NFL Liquor Cabinet Week 12

For the entire NFL season, we will be breaking down the rest of the NFL not named Green Bay by looking at it like a liquor cabinet. Why did we choose this method? I like to booze and it makes things really easy to determine what's great, average and poor. 

TOP SHELF 

Brady and Manning play another classic - Every time these two guys deliver a great game. This one was
more about Tom Brady than Peyton Manning. I mean imagine the narrative if New England loses this game by more than 20 points. People raise questions about Brady and how good he really is at this point of his career. But instead as it got colder in Foxboro, Brady started to mount a comeback with the Patriots getting 31 unanswered points. Manning had more struggles in the cold weather and it is starting to become a legitimate concern. Sure, he helped get Denver seven more points to force overtime, but Manning had his worst performance of the season. Peyton needs to find a magical elixir for cold weather games because they are going to keep coming at him especially in Denver with two more home games plus a road trip to Kansas City this week. I feel like this game more so than anything else tells me how close both them really are to each other.  

Pittsburgh is back in this dance - Steelers flat-out dominated their rival, Cleveland Bowns, on Sunday and they now have five wins on the season. All the sudden, my Super Bowl pick is not looking that bad. Ben Roethlisberger had another big day, and their defense looked strong albeit against Brandon Weeden. Looking at the Steelers schedule, they have two games you can figure are wins playing at home against Miami and Cleveland. They play Baltimore and Green Bay on the road plus Cincinnati at home. If Pittsburgh goes 2-1 against those teams, Steelers might be one of the more dangerous teams in the playoffs. I am dead serious about those comments too. Big Ben is not some slum when it comes to late-season performances. 

Carolina finds a way to avoid the letdown - We all saw it coming. Carolina got off to a slow start and we thought the letdown was happening. They trailed the whole game yet Cam Newton led this team back to victory for their seventh straight win. Weird to say, but this makes me more incline to think of them as Super Bowl contenders. Super Bowl teams do not lose to Miami at home coming off a big home win against New England where everyone is crowing you as the next great team. Funny enough, Carolina will now have to avoid the look-ahead when they play Tampa Bay this week before their Sunday Night game against New Orleans in two weeks. 

Arizona is suddenly lethal - Okay, I will say it. Arizona is a better team than San Francisco. Yup there it is and I do not care who knows it. They have a better overall defense, a better passing quarterback and a better core of receivers. Now, San Francisco gets back Michael Crabtree, but still Arizona looks like one of the NFC's strongest teams.  They have three road games left in Philadelphia, Tennessee and Seattle, all three are very tough places to play with home games against division rivals, St. Louis and San Francisco. With Arizona playing all three division opponents, they can truly create their own luck and get themselves a playoff spot.   

MIDDLE SHELF

No late game Dallas woes, progress! - I have to give Cowboys some credit for their win on Sunday. They had an early lead, and New York crept back into this game tying the score in the fourth quarter. Dallas got the ball back with nearly five minutes left and the combination of Tony Romo and DeMarco Murray held the ball for the full time with Dan Bailey netting the win. This is a big moment for Dallas. They could have collapsed or crumbled and it did not happen.  

I wish I could figure out San Diego - In all honesty, no team is more confusing than San Diego. Phillip Rivers one week looks like a god and the next week he looks like 2012 Phil. They could make the playoffs. They could crash and burn. I have no idea how to pick this team. I think I am just going to keep picking against them and hope it works for me. 

Somehow Tennessee is in the playoff mix - With their win against Oakland, Tennessee is currently sixth in the playoff hunt at 5-6 with Ryan Fitzpatrick leading the charge. He will be there the rest of the year so can he hold on?  Their game against Indianapolis this week is massive, and they might be catching Colts at the right time. Although they might have one of the tough three-game stretch with Indianapolis, Denver on the road and Arizona before finishing with Jacksonville and Houston. They need to at least win one in that three-game stretch but two wins would be ideal. 

Jacksonville playing themselves out of number one - I honestly think Jacksonville is the third-worst team in the NFL. Atlanta is worse than this team. Houston already proved they are worse than this team. Washington might be right there with Jacksonville. People love to shit on this team, but they are not the worst. 

BOTTOM SHELF 

Hali and Houston means too much for Kansas City - When Tamba Hali and Justin Houston went out with injury, Kansas City became an average defense. Phillip Rivers went off including a last-second drive to put 41 points on this team. If they do not have these two players, Kansas City becomes way different team and a slightly above average team. If these are long-term injuries, the Chiefs might have to hold on in the final month of the year. 

Panic at the Oil Drum? - Indianapolis suffered a blowout in the desert with Andrew Luck going a meager 20/39 and a running attack led by Boom Herron who had 33 yards on four carries with Trent Richardson rushing 15 yards for seven carries with one carry being for eight yards. This offense looks sub-standard without Reggie Wayne, and it is leading to an exposed defense. Good news for Indianapolis is they still have Jacksonville and Houston on their schedule. Bad news they still play Cincinnati and Kansas City on the road.   

Chicago's rush defense is a dumpster fire - Bears currently hold the worst rushing defense in the National Football League with all of their players out giving up 145 yards a game. Michael Tainer of SportsOnEarth pointed out how it has been even worse than their average in their last five years except for one game where they gave up exactly their average at 145. In the last five games, Bears have gave up almost 1,000 yards and teams are averaging 197 a game. Next up for them, Adrian Peterson. Ruh roh.  

A defense for Geno Smith - Oh boy, this is going to seem tough. Smith has been awful in the past three weeks and with New York still in the playoff hunt, the Jets are in complete flux. People are piling on Smith because he is not out there looking like Andrew Luck and turning the ball over at a rapid rate. The turnovers are a problem, but he has zero receivers out there. If New York can get a Sammy Watkins next year, this improves their offense in a major way. 

Detroit fails to seize the moment - Lions could be well ahead in the NFC North. They could have been one of the top teams in the NFC with people talking about them as Super Bowl contender. Instead, they lose to Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay at home.  Detroit turned the ball over four times, had a punt block and their secondary looks awful again. Tough three game stretch with Green Bay at home, Philadelphia on the road and Baltimore on Monday night. 

Charlie.