Ian had a post yesterday about bad teams, which seems relevant after yesterday's games. There was high drama and upset, but also a lot of ugly contests featuring some of those really ugly franchises right now. I understand that NFL players are the best in the world at their craft and even the worst quarterbacks are in the top 40 or so. But man, some of these teams are putting an ugly product on the field these days.
Giants vs. Carolina in Germany: After watching this game, I'm pretty comfortable saying that a year from now, neither Daniel Jones nor Bryce Young will be NFL starters. Just too many missed throws by both guys, and not high-level, tight-window throws, but straightforward completions you need to be able to make. Jones led the tying field goal drive to force overtime, but also threw a pair of red-zone interceptions along the way. Just not good enough. Young, I'm not sure he'll ever make an impact anywhere. I feel bad for Tyrone Tracy, whose fumble on the first play of overtime lost the game for the Giants; unfortunate because he was arguably the only Giant who had a good game. Great game for Chuba Hubbard, who also had a lost fumble (which can be forgiven slightly since it looked like he suffered a major injury on the play, fortunately no) which ultimately didn't matter. I will not be stunned if the Giants finally bench Jones this week.
Patriots at Bears: Yeah so the Bears offense is just terrible right now. I could give them a pass at Washington or Arizona, but New England has been getting clocked by lesser offenses for weeks. Gonna be a new coaching staff developing Caleb Williams (and no I'm not giving him a total pass here either). Keenan Allen the only Bear who salvaged anything in this disaster. New England got its usual from DeMario and Rhamondre (albeit no touchdowns) and Austin Hooper had a bigger game (same number of targets, but) than Hunter Henry.
Bills at Colts: Joe Flacco opened this one by throwing a bad Pick Six. After that the game was fairly competitive, with Flacco hitting some throws and both good and garbage-time production. Josh Downs had a horrific drop of an early touchdown, but rallied with a good PPR day (Adonai Mitchell and Alec Pierce too, Flacco can still deal it, 3 interceptions and all). Dalton Kincaid barely overthrown on a touchdown in this one, then picked up an injury late. Like so many Colts games, they somehow either lose close or win while looking for much of it like they should be blown out.
Vikings at Jaguars: It is hard to understand how Sam Darnold could have the kind of game he had here. He got the win, so yay Vikings, but facing one of the league's worst defenses by almost every measure, he threw 3 interceptions and failed to get the team in the end zone. I believe all 3 were intended for Justin Jefferson, 2 in the end zone. If a team's odds of advancing deep into the playoffs ever looked much worse after a road win, this was it. Aaron Jones carted off due to injury, as seems to happen a lot, but was able to return. Mac Jones was every bit as bad as Darnold, worse actually, with 2 interceptions and a rushing score after a Travis Etienne TD was overruled by replay his lone positive contribution. Game should have been 27-20 if the teams played anything like they've played most of the year, but instead we got this eyesore.
Broncos at Kansas City: Still kind of sick about this one, as Denver did everything to win it except block Kansas City's defensive line on a chip shot field goal at the end. Clutch throws by Bo Nix, clutch red-zone stops, and an impressive drive down to win the game. Just couldn't finish the job. I'm not personally going to blame this one on the refs, maybe there were questionable calls along the way, and hell maybe there was some kind of penalty not called that helped 3 different KC players get between the football and a winning field goal. In any case, Kansas City moves to 9-0 in unlikely fashion, but I gained some respect for Bo Nix and Courtland Sutton et al anyway. And oh yeah, looks like Audric Estime might be the main runner the rest of the way.
Falcons at Saints: I will take the L on this one. I clearly underestimate the bounce the Saints might get in motivation or whatever from their unpopular head coach being fired. But for a long Taysom Hill touchdown being called back, and Alvin Kamara dropping another one late, New Orleans would have won this game easily. (On the other hand, had Younghoe Koo not missed 3 field goals, Atlanta would have won.) The fact that it's journeyman, oft-released veteran Marquez Valdes-Scantling making several big offensive plays for the Saints in the win is just the icing on the cake. Humorous moment when the Falcons got near the goal line and gave the ball to Tyler Allgeier three straight carries to watch him get stuffed. On fourth down they said, eh, maybe we'll give it to that running back we drafted 8th overall 18 months ago? Bijan Robinson scored then and later scored again, but I guess although Falcons coaches change, they still don't like fantasy teams. Very good games also for Drake and Darnell, albeit no touchdowns. Falcons will regret blowing this one, but at least Tampa Bay lost too.
49ers at Bucs: That's back-to-back really tough losses to last year's Super Bowl teams for the Bucs. Had San Francisco not missed 3 field goals, this wouldn't have been quite as close, but they played a strong game coming out of their bye. Good numbers for most players including a great touchdown catch for Kittle and a long one for Ricky Pearsall. Christian McCaffrey didn't score but looked perfectly fine and played throughout in his return. For Tampa Bay, so both running backs are fantasy starters these days, that's different for them. Lousy (statistical) game for Baker Mayfield, but some amazing plays along the way, including a fourth-down conversion on a late field goal drive (unfortunately for him, the Bucs defense is pretty bad covering people these days). They hope to get Mike Evans back soon and the schedule gets easier. Somebody has to win the NFC South.
Steelers at Commanders: Steelers certainly have a knack for winning close games. In this one they were behind by 10 points in the second half yet still came back to win, with Russell Wilson making a couple of unreal throws to his receivers, including the game-winner to Mike Williams (who had kind of a rough past month or so with the Jets). Washington still seemed like they might move into field goal range and win in the final minute, but a fourth-down pass to Zack Ertz was ruled just short. Game of inches. Washington had 3 short rushing touchdowns in this game, making me wish Brian Robinson were healthy, rather than injured and on my bench. Nice games for Pickens and McLaurin.
Titans at Chargers: This was close for a while, with Tennessee scoring the first touchdown and the game being 13-10 in the third quarter. But it's hard to establish momentum and win games when your quarterback is being sacked on a third of his dropbacks over the course of the game (Will Levis took 7 sacks on just 23 attempts). Eventually there was just too much Chargers offense and defense, with Justin Herbert making plays with his arms and his legs. I haven't seen snapcounts yet but it was notable that Gus Edwards has only 5 fewer carries (15-10) than J.K. Dobbins, and for 5 more yards. That wasn't late production, it was a tandem all along. Titans got 2 TDs from Calvin Ridley including one deep into garbage-time; Ridley has sure been mercurial the past couple of years. Hard to bet on him (ba-Dum-bump).
Jets at Cardinals: Some great games in the late window yesterday. This was never close, with Arizona doing whatever it wanted and the Jets doing absolutely nothing. Time to take the Cardinals seriously, both on offense and defense. They've now won 5 of 6, and are 2-0 against the NFC West. The Jets...well, it doesn't seem like firing Robert Saleh or bringing in Davante Adams or shipping off Mike Williams has altered anything in a positive way. Even talented guys like Breece Hall aren't helping teams much these days. We're just a week removed from the passing game putting up strong numbers against Houston, so it's not over. This team could still win four of its next five. But it didn't look likely yesterday.
Eagles at Cowboys: What to say about Cooper Rush and the passing game. Thank heaven for PPR scoring getting you something from CeeDee and Jake even while the offense delivered a pitiful 66 passing yards. While there's surely something worth discussing in the game itself (Lamb seeming to lose a touchdown throw in the sun at one point was disturbing), Micah Parsons ripping his coach in a postgame interview kind of stands out. People criticizing Dak Prescott for the team's previous struggled this season should watch this game for a sobering dose of reality. Nice win for the Eagles.
Lions at Texans: Pretty good Sunday night game here, with the Texans controlling the first half but the Lions doing enough after the break to pull it out. A little too much settling for field goals on the part of Houston, which played pretty well defensively and picked off Jared Goff 5 times, but didn't build enough of a lead on it, and there you go. On the bright side for Houston, they could probably win the AFC South with a 7-10 record this year. Sam LaPorta was having a rare nice game until leaving with an injury, so that will need to be looked into.
Monday, Monday: This is a pretty big game, with seemingly anyone capable of winning the NFC West and the Dolphins needing a win to stay alive in the AFC playoff hunt (as is, I think we can predict the conference's seven playoff teams with some degree of accuracy - Buf-Hou-Bal-Pit-KC-LAC and either Den or perhaps Cin if they make a run). I don't know if Tyreek Hill is going to play through a wrist injury, but as we saw last night with Nico Collins, assumptions shouldn't be made. In general though, I like both offenses more than defenses. Rams 27, Dolphins 21.
