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4B Sunday, December 9, 2018 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com NFL Playing for a bye SAM CRAFT I Associated Press Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) throws against the Cleveland Browns during a game, Sunday, Dec. 2, in Houston. Riding a nine-game winning streak, the Houston Texans still have a chance to earn a top two seed in the AFC BY BARRY WILNER Associated Press Here’s a crazy thought: The Houston Texans with home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. Yep, the team that began the season 0-3 just might sneak past the Chiefs and Patriots and claim that coveted spot. The Texans have won nine in a row. They’ve done so in all sorts of ways, from strong defense to opportunistic offense to solid spe cial teams to superb coaching. On Sunday, they face Indianapo lis (6-6) and can pretty much knock the Colts out of postseason conten tion with a win. Indianapolis has won three of the past four against the Texans in a series in which the past eight games were decided by seven or fewer points. Should Houston get by the Colts, the remainder of the schedule has visits to the Jets and Eagles and a home finale against Jacksonville. Considering that two-month string of wins, why can’t the Texans run the table? “It’s a small accomplishment,” says defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, who has justified being the top overall pick in the 2014 draft. “We still haven’t even won the division with winning nine in a row, we have no playoff spot, noth ing right now locked up. “So, it’s a small accom plishment, but hopefully it will lead to bigger things for us. We’re playing for much more than just the division right now. We’re trying to play for first, sec ond, third seed, whoever is ahead of us right now.” That would be Kansas City (10-2) and New England (also 9-3). Both have a more testing December. “I think it’s when you start to look ahead, or you start to get overly excited about accomplish ments that, not don’t mean any thing, but winning nine in a row, winning a division, you take things one day at a time,” J.J. Watt adds. “I think that’s the biggest men tality I’ve taken away from it all is just control what you can control. If you try to start controlling things that you can’t control, then you can get in trouble. The weekend began with Thurs day night with Tennessee’s 30-9 home victory over Jacksonville. Derrick Henry sped and stiff armed his way to a record-tying 99-yard touchdown run for Tennessee (7-6). Henry tied Tony Dorsett’s 99-yarder on Jan. 3, 1983, for Dallas against Minnesota for the longest TD run in NFL history. Henry set a franchise record with 238 yards on just 16 carries, topping the previous mark of 228 yards set by Chris Johnson in 2009 against yes, the Jaguars. Henry finished with a career-high four TDs, tying Lorenzo White and Hall of Fame running back Earl Camp bell for most rushing TDs in a sin gle game in franchise history. Jacksonville dropped to 4-9. New Orleans (10-2) at Tampa Bay (5-7): The Saints take the NFC South with a win or a Carolina loss. They’re eager to get back on the field after their worst performance of 2018, a Thursday night loss at Dallas in which they were over whelmed by the Cowboys’ defense. Tampa Bay, which has gained more yards on offense than any one — yes, even New Orleans — won the first meeting to open the season. Then the Saints won their next 10 games. Bucs quarterback Jameis Win ston has not turned over the ball since regaining the starting job two weeks ago. In the past three games, one in relief, Winston has completed 61 of 84 (72.6 percent) with six touchdowns and one interception for a 119.1 rating. Los Angeles Rams (11- 1) at Chicago (8-4): The Rams already own the NFC West title. They earn a first-round playoff bye by beating the Bears. This is an intriguing matchup, LA’s second- ranked offense against Chicago’s No. 4 defense. The Bears are sec ond stingiest against the run, and the Rams’ Todd Gurley leads the NFL in both yards rushing (1,175) and yards from scrimmage (1,649). Chicago’s defense leads the NFL with 21 interceptions and will test Jared Goff. Chicago hopes to have regular quarterback Mitchell Trubisky back from a shoulder injury that cost him two games. He’ll need to watch for Rams DT Aaron Donald, making a strong statement for a second straight NFL Defensive Player of the Year award. He tops the NFL with 16 sacks, has at least two in three straight games. New England (9-3) at Miami (6-6): A Patriots win — this is one place they don’t like, having lost four of the past five at Miami — means yet another AFC East crown, 10 in a row. Tom Brady has won 12 of his past 13 starts within the division. He’s also ready to estab lish another NFL record: Brady has 579 career TD passes, including postsea son, tied with Peyton Man ning for the most. New England also has found a rushing defense, not allowing a 100-yard gainer since Week 3. Miami has been outgained by 1,168 yards and is on pace to break the 1967 team record yet is in wild card contention. The Dolphins do rank third with 25 takeaways. Baltimore (7-5) at Kansas City (10-2) Cincinnati (5-7) at Los Angeles Chargers (9-3) Pittsburgh (7-4-1) at Oakland (2-10): Two AFC division races involved here. The Ravens have crept within a half-game of the Steelers in the North, but they have a massive challenge at KC while Pittsburgh shouldn’t struggle much at lowly Oakland. Beating the high-powered Chiefs at Arrowhead calls for a monstrous defensive showing, and Baltimore has the top-ranked D. It also has a clock-killing run game with rookie Lamar Jackson at QB: The Ravens have had at least 200 yards rushing in three straight weeks. Still, Kansas City is 5-0 at home and leads the league in scor ing at 37 points a game. Patrick Mahomes has a league-leading 41 TD passes and 43 throws of 25-plus yards. Kansas City, which gets a play off berth with a win, can’t afford a stumble with the Chargers one game back; they meet next Thurs day night. With Cincinnati in a rug ged, injury-caused slump, LA could romp Sunday. The Chargers have a few compli cated ways of getting at least a wild card this week. Philip Rivers has thrown two or more TDs in each of his first 12 games, tied for the third- longest streak to begin a season in NFL history. Rivers has 10 TDs and six INTs in six games against the Bengals, who have won four straight meet ings in the regular season. The Raiders have won the past three home games in this series since losing in 1995 and the Steel ers are 3-8 all time in Oakland. Clowney Brady JOHN BAZEMORE I Associated Press Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan (2) works against the Baltimore Ravens during the game, Sunday, Dec. 2, in Atlanta. Struggling Falcons and Packers look to get back on track BY GENAR0 C. ARMAS Associated Press GREEN BAY, Wis. — How fortunes have changed in less than two years for the Atlanta Falcons and Green Bay Packers. The participants in the NFC title game in January 2017 are floundering this season. The Packers have already fired head coach Mike McCarthy. Falcons owner Arthur Blank reaffirmed support for his coach, Dan Quinn, after a four-game los ing streak dropped the team out of the playoff picture. The game between the Falcons (4-8) and Packers (4-7-1) on Sun day at Lambeau Field was once circled on the NFL calendar as a potential matchup between contenders jockeying for a home game in the playoffs. Instead, it’s turned into a matchup between disappointing teams each trying to avoid a los ing season. “I think what you want to do when you go through a difficult stretch is you want to make sure you take the lessons first, and when you do that, there’s something that you have to gain,” Quinn said. “Sometimes you don’t like to admit it, but that’s where the learning takes place the most.” It sounds a lot like what the Packers are going through at Lambeau, where the future is clouded by uncertainty. Offensive coordinator Joe Philbin took over as interim head coach after McCarthy was fired following the stunning 20-17 loss last week to the lowly Arizona Cardinals. A coaching veteran with a dry sense of humor, Philbin has deliv ered simple messages at a time of upheaval. “I told the offense, we’ve got to block, we’ve got to throw and catch, we’ve got to run hard with the ball. That’s really ultimately what wins games,” Phil bin said. “Schemes are important, but not as important as playing guys together and play ing with great effort and playing fundamentally sound.” The Packers have lost three straight and five of six. They need lots of help to get into the postseason even if they can somehow win their last four games. “I think everybody’s kind of realizing that we’re all under the microscope even more. Who knows what the changes are going to be after the season,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “So I feel like the energy was good today. Unfortunately the urgency that you need early in the season, we kind of had out in practice today.” RODGERS RECORD WATCH At least the game could be worth watching for the quarterback play. Rodgers’ 61.8 percent completion rate this year is his lowest since 2015 (60.7 percent), though he has thrown just one interception all season. Rodgers has thrown a franchise- record 336 attempts without an interception, trailing only New England’s Tom Brady (358 in 2010-11) for longest such stretch in league history. THIRD-QUARTER BLUES One of the Falcons’ goals for the week is to jump-start their abysmal third-quarter scoring. Atlanta has been outscored 71-34 in third quarters, including 6-0 in last week’s 26-16 loss to Balti more. The Falcons ran only five plays and held the ball less than two minutes in the quarter. By contrast, the Falcons’ 115 second- quarter points and 107 fourth- quarter points rank among the top five in the league. CALLING PLAYS Philbin, the former Dolphins head coach in his sec ond stint as a Packers assistant, has extensive experience coaching and putting together offen sive game plans. But the previous time that Philbin called plays was when he was a college assistant at Northeastern in 1995-96. He’ll assume those duties again on Sunday since McCarthy was the play- caller in Green Bay. Of course, the Packers also have a veteran at quarterback in Rodgers who is often at his best out of the pocket when a play breaks down. WELCOME BACK The Falcons have lost eight players to injured reserve this season, including long snap per Josh Harris this week. They finally had a key starter return from IR last week when linebacker Deion Jones set a career high with 15 tackles and a sack against the Ravens. Jones missed 10 games after suffering a broken right foot in the opener against Philadelphia. Jones’ 15 tackles were the most by a Falcons player this season. RUN TIME The Falcons have the NFL’s worst rushing attack, averaging just 79 yards a game. They were held to 34 on the ground last week against Baltimore, a week after a season-low 26 against the Saints. “When we’re at our best, we’re running the football and we’re able to create play-action passes,” quarterback Matt Ryan said. This might be the week they get things going. Green Bay allowed a season-high 182 yards on the ground to the Cardinals last week, who have the league’s second-worst rushing offense. Jones Walter Payton Man of the Year award bigger than football BY BARRY WILNER Associated Press Winning any of the AP’s individ ual NFL awards, from MVP to top rookie, means plenty to players. Being nominated for, no less winning, the Walter Payton Man of the Year award means more. Don’t minimize how proud a guy is when he’s voted one of the presti gious individual awards. It’s a por tion of his resume that jumps off the page the way Saquon Barkley hurdles over potential tacklers. But being selected for the Pay- ton award, renamed in 1999 for the great Chicago Bears running back and humanitarian, involves so much more than football achievements. “It is probably one of my great est accomplishments,” says 2013 winner Charles Tillman, who played 12 seasons at cornerback for the Bears and his final year with the Panthers. “When fans see us, they just assume a lot of times we are just athletes. They don’t know what these men do on their days off during the season, in the community. A lot of play ers really put their community ser vice in every week of the year. “The Walter Payton Award is about excellence off the field. I am proud to be associated with that award.” Who wouldn’t be? In a time when many NFL players have been criti cized or even condemned for their protests of social and racial injustice during the national anthem, many — if not most of them — also have been doing good deeds in their communi ties. They don’t do it for recognition or applause. As Tillman notes, they do it because they can “shed light on a bigger thing. It’s not just football.” Unlike in the past, when three finalists were selected before a recipient was chosen, one player from every NFL team is a finalist. All will be recognized and partici pate in NFL functions during Super Bowl week. The Man of the Year will be revealed at NFL Honors, when The Associated Press’ indi vidual NFL awards are announced Feb. 2 in Atlanta. Five current players have won the award: Drew Brees, Thomas Davis, Larry Fitzgerald, Eli Man ning and J.J. Watt, and they wear a Man of the Year patch on their jerseys. All 2018 finalists will wear a Man of the Year helmet decal beginning this week through the end of the season. “It’s a tremendous honor,” Jets offensive tackle Kelvin Bea- chum says. This week, Beachum surprised Ca’moore Jones, an eighth-grade student at Orange Preparatory Academy in New Jersey, with two Super Bowl tick ets. Moore was nominated by his teacher, Glenn Gamble, for his performance and growth with the Character Playbook course that is embraced by the NFL. “Just the name Walter Payton, he’s the gold standard,” Beachum said. “What he did off the field and on the field, his excellence is bar none, top in history. So to be mentioned in the same name and the same breath as him, it’s truly humbling.” Humbling is an appropriate word because the award finalists often feel that sensation during their community work. Tillman
