Hyde10: Playoff update, Ravens’ rising, Chiefs falling — 10 Dolphins-centric thoughts on NFL Sunday
First, Sunday’s good news for the Dolphins: They came out of Sunday as the No. 2 playoff seed with some separation from the three teams directly below them. Kansas City and Jacksonville lost Sunday. Both teams are 8-5, same as Cleveland, and would be two games behind if the Dolphins beat Tennessee on Monday night. But …
2. Baltimore moved to 10-3 and took the top seed in AFC with an overtime win at the Los Angeles Rams 37-31. The Dolphins would have a similar record with a win Monday, but could move back to the top seed with a win Monday based on the conference tie-breaker. At least for now. The real tie-breaker probably will be the Dolphins’ Jan. 1 game in Baltimore. The Ravens remaining schedule: at Jacksonville, at San Francisco, Miami, Pittsburgh.
3. Buffalo isn’t dead. Josh Allen is Superman again. The Bills beat Kansas City 20-17 in what was sort of a win-win for Dolphins, considering the Chiefs’ dropped a playoff notch and the Dolphins can still be three games ahead of Buffalo (7-6) in the AFC East with a win Monday. But for those of us who thought the window of opportunity was closing fast on Buffalo coming into this season, they’ve had a resurgence since the firing of offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey. The question is if all their bad losses to bad teams earlier in the year will sink their season. After a tough loss to Philadelphia, the Bills season could have been sunk again Sunday. Allen’s numbers of 23-for-42 for 233 yards and a touchdown tell of Kansas City’s tough defense but don’t tell the story of the Buffalo quarterback’s game. He scored his fifth TD on a planned run this year to tie with Chicago’s Justin Fields for the league lead. He saved broken-down plays with his runs and passes to set up the winning field goal. And now? After Dallas next week, the Bills had a couple easier games against New England and the Chargers before finishing with — and this could be big — the Dolphins at Hard Rock. The New York Times put Buffalo’s playoff chances at 36 percent. They would have been 9 percent with a loss Sunday.
4. Did the Jets find something workable with Zach Wilson in Sunday’s second half against Houston? Doubtful. But give him credit after the season he’s had — and the week that was around him — to have a good Sunday. The Jets snapped a four-game losing streak and Wilson’s finish gives them some hope preparing for next Sunday’s game at Hard Rock Stadium. Wilson threw for 92 yards in a scoreless first half. He then completed 18-of-21 for 209 yards and two touchdowns in the Jets’ 30-point second half. For the game, he was 26-of-37 for 301 yards and a 117.9 rating. The playbook did seem to loosen up for him in the second half, meaning he was throwing downfield some. But it’s going to take more than one good half to think a Jets offense that scored five touchdowns in the 93 possessions before Sunday’s second half is fixed.
5. Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes is having the kind of year you’d have thought he’d have last season when Tyreek Hill left and he still led Kansas City to the Super Bowl last year. This year? Receiver Kadarius Toney lined up offsides Sunday to negate a go-ahead touchdown in the final two minutes. That sums up what Mahomes is doing. He couldn’t lead the Chiefs back again when his top receiver, tight end Travis Kelce, is 34 and starting to show it. Mahomes entered Sunday ranked tied for 11th (with Justin Herbert) in quarterback rating. He has 23 touchdowns against 11 interceptions. But the Kansas City offense that scored a league-leading 29.2 points last year and has dropped to 22.5 points this year.
6. C.J. Stroud had his first rookie day in a long while in Houston’s loss to the Jets: 10 of 23 for 91 yards and he left the game with a possible concussion. But not one’s thinking Stroud isn’t the pick of the last draft as he entered Sunday leading the league in passing and fifth in quarterback rating. What’s interesting here is Houston’s offensive coordinator, Bobby Slowik, is off the Mike Shanahan tree in San Francisco. He runs the Shanahan offense. As the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin pointed out, the top three quarterbacks for in yards per attempt all run the Shanahan offense: Purdy, Tua Tagovailoa and Stroud. While Bill Belichick’s disciples and Andy Reid’s offensive coordinators struggle on their own, teams would be smart to look who’s learning under Shanahan. The offensive coordinator now: Klint Kubiak, son of former NFL quarterback and coach Gary Kubiak.
7. The Buckeye State is the Back-up State with Cleveland’s Joe Flacco and Cincinnati’s Jake Browning keeping their teams afloat. Flacco, in his second week off the retirement roll, threw for three touchdowns (against one interception) and 311 yards in beating Jacksonville and bettering a hobbled Trevor Lawrence. Browning threw for 275 yards in Sunday’s win against Indianapolis after 354 in his opening win. The question is if they can sustain this type of play. You know these teams sound like? Teams you’d be fine facing in the playoffs
8. If Bill Belichick is out of New England, does another team take him? Does an owner want to work with a 72-year-old legend who has his particular manner and brand of doing things? And does Belichick want to keep going on Scratch a team like Carolina, considering you don’t rebuild around a 72-year-old. The Los Angeles Chargers are the annual idea of a team ready to win, but that franchise seems such a mess you’d wonder if Belichick wants on board. It’s odd even writing these sentences after his six Super Bowl rings (and nine Super Bowls) in New England
9. Pittsburgh defensive end T.J. Watt left Thursday’s game against New England after taking a knee to the head. He then returned wearing a shaded visor, as if to suggest light was bothering him. Let’s not take this to if-this-was-the-Dolphins mindset. How about just having some common sense for the safety of players?
10. Prediction: Dolphins 31, Tennessee 14. The Titans have lost four of five games and so the Dolphins run through four games of clover continues with few expected problems.