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Hope you all had a great Christmas and got everything you wanted (unless that was a Colts win) and digested all the Christmas ham and craft beers you could handle. It’s time for a holiday-delayed edition of Sunday Scaries. Despite the spread out NFL schedule due to the holiday we’ll still stick to just the Sunday slate of games. So without further ado, let’s get into it!
Bad Scary: Colts Blow Another Golden Opportunity
For what seems like the third or fourth time this season the Indianapolis Colts had a golden opportunity to cement their playoff hopes and for the third or fourth time this season they failed to show up. This time they got shredded by the Atlanta Falcons 29-10. Taylor Heinicke was sharp, converting 23-of-33 for 229 yards and a touchdown. The Falcons ground game racked up 177 yards and the defense kept Gardner Minshew and the Colts offense in check and piling up six sacks. For a team that had relatively little to play for the Falcons showed way more fight than the Colts, who could have taken full advantage of the Jaguars, Texans and others losing to improve their postseason stock. Instead, they let another ideal scenario slip through their fingers and adding more pressure on themselves these final two games.
Good Scary: The Joe Flacco Resurgence Continues
The Browns season looked dead when Deshaun Watson when out for the season. They signed Joe Flacco off the street with expectations relatively low and fast-forward three weeks later and the Browns may be the best version of themselves. Flacco racked up his third straight game of over 300 yards passing, 7 touchdowns and getting everyone on the Cleveland offense involved. Amari Cooper exploded for 11 catches for a career-high 265 yards and two touchdowns. The Browns improved to 10-5 and sure look to be more of a threat in the playoffs than anyone would have expected three weeks ago.
Bad Scary: Cowboys Starting To Cowboys In December Again
Much like the inevitable inappropriate joke from your uncle at Christmas dinner, the Dallas Cowboys slide in December is an annual tradition. It took a little longer than usual but the Cowboys dropped back-to-back games, including their last-second 22-20 loss to the Miami Dolphins. The Cowboys still hold a 10-5 record but are 3-5 on the road this season making it that much more imperative that the Cowboys try to clinch the NFC East to host a playoff game at Jerry’s World. The losses don’t help put any added pressure on the Eagles so the Cowboys will likely need some help in order to host a playoff game. If they don’t, it could be another short postseason for Dallas.
Good Scary: The Lions Finally Win The NFC North
For the first time since 1993, the Detroit Lions are division champs. Back then it was called the NFC Central and not the NFC North and average price of gas was $1.11, the highest grossing movie was Jurassic Park and shows like Seinfeld, Roseanne and Home Improvement were in their prime. Dan Campbell has his Lions believing and they’ll get to at host at least one playoff game. The NFC appears to be pretty wide open so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Lions could make a bit of a run especially if they can get their defense shored up. We’ll see what they can do but the Lions are one of the few teams around the league that had actual expectations this season and have delivered on them to this point.
