Week 12 Around the NFL

Gahddamn I'm sick as a muhfuggah. But I like you guys. So I will fight through this head-exploding illness and share some insight with you peoples.

First off, happy belated thanksgiving. I hope there was too much food, copious amounts of alcohol, and plenty of football that you enjoyed with family and friends. At the start of the season I don't think anyone expected these games to be interesting really. Detroit was probably projected to win 6 games this season after their miserable showing last year, Miami is just Miami and they never win much, and no one saw the 49ers holding this good of a record. Granted, these three teams all ended up losing Thursday but they made for interesting games and everything was kept relatively close.

The biggest game of course was the match-up between Green Bay (10-0) and Detroit (7-3). The Cheeseheads are continuing down the road of perfection and came one step closer after defeating the Lions 27-15 to move to 11-0 on the season. However the biggest story to come from this game would have to be the antics of Ndamukong Suh. How stupid is this guy? Take a look at what he thought was a good idea in the middle of the Packers Lions game. Instant ejection from the game, Goodell came down on him and suspended him 2 games, and the commish is suggesting anger management courses for Suh for stomping on this guy like a thug. Not the smartest plan when your team is on the bubble for the playoffs this season and you are their leading pass rusher.

So here's what I took away from this week as teams start fighting for playoff spots, besides the fact that Stevie Johnson put on a top 3 touchdown celebration of all-time (Go Watch It).

1) Sound the Favre Horn?
Could it be that time? Will SportsCenter be once again consumed by the Brett Favre watch?

The Houston Texans lost their second quarterback yesterday in Matt Leinart who was hammered into the ground and dislocated his collarbone sidelining him for the remainder of the season most likely. That leaves the playoff hopes of the 8-3 Texans in the hands of fifth round rookie quarterback T.J. Yates out of North Carolina.

With the AFC South as tight as it is and the Titans finally finding their running back in Chris Johnson, I'd say they need a veteran quarterback and fast. When the Texans initially lost Schaub just 2 weeks ago, they held some workouts for washed up quarterbacks such as Jeff Garcia, Brody Croyle, Chase Clements, and Trent Edwards and will most likely sign one of them, but boy wouldn't it be something to give the old gunslinger a call and ask him to fill in for the season.

The upcoming schedule for Houston is relatively difficult with games against Atlanta (7-4), Cincinnati (7-4), and Carolina (3-8) with two of those three teams starting rookie quarterbacks as well. I'd look for a signing by Wednesday of this week in Houston.

2) The T-Ocho Show
Did anyone even watch that show? I remember trying to watch it one night and thought to myself "What the hell is this shit?"

The rumors are though that this crappiest show on turf could be reunited. Drew Rosenhaus has claimed that a team in the AFC division is "very interested" in signing veteran receiver Terrell Owens. T.O. hasn't played since April after having knee surgery which sidelined him for the remainder of the 2010-2011 season. During that span however, Owens had 72 receptions for 983 yards and 9 touchdowns which is a pretty good half-season. The veteran receiver is dying to play and starting to get desperate, offering to take pay cuts and holding public workouts (which no one shows up to) in hopes of someone signing him.

There has been some speculation that the Patriots may be interested in signing Owens for the remainder of this season to add depth to the wide receiver position. Personally? I think this is a horrible idea. Yeah sure make the argument that Belichick can fix and discipline any player and turn a bad personality into a star player. Compare the scenario to that of Randy Moss. Not relevant here.

First off, the Patriots have already taken two risks on personality troubled players this past offseason. One of them has been cut. The other has been irrelevant and claims to not even know the offensive playbook yet in Week 11 of the season.

Second is the past between T.O. and Ochocinco. They played together on the Bengals last season and have always had a goof around type friendship. Just imagine the two of them working together to learn the playbook. I guarantee that nothing would get done.

The Patriots are leading their division and will most likely win the division. After their display this past Sunday where they put up 38 against the Eagles their is no need to beef up the offense. Their concerns lie in the defense (clearly since they just let up 400+ yards to Vince Young...).

3) I'm not going to talk about it...
All I have to say here, first person to injure Tim Tebow will be my hero.

Better yet first coach to actually put him in a proper position that isn't quarterback will be my hero.

I applaud John Elway for not committing to Tim Tebow as the quarterback of their future. When Tebow beats a team that has more than 5 wins and throws for more than 200 yards is the day that I tuck my tail between my legs and walk away.

4) What Is Going To Happen In the City of Brotherly Love?
With the Eagles now sitting at a terrible 4-7 there are clearly some changes that need to be made this offseason. Question is, who is going to be job hunting? After their blowout loss to New England on Sunday the crowd is all done. The Eagles are now 1-5 at home this season and their fans want blood, with chants of "Fi-re An-dy" last night and critics calling Desean Jackson soft and afraid throughout the season.

Jackson is surely on his way out. Last night he dropped two critical passes that would have been touchdowns. And his punishment for those two drops was being benched for the entire fourth quarter. His hopes for a new contract and an extension during this season are slowly dwindling away if he keeps up this type of play.

Andy Reid I feel is a great coach. He is a quarterback's type of coach and can put together a solid offense that scores. With plenty of talent on both sides of the ball he can make plenty of changes this offseason to have his team prepared to win next year. I believe the fault here lies in the defensive coordinator. If a team has the talent and is healthy, yet is still unable to stop teams from putting points on the board, then the blame should fall on the defensive coordinator for not drawing up proper schemes between opponents. I look for the team to beef up their defensive line and find a new coordinator while their offense gets healthy and continues to gel together.

These next few weeks are some deciding games for a lot of teams on the cusp of playoff births such as the Jets, Bengals, Titans, Texans, etc. Coaches will be going all out for big victories and players will start to take more risks. If Favre comes back though all bets are off and the Texans are going to win it all. Nuff said.

As always leave your thoughts in the comment section below or find me on Twitter @iedlund or on Facebook and Google+.

The Great Swami Says...

Here we are. Week 8 is in the books. Week 9 marks the midway point of the 2011-2012 NFL season. The point of the season where teams start prepping for their playoff runs. There are no more excuses for poor performances anymore. The "Lockout Hangover" is long over, playbooks should be engraved in players minds, chemistry should be good enough and only continue to grow. After watching the games up until this point and writing all these articles about the weeks of football I'm going to be that bold asshole and make my predictions far too early. 

I'll start with who I see as playoff teams.

AFC

North: Pittsburgh Steelers

South: Houston Texans (FINALLY!!)

East: Buffalo Bills 

West: Oakland Raiders (Bengals)

Wild Card: Baltimore Ravens

Bubble Teams: New England Patriots, Cincinnati Bengals, 

NFC

North: Green Bay Packers

South: New Orleans Saints

East: New York Giants

West: San Francisco 49ers

Wild Card: Detroit Lions

Bubble Teams: Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys

Conference Champs

AFC: Baltimore Ravens

NFC: Green Bay Packers

Super Bowl Champions

Baltimore Ravens

And now for my individual performers.

Rookie of the Year

Cam Newton - Carolina Panthers

Stats thus far in the season

147/287 for 2,393 yards, 60.6% completion percentage, 11 TD, 9 INT, 87.1 QBR

63 Rushing Attempts for 319 yards, 7 TD

League MVP

Aaron Rodgers - Green Bay Packers

Stats thus far in the season

171/239 for 2,372 yards, 71.5% completion percentage, 20 TD, 3 INT

29 Rushing Attempts for 75 yards, 2 TD

Offensive Player of the Year

Aaron Rodgers - Green Bay Packers

Defensive Player of the Year

Jarius Byrd - Buffalo Bills

Stats thus far in the season

50 Tackles (39 Solo), 1 Sack, 4 Passes Defended, 1 INT, 1 Forced Fumble, 1 Fumble Recovered

Comeback Player of the Year

Steve Smith - Carolina Panthers

Stats thus far in the season

46 catches for 918 yards,  20.0 yards per catch, 4 TD

Dud of the Year

Chris Johnson - Tennessee Titans

Stats thus far in the season

107 attempts for 302 yards, 2.8 yards per carry, 1 TD

27 receptions for 160 yards, 0 TD

Well let's see how this all pans out. Do you agree/disagree? Comment below or message me on Twitter @iedlund and share your thoughts with the community. Come at me bro.