2024 Season Notes Weeks 4-6

[Brian wolf]

Many fans dont get really excited until after week 12 of the NFL season but the television ratings say otherwise. The question is, which star players will stay healthy towards the end of the season?

The Chiefs and Vikings stay undefeated but can KC defend their title without Rice, Brown and Pacheco? A stout defense but Hardman and Smith-Shuster need to step up big-time.

Flacco's back, to the ire of Steelers Nation, whose team couldnt bring him down yesterday. Why did the Browns not re-sign this guy? The Bills lost as well and why didnt the Cowboys sign Derrick Henry, who had the longest TD play from scrimmage in Ravens' history last night? I get the Ravens love to run the ball but Jackson and the offense are wasting the talents of Likely and Andrews, who should get more targets. No wonder receivers keep leaving this team.

Denver upsets the Jets with Nix throwing for 60 yards on 12 completions, 9 of those for 0 yardage! The Washington Daniels keep rolling along with their rookie QB.

Running the ball helps the Bears and Raiders win and a clutch TD from Stroud and the Texans keeps the Jags winless.

Will be interesting to see what Huntley can do for Miami tonight. Can Seattle stay unbeaten against Detroit?

[JameisBrownston]

Hey, I forgot all about this place somehow. New Jameis destination, new username as is customary. Idek if I've posted yet under it. We might even get to see him soon? Watson's been eeehhhhh... anyways, I'll try not to disappear before the HOVG nominations this offseason, but this year's are looking RIPE.

This has been an incredibly bizarre season through 4 weeks. I don't even think I know who the elite QBs in the NFL are right now. The MVP leaders in the clubhouse are... Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield, which tells me absolutely nothing toward answering that question. Meanwhile, it seems almost everyone we know and love is in some or another state of regression. Lamar and Josh Allen have been mostly themselves (holy class of 2018, Batman), but that's about where it ends. The entire once HOF-bound class of 2020 seems to be in stagnation; Tua is perpetually concussed, Herbert and Harbaugh are clearly not made for each other, Hurts still seems reliant on rushing value, and Burrow is just treading water. None of their teams are over .500 and I don't see any of them being deep contenders this year.

Last but certainly not least, the much celebrated Mahomes seems to have done a Freaky Friday body swap with Mayfield, and yet the Chiefs are somehow 4-0, by means that let's just say lend credence to conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, the much maligned Darnold and his Vikings are the other undefeated team, and look much more convincing. I guess our GEQBUS always had the talent, and was just held back by Critical Gase Theory and the LibRhule agenda. I don't imagine he ends up leading the league in anything in the end, but the phenomenon of washed up bust QBs turning into franchise guys on their third or fourth team is undeniable now; we've seen it at least 3 times in the past 3 years.

The league as a whole seems to be much more RB-driven so far, and all the RBs driving it are old vets like King Henry, Saquon, and Kamara. Henry could easily have 20 TDs, and Barkley's ability to find the endzone despite the tush-push meta has surpassed all reasonable expectations. This was absolutely not the year to draft zero-RB, as other positions, "elite" QBs and especially TEs, are falling flat while the NFL collectively has a fever for which the only cure is more bellcow. Nothing special seems to be happening at receiver, in line with the QB play, and this has probably been the worst start to a season for tight ends this century; I don't think any of them have had more than one game of true usefulness. If there are any dominant defenses to be feared this year, I haven't made them out yet.

The tops of power rankings feature teams like the aforementioned Vikings and Buccaneers, and the Chiefs barely hanging on, feeling poised to implode on any given Sunday with the amount of injuries they're accruing and Mahomes/Kelce's less than acceptable play. Much of the rest is left to guesswork on which 2-2 teams are actually just unlucky. I barely feel like I know anything not only about what the postseason will look like, but what's going to happen in week 5.

[Brian wolf]

Should Winston himself start over Watson, JB? I know the line is playing bad but his happy feet have to frustrate Brown's fans. Chubb is slated to come back but how effective can he be behind this line? At least they can focus on run blocking till the starters are healthy ...

Mayfield and Brady seemed to be chummy before the Bucs-Eagles broadcast but his comments about Brady, had to have put the pressure on to perform well. Sometimes Mayfield needs the extra motivation since many people had written him off anyway.

[Brian wolf]

Titans finally win a game with Rudolph not making any mistakes. He should stay the starter. Wild win for the Lions, where Hutchinson couldnt get to the QB, due to their right tackle lining up nearly three yards off the line of scrimmage. Lions got the benefit on a number of calls however. Glad Walker for Seattle finally got to play. He is one of the league's best backs when healthy.

[CSKreager]

The Chiefs are the 2022 Vikings 2.0

[Brian wolf]

Another wild game last night. Evans and Henry are both stuck on 99 regular season TDs, though Henry should pass him this weekend. Adams is close and wants to be traded ... could go to the Jets or Saints? He should stay with the Raiders but maybe feels he is wasting away?

[Brian wolf]

Wearing #15 for the Colts, Flacco was trying to resurrect the spirit of Earl Morrall, nearly pulling out a win for the Colts against the Jags. Though the team passed more than they wanted to, their defense was awful.

Speaking of awful, when is Jameis Winston going to QB the Browns? Watson is on a record pace for getting sacked. At least Chubb can give the fans someone to root for. Where is Amari Cooper? He seems to go AWOL with every team he has played for.

Wild game in Cincy yesterday as the Bengals squandered a chance to win it in overtime. Kind of embarrasing how a defensive lineman got pushed down to the ground before Jackson threw a TD pass to tie it earlier. Lots of passing--and secondary breakdowns--in games yesterday compared to the first four weeks.

The 49ers once again blow a lead and lose to a divisional foe. Buffalo came back against the Texans but probably should have played for overtime at the end. Allen was hurt and probably went back into the game too soon. They need to keep running the football because he has taken some bad hits the last two weeks.

[Brian wolf]

Has anyone noticed the trend of injuries--especially to running backs--on the 49ers since Shanahan has been Head Coach? I know he coaches a good running scheme but since 2017, this team has went through alot of runners. Noboby thought McCaffrey would miss this many games this year and now Mason is hurt. Hopefully, he plays through the pain.

[Brian wolf]

Very unfortunate with Hutchinson's broken leg. The guy was ready to lead his team to a SB. If I were the Lions, I would call the Jets immediately about Reddick.

Uncharacteristic for the Cowboys to get blown out twice in a year. McCarthy, like Pederson and Daboll, feeling the heat.

[RichardBak]

Losing Hutch is huge, obviously. Let's see how the D steps up. If there's any consolation to Lions fans, the last time the team won the NFL title (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth), they lost their #1 guy, Bobby Layne, to a broken leg. And that was in the second-to-last game of the regular season. This time around, more time to make the necessary adjustments in schemes, personnel, etc.