Oct 12, 202310 min read

Gridiron Talk: "Good & Bad"

It's nice to see QBs and their number one wide-receivers get back on good terms. We saw that in an abundance in week-5 with big time games from DJ Moore; Ja'Marr Chase; and George Pickens. Kyle Pitts took off his ghillie suit, the Cowboys got destroyed by the 'Niners... yeah the stove got hotter.

There was a lot of good, and a lot of bad across the league as we begin to sail to the middle part of the season. The meat of the season. This Gridiron Talk will focus on the good and the bad from a week that saw the Bears actually be on the good side of things. Wow, right?

Hackett gets last laugh on Sean Payton as Jets beat Broncos

Fields and Moore duo finally breaks out to elevate the Bears’ to their first dub

Cowboys get blown out in first true test; fall to 3-2

Home Cookin’? Jaguars go 2-0 winning back to back in London

Eagles start 5-0 in consecutive seasons for the 1st time ever

Falcons bounce back as they halt the Texans’ heatwave

Vikings fall to 1-4; place WR Justin Jefferson on IR

Lions move to 4-1; set for clash with the 3-1 Bucs in WK6

Burrow and Chase go off to bounce the Bengals back on track

49ers drop major statement to remain the top dawg in the PRs

I am certain that the theme "change in narrative" regarding the Detroit Lions shouldn't need to be elaborated to you. Everyone knows the Lions as the basement team in the NFL for most of the 21st century. Referred in the same tone across the entire Big-4. Outside of the 90's and Sanders ERA- it hasn't been easy for Lions fans. Now led by their intensified prowess of a coach in Dan Campbell, the Lions have reached 4-1 for just the 6th time since the NFL/AFL merger & the first time since 2011.

Of course, the bad narrative spreads it's toxins around their past occasions of going 4-1. Only three of those five previous teams made the playoffs. They look to change that narrative too and add on from the 2011 team. This 2023 squad is not like one of those same old teams. This team is something to bet on. Dan Campbell is the nucleus and captain of the ship with his disciplinary coaching and relentless will to better his players while Ben Johnson is the brain and orchestrator of the play-call and offense. A deadly mix for those who hope for the Lions' demise.

The comp gets a bit more tougher in the next few weeks in comparison to the Panthers team that Detroit sent to 0-5. The Lions travel to take on the 4-1 Buccaneers in WK6 and then travel up the east coast to take on the Ravens in Baltimore. They will look to get the roster healthier as the season starts to get into the grind. Aaron Glenn needs to find adjustments on defense to limit the Lions from having to rely on Ben Johnson and that hot offense. The Ravens and Bucs' game tempo should help Glenn find those adjustments. Glenn's defensive workhorse Aidan Hutchinson will look to continue to be a game-wrecker as he goes up against two QB's in Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson that are elite in exploring the pocket and slingin' on the run. Hutchinson leads the league in pressures of the QB and ranks top 10 in sacks currently. Can the Lions keep winnin'? The light is bright.

Unlike the joyful winnin' vibes in Detroit, it is the complete opposite in New England right now. The once mighty Belichick led Patriots now look like a laughing stock in the AFC as they sit 1-4 with awful QB play; hauntingly bad defense; and no real answers. Think I'm overreacting? One week after suffering the worst loss in the Bill Belichick era, New England doubled down in Week 5, allowing the Saints to hand down a straight can of 34-0 a** whoopin in Foxborough!

The loss to the Saints marked the first time in franchise history that the Pats lost back-to-back games by at least 34 points, and the first time in the Robert Kraft era (which began in 1994) that the team lost two games by 30 points in a season. The last time the Pats were held to a goose egg in New England was in 1993, back when Bill Parcells was the coach and Drew Bledsoe was under center. Tom Brady was 16 years old. What, you really expect me not to link Brady in this banter? Sorry, but Belichick is showing us a lot these days...

Belichick is now staring at the possibility of having a losing season in three of the four seasons after Brady's departure. Brady was Belichick's greatest back brace, his greatest camouflage. You can print that, I don't care and I stand on it. Am I discrediting Belichick? No. I raise the fact of the matter here, and the fact is Bill B simply isn't the greatest coach of all-time- and he's proving it.

Mac Jones had a great rookie year in '21 in that sole winning season. So what happened? Josh McDaniels left to take a different job is what happened. Belichick never named a replacement OC in 2022 after McDaniels left. Instead he and Matt Patricia (!) took the reigns of the offense and it was a dumpster fire. Who would have thought. They did all the wrong things and made Mac Jones a day-one project again. They hire Bill O'Brien to be the savior (laughter) this year and now it's ground zero. Can Bill coach Special Teams and watch tape (and a spy cam)? Sure can. Best to do it. Can he build a proper staff that isn't Adam Sandler dumb-founded and develop a quarterback? He sure bloody can't!

We can blame Mac Jones all we want, it's the line in the sand for casuals. If you look at the big picture and open your mind on all the details- you land with blame all over Belichick's lap. Bringing Patricia back after his debacle in Detroit and now doing the same with Bill O'Brien after his tenure with Houston... lose the friend crap and build a real staff. The fact we see his son in that damn mullet and unwashed sweatshirt on the sideline has been a long tenured headache. How do they respond after going 0-2 and being outscored 3-72?

Belichick will want to watch his tape and take notes on how the Steelers and Falcons responded to their bad losses leading up to WK5. Both Pittsburgh and Atlanta got back on the winning track after being blown out individually in WK4. Falcons got thrashed by the Jaguars in London while the Steelers were dismantled by the Texans. Both teams put those Ls behind them and responded with needed wins.

Pittsburgh won a nail biter at home against their arch-rival Ravens, 10-17. Steelers defense was flawless in keeping the squad in the game as the O couldn't do anything versus the Ravens' mighty defense. Kenny Pickett finally got things to happen as he helped spark a 4th quarter comeback, outscoring the Ravens 14-nil to set up T.J. Watt and the D to shut the door and clinch the win. A giant win to not only bounce back from a blowout, but to hand the Ravens their second loss to make things locked atop the AFC North. Big time ammunition to have as the two squads won't play the second matchup until the season finale in WK17.

Like the Steelers, the Falcons also needed fourth quarter fireworks to help them secure a win against the Texans. Houston had the advantage in the second and third quarters forcing the Falcons to show something they haven't shown yet this season: win from behind using pass offense and more tempo. Desmond Ridder finally showed me something. Ridder stayed poised and trusted his arm and receivers more than I have seen. The play-call had more diversity that helped those receivers find better opportunities in the middle portion of the field. Even better than all that: he threw to a guy that I will talk about momentarily.

The fourth-quarter was the difference maker, as it has been in all three of the Falcons' wins this season. In the wins, the Falcons have scored 13-14 points in all three 4th quarters and have two wins by 2 points or less including the game-winning Younghoe Koo boot that trumped the Texans. This is a huge deal for Arthur Smith and his squad as eight of the Falcons' ten losses last season were decided by one possession. That was their kryptonite and now they are showin' massive progression in that department. They have wins this season that they wouldn't have had last season. Just need to put it all together. This was a huge game for Ridder and coach Smith's staff to build off.

There was nothing positive from WK5 for the Ravens wideout room to build off. What a terrible day from the Ravens receivers. Will some yahoo like Mike Florio say it's Lamar Jackson? Probably. It was an all out dropathon in Pittsburgh by those Ravens receivers as they had 6 recorded drops collectively with me countin' 9 altogether. All of 'em had one: Devin Duvernay; Zay Flowers; Rashod Bateman; and Nelson Agholor had butter on the fingers. Agholor had a huge wide-open touchdown drop right through the hands. Bateman dropped a toudy. Even Mark Andrews had a drop! Here, take a look yourselves: I got tape:

The receivers were so bad that they legitimately are the reason for the Ravens losing that game. There is havin' drops, and then there is havin' those kind of drops. Touchdowns taken off the board. Drives killed. Absolute killer to the team. Ravens only scored ten points against the Steelers, in that montage I see 21 points DROPPED. Just unacceptable. They owe Lamar Jackson and that defense a huge game in WK6 versus the Titans in London.

Once again Dak takes away from us having something good. The Cowboys-49ers matchup was supposed to be a thriller, the first of it's kind in the new campaign. Marque matchup... on paper. Instead the game was seemingly over with in the third quarter and quite frankly- was over early in the first half. Not nearly the nail-bitter we anticipated.

A real bummer, this game. Dak Prescott did mostly negative things resulting in 3 INTs, two converting into 49ers' touchdowns; and a 46.2 QBR. Prescott was sacked 4 times and the Dallas run game was nonexistent. 49ers' skill players didn't have any outrageous numbers. Kittle had the three toudys on three receptions, but that was it. The Cowboys simply got beat in the trenches, outworked in the gaps; and outclassed by the 49ers' coaching staff.

San Francisco moves to 5-0 for the third time since 1990, and first since 2019. Brock Purdy still remains undefeated as a starter in the NFL regular season. San Fran travels to Cleveland on Sunday to face the Browns hot off their bye. A battle of stout defenses on paper, the same recipe we thought we had for the Cowboys/49ers. Lets see if the Browns can stick with them in the Dawg Pound.

Dallas will travel to SoFi to take on red hot Justin Herbert and his electric Chargers' offense. Cowboys need to throw out last week. The result; the whoopin; the gameplan; just throw it all out. Now they face the man they are missing maybe the most in Chargers OC Kellen Moore. Moore is smellin' a breakout 30 piece on that once great, now vulnerable Cowboys' defense. Dallas OC Brian Schottenheimer better have adjustments. The 'Boys will more than likely be in a shootout if they want a victory. Lets see if they can turn the ship around or not.

We finally have some air duos that are on good terms or back to good terms & back to shreddin' defenses in the air. The likes of Ja'Marr Chase; DJ Moore; Kyle Pitts; and George Pickens returned to production in loud fashion. Good news for their squads and good news for football fans and fantasy football players.

After posting another single digit point result (and loss) in WK4 versus the Titans, the Bengals finally broke out on offense and in the passing game against a solid Cardinals defense. The massively struggling Joe Burrow finally had a good game in LARGE part to getting back on good terms (production wise) with his star wideout Ja'Marr Chase. The man who claims he is always open. Against Arizona it wasn't a claim- it was a fact. Chase went off for 15 receptions, 192 yards, and 3 touchdowns givin' that Cardinals secondary the business in the desert. That performance somehow wasn't the best among receivers this week.

DJ Moore and Justin Fields finally are starting to have the type of games we had been anticipating from the newly formed duo in Chicago, since the flashes in the preseason. Moore played great in the unfortunate loss to the Broncos in WK4, but RAISED the bar to a high degree in WK5 versus the Commanders. Moore destroyed Emmanuel Forbes Jr. and the Washington secondary posting a monster game: 8 receptions, 230 yards, and 3 touchdowns. DJ had a 28.8 AVG as he silenced the Commanders' faithful with each touch. Moore and Fields now have two big games in a row as they helped snap the 14 game losing streak in Chicago. The duo along with OC Luke Getsy have to keep cookin' what they have cookin' cha heard.

I'd like to say that same line to Arthur Smith and Desmond Ridder in Atlanta. I mentioned Ridder's performance, which was above good but, the best takeback from the Falcons dub is the usage of Kyle Pitts and his work with Desmond Ridder. QB1 targeted Pitts eleven times, the most targets for Pitts in any game of his career. Pitts reeled in 7 of the targets for receptions posting 87 yards on a 12.4 average. Not eye poppin' but any production at this point is a huge deal as Pitts has been in a ghillie suit in Ridder's visor this season.

Pitts only had two receptions (3 targets) in the 4th quarter. The usage was great in the first half, now use him in the big moments. Falcons took the dub, which is most important- they just need to understand and fully exploit what Pitts can do to expand their offense. Maybe this is a nice first date, and the cats will get back on full terms next week. The quantity of targets is awesome & should make Falcons' fans happy. Now build off it and get the full result.

Week six will be interesting to say the least. The inconsistency among damn near the entire league outside of the top 5 (referring to my PRs) makes the matchups on paper seem weak. The primetime games: Broncos at Chiefs (TNF); Giants at Bills (SNF); and Cowboys at Chargers (MNF). Get my drift? If you look at all sides of the ball and the results from the first five weeks- the game of the week is probably Lions at Bucs or Colts at Jaguars. Not too appealing, hopefully the teams change that narrative by creating some consistency like the 49ers; Eagles; Lions; and Bucs have.

Gridiron Talk: "Good & Bad"

Players of Week-5:

Power Rankings After Week-5:

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