Ten Thoughts on the NFL

1) This off season, as the Chicago Bears were preparing for the NFL Draft, I made no secret that my favorite quarterbacking prospect was Clemson’s Deshaun Watson. He clearly had some things he needed to work on, but when a kid finds a way to play his best in high pressure situations, that’s a prospect I’d bet on succeeding.

Even though he was the third quarterback drafted, he’s the rookie QB that has been shining the most so far. He just had four TDs passing and 1 TD running on Sunday, and on the season his passer rating has improved in every game he’s played in so far.

The Houston Texans have a fantastic defense, and if they keep getting decent play from Watson, they could be a legit Super Bowl contender.

2) The Chicago Bears are making a quarterback change, but how much more prepared would Mitchell Trubisky have been had he played mop up duty in the second half of the Tampa Bay blow out, or the 4th quarter of the Packers’ debacle?

3) Then again, not every rookie quarterback is balling out this year. The Cleveland Browns have been rolling with ex-golden-domer, DeShone Kizer, and he’s barely over fifty percent passing, he has three TDs to eight interceptions, his passer rating (50.9) is actually lower than his completion percentage, and his yards per attempt is below the Glennon-line.

4) That was an odd game on Sunday night. I expected a blow out, but after the first half it was an interesting 15-10, Colts over the Seahawks.

Then at some point while both teams were in the locker room the Colts remembered they were the Colts, and the Seahawks remembered they were the Seahawks, and the second half flipped to 36-3, in favor of Seattle.

5) One more thought on that Sunday nighter. How do you guys like the Al Michaels / Cris Collinsworth pairing? I’ve always liked them, but I saw some on social media calling for Mike Tirico to replace Michales as soon as possible.

I’ve also seen some complain that Collinsworth, a majority owner of Pro Football Focus, references the company too much during the games.

While not the biggest fan of the PFF grades, I do like their signature stats, so I’m fine with Collinsworth using his platform to pump up his side gig.

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6) The Los Angeles Rams are 3-1, and their offense looks so much different this year after getting rid of head coach Jeff Fisher and hiring the 31 year old Sean McVay to run the show.

Quarterback Jared Goff, who some were ready to call a bust last year, looks like a different QB this season.

7) That was a hard fought victory by the Detroit Lions in Minnesota. The Vikings’ defense is no joke, and the Lions found a way to persevere.

7a) That non contact injury to Minnesota rookie running back Dalvin Cook was terrible.

8) OK, who had the Buffalo Bills at 3-1 and leading the AFC East at the quarter pole?

Through four games, they are the hardest to score on, allowing only 13.5 points per game, and they are 2nd in allowing a 64.1 passer rating against. It was impressive knocking off the Broncos last week, but they beat the Falcons in Atlanta on Sunday, which sent a message to the rest of the NFL.

9) The Kansas City Chiefs are awesome, and Kareem Hunt is the best back in football right now. Do you realize that Hunt is on pace to crack 2,000 yards rushing this year?

10) In 2003, the Chicago Bears had a rookie quarterback makes his debut at home against the Minnesota Vikings and that resulted in a 13-10 win. Bears’ offensive coordinator John Shoop had Rex Grossman throw the ball 30 times, with only 21 rushing attempts. Grossman’s Bears were 19-12 during his starts, and he was the last quarterback the Bears took in the first round.

10a) When the Bears took Mitchell Trubisky with the second overall pick this year, it was actually the third time they grabbed a QB with second overall selection. In 1939 they picked eventual Hall Of Famer Sid Luckman, and in 1951 they grabbed Bob Williams, who only threw for 981 yards in his Bears career.