- The Carolina Panthers Are a Dumpster Fire of a Team
What is there even have to say here. The Carolina Panthers STINK!
For a team that has Christian McCaffery at RB & D.J Moore at WR, they only average 260 yards per game and 17.2 points per game. Disgusting!
Well with Matt Rhule as your head coach, Ben McAdoo as your offensive coordinator and Baker Mayfield as your QB1 it’s not hard to see why they have struggled.
With the team struggling through the first third of the season the Panthers fired Rhule after starting this season 1-4.
Now looking forward to the trade deadline players like Christian McCaffery, D.J Moore & DE Brian Burns have already had their names involved in trade talks. Get ready for a LONG rebuild down in Carolina.
With GM Scott Fitterer job on the line potentially this offseason, the Panthers will be in fire sale mode to add draft capital heading into the 2023 draft. Time to draft the future QB1 (C.J Stroud or Bryce Young) with a top 5 pick and build the team around him.
- Josh Allen is the front runner for the MVP
Look to the end of the season awards through week 6, the MVP is not Patrick Mahomes, not Lamar Jackson & not Jalen Hurts but Josh Allen of the #1 offense Buffalo Bills.
This past week, Allen went into Arrowhead and beat Mahomes and the Chiefs for the second consecutive regular season. The week before, he had 350 Yds and 4 TDs against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yes, you read that right, those stats were at HALFTIME!
Allen through 6 weeks leads the league in passing with 1980 Yds, 215 more than second place Matt Ryan. The Bills are heading into their bye week for Week 7 so most likely Allen will be supplanted, but that will only last one week.
Allen is on pace for 5610 Yds & 48 TD through the air and when you add that to his pace of 575 Yds & 6 TD on the ground make Allen the CLEAR favorite for MVP especially if the Bills continue their winning ways and win the AFC.
- The Green Bay Packers Are in Serious Jeopardy of Not Making the Playoffs
I think it’s time to sound the alarm bells in Green Bay. After six weeks through the 2022 NFL season, the Packers are just 3-3 and are already 2.5 games back of the NFC North 5-1 Minnesota Vikings. The Packers are in TROUBLE!
This past offseason Green Bay & superstar WR Davonte Adams parted ways when the Packers dealt Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders for the 22nd & 53rd overall picks in this past year’s NFL draft. For the first time in his NFL career, Aaron Rodgers would be without a clear #1 WR while he’s under center.
With only Allen Lazard & Randall Cobb returning to the WR room in Green Bay, Packers GM added Christian Watson & Romeo Doubs in the draft.
Good news for Rodgers it seems like Doubs as stepped up as the #2 WR next to Lazard but the bad news is that Watson has been hampered with hamstring injuries in the preseason & now in season while Cobb just suffered a high ankle sprain in their loss to the Jets.
Speaking of their loss to the Jets, the Packers have loss in back-to-back weeks to the Giants & Jets, combining for only 30 points offensively between the two games. Something is just not right with Aaron Rodgers and coach Matt LaFleur’s offense.
With the NFL trade deadline come up quickly on November 1st, the Packers need to make a move for a #1 WR if they want to have any chance of turning things around offensively and squeeze into the playoffs.
- The New York Football Giants Are Actually Good?
Football in New York is SOOOOO BACK! The New York Football Giants are flying high to start the season at 5-1 with Joe Schoen & Brian Daboll on charge.
To start, the Giants their offense is a million times better this season. Thanks to in big part to their offensive line, who have been excellent this season in opening holes for Saquon Barkley, while also giving Daniel Jones sometime in the pocket.
Andrew Thomas has been the biggest development this season as PFF have him as a top 10 HIGHEST GRADED PLAYER in the league at 90.2, not just the best O-Linemen. 7th overall pick RT Evan Neal after a tough first couple weeks has also come alive as he starts to settle in as a Giant.
It also helps that Saquon Barkley is fully back from his torn ACL in 2020 and looks like the RB that the Giants took 2nd overall in 2018 and who was the 2018 Offensive Rookie of the Year with 1307 Yds 11 TD rushing & 91 receptions, 721 Yds & 4 TD receiving for 2000 yards in his rookie season.
Barkley, through the first 6 games, leads the NFL with 774 total yards (619 Yds rushing, 155 Yds receiving) while also finding the endzone three times. If Barkley continues this season at this pace, he will finish the season with 2200 scrimmage yards.
Daniel Jones has also been a revelation this season under the new regime. Jones has been able to limit his turnovers this season to just two INTs and one fumble (both on Hail Mary attempts). Jones for all the hate he has received has been solid for what the staff ask of him.
And he’s been doing so with players like David Sills V, Richie James, Marcus Johnson & Darius Slayton lined up at receiver.
You imagine this offense takes another step once they get Kenny Golladay ($72M contract, knee injury), Kaduarius Toney (21’ 1st round pick, Hamstring injuries) & Wan’dale Robinson (22’ 2nd round pick, Knee injury) all back on the field full time.
If everything keeps going for D.J he will end the season with 2890 Yds 14 TDs with 670 rushing yards with almost 6 TD on the ground (numbers are based on current averages, these could go up with the return of all the wide receivers).
FUN FACT: Daniel Jones also leads the league with FOUR game winning drives this season!
But the biggest factor of why the New York Football Giants are 5-1 is because of Wink Martindale and his defense. Players like Dexter Lawrence, Adoree Jackson, Julian Love & Xavier McKinney have stepped up in big ways to lead this defense on the field.
This season the defense for the Giants has been a complete 180 turnaround from 2021. The Giants have been allowing almost 340 yards per game to the opposition this season.
But the big key for the defense is they are allowing teams not to score TDs. The Giants are 8th in scoring defense, allowing just 18.8 points per game.
Two other key stats for the Giants are able to get off the field on third down and as we said before, keeping the opponent out of the endzone.
Martindale’s defense when third down comes around is allowing their opponents to convert just 32.9% of the time. And that number is about the same once their opponent gets into the “Red Zone”, allowing TDs on only 40% red zone trips against.
If the Giants want to continue their winning ways as they did their first six weeks, Martindale’s defense needs to continue holding the line and put the offense in situations where they can succeed late in games.
Obviously, the winning ways may not last for the Giants the rest of the season, but this team if they can possibly add another WR at the trade deadline could be one of three wild card teams at the end of the season.
There are finally some very bright times ahead in New York after having some very dark years at the Meadowlands.
Bonus Bold Prediction: The Atlanta Falcons Have a Realistic Shot of Winning the NFC South
Coming into the season the Atlanta Falcons were projected to finish the season with a top 3 pick in the 2023 draft.
Pre-season sports books around the country had the Falcons O/U wins total at 4.5 wins… Through six weeks the Falcons are 3-3. Also, the Falcons are 6-0 ATS this season, the only team in the NFL to do so. The Falcons just find ways to stay in games until the final whistle.
The Falcons are led by the leagues #3 running game that has been missing late blooming WR turned RB Cordarrelle Patterson, who had 340 Yds & 3 TD through week four. Patterson was placed on IR after a minor scope on his knee.
In his absence, rookie Tyler Allgeier & practice squad signee Caleb Huntley have carried the load, averaging 159.5 Yds in the two games Patterson has missed.
With the Falcons dominating in the running game, they haven’t had to put the ball in Marcus Mariota hands, who has been turnover prone in his NFL career. Mariota has been a game manager, only throwing the ball when needed to while being a bigger threat with his legs then his arm.
And with the help of some opportunistic defense the Falcons have been able to stay close in games. Though they give up the 6th most yards per game with 385.2, Atlanta is only allowing 22.7 points against per game, which is about league average.
Now after reading all this information, you may be wondering, “how the hell do the Falcons have a chance of winning the NFC South, they still have to play Tom Brady & the Tampa Bay Buccaneers”.
You would be right, but this is not the same Buccaneers team of 2020 & 2021. Tom Brady and the rest of the team seem to have lost a few steps based on what we have seen through weeks 1-6.
After averaging 312.7 Yds & 2.5 TD a game last season, through six games in 2022 Brady is only mustering 275 Yds & around 1.3 TD per game.
It is valid to say he was missing almost his whole receiving core at certain points in those six games but last week against a sub-par Steelers defense, Brady only threw for 243 Yds & 1 TD with the Bucs losing the game 20-18.
Looking into the future and going through both teams final 12 games schedules, it is not impossible to say that the Bucs & the Falcons could each be 9-7 heading into a week 18 matchup down in Atlanta with the winner winning the division.
It’s a small chance, but the Falcons could actually win the division and send Tom Brady home empty handed in his last season in the NFL
- Geno Smith Is Clear of Russell Wilson in 2022
The whole narrative this past offseason was that Russell Wilson wanted out of Seattle and wanted to go elsewhere for a new challenge and another chance at a Super Bowl.
Wilson got his wish when he was traded along with a 2022 4th round pick to the Denver Broncos on March 8th for QB Drew Lock, TE Noah Fant, DL Shelby Harris, two 1st round picks (OT Charles Cross, 2023), two 2nd round picks (LB Boye Mafe) & a 5th round pick.
Wilson was also rewarded with a new contract in Denver, 5 years $242.5M, with $161M being guaranteed for the 33-year-old QB.
For the Seahawks, they got a HAUL for their ex-franchise QB, including their future LT in Cross & a known top end TE in Noah Fant. The Seahawks also received Drew Lock in the deal potentially be the QB1 in Seattle.
But the answer under center was already in the building with a guy named Geno Smith, a career back up in the NFL, set to take this role by storm.
Through 6 weeks the Seahawks are 3-3 with Geno as QB1. He’s averaged 250 Yds and close to 1.5 TDs through the air while completing 73% of all his throws this season.
The Seahawks are a top half offense this season, #12 to be exact, with 356 Yds per game while also being top 10 in scoring with 24.3 PTS/G which is 9th. Seattle’s offense is surprisingly really good under Geno Smith.
On the other side of this trade, the Broncos are a disappointing 2-4 and Russell Wilson has been BRUTUL to say the least. Wilson looks completely lost in this offense run by Nathaniel Hackett whether it’s not seeing open receivers, missing easy throws, or even taking sacks when in the past he’d scramble to make a positive out of a negative.
Denver is dead last in scoring this season averaging a pitiful 15.2 PTS/G behind teams like Houston, Chicago & Carolina. Wilson and the Broncos have only found the endzone a total of just seven times in six games this season.
The Broncos are almost bottom third in the NFL in yards per game this season with 329.3 Yds, with Wilson on pace to average a career low in passing yards per game 219.2 yards.
Through the first third of the season, I think we can easily say that the Seahawks clearly won the trade and still have the better QB post trade with the Broncos.