It’s already been a season to forget for the Baltimore Ravens, but at this point their probably frantically looking for the reset button on their X-Box One. But it’s too late. The game has already auto-saved.
So while the Ravens can celebrate their 16-13 win over the suddenly pathetic St. Louis Rams, you can probably cancel the balloons and cookie cake because they lost both quarterback Joe Flacco and running back Justin Forsett for the season. And in the case of both injuries, you can’t site dirty play on the Rams’ part. They were both freak accidents.
On Forsett’s broken arm, he was being tackled and got it caught under his body. Flacco’s own offensive lineman fell into his knee, tearing his ACL and possibly his MCL. There’s even worry right now that Flacco might not be ready for the start of next season.
For Flacco, the injury ends a streak of 122 regular season starts going back to his rookie season in 2008. Flacco wasn’t having a great season in 2015, but neither are the Ravens. And while there may be talk of shaking up the organization, in the long run a season like this resulting in a high draft pick on a team that should be right back in contention next season isn’t a bad thing.
Forsett has pretty much picked up where he left off last season. He was averaging 4.2 yards per carry and was probably heading to his second consecutive 1,000-yard season. At least with Forsett’s injury being to his right arm, there’s no concern for how it will affect his career.
So that’s what Gary Kubiak’s offense is supposed to look like
Don’t be surprised to see Brock Osweiler start a couple more games for the Denver Broncos this season after a solid road win over the Chicago Bears. Osweiler completed 20-of-27 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns against the Bears, with Ronnie Hillman adding 102 yards on 21 carries on the ground.
Osweiler looks like the prototypical west-coast quarterback and Broncos fans should feel pretty good about that. Even if Peyton Manning does decide to play again in 2016 (and he shouldn’t), the Broncos are probably ready to move on and have to feel pretty confident that they already have their quarterback of the future on their roster.
If Osweiler can beat the Patriots this Sunday, that should all but seal the deal.
If the playoffs started today…
There’s no real playoff implications of tonight’s game between the Buffalo Bills (5-4) and the New England Patriots (9-0) so there’s no reason to see where we are with about six games to go in the regular season.
In the AFC, the Patriots still hold home field advantage as the No. 1 seed. The Cincinnati Bengals are the No. 2, the Broncos are the No. 3 and the Indianapolis Colts are the No. 4. The wild cards are the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Bills, win or lose tonight.
Who’s still in it? Plenty of teams. The New York Jets yet live, but that’ll change soon enough. The Houston Texans could still get a wild card even if they don’t win the AFC South and the Kansas City Chiefs continue to screw up their draft position and are likely saving Andy Reid’s job. While teams like the Oakland Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars may be mathematically alive, realistically they’re both playing for next year.
In the NFC the Carolina Panthers are the No. 1 seed, the Arizona Cardinals are the No. 2, the Green Bay Packers are the No. 3 and the New York Giants are the No. 4. Your wild card teams are the Minnesota Vikings and the Atlanta Falcons.
The NFC wild card picture is a little more robust than the AFC’s. Right outside of the wild card ranking is the Seattle Seahawks and the way the Falcons have been fading, you’d almost have to put them as the favorite to make it. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in Jameis Winston’s first season, are also right on the cusp. Behind them are the New Orleans Saints, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles and Rams all at 4-6 and any of them, with the exception of the Rams and Redskins, could probably put together a six-game run and break into the postseason.
