MMQB: Albert Breer on five takeaways from last weekend's football games.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - All right, the 12th Sunday of the NFL season
00:11 is now in the books.
00:12 I'm Albert Breer from the MMQB
00:14 and I got your five takeaways right here
00:18 from week 12 of the NFL season.
00:21 We're gonna start with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
00:23 Be easy to come in here and kill them
00:25 for the way that they started the game
00:27 against Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday's marquee game.
00:29 I'm not gonna do that.
00:30 I'm actually encouraged by what I saw from the Buccaneers.
00:33 For me, the first time this year, I saw real resolve.
00:36 I saw some grit.
00:37 I thought the way that they played
00:38 after falling behind 17 to nothing,
00:40 after falling behind 27 to 10,
00:42 after giving up what they did
00:44 in the first quarter on defense,
00:46 it showed me something about that team.
00:48 And maybe they have a little bit more
00:50 than we thought before.
00:51 Tom Brady winds up with 345 yards, three touchdowns,
00:55 survived the two interceptions
00:57 and goes 27 of 41.
01:00 So fairly efficient performance, again,
01:02 able to overcome the mistakes.
01:04 What really stuck out to me about the way Brady played,
01:06 you're starting to see a little bit
01:09 of an identity evolve on offense.
01:11 Ronald Jones really got it going in the running game
01:14 and showed that he can catch the ball again.
01:16 We saw Rob Gronkowski,
01:18 something closer to what we're used to seeing
01:21 from Rob Gronkowski,
01:22 a more of a downfield threat
01:23 than I think he's been earlier in the year.
01:25 Six catches for 106 yards.
01:27 And the guy I love in that offense,
01:29 who I think could have played
01:30 in any of Brady's Patriot offenses,
01:32 is Chris Godwin,
01:33 who wound up today with eight catches for 97 yards.
01:36 It feels like there's a real trust there,
01:38 where you saw points Mike Evans and Tom Brady
01:40 working on the sideline to try to build that up.
01:43 Feels to me like Chris Godwin and Tom Brady
01:45 have that naturally.
01:46 So I'm actually encouraged by what I saw from the Bucs.
01:50 They'll go into their buy at seven and five,
01:52 come out of it with four games to go.
01:54 I think they'll still be playing into January.
01:58 And having Tom Brady on your side,
01:59 not a bad starting point.
02:01 Again, it wasn't perfect,
02:02 but I do think we saw some progress
02:04 in the way that they came from behind.
02:05 My second takeaway,
02:07 and I'm gonna sound like a broken record here,
02:09 Patrick Holmes is an alien.
02:11 I mean, like what we saw again from him,
02:14 37 to 49, 462 yards, three touchdowns.
02:18 You know, what we saw early in the game from him,
02:23 he helped Tyree Kilgo for 200 yards
02:25 in the first quarter alone.
02:27 And what we saw late too,
02:28 and this is one thing that really actually stuck out to me,
02:31 was how they closed the game out.
02:34 The amount of trust that Andy Reid had in Patrick Holmes.
02:37 With two minutes left in the game,
02:39 a lot of coaches would shut it down.
02:41 They'd run the ball,
02:42 say if we pick up a first down, fine.
02:44 Either way, I wanna make the other coach use his timeouts.
02:47 I wanna run the clock as much as I can.
02:49 No, no, no, that's not what Andy Reid did.
02:52 What Andy Reid did reminds me a little bit
02:54 of what we used to see from Tom Brady in New England,
02:57 where the Patriot coaches would get in these situations,
03:00 and they would stay aggressive
03:02 in an effort to close the game out,
03:03 because they knew their best player, Tom Brady,
03:05 was worth trusting in those situations.
03:07 They could trust him more than anybody,
03:09 and he'd try to, and he could take care of it
03:11 where he could pick up a first down
03:13 and put the team in position to kneel down
03:15 and put the game away.
03:16 Same thing in this situation.
03:17 They're in second and nine
03:18 in the final two minutes of the game.
03:20 They trust Patrick Mahomes to throw the ball.
03:23 That situation, he hits Clyde Edwards-Zeller for two yards.
03:26 That sets up third and seven.
03:28 On that play, he winds up hitting Tyree Kill for eight yards.
03:31 Neither of those were the most difficult throws
03:34 that Patrick Mahomes made tonight.
03:35 One was a little throw out to Edwards-Zeller in the flat.
03:39 The other to Hill was a roll out to his left,
03:42 where Hill ran an out cut and picked up the first down.
03:46 But just the trust to put it in your quarterback's hands,
03:49 I think it was a better idea to do that
03:51 than it was to run the ball and take the sure thing,
03:54 force the other team to use his timeouts or run clock.
03:57 I think it's pretty remarkable.
03:58 You don't see many coaches coaching that way
04:00 because if you play the numbers,
04:02 that's not the best way to play,
04:04 unless you've got somebody like Patrick Mahomes
04:06 or Tom Brady.
04:07 Takeaway number three, this was a big week
04:09 for COVID in the NFL.
04:11 And you look at what's happened over the last seven days,
04:15 it's not good.
04:16 11 starters down for Baltimore.
04:18 Obviously, the big one is Lamar Jackson.
04:22 We had another one on Sunday in Willie Snead.
04:25 The numbers kind of keep piling up there.
04:27 So they're up to 11 starters out.
04:29 The Steelers had a little bit of an outbreak.
04:31 It seems like it's contained now, but who knows.
04:34 Those teams are scheduled to play on Tuesday.
04:35 My understanding right now is that
04:38 if there are more positive tests on Monday and Tuesday,
04:42 then there's a good chance this game gets moved.
04:44 For right now though, the hope is that
04:47 the Ravens are at the very tail end of their outbreak
04:49 and that they'll be able to play on Tuesday.
04:52 Either way, not great developments.
04:54 On top of that, you see what happened
04:56 with the New Orleans Saints-Denver Broncos game,
05:00 where the Broncos lost three quarterbacks
05:02 due to contact tracing.
05:04 A guy named Kendall Hinton wound up
05:08 playing quarterback for the Broncos.
05:09 He didn't start.
05:11 Phillip Lindsey actually started
05:12 as quarterback for the Broncos,
05:13 but Kendall Hinton was the quarterback
05:16 for the Denver Broncos.
05:19 You gotta give him all the credit in the world
05:21 for actually being out there and being functional,
05:23 but he couldn't throw the ball very well.
05:24 We saw what that was.
05:25 It wasn't a representative
05:27 quarterbacking effort in the NFL.
05:30 So you had that, and then in San Francisco,
05:34 the Niners are gonna fly home from LA
05:35 not knowing if they're gonna be able
05:37 to practice in their own county.
05:38 I mean, they may be looking for a new practice facility.
05:41 They may be looking for a new game field.
05:43 They may be looking for all of that over the next few days,
05:45 'cause Santa Clara County in California
05:49 shut down all contact sports for the next three weeks.
05:51 So kind of a weird situation there,
05:55 but altogether not a great week
05:57 on the COVID front for the NFL.
05:58 They are considering the idea of local bubbles,
06:03 which we'll see whether or not that would work.
06:06 I do know that they would need five to seven days
06:08 to just set up the bubbles in the first place.
06:11 And if they plan on doing that,
06:12 obviously they're asking players
06:14 to be away from their families completely
06:16 for up to a month.
06:17 So there's a lot to consider on that one.
06:20 And I think it's a possibility,
06:21 something the league is definitely looking into.
06:23 There's a possibility that they go with that.
06:25 So again, just a weird, weird week
06:30 on the COVID front for the NFL.
06:32 The NFL's expectation is that this is gonna be
06:34 the most challenging week with so many guys
06:37 coming back from having visited family for Thanksgiving.
06:41 And that's why they shut down the facilities
06:43 outside of the teams that are playing games
06:45 for the next two or three days.
06:46 Challenging situation for everybody across the country.
06:49 And certainly that's added up to a challenging situation
06:51 in the NFL.
06:52 My fourth takeaway, all the changes that we've seen now
06:56 on the coaching and GM front, they're early.
06:58 It's not even December yet.
06:59 We have four GM openings after Dave Caldwell
07:02 and Bob Quinn were fired over the weekend.
07:04 We have three head coach openings
07:06 after Matt Patricia was fired over the weekend.
07:08 And I know a lot of people are surprised by this.
07:10 I give you two reasons why I think it's happening.
07:13 And the first one, the first one is pretty obvious.
07:17 There are lots of states of execution given,
07:20 granted in 2020, early 2020.
07:24 The Lions had thought about a change.
07:27 The Jaguars had thought about a change.
07:29 The Falcons had thought about a change.
07:30 It was all at the point where those teams
07:32 had to put out statements explaining
07:33 why they were keeping those guys,
07:34 why they weren't firing them.
07:36 So I think the relative low number of turnover last year,
07:39 there were only five coaching changes.
07:42 It was always gonna lead to a little more turnover
07:44 this year.
07:45 I also think there's been a little bit
07:45 of a reverse COVID effect.
07:47 Some people felt like the economics of the situation,
07:50 given what COVID's been for the bottom line.
07:54 I think a lot of people thought that would slow
07:56 the process of firing coaches,
07:59 that would slow the coaching care itself for 2021.
08:03 The opposite has happened.
08:04 I think one of the reasons why,
08:06 owners are scared stiff right now of fanatopathy.
08:09 People aren't in the stands.
08:10 Are they gonna come back?
08:11 Are people gonna continue to watch?
08:13 Is the game the same?
08:14 All these questions have come up.
08:15 The economics of football have been affected.
08:18 And I know that it's important for these teams
08:21 to make sure that coming out of this,
08:24 their fan base is engaged.
08:25 And so I do think that that's an element of all this too,
08:28 for the teams that made moves over the last few weeks.
08:31 So again, I think it's gonna be a very active
08:33 coaching care, so this is just a sign of that
08:36 with four GM openings and three head coach openings
08:40 before the calendar turns to December.
08:42 Finally, takeaway number five,
08:44 the Tennessee Titans have really balanced back.
08:47 And I think showed their character again.
08:48 They fought through a lot this year.
08:50 There were a lot of fingers pointed at them
08:52 earlier in the year when they had their COVID outbreak.
08:54 I think that they look at it and say,
08:55 see everybody else is dealing with it to some degree now.
08:58 They also fought through a pretty tough one in three stretch
09:01 and now after beating the Ravens and Colts
09:03 and back-to-back weeks, they're in really good shape.
09:05 And I think one of the biggest strengths of that place
09:07 that has always been, they know what they are.
09:09 They know what they wanna be.
09:11 And we saw it again on Sunday.
09:12 The Colts were without D'Amico Autry.
09:14 They were without DeForest Buckner.
09:16 They were without Bobby Okereke.
09:18 And what do we see from the Tennessee Titans?
09:21 You give us the run, we're gonna take it.
09:23 17 carries, 140 yards and three touchdowns
09:25 for Derrick Henry in the first half alone.
09:27 He winds up with 178 yards rushing total.
09:31 Just a dominant, dominant effort from the Tennessee Titans
09:35 against the Indianapolis Colts to establish themselves
09:38 as one of the teams to beat in the AFC.
09:40 I think the Steelers and Chiefs are gonna be the one,
09:42 two seed in some order, but the Titans right now
09:45 sit neck and neck with the Bills.
09:46 They're in a really good position
09:48 to try and take that third seed.
09:49 Appreciate you guys coming out.
09:51 You guys know where to find me with your feedback.
09:54 You got any feedback, we wanna use it here.
09:57 We wanna make the most of it,
09:58 whether it's the video mailbag, whether it's this,
10:00 whether it's anything I do on the website or the podcast,
10:02 we wanna make all of that better for you.
10:04 And so you guys can give me your feedback.
10:07 That's how you can help.
10:08 I'm @albertbreer on Twitter, @albertrbreer on Facebook,
10:11 @albert_breer on Instagram.
10:15 Let us know what you think of these video takeaways,
10:17 what you think of the video mailbag.
10:19 And of course, while you're at it,
10:21 make sure you check out the MMQB column
10:24 that runs on the mmqb.com on Monday morning,
10:28 and then a few hours later, the Monday afternoon column.
10:30 That's the MAQB coming to you,
10:32 usually a few hours before the Monday night game
10:37 to follow up on the MMQB column.
10:39 Appreciate you guys coming out, as always.
10:42 Week 12, all done.
10:44 We'll see you guys next time.
10:45 (silence)
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