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Week 12 Observations

I can't even with the Giants.

All they had to do was beat a mediocre Redskins squad, and they had the NFC East locked up. There was some bad luck - Eli Manning's first two picks were bad bounces - but the play calling was poor, they wasted early-downs on their terrible running game and they didn't play with any urgency until the final two drives.

The Giants defense actually played well. But for a long DeSean Jackson TD when Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie was sidelined with an injury, they held Washington to 13 points despite three turnovers and way too many three-and-outs. (The Redskins had the ball for 36 minutes.)

Odell Beckham made another TD catch for the ages, extending flat on the full run into the end zone and somehow getting his hands under the ball.

Alfred Morris ran hard and looked nimble despite the 3.4 YPC mark.

Kirk Cousins had a good game, but the efficiency (10.1 YPA) was largely due to two plays - the TD to Jackson who was matched up on nickel corner Jayron Hosley and a 45-yard catch and run to Matt Jones.

The Bills finally committed to Sammy Watkins on the road in bad weather against a tough defense, and he responded with a 6-158-2 line. Get your best players the ball.

The Rams weren't penalized for keeping a concussed-out-of-his-mind Case Keenum in the game last week. Accountability is only for players like Johnny Manziel and Josh Gordon apparently.

Todd Gurley is a great back, but as long as Nick Foles is his QB, it's hard to rank him ahead of Adrian Peterson or whoever's starting for the Chiefs.

• Jeremy Maclin had a huge game, but you could be forgiven for not using him. And almost no one used two of the week's biggest receivers, Markus Wheaton and Doug Baldwin. Meanwhile, Julio Jones, DeAndre Hopkins and Antonio Brown did almost nothing.

How could the Falcons possibly be favored against the Vikings this week? Atlanta's last four games were a home loss to the Matt Hasselbeck Colts, road loss to the 49ers, home loss to the Buccaneers and narrow road win over the Titans. When I saw the line, I thought I must have been missing something, but I wasn't.

What is Matt Ryan's problem? Julio Jones is healthy and yet the Falcons can't generate any big plays. Moreover, Ryan threw a terrible pick in the end zone when the team was driving in a close game.

Adrian Peterson is the league's No. 1 back, in part due to attrition, i.e., he's the last man standing with Le'Veon Bell, Jamaal Charles, Marshawn Lynch and Arian Foster gone. But Peterson looks like he's getting stronger in the second half.

Another game that seemed too obvious to be true was the Texans as three-point home favorites over the Saints. New Orleans' offense rarely does well on the road, and Houston has had the best defense in the league the last few weeks. And the Saints don't stop anyone - other than Hopkins who lit up Darrelle Revis the prior week.

• The Seahawks defense isn't remotely the same unit as it was the last two seasons, but apparently Russell Wilson can shoot it out if he has to.  The Steelers got killed by bad calls in the second half, but Mike Tomlin ultimately did himself in, kicking a field goal down five on fourth and short with three minutes left, hoping to get the ball back.

I used to think Tomlin was one of the league's best coaches, but now I view him like Tom Coughlin, a good leader of men, but clueless from a strategy standpoint. And don't let Tomlin's willingness to go for two after a score fool you - he still makes awful clock management and end-game decisions and punts in all the wrong situations.

I thought the Steelers-Seahawks game would be a shootout, so I loaded up on Martavis Bryant, Tyler Lockett and Jimmy Graham. I had zero shares of Jermaine Kearse, Baldwin or Wheaton. It looks like Graham is out for the year now.

I had read that Richard Sherman fared better against big, physical receivers than small, quick ones like Antonio Brown, but Sherman held Brown to 51 yards on 12 targets.

Apparently, Jameis Winston's big performance against the Eagles had more to do with a defense that checked out than him turning a corner.

I have no idea how the Colts keep winning with Matt Hasselbeck, but he's saved their season. And I suppose Donte Moncrief and T.Y. Hilton are playable with him after all.

Ryan Tannehill did not play a good game, but he was a monster in garbage time with three TDs and 350 yards. They even got rookie DeVante Parker, who caught four passes for 80 yards and a TD, into the act. I imagine they'll integrate him into the game plan going forward, but it's the Dolphins, so you never know.

Brandon Marshall is still the top-10 receiver he was with the Bears before he got hurt.

• Of course it was insane to lay four points with the Jaguars, and I did it anyway.

• Marcus Mariota inexplicably threw an easy game-sealing pick right to a defender with no receivers in the area. There was a full minute left, and the Titans, down three, had a first down in Raiders territory.

The 49ers are a different team at home, and they actually outgained and were more efficient than the Cardinals. Blaine Gabbert is looking like a competent quarterback, and at the very least, he's bought himself another few years as a backup.

Even Philip Rivers was aghast at the lack of athleticism on Carson Palmer's years-long touchdown run.