NFL Open Thread: Week 17 Edition

Only one playoff spot on the line, and it might not be much of a game, with the #6 team in DVOA going up against #27, and the QB on the latter had a bad throwing hand. Anything can happen in one game and I’ll be rooting for the Lions, but let’s just say that if I were in Vegas I’d be putting a sawbuck or three on Green Bay – 3 1/2.

With not many meaningful games, perhaps we should discuss the MVP. This is, in fact, a very easy case: it’s Matt Ryan. He’s probably been better play for play than Brady, and he had 4 more games. Given how outrageous the suspension of Brady was I might vote for him anyway if he was significantly better and had less quality, but Ryan has been better. As for Elliott, puh-leeze with that shit. The idea that a top running back is more valuable than a top QB is insane to begin with, and there’s also the fact that Darren McFadden — the definition of a replacement-level running back — ran for 4.6 yards a carry behind Dallas’s historically good run blocking line last year. Even on the Cowboys, he’s not nearly as valuable as Prescott or Smith. More on how good the Falcons offense has been here — they’re very serious contenders.

And, in-late breaking news, props to regular commenter CrunchyFrog, who speculated that Gary Kubiak’s health concerns had seriously affected his work: he’ll be stepping down. I don’t think he was a great coach, and if you want to say that Wade Phillips was the most important coach of the 2015 Broncos like Marvin Lewis was the most important coach on the 2000 Ravens, I’m not sure I disagree (although Kubiak is definitely a better coach than Billick.). But give Kubiak this: he got — well, not good performance out of Brock Osweiler, but good enough to get his defense into the playoffs. This year, working under QUARTERBACK GURU Bill O’Brien, Osweiler has put up an adjusted QB rating (100 is average) of 73. For context, Ryan Leaf’s lifetime rating was 64 and JaMarcus Russell’s was 78. If the Broncos plan on going into next year with Siemian and Lynch and a different coach…well, good luck with that. Although I hear Josh McDaniels is tanned, rested, and more mature!