Another week of football is in the books and there were some surprising results, with the most surprising being the Carolina Panthers disappointing performance against the Philadelphia Eagles. So let’s jump right into it:
Eagles vs Panthers:
If I can take a adlib from Nardo Wick’s popular song “Who Want Smoke” “WTF was that?” What can I say? This was an abysmal loss by the Carolina Panthers. Matt Rhule has a slogan – ‘DBO’ (Don’t Beat Ourselves). Well let’s break down how the Panthers literally beat themselves:
The Panthers’ offensive line offers as much resistance as a turnstile – as teams seem to overpower them at will. When is this team going to address this problem? Sam Darnold threw three interceptions; all of which were all on him. His interceptions were inexcusable, especially the last one where he stared down Robby Anderson the whole time and didn’t even attempt to go through his progressions – missing a wide-open Ian Thomas. In his last 6 quarters of football, Sam Darnold has thrown 5 interceptions. Before the Panthers’ Week-4 loss to the Cowboys, Terry Bradshaw said he was the best quarterback this team has ever had and since then he has stunk it up. Darnold still has time to get it right, but the last two weeks the Jets’ Sam Darnold was on the field.
Why are the Panthers so bad in the 3rd quarter? Where are the adjustments from Matt Rhule and his coaching staff at halftime? We are seeing the same mistakes from Rhule and his staff carry over into this year – poor clock management and little to no adjustments. To make it even worse, the Eagles’ defense said they knew exactly what route Robby Anderson was about to run. Joe Brady was getting talked about for head coaching positions, but runs the same repetitive route concepts.
Bills vs Chiefs:
Kansas City is in trouble and their defense looks like it can’t be fixed. Once again, the Chiefs have given up over 30 points. Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen made big time plays all game – throwing for 315 yards and 3 passing touchdowns, while rushing for 59 yards and one touchdown.
Pat Mahomes once again struggled with turnovers, throwing throwing interceptions and fumbling the ball once. Have teams figured out Kansas City or can the Chiefs turnaround their struggles? If you’re a Buffalo Bills’ fan you have to like what you see, as they are looking like the best team in the AFC after 5 weeks.
Browns vs Chargers:
Justin Herbert, aka J-Herbo, out-dueled Baker Mayfield, leading the Chargers to a 47-42 win in an absolute shootout. Herbert threw for 398 yards and four touchdowns, continuing to make a push for NFL MVP between him, Kyler Murray and Josh Allen. The Chargers scored 26 points in the 4th quarter, which is surprising when the Browns have Myles Garrett and Jadaveon Clowney. Cleveland could easily be 4-1 or 5-0, but have given games away on the road against Kansas City and Los Angeles.
Quick takes:
- John Gruden is out as the coach for the Raiders. Gruden had heat applied to him after emails, where he made racist remarks against NFLPA president DeMaurice Smith, were made public. Then to make things worse, it was discovered he also made homophobic and misogynistic comments – causing him to resign late Monday night. This is one reason the NFL settled with Colin Kaepernick, because there are plenty of other coaches and owners who think like Gruden. Imagine Kaep’s legal team uncovering those emails in discovery….Whew.
- I mentioned Justin Herbert, Josh Allen and Kylar Murray for MVP, but Lamar Jackson has inserted himself into the conversation after an epic performance Monday night. Jackson was 37-43 for 442 yards passing, threw for four touchdowns and ran for another 62 yards – totaling 504 yards of offense by his self.
- The Arizona Cardinals remain the last unbeaten team in the NFL, grinding out a 17-10 win over the 49ers. The Cardinals showed they can grind out a game when its offense isn’t clicking on all cylinders.
The Jaguars lost again and according to reports the players don’t respect Urban Meyer. It’s been reported that they didn’t have much respect for him before his latest antics, because it’s believed he runs the Jaguars like a college program and hired an assistant who has a questionable history. You have players laughing and mocking Meyer and it’s time for the Jaguars to cut ties with him if they want to be taken seriously as an organization.
Week Six Games to Watch:
- LA Chargers vs Baltimore Ravens
- Arizona Cardinals vs Cleveland Browns
- Dallas Cowboys vs New England Patriots
- Buffalo Bills vs Tennessee Tit