, defeat incoming in opposition to Philadelphia, in rivalry.
