3 Games to Watch - Week 15

Garda is back with three more games to keep an eye on in between Aaron Rodgers snaps.

We’re just a few weeks from the end of the NFL’s regular season and things are getting tight. What’s fun is how quickly things can change, especially in the AFC where the Wild Card is a hot mess.

And I mean hot mess in a good way.

When you’re glancing around to watch the scoreboard and see what other games have happening, here are three worth keeping an eye (or the Red Zone) locked onto.

 

Carolina Panthers at New York Giants

Just three games left for a perfect regular season and really, this might be the toughest game.  The Giants seem to find ways to win big games each year—though right now they have found more ways to lose them (and at the literal last minute) than win them.

The best part of this game will be the Josh Norman/Odell Beckham Jr battle, which I will be seeing in person from the press box. The Giants are rumored to want to move Beckham around as Norman usually sticks to one side, but it would be the first time they really used him frequently in the slot if they did it.

For the Panthers, it’s just amazing to watch them find ways to work with less than amazing weapons aside from Cam Newton and Greg Olsen. We don’t know if Olsen will play, Jonathan Stewart is out and Newton is back to having little to know weapons.

That didn’t stop him last week though.

Denver Broncos at Pittsburgh Steelers

This could be the last time we see Brock Osweiler, though even in an off game last week he wasn’t bad. The Broncos receivers need to stop dropping the ball and the running backs need to get their act together. Otherwise, it won’t matter who is under center.

The Steelers seem to have peaked at the exact right moment. The defense is still iffy, but offensively this is a scary team. Ben Roethlisberger has Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant and sometimes Markus Wheaton, and DeAngelo Williams has been the best free agent acquisition of 2015.

The Broncos could screw this up and lose the division to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Steelers have to have a little luck and lots of wins to slip into the Wild Card but can still catch a Bengals team who just lost their quarterback and maybe with the AFC North.

This is a big game.

Arizona Cardinals at Philadelphia Eagles

This should be a blowout. On paper, the Cardinals should light the Eagles on fire.

That’s what we were saying right before they played the New England Patriots and how did that work out?

The Cardinals are loaded, with Carson Palmer having Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd, JJ Nelson and John Brown to throw to, with rookie David Johnson running the ball and an all-Pro secondary to anchor the defense.

Meanwhile the Eagles have a messed up backfield led by DeMarco Murray (a bad fit) with a quarterback who looks better than he has in a long time but still loves a good interception and a defense which can be really good or really tough to watch.

They are fighting for a division title and a playoff berth though, and they have showed up the last few weeks.

I think, with the long flight and the environment in Philly, the Cardinals stumble and while they will probably win, this is going to be much closer than you think.

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John Galt III's picture

December 20, 2015 at 09:59 am

Osweiler is not Russell Wilson in mobility but in comparison to Manning he is. Defenses have learned to tee off on Manning's inability to move. If an opposing team can remotely cover Bronco receivers, who are pretty banged up, the Broncos are better off with Osweiler. Denver's RB's have been injured so regardless of their QB, they have offensive problems at this moment. I see the Steelers winning this unless the Bronco defenses shuts down Pittsburgh and that can happen.

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