Tom Brady, left, and Peyton Manning may be heading toward another postseason meeting, though their teams seem to be trending in different directions. (Photo: Stew Milne, USA TODAY Sports) Now that you've slept on the scores and digested the stats, here's an in-depth look at Week 16 of the NFL season. Take your time reading it before trying to sort out the NFC playoff picture while you finish up your Christmas shopping. Ten things we learned 1. Richard Sherman isn't as crazy as you thought he was a few weeks ago when the Seattle Seahawks cornerback told USA TODAY Sports that Russell Wilson is "probably a little better than" Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III. Wilson has plenty of work left to overcome the bias against his lack of height and third-round draft status in relation to the top two overall picks, and we're not saying we agree with Sherman just yet, but the point we're making is Sherman's statement isn't as ridiculous as it sounded three weeks ago. In the four games that began with the Seahawks' comeback victory over the Chicago Bears, Wilson's numbers (62.8% completion rate, 204.3 passing yards per game, 51 rushing yards per game, 11 total touchdowns) are better than Griffin's (62%, 201 passing yards per game, four touchdowns, 36 rushing yards per game, four total touchdowns) and Luck's (46.7%, 244.5 passing yards per game, eight total touchdowns). "Russell played like crazy tonight," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said after Sunday's 42-13 win over the San Francisco 49ers. Not just Sunday. Every day for the past four weekends, with one more to come before the votes for offensive rookie of the year are cast. 2. Something isn't quite right about this New England Patriots team. There's no good reason why they should've had to battle back from an early deficit against the Jacksonville Jaguars and then, when they finally woke up, struggle to put that team away. The Pats have had recent blowouts of the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts and New York Jets, which should impress us enough to put a lot of faith in them. But it's these squeakers against the Jags and Miami Dolphins, as well as the early hole they dug in the loss to the 49ers that has us thinking this team is far too inconsistent and slow to make it back to the Super Bowl. 3. Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos have made it look incredibly easy. They have 12 victories, none by less than a touchdown. It's been almost boring for outside observers. "Boring for who?" Manning said at his postgame press conference when the issue was raised. "You bored?" Incredible. This defense continues to pound opponents into the ground, Manning might've stolen a few more votes from Adrian Peterson for comeback player of the year Sunday, the Indianapolis Colts could be a playoff opponent and Manning has a shot to return to the Super Bowl in his hometown, New Orleans. This is all not boring. Not by a long shot. 4. Leslie Frazier has turned in one of the best coaching jobs in the league. (That's our way of saying he should garner some coach of the year consideration without throwing that around too often.) Frazier's team could've easily looked at its final two games — at Houston and home vs. the Green Bay Packers — and said, "Hey, it's just not going to be our year to make the playoffs," and most people would've understood. But Frazier, who reportedly stood up to disgruntled wide receiver Percy Harvin before the team put him on injured reserve, got his guys believing they could take on the Texans and beat the No. 1 seed in the AFC. They did — and without Adrian Peterson doing all the work. Now the tricky part — getting them to believe they can pull off the back end with a playoff-clinching win Sunday over the Packers, who are trying to nail down a bye.
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