NFL Quarter Season Review
Before we get to the (almost) quarter of the season review, a few thoughts on what has become one of America’s favorite subjects: Carlie Irsay-Gordon standing on the sideline for Colts game.
Here’s my take: I think she’s trying too hard. She wants to be an active owner, a person who makes informed decisions. As a woman she’s automatically going to be dismissed by a lot of men in football. By standing with the team and taking notes, by asking coaches questions, by listening to the play calls, she shows the world how seriously she takes the job.
Problem is in sports that looks bad, no matter what the gender of the owner is. Coaches don’t want their boss standing 10 feet away for the entire game. Especially when their boss is not a subject expert. The Colts coaches know that the cameras will swing to Irsay-Gordon each time there is an important play, especially if it is bad for the Colts. It puts even more pressure on a team that already has a lot of pressure on it.
I think it was fine to do last year, when she first took over, to let the world know she wasn’t some caretaker, or just the rich daughter of a dead owner who had no idea what she was doing, only there because he dad’s will said she and her sisters would run the team.
But we’ve seen that. We understand she’s serious. People who still don’t take her seriously aren’t going to change their minds. I’m sure everyone in the organization understands how she is going to run the team. It’s time for her to watch games from the box, like every other owner, and save her questions for the coaches for their Monday meetings.
OK, onto the ball.
After four weeks I still am not sure if we know a whole hell of a lot other than that Miami is the worst team in the league.
There are two big surprises from my preseason predictions: the Vikings at 4-0 and the Chargers at 0-4. While each result was possible, if was a betting man I wouldn’t have put money on either result.
The Vikings lost their starting quarterback in the opening quarter of their first game and won two games with Carson Wentz. They just traded away the QB they picked in the first round two years ago. Their all-world receiver missed a game. Yet, undefeated? This is all about their defense. Well, and their schedule. Brian Flores is currently the best DC in the game. His unit is not loaded with All Pro players, but they wreck shit every week. Is this sustainable? I have no idea. They are in my favorite division, the wacky NFC North, where they already have two wins over rivals. I think they’ll stick around but the Bears still feel like the better team.
San Diego errrr the LA Chargers? Man, we all knew train wreck was in the cards, but even this seems like a lot. To be fair, for the 100th straight season they have a bunch of early injuries, especially to their offensive line. But Mike McDaniel was supposed to unlock all of Justin Hebert’s potential. Instead, Hebert looks worse than ever. So bad some NFL pods I listen to have floated the idea of the Chargers trading him for a bevy of picks and starting over, just to give everyone a fresh start. The Chargers are toast. What happens in the coaching staff the rest of the season, and after, will be must-watch stuff.
Oh, one more surprise.
Houston, Houston, Houston, what are you doing? CJ Stroud has been pretty good, but the alleged best defense in the game has been kinda garbage. Last year they roared back from an 0-3 start and still made the playoffs. They do play in the AFC South, so their 0-4 hole isn’t like the Chargers situation. I think they can still be a playoff team, since the top of the AFC right now is mostly teams still trying to figure it out.
Best teams in the AFC? The Chiefs, also a surprise, and Jacksonville. The Chiefs got a manageable early schedule and have taken advantage, even if not always impressive doing so. Kenneth Walker was THE signing of the off season and changes their entire team, but I worry about his workload and whether he can sustain his production. It’s crazy to think just two years ago the Jaguars were a joke of a franchise, coming off the Urban Meyer disaster with no clear direction forward. It took a year, but they shook off Meyer’s stink and might be the most complete team in the conference. They have the bonus of playing Tennessee and Indy twice, so could have the inside track for the #1 seed.
I thought this was Buffalo’s year, mostly because I saw no one else being elite in the AFC. But the Bills are already doing that thing where they fuck around and try to lose games they should win. They were lucky to beat the Chargers, then messed around too much and lost to the Patriots They always get better late but they can’t mess around too much if they want to have home field in the playoffs.
The AFC North is pretty dumb all around, so I won’t waste a ton of time on them. This division comes down to Lamar Jackson’s health and, oh lookee here, he’s already got a weird injury. We’ll see how much time he misses and whether that keeps them from separating from the most mid division in the game.
Who else makes the playoffs? Maybe New England got their mojo back last week, so let’s include them. I say Houston wins enough to get in. The seventh spot? Jeez, no one else is standing out at the moment. Let’s leave it empty and revisit in a month.
Moving to the NFC, oh no… Do you see what is happening? Jayden Daniels’ elbow exploded. The Eagles have turned into team dysfunction, and their quarterback sucks. The Giants have too many injuries. Oh Lord, Jerry Jones is going to think Dallas being the best team in the East is because of his football genius! Which, to be fair, only leads to more entertainment when the Cowboys inevitably fall apart in glorious fashion in the playoffs. But as of today, the Cowboys are favorites to win the East.
We already talked about the Vikings but how about my Bears/Lions/Packers? Caleb Williams’ weird injury has taken some of the excitement out of the mix, but the Bears still won two really fun games without him. Once I embraced their games being on TV in Indy every week, it immediately paid off. The Colts have a bad defense. The Lions D makes Indy’s look like a bunch of All Pros. Detroit has been a fun story the past three years, finally interesting and fun to watch after decades of being ass. Their games are still a lot of fun to watch, but only because there is the chance to see 80+ total points each week.
The Falcons have been incredible to watch the past two weeks. Bijon Robinson? Come on, man, he’s incredible. They could not have timed that better, with consecutive national TV games. I hope they don’t turn back into a pumpkin until after Sunday night’s game against Baltimore. But we all know Michael Penix’s 11th knee injury is coming.
Hey, my guy Jalon Daniels is starting for Tampa! The first former KU quarterback to throw an NFL pass in nearly 40 years.1 He tossed two interceptions and had a third overturned by replay. That’s about right. To be fair it sounds like he wasn’t truly awful, and was actually working his ass off to try to win the game for the Bucs but his line was ass and gave him no help. Good for him for winning the QB2 slot in camp and for making it this far given all he’s been through. But all of us who watched him for six years at KU know he’s not a reliable, starting QB at the next level.2
The Niners at 4-0 are kind of a surprise, especially given they’ve already had a third of their roster injured. Just like every year. But their system is so strong that as long as a few key players are healthy, they will always be good. I think the Seahawks and/or Rams will pass them at some point, as more Niners go on the IR, but baring total disaster the NFC is still sending its top three teams to the playoffs.
So, Super Bowl pick after a month? Chiefs-Niners. Or maybe Chiefs-Seahawks. Or Jaguars-Seahawks. Or maybe Jaguars-Rams?
Things were clearer a month ago when we had no game results to examine.