The 2017 NFL Playoffs are approaching and the picture of who will make the tournament is getting clear. Here is a fatal flaw for each team currently in.
There’s no such thing as a perfect team in the NFL. That’s part of what makes it so much fun for fans as each season, every team is just a piece or two away from becoming competitors. That also means that as teams reach the post season, there are no such thing as a sure winner.
That remains the case for the 12 teams that are set to play in the 2017 NFL Playoffs. Whether it’s an offensive-centric team with a weak defense, or a pass-happy franchise with no running game, every team has a flaw.
We still don’t know who all will end up being in the tournament, but there’s a good idea now of how things will shake out thanks to their being just three games left in the year.
Here we examine the most fatal flaw of each team that’s currently slated to play in the 2017 NFL Playoffs, starting with the No. 1 seed in the AFC, the New England Patriots — who also happen to be the defending champions.
New England Patriots: Bend but don’t break could eventually break
The New England Patriots defense struggled early in the season, but they’ve found a way to regroup and make things click. Looking at their total points surrendered, you would probably even conclude that they’re one of the best defensive teams in the NFL. Following Week 14, they are surrendering just 19.2 points per game, which is good enough to rank them at No. 5 in the league.
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However, looking deeper they still have their issues. The Patriots give up nearly 375 yards per game which lands them at No. 29. They fall in the same rank in terms of stopping the pass, giving up 254 per contest.
The chunks of yardage with minimal points means this team is all-in on the “bend but don’t break” defense. They may allow opponents to move the chains, but they clamp down and either hold teams to field goals, or find ways to create turnovers.
Problem is, you can only bend so much before finally breaking and against the best of the best — which is what they will see in the playoffs — they’re much more likely to break. The good news is as long as Tom Brady is the quarterback, their offense is good enough to outscore anyone, but balance would be better.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Inconsistent play at odd times
This past weekend, Ben Roethlisberger made history in becoming the first quarterback to ever throw for more than 500 yards in three games. He did so as the Pittsburgh Steelers scored a come from behind victory over an AFC North rival in the Baltimore Ravens.
What’s concerning about that is Pittsburgh is the far superior team. Don’t pay too much attention to records, the Ravens at 7-6 are a sham, whereas the Steelers are arguably better than their 11-2 record.
The argument that they’re better is the fact they lost a game to the Chicago Bears, a team that currently sits at 4-9. They also lost one to the Jacksonville Jaguars in an unorthodox way. While the Jaguars are a strong team and could win their division, Pittsburgh saw Big Ben throw five interceptions — which is completely out of his norm.
Those weren’t the only examples of the Steelers struggling to play to their full potential. They had three-point victories over the winless Cleveland Browns, the struggling Indianapolis Colts and the Aaron Rodgers-less Green Bay Packers. In the post season, all it will take is one of those subpar outings against a playoff team to see the season they put so much into go down the drain.
Jacksonville Jaguars: Blake Bortles being Blake Bortles
It was another offseason in which the Jacksonville Jaguars made headlines for the moves they made. Arguably the biggest addition was running back Leonard Fournette, the fourth overall pick out of LSU. He wasn’t the only addition though as the Jags revamped their defense in a major way.
They went out in free agency and picked up former Houston Texans cornerback A.J. Bouye, safety Barry Church from the Dallas Cowboys and defensive end Calais Campbell from the Arizona Cardinals.
Despite those moves, many (present company included) felt like Jacksonville needed to prove they could make it work before they could be believed in. They’ve done that as they head into the home stretch with a one-game lead in the AFC South. Even so, they have one fatal flaw that can be their undoing — Blake Bortles.
Granted, the fourth-year quarterback is having his best season as a pro, he still can be scary to root for. Bortles entered the 2017 season never throwing less than 16 picks. Through 13 games this season he has just eight, but has been much more of a game manager than a franchise quarterback. Again, he’s improved steadily in recent weeks, but the fact that Bortles has the turnover bug in him could end up hurting them when the games get more intense.
Kansas City Chiefs: Alex Smith’s ultra-conservative play
There’s no secret at all what the Kansas City Chiefs feel holds them back. Each season they find themselves alive in the playoffs, only to have an early exit. They have a strong defense and have featured a solid running game — not to mention one of the most explosive special teams units in the entire NFL. What they don’t have, is a quarterback under center that they truly believe in.
Kansas City head coach Andy Reid can say whatever he wants to try and make us all believe he thinks Alex Smith can win it all, but it’s a lie. The Chiefs showed their hand when they gave up a sizable package to move from the No. 27 pick to No. 10 in the 2017 NFL Draft for Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
It’s also no secret why they felt it was necessary. Smith has spent his entire career playing the role of the ultimate game manager. It’s hard to knock him for it because it’s worked well enough to get him this far. He’s also guilty of very few mistakes, but he just doesn’t challenge defenses enough.
This season he looked as though the move for Mahomes may have ignited something, as he did come out firing. Unfortunately, Smith has seemed to revert to his ultra-conservative ways in recent weeks, and the Chiefs are 2-6 since starting out 5-0.
Tennessee Titans: Offense can be weak
As it stands right now, the Tennessee Titans are in line for a wild card spot. They do offer a team that could make some noise in the post season thanks to their “exotic smash mouth football” style of play.
Led by quarterback Marcus Mariota, the Titans are a potentially dangerous offense. Not only can Mariota kill teams with his arm, he can take off and run as well as anybody. He’s also got great weapons to hand the ball to with DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry at running back.
The problem is, they’re wildly inconsistent. Mariota, for example, has more interceptions (14) than touchdowns (10) this season and has also dealt with injuries — which is becoming the norm for him. While Murray and Henry have 552 and 649 rushing yards respectively, they too have shown some inconsistent play at times.
Murray went one stretch where he had 10 yards against the Pittsburgh Steelers and followed it up with nine against the Indianapolis Colts. For the year he’s under four-yards per attempt, which has led to many clamoring for more Henry. While Henry has eclipsed Murray in yards per carry (4.9 to 3.7), he too has battled off days. Henry had seven yards against Houston, nine against Miami and 13 against Cleveland.
Between the backs poor outings, and Mariota’s struggles, the Titans could be in trouble in the post season as they’ve proven their offense doesn’t always show up.
Baltimore Ravens: Joe Flacco isn’t elite
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco put the debate to rest, he’s not elite. Oddly enough, he received a huge contract and was thrown into the “elite debate” after a strong playoff run following the 2012 season. In typical Flacco-fashion, he threw 22 picks the following season, which made many question not only the giant contract, but also the validity of discussing him when mentioning the best in the game.
After 14 weeks of the 2017 NFL season, Flacco is still reminding us how wrong his supporters were. While they have a shot to make the post season, the Ravens have been overachievers. Flacco himself hasn’t played well, and has his lowest quarterback rating since that 2013 season when he threw so many picks.
Currently he has 2,413 yards with 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. While there used to be the excuse of the team not having a running game, Alex Collins has provided one as their running back. Flacco even has a solid defense to lean on, but in the playoffs, you need more out of your signal caller.
Even with the help around him in the revamped run game and the strong defense, Flacco has remained average at best. Truth be told, the Ravens probably shouldn’t expect a repeat of the 2012 post season run.
Philadelphia Eagles: The loss of Carson Wentz
This one is not only the easiest to pick, but the one that hurt the most. The Philadelphia Eagles have put together a remarkable season and second-year quarterback Carson Wentz was one of the few guys who were serious contenders for the NFL MVP award. Then in a Week 14 win over the Rams, disaster struck.
Wentz suffered a torn ACL, and saw his fantastic sophomore season come to an end. Fortunately for Eagles fans, they have a reliable — and well-known — backup with nick Foles. The former starter in Philly, Foles was traded to the Rams before the 2015 season and spent 2016 as a reserve for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Foles put together a great season in 2013 with 27 touchdowns and just two interceptions, but hasn’t been able to keep a starting job since then. Even so, he’s a great player to have step in under center, but the honest truth is — he’s no Wentz.
There’s still plenty of time left in Wentz’ career to make a run, but for the fan base this hurt. They were building something special and losing Wentz now becomes their fatal flaw heading into the 2017 NFL Playoffs.
Minnesota Vikings: Case Keenum’s limitations
If the Minnesota Vikings don’t walk away this season with the NFL Coach of the Year Award for Mike Zimmer, or the Executive of the Year for general manager Rick Spielman, something’s wrong. After losing Teddy Bridgewater last season to a knee injury, the Vikings panicked and traded a first-round pick for Sam Bradford.
With Bridgewater still out, they entered 2017 with Bradford again as the starter, but decided they would protect themselves by getting a better backup. They signed Case Keenum, and he ended up taking over for Bradford — who also hurt his knee. All Keenum has done since that point is win and they haven’t even gone back to Bridgewater, who is active now.
Not only did they have the foresight to sign Keenum, but they brought in Latavius Murray and Dalvin Cook at running back to join Jerick McKinnon. Cook was great as a rookie, but tore his ACL. That again showed their wisdom as the McKinnon/Murray combination has been impressive.
Even with all their smart moves, they’re still somewhat limited. Keenum has been a great player this season, but there’s a reason he’s been a journeyman to this point. It’s possible he’s turned a corner — or just found a perfect fit — it’s also possible he could revert to the form we saw struggle with the Rams in 2016. If so, that could hurt their chances of playing in their own stadium for Super Bowl LII.
Los Angeles Rams: Youth on both sides of the sideline
Head coach Sean McVay is doing really well in his rookie season. He has the Los Angeles Rams at 9-4 with a big divisional game against the Seattle Seahawks looming this week. This is a game that could see them drop from being in control of the NFC West to fighting for a playoff spot should they lose.
Many are expecting the ‘Hawks to pull it off as they’re the team with the experience on their side — which highlights the weakness for the Rams. Despite being a really talented team, they’re still young in some key positions — and in the coaching department.
Quarterback Jared Goff is only in his second season, and he relies heavily on young guys like running back Todd Gurley and receiver Cooper Kupp. Even the veteran receivers – Robert Woods and Sammy Watkins — are relatively young. More importantly, none of those guys are playoff-savvy.
Then there’s the coaching staff. Not only is McVay the youngest coach in the NFL, but he also has an offensive coordinator in Matt LaFleur who is 38 years old. Perhaps the fact that they have 70-year old defensive coordinator Wade Phillips on staff will help, but the inexperience and youth surely is a cause for concern.
New Orleans Saints: Ill-timed mistakes on offense
It’s hard to look at a team that’s ranked No. 4 in the NFL with 28.5 points per game and say their fatal flaw is on the offensive side of the ball, but that’s potentially the case for the New Orleans Saints. As good as Drew Brees is, the veteran quarterback has been guilty of forcing passes and it’s burnt him before.
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So far in 2017, that hasn’t been the case overall as he’s thrown just six picks. Still, Brees has thrown as much as 22interceptions in a single season and had 15 just one year ago. He’s done great limiting the mistakes this season, but still showed he can throw a head scratcher in their most recent game.
Moving in for the potential game-winning drive, Brees forced a pass to tight end Josh Hill and saw it picked off by Atlanta Falcons linebacker Deion Jones. That one cost them the game, which is bound to happen with a guy like Brees who often times completes those challenged passes.
He’s not alone in the turnover department though as running back Mark Ingram has had his share of gaffes. He’s been benched more than once in the past for fumbling and has three on this season and 12 for his career. In order to make a deep run, they need to see the offense stay clean.
Carolina Panthers: Arrogance can be a bad thing
During the Carolina Panthers 15-1 season a couple years ago, quarterback Cam Newton was downright arrogant. Many of his supporters would say that he’s just confident, but it was more than that. Not like many of us have any room to criticize him because Newton did win the 2015 NFL MVP for his performance.
The problem is, he angered people along the way with his antics and really didn’t care. His response to his over the top celebrations was that if people didn’t like his smile, then they should wipe it off his face. That’s exactly what happened when he and the Panthers ran into the Denver Broncos who completely beat them up. Newton then whined and walked out of a press conference and spent all of 2016 pouting through a losing season.
Now that they’re winning again, Newton is veering towards arrogance once more. Probably not the best idea, especially given how prone he is to throw for less than 200 yards in a game. In five of the past six games he’s gone for less than that and while he makes up for it with running, all it takes is one team to slow the running down to throw a wrench in their whole season. Newton needs to make sure he does all he can to get better, rather than relying on his own supreme confidence.
Atlanta Falcons: Their offense likes to nap during games
The fan base for the Atlanta Falcons is ok again. They were on top of the world after a 3-0 start, but then despised new offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian during a 1-4 run that followed. Now sitting at 8-5 and owning the No. 6 seed currently, the fans like them again. That doesn’t mean their woes are fixed.
Atlanta built a big lead over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers three weeks ago, only to let them back in the game late. They won it thanks to the offense waking up after a quick nap, but the following week, the offense failed to show up at all. They lost 14-9 to the Minnesota Vikings in what was a pathetic performance out of a supposed high-powered offense.
Then last week, they completely lucked out. Atlanta got a gift from Drew Brees, who threw a pick late in a 20-17 win over the New Orleans Saints. In that game, quarterback Matt Ryan threw three interceptions — the second time he did so this season.
Next: NFL Power Rankings: Eagles face tough challenge
If the Flacons want to get back to the Super Bowl — they lost to the Patriots a year ago in the big game — they need to find a way to get their offense back on track. And then they have to figure out how to keep them on that track for 60 minutes.