- I was already wrong about one of my week 12 predictions. Houston did a great job defending T.Y. Hilton and the Frank Reich passing game in general. I thought the Texans secondary wouldn’t be able to hold up against Indy, but it was Indy’s secondary that got repeatedly burned by DeAndre Hopkins and Houston Football Magician DeShaun Watson. I criticize O’Brien a lot but he’s been a consistent football coach.
- It’s tough to see a player win SIX rookie of the week awards and then still get benched when his replacement starter comes back healthy. I like Foles as a QB just fine. And yes, Minshew turned the ball over four times against an important division rival in Houston, which I can appreciate matters a lot to both fans and the Jaguars coaching staff. If Jacksonville sticks with Foles beyond 2019, his QB contract will continue to look like more and more of a bargain so retaining him is a defensible move as Foles will still be seen as the ‘safer’ move as he’s won a superbowl with Philly. Whichever Quarterback Jacksonville chooses to start in 2020, the other Quarterback will likely want out, and Jags GM Dave Caldwell can likely flip that other QB to an NFC team for at LEAST a second round pick, which would invariably provide Jacksonville with more value than a really good backup QB. Conventional football wisdom says to go with the less expensive QB (assuming talent is about equal) so I would expect Jacksonville to move on from Foles if they can get the compensation they are looking for in the offseason.
- Wide receiver Brandin Cooks is, when healthy, one of the NFL’s most dangerous deep threats. They could try and pay everyone and keep him on staff. The Rams abundant need at offensive line and their use of Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp mean Cooks becomes a tradeable asset, especially when factoring in his $16 million a year contract. Cooks may come back healthy in 2020, and have another phenomenal season. The Rams lack of draft picks and need to pay newcomer Jalen Ramsey, AND find new offensive linemen may push general manager Les Snead to find a trade partner to send Cooks somewhere for draft picks.
- There are more teams that need starting quarterbacks than there are high caliber starting quarterback prospects in this class. Which means either Case Keenum is going to start somewhere or some poor GM who feels backed into a corner is going to draft Justin Herbert in the top ten.
- Tampa Bay OC Byron Leftwich will be interviewing for head coaching jobs in the offseason. Tampa Bay has a top ten offense even they they have very few pieces operating in their favor (unstable QB, inconsistent offensive line, ineffective ground game). Leftwich may want to stay in Tampa with Bruce Arians who has been faithful to him from their time in Arizona, but Leftwich will have opportunities for Washington, maybe Cleveland or the New York teams.
Gridiron Seasonal 