Post by spiderfan on Oct 17, 2022 20:31:09 GMT -8
Hola, Sports Coast to Coast, Spiderfan, your official NFL Analyst here, back again with yet another edition of Red Hot Gridiron. Let us begin!
The Rematch
After much hype and being broadcast on every CBS station across the land (there were late window games on FOX, but not CBS), the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs met head to head for the first time since their now famous duel in the 2021 Divisional Round.
The vast majority of the first half was a disappointment to say the least. Turnovers and punts led to a game that was 7-3 late in the first half. At that point I was planning to write this segment as a discussion on a bad game that didn't live up to expectations. Like usual, my previous planned segment was thrown out the window. The Josh Allen led the Bills on a 99 yard drive to give the Bills the lead and then the Chiefs responded by getting into FG range with less than 20 seconds left (where does that sound familiar) and tying the game at 10. The Chiefs missed a FG on their opening series of the second half, which made it so that when the Bills scored a TD on their opening series of the second half they could take a 17-10 lead. The Chiefs responded equally 17-17.
The play that looked like it was going to put the ultimate outcome in favor of the Chiefs was when the Bills went for it on 4th and 3 near midfield and didn't make it. It was a questionable call, not only because of the high powered offense of the Chiefs, but because it was a tie game in the start of the 4th quarter, and the play reeked of desperation. It didn't ultimately matter as much as one would think because the Chiefs only managed to kick a FG. Later in the 4th quarter, the Bills scored a TD, forcing the Chiefs on a TD drive which was for naught because Patrick Mahomes threw an INT. Bills win.
Even though the outcome was close, I look at the Bills win against the Chiefs, like I did at the Bills win against the Rams. Sure, they won, made plays, and have playmakers. At the same time it doesn't feel like the Bills are a particularly dominant team either. Unlike certain birds from Pennsylvania that I will talk about later, I don't look at the Bills as a team that is a no doubt contender. The AFC is still up for grabs in my opinion. That isn't to say the Bills couldn't make a run at it, I could see it happening. I could also see them losing in the Divisional Round of the playoffs to the Chiefs... again.
Fly On To Losing Games!
The Baltimore Ravens, like many teams in the National Football League have a record of 3-3. What sets the Ravens apart from the other 3 teams is that in all 3 of their losses they had a double digit lead at some point in the game. In previous weeks I have discussed their meltdown against the Dolphins and their head scratching loss to the Bills. This week? They did the impossible and actually outshrunk the Tinys in a late game situation.
To start off the Ravens 10 point lead shrank to 3 with the defense giving up a TD. The Ravens offense gets the ball back and proceeds to cut their drive short with a stupid illegal formation penalty. Instead of making a first down, the Ravens had a 3rd and 6, which ended up being even more costly because Lamar Jackson threw an INT. The Tinys offense slowly moved down the field, and it really felt like they would end up settling for a FG. That's when Daniel Jones decided to throw an interception. At that point I was already mentally writing the mocking that I would give the Tinys in this column. As previously mentioned above, the Ravens outshrunk the Tinys. Turns out there was pass interference on the interception in the end zone. That put the ball on the 1 yard line, Tinys score a TD.
Even still, it felt like the Tinys would inevitably shrink. After all, the Ravens had the ball and a TD would win the game outright. There's no way the Ravens would choke right? Nope. Forced fumble, Tinys recover, Tinys win.
The Ravens are entering a dangerous status as a team this year. They keep blowing games and because that is becoming a trend, not an outlier, I expect to see the Ravens blow even more leads. Blown leads equals losses and losses equal doubt as to not only divisional seeding and playoff seeding, but playoffs all together. As we have seen with the Los Angles Chargers throughout the years, you can have a talented team on paper that is very competitive on the field. All of that doesn't matter when you lose games.
Other thoughts:
-The Commanders might have had the least impressing win of the season, Thursday. If the ball crossed the goal line at the end of the game, the Bears would have won.
-The Colts are FINALLY looking like the team I'd thought they be before the season.
-Joe Burrow doesn't lose in the Superdome. If he had, I don't know what sort of New Orleans voodoo would have been unleashed on the football world.
-Bailey Zappe outplaying Kenny Pickett is something that proves there is nothing real in the world anymore.
-Speaking of there being nothing real in the world anymore, the Steelers upsetting the Buccaneers was by far the most surprising outcome of the week. Congrats to the Steelers on the upset!
-Outside of their magical run to the Super Bowl, the 49ers under Kyle Shanahan have not been a good regular season team. This is important to remember when you hear other people that aren't me talk about how great the 49ers are, because they aren't.
-This 3 game win the Jets are on is the best thing that has happened to them since 2015. I'm curious to see if Zach Wilson can continue to lead them to an even bigger win streak.
-Wouldn't ya know it, trading your #1 receiver makes your team worse? I would feel kinda bad for Aaron Rodgers, except it is clear from the MASSIVE extension he got that he didn't ultimately care whether the Packers were any good or not.
-The Vikings beating the Dolphins has to be the least surprising win of the week. I do give credit to the Dolphins for not being blown out though.
-Even with the Rams being in the middle of a Super Bowl hangover, the Panthers still suck.
-The Seahawks defense played good?! If they keep playing even close to what they did on Sunday, watch out, because the Seahawks offense is one of the better offenses in the league.
-At least the Broncos loss wasn't all on Russell Wilson. So, I guess that is progress for them.
Will The Philadelphia Eagles Go 17-0?
I'm believing that in that possibility is more that I have through the previous 5 weeks of the season. The big headline and discussion will ignore that for that most part and focus on the incredibly easy and lame narrative of "Cooper Rush, Dak Prescott" good. Yes, Cooper Rush threw 3 INTs (at least one of which wasn't his fault, but I digress), but Dak Prescott would have probably thrown that many too. With Dak, the game plan for the Cowboys would have been to throw nearly play, which the Eagles secondary would have shut down and if the Eagles secondary didn't do that, the Eagles D-line would have crushed Dak. The Eagles did not win the game because Cooper Rush being the QB of the Cowboys. They won because of sheer dominance at the line of scrimmage.
It is rare that in the NFL you see a team be more physically dominant than the other, after all, they are all professionals playing at the highest level of football. That was not the case Sunday night. The supposed "Return of the Doomsday Defense" that the Cowboys have? Demolished. The Cowboys D-line were mauled and stood next to no chance of stopping the Eagles for most of the game. The Cowboys O-line was blown apart early in the game, which meant by the time that they figured out how to handle the Eagles D-line, the game was very much in the Eagles favor.
The Eagles secondary was outright faster than the receivers of the Cowboys, constantly knocking down passes and preventing any separation. The Eagles offense was efficient with the running game running on all cylinders (pun not initially intended although I guess it is a good pun maybe) and the passing game looking easy.
This Eagles team is without a doubt the best team in the NFL in my opinion. They have good reason to be undefeated and they should be a feared team throughout the league.
And with all of that said Week 6 is now in the books. As always I hope ya enjoyed and I hope to see ya again next week. Remember, football is the greatest game in the world. This is spiderfan out.
