Welcome back from Week 3 of the NFL season. We live by 1 rule in these articles: NO MERCY. There is absolutely nothing left back as we highlight those teams/players that left us with some good impressions and those that left us with some questions. Please take a read and let me know your comments on this weekends NFL action. Enjoy!
IMPRESSIONS
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs remain on fire and look to be the real deal this year. Andy Reid has done a great job over the years leading an always tough Kansas City squad but this year they seem running the most explosive offense in all of football. Lead by 2nd year QB Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs lead the NFL through Week 3 with a whopping 39.3 average points scored per game. The combination of Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, and Kareem Hunt leave the KC offense well balanced yet explosive. It's great to see Mahomes take Reid's team to the next level and, no disrect to Alex Smith and his high efficiency game management, but previous Chiefs teams just didn't have an "IT" factor like they do this year. The only issue, which is a glaring issue, is their defense which currently is looking like one of the worst in the NFL. The KC secondary is just plain bad and has continued to be bailed out by their offense. I am still a believer in defense wins championships, so their season will remain interesting. Should KC find a way to even slightly improve their defense, we could be looking at one of the best, if not best team out of the AFC. Without question, the KC Chiefs have been the most impressive team to start the year.
Baker Mayfield - Cleveland Browns
This impression is somewhat twofold. The Cleveland Browns deserve a mention simply because they won their first game in what seems like eternity. As someone with close friends that are diehard Browns fans, I can personally say it was a great Thursday night in Cleveland. Those fans have been through a lot and to get a win even against a bad team in the New York Jets is huge.
But Thursday night didn't start great for Cleveland as they were quickly down by 14 to the Jets. Tyrod Taylor just didn't look good and was replaced right before halftime by 2018 NFL Draft 1st Overall Pick - Baker Mayfield who immediately lit a flame for his team. Mayfield looked pretty impressive leading his team from behind for the win. His arm looked powerful, he sparked the offense with passion, and the city was behind him. Thankfully the Browns announced he would be the starter Week 4 (why did they even question it). Lets hope he is everything the city of Cleveland has been praying for.
Oh, if you didn't know, the Cleveland fans got some free Bud Light for the win.
Miami Dolphins 3-0
In a very sneaky manner, the Miami Dolphins are 3-0 to start the season. Yea, you heard that right, the Dan Marino's former team is 3-0 and stands alone atop the AFC East. Now, you could argue the teams they beat aren't that great (Raiders, Jets, and Titans) but nonetheless its great to see a team other than the Patriots in charge for once. The real test will come Week 4 when the Dolphins travel to Gillette Stadium to take on the Patriots. A win there could mean some serious business both for the Fins' and Pats' but for now, the Dolphins have an impressive start to the season.
QUESTIONS
Roughing the Passer Penalty Leads to Injury
I mentioned the game changing Clay Matthew's roughing the passer penalty in last week's article and sure enough the same controversy has carried forward into Week 3. In fact, Clay Matthew's again was at the center of another controversial call. This past weekend, Matthew's sacked Washington Redskin's QB Alex Smith and was flagged for the same roughing the passer call - related to landing on the QB with all or most of his weight. Interestingly, unlike last week, this was a pure sack as Smith held on to the ball as he was brought to the ground but the act still led to the same penalty. Matthew's apparently attempted to roll over Smith as he brought him to the turf as an attempt to avoid another penalty, but to no avail. Matthew's and Green Bay of course were livid both during game and during post game interviews.
This new penalty has clearly caused an issue around the league as defensive players seem to have no option other than to pull up before delivering a sack or hit on the QB. Most penalties called on this involve perfect form tackles that are taught to be safe. Both players and coaches seem to have no idea how to proceed. Many of them, such as Clay Matthew's claim the NFL has gotten "soft" and suggest there is no way to avoid this penalty. One problem with this confusion and attempt by defensive players to adjust is that injuries to the defensive player may occur. Anytime a player has to slow down or attempt to pull up, they become vulnerable to injuring themselves. Don't believe me? Well, this weekend William Hayes of the Miami Dolphins tore his ACL trying to avoid a flag on a sack. Just insane and I don't think the NFL understands just how difficult this penalty is to avoid. ESPN has a great article on Hayes injury which can be found here. I'm not sure what the answer is here but this penalty doesn't seem to be productive. I am all for player safety but there comes a point in time where risk is inherent to the game and allowing players to sack or hit QBs in a way that is safe (not above shoulders, not below knees, not 10 seconds after releasing a pass) is one of those risks.
The NFL did release a statement on twitter basically educating that Matthew's most recent hit was rightfully a penalty. See the tweet below.
"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"This is a foul for roughing the passer - the defender lands “with all or most of the defender’s weight” on the passer. Rule 12, Section 2, Article 9(b): https://t.co/s9YKN8NLuT #GBvsWAS pic.twitter.com/ei2QZkvvzx
— NFL Football Operations (@NFLFootballOps) September 23, 2018
Tampa Bay Starting QB
As I sit here and write this article I am watching Monday football between Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh. The Fitzmagic seems to have worn off a bit as Fitzpatrick has thrown multiple picks and doesn't seem to have a good grasp on the game. Jamis Winston is reinstated from suspension tomorrow morning and it will be interesting to see how the Bucs proceed with QB. I imagine you have to keep riding the hot hand in Fitzpatrick at least for another week. The big question isn't "if" but "when" Jamis Winston will resume his roll as starting QB for Tampa Bay.
New England Patriots
It's defiantly too early to panic but with the Patriots, we basically expect excellence each and every week. Well, as of today, the Patriots are 1-2 to start the season with losses to the Jaguars and most recently the Lions. The Lions loss is most concerning since I don't find them to be too good of a team. It just seems as though Tom Brady doesn't have many playmakers around him outside of Rob Gronkowski. Both the Jags and Lions essentially took away Gronk and without him the offense struggled. I expect them to bounce back in a big way and remain one of the better teams in the AFC. Following Week 4 they will get a boost to their receiving core with the reinstatement of Julian Edelman and as soon as Josh Gordon gets acclimated they should be loaded at receiver. Nonetheless, questions remain with the Patriots moving forward and their upcoming game against the undefeated Miami Dolphins will be a big one on multiple fronts.
Thanks for tuning in. Let me know your thoughts on Week 3!