The 3M Report: Week 17
Welcome to the week 17 edition of the 3M report; a look back on all the magic, mayhem, and mishaps of the weekend games. With 11 of the 12 playoff spots basically locked in before the start of week 17, most of the drama and intrigue lay in how the seedings would shake out. The fantasy season is over for most of us but it was nice to just sit back and enjoy the football being played in the final week of the 2016 regular season.
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It was good to see Tony Romo get in for a series and lead a scoring drive, capped by a nice throw to Terrance Williams for the touchdown. I can just see now all the quarterback controversy talk in the mainstream sports media coming the next two weeks. It would be interesting to see them insert Romo as the starter for the playoffs but I just don’t think it is going to happen. It’s a completely different situation than the one in Denver last season. Having already locked up the top seed in the NFC and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, the Cowboys didn’t have much to play for today so we were treated with watching Mark Sanchez for most of the game. After Romo’s first touchdown since November 22nd, 2015, Sanchez came in and promptly threw two interceptions in the second quarter. The rest of the NFL is happy they only have two good quarterbacks. Philadelphia got one of Zach Ertz’s patented week 17 blowup games. He and Carson Wentz connected 13 times for 139 yards and two touchdowns. The Eagles take this one 27-13 and make the first round pick they sent to the Browns in the Wentz deal just a little bit worse. I hope the Eagles get Wentz some legitimate wide receiver weapons to help him out in 2017. That and a healthy running game would do wonders for his development in year two.
Tom Brady broke the record for the best single-season touchdown to interception ratio when he hit Julian Edelman on a 77-yard catch and run. It gives Brady 28 touchdowns against just two interceptions on the season. Remember Michael Floyd? He showed up on Sunday with two memorable plays for his new team. He kept his legs churning like a running back and bulldozed through half the Dolphins defense on his touchdown reception. Floyd followed it up by decleating Tony Lippett on this block to spring Edelman on his aforementioned touchdown. The Patriots lock up the top seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. LeGarrette Blount is a free agent after this season and it will be interesting to see if another team throws a bunch of money at him after an 18 touchdown season. For fantasy purposes, I can’t imagine a better fit for him than New England and I would be a seller if the team doesn’t bring him back. Blount had plenty to say about Ndamukong Suh after the game.
The Dolphins lost for just the second time in their last 11 games to finish 10-6. They will play their first playoff game since 2008 next weekend in Pittsburgh.
Bilal Powell has been the best running back on the Jets the past two seasons but until recently the coaching staff has done everything possible to prevent him from being heavily involved. On Sunday he went over 120 yards on the ground and looked especially beastly on this play. The Bills looked rough on defense and special teams all day. On another huge gaffe, Mike Gillislee decided he didn’t want to field a live ball and gave the Jets the easiest touchdown of 2016. LeSean McCoy was carted off the field after a second-quarter ankle injury. He should be completely fine for 2017. Bills lose 30-10 in embarrassing fashion. If this was interim head coach Anthony Lynn’s audition to keep the job then it wasn’t the way he was looking to finish the season.
In Minnesota, there were protesters hanging anti-US Bank banners from the rafters of the new Vikings stadium in support of opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline. This is a column about football, so I don’t want to get into this here, but if you aren’t familiar with this issue then please make yourself aware of #DAPL because the announcers sure did a poor job of explaining it. Sam Bradford set the NFL single-season record for quarterback completion percentage on Sunday, finishing with a 71.6% mark for 2016. Drew Brees previously held the record with 71.2% in 2011. Brees also has the third and fourth best seasons in NFL history in the category with 70.9% in 2016 and 70.6% in 2009. Bradford also set the Vikings franchise record for most completions in a season with 380. Dante Culpepper’s 379 in 2004 was the previous high mark. Vikings roll 38-10 in this one on the back of Kyle Rudolph’s 11 catches for 117 yards and a touchdown. The Bears finish with their fewest wins since 1973, but Chicago fans get to look forward to the third overall draft pick and should be excited about the futures of Jordan Howard and Cameron Meredith. If they can resign Alshon Jeffery and either draft a top quarterback prospect or lure a veteran like Tony Romo, this offense should be ready to compete in 2017.
Despite missing A.J. Green, Tyler Eifert, Jeremy Hill, and Giovani Bernard, Andy Dalton led his team to a 20-3 halftime lead and a 27-10 victory over the Ravens. Cincinnati will miss the playoffs for the first time in six years and extend their streak without a playoff win to 26 years, but with one of the deepest rosters in the league they should be back in the playoff picture again next season. Marvin Lewis appears likely to keep his job once again despite the 0-7 playoff futility during his era with the team. Baltimore finishes 8-8 and misses the playoffs for the third time in the last four seasons. A tip of the cap to one of my favorite players of all time, Steve Smith who finished with three catches for 34 yards in what is likely the last game of his career. I, for one, can’t wait to hear his speech in Canton.
I guess we are back to Brock Osweiler as the starting quarterback for Houston? Tom Savage started the game but then left with an apparent concussion, only to return before halftime just to take a knee. Osweiler was back in after halftime. I have no idea who is going to start the playoff game next week, but either way, the Texans offense doesn’t look like a playoff caliber unit. I know they were already locked into the fifth seed but losing to division rival and Matt Cassel led Tennessee in the final game of the season is not a good look. DeAndre Hopkins gave his dynasty owners something to be optimistic about going into 2017 with a seven catch 123-yard performance that included a 51-yarder. For the Titans, Rishard Matthews finished strong with a nine catch, 114 yard, one touchdown day and should be the Titans WR1 heading into 2017. He quietly finishes with nine touchdowns and nearly 1,000 receiving yards in 2016. Both Houston and Tennessee finish with 9-7 records.
Tampa Bay did their part in a ridiculous scenario for them to make the playoffs. In addition to beating the Panthers, the Bucs needed six favorable outcomes in other games, including Washington @ New York ending in a tie. They didn’t get there this season but did finish with a winning record and a second-place finish in the NFC South. Jameis Winston made a few boneheaded plays in this one but you still have to like his future alongside one of the top young NFL wide receiver talents in Mike Evans. Carolina had a chance to send this one to overtime but opted to go for two after Kelvin Benjamin’s touchdown with 17 seconds to play. Cam Newton’s pass to Greg Olsen was broken up and the Panthers finish up their disappointing season at 6-10 a year after playing in the Super Bowl.
Andrew Luck tossed a short touchdown to fantasy private eye Jack Doyle with nine seconds to go to lift the Colts over the Jaguars in week 17 and ensure that Jacksonville will once again be picking fourth in the NFL draft later this offseason. Frank Gore hit a couple milestones with his 62-yard day that sent him over 1,000 yards on the season. Gore became just the fourth running back in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards at age 33 or older and the first to do it since John Riggins in 1984. He also became the first 1,000-yard rusher for Indianapolis since Joseph Addai did it in 2007. The Colts finish at 8-8 and narrowly avoid their first losing season since 2011. For Jacksonville, relatively unknown second-year UDFA Corey Grant out of Auburn carried the load in the running game with 18 carries for 122 yards including a 57-yard touchdown run. My guess is he fades away next season when T.J. Yeldon and Chris Ivory return, but neither of them did anything exciting in 2016 so Grant could be someone to watch for dynasty purposes this off-season.
The final early game was a meaningless matchup between the Cleveland Browns and the second string offense of the Pittsburgh Steelers. No Ben Roethlisberger, no Antonio Brown, and no Le’Veon Bell in this one was still not enough to get the Browns their second win of the season. Luckily for Cleveland fans, Pittsburgh rallied and took this one 24-21 in overtime, the Browns get the number one pick in the 2017 NFL draft. I’ve been on the Isaiah Crowell is #good train all season and he finished 2016 strong with a 67-yard run up the middle out of the shotgun, setting up George Atkinson for the game-tying touchdown plunge that sent the game to overtime. Crowell finished with 19 carries for 152 yards on the day. He will be just 24 years old entering the 2017 season and is one of my favorite dynasty buys whether or not he is back in Cleveland. If the Browns can somehow find a quarterback in the draft, this offense could have legs in 2017. The Steelers will host the Dolphins next week in the first round of the playoffs.
A week after losing Derek Carr to a broken fibula, the Oakland Raiders lost backup Matt McGloin to a shoulder injury and have to go to the rookie Connor Cook. Denver got all over Oakland in this one 24-0 before Cook connected with Amari Cooper on a third quarter 32-yard touchdown. Devontae Booker came alive again today with both a rushing and a receiving touchdown. It’s unlikely he will be the starter entering 2017 with C.J. Anderson returning, but perhaps he can still be productive as the Broncos receiving back. He was more productive this season on limited work than he was as the starter. Oakland loses this game and the first round bye. They will travel to Houston to next week for the battle of who cares because neither team has a quarterback.
I know Bruce Arians likes to get his players’ their records, but David Johnson going down to a knee injury is the reason why you don’t play your studs in meaningless games. Doctors believe he avoided damage to the ACL but suffered some meniscus damage. We should know more about this one later this week. The Rams didn’t even show up today. I guess the fans knew they wouldn’t because there were plenty of empty seats. This is the fanbase that thinks it can support two NFL teams? Somehow they did manage to put up six points in the second quarter but gave up 44. If Arizona can get the band back together for 2017 then there’s a decent chance this team could be back in contention.
Matt Ryan likely cemented his MVP award this season with his performance on Sunday. He finished the first half with 235 yards, four touchdowns, and a 157.8 passer rating. Wow. The Saints didn’t show up this week at all. DLF’s own Ryan McDowell has this sobering tweet about Sean Payton on Sunday and I certainly can’t argue with it. He seems like the perfect splashy offensive coach without much substance for Los Angeles. Drew Brees still cares. He finishes the 2016 season with his fifth career 5,000 passing yard season and rallied his team in the fourth quarter with three touchdowns. Mark Ingram finished the season on a strong note with 103 yards and a rushing touchdown. Michael Thomas left little doubt that he is the most valuable 2016 rookie wide receiver, finishing with 10 catches for 156 yards and a touchdown. He ends his rookie season with 92 receptions on 122 targets for 1,136 yards and nine touchdowns. Falcons rookie safety Keanu Neal laid a huge hit on Willie Snead, sending both players into the concussion protocol. The Falcons hold on to take this one 38-32 and will have a first round bye next week.
Ben McAdoo must have missed the David Johnson injury because he had his offensive starters including Odell Beckham playing significant time in a meaningless game for them. I understand the desire to continue working on the offense to be ready for the playoffs but this entire offense relies on OBJ making a ridiculous play every week to get them some points. Without him they are dead in the water. Eli Manning was still in the game in the fourth quarter. He threw a terrible ball that was too low for Sterling Shepard to catch on a key third down with 2:24 left to play which forced them to settle for a field goal putting them up 13-10. Kirk Cousins had a shot on the final drive to get his team into the end zone and into the playoffs but instead threw what was basically the game-ending interception to Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Washington did actually get the ball back with seconds left on the clock, but Jordan Reed fumbled after a nine-yard reception and it was returned for another touchdown by the Giants. It will be interesting to see if Washington and Kirk Cousins can reach an agreement on a long-term deal or if the team will be faced with the decision of franchising their quarterback for the second consecutive season. Fun stat of the day: Kirk Cousins is 19-21-1 as a starter and a pretty terrible 2-11 against teams with a winning record.
It was all about Tyreek Hill again for Kansas City on Sunday in San Diego. He ripped off a 95-yard punt return for a touchdown to put the Chiefs up 34-17 and end the Chargers chances at getting a win in what was likely their final game in San Diego. The game was tied 10-10 when Philip Rivers threw interceptions on back to back drives in the second quarter and Kansas City turned them into 10 points. The Chiefs never looked back, taking this one 37-27. They’ll get a first round bye next week. Antonio Gates may have also played his last NFL game. He caught a touchdown in this one, tying him with Tony Gonzalez for 111 in his career, the most all-time for the tight end position. It will be sad to see him hang it up, but rookie Hunter Henry who also caught a touchdown in this game looks ready to be the future for the team at the position.
Colin Kaepernick got the Niners off to a fast start against the Seahawks. On the first play of the second quarter, Shaun Draughn scored from one yard out and put San Francisco up 14-3. With Carlos Hyde out, Draughn had a nice day with over 100 total yards and two rushing touchdowns. Russell Wilson rallied his team from the 11-point deficit to end the regular season with a 25-22 win. He was pulled in the fourth quarter once the team learned about Atlanta’s big lead. Atlanta needed to lose for Seattle to get a first round bye so this game became a meaningless one. It came out before the game that San Francisco GM Trent Baalke was fired and head coach Chip Kelly would be following him out the door. It seems weird that they would bring in a coach like Kelly and only give him one season, but I guess the ownership had enough after watching their team tie their worst three seasons in history with a 2-14 record in 2016. The Niners will be picking second in the 2017 NFL draft.
As a Packers fan, I am often infuriated by the play calling of Mike McCarthy and Sunday Night was no different. Despite the Packers offense being at it’s best with Ty Montgomery in the backfield, freaking Aaron Ripkowski out snapped him 22-7 in the first half. Then Aaron Rodgers got rolling. He threw three of his four touchdowns in the second half and led the Packers to another NFC North title and their eighth straight playoff appearance. I’m not going to lie. When Matthew Stafford threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin with 13 seconds left to cut the lead to seven, I had visions of Brandon Bostick’s infamous onside kick muff. Luckily, Richard Rodgers isn’t Brandon Bostick and recovered the onside kick. A couple kneel downs later and that was the game. For dynasty purposes, we have another Packer wide receiver to get excited about in Geronimo Allison. The UDFA out of Illinois showed up on Sunday to lead all Packers receivers with four catches for 91 yards and a touchdown. Thanks to Washington, Detroit gets into the playoffs despite the loss. The Lions will travel to Seattle next week and the Packers will host the Giants.
That will do it for the week 17 wrap up! See you guys next weekend for the wild card round edition of the 3M report.
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Creator and Co-host of Dynasty Game night, the fantasy football game show.
Creator and host of the Zookeeper Stories podcast.
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