What Will Happen in the Last Six Weeks of the Regular Season?
Published on November 19th, 2017 10:12 pm ESTWritten By: Dave Manuel
This NFL season has produced some big surprises, including the emergence of Jared Goff and Carson Wentz as top tier QBs, the rocket to stardom for Deshaun Watson (and his subsequent season-ending injury), the injuries to superstars such as OBJ and David Johnson, as well as the struggles of teams such as the New York Giants. Here are 7 things that we think will take place in the final six weeks of the NFL season:
1) Carson Wentz will finish strong, despite a tough schedule, and eventually win the MVP award. It's a two-horse race for the MVP award, but we think that it's Wentz's to lose right now. Despite the fact that the Eagles have a tough schedule to close out the year, we believe that Wentz does enough to earn himself the title. After all, the Eagles are 8-1 and Wentz is putting up world class numbers. At some point, Wentz becomes a near-lock to win, and voters would likely enjoy giving the award to somebody younger who can carry the league into the future.
2) The New Orleans Saints will finish with the best record in the league. All of a sudden, the Saints are one of the most balanced teams in the league. Drew Brees is no longer being counted on to carry the offence - instead, he is like the conductor, orchestrating a well-balanced attack that benefits from the dual RB threat of Kamara and Ingram. In addition, the Saints' defence is nothing to laugh at. With a record of 8-2 and a favorable schedule to close out the season, we think that the Saints finish with the league's best regular season record and earn themselves a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
3) The Cleveland Browns will end up winning a couple of games. The Browns are currently 0-10, though they've been close in a number of those games. The Browns have games against the Bengals (away), Chargers (away), Packers (home), Ravens (home), Bears (away) and Steelers (away) to close out the season. I would expect that they will win at least a couple of those.
4) The Dallas Cowboys will miss the playoffs. The Cowboys are clearly out of sync without Ezekiel Elliott in their line-up. Even when Elliott gets back, they immediately go on the road to play the Seattle Seahawks. With a number of tough road games to close out the year, I think that there is a very good chance that the Cowboys end up missing the playoffs.
5) Le'Veon Bell wins the rushing title. Not exactly a big surprise here. Kareem Hunt is clearly slowing down (mainly due to the Chiefs using him less) and Ezekiel Elliott will be out for the next four weeks. Todd Gurley has a very tough ROS schedule, which means that the rushing title is Bell's to lose.
6) Jacksonville finishes with the league's best defence. "Sacksonville" continues to bruise their opponents and post huge numbers for those who were lucky enough to draft them on their fantasy teams. Some of the lustre is starting to come off of Denver's defence - while Pittsburgh and the LA Rams both possess great defences, nothing tops the ferocious defence that Jacksonville can put out on the field each and every week. Jacksonville will almost certainly finish with the league's most stingy defence.
7) New Orleans will finish as the NFL's best offence. New Orleans currently has the league's third best offence (behind the Rams and Eagles), though those two teams both have tough ROS schedules. The Saints' balance will pay off heading into the final six weeks of the season, as Brees is fresh. The Saints can win in any possible way, while teams like the Eagles rely much more on their QBs. I think that New Orleans will finish as the league's best offence this year.
