Omicron looms over playoff races
Many top teams are missing key players
Quick, who’s your favourite NFL team’s backup quarterback? Or the backup’s backup? Who’s their best pass rushing proxy? Fill-in cover cornerback? What about the substitute snapper or the stand-in blindside protector?
Who is, as coaches like to say, the next man up?
Now’s a good time to get to know the bottom of your roster and even the practice squad.
With COVID-19’s Omicron wave wreaking havoc on rosters and a natural uptick in ailments and injuries from the NFL’s new 17-game schedule, there’s a decent chance your team’s hopes of going far in the playoffs — or even reaching the post-season — will come down to one or more of the men whose uniforms are rarely sullied or even sold in the gift shop on Sundays.
For the Indianapolis Colts, that could be rookie quarterback Sam Ehlinger — who has not thrown a pass this season — after unvaccinated starter Carson Wentz was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list Tuesday.
Plenty of teams were hamstrung in Week 16 while missing key players at key positions.
The Broncos saw their playoff chances dive to less than one per cent with their 17-13 loss at Las Vegas when Albert Okwuegbunam, Jerry Jeudy and Tim Patrick all dropped crucial passes from Drew Lock, their former starter who was making his first start of the season in place of a concussed Teddy Bridgewater.
On Monday, the Dolphins, now 8-7, became the first NFL team to win seven straight after losing seven in a row with a 20-3 win over the Saints, who started rookie QB Ian Book because of a COVID outbreak that took out 16 players, including starting QB Taysom Hill and veteran backup Trevor Siemian.
Tim Boyle started for Detroit, with Jared Goff in COVID-19 protocols. He almost pulled off the upset in Atlanta, but telegraphed his throw to Kalif Raymond in the closing minute and watched Falcons linebacker Foye Oluokun pick off the pass at the Atlanta one, preserving the Falcons’ 20-16 victory.
The Eagles moved into playoff position in the NFC with a 34-10 rout of the New York Giants, who shut down Daniel Jones for the season with a sprained neck, watched Jake Fromm falter in his first NFL start and then saw Mike Glennon throw a pick-six during Philadelphia’s 31-7 second-half surge.
The Ravens, who were running away with the AFC North a month ago, lost their fourth straight game at Cincinnati, where both teams’ QBs made history. Joe Burrow’s franchise record-breaking 525yard passing performance clearly meant something to the Bengals, who took over first place in the AFC North with the 41-21 victory. With Lamar Jackson out with an ankle injury and backup Tyler Huntley on the COVID-19 list, Josh Johnson — signed as a free agent 10 days earlier — started at quarterback for the Ravens, now on the playoff bubble at 8-7.
COVID-19 threw a wrench into the Chargers’ playoff plans in a 41-19 loss to the Texans featuring lineups that looked more like an exhibition game in August than a post-Christmas matchup. The Chargers had more than a dozen players sidelined because of COVID-19, including pass rusher Joey Bosa, running back Austin Ekeler and receiver Mike Williams. The Texans were missing 16 players, including top receiver Brandin Cooks and kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn.
Although other teams overcame absences to win their games, the variant looms ominously as 2021 winds down. Both Kansas City and Buffalo managed to win with a bevy of backups, but the playoffs are fast approaching and teams and fan bases alike can only pray that infections and injuries don’t waylay their championship aspirations.