This past week in the NFL season had a few surprises some of us couldn’t predict as well as one of the craziest games I’ve seen in my short career of watching American Football. I’ve learnt with most sports to always expect the unexpected and week 14 did not disappoint. These are my 3 takeaways from the past weekend.
1. Jalen Hurts defeats Taysom Hill’s Saints.
Ex-Oklahoma Sooner QB Jalen Hurts made his first NFL start as a rookie against the revered New Orleans Saints after Eagles QB Carson Wentz was benched. I initially thought HC Doug Pederson was in over his head starting Hurts against the Saints and for good reason. The Saints are easily one of the most complete teams in football, they have a top 5 defense, they’re well coached and offensively they have pieces to tear you apart. Jalen Hurts didn’t shy away from the task though. Jalen led the Eagles to an emphatic win over New Orleans beating them 24-21, he threw for 17-30, 167 yds and 1 TD. What was more impressive was his ability to escape pressure and use his speed to either extend plays or gain extra yardage, he eventually finished the game with 106 rushing yds. I feel bad for Carson Wentz and his entire 2020 campaign but wow this team seems to of found it’s catalyst to get back to winning ways. Jalen faces Kyler Murray and The Cardinals this weekend and it should be a cracker!
2. Brian Flores for Coach of the Year
Brian Flores joined Miami after his tenure with the New England Patriots. Brian had initially replaced Matt Patricia as the DC in New England in 2018 and after their Super Bowl victory vs the Los Angeles Rams… Miami came knocking. You can see the culture change in The Dolphins organization, you can see it with the players, the staff, the media and you could definitely see it this past weekend when they took on The Kansas City Chiefs. The Dolphins narrowly lost the game to the Chiefs 27-33 with one score separating the two teams. Miami’s defense picked off MVP favorite Patrick Mahomes not one or twice but THRICE! He threw more interceptions this game than he had on the entire year… let that sink in for a second. You can clearly see how pivotal Flores is and has been to this organization in his first two years and I can only see them getting better as long as he is at the helm.
3. Lamar Jackson pulls a Paul Pierce and leads his team to victory against Browns.
I don’t even know where to begin with this game… a total of 12 touchdowns scored, Lamar needing to go use the loo in the fourth quarter, leading his team to a comeback victory after a “cramp” to ol’ faithful Justin Tucker kicking the game winning field goal (btw, can we finally admit that Justin Tucker is the GOAT of all NFL kickers now?. I have nothing else to see as I’d only be giving away spoilers but I’ll link the highlights below from the official NFL YouTube Page.
