As we were sitting in our green room watching all the early games Sunday at our CBSSports.com offices, the thing that stood out to me was how poor some of the offensive lines are in this league.
It carried over to the late games as well. Sacks might have been down early this season, but the defenses are doing their best to make up for it now.
There were five games Sunday where one team had five or more sacks and there were three games that had a combined eight or more sacks.
It seemed every time I was looking up at a different game Sunday, a quarterback was taking a shot, or doing his best to avoid one.
There were nine sacks in the Colts-Jaguars game, five of those by the Jaguars on Andrew Luck in the first half. Were it not for his ability to move, there would have been even more.
The Bears had five sacks against the Buccaneers. The same for the Eagles against the Titans and the 49ers against the Redskins.
The worst performance of the day goes to the Seahawks line, which saw Russell Wilson get sacked seven times by the Cardinals, including five in the first half. Wilson is a mobile quarterback who can move, and in this game he needed it in the worst way. He took a ton of shots, yet ran away from even more.
It's amazing to me how bad some of the lines are in this league right now. In some instances, like Seattle playing without starting center Max Unger, injuries are a factor. But there are a lot of other issues.
Players coming out of college now play in a lot of spread offenses, which has hurt the ability to drive block and hold up in pass protection. The ball comes out quicker in the spread, and blocks don't have to be held as long as in some NFL offenses.
An additional problem has been many of the young left tackles drafted high in the first round the past couple of seasons are struggling. Players like Jacksonville's Luke Joeckel, Kansas City's Eric Fisher and Minnesota's Matt Kalil have all had problems in pass protection this season.
The two best teams going right now are the Green Bay Packers and the New England Patriots, who meet next week in Green Bay. Both have lines that are playing well the past few months.
The Patriots didn't give up a sack against the Lions' No. 1-ranked defense on Sunday and the Packers allowed just one to the Vikings.
Both teams have had issues on their lines at time this season, some because of injury, but as we head to December their lines seem to be settling in to make their Super Bowl pushes. It helps they have quarterbacks with great feel for the rush, and an ability to move away from pressure and potential sacks.
Good line play, as it always does, will go a long way in deciding who wins it all. If you can't keep your quarterback upright, you can forget about winning a Super Bowl.
More musings from Week 12
•Lions center Dominic Raiola cut the knees out of Patriots defensive lineman Zach Moore on a kneel-down late in the Patriots victory over the Lions. Raiola was angry that the Patriots opted to score a touchdown late rather than take three knees and end the game. The Patriots did that after a personal foul against C.J. Mosley for hitting snapper Danny Aiken.
After that, the Patriots opted to score the touchdown. Raiola took offense to that, and went after the knees.
"We took a knee, so I cut the nose," Raiola said. "They went for six. They went for a touchdown at two minutes. They could have taken three knees and the game could have been over. It’s football. He wants to keep playing football, let’s play football. Not a big deal. It’s football.”
Raiola was wrong to go after knees. But the Patriots were wrong to score the touchdown as well. Take a knee and go home. Why risk any potential injury?
•The Bengals defense has really turned it around the past two weeks. After shutting down the Saints last week, holding them to 10 points, the Bengals limited the Texans to two field goals from the offense.
Houston did score on a pick-six, but the Cincinnati defense kept Houston out of the end zone.
Getting Rey Maualuga back at linebacker has really helped. He had six tackles against the Texans, but he also had an interception. The Bengals started fast on defense this season, then had a bunch of injuries and faded, but getting healthy has turned the defense back into a good unit. They were without linebacker Vontaze Burfict again this week, but he is expected back in a week or so.
•Even though the Bengals beat the Texans, coach Marvin Lewis got away with a bad decision. Leading 7-0 in the second quarter, the Bengals faced a fourth-and-goal from the 1. Lewis opted to go for it, rather than kicking the field goal to go up 10-0. Andy Dalton missed A.J. Green to end the threat. But the Bengals did get a safety on the next play to help offset it. Even so, it was the wrong decision to pass on the field goal.
•If Bengals right tackle Andre Smith misses a significant length of time with a triceps injury, it would be a huge blow to their offense. Marshall Newhouse, who replaced him and has started in his place for injury at times this season, isn't close to being in the same class. In fact, he's been bad.
•The Jaguars aren't getting much from rookie quarterback Blake Bortles, but the idea that he should sit or is a bust is way too premature. Bortles seems to be pressing and he threw a pick on his first throw against the Colts, and never seemed to look comfortable.
But Bortles' offensive line is bad. Two of his top three receivers are rookies and he is struggling along with them.
Bortles needs the next five games to prepare for 2015. Sitting him makes no sense. And this idea that he is a bust is stupidity. Let him play it out. I will say that he needs to quit pressing. He completed just one pass that traveled longer than 10 yards against the Colts. That shows he isn't taking the shots and/or he isn't getting the time. His receivers also didn't win.
•Oakland running back Latavius Murray had four carries for 112 yards and two scores last week against the Chiefs. He had a 90-yard run before leaving with a concussion. Murray was a sixth-round pick in 2013, once again proving the theory that you can find backs anywhere.
•The Falcons will take some heat for the way they handled the end of their loss to the Browns. The Falcons called timeout before a third-and-2 play with 55 seconds left.
That was strange. But then they threw the ball deep on third down, and the incomplete pass stopped the clock. They then went ahead when Matt Bryant kicked a 53-yard field goal.
But with three timeouts and 44 seconds left in the game, the Browns were able to drive the football to the game-winning field goal on the final play. Without that extra timeout, maybe they don't.
PS: Mike Pettine almost blew it at the end by calling his last timeout after a first down with 16 seconds left. Why not spike and save the timeout? He got away with it, but that strategy was way too risky.
•So much for the idea that Browns receiver Josh Gordon would be limited in his first games back after suspension. He played 51 of 74 snaps and was targeted 16 times with eight catches for 120 yards, including a big one on the final drive. Even when Brian Hoyer threw his two bad picks in the fourth quarter, he was targeting Gordon.
•The Chiefs don’t throw the ball well enough to their receivers to win a Super Bowl. They had seven catches by their receivers in the loss to the Raiders. They still don't have a touchdown catch by a receiver. Ouch.
•Patriots running back Jonas Gray did not play a snap after being late for meetings Friday morning. Gray rushed for 201 yards and scored four touchdowns last Sunday against the Colts, but didn't get one carry against the Lions. Don't cross Bill Belichick.
•Anquan Boldin might be the toughest receiver in the league. Did you see the catch he made late in the 49ers' victory over the Redskins? He took a huge shot as well. The guy is a baller.
How the hell did Anquan Boldin keep running after this H2H hit by Ryan Clark?! pic.twitter.com/sJLLadauhS
— Eric Kay (@ekaycbs) November 24, 2014
•The Eagles have to be thrilled with the pass rush they are getting from Connor Barwin. He has 12.5 sacks, a career high, getting two against the Titans Sunday. Barwin.
•The Bears looked lifeless on offense in the first half against Tampa Bay. They had three first downs. Jay Cutler said the coaches and players challenged each other to be better at halftime. So that's all it takes?
•Odell Beckham Jr. will be a star receiver for the Giants, but he won't have a better catch than the one-handed catch he had against the Cowboys Sunday night for a touchdown. But let's not get carried away. That catch wasn't better or close to being bigger than the one David Tyree made in the first of the Giants two Super Bowl victories over the Patriots.
>> More Week 12 review: Team-by-team grades
