NFL Players, Teams and Units Surging and Fading Late in 2015
There are plenty of ups and downs when it comes to the NFL season.
And we have the proof right here.
Let's take a look at some players, teams and even units that have either gotten off to great starts and are now beginning to fade or struggled early on and have now gotten their acts together.
So who or what is hot and what or who is not?
Let’s take a look.
Surging: Kansas City Chiefs Defense
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In Sunday’s home victory against the Buffalo Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs did something they had not done since early October: They allowed an opponent to score at least 20 points in a game.
It wasn’t a stellar effort statistically for defensive coordinator Bob Sutton’s unit in the team’s 30-22 win. The Chiefs allowed 415 total yards and sacked Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor just once on the day. But Kansas City defenders did come up with two more takeaways, the sixth straight game the team forced multiple turnovers.
In their last seven contests, Andy Reid’s defenders have allowed only 10 offensive touchdowns while totaling 17 takeaways. In their first four outings of the season, the Chiefs allowed 15 offensive touchdowns and forced only four turnovers.
It's little wonder this team now owns a 6-5 record after a 1-5 start.
Fading: Atlanta Falcons
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At 5-0, the Atlanta Falcons were a popular topic around those hypothetical NFL water coolers.
Now, many are talking about this club for a different reason.
Suddenly Dan Quinn, an early candidate for Coach of the Year honors, is just finding a way for his team to hold on. The Falcons have now dropped four straight games and are 1-5 in their last six outings. In Sunday’s 20-10 home loss to the Minnesota Vikings, the league’s top-ranked run defense was gashed for 191 yards, 158 of that by Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who also scored the team’s two touchdowns on the day.
Eight of Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan’s 12 interceptions have come in his last five games, five of those picks the last two weeks at home in losses to the Colts and Vikings.
And while the defense does indeed look better this season, Quinn and his staff still haven’t figured a way to revive that pass rush, which in actuality has been a yearlong problem. Atlanta has totaled a mere 12 sacks in 11 games, including zero on Sunday.
There’s not a lot going right for the Falcons these days, and they’re running out of time to fix things.
Surging: Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Jameis Winston
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Remember that Week 1 loss by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota came to town and he and the Tennessee Titans strolled away with a 42-14 win?
While the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner was abusing the Tampa Bay defense, Bucs rookie signal-caller Jameis Winston was having his issues. And those problems extended a few weeks as the former Florida State Seminole star got acclimated to the pro game and his teammates.
During the team’s 1-3 start, Winston threw six touchdown passes and ran for one score. On the other hand, he was picked off seven times and lost a fumble.
Fast forward to the team’s last seven games, where we have seen a different performance from the NFL’s first overall pick this year. Winston has thrown for 10 scores and rushed for three touchdowns while committing a total of three turnovers.
As we know, the Buccaneers won’t be winning the NFC South this season. But Winston and his teammates are going to make life difficult for teams in the conference to reach the playoffs.
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Fading: New York Jets Defense
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Yes, the New York Jets defeated the Miami Dolphins, 38-20, on Sunday and the team finds itself back above .500 and in second place in the AFC East.
Give some credit to quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and the New York offense. The journeyman signal-caller threw for 277 yards and four touchdowns as the team built a 35-7 fourth-quarter lead.
But one of the hotter defensive units in the league has cooled considerably in recent weeks, even when cornerback Darrelle Revis has been available. Todd Bowles’ improving club has allowed 15 touchdown passes in its last six games alone (although you can debate Sunday’s performance by Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill in terms of when two of those scores came).
A defense that looked strong early in the season has shown a lot of vulnerability as of late.
Surging: Chicago Bears
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Crazy like a fox?
Following a forgettable 0-3 start in which his team was outscored a combined 105-46 in the process, Chicago Bears head coach John Fox has rallied his club to five wins in eight games and is certainly making teams around the league a little nervous.
Ask the Green Bay Packers, who fell to the Bears at Lambeau Field on Thanksgiving night, 17-13. Mike McCarthy’s team is having its own issues, but let’s not take anything away from Fox and Co. And it’s worth noting that those three losses in the last eight games have come by a total of eight points.
Quarterback Jay Cutler has thrown just 14 touchdown passes in 10 games, but he’s also committed only nine turnovers, a far cry from the player who gave up the football 24 times in 15 contests in 2014.
Meanwhile, Chicago has allowed only 23 offensive touchdowns in 11 games in Vic Fangio's first season as defensive coordinator, and 10 of those came in the club’s 0-3 start.
The Bears are on the upswing, and that may be an understatement.
Fading: Seattle Seahawks Defense
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Yes, we know the Seattle Seahawks outlasted the Pittsburgh Steelers, 39-30, in a donnybrook in the Pacific Northwest.
But what on Earth is going on as of late with Pete Carroll’s defense? Early in the season, the absence of Pro Bowl strong safety Kam Chancellor had a negative effect on this unit but as of late, his presence in the lineup hasn’t seemed to make a difference.
In their last two home games, the Seahawks have surrendered a combined 69 points and 989 total yards. Carroll’s squad did survive on Sunday despite allowing 538 total yards to the Steelers. Seattle has allowed eight offensive touchdowns in their last three outings, quite a turnaround for a group that surrendered only 12 offensive touchdowns in their first eight games this season.
That’s not to say that the Seahawks won’t once again be in the playoffs. But this is certainly a different model than we have seen in recent years.
Surging: Minnesota Vikings RB Adrian Peterson
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Back in 2012, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson ran for 2,097 yards—the second-highest single-season total in NFL history. Some will remember that the league’s MVP that season got off to a so-so start that year before running amok and capturing the NFL rushing title.
Don’t look now, but Peterson is on another tear, and Mike Zimmer’s 8-3 team is the direct beneficiary. The workhorse running back has totaled 634 yards and five touchdowns in his last five outings, totaling 100-plus yards in four of those contests. Minnesota has won four of those games, including Sunday’s 20-10 victory at Atlanta in which Peterson ran for 158 yards and two scores.
Of course, 2012 was also the last time the Vikings reached the playoffs.
Fading: Philadelphia Eagles Defense
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Some would say we saved the worst for last.
In the span of five days, the Philadelphia Eagles gave up a total of 90 points (including 10 touchdown passes) and 951 total yards of offense in losses to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (45-17) and Detroit Lions (45-14).
What happened to Billy Davis' defensive unit, which many thought was headed in the right direction this season?
Remember when the Eagles owned a 16-3 first-quarter lead over the Miami Dolphins in Week 10? They went on to lose that game and, since then, have been outscored a combined 107-34 in their last 11 quarters of play.
All told, after giving up only 10 offensive touchdowns in their first six games this season, these Birds have surrendered 19 offensive touchdowns in their last five contests—16 through the air.
Next up for the Eagles are the New England Patriots, who know how to reach the end zone on a regular basis. Good luck, Chip Kelly.
Surging: Houston Texans Defense
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It was the low point for any team in any season.
Back in Week 7 at Miami, the Houston Texans were drubbed 41-0 in the first half in an eventual 44-26 loss to the Dolphins. The Texans owned a 2-5 record after the game.
Talk about a wake-up call? In their last 18 quarters of play, Bill O’Brien’s team and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel’s unit has allowed two touchdowns…total.
“We just kind of came together and decided enough was enough,” said Texans linebacker Brian Cushing to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle on Sunday after Houston held the New Orleans Saints to a pair of field goals on Sunday in a 24-6 win. “Losing like that is obviously extremely embarrassing and something we wanted not part of. We just decided right there that was it…
“We just started really simplifying things and playing hard and just had a bad taste in our mouth in a couple of those games and internally promised each other that it wouldn’t happen again,” added Cushing.
The Texans are currently riding a four-game winning streak, one that has seen them allow a combined total of 35 points in those victories. Over that stretch, Houston has totaled 16 sacks and forced eight turnovers.
And just when you thought it was safe to line up against reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt, he’s totaled 9.5 sacks in those aforementioned last 18 quarters of play.
Houston is keeping pace with the Indianapolis Colts these days in the AFC South with both clubs owning 6-5 records. Can the Texans defense carry this club to a playoff berth? You may not want to bet against them these days.
Fading: Green Bay Packers
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From 6-0 and the lead in the NFC North to 1-4 in their last five games and now in chase mode when it comes to a division title.
Be it an ineffective defense or a less-than-scintillating attack that has seen the team limited to 16 or fewer points in three of those five contests, the Green Bay Packers simply don’t look like the Green Bay Packers we have gotten to know in recent years.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers has looked less than relaxed the last month or so, and it seems that this is a team that has not played a complete game in weeks. Is this a residual effect from the team’s 29-10 loss at Denver in Week 8 in which the Pack was outgained a combined 500-140 in total yards and was humbled in every phase of the game?
There’s still time for the Packers to turn things around, but this is a club very out of sync these days.
Surging: Detroit Lions
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Last season, the Detroit Lions finished 11-5 and grabbed a wild-card berth. It was the most wins by the franchise since 1991, a season in which they came within one game of the Super Bowl.
This year, Jim Caldwell’s club opened the year at 1-7 and that included some very ugly losses. The team looked like it was playing for the first overall pick in the 2016 draft.
Speaking of 1991, that was the last time the Lions beat the Green Bay Packers in Wisconsin…until this season. Detroit’s 18-16 win at Lambeau Field in Week 10 was the first of three straight wins, which included a 45-14 beating of the Philadelphia Eagles on Thanksgiving Day.
Never say never in today’s NFL, but the Lions still have an outside shot at the playoffs with a 4-7 record. It’s probably pretty outside, but it certainly beats the alternative.
Fading: St. Louis Rams Offense
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Face it. We were teased for a bit by the St. Louis Rams, a team that opened the year winners of four of their first seven games. With wide receiver Tavon Austin coming on and rookie running back Todd Gurley taking the league by storm, things were looking up for a club that had not been to the playoffs since 2004.
But things have certainly changed as of late. After totaling 13 offensive touchdowns in their first seven games this season, the Rams offense has reached the end zone just five times the last four weeks—all losses.
After scoring a total of 51 points in consecutive home wins over the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers, Jeff Fisher’s club has scored exactly 51 points in their last four contests.
The team’s early-season wins over both the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals seem but a distant memory at the moment.
Unless otherwise noted, all player and team statistics come from Pro Football Reference and ESPN.com.
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