The NFL Roundup Week 15 - What We Learned

​Written by John Edward Betancourt

(Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Every single fan of the NFL has openly questioned whether or not winning matters to their favorite team when things simply aren't going right. It's a question that often arises during a losing streak, but if you have ever believed that a team, or a coach or an owner truly has no desire to win, reflect upon this weekend to understand just how much it means to all of them. Because this weekend featured some gutsy calls that saw players ride the bench, and a coach lose his job...all in the name of winning and these powerful decisions made for some incredible storylines so without further ado, let's reflect upon Week 15 in the NFL and the amazing stories that came out of it.

The Gus Bradley era has finally come to an end in Jacksonville.
Jacksonville Jaguars fans can finally breathe a sigh of relief because after several excruciating years filled to the brim with losses, Head Coach Gus Bradley was relieved of his duties on Sunday afternoon shortly after the Jags lost to the Texans and all I can say about this move is...it's about time. I totally get the need for consistency at the position and to give a new coach time to put together their particular scheme...but let's be honest, Bradley's teams were always awful on a fundamental level, even after the front office handed him talented players through free agency and the draft, making this a sound football decision from the franchise and hopefully the next man to take over the job can finally bring out the potential in this talented squad and get the Jaguars back to their winning ways.

The Houston Texans benched Brock Osweiler at last.
It's been a tough season for Houston Texans fans for one reason and one reason alone...Brock Osweiler. The supposed 'savior' of the franchise at QB has been an outright disappointment from day one and thankfully Head Coach Bill O'Brien finally had enough of his underperforming quarterback and after Brock threw a pair of interceptions during Sunday's game...O'Brien made one tough call and sent Osweiler to the bench, and well...it was a brilliant decision on his part. In Osweiler's stead, Tom Savage led the Texans to a comeback win over the Jaguars and he did such a fine job that he was also announced as the starter for Saturday's game against Cincinnati. Either way, this is quite the shake up in Houston, one that demonstrates just how badly Coach O'Brien wants this team to win and one that leaves Osweiler's future in Houston uncertain...

A divide is growing in the Denver Broncos locker room.
Once again, the Denver Broncos defense did their job on Sunday, holding Tom Brady and the Patriots to a paltry 16 points on offense, and once again the Denver Broncos offense squandered away every opportunity to put points on the board, courtesy of their usual litany of issues. Poor o-line play, no run game, etc. and well...it would seem the defensive players on this team have had enough of doing their part and not getting any help from the O since after the game, Coach Kubiak had to take a moment to cool down a shouting match between CB Aqib Talib and OT Russell Okung. Granted the official line to the press has been there is no divide on this team but let's be honest...it's there and it's growing quickly and the only way to solve this problem, is for the offense to finally do their job and put up points. Either way, this is a story to keep an eye on over the next couple of weeks because another awful performance from the offense will only make things worse...

The Playoff Picture is finally coming together.
Some years it's pretty obvious as to who will be playing in January when the playoffs roll around and then there are years like this one...where the teams are so competitive it all comes down to the wire. But thankfully this week's slate of games cleared up some of the fog surrounding the playoff picture. In the NFC, the Seattle Seahawks are not only in, they also locked up the NFC West with their victory over the Los Angeles Rams and in the AFC the Oakland Raiders secured their first playoff berth since 2002 with a win over the San Diego Chargers and New England's victory over Denver secured the AFC East and a first round bye for the Patriots. Which means congratulations are in order for these teams for making their way into the tournament and it should be interesting to see how the rest of the brackets fill out after this weekend's games.

It's time to switch all of the Referees in the NFL to full time status.
Referees take a lot of heat in the NFL and sometimes deservedly so. They don't always get the call right and while we can usually write that off to the fact that hey, they're only human, this season has left us with some baffling calls from the officials to the point where I've started to wonder...is it truly human error...or do these guys and gals simply do not care? Case in point, Sunday's game between the Lions and the Giants, where Odell Beckham Jr. clearly dropped the ball...and the refs called it a catch. Yup. You read that right and well after watching that unfold on live television and after the shock of such a bad call finally wore off...it hit me...the officials, to a certain degree don't care if they get it right or not because this isn't their full time gig. They go back to other careers in the offseason and well...I think the time has come to move all NFL referees to full time status. Yes, I'm fully aware of the debate for and against this but if the NFL was their sole source of income, I think a little more care would go into each call and they would dedicate more time to watching film to make sure they get things right. Regardless, something has to change because calling a play as a catch when the ball is clearly on the ground is completely unacceptable.

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