NFL Week 16: A Look Back and a Glimpse Ahead (2009)

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And then there was one! Dallas finally came up big in the month of December, knocking New Orleans from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 24-17 win on Saturday night. That leaves the Indianapolis as the only unbeaten team in the NFL. The Colt’s moved their record to a perfect 14-0 with an exciting 35-31 win over Jacksonville on Thursday night. As far as the playoff picture, it became a bit clearer in one conference, but even fuzzier in the other.

In the NFC, New Orleans already had clinched the South and has a first round bye. Despite being soundly beaten by Carolina 26-7, Minnesota clinched the North by virtue of Pittsburgh beating Green Bay 37-36 on a 19 yard TD pass as time expired. With the loss, the Packers fell to 9-5, but still control a wildcard spot. Arizona finally clinched the West with hard fought 31-24 win over Detroit. Philadelphia secured at the very least a wildcard spot with a 27-13 win over San Francisco. At 10-4, they still maintain a one game lead in the East over the 9-5 Cowboys, who currently control the other wildcard berth. The N.Y. Giants walloped Washington 45-12 on Monday night to keep their hopes alive.

The AFC is a bit more complicated. What we know for sure is that the Colt’s have home field advantage throughout the playoffs. By beating Cincinnati on a last second field goal, San Diego clinched the West. New England pounded out a 17-10 win over Buffalo to move to 9-5, opening up a two game lead in the East over both Miami and New York who both lost. The Dolphins fell to Tennessee 27-24 in overtime and the Jets lost to Atlanta 10-7 on a late 4th quarter TD. Despite the loss to the Chargers, the Bengals still lead the North by one game over Baltimore. The Ravens rolled over Chicago 31-7 and is currently in one of the wildcard spots. The other wildcard spot right now belongs to Denver, who despite their ugly 20-19 loss to Oakland still controls their own destiny. After that, there are now six teams; Jacksonville, Miami, New York, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, and Houston that have a 7-7 record and can still make the postseason. This week should go a long way toward bringing some better clarity to the whole picture.

It was a good week for the dogs as nine teams getting points covered the spread. Four teams; Miami, Cincinnati, Detroit, and St. Louis won ATS and five teams; Dallas, Cleveland, Atlanta, Oakland, and Carolina won outright. Congratulations once again to the Raiders who only seem to be able to beat teams with winning records. Two games ended in a push; New England (-7) @ Buffalo and Green Bay@ Pittsburgh (-1). Anyone that had the Packers had to be crying in their eggnog after that finish. It was not a good week to be home for the holidays as only six home teams won outright and only four won against the spread.

After four straight weeks of the under being the best play, there was a return to balance in week 15. Eight games stayed under the total line and eight games went over. None the less there were some wild results. Cleveland and Kansas City combined for an offensive explosion putting up a total of 75 points against a line of 36.5. The Giants erupted for 45 points against the normally stingy Washington defense to take this game over on their own against a line of 43.The Cowboys held the high powered Saints offense to just 17 points keeping this game way under the 53.5 point line. The lowest under of the week was the Jets and Falcons game at 17 against a line of 40.

Looking ahead to this week it starts with a great match-up on Christmas night when San Diego travels to Tennessee to play the Titans. Houston will play Miami in basically a playoff game as the loser is out and the winner keeps their chances alive. A couple of other AFC games with major playoff implications include Jacksonville@ New England and Baltimore@ Pittsburgh as it becomes now or never for the Jaguars and the Steelers. Denver will try and rebound from the loss to the Raiders when they travel to Philadelphia in what will be a homecoming for former Eagle safety, Brian Dawkins. In a couple of key NFC divisional clashes, Chicago will try and further damage Minnesota’s playoff seed and Washington will try and ruin Dallas’s chances to win the East.

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