NFL Week 12 - What We Learned

Written by John Edward Betancourt

There really is no better drama than the National Football League. It seems as though every single game this last week was a nail biter, or at least something incredible happened.  From the snow shutting down Ralph Wilson Stadium, to Beckham's incredible catch, it was another week that reinforced that this is one of the greatest sports in all of the land.  But sadly, there's not enough time in the day to cover all the stories, so here are the top ones from Week 12.

1. The Broncos won...but they still have a lot to fix. Yes the Broncos had a phenomenal offensive outing by both land and air, but while many believe that winning cures all, when the score is 39-36, that's cause for concern.  Once again the defense seemed out of sorts and kept the Dolphins in the game the whole way. Denver has to figure out how to play a complete game on all sides of the ball, and they have done it on several occasions this season, or it's going to be a disastrous post season for them once again.  

2. The Raiders can play ball after all. It took eleven games this year, but the Raiders finally put together a whole game and pulled in their first win of the season.  It's got to be a relief for the entire franchise, it shows they are capable of doing something worthwhile, but there is still a long road ahead for a franchise that is this utterly and completely broken.

3. The Washington Redskins have seen enough of RG3. It's official, as of press time Washington has benched Robert Griffin III.  After spending a king's ransom of draft picks to grab the young man a few years ago, his constant mistakes, inability to develop into a pocket passer, much less handle the basics of being an NFL Quarterback, this is likely how the story ends at FedEx Field.  While the organization says they will stand by his development in the future, we all know that RG3's time is up in Washington and he will likely be traded or released.  I applaud the franchise for sucking it up and realizing that Robert is not their franchise quarterback.  It's not an easy call to move on like this, but hopefully RG3 can find success with another franchise and learns from this experience.  

4. The Kicker is still an important part of football. There was much debate over the last year that kickers had it easy, and that their position may someday no longer be a part the sport. This year the league added taller goalposts, and even experimented with moving the PAT further back, all in an effort to make it tougher and while kickers keep nailing PAT's and FG's, Brandon McManus' fall from grace is a fine story that shows how important a kicker really is to the sport and a team and how tough their job really is.  His four missed FG attempts are proof of how hard it is to nail the uprights and how much work goes into what seems like an automatic motion.  Hopefully his subsequent release from the Denver Broncos is a reminder to the league that the Kicker will always matter and to respect them for their craft. 

5. The Cleveland Browns are one incredible football team. Quarterback Brian Hoyer has seen his most inconsistent stretch as a starting quarterback all season and yet, he willed his team to a win against the Atlanta Falcons, a team that on paper should have won that game. The Browns have simply been an incredible story all year, with Hoyer keeping Johnny Football at bay, the defense making big plays when they need to and the fact that this team is in the hunt for a playoff spot, this is a squad that is simply fun to watch every week and this could be the makings of the turnaround Cleveland fans have been waiting for.  

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