Jean Fugett’s Week 17 NFL Recap
By Jean Fugett; thanks to Charlie Campbell – @draftcampbell
WalterFootball.com is proud to partner with former Redskins and Cowboys tight end Jean Fugett, Jr. Esq. Fugett grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and attended Amherst College. He was the last pick of the 13th round in the 1972 NFL Draft. Fugett made the Cowboys as a backup to future Hall of Famer Mike Ditka. Fugett eventually became a starter for Tom Landry’s Cowboys and started in Super Bowl X. He made the Pro Bowl in 1977.
As a free agent, Fugett went from being the lowest-paid starting tight end to the highest-paid with the Washington Redskins. While playing for legendary Redskins coach George Allen, Fugett attended law school at George Washington University at night.
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During and after his playing days, Fugett worked with CBS, the Washington Post and other media. He went on to serve as Director and Vice-Chair of the McCall Pattern Company Management Committee, founded a Baltimore law firm and partnered with Fanfone in Europe. After the death of his brother Reginald F. Lewis in 1993, Fugett took over TLC Beatrice International Foods, the largest black-owned and black-managed business in the world at the time. Fugett has served on committees with the NFL Players Association and on the Leadership Council for the American Diabetes Association Maryland Chapter. |
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WalterFootball.com would like to thank Redskins general manager Bruce Allen and senior vice president/executive producer of media Larry Michael for connecting us to Fugett. Now, let’s let Jean take over.
Week 18 NFL Picks
Chiefs -1.5
Saints +3
Bengals -7
49ers -3
Week 17 NFL Recap
If you do not buy into the �Any Given Sunday� NFL maxim that any NFL team can win any game on any Sunday, you should. Today there is true parity in the NFL, and all teams are close to being equal. The betting spreads this season certainly indicated that with a majority of the games seven points or less. Somebody probably has this stat, I believe most of the games this week had three-point spreads or pick �em!
Teams can have advantages that lead to victory. The most obvious and most talked about edge is �home-field advantage�. Will that edge hold up this year or not, like last year with the Ravens winning as road dogs.
Home-field advantage is a big edge because humans are creatures of habit. Half of the games during the season are home games and over a season routines develop, for good and for bad; for the team and for each player. A winning playoff team has developed wining habits from how they practice to what they eat.
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In the playoffs, how does one team dominate another team and win? Teams dominate with play-makers. NFL coaches and general managers look for players who can dominate a game. In the NFL, we know those players as they lead their teams this weekend. Historically, after quarterbacks, defensive linemen have been the most important and most decisive in games and game planning. Scouts look for defensive linemen who must be double-teamed every play. In 1972, I played with the legendary Hall of Fame defensive tackle Bob Lilly. He was that kind of player and definitely the first player of that type I had ever seen. Early in his career, Lilly was getting double-teamed constantly, so Cowboy Head Coach Tom Landry invented the �Flex� defense to protect Lilly. |
Former Redskin and Cowboy tight end Jean Fugett was a Pro Bowler in 1977 and a starter in Super Bowl X. |
In the Flex defense, Hall of Fame defensive tackle Bob Lilly was �flexed� a half yard or so off the line of scrimmage. His being in a flex position made it difficult for the offensive linemen to double-team him. Tom Landry used that defense for many years with the Cowboys. Both Jethro Pugh and Randy White played at times in the flex position.
When an NFL team has a defensive lineman who must be double-teamed, every other player on that defense line has the advantage on every play knowing that they will not be double-teamed.
AFC
The AFC is wide open; in my mind, there is no clear favorite. Sure the home team and higher-seeded teams are favored usually in Vegas, but the fact that Cincinnati is higher seeded than Pittsburgh didn’t have much impact on the Bengals losing by 10 a couple of weeks ago.
In the playoffs, it comes down to two things: 1. how healthy is the team; and 2 how good is the head coach? This year it could be different, but usually the team that is better coached will be victorious.
Denver fans should be worried because Peyton Manning is injured. Manning started the season as close to 100 percent that a player his age could hope for. Now, after 16 games, Manning plays injured. That started midway during the season when he injured his ankle and foot.
Sometimes a quarterback can tape it up and shoot it up, but ankle injuries do not get better while playing on it every week. Even when you take days off from practice, the ankle injury does not heal, especially at Manning�s age. How does any athlete play in cold weather? How does an athlete get his/her body to loosen up at 20-degrees Fahrenheit rather than 70-degrees Fahrenheit? I can assure you playing at extreme temperatures is a lot easier for younger players. We will find out at Green Bay this weekend – and maybe elsewhere – with the weather we are having now.
As a Broncos fan, you hope that Manning can still do what he has done his whole life, and that is, he must do what being a professional requires. Manning must adjust to the current situation quickly and efficiently – as he has done throughout his career – seeking what all pro players seek; a championship performance in each playoff game. The week off should help Manning.
It is hard to come up with the scenario where San Diego will come in and compete with Cincinnati after the Bengals won the AFC North so decisively. Andy Dalton has been criticized, and sometimes you wonder about his decisions, but there is no question about the athletes he has around him. They take a lot of pressure off A.J. Green. This Bengals team was designed to beat the Ravens, Steelers and Browns, and succeded at that this year. Cincinnati will be successful against San Diego, and the Bengals will be a formidable team in the playoffs. (Pick: Bengals -7)
Indianapolis is a tough team to gauge because of the division with Houston and Jacksonville and Tennessee all playing poorly this season. Division games are tough, but it is hard to get a feel for the level of competition the Colts had to face in those six games. (Pick: Chiefs -1.5)
NFC
Whenever San Francisco and Seattle play in the postseason, that will be the NFC Championship assuming the 49ers survive Green Bay.
Green Bay is a team that has a great tradition and, obviously, a great coaching staff. To bring back a former quarterback who failed on three other teams, coach him up and win in Dallas was quite a feat.
New Orleans is really at a disadvantage coming up the east coast and having to play outside against the Eagles. San Francisco is at a disadvantage having to play outside in Green Bay. I think playing in Lambeau Field in December and January is a huge advantage for the Green Bay Packers. The weather could impact the 49ers’ offense. (Pick
There were some surprising firings in the NFC with Greg Schiano and Leslie Frazier. Many thought Schiano would be back, but Schiano alienated his players. I’m not sure that he’ll be a NFL coach a few years from now. The Penn State job could be the best job for him. The Mike Shanahan firing came as no surprise. With Jim Schwartz, it is hard for me to say whether he deserved it.
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Jean Fugett's Week 11 NFL Picks and NFL Week 10 Recap - 11/15
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Jean Fugett's Week 6 NFL Picks and NFL Week 5 Recap - 10/10
Jean Fugett's Week 5 NFL Picks and NFL Week 4 Recap - 9/30
Jean Fugett's Week 3 NFL Picks and NFL Week 2 Recap - 9/19
Jean Fugett's Week 2 NFL Picks and NFL Week 1 Recap - 9/15
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2025 NFL Mock Draft - Dec. 11
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2026 NFL Mock Draft - Nov. 29
Fantasy Football Rankings - Sept. 4
