Here’s your rooting guide for Week 14 of the NFL season.
It’s Week 14 of the NFL season and the AFC playoff race is really heating up. Right now the Pittsburgh Steelers are holding onto the No. 6 seed with a 7-5 record but there’s a real logjam of teams behind them. Here are the four games other than the Steelers game we will be watching this week.
Baltimore Ravens @ Buffalo Bills
The Bills currently hold the No. 5 seed in the AFC. They take on the Baltimore Ravens this week who currently the No. 1 seed and seem to be on the fast track to the Super Bowl. As much as it pains us, we have to root for Baltimore this week to beat the Bills and close the gap between them and the Steelers.
Indianapolis Colts @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Colts currently sit at 6-6 and are the No. 9 seed in the AFC. The Steelers hold the tiebreaker over Indianapolis after a win earlier in the season but we are still going to root for the Bucs this week just to hedge our bets.
Tennessee Titans @ Oakland Raiders
This is a tricky one. Both the Titans and Raiders are in the playoff hunt just behind the Steelers. But by virtue of their records, we have to go for the Raiders. Tennessee is 7-5 while the Raiders are 6-6. If the Titans win they could potentially jump ahead of the Steelers.
Cincinnati Bengals @ Cleveland Browns
The Browns are on the outside looking in of the AFC playoff picture at 5-7 but we will still be cheering for the Bengals to pull off the upset. Why? Because with only four games left to play anything can happen and 5-7 can turn into 9-7 in a hurry. Plus we will always want the Browns to lose.
When you think back to the past decade, the greatest highlights — as they inevitably do — will be trips in a time machine.
You’ll be taken back to some incredible athleticism. The Odell Beckham Jr. falling backwards one-handed catch. The Beast Quake from Marshawn Lynch in 2010? Blake Griffin practically jumping over Timothy Mozgov. Mario Gotze’s perfect handling of a pass and the kick that would win the World Cup in extra time for Germany in 2014.
You’ll remember the emotions you felt watching Derek Jeter hit a walk-off single in his final Major League at-bat, or when Kobe Bryant put in what would be the game-winner in his final contest with the Lakers.
You’ll recall the shock when Auburn miraculously won the Iron Bowl on a missed field-goal return or Michigan State’s return of a botched punt snap to beat Michigan on the unlikeliest of game-winning touchdowns.
There are so many other memories that will pop: Ray Allen draining a shocking three-pointer that saved the Heat in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals. The buzzer-beater that gave Villanova a title. The Block that eventually did the same for Cleveland. Sidney Crosby’s golden goal against the Americans to give Canada a 2010 Olympic gold medal on its home soil. Arike Ogunbowale nailing a jumper to take down the nearly unbeatable UConn Huskies in the Final Four.
It’s endless, with so many plays and moments to choose from that were the greatest.
But there’s one play that will stand above the rest. And without a doubt, it’s Philly Special.
Here are a few reasons why:
1. It was the situation
With 38 seconds left in the first half of Super Bowl LII, the Eagles were up 15-12 on the Patriots. That’s the biggest stage against the best rival, a Patriots team with MVP Tom Brady at the helm. They had lost just once since October 1.
They were also basically the same Pats who, just a year ago, had come back from being down 28-3 to the Falcons on the same stage, proving that anyone playing them couldn’t take a foot off the gas. This is the same Patriots team who was ready for Russell Wilson to throw a slant and Malcolm Butler was smart enough to sniff it out right away and catch a Super Bowl-saving interception against the Seahawks in XLIX (which might be the second-greatest play of the decade).
And there’s no doubt that was on the mind of Doug Pederson. One play or defensive stop could change the momentum of a Super Bowl. So he decided to let Nick Foles and the offense go for it on fourth-and-goal (!!!!!!) from just outside the goal line.
2. It was what had happened earlier
**record scratch, freeze frame**
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
“Yeah, that’s me. I’m Nick Foles, and I’m catching a football on fourth down, on my way to winning the Eagles’ first Super Bowl as a franchise. You may have wondered how we got here.”
Go back to earlier in the game with the Eagles up 9-3. With 3rd-and-5 from the Eagles’ 35-yard line, Brady and the Patriots ran a trick play in which Danny Amendola eventually threw a pass to Brady, who had all kinds of daylight in front of him.
He dropped it.
Here’s a what-if for you: what if the Patriots didn’t run that pass? Would Foles and Pederson have thought of Philly Special in their playbook?
3. It was the play call
My bias might be because we saw the mic’d up, behind-the-scenes look at the call. Foles casually walks up to Pederson during the timeout and asks, “You want Philly Philly?”
Pederson, after a moment, as if someone asked him if he wants another beer at a bar: “Yeah, let’s do it.”
If that’s me, in the middle of the Super Bowl, I turn to Foles and say something I can’t print here. Basically: “You’re telling me you want to run a trick play that involves my quarterback catching a pass from a tight end right here on a must-score fourth down in the Super Bowl? Against the Patriots? Now? Here? What?!”
But nope! Just a simple exchange about the play that would swing the momentum of the title game.
4. It was the execution
One of the miraculous things about a football play is when all 11 players do their job (sorry, Bill Belichick) exactly how it was drawn up. Philly Special has some subtlety to it.
Foles can’t indicate in any way that he’s going to take off. So when he walks forward, it looks like he’s audibiling and calling for a “KILL.”
Then, he stops. The Patriots can tell this is going to be a direct snap to the running back, who takes off to his left. Foles, by the way, is a statue at that point. The entire defense, save for one Patriots cornerback, has its eyes on the football, which then gets flipped to Trey Burton. By the time everyone figures out what’s happening, the ball is out and in the hands of Foles.
Put it all together, and that’s it. The greatest play of the decade.
Sean McVay and Wade Phillips lauded Russell Wilson as “probably the best off-schedule quarterback in the league.”
Russell Wilson has faced the Rams 15 times in his career. He’s thrown 24 touchdown passes and only eight interceptions, posting a passer rating of 99.9. The only underwhelming number from his stat line is his record: 7-8.
The Rams are more familiar with Wilson’s game than 28 other teams that have faced him – excluding the Cardinals and 49ers, who have also played him 15 times – but will that help them at all on Sunday when he comes to the Coliseum?
In short, probably not.
The Rams know how good Wilson is, but what makes him one of the best QBs in the league is his ability to make plays off-schedule. When forced to leave the pocket, or when his receivers simply can’t get open, Wilson is often able to use his mobility to either create other throwing lanes, buy time for his receivers or scramble for big yardage.
Having faced Wilson twice a year for the last two-plus seasons, Wade Phillips knows how good the Seahawks QB is when plays break down. He heaped praise on Wilson during his press conference Thursday ahead of this Week 14 matchup.
“All kinds of accolades for Russell Wilson. Probably the best off-schedule passer in the league,” Phillips said unprovoked. “Once he gets out of the pocket, he throws it, and he throws it great – on the run, on the move, makes big plays there. You say, ‘Well you’ve got to keep him in the pocket.’ Well, he’s still going to get out. He’s a challenge that way. He’s a great player and obviously helped them win a lot of games.”
The Rams have faced two of the most elusive and mobile quarterbacks in the league the last two weeks, getting blown out by Lamar Jackson and dominating Kyler Murray’s Cardinals. Wilson is mobile, but he isn’t as fast or shifty as the other two. What is does better, though, is create big plays through the air when he escapes the pocket.
“The difference in Russell Wilson, he’ll will run to make first-downs, certainly, but he runs around to make big plays in the passing game,” Phillips said. “The receivers do a great job, they do a great job of coming back to him and crossing the field. We talk about plaster, which means once he’s out of the pocket, you’ve got to find the nearest guy and get on him or he’ll complete it to him. He’ll throw it deep, he’ll throw it short, he’ll throw it crossing – whatever it is. He made one of the great throws I’ve seen against us in the first game. That one, he scrambled to his left and threw it, the (Tyler) Lockett, touchdown. We actually had really good coverage and he throws it running to his left – a dime – whatever they call it. It seemed like about a $20, $100.”
Outside the pocket this season, Wilson has a passer rating of 110.3 – a mark that ranks him third in the NFL and is higher than most quarterbacks’ ratings from inside the pocket.
Sean McVay has gotten a good taste of Wilson’s talent since joining the NFC West in 2017, and he knows better than most people just how dangerous he can be. Like Phillips, McVay lauded Wilson for his ability to create off-schedule plays – and big ones, at that.
“He does a great job of using his athleticism to buy time, but still remain a passer. A lot of those off-schedule plays too – now that you’re seeing – occur in the pocket,” McVay said. “There’s a timing and rhythm that you want to operate with, but then certain things break down. He’s got such a good feel that if the protection is there or there’s nobody that got edge, he can just move and be able to keep his eyes down the field and be able to hitch in place. He’s got such a great spatial awareness that you see him – and then guys have a good feel for being able to work. Then, when he does break contain, that’s where you’re really thinking, ‘Man, there’s a chance for him to create big plays all the time.’ They’ve got the weapons to be able to do that with him running the show.”
The Rams need a win in the worst way this weekend, but Wilson will do everything he can to prevent that from happening. The Rams know how good he is, having faced him twice a year, but that won’t make it any easier to slow down the MVP contender.
Joe Buck is undoubtedly a great broadcaster, but he has earned criticism for not always getting excited when the time calls for it. But, boy, did Buck show the haters on Thursday night during the Bears-Cowboys game.
Let’s fast-forward to the third quarter. The Bears have the ball deep in Cowboys territory and call for a bubble screen to Anthony Miller. The second-year pro takes advantage of some good blocking and scores a touchdown. Mitch Trubisky got credit for a touchdown throw, but let’s be honest: He didn’t have to do very much on the play.
Just don’t tell my man Joe Buck that. The Fox Sports announcer lavished the Bears quarterback with praise following the play…
Even before Miller crosses the goal line, Buck gives Trubisky credit for a “good throw,” which is already a little too much. But then he doubles down with “What a throw!” after the play. Who knew Joe Buck was such a big fan of bubble screens!
Compare that call to the one Buck made for David Tyree’s miracle catch in Super Bowl 42:
Oh, one of the craziest plays in NFL history? No big deal. But this basic screen pass on a Thursday night in December? Let’s get nuts.
Anyway, because I’m a moron, I spent way too much time putting together this video celebrating Trubisky’s beautiful toss.
Got inspired by the absolute DIME Mitch Trubisky threw last night.
NFL experts picking the Steelers to beat the Cardinals this week.
This week, the Pittsburgh Steelers (7-5) take on the Arizona Cardinals (3-8-1) in a full-blown playoff atmosphere. No, this game doesn’t carry the weight for the Cardinals it does for Pittsburgh but you can bet they would love to defend their home turf and do their part to wreck the Steelers season.
And it seems some of the NFL pundits feel like the Cardinals have the talent to do it. We once again looked to our friends over the NFL Pick Watch for all the expert picks in one spot.
As of Friday morning, 83 percent of the experts are going with the Steelers. Considering the disparity in records, you might have thought more experts would be leaning Pittsburgh. But the reality is when it comes to the Steelers, you can never assume anything.
The biggest challenge this will be whether or not they can score enough points on offense to win. Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray presents a unique athletic challenge for the Steelers’ defense and so the offense is going to have to pull its weight this week.
The Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers each only have one player on their rosters who played for the other team. In some games this season, the Cardinals have had as many as eight player connections with an opponent.
Who are the two this week?
Starting center A.Q. Shipley was actually drafted by the Steelers in the seventh round in 2009. He spent that season on their practice squad.
Steelers long snapper Kameron Canaday was with the Cardinals briefly as an undrafted rookie in 2016. He signed with the team and won the starting job but was released only three games later.
The two teams share some coaching connections, but when it comes to players, there aren’t many this year, which is a change from the last decade, where the Cardinals were jokingly known as Steelers West, as Whisenhunt and Bruce Arians were former Steelers assistants and brought in many Steelers over the years to play for the Cardinals.
They don’t play often but the Cardinals last beat the Steelers when Ken Whisenhunt was a rookie head coach.
The Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers play this weekend at State Farm Stadium. They don’t face each other often, as they are in different conferences.
The Cardinals haven’t had much success against the Steelers in recent years. In the all-time series, Pittsburgh leads 34-23-3.
Arizona has not gotten a win since 2007.
Of course, they have only faced the Steelers twice in the regular season since then — in 2011 and 2015.
The last time the two teams met, the Steelers won 25-13. Like the game this weekend, Pittsburgh was without starting QB Ben Roethlisberger. Michael Vick started the game and got injured. Landry Jones came in and threw two touchdown passes.
The last time the Cardinals won was in 2007, when Ken Whisenhunt was in his first year as head coach after leaving the Steelers as offensive coordinator. The Cardinals defeated the Steelers 21-14. Kurt Warner threw a touchdown pass to Jerheme Urban and Steve Breaston had a 73-yard punt return for a touchdown.
Of course, the most famous matchup between the two teams was the Super Bowl. The Steelers won that game 27-23 on a Santonio Holmes touchdown catch.
If you don’t want to miss this week’s game, we have you covered.
Here is everything you need to know so you can watch, listen to or stream this week’s Pittsburgh Steelers game. The Steelers are headed out west to take on the struggling Arizona Cardinals in what is essentially a playoff game for Pittsburgh. The Steelers are still dealing with injuries on offense but the defense remains elite.
You can also follow the game with us @TheSteelersWire and of course here on Steelers Wire with our live updates during the game, along with highlights of all the key moments from this week’s game. Join us straight after the final whistle for more in-depth coverage, injury updates, and analysis of all the action.
The Seahawks-Rams line has flipped from Seattle favored by 2.5-points to the Rams now giving 1.5 points.
The Rams came into the week as 2.5-point underdogs against the Seattle Seahawks, even with the game being played at the Coliseum. It was just the second time in the last two seasons that the Rams weren’t favored at home, but that line has since flipped.
According to BetMGM, the Rams are now actually 1.5-point favorites over Seattle. That’s a four-point shift in a matter of days, which is unusual, to say the least.
It’s likely that a large contingent of bettors were taking the Rams with the points, which caused the oddsmakers to make the line less enticing for those backing Los Angeles. By shifting it to 1.5 points in favor of the Rams, it should level out the number of bets coming in on each team.
Los Angeles is coming off a big win over the Cardinals, but the week before was a 45-6 blowout at the hands of the Ravens. The Rams haven’t won back-to-back games since Weeks 7 and 8, and have been one of the most inconsistent teams in the league.
The Seahawks, on the other hand, are 10-2 and leading the NFC West after winning five games in a row – including wins over the Vikings and 49ers. All of those victories came by no more than one possession with the biggest margin being an eight-point win over the Eagles in Week 12.
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