The Texans were dreadful against the Lions, and Detroit gifted them with five turnovers. Everybody is going to be saying that the Texams should have won, even though Detroit heavily outgained them.
The Lions manhandled the Packers in Lambeau without Jameson Williams (suspension) and without Brian Branch for most of the game (ejected). Statement win. Best team in the NFC and it isn’t particularly close.
DET's coaching staff is operating at another level right now. I thought the Hutchinson injury would take the wind out of their sails...nope. I thought the Branch ejection would swing the game in GB's favor...nope. DET doesn't do excuses. Such a tough-minded team.
Even before Collins got injured, the Texans offense had plenty of issues. The Jets managed to expose a lot of them, sacking Stroud a total of 8 times! Yes, the Texans outgained the Jets, but a lot of those yards came in garbage time.
With that being said, Stroud only went 11 for 30, so the offensive line isn’t the only issue.
@christinaolive I think the Bucs are heavily underrated too but it’s not because Walter is upset over the Eagles game. I have been following this site for over a decade now, Walt treats the Eagles like any other team. In fact I have seen him trash the Eagles at times when the mainstream media was drooling over them. I’d like to know why he’s so low on the Bucs but that’s not it.
Yeah, I've been here forever and I've never seen evidence of Eagles bias. It's weird that it keeps getting mentioned.
I'm guessing the rash of injuries on defense and at WR is Walt's main reason for TB's low ranking, and that's fair. Still, having the Bucs at 27 - below CLE, JAX and NO - is nuts. The Bucs have beaten DET, WAS and PHI for chrissakes. They'll likely drop their next two (KC, SF), but their schedule to close out the season is Charmin-soft. (NYG, CAR twice, LV, NO, DAL) Assuming they get Evans and a few DBs healthy for the stretch run, the Bucs are still a competitive team capable of a winning record.
@Mr. Bitter the only explanation I have is that Walter is from the Philadelphia area (if I remember correctly) so anytime he praises the Eagles it gets interpreted as a hometown bias. But like you said, those of us who have been here a while know that Walt has no Eagles bias. As recently as last year he was knocking them, and that was before they started falling apart.
What you’re saying about the Bucs makes sense and I agree. 27 is ridiculously low for a team that is objectively very good at full strength. Yes, they’re nowhere near full strength right now but there’s no indication that they won’t return to full strength before the season is over. Plus they have the benefit of playing in the NFC South. They could easily finish 9-8 and sneak into the playoffs again, and they could be a tough matchup for whoever sees them in the first round.
The Titans heavily outgained the Lions, with it not being a byproduct of garbage time. People are going to be going on about how the Lions managed to score 52 points against the Titans defense, when the stats around the board for Detroit’s offense weren’t impressive in the slightest. I can’t tell if this suggests that the Lions are overrated or if the Titans are highly underrated right now.
@SadisticNobility the Lions were “heavily outgained” because they consistently had short fields due to turnovers and great kick returns. They capitalized on those short fields with touchdowns. It is true that the Lions didn’t play their best game, and yet they still won by 38 points. You take that observation to mean they’re overrated? Seems to me like you’re box score watching rather than tuning into the game. The Lions dominated them in every way, and it could’ve been even worse
"Deshaun Watson just played his best game of the season"
Watson had 47 yards at halftime and didn't lead a TD drive in the game. Again. His QBR was 34.6, somehow his 2nd highest of the season.
That 11-for-11 3rd-quarter completion streak was just fluky momentum-riding from the Myles Garrett/Rodney McCloud blocked FG/TD that made the halftime score 10-10 instead of PHI up 13-3...and possibly halftime locker room threats from Garrett, who is likely tired of the defense carrying the team.
"Watson had both of his starting tackles on the field for the first time all season"
Like it matters. Watson still took 5 sacks and 10 knockdowns. He's taken 5+ sacks in 4 of 6 starts and 31 sacks this season; 10 more than the next highest number. He took 4 sacks p/game last season with a healthy interior O-line and Wills Jr. in the lineup. He hasn't accounted for even 200 yards or more than one TD in any game this season.
Wills Jr. sucks. He has since his rookie season. He had two false start penalties (including 4th-and-goal) and a 42.4 PFF grade vs. PHI. This is typical Wills Jr. stuff when he's not injured. He was PFF's 56th-ranked OT last season. (51.3)
Conklin (57.9 PFF) is a shell of his former self, just as high-mileage Nick Chubb will assuredly be when he returns from a horrific knee injury and has to run behind the likes of Michael Dunn and Zac Zinter (41.6 PFF).
Fun stats:
The CLE offense (13.5 PPG) is last in the NFL by every imaginable metric, including a 13.8% 3rd-down conversion rate. The offense hasn't scored in it's last 29 drives.
Through six games, Watson is last in the NFL in EPA, QBR, sacks taken and pocket success rate. (Behind Will Levis, mind you.) His pocket success rate (33.3%) is ahead of only David Carr, Josh Rosen, Akili Smith, Blaine Gabbert and JaMarcus Russell this millennium.
Since 2006, of 566 passers graded through weeks 1-6, Watson is ranked:
QBR - 558th
Yards p/drop back - 565th
1st Down Rate - 566th
Three seasons into his 5-year contract, Watson has never thrown for 300 yards and has accounted for 2+ TDs twice.
The Watson signing was a catastrophic blunder and his coaches and teammates know it. (Amari Cooper has 100% checked out.) Watson is absolutely broken and I'm not sure if Anthony Munoz and Jon Ogden would make a difference at this point. Until Watson is benched, this is a bottom-5 team.
The Bills had as many penalties as the Jets. Tyler Bass missed a FG and an XP.
BUF has an injury-depleted defense, a hodgepodge of crap like Mack Hollins and Curtis Samuel at WR and a backup RB, yet would have beat the Jets by double digits on the road if not for a Hail Mary.
Risk/reward offseason signings (Mike Williams, Tyron Smith, Haason Reddick, Javon Kinlaw) that the Jets were counting on to patch up weaknesses along the starting lineup have been more detriment than asset.
The Jets are already on their second HC for chrissake. Ulbrich seemed in over his head vs. BUF. So NY replaced one "good DC, shouldn't be a HC" with another one. Wonderful.
The Jets shouldn't be in the top-15 right now, let alone the top-10.
The Jets shouldn't sniff the top ten. I was a cautiously optimistic fan going into this season, but only under the assumptions that we'd finally have a relatively injury-free season, Haason Reddick would be signed, the run defense would improve, and Rodgers wasn't washed and the offense would gel by this point. None of that has happened, and assuming any of it will looks like a bad bet at this point.
Also: The Jets are poorly coached. They're inconsistent and unfocused, and have given Rodgers too much influence over the offensive scheme. A team that gets the Broncos at home on ten days rest only to lay an egg shouldn't be in the top ten.
you want proof that justin jefferson is the MVP and not Sam Darnold look at some (not all) of the penalties called against the Jets dbs and compare that to the roughing the passer no call on Sam Darnold.
Walt..as someone that has seen every Bucs snap for the past 20 years, I think you have this one wrong. I'm the first guy to say when the Bucs are overrated but I'm just not seeing it this year. They've been decimated by injuries on defense (Kancey, Winfield, Vea) and haven't had their RT for the past three weeks and yet they've pulled off some big wins. Mayfield looks great, Liam Cohen's offense is the real deal, and Bucky Irving is a difference maker. If they can get fully healthy, they can play with any of the top teams in the league. Time will tell but my gut tells me you've got them too low.
Daniel Jones is suddenly appearing to be a very potent quarterback, thanks to Malik Nabers. I had a gut feeling that teams were making a mistake by passing on Nabers in the draft. Just imagine if the Chargers snagged him instead of Joe Alt.
Gotta disagree on Jones. He sucks. He can't complete a pass 20+ yards. He was just doing more check-down compiling last night, only without his usual handful of TOs. He never truly threatens the secondary.
@SadisticNobility he hates the vikings and will always have an excuse ready for them getting a win. Just the opposite for the 49ers because he will always have an excuse for their losses
It's just a guess but I'm guessing this guy is a 49ers or a Bengals fan because it never seems to matter if they lose or not because he'll always blame the loss on them being "sleepy" or "not prepared" and he always brings up their injuries and I'm pretty sure he hates the Vikings because every time they have win he will say it's because the other team wasn't good or wasn't ready to play a football game and he never ever brings up injuries to their roster. He doesn't give them any excuses ever. If this guy is 12 years old then I apologize. You keep up those power rankings little guy. Just make sure you have them done before bedtime and eat your vegetables.
The Jets humiliated the Patriots tonight, and I don’t even care what the score says. New England had seven first downs mid-way into the forth quarter, and their defense was carved up. The game is nowhere near as close as the score suggests.
This guys power rankings have always been comical. If a team he's high on loses he'll always say something like "if you take away this play and that play and they didn't have injuries and the ref wouldn't have screwed them they would have won so I'm just going to ignore the loss" but if a team wins he doesn't like he'll always say something like "they only won because the other team wasn't ready for a football game and the other team had injures and the refs helped them out so I'm going to ignore this win" and he NEVER talks about injures on the team he doesn't like. Mountains of excuses for the teams he's high on and zero excuses for the teams he doesn't like. Always good for a laugh.
I am in a 14 team league and the waiver wire is empty. I have Gus Edwards who appears to have been passed by Dobbins (until may he gets hurt again). Do I drop him for Tank Bigsy and leave the Charger backfield in my rearview?
Happy JK Dobbins owner here. I would make that move. I'm currently contemplating dropping Chuba Hubbard to pick up Gus Edwards from waivers as a premium handcuff. With Dobbins' injury history and Harbaugh's offensive philosophy, Edwards could bang out some week-winning numbers later on this season.
If the Titans even had a semi-decent, but below average quarterback like Gardner Minshew or Derek Carr, their offense would function. The special teams are another issue, too. Their defense and the passing weapons, along with Spears are looking impressive at least. The offensive line even looks a shade better.
Tennessee might have finally fixed their secondary, which is a good thing. The pass rush is still in tact.
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