Ten Thoughts on the NFL

1) Did anyone think the New Orleans Saints were going to obliterate the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38 to 3? With the way the Saints offense was rolling and their defense was stymying Tom Brady and the Bucs offense all night, it felt like a Varsity vs JV matchup. Last week I wrote that Tampa Bay was the best team in the NFC, but that’s clearly not the case.

When looking over the box score, these stats made me shake my head. The Buccaneers only had 5 rushing attempts for 8 yards, they were 1 for 9 (11%) on 3rd-down conversions, and 0 for 3 on 4th-down tries, and they only had the ball for 19:56 of the 60 minute game.

And then there’s this interesting passer rating nugget from the game,

1. Drew Brees - 135.2
2. Taysom Hill - 118.8
3. Jameis Winston - 116.7
4. Tom Brady - 40.4

Why wasn’t Brady pulled in that game before the fourth quarter even started?

2) The goal line fade route is fine for a one shot try if you really like your match-up, but that’s it. It’s not a staple play for an offense and it shouldn’t be the plan each time you get down there, and it certainly shouldn’t be the last second play you come up with to win the game.

The Los Angeles Chargers may be heading for a complete coaching overhaul.

3) I was surprised when I heard that the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the best franchises in all of sports, advanced to 8-0 for the first time in their history.

We all know that they’ve only had three head coaches since 1969, but did you know that they’ve only had 10 losing seasons since then?

4) The Buffalo Bills Josh Allen is back in the MVP discussion after throwing for 415 yards, 3 touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 138.5, while adding a rushing TD in their big 44-34 win over the Seattle Seahawks.

5) After being eased into his first start last week, and simply going along for the ride in the Miami Dolphins win, this week Tua Tagovailoa was a reason for Miami winning their 4th in a row. He went 20 of 28 for 248 yards, with 2 TDs, no picks, and a passer rating of 122.3, while also running 7 times for 35 yards, including this gem.

The Dolphins seem like a fun team to be a fan of.

6) Jake Luton out here being historic for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

JAX QB Jake Luton is the 1st player since at least 1950 to record 300+ pass yards, 25+ completions & 1+ rush TD in his 1st career start

For those curious, Luton was a 6th-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

The 1-7 Jaguars seem poised to be in position to draft one of the top QBs in 2021, who will join Luton and Gardner Minshew in what will be an exciting quarterback room for them next year.

7) One team with no intention on drafting a QB is the Dallas Cowboys, at least according to owner Jerry Jones. The 2-7 Cowboys are currently slotted with the third pick in the draft, but when asked about the possibility of taking a quarterback, Jones said “it’s crazy” to even think about that.

“Yes, you ask me if it’s crazy to bring the idea up? And I’ve answered it, yes,” Jones said. “It’s not the thing to be talking about at all. Dak is our quarterback.”

Dak Prescott is a free agent in 2021 and he’ll be rehabbing a broken ankle.

8) “Clear and obvious...”

NFL referees still have no idea what a catch is.

9) In his last two games, Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook has 478 yards from scrimmage and 6 TDs.

In 7 games, he leads the league in rushing yards (858) and rushing touchdowns (12).

10) The Chicago Bears are averaging 4.8 yards per offensive play in 2020, which is only slightly better than last year’s 4.7 yards per play.

You have to go all the way back to the 2007 season to find a worse yards per play in Chicago (4.5). That was the Ron Turner led offense with Rex Grossman (7 starts), Brian Griese (6 starts) and Kyle Orton (3 starts) at quarterback in the Bears 7-9 season.