So out of nowhere the are suddenly a playoff team. That sounds absurd, but they literally, in fact, are as it stands today, a playoff team. Pittsburgh would be the No. 6 seed in the AFC if the season ended today. It doesn't, I know. But the fact they have a shot at making the playoffs is a testament to the job Mike Tomlin's done with this team and how a bold trade early in the season is paying ma sive dividends for Pittsburgh.When Kevin Colbert shipped a first-round pick to the for , there were plenty of people who questioned the move. The Steelers were 1-4 and trotting out Duck Hodges for a matchup in Los Angeles against the . They were looking at sending a top-10 or even top-5 pick to Miami for a safety. It was OK to ask questions about the deal.Instead, Fitzpatrick has been a revelation for the Steelers. In seven games he has five interceptions, eight pa ses defensed, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. In the last two games he's accounted for 12 points by virtue of scoring defensive touchdowns including a scoop and score of a fumble on Sunday. Minkah Fitzpatrick returns the fumble for the TD : FOX: NFL app // Yahoo Sports appWatch free on mobile: NFL (@ Haydn Fleury Men Jersey NFL) playing his tail off too, inspired by the improvement of a secondary that was carved up by and in the first two weeks of the season. Yes, the schedule has been easier. But the stats don't lie: the Steelers defense since Fitzpatrick arrived has been night and day different. The Steelers D has been BALLING since Minkah Fitzpatrick came to town. Before AfterW-L 0-2 5-2Opp PPG 30.5 17.1Opp YPG 445.0 301.0Takeaways/gm 1.0 3.4 CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) The Steelers offense isn't particularly good right now, but they're dealing with injuries. And they've scored enough points to give their defense a chance at finding a way to win.They should continue to do well given the schedule. Over the next three weeks, the Steelers have a chance to make up some ground on the in the AFC North. They draw the in Cleveland on Thursday, the at home the week after that and Cleveland again in Week 13. The , and are on the docket leading up to a Week 17 road matchup against Baltimore with potentially the division on the line. play scared (again)No one hurt their playoff hopes worse on Sunday than the Dallas Cowboys, who held the ball down 28-24 with 4:34 left in the game and a locked-in prepared to deal out a game-winning drive on national television. It was a perfect stage for a signature moment and Dak delivered. Then Jason Garrett showed up.Garrett is, rather notoriously, one of the most conservative coaches in all of football. It's widely believed after the Cowboys new Star Wars offense led by uncorked early on in the season that Garrett grabbed the reigns back for a few weeks and tried to #establishtherun. It felt that way late too against Minnesota when the Cowboys inexplicably decided to feed on back-to-back plays, leading to a fourth down.Zeke is great, but the were selling out to stop the run and Elliott wasn't getting anything on the ground. Elliott averaged le s than 2.5 yards per attempt on the ground. Dak averaged 8.6 yards through the air. Every single Cowboys receiver was running wide open. A claim from morning indicates Mark Giordano Kids Jersey the Cowboys were running to kill the clock and avoid giving the Vikings back the ball if they scored too quickly. If that's truly the case, how do you explain the Cowboys snapping the ball with three seconds left on the game clock and nine seconds left on the play clock before the two-minute warning on their first down play?If they're killing the clock, why is Dak throwing the ball here? Whatever, the play got eight yards and a first down. The next play, another Prescott throw, got eight yards as well. What followed on second and third down was a bit disastrous. The Cowboys at least spread out and ran the ball instead of going jumbo. And Cris Collinsworth remarked the team could "run it twice" even on third down, with the Cowboys obviously going for it on fourth down.Garrett admitted after the game it was "important" to keep trying to run the ball. "It's important for us to continue to try to run the ball." - Jason Garrett on the Cowboys' 4th quarter turnover on downs CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) It's not. The analytics show you don't need to run the ball to be effective in play action. And with Prescott being as effective as he was to the outside with (11 catches on 14 targets), it was absurd to go away from what was working and dive head first back into what was not working.In fact, you could argue the other way on the clock-killing stuff. This wasn't a team with a four-point lead trying to melt the clock and get into position for a field goal to go up a touchdown. This was a team trying to crank up their playoff chances by beating a Vikings defense that simply couldn't stop the pa s. Go get the touchdown and don't worry about being cute with when you score.Instead the Cowboys did the things they do and curled up. is utterly ridiculousDid Lamar Jackson just have his NFL Heisman Moment? The play on the field where everyone realizes he's operating at a different level than everyone else from an athletic standpoint, the signature move where he all but solidifies his MVP campaign? He obviously didn't lock up the MVP, because Ru sell Wilson/Deshaun Watson exist and it's still just Week 11. But his midfield spin move against multiple Bengals defenders on a 47-yard touchdown run to put Baltimore up 35-10 in a road divisional game during a prime letdown spot was truly incredible. Lamar Jackson is from ANOTHER PLANET. NFLonCBS (@NFLonCBS) As John Harbaugh said afterwards, it's the type of play where people will be watching it and talking about it for "decades" to come. He's not wrong -- shoutout to Kevin Harlan for the call as well. Harlan is one of the best play by play guys in the biz and has been for years, but it feels like he's having a "breakout" year in terms of the general public. Just like Lamar!Harbaugh also chatted up Jackson on the sidelines and the conversation -- about influencing Mason Appleton Jersey young kids for years to come but also staying grounded and aggre sive -- was really insightful into the dynamic between these two. "You changed the game, man."Coach Harbaugh's sideline convo with at Cincinnati: Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) Harbaugh said before the season the Ravens offense would be unlike anything we'd ever seen. I scoffed at him, not because of a lack of faith in Jackson, but because I just didn't think the Ravens would completely reinvent offensive football. They haven't per se, but they have created an incredibly explosive and dynamic offense that also somehow manages to lean heavily on the run and often times feature a huge pile of tight ends. As noted by Mike Clay of ESPN, the top three route runners for the Ravens against Cincy were tight ends. Not sure I've ever seen this before: The Ravens No. 1, 2 and 3 players in terms of pa s routes run were all tight ends on Sunday: Andrews (16), Boyle (13), Hurst (13). Snead (11) led the WRs, with Boykin (10), Brown (9) and Roberts (7) behind. Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) Baltimore is coming close to averaging 200 yards per game on the ground. They're averaging 197.2 rush yards per game on the year, giving them more than a 25-yard gap on average over the No. 2 team, the (who play Monday obviously). And San Francisco has an 18-yard gap on average above the No. 3 team, the Minnesota Vikings.The last time a team was above 170 rushing yards per game was the 2014 . The last time a team was above 180 yards per game on the season was the 2006 . You have to go all the way back to the 1978 to find a team above 190 yards per game for a full season. That Patriots team averaged 197.8 yards per game rushing thanks to Steve Grogan using his feet at the quarterback position. Grogan finished the year with 2,824 pa sing yards. Jackson is averaging roughly 50 more pa s yards per game on the season. Baltimore is also in the top half of the league in explosive plays. They have six plays of 40 yards or more (ranked 11th) and 30 plays of 20 yards or more (17th). coach Bill O'Brien, who plays the Ravens next, said it best on Monday when asked what he thought about the losing to the Dolphins."I'd love to give you all my thoughts on all the games, but I'll be honest with you I've been basically immersed in watching the Ravens," O'Brien said. "I mean, have you watched the Ravens on film? There's a lot to watch." Thanks to Jackson's game-changing speed and acceleration, the Ravens are a run-heavy team with the ability to morph personnel from game to game while also creating shot plays down the field. It truly is unique and Lamar truly is an MVP candidate.Freddie Kitchens Coaching Blunder(s) of the WeekEvery week, there's something new for the Browns first-year head coach. Against the Bills, there were once again multiple sets of circumstances flashing with big red lights on a sign that reads "OVERWHELMED" with Kitchens.The first two things I would highlight can sort of be featured on the same drive, and we can start in the red zone, where the Browns magically managed to run eight plays from the Buffalo one-yard line after ripped off a 24-yard Jared McCann Women Jersey run to set up first and goal on the Browns second drive of the game. First off, it's worth noting the Browns used both and Chubb on this play. And Hunt levied a huge block to spring Chubb. Awesome stuff from the controversial signing in his return to game action.As noted by my colleague, CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora, of the team's snaps Sunday and Chubb gained 113 of his 116 rushing yards on those snaps. Here's one of my i sues: about the Bills i sues giving up explosive rushing plays and how Chubb was arguably the most explosive rusher in football this year. Why on Earth is throwing the ball 38 times against a top-five pa s defense? Why are the Browns targeting 12 times in a tough matchup against ?I'll tell you why -- because Odell was a squeaky wheel after the Browns struggled the week before and he was spotted on the sideline standing far away from Baker. They're trying to feed their big-name wide receiver instead of leaning into a strength of their team that perfectly coincides with a weakne s of their opponent. That's bad playcalling and a silly approach, especially in a game where the Browns led for most of the contest. It's why I would be looking to back the Steelers (+3 or +2.5) on Thursday night this week.Second up: the red zone playcalling for Cleveland on the eight plays that immediately followed that Chubb run. Yes, after getting to the one-yard line, the Browns were able to run EIGHT PLAYS. Making it more impre sive? They didn't actually score any points. 5 runs2 pa s interference penalties0 points Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) I don't hate the first down play, a good route from Beckham on a play where he was being covered by , and one that wasn't going to result in an interception barring a total egg by Baker. OBJ won and Poyer just grabbed him for DPI.The resulting first down run featured a tight end (Jordan Pharoah) in at fullback and an extremely snug formation with a pitch to Chubb that was stuffed.Second down was basically more of the same, albeit with an option look that featured easily identifying Chubb was a runner on the play. The Bills weren't forced to take any defenders out of the box here.Spreading out the defense and running from unexpected formations is a far more viable option. Get Hunt in there and run some two-back sets out of shotgun. Force the defense to make choices rather than to just win outright up front.On third down, Beckham drew another pa s interference penalty. He was outstanding running routes in these spots but you're asking for help from the officials on a critical third down in a one-on-one matchup.Another first down ... another run from a largely bunched formation with a single running back.Another stuff as was left completely unblocked and met Chubb in the hole.Second and goal this time around was a goal line fade. Ban the goal line fade. Even to OBJ. Ban it. (Credit White for a great play on the ball here as it could have been a score.)At this point, you could hear the Cleveland crowd getting restle s. As Andrew Catalon noted, "it's third and goal, but it's really seventh and goal." This was followed by a third down run from, sigh, a singleback formation in which Chubb was, sigh, met by multiple unblocked defenders."Here comes the heavy package" James Lofton remarked as the CBS cameras cut to a fairly exasperated looking Kareem Hunt.Fast forward a few seconds and -- not so shockingly -- Chubb is being stuffed for a lo s after being met in the backfield by multiple Bills defenders.The intention here is not to beat on Kitchens. But this is just bad playcalling. You can't have eight looks from the one-yard line and walk away with zero points. It's borderline difficult to do. And the Browns still pulled it off.One more point of contention with Kitchens in-game management: he called a timeout with three seconds left in the third quarter and the Bills on the field for a fourth down where they were VERY clearly not trying to actually run a play. The plan was to try and draw the Browns offsides and then huddle up at the quarter break to run a play. Kitchens apparently didn't like what he saw from the defense out there -- and we don't know, because no one asked him according to the pre s conference transcript -- and he called timeout.You can't call timeout with three seconds left in the third quarter of a three-point game. That's setting a critical a set on fire when there's a free timeout coming in a couple seconds. The Bills did end up going and not getting it, but the result shouldn't justify the proce s here.Again, the Browns need to lean Morgan Geekie Women Jersey on Todd Monken and let him call offensive plays. They're wasting a ton of talent and in a game where every edge is critical, the Browns are volunteering lo ses.
Click here Click here Click here