2021 NFL Week Fourteen: Biggest Storylines and Takeaways
2021 NFL Week Fourteen is in the books and we had two tremendous overtime finishes. The Raiders got destroyed, the Bills are in shambles, and the MVP race is down to Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. With only four weeks left in the season, every game counts and has massive playoff implications. Check out the biggest storylines and takeaways from week fourteen right here.
2021 NFL Week Fourteen- Rams Get Huge MNF Win
After a rough November for Matt Stafford and Sean McVay, they picked up a huge divisional win versus the Arizona Cardinals on Monday Night Football. Stafford played liked the $35M quarterback he is, Cooper Kupp is a star, and say what you about Odell Beckham Jr., but he is producing in this Rams’ offense. This was a huge win for the Rams for several reasons. First, they close the gap between them and Arizona in the division and now sit one game behind the Cards for first in the NFC West. Second, it gives them a little breathing room from San Francisco who has played the Rams well under Kyle Shanahan.
As for the Cardinals, I give a ton of credit to Kliff Kingsbury and this team. I said before the year he was going to be fired before the season and now he is five weeks away from hosting a playoff game. If Kyler Murray, DeAndre Hopkins, and their core group of elite players are healthy they are one of the best teams in the league. Unfortunately, this loss catapulted the Packers to the one seed and sent Arizona to the #3 seed. The good thing for Arizona is they are 7-0 on the road this season but playing Aaron Rodgers in January in Green Bay is a different animal.
2021 NFL Week Fourteen- Chiefs Demolish The Raiders
Note to the Raiders, DON’T DANCE ON ANOTHER MAN’S LOGO! It’s like “discount double-checking” in Aaron Rodgers’ face, when does it ever end well. I did not expect this game to end the way it did but after that stupid act, the man on the moon could have seen that the Raiders were going to lose. I’m not going to hold the players and coaches to this season because they have had to deal with some shit, to say the least. They lost their head coach, their star wide receiver is going to jail for multiple years and their owner is a joke. I think Mark Davis has no other choice but to blow the whole operation up and overhaul a completely new staff, that also might mean moving on from Derek Carr.
As for the Chiefs, the story of their winning streak is their defense. In the last three games, they have forced nine turnovers and look like a completely different team. We all know when Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, and Andy Reid are on, they can put up a fight against anyone. But if Steve Spagnuolo and this defense continue to dominate, they are going to win a lot of games. I know they entered the season as the AFC favorite, and they have been to back-to-back Super Bowls, but it did not look the same in October. This Chiefs team is back and a force to be reckoned with.
2021 NFL Week Fourteen- Tampa Bay and Buffalo Thriller
There are only a few guarantees in this world: death, taxes, and Tom Brady owning the Buffalo Bills. Whether he is wearing the Patriot blue and white or the Tampa Bay red and black, TB12 hates that team from upstate New York. With the 33-27 overtime victory on Sunday, Brady improved to 33-3 all-time against Buffalo. This was the game of the weekend after it looked like the Bills were going to get blown out. Buffalo almost mounted an incredible comeback thanks to Josh Allen and Josh Allen alone, only to come up short in overtime. As for the Bucs, they jump up to the #2 seed and will battle it out with Green Bay for the first-round bye.
The main takeaway from this game is what is going on with the Buffalo Bills. I’m not going to lie as a lifelong Patriots fan, this does put a smile on my face. After Buffalo got a taste of what it’s like to win the AFC East, they put the division on lock for the next decade and discarded my Patriots. Fast forward to 2021, Patriots are 9-4 and have a two-game lead on the AFC East while Buffalo holds the last wild card spot. The only solace I can give Bills fans is you are going to win ten games and make the playoffs and most importantly you have a stud at quarterback. I don’t think many QBs could do what Josh Allen did on Sunday. Allen threw for over 300 yards and rushed for another 100 against Tampa and put his team on his back, the kid is special.
2021 NFL Week Fourteen- Urban Meyer Disaster
Shocker, Urban Meyer is calling out his staff and fighting with his players. Urban Meyer’s NFL career is off to a roaring start; his team is 2-11, his rookie quarterback looks like shit and he has no idea how to fix any of it. I wrote an article back in the summer when Meyer made some mind-boggling moves questioning if he was over his head. Fast forward to week fourteen and it is evident Meyer is not suited to be an NFL coach. Tom Peliserro wrote an article detailing some of the exchanges coaches and players had with Meyer in Jacksonville. The most confusing antidote was that Meyer was questioning his assistants, asking them to defend their resumes and calling them losers. News flash Urban, you have not done shit in the NFL. Say what you want about Brian Schottenheimer and Darell Bevell but Schottenheimer was the OC in two AFC Championships and Bevell called the plays for Seattle when they went to back-to-back Super Bowls. I don’t think Urban can get it through his thick skull that no one cares what you did in college, this is the big leagues.
I would expect him to get fired or bought out at the end of the season and Trevor Lawrence will be on this second coach in two years. You cannot have someone who is this toxic in your locker room who also knows nothing about defensive or offensive schemes.
2021 NFL Week Fourteen- Micah Parsons
The NFL should take away OROY and DROY this year and just give an overall ROY award to Micah Parsons. There is no rookie on either side of the ball that is playing as well or as dominant as Parsons is. The Cowboys have found themselves a perennial star on defense, I mean the kid is in the DPOY conversation as a rookie. Parsons already has 12 sacks on the year and with four more games could break Jevon Kearse’s rookie record of 14.5 sacks. I don’t have much to say other than this kid is a baller. If he played in the 2020 season, there is no way he makes it past the top ten. Dallas got themselves a steal with the 12th pick.
R.I.P DT88
I would like to end this by giving my condolences to Demaryius Thomas and his family. He passed away a few days ago and it hit the NFL community hard. He was only 33 and was taken out of this world way too soon. The outpour from fans and former players showed not only the great player he was but the respect people had for his character. I can still picture him catching that slant from Tebow and taking it to the house against the Steelers. Thoughts and prayers to the Thomas family.
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Check out week thirteen here and come back for week fifteen!
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