The NFL Roundup 2018: Week 12 – What We Learned

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

​Another week of football is in the books and my goodness, what a week it turned out to be. For we came to discover that there are some teams out there that simply will not give up without one hell of a fight and there are others that continue to dominate in everything they do and all of the twists and turns we saw this weekend made for some incredible stories. So, without further ado, let’s not waste any time today and dive right into all of those stories and everything we learned from Week 12 in the NFL.
 
The Cleveland Browns are truly starting to look downright impressive.
I’ve been very hard, no, extremely hard upon the Cleveland Browns in this column over the last few years because, well…they’ve been an awful football team for a very long time. But I am also someone who firmly believes in giving credit where it is due and well, I need to tip my cap to the Browns after their impressive ‘revenge win’ over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. Because I honestly think this win went beyond just sticking it to their former head coach. This was the product of a pair of decent drafts and making the right moves at coach because Cleveland was a disciplined and efficient team on Sunday and well, they are starting to look like a future contender. Baker Mayfield is indeed the answer at QB they’ve been waiting for and that defense is scary when they’re clicking and well, I’m looking forward to seeing more dominating wins from this team as time goes on.
 
The Jacksonville Jaguars are falling to pieces.
For a brief, shining moment, it seemed as though Jacksonville had turned a corner. They made it to the AFC Championship Game, Blake Bortles looked like a serviceable quarterback and the sky was the limit for this team. But alas, they have come crashing down to earth in embarrassing fashion and while it is one thing to lose games and lose them often, it is quite another thing to see your players lose their cool on the field and on Sunday, well several players basically snapped. Jalen Ramsey couldn’t keep his mouth shut the entire game and Leonard Fournette decided to audition for the MMA shortly before being ejected from the game and well, this is sad and hopefully Doug Marrone will do something to pull his team together and quickly before problems such as these, get worse.
 
The Denver Broncos continue to surprise.
You know, I don’t know what changed in the Denver Broncos locker room, or what exactly snapped them out of their funk, but clearly good things are happening at Dove Valley because right now, the Broncos are an electric team to watch. They’re clicking on offense, the defense is making big plays and for their efforts, the Broncos have been rewarded with two incredible wins over teams that have played far better football all year and right now they’re shaping up to be the most pleasant surprise of the playoff push. Because they play like there’s nothing to lose, and if they continue to ball like this, they’ll knock off plenty more teams along the way and I honestly hope they do, for this team is indeed better than their record reflects.
 
The value of a backup quarterback was put on display this weekend.
The value of a franchise quarterback has been proven time and time again in this league. But something new that’s becoming apparent to NFL teams, is the need to invest in a quality backup at that position. Because injuries are a way of life in the NFL these days and with Alex Smith and Andy Dalton out for the season, and Mitch Trubisky nursing a shoulder injury, fans of those respective franchises need to worry about how the rest of their season is going to go because thus far, the backups for Washington, Chicago and Cincy…looked awful this weekend and they could cost their teams a shot at the playoffs. So, here’s to hoping these gentlemen figure it out quick with the playoffs on the line and if things go south, hopefully these three teams will invest some serious money in some quality #2’s come next year.
 
The time has come for the Green Bay Packers to make a coaching change.
The Mike Shanahan era in Denver, has always served as a fine reminder that sometimes, a change of scenery is a good thing for coaches in the NFL. Because their message can and will get stale and being comfortable in their job does engender complacency and well, I think it’s best for both the Packers and Mike McCarthy to part ways as soon as possible. For it’s clear at this point that the team isn’t responding to Mike anymore, and the quality of football this team is producing is sub-par at best, and they’re likely missing the playoffs this year. So, just put an end to this mess now, fire McCarthy and start the search early so the Packers can return to their winning ways.  

---