Week 13 Reaction
Mike McCarthy had to go. Clearly, the relationship between the coach and his star quarterback was damaged. Rodgers was openly moping on the field in what felt like a public protest to out his coach. The battery did win a Super Bowl together back in 2010, but it would be hard to argue that they didn’t underachieve in their thirteen seasons together. The Packers need to hire an innovative offensive mind to maximize all that their quarterback has to offer. Mike McCarthy will get another shot at being a head coach, but offensive innovation is not in his lexicon.
The Cowboys and Seahawks have really hit their stride. Since trading for Amari Cooper, Dallas has reeled off four victories in five weeks. Their defense is playing as well as it has in years and Ezekiel Elliott is running like he’s back at Ohio State. While Dak leaves much to be desired, the Cowboys have given themselves some wiggle room in the NFC East. Then there’s Seattle. The Seahawks have won three in a row to improve to 7-5 in a year that many believed would be a rebuilding one. To that I say: there is no such thing as a rebuilding season when Russell Wilson is under center. He is a top-five quarterback and a future Hall of Famer. A month ago, both the Cowboys and Seahawks looked dead to rights. Now they are two teams that the Rams and Saints will want to stay clear off come the playoffs.
Lamar Jackson needs to be smarter when scrambling. The Ravens rookie quarterback is going to get hurt. On Sunday, he ran the ball 17 times, and while he was effective in doing so, he is going to jeopardize his health and his career if he doesn’t learn to avoid taking crushing hits. RGIII never learned and he barely survived his rookie season. Lamar Jackson has athletic traits that no quarterback other than Michael Vick has ever had, but they will all go to waste unless he either decides to operate more from the pocket or learns that avoiding booming collisions is more important than picking up an extra couple of yards.
