Preview of week 16 games from NNR.

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NOTE: On NNR Samantha Bunten of NBC Sports and I discussed the news of the day, injuries from the previous week, and previewed all of this week’s games including a detailed analysis of the Browns game.

Injuries

BA cb Jimmy Smith Thigh

BF RB LeSean McCoy knee WR Robert Woods HIP

CN WR A.J. Green Back

HO qb T.J. Yates knee

JK OB Telvin Smith FINGER

MN RB Adrian Peterson

NE WR Danny Amendola KNEE

NJ CB Dee Milliner ANKLE DE Muhammad Wilkerson WRIST

OK WR Michael Crabtree Concussion

SD OK SD Rivers is carrying the team on his back. Run game & O line are hurt.

4-10 6-8 D showed up last week. It has looked like it has already moved to LA.

Coaching staff has to win the last 2 to keep their jobs. If not the team will leave without giving them the forwarding address.

OK Carr showed his fear of inside rush last week by throwing picks. Run game is inconsistent.

D is coming. Mack is a BEAST. He had 5 sacks in a single game & leads the league.

Del Rio has the team heading up (unlike some teams in Northern Ohio).

WA PH WA WA leads the NFC Least but needs this win to stay there.

7-7 6-8 The O& D are in middle of the league. That is not good but MUCH better than expected.

PH Note to HC Kelly: the PH fans threw snowballs at Santa. They don’t take bad football well.

Many think that Bradford is perfect for KellyBall. He is not. There will be a new QB next year. (Kaepernick?)

The D has suffered because O can’t stay on the field. It has not been as bad as most think.

SF DT SF SF is a train wreck. Wrong HC, wrong QB, wrong O system. D suffered from desertions.

4-9 5-9 HC Tomsula is in WAY over his head. The record shows it.

DT HC Caldwell & Company are dead men walking. New GM will want to name a new HC.

Stafford has been average. He will stay because the top 2 QBS in the draft will be gone.

PT BA PT PT needs to win both games to get to the playoffs. With BA & CL on the schedule that will not be a problem.

9-5 4-10 No team in the AFC wants to face the PT O. It is as dangerous as any in the league.

BA The thought of BA having a top 5 pick is scary. WR or pass rusher will be on the top of their wish list.

Next year everyone (except Dumervil) will be back & BA will be back on top of the AFC North.

BA may have to adjust the practice & game rotations to keep the team healthier.

DA BF DA Jones will have some hard decisions to make. DA is not a good team even with Romo.

4-10 6-8 The big question is can Jones find a quality HC to take the job if he is the GM? Probably not.

At the very least they need a better backup QB for often injured Romo.

BF Ryan is on a warm seat. The D has disintegrated. That was supposed to be the hallmark of the team.

The O has been much better than expected. Taylor has been good but the run game is lacking due in injuries.

CH TB CH Cutler is a disaster & HC Fox won’t put up with him next year. Fox needs Forte to have a better season.

5-9 6-8 The run D has to get better. It will when Fox gets more 3-4 players in the draft.

TB Winston is getting better but needs to work on his pass game. Threat of QB run helps the RBS & O line.

D needs more Tampa2 players. Lovie will get that done.

CR AT CR Newton will be the MVP but should not be. CR is 23rd in passing y.

14-0 7-7 D is top 10 in all important areas. But giving up 35 pts vs NG is a problem.

AT AT has fallen & can’t get up. O is a disaster except for the pass game. Need a WR & O line help.

D has been middle of the league except against the pass.

IN MI IN GM & staff are history. Luck was hurt because GM didn’t get O line help for him.

6-8 5-9 D is really bad. This team will go nowhere until O line & D are fixed.

MI The GM & staff are history. Tannehill may be too. MI has under performed badly for several years.

Suh is over paid. It will take time to get this team out of salary cap hell & competitive again.

NE NJ NE Brady will get NE to the AFC title game. Despite injuries he has been outstanding.

12-2 9-5 D didn’t step as far back as expected after rebuilding DB group.

NJ NJ is 5 wins better than last year but face a tough game.

O has been decent but need a new QB. D is solid but needs help in vs the pass.

HO TN HO Leading AFC South is not an honor & TN is dangerous with Mettenberger at QB.

7-7 3-11 Hoyer was good but the O line got him hurt. Neither Yates or Weeden should ever see the field.

D is 4th in yards & 2nd vs pass but 13th in point allowed. They struggle to keep teams out of the end zone.

TN Mariota is out. That is good for TN. GM screwed up in asking too much from PH to make a trade for the 2nd pick.

A new admin may start Mettenberger over Mariota. Both O & D need upgrading.

JK NO JK The O has been decent. Bortles is getting better but is still inconsistent. WRS are no name but good.

5-9 5-9 The D is pathetic. Look for additions here to get this team out of the 5 win area.

NO The only thing NO has is QB Brees (1 in pass yds). It traded away all his weapons & resigned bad RBS.

The D sucks bilge water. 32nd in ppg & 30th or worse in the other stats.

GB AZ GB Who would believe that Rodgers would be 26th in pass yards? O has let the team down.

10-4 12-2 D is solid & is 5th in ppg. The O will struggle against AZ.

AZ As long as Palmer is healthy AZ is a Super Bowl threat. If he is hurt all bets are off.

The D has been good but injury to Mathieu is a huge problem.

ST SE ST Foles is a backup at best. ST made a mistake in trading for him. O is 31st in ppg & 32nd in pass ypg.

6-8 9-5 The D has been good. Donald is as good as any DT. Loss of DE Quinn hurt the pass rush.

SE No team in the NFC wants to face SE in the playoffs. Wilson has been near perfect for the last 5 games.

D has finally come close to 2013 play level. O is 7th in ppg. D is 2nd in ppg.

NG MN NG Eli has been OK. O is 8th in scoring 6th in pass ypg. Run game is on a milk carton in a store near you.

6-8 9-5 D has gone down hill. No pass rush & bad pass coverage has haunted NG.

MN Bridgewater took over when Peterson was hurt. He was responsible for 5 TDS.

Peterson has to be healthy for MN to do well in the playoffs.

An untold story of MN has been the D. 8th in ppg & 7th vs the pass.

CN DV CN McCarron looked good vs SF but will be pressured hard vs DV.

11-3 10-4 CN will be 1 & done again with either Dalton or McCarron at QB.

DV This is another team that suffers from pressure. The O has let the D down. Neither QB is even decent. Peyton is done.

D is 4th in ppg (thanks to pick6’s by O) & 1st in yards & pass yards.

CL KC CL Manziel did well 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately he can’t play SF every week.

3-11 9-5 The D gave up over 400yds last week. This could be a repeat.

KC Smith is Mr. Checkdown. To beat him CL needs to cover tight early in the play & apply pressure.

The KC D is solid in the front 7. They play a lot of zone behind a 4 or 5 guy rush.

QB 11 SMITH, ALEX T/SF 10 Daniel, Chase U/NO 7 Murray, Aaron 14/5

The key to get Smith to throw picks is to pressure him particularly up the gut. He panics.

Due to a lack of pass rush it is critical that the CL DBS provide tight coverage until the pass rush can get home.

Based on what we have seen so far this year that is not likely to happen.

LWR 12 Wilson, Albert CF14 13 Thomas, De’Anthony 14/4 85 Hammond, Frankie CF13

RWR 19 Maclin, Jeremy U/Phi 81 AVANT, JASON SF14 17 Conley, Chris 15/3

TE 87 Kelce, Travis 13/3 84 Harris, Demetrius CF13 82 Parker, Brian W/SD

Maclin is the stud receiver. CL must double him and go man on the other receivers. CL can’t afford to zone because the DBS get lost & have no idea when to close on a receiver.

Kelce is big & physical. He is a real threat in the red zone. I doubt that any CL LB can cover him.

RB 35 West, Charcandrick CF14 32 Ware, Spencer SF14 34 Davis, Knile 13/3

FB 42 Sherman, Anthony T/Arz

West has had at least 60 yds on each of his starts. That means he should get 150 against CL.

Ware is a power back. He is strong & hard to tackle. Davis is in the dog house due to fumbles.

LT 72 Fisher, Eric 13/1 79 Stephenson, Donald 12/3 75 Reid, Jah SF15

LG 73 Fulton, Zach 14/6 60 Pughsley, Jarrod SF14

C 61 Morse, Mitch 15/2

RG 76 Duvernay-Tardif, Laurent 14/6 73 Fulton, Zach 14/6

RT 71 Allen, Jeff 12/2 75 Reid, Jah SF15

The O line is very average despite a lot of high picks used to draft them.

KC uses a zone run blocking scheme & the team is much better blocking the run than the pass.

The O line struggles on pass blocking.

LDE 70 DEVITO, MIKE U/NYJ 99 Nunez-Roches, Rakeem 15/6 93 King, David W/Sea

NT 96 Howard, Jaye W/Sea 92 Poe, Dontari 12/1

RDE 97 Bailey, Allen 11/3 98 Williams, Nicholas P/Pit

LOLB 55 Ford, Dee 14/1 51 Zombo, Frank SF13 54 Moses, Dezman W/GB 50 Houston, Justin 11/3

LILB 56 JOHNSON, DERRICK 05/1 57 Alexander, DJ 15/5

RILB 90 Mauga, Josh SF14 53 Wilson, Ramik 15/4

ROLB 91 HALI, TAMBA 06/1

The front 7 is the best part of the D.

KC rushes 4 or 5 most of the time. Ford replaced Houston who is hurt.

The D has scored 7 TDS this year.

LCB 22 Peters, Marcus 15/1 31 Cooper, Marcus W/SF

SS 38 Parker, Ron W/Sea 27 Branch, Tyvon CC/Oak

FS 29 Berry, Eric 10/1 49 Sorensen, Daniel CF14 39 ABDULLAH, HUSAIN SF13

RCB 21 Smith, Sean U/Mia 30 Fleming, Jamell P/Bal 20 Nelson, Steven 15/3

Smith & Berry are the best guys in this unit. Peters is learning 7 has speed. Parker is OK.

Parker will sneak up to put an 8th guy in the box fairly often but only if CL can hurt them early with the run.

That is what I think. Tell us what you think by commenting here or tweeting me @NNRonDSN.

NOTE: News, Notes and Rumors podcast are BACK. Check out our thoughts on Fridays about the games coming up and Monday on the results of the weekend. My co-host is Samantha Bunten of NBC Sports. Podcasts can be heard on https://fryingpansports.com/radio-show/. Thanks for your support.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He edits https://fryingpansports.com. He has also published several novels on and a non-fiction work at http://www.merriam-press.com/. Follow him on twitter @NNRonDSN to get the schedule of Special News, Notes and Rumors broadcasts. You can hear the previous shows on https://fryingpansports.com/radio-show/.

He also edits .

To keep up with the News, Notes & Rumors podcasts, follow me on twitter @NNRonDSN.

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1 thought on “Preview of week 16 games from NNR.”

  1. I’m sure we occasionally all forget the reason why we love football. It is the anticipation of triumph over challenges. Not over our-self, or even the pros many of us respect, however the hundreds of individual triumphs at ever game. That ultimate block, an ideal tackle. We all like people that triumph in opposition of some very unbelievable odds.

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