Week 3 in the NFL, some chokes and lit up barns. Here’s what I saw this week.
Josh Allen again, jeez it’s like watching one of those Darwin Award videos where some adrenaline junkie rides the side of a ledge on a mountain bike literally taking his life in his hands with each inch separating him from certain death. On the game winning drive, Allen was sacked for a 12 yard loss, hit Cole Beasley for 19 yards to get into the red zone, retreated at least 20 yards, almost got sacked four times, stiff armed Aaron Donald, earning himself a rarely seen offensive face mask penalty, drew a pretty weak pass interference call and finally threw a touchdown to a backup tight end. Throughout the game, you could see how confident Allen was despite pretty consistent pressure from the Rams interior. He lost a lot of yards when they did manage to sack him, but he’d turn around and pull something out of his ass making incredible throws and scrambles. Allen once again missed some downfield throws, but in general slung it as much as he has been with success, consistently putting pressure on the still suspect Rams offense that leaned a concerning degree on Jared Goff throughout the game. I think the biggest question that everyone still has is whether or not what he’s doing is sustainable against stiffer competition. The Rams have a relatively good defense so Sunday seems like a good step for Allen, but we all know how wonky and inconsistent that same defense can be. I’m still not ready to say through three weeks that we have our dark horse MVP, but give me 6 to 8 games of this and I’m definitely there. Allen at times looks like vintage Cam Newton and I think that’s his most apt comparison. Cam at times struggled with turnovers and accuracy, but his running skills and honestly better deep ball throwing culminated in an MVP in his fifth season. Given the recent slate of MVPs, Allen looks like a sexy pick, but we really need more time with this one and for Russell Wilson to descend back onto earth from his current journey through Mt. Olympus.
For some reason my local New England broadcast channel thought I had any interest in watching the Buccaneers Broncos game that I sure wasn’t watching even if Drew Lock and Courtland Sutton were out there. I’m assuming it was so Pats fans could watch beloved Tawmmy scorch literally the least interesting football team of the past four years. I’m confident I care more about watching Norwich City in the second tier of English soccer than any minute of Broncos football. The rest of the country enjoyed a thoroughly exciting affair between the Cowboys and the Seahawks where Russell Wilson again proved magical and further advanced his MVP candidacy. I want to talk about the Cowboys though and not in an irrational way as every other, often former Cowboy player, sports commentator does because this team really has a path this year to the NFC championship. After three weeks, I believe the NFC might be overrated in terms of its depth and the Cowboys happen to have played two of the conference’s better teams. Does that excuse the Falcons game? No, but that game along with the losses, mostly excuses the often maligned and woefully underpaid Dak Prescott. In my blog about Week 1, I wrote about the Rams defensive line and how thoroughly it manhandled a still strong, Dallas offensive line that currently boasts multiple future hall of farmers. I know the Falcons and Seahawks secondaries aren’t lighting anything a flame, but their defensive lines pose formidable fronts with depth. The Cowboys could be 3-0 right now and everything would be fine, or more likely everyone would freak out that they’re the best team, then lose their shit when they drop a game to Philly in two weeks because rationality does not exist with this team. With a soccer flop penalty like Jalen Ramsey’s that would make Luca Toni proud, Dallas dropped the game in Week 1. Then they lost after an incredible comeback from the current betting favorite for MVP. Dak seems to lack the respect that Romo so greatly also lacked because between coaching, micro management and the inability to build a cohesive defensive line, the problem with this team has NOT been the quarterback since at least 2006. You know who currently leads the NFL in pass attempts? It’s Dak Prescott , because despite having one of the most dynamic running backs of the past ten years, the defensive structure around him can’t manage to keep up their end of the field. With no opportunity to control the game with Zeke, he’s been forced to air it out in every game so far. Dak also leads the NFL in completed air yards , indicating that he’s not only required to sling it based on game situation, but that he’s also throwing deep most effectively. I can’t think of anything else a QB can do other than not turn the ball over to keep his team in game. He’s been hit the most of any QB so far, is in the top 5 for blitzes against and is one of the most pressured. Given the weapons around him games against the Browns, Giants, Cardinals, DCers and Eagles, I think a 6-2 start is on the table and they can comfortably take this division.
Boy I can’t figure out what’s wrong with Carson Wentz, but let me try. On Sunday, like the other games, Wentz didn’t seem in sync with his position player and it might have something to do with this.
That JJ Arcega-Whiteside second round pick sure looks good right now. Wentz seemed frazzled the entire game against the albeit solid Bengals front and obviously through three weeks he’s gotten pressured and hit constantly. But no, he hasn’t and actually ranks pretty middle of the pack in terms of hurries, hits and pressures. He is getting sacked (currently tied for 3rd place) and holding onto the ball longer with a 2.5 second pocket time, tied for fourth longest. Wentz isn’t getting pressured so much as his chemistry with his receivers is so non-existent that he panics and doesn’t know what to do with the ball on many plays. I feel like the expectations we put on Aaron Rodgers over the years behind a shaky offensive line, no run game and middling receivers are now being foisted upon Wentz who had an MVP campaign in year two (the OG of year 2 MVPs until he got hurt) but struggled through injuries to himself and his day players. The Eagles are the Chargers East of injuries to not only pass-catchers, but lineman as well. The effort the Eagles and Wentz put forth to make the playoffs last year conjured admiration, but at this point the lack of consistency is starting to mess with his head and force him into Matt Schaub year 7 with the Texans type decisions that indicate a severe discomfort rather than incompetence. I still think the Texans gave up on Schaub too quickly, but he didn’t spring up afterwards so maybe they were right. Either way, with Dallas Goedert now on short term IR along with DeSean Jackson and JJAW incurring injuries on Sunday against the Bengals, this isn’t letting up anytime soon. At some point in time the lack of continuity seems to have gotten to Wentz mentally; probably did last year. His early success may have hampered his development and if he’d been with a worse organization, I don’t think he’d even still be a starter. This year will tell us a lot about his mental toughness and with more injuries likely inevitable down the line, every obstacle will be in his way.
As Patrick Mahomes sliced up the formidable Ravens defense on Monday night, I couldn’t stop yelping at them through the television for blitzing the best quarterback on the planet. I am admittedly a Ravens fan so I had a vested interest in watching the Ravens defense succeed, so I couldn’t understand why throughout the first half as Mahomes hung 27 points, the Ravens wouldn’t stop blitzing even as KC’s consistently protected Mahomes as he slithered and scrambled all over the place. Despite their efforts, the Ravens totaled zero sacks in the entire game and even while laying off the blitz in the second half until desperation set in in the fourth quarter, nothing seemed to be effective. Blitzing comes and goes with popularity with increased use against panicky Trubisky type QBs who lack experience and gumption to handle pressure. That population would not include Patrick Mahomes. The Ravens blitz at a relatively moderate rate, right now at about 32%, so on Monday, I couldn’t understand as Mahomes completed pass after pass underneath to his plethora of weapons that Baltimore couldn’t use the likes of Derek Wolfe, Brandon Williams, Calais Campbell and Matthew Judon, an admittedly aging, but still quite capable defensive line, against a shaky KC line, that looked porous at times against the Texans and the Chargers. Mahomes does get the ball out very quickly so halfway through the second quarter why did the Ravens keep blitzing? I can’t explain it. The third quarter showed signs of life as Campbell and Wolfe made inroads to disrupting things in the backfield and the physicality of the linebackers and corners (not named Marcus Peters) stunted some Chiefs drives. I came away from that game with a renewed respect for whoever coaches that Chiefs line and little less for Wink Martindale. Good coaches go into the game with a plan and while they kind of adjusted at half time, the Ravens more or less gave up on defense for most of this game. Mahomes wasn’t lighting things on fire constantly in the deep game, but those blitzes gave him the meat of his completions and I have to think the next time they meet (hopefully in January) that the Ravens control what they can and adjust properly.
Bo's Gamut 