Welcome to your Monday roundup of the best and worst of NFL Sunday — by which we mean the single very best thing and single very worst thing. Because the stuff in the middle doesn’t matter, really.
THE VERY BEST THING ABOUT THE NFL THIS WEEK: As longtime Detroit Lions fans, we in this space have a special affinity for superstars who do it all by themselves, with little to no help from the rest of their squads. So naturally, we believe in Russell Wilson’s MVP candidacy and, after Sunday night, so should you.
This isn’t about Wilson outplaying fellow MVP candidate Carson Wentz — though he did, handily, in Seattle’s victory over Philadelphia — so much as his body of work over the past 13 weeks. Simply put, as the cast around him gets weaker, Wilson just gets better.
The Seahawks haven’t had a running game all season? No problem, Wilson’s 432 yards lead the team in that category as well. It was nice that Seattle got Mike Davis back on Sunday to give them a viable early-down option — but really, since the departure of Marshawn Lynch, there’s been nobody reliable in the backfield for more than a couple of games at a time, and it hasn’t mattered much.
These days, the Seahawks defence isn’t exactly a complete unit, either, missing both Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor, otherwise known as two thirds of the Legion of Boom — and without them Wentz was able to rack up 348 yards through the air Sunday night. But Wilson will outduel opposing quarterbacks if he has to, and although he only needed 227 yards passing to get it done, the amount of time he kept plays alive until some option — any option — could be found went a lot further than racking up numbers would have.
“We had a good game plan going against [Wilson],” Eagles safety Corey Graham told ESPN after the game. “But as you see, you know how it is, better in person than it is on film.”
Currently, Wilson has accounted for more than 86 per cent of his team’s yards. Not passing yards — yards from scrimmage, period. The NFL says that would be the highest percentage since the Super Bowl era began, and if the Seahawks manage a playoff spot after losing the most integral parts of their secondary, and without having a 500-yard rusher (aside from Wilson, of course) in the backfield, I’m not sure why there’s even a need to vote.
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THE VERY WORST THING ABOUT THE NFL THIS WEEK: It’s one thing for jerks like Vontaze Burfict to take cheap shots and get themselves suspended — it’s bad for their team, sure, but nobody’s really going to lose interest because they’re missing in action — but it’s another thing when the big draws do it.
Yeah, that was good ol’ Rob Gronkowski potentially damaging a fellow player’s neck because he was, reportedly, frustrated with the officiating in a game his team won by 20 points.
You think the NFL, in this season especially, really needs one of its most marketable stars, the guy mugging in countless commercials and grinning like a fool from the stage at offseason concerts and awards shows, getting hit with supplementary discipline because he can’t control his temper? Nope.
Gronk has always been, well, kind of an idiot. Even his fans would probably agree with that. But he was a lovable idiot. A maybe-not-too-smart-but-friendly guy who loved football and just wanted to catch some passes and spike some footballs. But what happened Sunday is the kind of thing that can change an image.
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Players can lose their temper, they can get themselves tossed from games (though Gronk somehow avoided that) and they can rack up fines and they can even face the music from the league. But what they really shouldn’t be doing is taking potentially seriously damaging cheapshots at opposing players. The game’s too dangerous already and if the NFL is going to make the fans and critics alike believe they care about every player, then they have to suspend Gronk for at least a game, maybe two.
And Gronkowski, for his part, has to play his part and come back chastened and sincere. Both the league and the player have an image at stake here. They didn’t need to be in this spot, but they are, and it’s a damn shame.
