Scramble: 2020 All-Keep Choppin’ Wood Team

Scramble: 2020 All-Keep Choppin’ Wood Team Andrew Potter 03 Feb 2021, 10:12 am

Andrew: Hello and welcome to the penultimate Scramble for the Ball of the 2020 season — a season relatively unlike any other for a variety of different rationales, but principally because of a world pandemic. For the first time in history, staying at home and watching football all week has been the submissive, considerate practice to live, rather than being broadly considered some manner of social dysfunction. We’re hoping that continues to be the case, even as we’re hoping that this accursed plague overtakes awfully, very quickly.

Bryan: We’re both more than ready to leave 2020 behind us, but we have got one piece of unfinished business left to handle. In what was truly one of the Wood-Choppingest years in recent history, it is our duty once again to bring you the worst of the worst — the annual All-Keep Choppin’ Wood Team.

Andrew: As ever, this was not a register of the worst 26 participates in the conference — 11 starters each for offense and defense, plus four specialists in the kicking and return play. That would just be a list of late-round picks and bottom-of-the-roster flotsam who just attained it onto the field, and none needs a list like that( at least not now that the XFL has folded again ). Instead, the All-Keep Choppin’ Wood select lists the players who acquired the least of their copious opportunities, who did the most to hurt their rights either on or off the field( sometimes both !). Whether by underperforming a massive contract or a high draft pick, blowing competitions directly by their corrects, or simply being very bad, very consistently, there are many ways to become commemorated as a member of one of these adopt groups.

Bryan: With 2020 being what it was, there were fewer chances for participates to hurt their squad off the field — strict quarantine regulates do tend to help prevent late-night drunken shenanigans. That’s not to say that no one managed to turn off-field accidents into on-field pain — see the part Denver Broncos quarterback room not disguising, forcing practice crew wide receiver Kendall Hinton to start a game at quarterback, or the Las Vegas Raiders and New Orleans Saints breaking enough COVID rulers to cause their crews to relinquish drawing pickings — but for the most part, this year’s roster has more on-field lowlights than customary. That’s OK, because there were plenty of lowlights to highlight!

Andrew: As customary, we’ll pick starters by situate, applying modern football gatherings with 11 personnel and nickel justification, plus a coaching faculty. This time even checks us make a pick for a recognize we wouldn’t ordinarily consider! Such is the madness of the 2020 NFL season. Without further ado, we present…

Scramble’s 2020 All-Keep Choppin’ Wood Team Offense

Quarterback

Bryan: There are a couple different criteria we can use when picking a participate for the Keep Choppin’ Wood team. Poor performance in and of itself can certainly qualify; anyone near the bottom of a DYAR or DVOA table is at least in polemic. A grisly contract can help someone vault to the top of the directory; even run-of-the-mill poor performance can win you an give if it’s bind to an albatross of a long term deal. Off-field occurrences are always a favorite, as well — sowing discord in the cupboard room is a great way to earn a much-desired KCW honor. Sometimes, it’s difficult to weigh all the different categories to come up with one winner.

Not this year, though — Carson Wentz blows apart the field in the first two categories and tallies some points in the third, and is the clear and obvious All-KCW Quarterback for 2020. Wentz finished with -7 80 transferring DYAR, bad in the organization and one of the 10 worst seasons in DVOA history. He was well on speed to at least break the Eagles’ record of -9 62, set by Bobby Hoying in 1998, and had an outside chance at 2018 Josh Rosen’s low-water mark of -1, 145 before being benched late in the year. Wentz’s -3 5.9% DVOA was the fifth-worst in biography among actors with at least 400 pass attempts; we have rarely looked a passer participate this poorly in such a large sample size. And, if “youd prefer” classical stats, Wentz guided the organization in both bags and interceptions, the first actor to draw away that double since 2015. On on-field performance alone, Wentz deserves this spot.

Carson Wentz pick-six

He extends the NFL in INTs.

( via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/ xYBnJkA2Zj

— Bleacher Report (@ BleacherReport) November 22, 2020

To make difficulties worse, Wentz did this on the back of sign a big increase prior to the opening of the 2019 season. While his cap thumped in 2020 wasn’t anything specially heinous, it bags to practically $35 million for next season and remains over $30 million the rest of the way. Wentz’s extension has become an anchor around the team’s neck, with the only way out this season being a post-June 1 trade. Good luck getting anyone else to accept that contract, considering everything we wrote above about, y’know, one of the worst seasons in NFL history.

Keeping Wentz on the roster isn’t a prize, either. Wentz wasn’t exhilarated with being benched for Jalen Hurts — reports from Albert Breer , amongst other, stress that Wentz is not happy with the relevant recommendations of coming back for another season with the Eagles. The Philadelphia Inquirer came out with a piece describing Wentz’s turbulent 2020 — fighting with ex-coach Doug Pederson, rebuffing admonition, and eluding disapproval. Wentz reportedly threw the Eagles’ brass an ultimatum: either Pederson becomes, or he’d publicly require a trade. Best of prosperity to brand-new Eagles’ coach Nick Sirianni, who has a difficult task in front of him get his quarterback place sorted before 2021.

Honorable mention goes to Dwayne Haskins — poor performance led to him being benched, and then poor performance and an illegal errand to a strip society during a pandemic led to him being slouse just before a playoff game where he would have been the projected starter. That kind of season would get you a win most years, but not this one. Too, Sam Darnold, you’re off the hook this year because of the “Adam Gase was my head coach” excuse; that won’t fly in 2021.

Running Back

Andrew: It’s not David Johnson’s fault that he was the makeweight in the DeAndre Hopkins trade — a craft so shockingly bad and lopsided, it’s difficult to come up with the liberty adjectives to describe it even a full season after it happened. That transaction hurt the Texans franchise in so many directions, we still haven’t seen the full ramifications hitherto as the Deshaun Watson situation roars on.

Johnson was, nonetheless, the starting running back on the league’s worst scurrying offense by DVOA, with a ceiling touch of over $11 million. He wasn’t the worst back on the Texans — that questionable honor goes to namesake Duke — but David Johnson finished No. 23 in race DYAR and No. 24 in receiving DYAR among qualifiers as Houston’s lead back. That is not unspeakable, but it is nowhere near good enough to justify his price tag. Considering the player he was swapped for finished third in receiving grounds as the top target in Arizona, with a cover pop$ 4 million lower, perhaps no musician in the tournament represents more negative value compared to what the team could have had instead. For that, if not for his own intrinsic appraise( or shortcoming thereof ), Johnson is the All-KCW pick.

If you prefer your pick to represent appalling act on the field, you’ll prefer the other Johnson from the Texans backfield. Duke Johnson’s -1 17 DYAR almost transcended rookie Joshua Kelley’s league-worst -1 42 despite having less than 40% of the carry volume, as Johnson put up a truly putrid -4 5.4% hastening DVOA. The Texans vested an horrid slew of fund and playing time trying to get Not Carlos Hyde to play like Carlos Hyde, instead of exactly, you know, re-signing Carlos Hyde for less coin. Somehow, that doesn’t even draw the top 10 in the directory of things they have done wrong in simply the 2020 season. Sorry, Rivers.

Wide Receivers

Bryan: Speaking of dealership records that virtually precipitated, A.J. Green’s -1 73 receiving DYAR precisely precipitates short of 2001 Peter Warrick’s -1 80, and his -3 3.2% DVOA is less than a one-tenth off of 2015 John Ross. It would be very strange to see Green at the bottom of Bengals receiving records, considering his years of success for the right; he now has both the second-best and second-worst receiving years in dealership biography, a doubled no other musician can match. Green has lost all ability to get open — he still seldom proves some lights of his old self by making raced catches, but the majority of members of his catches be brought to an end being struggled because any cornerback importance his salt can keep up with Green nowadays. He had a league-worst average separation of simply 1.7 grounds, per Next Gen Stats. It is possible Green’s clashes are in part due to an extended recovery from the ankle trauma which payment him the 2019 season, and I’m sure some team will give him a prove-it deal to see if he can return to his old form. After a year like 2020, consider us doubtful.

Andrew: Our second receiver picking is chiefly be appointed for two standout times, both coming against this writer’s favorite team. Stands backup Javon Wims was basically the definition of a replacement-level player in his third season: his -1 3.3% DVOA worked out to -1 DYAR. The 2018 seventh-rounder won’t be remembered for any of that, though. He’ll be remembered for these two instants, both against the Saints 😛 TAGEND

Javon Wims has been exhausted from the game for punching Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. But on another record, Janoris Jenkins (# 20) was playing no plays about protecting his teammate #Saints #Bears #NFLTwitter pic.twitter.com/ qkfVVRT2Zi

— Double Take Sports (@ dbltakesports) November 1, 2020

Wims with the decline pic.twitter.com/ vJsrx3dwUK

— NFL Stats (@ NFL_Stats) January 10, 2021

The first of those, during the course of its regular season, been successful in a 15 -yard penalty and Wims’ ejection. Nick Foles shed a critical interception on the resultant second-and-2 0, in a game the Bears lost on an overtime field goal. Wims was then suspended for the team’s next two games. He was back in time for the playoffs though, during which he played a season-high 88% of sounds … and had the critical drop of a subterfuge continue that would have confined the game in the first quarter. Wims didn’t play enough to actively harm the team during the regular season. When these are his two standout participates, it’s easy to see why.

Bryan: For our third receiver, we’ll toss the ball over to Pittsburgh, where … oh, shoot, Diontae Johnson descended it. Johnson remains eliciting with the ball in his hands, but he had significant hurt getting the ball into his hands this year; he resulted the conference with 16 descents per SIS charting, the first receiver to average a plummet video games since 2015. Drops-off in and of themselves aren’t a guarantee to be on this list; Tyreek Hill was third with 11 quits and he’s one of the most dynamic musicians in football. But to lead the tournament in plummets with an average depth of target of just 8.0 yards, had contributed to 23 disappointed acknowledgments? That’s KCW material — more so than Johnson’s 88 catches, 923 gardens, or seven touchdowns would guide you to believe. We did consider Jerry Jeudy for this third slit, as he was just two removes behind Johnson and with a somewhat worse DYAR and DVOA. In the end, we’re giving him a pass for being a rookie, and having Drew Lock and friends shedding him elapses rather than the ghost of Ben Roethlisberger.

Andrew: Before we move on, I should add one note. Some of you may justifiably have expected to find Will Fuller in this category, having been suspended under the league PED policy during the best season of his job. You may also be expecting to see Bradley Roby and/ or A.J. Bouye in the cornerbacks category( spoiler-not-spoiler ). We’ve consciously stood away from the players involved in that PED case, following reports that they are suing a medical professional as the purposes of the postponements. We cannot and dare not draw firm inferences while there’s a suit involved, so we’re steering well clear.

Tight End

Bryan: Eric Ebron and Zach Ertz started head-to-head at the bottom of our DYAR counters — it was a bad year for Pennsylvania tight expirations. Ertz thumped the bottom by our stats; catching fewer than half your legislates and averaging fewer than 10 yards per reception is the kind of low-ceiling, low-floor performance that comes you noticed ’round these constituents. Nonetheless, Ertz has more condones than Ebron does. The Eagles’ receiving corps( and, frankly, the roster as a whole) was beaten up this season, standing protections to focus on Ertz, and he too had Carson Wentz’s horrible time under midst to deal with. Ebron has an argument of his own — he had more discontinues than Ertz did, a number of problems which has beset him throughout his occupation. He likewise was less of a factor in the passage competition; Ertz is, in theory, the better blocker.

Those forgives merely aren’t enough to cover the 60 -DYAR gap between Ertz and Ebron. Nor can we only blame Wentz for Ertz’s poor performance; Ertz had a -3 4.2% DVOA when targeted by Wentz, but a -4 4.2% DVOA when targeted by Jalen Hurts. Ertz likewise boasted the highest cap reach in the tournament in 2020, and when you couple the largest cap hit with the lowest DYAR, you really have to be sure that the surrounding circumstances are severe enough if you’re going to look abroad. Put it this route: Ertz averaged merely 4.7 gardens per target this season, the worst total for any receiver in the league in 2020 and the worst total for a tighten aspiration since Levine Toilolo had 4.4 in 2014. You’d expect a $12.5 -million actor to be more than a little better than a glorified sixth offensive lineman.

Offensive Tackles

Andrew: As a general rule, we prefer to avoid picking rookies in the All-KCW team. The transition from college to the professional game is tough, and some people simply won’t do the change in any or all of athleticism, procedure, attitude, or performance. Nonetheless, both of our All-KCW attacks are rookies, and they are here for very different reasons.

Giants left attack Andrew Thomas was the top choice at the position in April’s draft, espoused No. 4 overall. Every other attack in the top 20 outperformed him: Tristan Wirfs was one of the best right attacks in the league in 2020, Mekhi Becton and Jedrick Wills also look like franchise cornerstones, and Austin Jackson appears to have more than adequately replaced Laremy Tunsil in Miami despite losing a portion of his rookie time to an October foot injury. Thomas, meanwhile, blew more blocks than any other left tackle, restrained for the organization induce in blown pass blocks, and allowed 12 sacks in 15 starts. It’s not that he was especially bad in isolation — we could argue that Jacksonville’s Cam Robinson deserves the recognize for the worst year of his professional career — but Thomas represents so much better lost potential compared to the rest of his class.

That said, Thomas’ performance concerns pale in comparison to the first-round tackle not already covered above. Titans rookie first-round pick Isaiah Wilson toy precisely four sounds in his debut season: three kneeldowns on offense and one additional degree on special units, all in week 12 against the Colts. Wilson was not injured, as you might expect for a rookie first-round undertake who didn’t make it onto the field. Instead, he made headlines for a series of off-field violations and an on-off relationship with the league’s Reserve/ COVID roll. Before the season even started, Wilson had contravened the league COVID policy by attending a party at Tennessee State University, where he was caught trying to flee over a second-story balcony. On September 11, he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, apparently recording over 13 times the commonwealth limit on his breathalyzer while doing “donuts” in a traffic intersection. Following his appearance against the Colts, the Titans announced that Wilson would be suspended during Week 13 against Cleveland for contravening unit patterns. They then situated him on the reserve/ non football illness list on December 9. Already, Wilson looks like he has no future in Tennessee: he appears to be the draft bust to end all sketch failures. When questioned about Wilson, Mike Vrabel offered the following reply 😛 TAGEND

“I can’t comment on Isaiah. I wouldn’t even begin to be able to eloquently have an answer for you.”

So that’s reassuring.

Offensive Guards

Bryan: We could have knocked off early and applied the part Chargers offensive direction here, as all five primary starters arrayed from inadequate to horrid. At least four of the five Los Angeles linemen who started at least half the season would make sense here, and frankly, we’d hear disagreements for Bryan Bulaga as well. Trai Turner and Sam Tevi( and, for that are important, Trey Pipkins) are all solid picks, but we’re going to double down on the polouse now to represent the SuperChargers. Forrest Lamp and Dan Feeney bind for the tournament cause at polouse with 32 blown blocks apiece. Yes, Feeney represented about half the season at hub, so it’s not quite an apples-to-apples comparison. But frankly, we considered Feeney for the starting center role as well, so we’re fine not dividing manes here.

Lamp started all 16 recreations for the first time in his job after overcoming two seasons of knee traumata, and while his comeback is a good story, his play-act simply was not. Feeney has started each of the last three seasons and has been in consideration for the KCW team each and every year. It can be hard to dole out credit and accused when an part front is struggling — the Chargers were 29 th in adjusted line gardens this season — but the Chargers were worst when they were racing up the nerve. With both sets of gentlemen frisking 16 games on the interior of the line, they can share credit now as they get blown 5 yards off the ball.

Center

Andrew: Wait, another rookie? I’m afraid so. For a variety of reasons, 2020 was an especially challenging year for rookie musicians … and an specially especially challenging year for rookie offense linemen. Lloyd Cushenberry was a third-round pick thrust into the Broncos’ starting lineup at centre. He might perhaps be the single worst proposed starting musician( i.e ., not an injury or opt-out replacement) in the league in 2020. It doesn’t matter what statistic you look at for Cushenberry: he let more bags than any other center, blew more pass blocks and more flowed blocks than any other center, and allowed the second-most stuffs of any centre( behind onetime Broncos starter Matt Paradis , now in Carolina ). The Broncos had the worst adjusted path gardens at mid/ polouse of any crew, yet feed nearly half of their rushing plays in that direction. Cushenberry couldn’t generate push in the flee tournament and couldn’t hold up in the pass recreation. Hopefully, that is a result of the difficult circumstances and transition in 2020, and he will improve with a full offseason in 2021. If not, this could be a very difficult spot for the Broncos next time out.

Defense

Edge Rushers

Andrew: Onetime NFL sack leader and Falcons margin rusher Vic Beasley was the Titans’ headline addition during the major component of free busines, ratifying a $9.5 -million contract to start inverse the emerging Harold Landry. The questions started when he didn’t show up for training camp, with no reason given by either the participate or the right. When Beasley eventually did is an indication, he underperformed, recording only three solo undertakes , no sackings, and not even a single pass pressing on 125 snarls across his first five recreations. Per SIS, Beasley was the only player with more than 27 pass-rush snaps but no pressures. The Titan eventually liberated Beasley and the Raider indicated him. He has no such sacks for them either, and time one attack in over 60 sounds on defense.

The Titans struggled to generate pressure all season, recording a league-low 14 bags. With 5.5 of those, Landry was the only back-eight defender to excel even a single sacking. Jadeveon Clowney likewise had no bags on a big contract, but he at least managed 19 attacks and six adversities, and he eschewed the off-field headaches that peppered Beasley’s time in Nashville. Derrick Roberson had no sackings on 151 pass race sounds, the third-lowest pressure rate among linebackers with at least 100 pass rush attempts. The squad Beasley then assembled, Las Vegas, finished second-last with merely 15 sackings. Beasley’s lack of make, allied to his off-field publications, trump all comers. At $2.5 million each, we sure hope those three solo tackles were worth it.

Staying in the AFC South, Houston’s Whitney Mercilus had a top-2 0 salary ceiling representation among border rushers. Mercilus has long been paid like an elite advantage rusher, but he has always been an ancillary portion: a participate who is just good enough to take advantage of the additional attention being devoted to J.J. Watt. He was not that in 2020: Houston finished No. 29 in defensive DVOA, and despite 12 starts Mercilus’ 21 defensive play-acts( totaling all undertakes, proceeds defensed, interceptions, and fumble retrievals) were not enough to qualify for our main defensive stats table. Mercilus had 4.0 bags, but only 10 total pushes. He stimulated only two rolled demolishes all year, and his average run tackle came 3.7 gardens downfield. He missed a severe 19.2% of his attacks, per Pro Football Reference, or an the worst 25.9% if “youd prefer” SIS charting. His pressure rate of 8.1% was seventh-worst among primary hem rushers, and he failed to bat down even a single pass.

Mercilus’ main rival for this spot, incidentally, was Green Bay’s Preston Smith, and it’s remarkable how same their stats are: 4.0 bags apiece, four knockdowns versus five, 22 press versus 23, a somewhat worse influence rate for Smith. What placeds them apart is tackling, and perhaps therefore make in the flee activity: Smith had five feed overcomes on 312 moves, whereas Mercilus had only two on 249. Both were highly paid border rushers, among the top 20 at its own position. Neither considered himself in glory in 2020.

Interior Linemen

Bryan: Jaleel Johnson is a pure stat pick. Jackson’s average tackle in the feed competition came 3.9 gardens downfield, worst of any defensive attack with at least 20 flowed represents. Ideally, you’d like to tackle running backs when they’re in the backfield , not when they’re trying to stutter-step around linebackers. Merely 51% of Johnson’s run tackles were stops, which helped contribute to Minnesota’s 31 st-place power success rate on protection — full credit to Johnson for not quitting on participates, but this really is terrible amounts. Whether Johnson was the worst run defender in football or not is a matter of debate — and my reverenced colleague is about to introduce you to another heading campaigner — but Johnson played 650 crackings for the Vikings this year, starting every recreation. It’s hard to point to another linemen who put up anything near as poor as Johnson’s play while still being given so many opportunities to hurt his unit. To be fair, the intention was for Michael Pierce to secure the spot Johnson ended up taking over, and the Vikings didn’t have a great option formerly Pierce opted out of the 2020 season.

Andrew: Only six players dallied more rolled snarls than Jaleel Johnson. Nobody did less with more opportunities than he did. However, slightly adjust the parameters above from 20 passed continues to either 10 undertakes or 100 sounds on rolled security, and Johnson no longer has the worst average tackle depth of any defensive tackle. That dubious honor goes to Ross Blacklock of the Houston Texans, whose 14 attacks came an average rate of 4.4 gardens downfield. A single pass demolish improves that figure: his average run tackle came an appalling 5.1 gardens downfield. For a defensive tackle. A primarily run-stopping defensive tackle, at that. Blacklock may have been the worst run-defending defensive undertake to earn regular playing time in 2020, but his negative impact is limited because he only played 243 grabs, approximately a part of the team’s total. We can do better.

Only one crew assembled the Vikings in allowing more than 5.0 gardens per carry on carries recognized mid/ picket: the division-rival Detroit Lions. The Lions likewise had the worst pass defense in the tournament, in no big side thanks to a near-total absence of interior pressure. Veteran Nick Williams, onetime Patriots free-agent addition Danny Shelton, and rookie John Penisini compounded for only three bags, with Penisini in particular recording the lowest pass pressure rate of any defensive lineman with at least 100 pass charge moves. Penisini also missed 14.6% of his undertake attempts, fourth-most of any starting defensive tackle. Shelton and Williams did at least contribute a handful of pass press each to make up for their fails against the pas. Penisini has no such mitigation. His inclusion now may be a bigger indictment of the Lions coaching staff and front office than himself, but person from this interior line needs to be here, and the unfortunate rookie was the most difficult of the lot.

Linebackers

Andrew: The AFC South may have been one of the four subdivisions that mail multiple units to the postseason, but the other two teams were numerous degrees of litter ardour depending on the exact situate group under consideration. The Texans have a disproportionately huge amount of salary be used in two inside linebackers: our first campaigner is our third member of that dealership, and too the third-highest compensated inside linebacker in the NFL. Zach Cunningham does not rank third in divulge tackles, however — he has the lead in that statistic all to himself. Among linebackers with at least 20 pass targets, simply Danny Trevathan stood more than Cunningham’s 9.7 grounds per target. Cunningham had problems with misdirection and extend fits all season, as is clear from his starring role in this Derrick Henry 94 -yard touchdown. Compounding things, the Texans had the second-worst defensive DVOA against tight culminates, the primary coverage responsibility of the modern linebacker. A valuable imagination IDP option thanks to his inflated tackle total, Cunningham is far from the worst linebacker in the tournament, but both his salary and that of Benardrick McKinney hugely outweigh their price, and the net effect is a significant negative for the Texans.

Our second nomination was primarily another player from the AFC South, Jacksonville’s high-profile free-agent addition Joe Schobert. However, one other free-agent linebacker outruns Schobert’s absence of contribution to Jacksonville’s lack of greatnes. Corey Littleton ratified a big deal in free authority to join the glitzy Las Vegas Raiders. They were honored with a whole lot of good-for-nothing. Littleton had no bags or quarterback knockdowns. He did not have an interception, a thrust fumble, or a fumble retrieval. He had only one pass deflection and two shown pressures. He had only four tackles for a loss and eight defeats. Littleton did record 82 attacks, but he also missed a further eight for a frequency of 10. 0 %. Littleton has a top-1 5 inside linebacker contract paying him $11.75 million per year. His contribution to the Raiders did not live up to that in Year 1.

Cornerbacks

Bryan: Byron Jones indicated a five-year contract with Miami this offseason, meeting him the fifth-highest paid cornerback in football. It is safe to say that, so far, that has not worked out as well as the Dolphins might have hoped. Jones countenanced 10. 6 yards per target and 17.6 yards per attainment, both bad among starting cornerbacks in 2020. His two interceptions are misinforming; he rectified a job low-toned with only three pass breakups and 42 tackles and confined his busines high with 10 broken and missed tackles, and his 82.5% deserved catch percentage was the highest SIS has recorded during him as well. Now, to be fair, some of those high norm multitudes come from the fact that defending quarterbacks were more likely to challenge Xavien Howard or Eric Rowe; Jones had just 73 targets per Sportradar. But when he was targeted, Jones gave up far too much for someone of his caliber and paycheck. I’d expect him to bounce back next season, but those are not lists you want to see out of your $82.5 -million man.

Andrew: Our fourth member of the Texans came down to a toss-up between Phillip Gaines and eventual win Vernon Hargreaves. Houston ranked in the bottom quarter of DVOA defense against every category of pass receiver( FO+ expected ): No. 1 receivers, No. 2 receivers, “other” wide receivers, running backs, and tighten extremities. Gaines was probably the worse of the two players, standing 9.6 yards per target and five touchdowns on 28 targets, but Hargreaves was the musician rivals targeted over and over and over: he was targeted 84 ages for 763 gardens, the second-highest total in the league behind Tennessee’s Malcolm Butler. Hargreaves granted 9.1 grounds per target, broke up only six members of those progress, and snagged merely a lonely interception. His 72 tackles held for 11 th-most among cornerbacks, but that is not a good thing: broadly speaking, you crave a starting cornerback to stop moves from nearing completion , not undertake receivers after the facts of the case. Even there, Hargreaves under-performed: he missed 13.3% of his attack attempts. Unlike Houston’s linebacker pair, at least Hargreaves was cheap, but the former Buccaneers first-rounder has not lived up to his draft status in either of his two professional stops so far.

Bryan: LeShaun Sims should be a nickel or dime pack player, and not the actor with “the worlds largest” targets for Cincinnati’s defense. Well, defending quarterbacks know how to sniff out a weak spot when they interpret one, and Sims was a flashing target all year long. Sims was credited with giving up a league-worst eight touchdowns, contributing to a 136.8 quarterback rating allowed in coverage, worst in the tournament among cornerbacks who started at least eight tournaments. But it wasn’t really large-scale participates that Sims gave up, oh no — Sportradar charted Sims with countenancing an 81.1% completion pace, the worst among starting cornerbacks. SIS, which contributes in fells to create a deserved catch percentage, employs Sims at 92.5%, which was … third-worst among starting cornerbacks. I guess he couldn’t have won them all.

Safeties

Andrew: It’s tough to believe we have became it this far with merely honorable mentions from a Jaguars roster that earned the No. 1 overall select thanks in large-scale place to the No. 31 DVOA defense. We shall move no further! Onetime Packers and Cowboys safety Josh Jones started 13 games for the Jaguars in 2020, and he was one of the worst starting safeties in the organization. Allowing 80% of targets to be completed is bad in its own right, but per SIS charting, all six incompletions should have been caught: Jones did not deflect a single pass hurl his method. Jones had just one pass defeat: an interception that was tip-off into his hands, and he sagged another tipped interception. The Jaguars had the third-worst defensive DVOA against tighten intents and allowed the third-worst rate of open land yards by our own adjusted line yards metrics. Though at least his contract didn’t bring the team down, Jones was the worst regular starter on the league’s second-worst defense. It would be a surprise to see him return as a starter in 2021.

Bryan: Earl Thomas gets the other award here for swiping his way out of the tournament, a abrupt and rapid fall from grace for the All-2 010 s Team safety. Thomas was trimmed by the Ravens with a “conduct detrimental” tag, caused for a trendline of reiterated irreverences and, yes, Thomas’ 2020 offseason certainly certifies. The triggering incident was a fight with teammate Chuck Clark, but the fight itself was the flashpoint after two years of missed meetings and justifies led to mental misconceptions on the practice field. The Ravens had penalized Thomas multiple times for his lackadaisical approach to timekeeping, and they move him residence after he came to blows with Clark. Thomas then attempted to defend himself on Instagram, which riled up members of the Ravens Leadership Council, a group of veterans within the team considered to be the team commanders. That was enough for the Ravens to give him his walking papers. That and an ongoing saga with his now ex-wife involving cheating, drunken rampages, and a artillery, was apparently enough to scare away any other NFL crews interested in adding the onetime celebrity, and whether his vocation will continue in any form at this point is yet to be determined.

Special Squads

Kicker

Andrew: This macrocosm is full of frightful responsibilities that nobody wants to do, but soul has to. Miner. Sewage worker. Crime scene cleaner. Vikings kicker is fast becoming the NFL equivalent. From Blair Walsh’s playoff miss through to the present day, Minnesota softly weathered Buccaneers-level misfortune during the mid-to-late 2010 s. Even the heretofore reliable Dan Bailey fell victim in 2020. During one particularly grievous strain in early December, Bailey missed six of eight kicks against the Jaguars and Buccaneers. The nadir was that Buccaneers game, in which Bailey travelled 0-for-4 on three field goals and an extra point at Raymond James Stadium. He recovered to spawn 13 of his 16 kicks in Weeks 15 to 17, but the Vikings still finished rock-bottom in our measure of field goal and additional place evaluate, behind even the notoriously cursed Chargers.

Punter

Bryan: The Chargers managed to put up -3 7.8 extents of punt price this year, nearly three times as bad as any other team in 2020 and the most difficult total in DVOA history. To have arises THAT bad takes an entire team effort, but we don’t feel we’re painting Ty Long with too unfeeling a brush by singling him out and locating him on this unit. The league-leading three blocked punts weren’t all his defect, but the league-worst 34.1 net punting norm was more his doing. Long had 37 punts returned, third-most in the tournament — and this is the only way punted 57 goes. He wasn’t forcing fair catches( simply eight ), or pinning them inside the 20( simply 12 ), or kicking it high enough to give his crew time to run down and down it( simply four ). Partly because of these inadequate punts, Chargers opponents started, on average at their own 31.7 -yard line, second-worst in the conference.

Returners

Andrew: Kickoff returning is a dying art, and we are to be able to soon have to retire this category absent-minded absolutely detrimental Josh Huff-level atrocities against the skill of special teams. Merely 13 participates qualified for the official kickoff return leaderboard, with its cutoff of 20 knocks returned. Our own illustrations impart Brandon Powell of the Atlanta Falcons the entitlement of worst returner, whereas Boston Scott was the most difficult of those 13 qualifiers. The Jaguars had the worst kickoff return multitudes in our special crews metrics, and Tennessee’s Kalif Raymond had the lowest average return distance of any player with at least 10 kickoff returns. We ultimately settled on Brandon Powell, as the worst of the mas in our illustrations. This was not a vintage year for outset return disasters.

Bryan: The bad punt returner by our counts was Steven Sims. With -6. 7 items of punt return evaluate, Sims was the worst returner on Washington, the worst returning team in the league. Sims administered precisely 6.7 gardens per return, with a long of 22. That’s not to say he had no highlight frisks, mind you — he muffed three punts, one of them leading to a Carolina touchdown. It got to the point where Ron Rivera had to come out in a medium hearing and be recognized that if Washington had a better alternative, they would go to it. That’s not exactly the strongest endorsement for Sims obstructing the job in 2021.

Coaches and Ownership

Owner

Andrew: We don’t generally pick building owners for the All-Keep Choppin’ Wood Team. Most times, we don’t even hold a thought to it. Even the Jerry Richardsons and Jerry Joneses of this world generally don’t botch things seriously enough to earn All-KCW consideration.

2020 was not most years. The Houston Texans are likely to be the worst-run dealership in American professional boasts. Let’s recap what Cal McNair has done 😛 TAGEND

In April, 2019, McNair hired “character development coach” and former youth rector Jack Easterby away from the Patriots working together with the Texans’ player personnel department. By January of 2020, Easterby was in charge of football operations at the Texans following the dismissal of former general manager Brian Gaine and Easterby’s rapid rising through the organization. In summer of 2020, Easterby and GM/ foreman coach Bill O’Brien sold away ace receiver DeAndre Hopkins, disturbing a significant portion of the cupboard chamber and fanbase, including starting quarterback Deshaun Watson. In October, the team rejected O’Brien and constituted Easterby as interim GM. The team finished 4-12. Easterby is now the team’s Executive Vice President of Football Activity. McNair predicted superstar quarterback Deshaun Watson that he would be involved in the team’s search for a brand-new principal manager and general manager. He then gave Nick Caserio, a onetime colleague of Easterby at the Patriots, as GM without consulting with Watson. Watson, feeling betrayed, has now solicited a craft. The Texans have an aging, expensive listing and no payment enlist pickings to restock it. David Culley, the former instruct of one of the league’s worst wide receiver contingents in Baltimore, is now their brand-new heading manager. Love are actively boycotting the team.

It’s legitimately difficult to think of a nature building owners could fasten this situation up more, short of selling everything and migrating to London overnight. The Texans are operated by a motivational orator, the owner has created a mess that nobody seems to know how to fix, one of the best young quarterbacks in the play doesn’t want to play for them anymore, and they have no draft picks or cover opening to rebuild a roster that exactly propelled them to 4-12.

Sorry, Rivers.

General Manager

Andrew: In a regular time, the worst general manager in the league would be Jacksonville’s Dave Caldwell, who made a squad that reached the AFC Championship Game in 2017, prioritized all the wrong aspects of that success, and systematically razed it to a deserved 1-15 three seasons later.

This was not a regular year. Bill O’Brien was appointed Texans general manager, officially, last-place January. In that bulletin, Cal McNair informed the committee that the Texans had already been operating that channel for most of the previous eight months. Some highlights from that time 😛 TAGEND

The Texans transactions sun margin rusher Jadeveon Clowney to the Seahawks for Jacob Martin, Barkevious Mingo, and a third-round pick. They transactions the third-round pick to the Raiders for Gareon Conley. They transactions Duane Brown to the Seahawks, then sold “the farmers ” to Miami for a direct replacing in Laremy Tunsil. They likewise traded valuable picks for Kenny Still and Duke Johnson, two bit-part actors. They transactions DeAndre Hopkins, arguably the best veteran wide receiver in the tournament, to Arizona for another running back( David Johnson ), a second-round pick, and a fourth-round pick. Theys invested a batch of coin on their own aging ex-servicemen such as Whitney Mercilus and Zach Cunningham while trading away any resources they could use to replace those veterans. They led 4-12 anyway, and O’Brien was fired.

Whoops.

Head Coach

Bryan: Our head coach is a repeat! Last year, we reputation Adam Gase to lead our team to greatness, and wouldn’t you know it, we get to generating him back for a second go-round. That, likely, will work out better for us than it did for the New York Jets, and particularly for Plane love. They were singing for Gase’s head before the 2020 season began, and to watch other squads move on from their awful coach-and-fours as early as September, while Gase stood securely on the sidelines, had to be infuriating.

Gase finishes his Flows job with a 9-23 record. The so-called offensive guru never discovered the New York pique top a -2 0.0% DVOA; the quarterback whisperer unable to get anything out of Sam Darnold. If anything, Darnold regressed under Gase’s tutelage, and when your phone card, the reason you have a head coaching job in the first place, is your work with quarterbacks, that’s a strike you simply will never be able to recover from.

Gase alienated arguably his team’s best participate, with Jamal Adams demanding a swap out of town. That was just the start to a terrible season which examined, in no particular order 😛 TAGEND

Gase announced today that the offense was about to go into “hyperdrive” after an 0-3 start. The Spurt would go on to average merely 10.0 stations over their next six competitions. To is equitable, Gase never said which counseling his crew would be hyperdriving in. Against Denver, Gase sent both Sam Darnold and Mekhi Becton into the game after clearly being injured. Because, of course, what you want to do with your franchise quarterback and left undertake is expose them to as many potential long-term harms as possible. Gase tried to obfuscate whether he or offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains was calling toy, claiming that maintaining that as a puzzle would create a competitive advantage. Considering the aforementioned -2 0.5% offensive DVOA, I’m not sure the identity of the man calling the severe movements really mattered too much in the long run.

And, of course, the worst blow of all? After an 0-13 start, Gase actually managed to coach his lane to two prevails in New York’s last three activities, costing them the top enlist pick and Trevor Lawrence. Because even when Gase triumphs, his team’s supporters lose.

Offensive Coordinator

Bryan: Three piques finished with an offensive DVOA worse than -2 0.0% in 2020. We previously talked about Adam Gase above, and Scott Turner in Washington had to deal with multiple quarterback gashes and significant turnover. So we’re leaning on Pat Shurmur, who made over as Denver’s offensive coordinator this season and recognized their offensive DVOA fall from -1 1.3% to -2 0.3% in his first year on the number of jobs. Suffice be mentioned that Drew Lock should not take a significant step forward under Shurmur’s tutelage. Lock examines lost in Shurmur’s offense, and it often felt like the team just wasn’t on the same page. A byproduct of not having a regular offseason to work? Perhaps, but Shurmur’s play selection doesn’t inspire confidence going forward. He sparingly expends play-action even though the Broncos’ offense realise their gardens per play increase significantly with PA in the mix. The Broncos believe they have a number of young, dynamic playmakers, but Shurmur’s offense doesn’t seem designed to maximize any of them. The Broncos offense ogled very good when trailing big, forcing them to throw out the regular playbook and feed an up-tempo offense, hitherto Shurmur never tried to bring any of that late-game philosophy to his general offensive programme. Some settings — both in-game and overall — would seem to be in order for 2021.

Defensive Coordinator

Andrew: When the Dallas Cowboys moved on from Jason Garrett, they hoped that the move would enable them to escape their recent trend of postseason dejection following a solid regular season. It did, but not quite the room they imagined. Quarterback Dak Prescott broke his ankle in October, which principally wrote off their season. Nonetheless, that also stole attention from the fact that new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan was coaching a talented defense to a terrible performance: the Cowboys let 34 or more points five times in the first six sports, including 49 to the Cleveland Browns and 39 to the Atlanta Falcons. Things terminated down a little after that, but the Cowboys still stopped from league norm to No. 23 in justification, and still stood over 33 phases three times in the final six activities — against Washington, San Francisco, and Baltimore, who the hell hardly earsplitting dissidents at the time. The Cowboys finished with their first losing record since drafting Prescott, and Nolan was not retained.

Special Teams Coordinator

Bryan: George Stewart was the Chargers’ special squads coordinator for four seasons, from 2017 to 2020. In those four years, the Chargers special squads have induced 😛 TAGEND

-4 6.1 extents of field goal/ extra phase value, bad in the league -17.1 pitches of outset significance, second-worst in the tournament -10.4 items of commencement return ethic, fourth-worst in the tournament -62.8 stages of punt ethic, worst in the conference 0.4 points of punt return ethic.

Well, at least he figured out how to be average in one category. It to be said that the Chargers have been the worst special squads in the league during Stewart’s tenure. Stewart was removed from his upright in November, culminating one of the least successful special units moves we can remember. Consider this a lifetime achievement award.

Scramble’s 2020 All-KCW Team

Offense Defense Special Teams

QB Carson Wentz PHI DT Jaleel Johnson MIN K Dan Bailey MIN RB David Johnson HOU DT John Penisini DET P Ty Long LAC WR A.J. Green CIN ER Vic Beasley TEN KR Braxton Berrios NYJ WR Javon Wims CHI ER Whitney Mercilus HOU PR Steven Sims WAS

WR Diontae Johnson PIT LB Zach Cunningham HOU Staff

TE Zach Ertz PHI LB Corey Littleton LV OW Cal McNair HOU

LT Andrew Thomas NYG CB Byron Jones MIA GM Bill O’Brien HOU LG Forrest Lamp LAC CB Vernon Hargreaves HOU HC Adam Gase NYJ

C Lloyd Cushenberry DEN CB LeShaun Sims CIN OC Pat Shurmur DEN

RG Dan Feeney LAC S Josh Jones JAX DC Mike Nolan DAL

RT Isaiah Wilson TEN S Earl Thomas BAL ST George Stewart LAC

Playoff Fantasy Update

Bryan: With the Statements losing in the AFC Championship Game, this is not a runaway! We still have a contest going into Sunday’s action.

2020 Staff Playoff Fantasy Challenge

Scott Dave Aaron Andrew Vince Bryan QB Patrick Mahomes 52.9 Russell

Wilson 19.7 Aaron

Rodgers 55.8 Josh

Allen 79.35 Tom

Brady 68 Drew

Brees 26.45 RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire 7.7 J.K.

Dobbins 23 Ronald

Jones 7.8 Chris

Carson 9.2 Derrick

Henry 8.1 Alvin

Kamara 33.1 RB Cam Akers 44.2 Nick

Chubb 33.8 Jonathan

Taylor 16.4 Devin

Singletary 18.7 Aaron

Jones 24 Latavius

Murray 10 WR Michael Thomas 18.3 DK

Metcalf 26.6 Tyreek

Hill 46.1 Stefon

Diggs 54.1 A.J.

Brown 20.3 Davante

Adams 43.3 WR Marquise Brown 32.5 Antonio

Brown 16.2 Mike

Evans 39.3 Chris

Godwin 42.9 Tyler

Lockett 6.3 Emmanuel

Sanders 13.1 WR Diontae Johnson 22.7 T.Y.

Hilton 5.2 Marquez

Valdes-Scantling 28.8 Cole

Beasley 28.5 JuJu

Smith-Schuster 34.7 Chase

Claypool 22.9 TE Mark Andrews 14.9 Travis

Kelce 61.7 Jared

Cook 13.8 Rob

Gronkowski 6.3 Robert

Tonyan 22.2 Eric

Ebron 19.2 K Justin Tucker 17 Mason

Crosby 16 Harrison

Butker 22 Jason

Myers 14 Tyler

Bass 36 Wil

Lutz 12 DEF Rams 9 Saint -3 Chiefs 6 Legislation 8 Buccaneers 13 Steelers -5

TOT 219.2 199.2 236 261.05 232.6 175.05

Bryan: Had the Bills prevailed, Andrew would be running away with this thing. As it is, a 25 -point lead, plus Chris Godwin( and what little Rob Gronkowski has been able to provide this postseason ), is a more-than-solid spot to be in. However, by losing so many of his participates, he has left the door open for Aaron to have a come-from-behind victory. Boasting both Tyreek Hill and Mike Evans , not to mention Harrison Butker scooping up stages on Chiefs touchdowns, Aaron is set for a high-scoring game of his own. If every musician left alive compositions the same number of items they have been averaging this postseason, Aaron would come out on top by 12 stations. Either way, I would imagine your endorse will be one of those two teams.

Vince and Scott still have a chance, as they boast the two starting quarterbacks in video games, but the exact circumstances likely have them on the outside looking in. Scott is 41.85 times behind Andrew. Patrick Mahomes has only had two activities in his busines where he valued greater than that, more recently his 385 -yard, four-touchdown, one-rushing-touchdown day against Baltimore. The alternative of Clyde Edwards-Helaire catching a touchdown pass or two does draw catching Andrew more likely as it stands now, but likely, both Andrew and Aaron will pick up parts of their own. Plus, Scott would have to avoid Mahomes-to-Tyreek Hill points to make the resurgence. A similar reasoning weighs against Vince — he’s not as far down, but his Tom Brady is softened rather by Evans, Godwin, and Gronkowski on squads ahead of him. It’s not impossible for either team to catch up, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Dave still has Travis Kelce and Antonio Brown, so he has a chance in a world where Chad Henne and Blaine Gabbert throw five or six touchdown surpass each to his chaps. I can’t even say that much, as I’m guaranteed last neighbourhood with no musicians remaining.

Best of the Rest

Bryan: Seven squads have a numerical shot at victory, but this is basically turning into a blowout for ARandom. Not merely does he have a 45 -point lead over the rest of the competition, he still boasts heading scorer Leonard Fournette, producing accessible kicker Ryan Succop, and Mecole Hardman, who hasn’t been too shabby himself. It would take a minor miracle for him not to prevail at this point.

Who are the six who could still theoretically catch him? In order to better from closest to furthest behind, we have 😛 TAGEND

Surebrec( 186.35 objects, down by 63.2 ). Surebrec shares Fournette and Succop with ARandom, and supplants Hardman with Sammy Watkins and Darrel Williams. Last-place season, Watkins had a nine-catch, 198 -yard, three-touchdown day against the Jaguars, so he has some explosive capability on his bench, and Watkins is expected to prepare his postseason debut in the Super Bowl. Add a daylight like that to a multiple-touchdown day from Williams, who has done it before, and we could have a massive upset. AlecB( 182.85 stations down by 66.7 ). AlecB shares Succop with ARandom and includes Williams, Watkins, and Cameron Brate. So, make Surebrec’s scenario, supplemented in both Hardman and Fournette make good-for-nothing in the Super Bowl, and hand Brate a touchdown festivity of his own, and you have AlecB’s path to succes. This seems singularly less likely. BearGoggles( 177.15 times, down by 72.4 ). BearGoggles shares Succop with ARandom and then has Scotty Miller. The highest scoring delusion daytime in NFL history was Jerry Rice’s 65.5 -point day in 1990 — 13 celebrations, 225 grounds, and five touchdowns. So, all Miller has to do is be better than that, while all of ARandom’s players take a day off. No sweat. Andrew( 164.3 items, down by 85.25 ). Andrew shares Fournette with ARandom, and has Miller and Watkins. At least he has two receivers to share the laden! Basmati( 142.95 items, down by 106.6 ). Basmati only has DeMarcus Robinson still active. Robinson has 2.4 extents this postseason. MGilson86( 135.15 spots, down by 114.4 ). MGilson shares Succop and Hardman with ARandom, and then has Watkins, Robinson, and Le’Veon Bell remaining. The fact that his squad is comparatively unique is why he’s still alive. The point that his squad is comparatively atrocious is why he’s over 100 pitches down.

For those who merely want to do well, and don’t care about inevitably triumphing, here are the top five 😛 TAGEND

ARandom: 249.55( Leonard Fournette, Mecole Hardman, and Ryan Succop remaining) Bronco Jeff: 203.85( Leonard Fournette and Ryan Succop remaining) EdHoliday: 192.65( Ryan Succop remaining) Eddo: 191.75( Leonard Fournette, Mecole Hardman, and Ryan Succop remaining) Surebrec: 186.35( Leonard Fournette, Darrel Williams, and Sammy Watkins remaining)

Weekly Awards

Keep Choppin’ Wood

Green Bay’s wide receivers were a problem all year, for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is drops: Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s 11.1% cease proportion is the highest among starting receivers( per Boasts Info Solutions ), and among Green Bay’s top four wide receivers exclusively Davante Adams has a drop rate under 10%. Per The Athletic’s Mike Sando, the Packers lost 643 gardens and seven touchdowns to descents this year — shockingly, digits that represented a huge improvement from 2019 ‘s 1,281 yards and 15 touchdowns. Valdes-Scantling atoned for his earlier missteps with a huge performance in the NFC Championship Game, but those same questions chip the Packers elsewhere. Equanimeous St. Brown had one glaring drop in the end zone on a two-point conversion, and even Adams had a huge drop( on an admittedly tougher catch) in the end zone that led to a 24 -yard field goal in the second quarter. Those two puts alone were a likely six-point swing in a game the Packers lost by five.

One common restraint throughout this Green Bay season has been “imagine this offense with a better No. 2 receiver instead of Jordan Love on the bench.” The NFC Championship Game simply emphasized the difference another duet of reliable mitts could have made.

Herm Edwards Award for Playing to Win the Game

With eight seconds left in the first half , no timeouts, and a 14 -1 0 result, Bruce Arians and the Buccaneers faced first-and-1 0 from Green Bay’s 39 -yard line. Most beholders expected the Buccaneers to try a speedy pass toward the sideline to hopefully shortened Ryan Succop’s possible field goal try. The Packers appear to have designed their coverage with this possibility in imagination, but Tom Brady had other ideas. Brady ascertained Scotty Miller behind the Packers defense for a 39 -yard touchdown that proved the difference by the end of the game. This came one toy after the Buccaneers proselytized fourth-and-4 in no man’s land with a short pass to Leonard Fournette when countless managers would have chosen to punt. Arians affirmed after video games that Brady lobbied hard for the decision to go for it; his reward for come to terms with his quarterback was a determined composition and his first conference championship as a front coach.

John Fox Award for Conservatism

Both conference championship games featured remarkably timid field goals by the eventual losers. Bills ability manager Sean McDermott has been anything but timid for much of the season, but his decision to kick on fourth-and-goal from the Chiefs’ 2-yard line just before halftime, trailing 21 -9, seemed much more about attempting to remain vaguely “competitive” than attempting to engineer a comeback. Still, his team’s opening drive of the second half of the year rendered him an opportunity to make up for it. On fourth-and-3 from the 8-yard line down by the same margin, McDermott chose to … knock. Again. If the Bills had gone for both and replaced, they could have been right back in video games at, worst-case, 24 -2 1( if they gained no added pitches ). Instead, they remained two composes behind, and the Chiefs drew apart in the second half.

Neither of those decisions comes close, however, to the astounding timidity shown by Packers head coach Matt LaFleur against the Buccaneers. Trailing by eight moments, 31 -2 3, the Packers faced fourth-and-goal from the 8-yard line with 2:09 remaining. While a field goal is not absolutely useless in that situation — it would have overridden the need for a successful two-point conversion if the Buccaneer had get the projectile back and composed a touchdown — it was shockingly conservative to knock from that close to the goal line. That ought to have been made the Packers needing to drive the length of the field again for a touchdown, rather than one 8-yard romp should be allowed to potentially get the ball back needing merely a field goal. As it is about to change, they never got the ball back in the first place. They should have gone for it, and it was stunning to see them do otherwise.

Jeff Fisher Award for Confusing Coaching

We’ll talk about the Packers’ defensive continue call on the final dally of the first half in the Game-Changing Play section, have no fear, Mike Pettine fans. And we could talk about Bruce Arians’ approving the Packers’ deliberate offside penalty late in the game, as they tried to trade yardage for hour. But instead, we’re going to go back to Matt LaFleur’s field goal decision, which we talked about a bit above.

We should note that Andrew writes the Foxy award, while Bryan manipulates the Fisher, and you can sort of realise the differences in our thinking now. In the view of your humble Fisher writer, the Packers kicking a field goal late in video games down eight is very, extremely, even worse, but at least you can construct an argument around it that makes a little more sense than the Bills’ kicking decisions. In Green Bay’s scenario, you still need to score twice down eight; it’s just one of those tallies can be a two-point conversion that takes no time off the clock. That’s not the confusing chip, exactly the conservative chip. No, the confusing bit was the lack of communication with the pique and, in particular, Aaron Rodgers. In his post-game press conference, Rodgers represented sure to clarify that the field goal was not his decision, though he understood the mulling. More interestingly, he was asked why he didn’t attempt to scramble for a touchdown on the previous movement, and his reply was “I thought maybe we were gonna have four chances to go.”

Watching from this angle and I kinda think he could have orchestrated now? pic.twitter.com/ t4ML95q7lK

— Computer Cowboy (@ benbbaldwin) January 26, 2021

This is part of the problem with inconsistent and arbitrary fourth-down decisions. If Rodgers knew, for a fact, that the Packers would knock a field goal on fourth down in that scenario, that likely would have changed his thought process on that movement. Maybe he clambers for a touchdown, or at least guides the missile close enough to change the see from a kicking to a fourth-down attempt. At the very least, the quarterback and ability manager were not on the same page. Players should never be left guessing what their manager is going to do in key places, more that’s what we recognized at the end of the NFC Championship Game.

‘As Usual, We’re All Idiots’ Fantasy Player of the Week

Imagine if Aaron had made Leonard Fournette instead of Ronald Jones in the Staff Fantasy Draft — he’d previously be running away with the name, virtually untouchable. For that matter, imagine if any of us had taken Fournette. With 63.3 points so far, he’s the leading fantasy running back in this postseason. Even if you demonstrate an allowance to being surprised that Tampa Bay is going to the Super Bowl, simply Cam Akers put up more points per game than Fournette has. His 55 grounds against the Packers was actually his least effective game of the playoffs so far, but he still met a path to add a touchdown. Picking Fournette was a requirement if you were going to be competitive in the Best of the Rest challenge; he is, in fact, the Best of the Rest.

GROWN MAN TD

Leonard Fournette hands the Bucs the lead.

( via @NFLBrasil) pic.twitter.com /8 VoRkDApPO

— SportsCenter (@ SportsCenter) January 24, 2021

Garbage-Time Performer of the Week

While Josh Allen had a game to forget, he at least did everything he could to keep the Bills in video games in the dying times against the Chiefs. Buffalo got the ball back down 23 qualities with 7:36 left in the AFC Championship Game. From that station on, Allen travelled 7-for-10 for 88 yards and a touchdown, extending for 19 more gardens and picking up a first down, as well. Yes, he took a back-breaking sack on the Bills’ last-place drive of video games, forcing a field goal instead of a fourth-down attempt. At that place, nonetheless, the Bills needed a supernatural to get back in the football match, and nursing on to the ball and hoping something supernatural would happen is understandable in that circumstance; you can’t get the miracle play if you don’t make it a shot. In a week with exclusively two recreations, 100 gardens of offense in the dying minutes of a contest obviously qualifies for this award.

No quit in @JoshAllenQB. #BillsMafia #NFLPlayoffs

#BUFvsKC on CBS NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https :// t.co/ RTcXvhOR4u pic.twitter.com/ rjzAykpSRL

— NFL (@ NFL) January 25, 2021

Comfort in Sadness Stat of the Week

Bills quarterback Josh Allen had the best season ever for a quarterback coming off two straight years at replacement degree or lower, pulsating out Case Keenum’s flash-in-the-pan 2017 campaign and Matthew Stafford’s 2011. He also had the second-highest improvement ever from his first time to his third, narrowly behind Jared Goff. The timing on this is amusing, given that Stafford and Goff have just been instantly sold for each other( with pickings included ). From looking like a bust through his first two seasons, Allen looked like a right cornerstone in 2020.

The Packers’ comfort is also found in their likely league-MVP quarterback: in his second time under Matt LaFleur, Aaron Rodgers had the second-highest passing DYAR of his busines, and his highest since 2011. He too recorded his highest DVOA since that first of his MVP campaigns, resulting the tournament in touchdowns and completion percentage despite one of his starting receivers being among the leaders in drooped passes.

Game-Changing Play of the Week

The biggest dally of the season to date, considers the stakes present in a conference championship game, never should have happened. “Were not receiving” reasonable reason why, with eight seconds left in the half and no Tampa Bay timeouts remaining, Kevin King should be single-covering Scotty Miller with no improve deep. It’s a massive failing in defensive toy calling, and Tom Brady has been doing this for too long to let an opportunity like this slide.

Troy Aikman’s dumbfounded laughter is the icing on the 39 -yard bomb from Tom Brady to Scotty Miller pic.twitter.com/ lv9SC6oowO

— Awful Announcing (@ awfulannouncing) January 24, 2021

Note Chris Godwin getting triple-covered down the middle-of-the-road, leaving both Miller and Mike Evans single-covered on the outside. Brady could have gone down either sideline and cast a touchdown. This is a situation where you do not care if Tampa Bay accomplishes a pass in the middle of the field — time will expire and the Packers would go to the half down 14 -1 0 , not a dreadful region to be in. This was a time to play the softest zone imaginable, guarding the sidelines and outcome zone. Instead, the Packers were in Cover-1, representing close-fisted inside proficiency man-to-man? That’s insanity, and was rewarded appropriately.

Wow.

Scotty Miller’s max hurried on this dally: 20.64 MPH.

Kevin King’s max hurrying: 19.19 MPH.

Via @NextGenStats pic.twitter.com/ uGWBTyyPyE

— Seth Walder (@ SethWalder) January 24, 2021

After the game, Bruce Arians said that he knew it would be a touchdown from the moment the teams lined up; it was just a matter of hanging. Also after video games, the Packers announced they would not be re-signing defensive coordinator Mike Pettine. These two things may be related.

Weekly Projection

Money-Back Guarantee Lock of the Week

All picks are made without reference to the FO+ picks, while all wires are courtesy ofBovada and are true as of meter of writing.

Records to Date: Bryan: 14 -6 Andrew: 8-11-1

Bryan: What are you doing here? We had an entire commodity dedicated to this last week! Both of us are taking Tampa Bay +3.5 — less because we’re predicting the Buccaneers to prevail, and more since we are speculate the game will be closer than the general betting populace seems to think at this point. Normally, analogous picking would require some sort of tiebreaker to determine the true Lock of the Week Champion but, well, that was decided long ago. With Andrew triumphing Double Survival, and my victory in the Lock, I expect the Prop Stakes will decide the better picker for 2020 — so we’ll just got to see which of us has a better Weeknd.

1

While his cap stumbled in 2020…

by Pat // Feb 03, 2021 – 10:52 am

While his cover punched in 2020 wasn’t anything particularly heinous, it bags to practically $35 million for next season and remains over $30 million the rest of the way. Wentz’s extension has become an anchor around the team’s neck, with the only way out this season being a post-June 1 trade. Good luck getting anyone else to accept that contract, considering everything we wrote above about, y’know, one of the worst seasons in NFL history.

It’s not exactly as bad as you think. I intend, don’t get me wrong, it’s bad. But the detonator hit for Wentz includes the$ 9M/ year proration on the signing bonus, so a trading marriage would only be paying ~$ 25 M/ time if they get him.

For the Eagles, Wentz’s cap hit isn’t horrific for a quarterback, psyche you: it’s only really going to be on the high slope in 2021/2022. By 2023, you’d have to guess that a $32 M/ time detonator thump were really be on the* low-toned* place for a quarterback.( Of course, if Wentz’s 2020 rendition is where he’s at, his act value/ rate ratio is still shocking ).

The real question with trading him, of course, is whether anyone thinks he’s salvageable. If they think he can get to “boring starter” level( Teddy Bridgewater, for instance, or heck even Ryan Fitzpatrick) $25 M/ year is basically what the disappearing proportion is.

2

Bilal Powell

by Travis // Feb 03, 2021 – 11:02 am

Our own chassis demonstrate Bilal Powell of the New York Flow the entitlement of bad returner, whereas Boston Scott was the worst of those 13 qualifiers. The Jaguars had the worst kickoff return lists in our special squads metrics, and Tennessee’s Kalif Raymond had the lowest average return distance of any actor with at least 10 kickoff returns. We ultimately settled on Bilal Powell, as the most difficult of the parcel in our figures.

Bilal Powell didn’t play a game for anyone this year; did you mean Braxton Berrios?

3

Fixed

by Andrew Potter // Feb 03, 2021 – 11:40 am

In reply to Bilal Powell by Travis

That very silly mistake is now fastened. I’m sorry. And yes, amused by the irony in me clamping up an essay about screwups.

4

Brandon Powell

by Aaron Schatz // Feb 03, 2021 – 11:54 am

In reply to Fixed by Andrew Potter

I believe that the guys were looking at 15 -B.Powell, who is Brandon Powell of the Falcons.

5

Keep Choppin’ Wood, Andrew !

by Pat // Feb 03, 2021 – 12:37 pm

In reply to Fixed by Andrew Potter

Keep Choppin’ Wood, Andrew!

6

True, but it’s still not up …

by serutan // Feb 03, 2021 – 12:46 pm

In reply to Fixed by Andrew Potter

True, but it’s still not up there with Tanier’s “asymptote” mishap back in the day.

Read more: footballoutsiders.com