Tua Tagovailoa, Mike McDaniel and Miami Dolphins need to change something, says Neil Reynolds

nfl Tuesday 17 December 2024 15:07, UK

From pressure on Mike McDaniel and Tua Tagovailoa in Miami to the latest Patrick Mahomes injury scare for the Kansas City Chiefs - Sky Sports NFL presenter Neil Reynolds has his final say on Week 15 of the season...

Week 15 in the NFL featured multiple games with playoff implications and while nothing definitive has changed in terms of the leading pack, I do feel there has been a slight power shift.

That is where we will begin this week...

The Buffalo Bills look scarily good in their victory over the Detroit Lions, especially quarterback Josh Allen. He reminded me of standing on the sidelines at various youth sports over the years and seeing the other team with that kid who looked like he had gone through a growth spurt quicker than anybody else.

He was bigger, stronger, faster. It shouldn't happen at the NFL level but it does, it happens in the form of Josh Allen, who looked absolutely dominant in a 48-42 win. He accounted for 424 yards and six touchdowns against the Los Angeles Rams the previous week, and backed that up against the Lions with 362 passing yards and two touchdowns while rushing for another two scores.

There is nothing he cannot do at the moment. He looks close to unstoppable and for me, I have been a long-time supporter of Lamar Jackson for MVP this year, I think Allen is leading that race by a mile now.

The Lions looked tremendous on offense yet again, with Jared Goff throwing for 494 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. But I am starting to worry about this Cinderella season potentially unravelling.

Going into the game against Buffalo the Lions had 21 players on injured reserve, and they have now lost defensive tackle Alim McNeill to a season-ending knee injury and running back David Montgomery to a season-ending knee injury.

The injuries are mounting, which is really frustrating because this was shaping up to be a magical season. They will have to dig really deep now and rely on their stars on offense to get over the finish line.

The Kansas City Chiefs are still the leading team in the AFC after a routine 21-7 win over the Cleveland Browns to move to 13-1, but their lack of protection for Patrick Mahomes reared its ugly head once again.

Mahomes found himself on the sidelines with what was a nasty-looking ankle injury as he tried to run for a first down on fourth down. He has a high ankle sprain which means he faces a race against time to be fit for what is is a complicated schedule coming up. They play on Saturday against the Houston Texans and then four days later against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Christmas Day.

I think we could be bracing ourselves for a festive edition of Carson Wentz.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers might be demanding more of our attention. They scored 30 unanswered points in a 40-17 road victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.

It was their fourth straight win, they lead the race for the NFC South title and if they win that division it will be the fourth year in a row.

It starts with their offense. Baker Mayfield threw four touchdown passes, Mike Evans went over 150 receiving yards and had two touchdowns, they ran the football 39 times for 223 yards. They haven't really been tested in their previous three victories against the New York Giants, Carolina Panthers and Las Vegas Raiders, but against the No 1 scoring defense in the NFL the Bucs passed their test with flying colours.

They will be a playoff team and a tough one when they get there.

Whether it was because of AJ Brown's comments or not, the Philadelphia Eagles changed their approach a little bit in Week 15. They had gone into that weekend running the football 473 times, the most in the NFL, while attempting just 328 passes, the fewest in the league.

On Sunday maybe Saquon Barkley was banged up a little so he only had 65 rushing yards, and they won in another way with AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith, who both topped 100 yards receiving and each caught a touchdown pass.

The Eagles are now 12-2 and look a complete team. They are going to push the Lions hard for that top seed in the NFC.

My player of the week comes as no surprise, it is of course Josh Allen of the Bills. That team has now scored at least 30 points in eight straight games, the longest streak in a single season in NFL history.

Allen has accounted for 14 offensive touchdowns in Buffalo's last three games, scoring by throwing, running and catching a lateral which counted as a receiving touchdown. He does it all and was outstanding on Sunday.

You could have had any number of Josh Allen plays. There was one early in the first quarter on Buffalo's first drive when he rolls to his right, stops, takes a hit and throws a pass downfield to Ty Johnson back across the middle. There was one mid-way through the first quarter where he rolls to his left and hits James Cook.

And another, my favourite, where he rolls right and looks downfield to Keon Coleman, the defender takes away the deep throw so Josh Allen throws it even deeper and Coleman goes and tracks the ball. Incredible pass, which featured a man right in Josh Allen's face as he landed flat on his back. It was just another example of the wow throws he makes time and time again.

It wasn't a great start for Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos. They were certainly helped out by Jonathan Taylor's ridiculous fumble at the goalline as he started to celebrate before crossing the goalline, but the Broncos stuck with it.

Bo Nix overcame some interceptions, the defense played well down the stretch and they have now won four in a row. We keep wondering if they will get caught from behind or slip up in the AFC playoff race, all they keep doing is winning and improving their seeding in that conference. They are ahead of schedule, but it's what Sean Payton does. He's rough around the edges, especially with the media, and he can rub players the wrong way but all he knows how to do is win.

On my radar is what the Miami Dolphins do to change their situation in the offseason. They lost another big game on a big stage against a quality opponent as they fell 20-12 against the Houston Texans, who clinched the AFC South.

This was a winnable game for the Dolphins but Tua Tagovailoa melted down by throwing three interceptions and it looked like Mike McDaniel didn't have an answer for what DeMeco Ryans was throwing at him and his team. The Dolphins can talk all they like about how they want to finish stronger and win big games, but they haven't done that time and time again with Mike McDaniel and Tua leading the way.

Do they bring in a certain type of player? Do they adjust things on the roster? Is there going to be pressure on the head coach and quarterback? I think those two will be very safe, but something has to change in Miami, because what they have served up in recent years has not been good enough to be considered one of the NFL's contenders.

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