NFL Week Eight Takeaways
Patrick Mahomes Flu Game Didn't Go Quite As Jordan-esque As Some Major Story Lines Would Hope, He Actually Played Like A Regular Human—Not The Cybernectic Giant We Think Of Mahomes— Under The Weather and The Influence Of The “Altitude”. Regardless, One Win Shouldn't Holt The Broncos From Breaking Their Failed Edifice Of A Roster, Even If The Win Breaks A 16 Game Losing Streak To One Guy. The Dolphins Take Back the AFC East Lead By Running Away With A Win Against The Patriots, Who Also A Stone Monument Of Ineptitude To Glare Over At The Trade Deadline. Panthers Rookie Quarterback And Number One Pick Bryce Young Nabbed His First Win Against Long Time Rival And A Guy He's Forever(They're Both Attached) CJ Stroud In A Low Scoring Bout; A Game That Played Out As Defensive Struggle Featuring Some Poor Offensive Execution.
Denver Vs. Kansas City
A Few Years Ago, The Chiefs Had a Historically Poor Defense Under Steve Spaganola. In an article For The Ringer, Ben Solak shares these Facts On The 2019 Chiefs: "… [The Chiefs]allowing the most yards per drive in the league, the highest third-down conversion percentage (by almost ten percentage points!), and the second-most points per game. "
Historically Bad Defenses Come Around Quite Frequently— Check The Broncos— but That Chiefs Defense Rumbled Into The Playoffs Tethered To An Imposing Patrick Mahomes Lead Offense. Bad NFL Defenses Usually Level Off As The Season Progresses; The Opponents Change And The Historic Levels Regulate. That Chiefs's Defense Got Blasted By Josh Allen And The Bills In The Divisional Round And Lost To Joe Burrow And The Bengals In The Conference Final. Thus Far This Season, The Chiefs Stand As The Only Team Top Five In Offensive Rating And Defensive Rating According To NFL FPI, And The Defense Had To Meet The Offenses Level This Season. Each NFL Team Treats The Chiefs Like A Super Bowl. "You Get Every Team's Best Shot," said Offensive Line Coach Andy Weck. "The Top Feels So Much Better Than The Bottom I Hear 50 Cent Shouted In His Video For Window. The Top Of Rap's Elite Maybe Makes You Untouchable, But The Top Of Football Makes You Hunter And More Hunted. The Team Has Invested Back To Back First Round Pick On The Defensive Side Of The Ball, Trent McDuffie, Who Ranks top 15 Amongst Corners In Coverage Grade, and George Kalaftis, This Season's First Round Pick, Who Ranks Seventh In Total Pressures.
If The Broncos Do Indeed Move Forward With Wholesale Clearing Of The Roster, and They Should Move Forward, Whoever Grabs Courtland Sutton From The Woeful Denver Offenss Will Get a "Gem ." Sutton Rides Under Under The Radar In The League Because The Media Desire To Write On Everything Wrong In Denver, But Sutton RAnks 11th Amongst Receivers In The NFL In Getting Open, According To ESPN When He's Not Open His 6'3 Plus Frame Always Create Room For Contested Catches. Last Time The Broncos And Sutton faced the Chiefs, Sutton Came Down With An Impressive one-handed 11-yard pass from Russell Wilson, All The Offense The Broncos Produced. Cortland Sutton Caught A Couple Of Brilliant Catches On His Away to Helping The Broncos To This Big Win. Sutton Caught Two Catches For 29 Yards, But Those Two Balls Generated A Touchdown and A Third Down Conversion.
The Broncos Have Never Beaten The Chiefs, led by Patrick Mahomes, The League MVP. He's 16-0 Heading Into Sunday. The Least Likely Broncos Team In The History Of Franchise Took Home The Win on Freezing Cold Day In Denver. The Denver Defense, the Maligned Denver Defense, Got A Field Boost From The Wind Chill And High Altitude, forcing the Chiefs To Lose Three 3 Fumbles And Pick Off Patrick Mahomes Twice(2). Everybody Suffers A Bad Game So Often, And Neither Offenss Would Win A "Hugo Boss Award" For Artistry And Delivery. Just Like Any Driver With A Car Stuck In Sand Or Snow, The Chiefs Decided To Press More Gas To Get The Offense Of The Ground. The Chiefs Started The Game, Running The Ball And passing short; Isiah Pacheco Got The Tires Moving On The Ground After The Chiefs Got Down Seven, And The Offense Still Felt Stuck. The Chiefs get On The Board With A Field Goal After a 12-play 71-yard drive That Started With An Explosive 44-yard by Isiah Pacheco, But Multiple Negative Plays Marked The Drive Down In The Red Zone. The Chiefs Wouldn't Get A Chance To Build On The Positive Momentum Of That Drive. The Offense Would Turnovers On Three Of Their Next Four Possessions, Including A Fumble Three Plays Into The Next Drive, Which The Broncos Turned Into A Touchdown And A 14-3 Lead; Patrick Mahomes Threw An Interception One Drive Later. By The Time Patrick Threw His Next Interception, A Prayer And A Pick By Justin Simmons At The End Of The Game, With The Chiefs Down 24–9, All Hope Had Stood Still. Mahomes Finished 24/38 For 241, No Touchdowns and Two Interceptions. The MVP front Runner Took 3 Sacks, Two Of Which Came On The Final Drive, And marked the Dubious End To The Chiefs Stuffy Day. The Chief's Protection Didnt Break Down So Much As Mahomes Invited Pressure To Break Through On Multiple Occasions, Including The Final Last Dutch Interception.
The Chiefs Running Fell To The Side after The Broncos Took A Two Score Lead. After Pacheco's 44 Yards, The Chiefs Only Earned 12( A Couple Of Negative Runs Brought The Average Down). The Broncos' Defense Held Mahomes to Just 6.2 Yards Per Pass, And With Every Piece Of Pressure Or Miss Read From Mahomes The Denver Defense Let Mahomes Know. Mahomes Struggled With The Flu, Which He Acknowledged After The Game. "Wasn't Good Enough. The Turnovers …But They Did A Good Job With Their Defense Against Us."
"Defensive We Did A Fantastic Job." Sean Payton Said After The Game. The Chiefs Didn't Score any Second Half Points, And Even though they Drove The Ball, The Broncos Responded By Holding Down The Position.
The Broncos Offense Didn't Have To Do Much Here. Turnovers Put Russell Wilson In Several Advantageous Field Positions. The Broncos Finished 3/5 In The Red Zone, While The Chiefs Finished 0-3 On Their Attempts. The Broncos Offense Only Averaged 3.7 Yards Per Play, But The Run Game For Denver Converted 10 First Down, Picked Up 153 Yards On The Ground, and 40 Carries. Javonte Williams Finished With 27 Carries For 85 Yards To Lead The Team. Jaleel McLaughlin 4 Carries For 33 Yards, But The Chiefs's Defense Held Broncos Runners To 3.8 A Carry.
The Chiefs Defense Sacked Wilson 6 Times—Broncos Receivers Split Just 12 Receptions, Jerry Jeudy Caught two Passes For 50 Yards.
What Can We Glean From This Game? Not Much, The Chiefs Will Continue To Dominate Most Opponents, But Sunday Need to Flex In Their Favor. The Broncos Get A Big Win Over A Rival, And With Temperature Changing, Denver's Defense Can Find Redemption In Slowing Team Under The Gravity Of The Mile High Altitude.
San Fransisco Vs. Cincinnati
The Niners Versus The Bengals Game, Should've Gotten Flexed To Sunday Night Instead Of Bears Vs. Chargers. The Matchup Of Two Conference Champions Has Cataclysmic Vibes. One Game Means Almost Everything For Each Team, The Entirior Multiverse Resides On This Game For These Teams, "Crisis On Infinite Earths" Style. Even Though The Bengals Have Pulled Even On The Record Board At 4-4, And They've Looked Better Offensively Along The way, Zach Taylor's Team Can't Lose Foot In The AFC North Because, From The Evidence, Whichever One Of The North's Teams Lose This Week Fall To The Bottom of Divisions Hierarchy. Burrow Right Now Ranks 29th In Quarterback EPA+CPOE Composite, And The Bengals Own The Lowest Odds In The Division To Make The Playoffs; ESPN's Metrics Pegs Them Under 20% The Rest Of The Division Holds Positions Over 50%.
The Bengals Rise Again, Joe Burrow And The Offense Prove You Can't Count Them, Not Matter What The Medical Report States. Burrow Looked Fantastic Today. Too Many Of The Bengals' Previous Four Victories Have Come As A Result Of The Defense And Seldom The Offense Playing Up To Previous Standards. Against The Niners Burrow Came Out In Full Force. If The Niner Defense Has any Vulnerabilities, The Secondary And Burrow Hit The The Mark. In The Passing Game, Burrow Went 14/16 In The Intermediate Area For 203 Yards. Next Gen Stats Charted Burrow as 8/9 on Passes Of 10+ air yards, 133 yards, and 2 TDs. The Bengals Cane Out Shooting, Eight Of The Bengals Ten Play 85 Yard Drive That Ended In A Touchdown Feature Joe Burrow Passing The Ball.
Burrow Escaped Some Tight, Crucial Pressure In The Pocket All Throughout The Game. None More Special Than Early In The Team's First Drive. I'm Sure One of The Niners Pass Rushers Had Burrow Snagged In The Pocket On the Third Of The First Drive. Instead, Burrow Turned Houdini Got Away From Pressure, A Delivered A Strike To Wide Receiver Tee Higgins For A First Down. For Moments Of The Game, Joe Burrow looks like The Kid Playing Pick Up Football On The Football Field. The Bengals Offense Rolls The Niners. Burrow Finished 28/32(87.5%) For 283 Yards, 8.3 Yards Per Attempt, 9.5 Yards A Completion, Three Touchdowns In An Absolute Clinical Performance. Throughout The Game, Burrow Demonstrated His Steady Joe Cool, Calm, and Equivocal Demeanour. Sometimes, You Want A More Demonstrative Demeanor From A Super Bowl Contending Quarterback; At That's Where Burrow Has The Bengals After This Big Win. Burrow Ran 6 Times For 43 Yards And Got Sacked Three Times, He Connected With 8 Wide Receivers. Jamar Chase Caught 10 Passes For 100 Yards And One Touchdown. Tee Higgins Added 5 Catches For 69 Yards.
For The Niners, Brock Purdy played A Good Game with The Eyes Of The Football World Trained On Him After The Mayhem Against Minnesota When Purdy Threw two picks. He Couldn't Clean Up The Interceptions, He Threw Two Again, But He Threw For 368 Yards. Just 22 Passes, 15.8 Per Completion, and 8.8 Air Yards Per Completion. Purdy Added 57 Yards On The Ground to Bring His Scrimmage Yards To 425 Yards Of offense, But He Accounted For Three Turnovers. "that's The NFL; You're Not Going To blow Teams Out Every Week." Purdy Said, "We Have to Finish Drives."
One Of Purdy's Interceptions Counts As An Impressive Play By The Defense.
Christian McCaffrey Catches and Holds On To Virtually Any Ball Put In The Vicinity Of His Catch Radius. George Kittle And Brandon Aiyuk had Monster Games. Kittle Caught 9 Balls For 149 Yards. Purdy Broke Convention By Throwing Across His Body Multiple Times, But Kittle Didn't Let His Guy Down.
Kittle Just Dominated His Matchup All Game. Aiyuk Won His Matchup, And Purdy Well Took His Share Of The Middle Of The Field.
The Niners Just Got Popped In This Matchup "I Thought Our Tackling Was Sloppy Today. We Gotta Take That. We Didn't Olay Well, And that Team Beat Us"
Falcons Vs. Titans
If You're Playing In Tennessee These Days, Maybe You Feel A Bit Written Off. Everything The Titans Don't Have Bolted To Ground Will Go Up For Sale At Next Week's Trade Deadline. Star Wide Receiver De'Andre Hopkins, Whose Name Has Floated Around In Trade Rumors All Week, Took To Social Media After A Three Touchdown Performance To Remind Everyone Why Teams Held A Bidding War For His Services. "I Feel Like Geno," Hopkins Declare, Speaking On Nature Of Getting Written Off In The NFL; More like Falling Off Fir Hopkins Whose Suffered From Up And Down Play This Season Primarily Because Of Inconsistent Quarterback Play. Hopkins Grabbed Three Touchdowns With A Fresh Arm Passing Him The Ball.
Without Starter Quarterback, The Titans usher In Will Levis Ear, Who, Despite Just Notching His First Start, Plaudits Had Written Levis off. In The Off-season, Levis Couldn't Beat Out the Previous Back, Malik Willis, and Willis Has Looked Atrocious In Playing Time Thus Far This Season. When You Watch Levis Play, The First Thing That Stands Out About Him, Levis's Arm Talent. The Former Kentucky Product Easily Slings The Ball 40 Plus yards All Over The Field. Levis Completed Three Touchdown Passes That Traveled Well Over 40 Yards Into The Endzone, And Pressure Or Coverage Didnt Deter Him. The First One, He Located De'Andre Hopkins Along The Sideline For 47 Yards. Levis Then Swept The Ball Into The Air As Pressure Barreled Down On Him. The Ball Hung for Almost An Eternity; Levis Takes Airing Things Out To The Fourth Dimension Before The Landing In The Hands Of Westbrook-Ikhine For 33 Yards(55.2 Air Yards ). Levis Again Link With Hopkins For 61 Yards. All Three Of Levis's Touchdowns Ranked In The Top Ten Of Most Air Yards Passing Touchdowns This Season. If Anything About Levis's Game Stood Out His Arm Strength. He Never Player Shy About The Canon Leading Up To The Draft, And Levi's Showed His Prowess Today. The Rookie Finished 19/29 For 238 Passing Yards, Four Touchdowns, 11.5 Intended Air Yards, and A Passer Rating of 130.5. Hopkins Beat Up The Falcons's Secondary. Never Known As A "Burner," But Hopkins Got Over And passed the AJ Terrell And The Rest Of The Falcons Coverage For A Big Touchdowns; The First Touchdown, A Vintage Hopkins Quick Slant Over The Middle.
The Titans's Offense Dawning and Their Throwback Oilers Jerseys Never Looked Better. The Titans Still Punted The Ball A Lot, So General Success Didn't Render Too Positively In Their Favor. "The Opportunities To Move The Ball Down Field We're There And We Hit Them." Coach Mike Vrabel Said After The Game. "We can Build Off Of A Win... I'm Excited that We Throw Some Passing Touchdowns." Before Levi's, The Titans Had Three(3) Passing Touchdowns Total One By Derrick Henry. Levi's Produced Four In One Performance. "I've Been Dreaming Of This Moment My Whole Life." Will Levi's Said.
Henry Also Found His Name Drag Through The Trade Rumor Mill, "At The End of the day, I'm A Grown Man With A Job To Do," Derrick Henry Said, "I'm Going To Come In Here And Do My Job."
He Showed He's Still Got The Prowess, 22 Carries For 101 Rushing Yards.
The Falcons's Offense Flying High Came Down To Earth. Desmond Ridder Continued His War Against Ball Security. Midway Through The Second Quarter, With The Falcons Needed Any Pulse Of Offense, Ridder Fumbled After Getting Sacks. On The Ensuing Drive, The Falcons Score A Touchdown To Lift The Score 14-3. Ridder Took Five Sacks; The Falcons Offense Went 0/4 On Third Down Before He Finished 8/12 For 71 Passing Yards. The Falcons Ultimately Converted 4/15 On Third Down. Taylor Heinicke Took A Bite Of The Falcons Offensive' Apple' In The Second Half, Arthur Smith Had Scene Enough Of Desmond Ridder By That Point. Heinicke Finished 12/21 with 175 touchdowns and a 100.3 Rating. He led the Falcons To 20 Points in the second half—the Falcons Remembered Rush Bijan Robinson Today After His Non-Injury Related Underuse Last Week. Robinson Finished With 11 Carries For 62 Yards, 5.2 A Carry With One Touchdown.
The Titans Pull Away With This One, But The Door To The South Looks Closed, With Jags Running Away With The Victory. Every Victory Count In The NFL, And The Titans Got A Good Look At Their Future, A Guy Every Faulted For Trading Up For In Last Year's Draft. The Trouble Starts With How This Victory Pushes The Titans In Neutral. If They Hesitate To go ahead With A Full Breakdown, Then They Lose The Opportunity To Recoup Draft Capital For Productive Players, And If The Texans Fail To Win Another Game, they earn a Censure. A Loss Would've Put Tennessee Squarely On The Sale Side Of The Decision Board Now, The Team Must Resist The Temptation To Make Competitive Moves With Aged Roster. The Falcons Still possess Their Lead Over The NFC Side Of The South, But That Division's Has A Foundation On Shaky Ground. No One Team In The South Has Looked Better Than The Other, and They All Turn The Ball Over at A High Clip. Don't Look Now, But The Panthers Napped Their First Win.
Browns Vs. Seahawks
These Past Few Weeks, The Browns Have Notched A Few Harrowing Victories, None Greater Than Handing The Niners Their First Loss And Outlasting The Colts, Controversially, Last Week In An Expected High Scoring 39-38 Knock Off. However, The Drama With The Score Feels Less Pertinent Compared To The Drama With Deshaun Watson—At At least For Every One Outside Of Indianapolis. Watson Attracted The Command Of The Critics Microscope As A Result Of a Lingering Shoulder Injury. Shoulder Injuries In Football Feel General, But When You're Getting 230 Million Dollars In Total Salary, And Your Coach Holds You Out Of Game A Played Your Back Up Who Graded Atrociously He Week Prior, The Evidence Suggest Something Far More Dubious. Deshaun Watson Will Sit Out Again, And Brown Hit The Right Button By Shutting The Starter Down, Not Just For Deshaun, The Quarterback, But Deshaun, The Man. "This is what I've been doing since I was six. So why wouldn't I want to play?" Watson said. "I see the same things. I see all the narratives: this, that, and the third. All this stuff is just trying to cause controversy and commotion. I'm fine. I'm happy. Not happy with the injury, but I'm in a great space mentally, I'm in a great space spiritually."
I Hate To Say It, But Right Now, Deshaun's A Liability, On And Off The Field. The Browns Lean In On Their Defense, Which Comes Into Week 8 Coming Off Of The worst game Play In Terms Of Offensive YARDAGE Surrendered And Points Scored Against But Also, Primarily Thanks To Myles Garrett, Generated Most Of The Team's Scoring. From Embattled Quarterback to Another. Geno Smith Doesn't Face The Same Battles As Deshaun. Truthfully, No One Faces The Same Battles As Deshaun, But The Seahawks Haven't Lived Up To Expectations. Geno Smith Gave Us A Surprise Last Season In The Way He Performed. Like An Author Whose Book You Didn't Expect Would, Enthrall Geno Re-Wrote His Entire Career In One Season. So Far This Year He's Better Than Average, But With The Talent Of The Seahawks, The Offense Has The Potential To Chase The Dolphins In Production. Geno Has His Completion Percentage Back Up Above 72.9% And Ranks Second In CPOE. I Felt Torn Watching This Game Because This Season, I want To Witness Both Of These teams succeed, But Watching Those Vintage Geno Plays On Seattle's First Two Drives. Geno Delivered Multiple Big Play Throws To The Sideline. Kenneth Walker Broke Off A Big Run, Skipping Over Brown's Defender Shooting The Gap. Smith Navigated The Pocket Like A Captain At Sea. Even As The Brown's Defense Help Pull The Seahawks Down From A Two Score Lead 17-7. The Browns' Secondary Pick Off Geno Twice But Struggling With And Playing A Lot Of Zone, Opened Up The Short Corner Game Where Seattle Expose Them Late In The Game. Geno Notched 130 Plus Passing Yards In The First Quarter.
PJ Walker Made Some Good Throws. His Touchdown Connection With David Njoku, Where Rolling Over A Defender Helped Him Break The Endzone. Walker Hit Another Big Throw Down Field To Amari Cooper To Set Tye Browns Up In The Endzone. Ultimately, Walker Never Got A Handle On The Passing Game, Just 15/31 Passing The Ball with a success rate Of 39.2%. Njoku Had A Big Game, 4 Catches For 77 Yards. I also Had A Confusing Force Fumble On An Interception That Looked Like The Most Interesting Play In Football but later Overturned. Amari Cooper Caught 6 Passes For 89 Yards.
Geno Finished The Game 23/37 254 Two Touchdowns And Two Picks. On The First Touchdown, He Stared Down His Target, DK Metcalf, Too Long. Smith Targeted Metcalf 14 Times, And The Brown's Keyed On That Connection. The Other Pick is a Tipped Ball On A Forced Throw Over The Middle. Despite A Rough, Uneven Start To The Season, The Seahawks Own First Place In The NFC West Outright. Every Pegged Them
for A Wild Card Spot, Now They Have The Division If Briefly. With all The Downfield Strikes And One Pass, That Nearly Cost Seattle The Game, Geno Connected With Jaxson Smith-Njigba To Finish The Game.
The AFC North And No One Else In Football Will Feel Bad For The Browns, Having Lost Deshaun Watson And Possibly PlaYoff Position. Walker's Late Interceptions Bounced Off Of The Head Of Jamal Adams And Into The Hands Of Safety Julian Love.
Those Wide -Zone Runs Need to Result in The Same Effectiveness With Kareem Hunt And Jerome Ford As With Nick Chubb. The Browns's Found Success Rush Through The Middle— The Seahawks Traded For A Big Defensive Tackle After The Game— And The Browns Rushes PJ Walker With some Success. Maybe The Brown Lost Of Deshaun Watson Proved They Need Him More Than Anyone Cares To Admit.
Texans Vs. Panthers
Initially, I thought the Texans Played Their Cards Wrong When They Teaded Up And Traded A Future First Round Pick To Move Up From 12 To 3 To Draft Will Anderson, Quickening Their Rebuild At The Expense Of Volatile Commodity Like A Draft. A First Round Has the Intrinsic Value Of A Heist, But First Round Could Outcome To Anything. Teams Could Get A Corey Coleman Or A Tavon Austin Or, On The Right Side, A Justin Jefferson. So Far, Anderson Has Played Top Shelf. CJ Stroud Continues To Exceed Even The Wildest Expectations Anyone Projected For Him. Stroud Ranks Dead Last In Bad Throw Percentage According To Pro Football Reference. With A Healthy Finish To The Season, Stroud Captures Rookie Of The Year Honors Going Away, Sam La Porta And Bijan Look Like His Toughest Competition, But I Don't For-see Them Catching Up To Stroud. He Throws A Tough Ball, Often Low And Away, Which Puts His Receivers Out Of A Comfort Spot And Leads To A Lot Of Difficult Catches But Low Turnovers Hard For DBs To Pick Him Off. His Bad Balls Also Explain His Low EPA/CPOE Composite Score, Which Ranks Stroud The 17th-best quarterback Under Sam Howell And Baker Mayfield. The Stats Piece Together As He's Getting "Fortunate" Windows From Poor Defensive Coverage, And As The Season Progresses And More Tape On Stroud Exposes His Cues A Rookie Wall Could Loom For Him Shortly. Stroud Only Completed 59.6% Of His Passes, 1660 Yards, 9 Touchdowns, One Interception, and 189 Completions Before His First Interceptions.
"It's every day. Guys Want To Be Here. We want To work Hard," CJ Stroud Said. "We feel we right In The Race… A Lot Left in The Tank." Stroud Panthers To Face The 0-6 And His Former Rival For The Number One Pick And His Friend Bryce Young. "It's Close. That's My Brother" Stroud "Always Rooting For Him." Stroud Has Fallen On The Wrong End Of A Few Of Bryce's Best Performances; On the "S2 Cognition test," Which Measure Athletic Cognitive Ability, Bryce Ran away With The Best Score And The Number One Pick Partly Because Of Young Higher Than Every Other Quarterback(Not That Stroud Would Complain); Bryce Also Out-dueled Stroud In Youth Football Stroud Recalled In Thursday's Press Conference. In The AFC Playoff Picture, A Team Like The Texans Can't Lose To The Panthers Because A Loss effectively knocks A Promising Team Out Of The Playoffs. Bryce Young Put Together His Best Performance And Performance With The Least Infractions, 24/31 For 235 And One Touchdown.
Both Teams Offenses Dragged This Game Out. Stroud Didn't Play Peak Form, And The Texans Needed A Full 17 Play 92 Yard Drive To Put The First Touchdown On The Board In The Game.
The Panthers' First Touchdown Ended On A Failed Extra Point Attempt That Ultimately Proved Advantageous. They tacked on Two More Field Goals In The Second Half, Forcing Houston To Attempt A Two Point Conversion On Their Next Touchdown Drive, Which failed, Leaving The Score Set At 13-12 With One Drive Left For The Panthers. Bryce Young And The Offense ate up 6 Plus Minutes On A 12 Play 86 Yard Drive That Included Some Massive Third and Fourth Conversions, One On A Field Goal Attempt, An Unnecessary Roughness Penalty Call, That Put The Game Winning Field Goal In The Automatics Range Rather Than The Semi-Automatic Range. The Panthers Couldn't Finish The Season Winless, Nobody Involved Wanted To See Them Lose And Lose Their Draft Pick. However, They're Still A Bad Team Standing Front Row With Tye Cardinals For The Number One Pick Right There With The Cardinals. Bryce Took Six Sacks On The Game, So The Protection and His Awareness Of The Protection Still Needs Improvement By Leaps And Bounds.
Witnessing The Gradually Improve. The Texans will Most Likely Stay Competitive. I Don't Think One Average Game Spoils CJ Strouds' Impressive Rookie Year, But They're Still A Few Pieces, Especially In Offensive Weaponry Department. The Texans should continue to compete, but
not too hard. Right Now, CJ Needs A Number One Guy.
Vikings Vs. Packers
Kirk Cousins And The Vikings Channeled Their Inner Hon Solo Son Monday Night; "Don't Tell Me The Odds." I Imagined Captain Kirk Enunciating. The Vikings Entered Monday Night With Their Season On The Line Against A Niners Team With An 80% Win Probability In San Fransisco's Favor And The Vikings Season. Still, Instead, The Vikings Played The Best Of The Season, And I Didn't Check Their Playoff Odds before The Game, But The Win For The Briefest Moment Put The Vikings Back In The Picture. The Offense Still Has a lot of work ahead. Turnovers Continue To Pile Up. That Interception On Kirk's Pass Targeting Jordan That Cardavius Ward Stole Falls On Kirk, He Stares Down Addison Almost "Lasciviously" With Intentional Desire.
Kirk Did A Phenomenal Job Of Avoiding The Niners' Pressure. If Any Idea Of The Vikes Moving On From The Captain, That Performance Erased The Message: The Vikes Won't Trade Cousins. I Still Think The Vikings Need To Reach Into The Trade Market And Grab Another Guy. I Don't Think KJ Osborn Has The Cuts To Play Number Two Behind Behind Jordan Addison. A Guy Like Terrence Marshall From Carolina Can Add Size To A Very Small Group Of Receivers. I Thought Addison Showed He Can Step Up And Play Number One With Justin Jefferson Out. Addison Repaid Chardavius Ward By Stealing An Interception And Returning The Pass For A Touchdown. Honestly, I don't think Justin Jefferson makes that play. Jefferson, In That Situation, Let's The Ball Go Instead Of Reaching Back And Playing Hardball. Jefferson Doesn't Have That "Great" History With Wrestling Balls Away From Opponents With How Easily He Gets Open. In That Situation with Ward, I See Jefferson Pouting Over A Poorly Thrown Ball. Addison Grab Another Impressive Touchdown Later, But The Vikings Shouldn't Let This Performance Dupe Them Into Thinking About Moving On From Jefferson Or Not Offering The Franchise Wide Receivers League Level Changing Money. Jefferson Hasn't Played In Two Games, But He's still ranked in the top 20 in Receptions and Targets and Top 10 in the Yards. The Vikings Have Better Than 50% Odds To Make The Playoffs After The Rams Lost Open Up More Romo In The Wid Card Range. Facing The Packers, Kirk Cousins Needs To Channel His Inner Aaron Rodgers And State Now That He Will Not Only Make The Playoffs But Run The Table In The Process.
Cousins Won't Make That Promise This Season Or Any Others—I Mean He Can Still Make Promises But He Can't Deliver. In The Middle Of A Great Game For Cousins, Over 200 Better Than 75% Passing Efficiency And Two Touchdowns With The Vikings Driving Against A Division Rival With a Three Score Lead In Sight, Cousins Tears His Achilles On A Routine Sack Play. Not One Packers Player Landed On Him. Cousins Just Stepped Awkwardly, Went Down, and The Medical Staff Ruled Him Out. "Excited About Our Team's Performance." Coach Kevin O'Connell Said, Solemnly Dwelling On Kirk's Injury In Light Of The Performance. "Thinking Of Kirk." the Vikings Won 24-10. Cam Akers Score His First Rushing Touchdown As A Viking To Go Along With Two Passing Touchdowns From Kirk Cousins. Rookie Backup Jaren Hall Stepped In For Cousins And Turnovers The Ball On His First Drive. "I Thought Jaren Was Incredibly Cool, Calm, And Collected, And We Will Talk About The Best Thing Moving Forward." Kevin O'Connell said. Jordan Addison Notched His Fourth Touchdown In Four Games, To Bring His Total To Seven In Eight Games. Addison Caught 7Passes For 82Yards And A Touchdown And He's Looked A lot More Dynamic Out Of The Shadow Of Justin Jefferson. O'Connell Commended The Execution Of His Wide Receivers And A Packers's Pass Defense That Usually Plays The Vikings Tough. KJ Osborn Stepped Into The Light. after A Few Lackluster Games. The Vikings' Third String Receiver From Last Year led the Vikes In Receiving Yards 8 Catches, For 99 Yards On 10 Targets. "Guys, a Leader Of The Team. Heart and Soul Of The Team." Backup, Jaren Hall Said. The Vikings Defense Sealed The Game With Two Fourth Stops. Hall Finished 3/4 For 23 Yards, Kirk Cousins Finished 23/31 For 274 Passing Yards, 8.8 Per Pass.
Bills Vs Bucs
Josh Allen Doesn't Want This MVP award Because He's Always In Line To Reach Over Mahomes And Snatch The League's Highest Honor Over Patrick Mahomes. Still, He Can't seem To Lead The Bills To Unequivocal Season Of High-Performance That Distinguishes The Bills Amongst Their Peers. How Do Explain Beating The World Class Dolphins But Owning Loss To The Suddenly "Surging" Jets And The Fallen Patriots And Barely Graze By The Giants? I Have No Doubt Allen Can Lead This Team To A Super Bowl, But First, He Needs To Lead Them To Some Consistency. Right Now, The Bills Own The seventh-best odds To Make The Super Bowl According To ESPN's FPI Metric, Which Means Nothing(The Odds, Not The Metrics) But Gives Readers A Good Barometer To Judge The Team's Efforts In Contrast To Other Contenders. Right, The Bills Ranked Top three In points Per Drive(2.73), 3rd In Drive Success Rate, But Confusingly 28th In Turnovers Per Drive(0.16) Near The Bottom Of The League. Allen Has 7 Interceptions Entering Thursday Night, and The Bills Remain An Anomaly. "I Wish I Knew the ExaCt answer," Allen Said, "We'd Have It Fixed By Now" After The Loss To The Patriots.
Josh Allen And The Bills Offense Started Thursday Night By Taking The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Secondary To Task. The Bills Came Out Of The Gate With Five Straight Passing Attempts And Rushed The Ball Just Once On A Ten Play Drive That Stalled In The Red Zone And Ended On A Field. The Stefon Diggs And Josh Allen Connection Gain A Lot of Press This Week Because The Two Make Magic, But They Need To Share. Through Seven Games, Diggs Has Pulled In A Third Of Allen's Targets, And Diggs Catches About 70% Of Those Passes; Allen Opened The Game Getting The Rest Of The Bills Receivers Engage. With Diggs Sure To Draw Top Coverage But A Tampa That Gave Up Big Passing Yards To Jard Goff, Allen Target The Third Receiver On The Depth Kahlil Shakir. Shakir is Far Less Explosive Than His Counterparts, Diggs And Gabe Davis. He's A Possession Receiver. The Bills Drafted A Year Ago WHO Only Saw 9 Targets Until This Game When Allen Targeted Shakir Six Times, Three Times On The First.
Shakir Became the Only Third Bill To Lead The Team In Receiving Yards(92) Outside Of Diggs. Even With The Offense Peddles Churning, The Bills Struggled To Put Points On The Board—the First Drive Stalled in The 20 Yard Line. In the Second Drive, Allen Again Takes Command Of The Shotgun. No Huddle, The Bills Would Drive A Short Field From The 40 Right Down To The Foot Of The End Zone, Then Stall Out After Four Downs. The Passing Attack And Even The Bills Defense Forced A Bucs Punt—The Defense Played Well In This Game Despite Rumors Of Their Demise—Failed Drives Marked This Game For The Bills. The Allen Tipped Interception On The Bills' Side Of The Field Put Tampa In The End zone To Tie The Game 10-10 The Game Felt As Though The Bills Should've Had A Two Score Lead. The Bills Would Generate That Two Score Lead. Josh Allen Would Respond From The Pick With A Touchdown Drive. This Time, A Drive Married Well Between Run And Pass, James Cool Started Getting Involved In The Offense, Breaking Off A Big 18 Yard Run To Set The Bills Up In Bucs Territory. Allen Would Conclude The Drive On 3rd And 12 With A 22 Yard Pass. The Bills' Offense Put The Team Ahead 24-10 When Josh Allen hit Gabe On A 4-yard Pass To Cap off A Drive Consisting Of 9 Plays, 75 Yard Coming Out Of The Half Early In The Third Quarter. The Bills Wouldn't Score Again Or Gain More Than Fifty Yards And Enter The End Zone. The Bills Defense Written Off Because Of Injury Held The Bucs' Offense In Clamps. Even With A Ditch Hail Mary, That Could've Won The Bucs The Game, Baker Mayfield Needed Nearly 50 Back To Throw For Less Than 250 Passing Yards. The Bucs Offense Scored 18, Which Didn't Suffice, But One Of Those Touchdowns Came After The Bills Turned The Ball Over, and The Bucs Sat Right At THe FOOT Of The Endzone. The Check Down Served As The Most Effective Element Of The Bucs' Offense. Rachaad White Leads a Team That Includes Wide Receivers, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. The Running Back Faced The Most Targets, Catches, and Yards. Evans Had an Anonymous Impact On The Game Just Two Catches For The Franchise's Leader In All Receiving Categories. Evan's Touchdown Pull The Bucs into A One Score Game After A Long Drive In Which The team Tug Of War On One Possession For The Fate Of This Game.
The Buccaneers Defense Holds Up Well Against The Bills Offense Coming Into The Game With "Bad Intentions." For This Game To Come Down To A Hail Mary, Chris Godwin Didn't Reach Back. I Think The Bucs Deserved A Pass Interference Call On That Play. However, I watched the Bills Pull Out A Win That They Should've Pulled away But Labored Through To The End. According To Kevin Cole, The Bills Won By 10 On The Adjusted Score, But This Game Felt Like A Blow-Out. The Bucs' Offense Needed A Drive Of 17 Plays and 92 Yards In Distance To Bring The Score Into One Possession Game. A Record Of 5-3 Feels Right For The Bills; Buffalo Has No Excuse For Losses To The Jets and Patriots.
Miami Dolphins Vs. New England Patriots
I Still Believe In The Dolphins as Contenders, Even As The Prevailing Sense That Everyone Wants To Bail Off Of The Band Wagon. The Dolphins Still Posses By The Slightest Margin The Best Offense In Football According To Football DVOA, The Dolphin's Offense Hasn't Passed The Test Against The Two Competitive Teams They've. In Their Five(5) Wins The Dolphins Averaged 40.6 Points, 27 Offensive Touchdowns, and A Total Of 203 Points. In Their Two (2) Losses 18.5, 37 Points. The Dolphins Offense Struggled To Beat The Contains Of The Patriots's Defense. The Similarities Between The Two Teams that Beat The Dolphins, Eagles And Bills, Defensive Personnel That Don't Have To Sacrifice "Bodies" In Coverage To Generate Pass Rush. Thanks To The Eagles Pass Rush Getting Inside The Pocket and Sending Just Four Rushers, The Defense Could Play Bracket Coverage Over The Top That, Even When Ineffective—See Tyreek Hill's 27 Yard Touchdown Catch As Evidence—Doesn't Break Open Consistently And Forces Difficult Throws Which Tua Cant Hit Because He's Used To Guys Flying Open Down Field. Matchups Determine Success In Football. The Bills Have Lost Two Key Pieces To Their Defense.
"It's Important Not To Go Out And Poop The Bed." Tua Said That After, Facetiously, But He Said Those Words Nevertheless. "But We Want To Execute At High." The Dolphins Return to Form, Unfortunately, So Did The Patriots For Brief Moments Of This Game. The Dolphins Ran Away With This One Fast, and Now The Patriots Find Themselves In The Same Spot as Before The Win Over The Bills: A Mediocre Team Unfit To Contend With The Stronger Teams In The Conference. With A Tough Game From Mahomes, Tua Could Reclaim Amongst The MVP Favorites.
