Photo courteous of Sports Illustrated
In week three, 11 Quarterbacks threw for at least 300 yards. In week two, nine QB’s accomplished the feat. You’re no doubt tired of hearing this, but quarterbacks are pretty prolific in the modern-day NFL. That’s why it’s so fun to watch the Oakland Raiders play football. They’ve allowed running back Darren McFadden (who has to be a top-three back’ at this point) to carry the team; something the Vikings—with the consensus best running back in the game—haven’t done. And this doesn’t seem fluky; the Raiders just gashed the Jets (per DVOA, 2010’s 2nd best run defense) for 234 yards on the ground.
Not only can they run the ball, but the Raiders seem to have a revolving door of monstrous defensive lineman. Get this: Oakland’s smallest starting defensive lineman is the 6’5, 270-pound Matt Shaughnessy. The four linemen have five sacks combined, and the defense as a whole has got to the quarterback ten times—good for third in the league. I don’t have any cool statistics to back this one up, but Oakland’s defense just seems mean. They’ve got some of the hardest hitting players in the game in Rolando McClain, Michael Huff, and Tommy Kelley. They’re demonstrative. They’re huge. They might not always be perfect, but they hit hard as hell, and that’s gotta’ count for something.
I haven’t dumped the Cardinals, but I’m definitely flirting with the Raiders. Another game like that and it could be getting hot and heavy.
2. Should we be concerned with the Pittsburgh Steelers?
Pittsburgh had two consensus ‘question marks’ heading into 2011: the offensive line and the aging defense (eight defensive starters at least 30-years old). After an incredible performance in 2010, the defense seems to be nearly as good (excluding a bad week one loss to the Ravens) as Father Time hasn’t yet shown his face. The offensive line, however, is another story entirely. Many others (including me) dismissed the issue because Pittsburgh was able to reach the Super Bowl last year with essentially the same problem. Why exactly, couldn’t they do it again with the same group? So far, we seem to have been sorely mistaken. Roethlisberger has already been sacked nine times and the running game just isn’t working. The Steelers were the 14th best rushing offense in 2010, but this season they’ve managed only 257 yards and a yards per carry average of 3.3. After suffering a seeming endless barrage of injuries across the line in 2010 the curse has struck again. Sunday night, Jonathan Scott, Marcus Gilbert, and Doug Legursky were all taken out of the game with various ailments. It’s too early to determine what this will do to Pittsburgh’s offense, but it sure wasn’t pretty Monday night against the Colts. If it weren’t for the Curtis Painter experience, Indianapolis might have snuck out a victory. Oh, Curtis…
3. What happened to Philadelphia’s explosiveness?
Michael Lombardi of the NFL Network and NFL.com loves to compare the Eagles to a fast break-oriented basketball team. They’re fast, live or die by the big play, and rely on their playmakers to make incredible plays. If you’re searching for answers regarding Philadelphia’s 1-2 start, look no further than their lack of big-play production. Last season, Michael Vick led the league with 40+ yard pass plays (12) and DeSean Jackson was third in the league with eight catches of at least 40 yards. Running back LeSean McCoy was tops in the league with five runs of at least 40 yards, and as a whole, Philadelphia averaged 6.0 yards per play, second in the league. That was a lot of math to tell you what you already know.
This season, through three games, Philly’s offense has been anything but explosive. They’ve had only 14 plays of 20 yards or longer. For comparison’s sake, the league’s best offense, the New England Patriots have recorded 24 said plays. Even more telling, DeSean Jackson—one of the league’s premier deep threats—is averaging only 15.3 yards per catch after averaging 22.5 last year and he’s caught only one pass that has gone for more than 20 yards. Plenty of offenses succeed without legitimate homerun threats, but Philadelphia thrived last season with one of the best big play combinations in the NFL: Michael Vick to DeSean Jackson. Thanks to a shoddy offensive line they aren’t making the connection…
4. Beginning to question New England’s personnel strategy...
In a land before time the Patriots were known for their defense, their ability to befuddle Peyton Manning, and for a coach considered by many to be a ‘defensive genius’. And cut-off hoodies. Lots, and lots of cut-off hoodies. Per the Football Outsiders DVOA statistic, New England hasn’t possessed a top ten defense since 2006. That’s a far cry from the Super Bowl winning years, when the Pat’s owned the 13th, 2nd, and 6th best defenses, respectively. The biggest reason for the defensive dry spell, I suspect, is the loss of talent. In 2008 New England traded defensive lineman Richard Seymour to Oakland for a first round pick. Seymour, since the trade, has accumulated 12 sacks and went to the Pro Bowl in 2010. In his last season in New England Seymour had one his best years yet with eight sacks. The Patriot’s brain trust is famous for dumping players for serious value just before they decline, but Seymour at 31, continues to play at a Pro Bowl level. You think the Patriots could use him with their anemic pass rush?
That, of course, is a bit of a red herring because with the pick from the Seymour trade New England took tackle Nate Solder with the 17th pick in the 2011 draft. Solder, although a rookie, is bursting with ability and promise. If he’s a franchise Left Tackle two-three years down the road, who can really say it was a failed trade? You can’t. But instead of messing around with over-the-hill free agents to generate a pass rush, the Patriots would already have a premier defensive lineman.
5. The Texans aren’t going anywhere if they can’t score in the Red Zone…
As Pro Football Talk points out HERE, the Texans have been poor in the Red Zone through three games, and unsurprisingly that’s nothing new. This season Houston has scored a touchdown on only 3 of their 13 trips. Over the past three seasons Houston has ranked third, second, and third in yards per game. In terms of scoring offense, the Texans have ranked ninth, tenth, and seventeenth in those same seasons. They can move the ball, they simply struggle to score. That issue was painfully obvious against the Saints, as they kicked four field goals—three of which came inside the Saint’s ten yard line. You simply can’t be that inefficient against an offense as efficient as the Saints. With the amount of talent Houston enjoys, there is no reason they shouldn’t win the AFC South…handily.
6. What if the Buffalo Bills hadn’t whiffed on two straight top 11 draft picks?
In 2009 the Bills took Aaron Maybin with the 11th pick of the draft. He was cut this past offseason, picked up by the Jets, than once again cut from the roster. Two picks later the Redskins selected Brian Orakpo, who has since been to two straight Pro Bowls. In 2010 Buffalo selected running back C.J Spiller 9th overall. While it may be too early to call him a bust, Spiller has only accumulated 365 yards and two touchdowns in 17 career games. Three picks later the Chargers selected Ryan Mathews: a 2011 revelation. What’s done is done, but you can’t help wonder how great the 3-0 Bills would be if they nailed even one of those picks.
7. The cleverest play you’ve ever seen…
…that didn’t count. Because the officials called a phantom holding penalty on a player who wasn’t within ten yards of another soul. If only this happened in a playoff game…or the Super Bowl.
ALSO: Could Joe Buck have sounded any less excited? I know there was a flag thrown early on, but that's one of the top five greatest plays I've ever seen. It was BRILLIANT.
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