The second-to-last week of the NFL season brought with it some real shockers, and further muddled the playoff picture in some ways. You need only check out the NFC East to see that. It also means expectations are high for everyone still in the race — and some simply couldn’t produce when it counted.
Here are five big disappointments from NFL Week 16.
Jared Goff, QB, Rams
It continues to look like Goff’s excellent 2018 was the outlier, not the norm. He once again struggled, this time against a Seattle secondary that hadn’t done much all season until recently. Goff was held to 234 yards and failed to find the end zone, costing the Rams a shot at the NFC West title and leaving some doubt regarding their playoff hopes as well. Frankly, this injury may be the most notable thing that happened to him Sunday.
Dwayne Haskins, QB, Washington
One has to wonder if Haskins has an NFL future at this point, not just a Washington one. Haskins was so dreadful Sunday that he was benched in favor of Taylor Heinicke in the second half, and Heinicke looked significantly better. Haskins, on the other hand, turned over the ball three times and threw for just 154 yards in a game that could have sealed the NFC East title. Then he initially blew off the media to conclude a week that saw him flaunt COVID protocols. That’s about as bad as it gets.
Jerry Jeudy, WR, Broncos
Jeudy may still have a bright future in the NFL, but this was a brutal showing from the rookie wide receiver. In a three-point loss, Jeudy dropped five passes. One would have resulted in a touchdown, and one would have put the Broncos in field goal range with the chance to force overtime. Jeudy has had a lot of drops this year, but this one game really magnified his struggles. He has work to do this offseason to start fixing them.
Younghoe Koo, K, Falcons
For a while on Sunday, it really did look like the Falcons were going to shock the Chiefs on the road. Even late on, it looked like Atlanta had a good shot at forcing overtime. Then Younghoe Koo stepped in and missed a 39-yard field goal to cost the Falcons the tie. The worst part was this was just a straight-up miss — the snap and hold appeared good. Koo had missed only one field goal on the season coming into Sunday, which just made this even harder to take.
Baker Mayfield, QB, Browns
Sunday was not all Mayfield’s fault. He had no wide receivers thanks to COVID-19 protocols, and the gameplan was scrambled at the last minute. Plus, one has to wonder what kind of gameplan had Mayfield throwing the ball 53 times under these circumstances. That said, so much of the onus was on the quarterback to deliver, which is why he couldn’t fumble three times and lose two of them. The second turnover was particularly strange. The Browns had to play perfectly on offense given their limitations. The quarterback turning the ball over twice simply wasn’t an option.
