The Maxwell Momentum

Maxwell Football Club Weekly Pro Football Update – Week 15
Highlights of notable NFL performances for the week ending Dec. 15.

The Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns stamped an exclamation point on a thrilling week in what has been a thrilling season of NFL football by carving their names next to a record that had stood undisturbed for 98 years.

Until Monday night, when Baltimore and Cleveland combined for nine rushing touchdowns, only a pair of 1922 games had ever included as many touchdowns on the ground.

Then, the Ravens and Browns decided the game in the air.

Lamar Jackson threw a 44-yard, fourth-down touchdown pass to Marquise Brown to give Baltimore a 42-35 lead with 1:51 remaining. Then, after Cleveland’s Kareem Hunt scored on a 22-yard pass from Baker Mayfield with 1:04 left, the Ravens’ Justin Tucker converted a 55-yard, game-winning field goal in the final seconds.

Was it the game of the year?

In a season stocked with game-of-the-year candidates, it may be. There are 48 games remaining to determine that in what has been a crazy season.

History Fuels Playoff Hopes

In each of the past 42 seasons (1977-2019, excluding 1982, when divisional play did not occur), at least one team has won its division the season after missing the playoffs. This week, with either a Cleveland loss on Sunday or a win on Monday Night Football at Cincinnati (8:15 PM ET, ESPN), the Pittsburgh Steelers (11-2) can extend that streak.

Since 1990, at least four teams every season have qualified for the playoffs after failing to make the postseason the year before.

At least two teams have won their divisions the season after missing the playoffs in 16 of the past 17 years.

And in 15 of the past 17 seasons, at least one team finished in first place in its division the season after finishing in last or tied for last place. In fact, of the 48 teams in league history to go from “worst-to-first,” 25 of them have done so in the past 17 years (2003-19), including an NFL-record three such teams in 2005 and 2006. Two teams during that span, the 2009 New Orleans Saints and the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles, won the Super Bowl after finishing in last place in their divisions the season before.

Saturdays Are Special In December

The NFL kicks off its annual schedule of Saturday games this week when the Buffalo Bills (10-3) travel to play the Denver Broncos (5-8) at Empower Field at Mile High (4:30 PM ET, NFLN). In Game 2 of the doubleheader, the Carolina Panthers (4-9) are at the Green Bay Packers (10-3), who clinched the NFC North title last week, on Saturday night (8:15 PM ET, NFLN).

Bills quarterback Josh Allen ranks sixth in the NFL with a career-high 3,641 passing yards and could become just the second player in Buffalo history to reach 4,000 in a single season, joining Drew Bledsoe (4,359 passing yards in 2002).

Denver rookie wide receiver KJ Hamler caught two touchdowns in the team’s road win last week. Hamler is one of nine NFL rookies with at least three receiving touchdowns this season.

Green Bay wide receiver Davante Adams had seven receptions for 115 yards and one touchdown in the Packers’ Week 14 win. He has recorded a touchdown reception in eight consecutive games, tied for the third-longest streak within a single season in the Super Bowl era. Only Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice (12 games in 1987) and A.J. Green (nine games in 2012) have longer streaks. Read the rest of this entry »

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