Foxborough, Mass – Now we’re going to finish it. Once Monday Night Football is completed, there will be only two weeks remaining in the 2021 NFL regular season. If we want to react more to what we saw this week, you really can’t blame us, can you?
So let’s start here, with the important AFC East matchup I covered at Gillette Stadium on Sunday. The Bills suffered a disappointing defeat three weeks before their wind to beat New England 33–21 and finish first in the division won a season earlier.
It hasn’t been the easiest campaign for the Bills, and it wasn’t the easiest week either. He kept two important wide receivers and a couple of offensive linemen on the COVID-19/reserve list and lost to an Achilles injury to another offensive lineman, Ike Boetger, in the second half against the Patriots. But the Bills overcame it all to win their most important game of the season. So it’s worth asking if there’s still a chance we’ll end up seeing the Super Bowl contender we were hoping to see back in this Bills team when the season begins.
In fact, it’s worth dedicating the entire Week 16 overreaction column to claimant/pretend questions. We can’t hit them all, and we made a conscious choice to exclude the Chiefs and Buccaneers, who won easily on Sunday and played in last season’s Super Bowl, and the Packers, who have the best league record. Is.
Let’s take a look at the teams that have more question marks around, for whatever reason, and where they stand after Week 16’s action:
The Bills are a legitimate Super Bowl contender
No Cole Beasley or Gabriel Davis? There is no problem. Isaiah Mackenzie, who spent part of the season on the inactive list, caught 11 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown. Josh Allen played like an MVP with 314 passing yards, three touchdown passes, and a team-leading 64 rushing yards. The Biles didn’t even turn the ball once – which is the key to beating the Patriots. The bills did not punt even once. Buffalo was here to make a statement with its victory, and it did exactly that.
Verdict: No overreaction. There is one team in the AFC that looks like a Dabang, and that is the Chiefs. And even they haven’t been as impressive throughout the season as we’re used to seeing them. Buffalo still has sick feelings about losing the AFC Championship Game to the Chiefs last season. And if the Bills ended up in a crucial playoff game against Kansas City, it’s not out of the question that they’d be just as excited to beat the Pats on Sunday.
Allen is never out of it, and the Bills have a good chance of being very healthy and whole once the season starts. The absence of injured star cornerback Tre’Davius White is a red flag, but Sean McDermott and Leslie Frazier can plan a defense to stop anyone. I think these Bills – the way they feel about themselves right now – will take their chances against Patrick Mahomes & Co. Will Bill win that is a different question. But they will not overmatch.
The Patriots are a legitimate Super Bowl contender
Two straight losses have returned the Patriots to a wild-card spot after a seven-game winning streak. If the Dolphins win Monday night, they will be only one game behind New England for second place in the division. The Pats were soaring high for two months, living off a positive turnover margin and big plays from their defence. But in the last two weeks, they have lost to some teams they may very well have to beat at a later time. And when you’re doing that at this time of year, we have reason to question your playoff chances.
Verdict: Overreaction. There’s no shame in the Patriots still a year away from true contender status with rookie quarterback Mack Jones and an offense that was simultaneously thrown into free agency. They’re not going to be a fun team to play in January, and you’re asking big trouble if the ball turns against them.
But if you don’t, I’m not sure the Pats have enough places to take offense to go toe-to-toe with other AFC contenders in a turnover-neutral game. And if they get left behind, they don’t look like the team that is made to recover from it. It’s outstanding that they’ve done what they’ve done this season, and it offers great hope for the future. Again, they can be a problem in the postseason. But they don’t look like the kind of team that can win four straight against a playoff-caliber competition.
The Bengals are a legitimate Super Bowl contender
For the second time this season, the Bengals defeated the Ravens in a 41-21 win on Sunday. Yes, the Ravens are short-handed like any team in the league, but there’s no shine on Joe Burrow’s 525-yard, four-touchdown effort in Cincinnati’s biggest game of the season. This is only the second time in their history (with 2009) that the Bengals have beaten both the Steelers and the Ravens in the same season. The combined score of those four matches was 147-58.
The Bengals’ only division loss to date was to Cleveland, and they will get their revenge in Week 18. Sunday’s win over Baltimore left the Bengals in first place in the AFC North, so all they have to do is win their last two games to claim a division title and earn a home playoff game. They take on the chiefs next week, so it’s not a given, but it’s a fact.
Verdict: Overreaction. There are few bigger Burro fans than the dude who wrote this column. I think she is tough as a cat and her team is feeding her and taking her identity. It’s a franchise that drafts well, and it made some great free-agent decisions this off-season. As the Bengals continue to build around Burrow, they will count as a force to be reckoned with in the future.
But a contender to make it to this season’s Super Bowl? It’s hard to see a schedule that includes dumb losses for teams like the Jets and Bears and it’s not little surprise. As much as Cincinnati continues to dominate its division, it has lost too many games outside itself that it should have won. This makes me think the Bengals are still a year away, even though the Burrow fan in me really hopes I’m wrong.
The Rams are a legitimate Super Bowl contender
He didn’t play his best game of the season in Minnesota on Sunday. Matthew Stafford tried to put the Vikings in it with three interceptions, and had to make a bunch of big plays to upset the defense 30–23. But the Cardinals’ defeat on Saturday night means the Rams themselves are in first place in the tough NFC West, and they’re headed in the right direction as January football comes to a close. The Rams have legitimate superstars throughout their roster, and in the days when Stafford and the offense can’t deliver, Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey and the Defense have proven they can.
Verdict: No overreaction. Yes, the Rams are top-heavy, and if one of those superstars goes down, they are in trouble. But if it doesn’t, they’re just as formidable as anyone. Sean McVay has shown ability to coach a team in the Super Bowl. And whether you’re a Stafford believer or still on the fence, you have to admit that the crime enabled him to do things he couldn’t under Jared Goff.
This is a team that has made the Super Bowl once and has been on its sidelines largely every year under McVay. Yes, Stafford may lay an egg in January and bring back all the negative narratives about him. But if he doesn’t, there is no doubt that his team can wreak havoc in the playoffs.
The Colts are a legitimate Super Bowl contender
Indy’s win in Arizona on Saturday night was the eighth in the last 10 games since a 1-4 start to the season. Frank Reich once again pulled his team out of the hole of the opening season and brought it to the start of the playoffs. It would still take some miracle for the Colts to overtake Tennessee for the division title, as the Titans beat them both times and maintained a one-game lead with two to play. But the Colts look like a strong bet for a wild-card berth, and with the way Jonathan Taylor is running, he’s not going to have much fun playing.
Verdict: Overreaction. Yes, I know Carson Wentz came back and threw big on Saturday to win the second half. But man, he was downright terrifying for most of that game, missing throws left and right (and high and low) — he went 28 out of 18 — and looking like the quarterback his team needed to spend the playoffs. Chances are instead of putting it on your back and winning it the game.
I just can’t muster the same kind of confidence in Wentz as some quarterbacks have for other AFC contenders. And as brilliant as Taylor is, there is bound to come a time when the game is on Wentz’s shoulders. Maybe Wentz will prove me wrong when this happens, but for now, I’m having a hard time seeing Reach’s flock in Los Angeles in early February.
The Cowboys are a legitimate Super Bowl contender
I have to be honest. I’m writing this at halftime for Sunday night’s Washington-Dallas game. I’ll stay until it’s over, but I think we have the data we need to address this at this point. It’s 42-7 Dallas as I type this and it doesn’t look like it’s been that close. For goodness sake, a Cowboys defensive lineman and a Cowboys offensive lineman scored touchdowns in the first half.
Verdict: No overreaction. Clearly, Washington is not the kind of team that would have to beat the Cowboys in the playoffs to make it to the Super Bowl. So no, the outright dominance of a destroyed opponent who was an average team to begin with is not, in itself, evidence of a Super Bowl contender. But what was shown on Sunday night was the explosive Dallas crime we thought we were going to see this year (and in fact, for the time being, at the start of the year).
Dak Prescott looked effortless and in rhythm, playcalling was smooth and effective – it seemed like the Cowboys could literally do anything they wanted to do in the first half, before Prescott was pulled in the middle of the third quarter. The defense has been consistently impressive for some time now.
If the Cowboys’ offense can play out like The Cowboys’ Offense (Capital Letters) for the January Games, they will be as dangerous as any team.