Like the weather, the football in mid-October should be starting to get more crisp. Instead, Week 6 of the NFL season had much of the sloppiness we’re used to seeing left behind after the first couple weeks of the year. It still provides plenty to talk about, but much of it isn’t particularly good.
- This is neither a criticism of Sam Darnold nor Brian Fleury, as it’s far too early to play the blame game, but Seattle’s offense just isn’t clicking right now. Darnold has looked good for two straight years now, one under renowned offensive guru Kevin O’Connell and another under Klint Kubiak, who’s currently having his third straight year impressing as a play caller, doing so for as many teams in the process. Maybe Darnold simply isn’t gelling as well with Fleury as he did with those two, maybe his injury from the season opener is lingering more than he lets on, or maye Fleury does need to re-evaluate things schematically. With the 49ers building an early division lead and the NFC North pushing for the entire wild card field, the problem will need to be diagnosed sooner rather than later.
- Bo Nix’s ADOT (average depth of target, for those unfamiliar) has been discussed and mocked at length in recent weeks, but here’s the puzzling thing from watching the Broncos in recent weeks: Nix is a great deep ball thrower. One of the best downfield passers in the league. Why is he, of all people, suddenly so hesitant to push the ball vertically?
- It’s been a steady improvement for CJ Stroud throughout the early season relative to last year, but it was clear on Sunday morning that he’s turned a corner. Aside from one bad throw that was intercepted in the end zone, he was in control all game and looked as confident and capable as ever.
- The vaunted Houston defense, however, continued to be a disappointment. With that cast of characters and that scheme, it’s really not clear just how they’ve managed to be so leaky all the time. That’s not to discredit opposing quarterbacks like Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and Trevor Lawrence who have carved them up. But the ability to neutralize elite passers, like they did most of last year, was a big part of their appeal.
- I’m hardly the first to say it, but it was a pretty transparent assumption by the Ravens that they could beat the Browns without Lamar Jackson, who it seems could’ve played if they felt they needed him. I can only imagine they’re feeling a bit foolish about that assumption right now.
- Nobody outside of the Cleveland area would’ve told you the Browns were going be 4-2 at this point. I personally picked them to have four wins total. Their next three games are against the Titans, a Steelers team they already beat once, and the Saints. While the schedule gets harder after that, they do have late-season dates with the Giants and the Colts, who may have an interim head coach by that point. While I still have my doubts and don’t imagine they’ll win all of those games, I don’t think they’ll lose them all, either. Just how many wins they can beat their preseason projections by and how long they can remain over .500 should be a fascinating subplot of this season at the very least.
- The Eagles looked completely stagnant on offense without Jalen Hurts, not that it was looking incredible before. But the issues on that side of the ball were even more noticeable in his absence, which we now know will extend at least to the end of this season. NFC playoff implications and long-term franchise plans aside, his medical situation at present is serious, and I would be remiss not to wish him the best in his recovery and in finding solutions for his long-term health, whether football remains a part of his long-term or not.
- While Tanner McKee struggled against the Carolina defense, Bryce Young looked much better in this test against a good defense than he did a few weeks ago in Cleveland. Given the state of the NFC South, he doesn’t have to play this well much longer before the Panthers can be considered runaway favorites to take the division again.
- Despite getting beaten down handily by the Bears for three quarters, Michael Penix, Jr. and the Falcons showed again in the fourth quarter how fun they can be. He’s still playing his best football as a pro and the weapons are producing. Even if it doesn’t lead anywhere quite yet, what they have is exciting.
- Not unlike their rival Falcons, the Saints can’t seem to put together a whole game. In the early weeks of the season, they showed repeatedly an ability to come back from large deficits and make incredibly competitive games in the fourth quarter (and overtime). This week, they squandered a large lead to do the same, almost allowing the Giants to make a full comeback. They seem to be better than what recent comments from ownership would suggest, but not good enough to get many decisive victories.
- Obviously small sample sizes don’t mean much and coming in mid-game changes a great deal, but JJ McCarthy showed enough during the comeback to make the Giants think about whether they want to test him out as the starter or go with the known quantity that is Jameis Winston. I would expect to continue seeing some of both in the short-term, but that could become an in-season position battle that settles itself over a few weeks or so.
- I know about all that the Buccaneers have going against them currently, and I know that Aaron Rodgers is comfortable leading a comeback late in a game. But having a 16-3 lead going into the 4th quarter and then being outscored by that same margin in the 4th quarter is inexcusable. This sort of issue isn’t new, as they’ve had realistic chances to win in the final moments of every loss. Even in their lone win, it seemed to have more to do with the Cowboys getting in their own way than with the Bucs beating them. If Todd Bowles gets fired, things like this will be a big reason why.
- Chris Ballard was fired by the Colts, in a move that was quite frankly a long time coming. The best way to contend in this league is to have a quarterback, and that was the one thing he could never do. Andrew Luck’s retirement isn’t exactly Ballard’s fault, of course, but he spent years going the stopgap route at the position before drafting an inexperienced, toolsy prospect whose failure led right back into the stopgap cycle. Eventually, not getting a guy who makes you a contender was his undoing.
- While Ballard needed to go and Shane Steichen almost certainly will as well, I still believe in Steichen. He was dealt a quarterback-less hand and did his best with what he had. When he gets another head coaching shot – and he will – I think it should go better.
- With the victory that ended Ballard’s tenure, the Titans left the ranks of the winless. Only left now are the Dolphins (unsurprisingly) and the Chargers (very surprisingly). Who gets a win first? Dolphins are at the Jets this week, Chargers are on a bye.
- There can’t be any excuses or equivocations at this point; Justin Herbert has been bad this year. Not just disappointing or unlucky. Simply terrible. There’s no clear explanation where it came from, either. I’m as confused as anyone; I wish I had answers, but I have none.
- The Chargers should have lost by much more than 16, by the way. The Chiefs did what they needed to, but the fact that they don’t have any weapons who create real mismatches in coverage reared its ugly head as it has been all season. That must be addressed at the deadline if they want to be more than an also-ran in this year’s playoffs.
- Los Angeles isn’t doing so well in general, as the Rams are and inexplicable disappointment as well. Even as they’ve struggled, it’s been easy to excuse losses to the 49ers, Broncos, and Bills, especially with the injuries they’ve incurred. But losing to the Cardinals and dropping to last in the division? That’s as low as it can get for them, and the injury bug didn’t do them any favors in this game, either. I know the offseason darlings often don’t live up, but this was a team with a strong chance to make the Super Bowl even if they did nothing. Adding multiple additional future Hall of Famers to their roster seemed like a no-brainer to push them over the edge. Apparently they were close to the edge in the other direction than we realized.
- Even with three straight losses, I’m still impressed by the Raiders. They gave real competition to both the Chiefs and the Bills. Their upcoming schedule is only marginally easier than what they’ve faced in October thus far, but they can win some of these games. They have plenty of holes, but Kubiak has them going in a good direction and their best players can keep them in games under his leadership.
- While improvement of the Cowboys defense was hoped for, the fact that the unit is still struggling is only so surprising. What’s very surprising is the lackluster performance of the offense. This team can still rebound from being 2-4 and take the weak NFC East, but the offense will have to look like last year’s offense a lot more consistently if they want to win the 9-10 games it will take.
- Despite three straight wins after being condemned by the masses following a rough Thursday night game against the Falcons, I don’t trust the Packers quite yet. If they can at least go 2-2 in their next four games against potential playoff teams, it’ll be time to start taking them seriously as a threat again.
- Game management was a consistent struggle again for the Commanders last night, in a manner that is still surprising from a veteran head coach whose ethos seems to be that of discipline. It also evokes memories of other such issues he’s had in the past that he would surely like to forget. Even if Jayden Daniels goes down again, it might not be enough to save Dan Quinn’s job. And because of Daniels, it’s an intriguing job for those being hired in this cycle, should it in fact come open.
