Tuesday Takeaways: NFL Week 15 Reactions

 We are in the final stages of the regular season! Award races are coming down to the wire, the last few playoff teams are battling it out. Exciting stuff. Here are a few of my thoughts regarding the Week 15 slate of games. As always, comment below your thoughts from this weekend and what you are looking forward to from the next three weeks!

1. The Broncos have two DPOY candidates on the same team.

Pat Surtain II deservedly gets the media attention as the star of the Denver Broncos stellar defensive unit, but Nik Bonitto is playing at an All-Pro level as well. The third year linebacker is third in the league in sacks and is the first player in over a decade to have double digit sacks and multiple touchdowns, JJ Watt being the last to do so. Bonitto has had back to back 50+ yard touchdowns in the last two games and consistently makes game changing plays. He applies pressure at an elite rate and is one of the best pass rushers in the entire league. If his play continues over the next few weeks, expect Bonitto to get some votes for Defensive Player of the Year.

2. History made over the weekend.

Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams gave us a vintage performance this past weekend. Adams posted 198 yards and two touchdowns while making huge chunk play after chunk play. With his dominant performance, Adams rose to 10th all time in receiving touchdowns, becoming just the twelfth pass catcher to ever cross the 100 touchdown marker. It was a great reminder of Adams' all time greatness.

Another player who made history this weekend was Baltimore tight end Mark Andrews. Andrews has long been the safety blanket for Lamar Jackson. With his touchdown grab against the Giants, Andrews passed Jamal Lewis to become the Baltimore Ravens all time touchdown leader, with 48 touchdowns. Andrews has been one of the best tight ends in the league since he entered the league and is now cemented in Ravens history as one of the best to ever play in the black and purple.

3. Can the Lions overcome the growing list of injuries?

There is no doubt that the Detroit Lions are one of the best teams in the league and one of the favorites to make it to the Super Bowl. The Lions have survived a huge amount of injuries this season but this past week they added to what is starting to seem like an impossibly long list to overcome. The Lions now have 20 players on IR and have lost 6 defensive starters. I do not care how talented or well coached a team is, it is nearly unthinkable that a team can get past that many injuries to reach their true potential. To add insult to injury this week, the Lions lost 3 key players in their loss to Buffalo. They lost cornerback Carlton Davis indefinitely, and lost star players David Montgomery and Alim McNeill for the season. The Lions are not only losing players, but losing key players. With the loss this weekend, Detroit opened the doors for the Eagles or even the Vikings to be the #1 seed in the NFC. If anyone can overcome the odds I would be confident it would be the Dan Campbell led Lions, but I am starting to become less confident that the Lions can continue their greatness without many of their best players.

4. The Will Levis experiment should be over.

It should say a lot that in a game featuring Mac Jones and Mason Rudolph at quarterback, Will Levis was by far the least impressive. I will say that I was not high on Levis coming out of the draft and have not once been impressed by Levis in his first two years in Tennessee, but I was not convinced the Titans should 100% give up on him yet. I am convinced now. He is not a franchise quarterback. This draft class is weak at the QB position, so I expect Tennessee to pursue quarterbacking options in free agency. Levis does have some physical tools that I can see his becoming a successful career backup, but at this stage in his career he cannot be the lead guy for a franchise.

5. Will Mike Evans continue his 1,000 yard streak?

In my beginning of the year predictions I said that Mike Evans will miss the 1,000 yard mark for the first time in his 11 year career. With three games left Evans needs 251 yards to hit that marker. I did not think that Evans would miss time with injury, and even with that time missed Evans has the chance to do it. The Buccaneers are facing three lackluster defenses with Dallas, Carolina, and New Orleans remaining on the schedule. 251 yards for the Baker and Evans connection over the last few weeks is very doable, and will be one of the greater accomplishments of the NFL season to me considering preseason expectations and injury time missed.