The NFL Roundup 2020: Week 12 – What We Learned

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Normally Week 12 in the NFL is a reflective and magical time of year for football fans. Since we are able to share the game and all of its wonder with our families in some capacity, thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday. But sadly, this year’s slate of Turkey Day games basically went sideways quick when the league had to move its Thursday Night game due to Covid related issues and well, things only got weirder from there. And to complicate matters further, the week hasn’t even wrapped up yet since the Ravens/Steelers game is still in flux due to an outbreak on Baltimore’s side of the ball. 
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But rather than wait for this week to come to a close, it’s best we settle in and discuss it today. Simply because we have plenty to talk about, since Week 12 taught us a lot about the NFL and how unprepared it is to handle the pandemic. So, with that in mind, let’s dive right in and talk about the league’s sloppy response to Covid and some of the top storylines that came to fruition during one wild and frustrating week of football. 

The NFC East might send a losing team to the playoffs this year. 
Make no mistake about it, the NFC East is the worst division in football this year. After all, there isn’t a single winning team in this division and none of them appear as though they’re going to reach .500 by season’s end. Which means, there is a strong chance that the ‘winner’ of the NFC East, might enter the playoffs with a losing record and that’s going to be strange if it happens. Simply because we expect a Division Champion to be a playoff ready team, but no team in the East is ready for that in the slightest and unless something magical happens in the next few weeks, a sub-par squad is heading to the tournament. Which is about the most 2020 thing one could ask for and when it finally happens, then perhaps the league can finally have some discussions about altering the playoff formula since sending a 6-10 squad into the tournament would serve as a fine reminder that the current format needs tweaking.
 
The Lions and Jaguars made the right personnel decisions over the weekend.
Sometimes teams make some head-scratching moves when it comes to the coaches and executives they hire and retain, and that’s something that applies to the Detroit Lions and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Because Matt Patricia never should have been the Head Coach in the Motor City and Jacksonville’s General Manager, Dave Caldwell, has been making poor draft choices for years on end. Which is why it was so refreshing to hear that major changes were made to both teams since Patricia and GM Bob Quinn were let go in Detroit and Caldwell was relieved of his duties in Jacksonville. Because it means that ownership does give a damn and wants to see their teams succeed at last. And hopefully both Sheila Ford Hamp and Shad Khan get some quality football minds to lead their respective teams next year, so they can finally gift their fans with a winning season and maybe even a playoff run. 
 
Garett Bolles has truly turned it around in Denver.
It wasn’t all that long ago, that this writer called for the benching and/or outright release of Denver Broncos LT Garett Bolles. Simply because Bolles was playing some terrible football and couldn’t block to save his life. But this writer is also keen to provide credit where credit is due and eat a slice of humble pie as necessary and those are things that I need to do today. Because the fact of the matter is, Bolles has outright turned his game around and he is playing some downright incredible football this year and well, it was foolish of me to doubt him and to demand the team send him packing since he clearly needed a lot of time to adjust to the game and absorb what offensive line coach Mike Munchak was teaching him. If anything, he clearly deserves the massive extension he signed over the weekend and truly, I tip my cap to Garett for proving to everyone that he can in fact, play at a high level and deserved to be taken in the first round, after all. 
 
The league should have delayed the Saints/Broncos game.
Okay, let’s just get it out in the open right now, Sunday’s Saints/Broncos game should have been delayed and I don’t understand how the NFL, an organization that prides itself on parity and competition and quality football… would let this kind of embarrassing game take place. Because all they had to do was delay it by a day or two to allow for Denver to sign a quarterback that’s played the position before. But instead, the league thought it would be okay for a wide receiver from the practice squad to helm an NFL team. And while Kendall Hinton did a phenomenal job when one considers the monumental task that was in front of him, he never should have been put in this position by the league. But I guess in the end we shouldn’t be totally surprised that this is how a major Covid related issue played out in the NFL, because this nightmare was merely a symptom of a bigger problem. In that...
 
The league has no idea what it is doing when it comes to its Covid response.
Look, the league is dropping the ball on this matter left and right. Because not only did we have to watch that aforementioned debacle, but the Ravens/Steelers game remains in limbo thanks to the massive outbreak happening in Baltimore’s locker room and to make matters worse, the Niners are having to play home games in Arizona because of harsh policies in their hometown of Santa Clara and well, the league simply isn’t doing enough to protect the sport and more importantly… the players. Because it is ridiculous that no team is in a bubble right now, something that other sports proved works like a charm and it’s equally as silly that the league didn’t plan for a potential surge in cases in the first place.
 
It just seems as though they’re trotting teams out there and hoping for the best whilst believing that fans will just accept whatever game airs on television regardless of quality, and that is some close-minded and arrogant thinking on the league’s part. Because the fans expect better from the National Football League and it is just embarrassing and sad that one of the top leagues in professional sports couldn’t put together a solid plan to protect the players and provide its loyal fans with the best games possible. So, the bottom line, is that the league needs to get it together and do the right thing. Because this is on the cusp of spiraling out of control and it could cost someone their life, all because the league wants to project a sense of normalcy in a time where chaos rules the day.

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