The NFL Comes At You Fast
Well, we have made it to Week 4 already. It feels as if I blinked at Week 1 games were kicking off. That said, a lot has happened already. The AFC West is completely off script. I would like to meet the person who predicted the Raiders going 3-0 and the Chargers going 0-3. Liam Coen and the Jags are legitimate challengers for the No. 1 seed in the AFC, and perhaps less surprisingly, the 49ers look back. I mean, they won 12 games last year, but I think we can all accept that was some Shanahan magic, rather than an elite squad playing to their best. This year so far, we have Brock Purdy firmly looking like the guy who can win MVP. There are plenty of other storylines too but man, what a start!
It is about this time that I have to remind myself to slow down, to stop instantly looking forward to the next Sunday, and to enjoy what happens in real time. We don’t get the NFL for long each year, and I keep harping on about enjoying things. It is easy to get lost in the feelings of a win or loss over a weekend, something I completely understand. The danger of doing this is that you miss 90% of the rest of the NFL going on around you.
Writing the Tuesday Notebook means I have to force myself not to sulk for too long and honestly, it’s been refreshing. It doesn’t mean I don’t still stew over the what-ifs, but it means I get back into enjoying everything else faster. Bring on Week 4!
Will The Top Tier Continue To Solidify Itself?
At this point I think it is becoming clear who the top tier across the NFL are. The Bills, Chiefs, Ravens, 49ers, Jags, Broncos, and Seahawks feel like those teams. They are not all 3-0, but they have all played well enough that the NFL community would expect them to make the playoffs. There are a few sniffing round, the Rams, Bears (if they can survive Caleb’s absence), Bengals, and Lions could well still join that tier.
The Jags take on the Bengals, and the 49ers take on the Broncos at the top of this weekend’s bill. The rest of those teams mentioned have winnable games, a chance to put some space between them and the teams behind them. At the end of the weekend, I would expect to see a large majority of the aforementioned teams add another win to their records. The potential banana skin? The Raiders playing the Chiefs could well provide an upset, it is certainly one I will be keeping my eye on.
Puka Is Back
We have had to wait a couple of weeks but one of the most exciting young receivers in the league is back. It would be fair to say the Rams have sputtered through the first three weeks. There have been some moments that they have looked like the team we all expected but this has been coupled with periods where they have struggled. Adding back possibly the best receiver in the league will certainly help. Puka’s return will open up more space for Davante Adams, as well as taking a player out of the box at times, allowing more opportunity for Kyren Williams and Blake Corum, who have both started the season well, to find more space.
If the Rams are going to climb out of the relatively middling start they have had, Puka will play a big part in this.
Get Right Games
It is strange to say that a 3-0 team needs a get right game, but the Vikings could use one. This week’s matchup with the Dolphins offers the chance for this. Whilst they have shown some fight, the Dolphins are not a good team. This represents a chance for Kyler Murray to play under a little less pressure, and to work on knocking off the rust that clearly still clings to him.
The Packers and Bucs are two other teams who could use a win. That they play each other means one of these teams should leave the weekend feeling a little better about life. It feels like this team should be the Packers, for no other reason than the Bucs are wheeling out rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels. No shade on him, I just have no idea how well he will play, a rookie quarterback who goes undrafted does so for a reason (normally). This may be the only way that the Packers can get a win in the state they are as, as far as I am aware, they still have no life at running back and re-enforcements on the offensive line are few and far between. That said, new signing Kevin Zeitler should start to address some of their issues but he can’t do it all himself.
The Lions are 2-1 but their defense has clearly had issues to this point. They face a Panthers team that is presenting the illusion that Bryce Young isn’t awful. The problem with this? At the time of writing, there is no guarantee that Jalen Coker will play. If they are restricted to only having Tetairoa McMillan as a realistic target option it makes life easier for the Lions. Yes, Darren Waller has shown signs of life but he isn’t a high target guy at this stage of his career.
Who Needs A Starting Quarterback Anyway?
Apparently starting quarterbacks are optional this year. We are three weeks into the season and 40 different quarterbacks have already taken at least 10 dropbacks, the most at this point of a season since 2010. The strange thing? Some of the backups have been really quite good.
Case Keenum is probably the obvious place to start. A 38-year-old third-string quarterback, making his first NFL start in nearly three years, walking into Monday Night Football against the Eagles should have been a recipe for disaster. Instead, he threw for 247 yards and 2 touchdowns, added another on the ground and the Bears won 27-7. Of course they did.
He isn’t alone either. Drew Lock has stepped in for Sam Darnold in Seattle, Marcus Mariota has been called upon in Washington, and Carson Wentz has already seen action for Minnesota. Lock and Mariota in particular haven’t simply been asked to hand the ball off and avoid doing anything stupid either. They currently have two of the highest big-time throw rates in football.
We spend a lot of time talking about quarterback depth in the offseason without ever really expecting it to matter. Three weeks into this season, it already does. Jayden Daniels is out again this weekend, meaning Mariota gets another start when Washington play the Colts in London, while Caleb Williams’ hamstring means Chicago may once again have to turn to Keenum, or more likely this week, Tyson Bagent.
None of these teams would choose to be playing their backup quarterback. That much is obvious. But so far this season, losing your starter hasn’t necessarily meant losing the game. Maybe spending some money on QB2/3 isn’t such a bad idea after all.
One More Thing
Let’s take a minute to acknowledge something. This Browns team may not be awful. Really!! I won’t lie, I expected Thursday night’s game to be much more of a defensive affair, so to see points was a pleasant surprise. You have to feel for Steelers fans. 4 days after a great win over the Bengals, to go down to Watson and the Browns must feel extremely sobering. I noted on Tuesday that the Browns’ defence was warming up and this display only re-enforced that. 5 sacks and 2 interceptions laid the groundwork for the Browns young offensive talent to take over.
A huge second-quarter, during which the Browns had three drives for three touchdowns effectively put the game to bed, although the Steelers rallied in the fourth to make things interesting. Unfortunately for them, there was no repeat of Lamar and the Ravens’ heroics from Sunday. Rodgers capped the night with his second pick and the hay was in the barn. This Browns team is interesting. Do I think it will last the season? No, but they are going to be a tough game for whoever they come up against.
Right, Football Then
So, Week 4. There is a lot going on this weekend and, as usual, I will try to watch as much of it as humanly possible. The Jags/Bengals and 49ers/Broncos games are probably top of my list, although I have a feeling Raiders/Chiefs could end up being the game everyone is talking about afterwards.
Mostly though, I am just looking forward to another Sunday of football. Three weeks have already disappeared far too quickly and I have absolutely no intention of wishing away another one. Four games back-to-back (we have the joy of the first London game early), far too much food and inevitably getting annoyed at something that really shouldn’t annoy me as much as it does. Sounds pretty good to me. Thank god Tiff is an NFL fan!
See you Tuesday.