I will gladly admit to not watching a ton of NFL yesterday. Which was probably better for my blood pressure seeing as how TB lost and Indy basically stopped playing at halftime laying over 10.
That said, a few things did jump out to me.
I’m not entirely sure Sam Darnold ever takes another snap in the NFL as a starter. He may not take another one again unless it’s due to an injury. Sort of amazing, btw, if you remember back to that draft which seems like forever ago, but it was only 2018, but there was that whole debate about who would go first, Darnold or Rosen. Then Baker jumped up and Josh Allen jumped ahead of Rosen. Anyway, Rosen is now like third string in Atlanta which is where about where I imagine Darnold will be next year, riding the pine in Indy or wherever.
Both Dallas and Buffalo did what you want good teams to do after a bad loss. That’s the kind of thing you like to see from a team getting ready to make a run. What would make you feel even better is if they did it again next week.
Speaking of which, the wrong team is favored in the KC/Dallas game. Though I think that opened at a PK so it makes me wonder a bit who’s pushing that line. But the wrong team is favored.
It’s interesting to me that the Chargers have essentially no home field advantage. As someone who lived in LA for a long time and always said that town didn’t want an NFL team, you ‘d think I’d feel vindicated, maybe? Something? I don’t though, it’s just weird. Although the Chargers feel like they haven’t had a home in years so maybe that’s it.
Also, maybe it truly is that the only people who want and can afford to go to games any more in towns like LA are the people who are visiting fans who are just going to that one game rather than die hard season ticket holders. I think the Raiders are going to be slightly different here in Vegas simply because you can get a lot of people driving out—and because the Raiders fan base is so much more of the west coast than just LA or Oak. But at this point I wonder if it will take years for the Chargers to really build up a place that’s difficult for others to play.
On the field, yeah, run against the Chargers. All day.
Also, run against Pittsburgh.
Also, Pittsburgh sucks and the only sub-.500 team left on their schedule is at Minnesota.
But speaking of running, we're starting to get into that part of the season where a running game matters. Looking at you, Kansas City.
I love the Browns, those orange pants are a thing of pure majestical beauty, but they’re not healthy and I can’t bet them against good teams. Well, any more. I teased them yesterday which felt incredibly smart for like five minutes. Then, not so much.
Are the Raiders coming apart? Is it really as simple as they no longer have a deep threat which means you can cover Waller better and now Carr doesn’t know what to do?
Also, the wrong team is favored in the Eagles game this week. Which, naturally, means they’re going to win by 10. Or three. Or maybe four. Whatever, point is, Philly shouldn’t be favored. But I’m assuming that line is with Kamara out. Anyway, I feel like this has to move back by game time, although for some reason, the Birds have been getting a ton of betting love. I don’t know if I see it, but what I do see on the field is a team that’s starting to figure it out. Both coaching and at QB, it’s taken some time, but they’re getting there.
The Eagles season win total was, I believe, 6.5. They still have two vs. the Giants, two vs. Washington without Chase Young, and one at the Jets. Gents, this may be an eight win team when it’s all said and done.
Speaking of Washington, great win yesterday. Was I worried about TB being flat, yes. Did I bet them anyway? Yes. So shame on me, I guess. But from what I saw of this game it looked a lot like that Tennessee win over the Rams where the Rams just kept giving Tenny the ball to start the game and score points. Yes, Tampa eventually woke up, but the problem is, their defense still struggles to get stops. Good news for them, apparently DT Vita Vea’s injury isn’t as bad as feared. But this team still needs to get healthy. As for Washington, I sort of keep waiting for them to quit and they keep … not quitting. And now you have Ron Rivera vs. Cam this week? Even without Chase Young, I’ll pass on that game.
As was mentioned above, Green Bay’s defense is good.
Right now, if you have to pick a team in the NFC, it has to be GB and Dallas on top then Arizona, LAR, and TB, right? At least until Arizona gets healthy again.
In the AFC, to me it just looks like’ Buffalo’s to lose. Though I wouldn’t be surprised to see Baltimore make a statement this week to make people think otherwise and, as was also said above, at some point you have to accept that Tenny is more than just Derek Henry.
Also, New England is going to the playoffs. And I’m not sure there’s a team other than Buffalo or Tenny that has any desire to face them.
