It’s your last chance to get caught up on the happenings at PFF before the next slate of games is upon us and our new ‘PFF Week’ posts provide quick access to the week that was. The ‘Out West' edition covers all things pertaining to the AFC and NFC West divisions for a one-stop Saturday shop built to keep you in the loop and on top of your football-watching game.
Week 15 had many intriguing games for a multitude of reasons. Chiefs-Raiders featured one of the greatest fantasy football performances of all-time from Kansas City's Jamaal Charles and his five touchdowns. The Chargers won in a shocker over Denver two Thursdays ago in a game they needed to have for any shot at the playoffs. St. Louis pulled off a similar upset over the Saints and the Cardinals almost blew a late double-digit lead over the Titans but managed to hang on in overtime. Only the Rams and Raiders have been eliminated from playoff contention leaving six West teams alive, making for a lot of meaningful football over these final two weeks.
Week 15 Wrap
The third-to-last week of the season featured incredible efforts by West players like Jamaal Charles and Robert Quinn. Some team's position groups had great days too such as the Cardinals' DL tandem of Calais Campbell and Darnell Dockett and, not surprisingly, the Seahawks' secondary shined against a bad Giants' passing game. Read about all of the notable performances from Week 15 in our ReFocused articles.
ReFo: Chiefs @ Raiders
ReFo: 49ers @ Buccaneers
ReFo: Saints @ Rams
ReFo: Cardinals @ Titans
ReFo: Seahawks @ Giants
ReFo: Chargers @ Broncos
32 Observations shines a light on one player from each team who should make the Pro Bowl including lesser-known names like Anthony Sherman and Tramaine Brock. Secret Superstars does not feature any West players from Week 15. All of our experts are in lock-step with their No. 1 and No. 2 teams being Seattle and Denver in that order in the Power Rankings. Neil Hornsby selects a pair of West players in Arizona's Justin Bethel and Denver's David Bruton to be his Pro Bowl special teams picks in The Third Phase: Pro Bowl Edition.
Keenan Allen is the West's only chance at coming out on top of the Race for Rookie of the Year as he currently resides behind only Sheldon Richardson. Four West defensive players, all from the NFC side, appeared on Week 15's PFF Team of the Week. Patrick Peterson made a rare apperance on the ‘Had a Bad Day' Team of Week 15 as he was torched by Kendall Wright.
Looking Ahead to Week 16
We have two divisional games this weekend with one team in each of the games needing a win to keep the playoffs within reach. Arizona and San Diego are both currently long-shots to make the Final 12 as neither of them control their own destiny. The Chargers need both Baltimore and Miami to lose one or more games while the Cardinals have to hope that the Panthers stumble down the stretch going 0-2. The Broncos and 49ers are heavy favorites against teams who will almost assuredly pick in the Top 5 of the 2014 NFL Draft. Chiefs-Colts is interesting not just because it features two probable playoff teams but also because there's a decent chance that these squads meet again in the first round of the playoffs.
3TFO: Cardinals @ Seahawks
3TFO: Buccaneers @ Rams
3TFO: Falcons @ 49ers
3TFO: Raiders @ Chargers
3TFO: Colts @ Chiefs
3TFO: Broncos @ Texans
Our pickers agree unanimously on nine different games including five West teams in PFF Pick'em.
Additionally…
Matt Claassen has a great two-part piece titled Between the Tackles where he examines inside runs vs. outside runs and which backs excel at each. In Part Two, yards after contact from each type of run are analyzed.
To get a better idea of what's in store with your PFF Premium stats subscription look here, and beyond the grades, our Signature Stats offer another layer of insight.
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